Guest Blogger AMY HARRISON - Flower & Garden Festival

Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival

Those of us who love to vacation with Disney know that they are amazing horticulturalists. Walt Disney World is brimming with beautiful flowers and plants no matter what time of year you are there. But if you love to garden, and I most certainly do, there is no better time to see all Disney has to offer than during the International Flower and Garden Festival. Offered annually, from early March to mid-May, the Flower and Garden Festival is an experience even a novice gardener can enjoy. All of the parks are in full bloom in spring, but Epcot holds a rare treat for those willing to take a look.

The International Flower and Garden Show takes place in Epcot, around both Future World and the World Showcase Lagoon and it is free with your park ticket! There are a few classes, tours, and demonstrations that cost extra, but the majority of the festival, including the concert series, is free!

As with all things Disney, the International Flower and Garden Festival offers something for everyone. As you would expect, this festival includes classes, seminars, and exhibitions that will give you inspiration for your garden and even give you practical tips on how to create or improve your gardens at home. But what you may not know is everything else the International Flower and Garden Show includes:

• Concerts; Garden Rocks concerts happen nightly and previous artist have included En Vogue, Little River Band, STARSHIP and Taylor Dayne. My favorite thing about these concerts is that you don’t have to be in the amphitheater to enjoy them. You can hear them as you wander the lagoon area, eating and browsing the shops.
• Outdoor kitchens; because food is a HUGE part of World Showcase the International Flower and Garden Festival has incorporated innovative foods into it’s happenings. You will find an array of food booths in the World Showcase area, which are set up specifically for this festival and feature a wide variety of meats and produce in new and interesting ways. This is a growing part of the International Flower and Garden Festival and I would expect more and more of these booths to pop up as the Festival continues in future years.
• Cooking demonstrations; these are held daily throughout the park.
• An annual artist showcase, usually held the last weekend in March; the showcase features your favorite Disney characters in all new ways and displays this artwork in the country pavilions around the World Showcase lagoon. It’s a great place to pick up a truly unique souvenir.
• Interactive playgrounds set up around Epcot; These play areas can be a welcome distraction for young ones attending the festival. If you find yourself with a restless kid (or adult for that matter!) head over to the Pixie Hollow fairy and butterfly garden. It is a work of art in itself! You may even find yourself inspired to create a fairy house in your own backyard.

With so much to see and do, you won’t want to miss this truly unique experience offered at Disney’s EPCOT theme park. Spring will never feel the same!

Amy Harrison

Fellow Wishdrawals agent, Disney DIY Aficionado, and Premium Mickey Bar Connoisseur

Check out my blog at www.merryweatherscottage.blogspot.com

Epcot : Part One

Tips for having fun with your kids in Epcot

Here are a few things to do with the family when you head to Epcot.  Some people feel there isn't enough for young kids, but our family could not disagree more.  We always wish we had just a few more hours.  Use these tips and tricks to help your kids enjoy what we feel is the most fun theme park for adults and you'll end up with a great day for the whole family!

5 Iconic Things to Do at Epcot:

1)      Watch the Fountain show - especially around sunset.

2)      Take a picture in front of Spaceship Earth (the ball)

3)      Eat in the Coral Reef Restaurant

4)      Ride Soarin’ – have you done it before? Guess what: Soarin’ is going to get an international update with new scenery soon!

5)      Watch Illuminations from the Showcase Plaza or Italy

The Future World side of Epcot:

• Soarin’ (40”) – this is a fabulous ride.  If you have a fear of heights, I suggest you ride in the back row which is lowest to the ground.  If you don’t want to ride with feet dangling above you, ask to ride in the top (front) row.
• Living with the Land
• Circle of Life – Lion King Environmental Movie

• Character Stop – a great place to meet Mickey and Friends!
• Test Track (40”) – design a car and then test drive it.
• Spaceship Earth – the ride inside of the Epcot ball – it’s very relaxing and cool on a hot day.
• Innoventions East & West – fun play areas to hang out in if it rains and great activities for kids ages 5-8
• Ellen’s Energy Adventure – not our favorite ride, but it’s funny and entertaining.  I’d rate it for kids ages  9 and up.

• Mission Space (44”) – a great thrill ride.  Mission Space allows you to play astronaut for a day.  Green is for those who don’t want as intense of a ride and orange is for bigger thrill-seekers.  The view of the ride is exactly the same, but you will feel more force on orange. 
• Mission Space Advanced Training Lab – my kids could spend hours in here exploring and playing.  When you exit the ride, you are dumped into this large area with interactive activities and play areas.  You can access it through the gift shop, as well, if you have smaller kids who aren’t tall enough to ride Mission Space yet.
• Mission Space splash area – if you don’t want to wait for your family members who are riding Mission Space in the Advanced Training Lab, there’s a fountain play area right out in front of the attraction.  If you have a change of clothes, a towel, or a really hot day, you can let your kids play in the fountain and cool off.

• Seas with Nemo and Friends – a very cute ride for even the littlest tyke, but fun for the whole family.  The line for this attraction is usually very short and moves quickly.
• Turtle Talk with Crush – this is a great show for kids ages 2+.  Crush comes to visit with a small group (kids get to sit right up front) to answer and ask questions.
• Sea Base – when you exit the Nemo ride, there is a huge aquatic exploration area.  Again, if I let them, my kids could stay here and view all of the live creatures and enjoy with the interactive activities for well over an hour.

• Journey Into Imagination with Figment – this is a ride for kids, but it’s very cute!  And yes, the song WILL get stuck in your head. J
• ImageWorks the What If Lab – this is another interactive play area.  When you exit the Imagination ride, you’ll come out to a huge area filled with interactive activities for children (and we play there, too) of all ages.

Epcot’s World Showcase:

• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – a boat ride featuring Donald Duck in the Mexican Pavilion
• American Adventure – a 30-minute show about American history.  Don’t let the word ‘history’ scare you away – it’s very entertaining.
• Kidcot Fun Stops – When you enter the World Showcase, you will find a coloring station in each country.  Your child can color and decorate the current character.  Then you take it with you and have it stamped in each country.  It’s a great way to keep kids interested as you travel through each country’s pavilion.
• Passports – you can buy them for $10 in any of the countries, or even in the Future World.  Then you have them signed and stamped in each country.  It’s a fun way to see your name written in 8 languages!
• Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure – great for kids ages 6 & up, this involves Agent Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb.  You receive a free device that keeps kids involved through interactive activities as you visit each country.

  Movies to watch/Books to read before visiting Epcot:

• The 3 Caballeros (Mexico Pavilion)
• Mulan (China Pavilion)
• Ratatouille (France Pavilion)
• Beauty and the Beast (France Pavilion)
• Winnie the Pooh(United Kingdom Pavilion)
• Mary Poppins (United Kingdom Pavilion)
• Peter Pan (United Kingdom Pavilion)
• Aladdin (Morocco Pavilion)
• Snow White (Germany Pavilion)
• Frozen (Norway Pavilion)
• Finding Nemo (The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion)

Be sure to tune in for the rest of Epcot week as I share articles from guest bloggers featuring the Food and Wine Festival and the Flower and Garden Festival!

Fun things to do at the Magic Kingdom!

We've got number 1 covered!

Top 10 things to do at the Magic Kingdom on your first visit:

1. Take a family photo in front of Cinderella’s Castle.
2. Try to pull the sword out of the stone. It’s right in front of Prince Charming’s Carousel ride, behind the castle!
3. Meet Mickey Mouse at the Town Square Theater. You can even bring something special for him to sign if you want!
4. Ride Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, and Dumbo.
5. Eat a Mickey ice cream bar while you watch the Festival of Fantasy parade.
6. For the thrill-seekers, ride the mountains of Disney: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain!
7. For the princesses at heart, head to Storytime with Belle and then stop by Fairytale Hall to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel!
8. For the young pirates in your group, head to Adventureland and watch Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Tutorial – it’s sure to be entertaining for the whole family!
9. Eat at Pinocchio’s Village Haus and grab a seat by the window – you can wave at kids on the It’s a Small World ride while you eat!  This is a great thing to do when you’re hot and tired and need a break – it’s nice and cold inside.  Insider tip: We always try to eat after the lunch rush to avoid having to fight to find a table.
10. Watch Wishes – the nighttime fireworks – the best spot is on the back half of the hub – behind the statue of Mickey and Walt holding hands.

5 BIG Money-saving tips for your trip to Disney World

I have 5 daughters whose ages range from 3-17.  My husband is a teacher and I stay home with the 2 youngest children, so it's easy for me to admit that I don't have a huge budget for my much-needed vacations to Disney!  That being said, nobody wants to go on a $4k vacation and feel like they had to cut corners...

So here are 5 little tips that I love to employ in the 6-9 months before my Disney trips:

1. If your little prince or princess wants to dress up during your trip, be on the lookout for discounted Disney character costumes shortly before or immediately after Halloween.  The discounts at the Disney store normally peak around 40-60% off, but you can find great deals at Wal-Mart, Target, and the Disneystore.com website.
2. Buy them a new friend for their trip before you leave.  I often look for the best deals on plush toys, princess dolls, or whatever character toy my kids most love on the Disneystore.com website or even at the local Disney store for discounted purchases.  The stuffed animals I bought at their 2 for $20 price here before we left would have cost $22.50 each in the theme parks!  I like to wrap them up in a cute box and give it to them when we arrive in our room.
3. Limit spending - both for yourselves and your kids.  I like to give each kid a Disney gift card loaded up with $25 on it.  This way they know that that's exactly how much they have.  If they spend only part of it, I use my autograph Sharpie to write the remaining balance on the back of the card.  And yes, I allow them to buy candy or ice cream with that if it's what they most want.  It's a vacation! 
4. Bring your snack or breakfast into the park with you.  My kids are not morning people.  Who am I kidding? I'm not a morning person! But I love to be in the park the minute it opens - that first hour has the shortest lines of the day!  This being said, I don't like to sit down for a big breakfast before leaving the resort each morning.  Chewy almond bars, pop-tarts, and bags of cheese crackers or PB&J squares will tide us over until lunch and allow us to snack along as we go.  This saves both time and money.  Breakfast for 6 costs about $15 as opposed to $50+ and our time for breakfast is reduced from about 45-60 minutes to however long it takes my husband to mix cream and sugar into his coffee.
5. Buy the meal plan.  It makes budgeting so simple and allows you to feel free to order whatever you want off the menu.  Rather than settling for chicken when you want steak, buy the meal plan at a fixed price and enjoy whatever you want off the menu at any of the eligible restaurants.  It's also especially cost-effective if you plan to do character dining.

I'd love to help you find more ways to make the most of your time and money on your Disney trip!

E-mail me Emily@Wishdrawals.com or click the link on the right side of this post and head to the Wishdrawals.com website for a free quote.  The best part: all of our services are free!

How to pay for a Disney vacation in 8 easy steps!

If you're like me, you want to go to Disney every year, but the cost can be prohibitive. It's tough to spend $3-5 thousand dollars all at once for a 5-7 day vacation, but that seems to be what it takes to do Disney right. Here are some budget and savings tips to help you get back to Mickey before you know it. If your Mouse addiction isn't as bad as mine is, you can even do this for 2 years and just try to put aside half as much or contribute every other month.

Here are 8 helpful savings tips:

1. $10/week into a cash jar.
   $40 in a month isn't going to break my budget - actually, no one will even notice.  So every week, I get $10 and put it in a blue mason jar in my closet.  Every now and then, I add more when I can, but at $10/week you will find $520 in that jar at the end of a year and that didn't hurt one bit!
2. Disney Gift Cards/Cash for special occasions
   At every birthday or holiday, there is inevitably one grandparent or relative who sends money.  This is the perfect opportunity to tell your kids that Grandpa and Grandma are contributing to their Disney jars.  Yes, my kids share my addiction and have Disney piggy banks of their own.  I regularly "clean them out" and place the money in an envelope in my closet as well, so that it doesn't get lost around the house. $40/kid per year = all of their souvenir cash.  For me, this is $200 since I have 5 daughters.
3. Loose Change Jar
   Whenever I have change, I put it into a jar in my cupboard.  As it slowly accumulates, I use the January-June money as Disney cash and the July-December money for Christmas stockings.  The six-month total for me averages about $75, and is never noticed by my budget.
4. Disney Vacation Account
   In an effort to make saving easy - and because Disney really wants your money - they have now created flex saving accounts.  You can use an automatic deduction where $100 is taken out directly from your paycheck once a month, or you can do more or less - whatever fits your budget.  I like the $100 - it's just enough that it makes a considerable savings, but not enough to stress my family's budget.  My annual total: $1200
   https://disneyvacationaccount.disney.go.com/
5. Income Tax Return deduction
   My husband and I have a standing agreement that $500-$1000 of our income tax return money goes to a summer vacation.  Sometimes we've hit Detroit, Pigeon Forge, Manhattan, or DC, but at least half of the time this is good old WDW. For me it averages out to: $750
6. Bi-annual Neighborhood Yard Sale
   I live in a rather large neighborhood and we are limited to 2 yard sales per year - which is not at all bad - cause some people really overdo it!  I have a corner in my basement where old clothes, stuffed animals, baby gear, furniture, and miscellaneous items that I plan to try to sell hang out.  And then my kids buy doughnuts and water bottles to sell to help, too.  They're pretty cute, so their profit margin is usually great.  I make about $75-100 each time I participate which ends up being $150-200 per year.
7. Take on an odd job that pays wellMy husband coaches tennis twice a week @ a rate of $30/hour.  He makes about $2k/year doing this and I take 25% of it and squirrel it away for vacation.  The other 75% helps to pay for my kids' athletic activities (of which there are SO many).  Maybe you could tutor once a week or babysit once or twice a month - anything that will just help create extra cash...  But for me, that ends up contributing about $40/month which is $500 each year.
8. Plan your trip around a great discount
   As a certified Disney travel consultant, I know when all the best deals are.  If you want to find out when the cheapest time to go is, shoot me an e-mail: Emily@Wishdrawals.com - some deals will save you TONS - like free dining.  Others, like a 30% discount on your room will still save you a considerable amount of money.  Planning your trip at a time when you can save without spending is a 100% victory!  Disney has historically done free dining in September and we have Fall Break for a week each September, so... yeah, that's a great time to go! Free dining can save you hundreds of dollars and never has to come out of any part of your budget! For my larger family, our savings on free dining came to $871!

So how much did we end up with after these 8 steps?  These 12 months brought us a total of: $4,316!

Maybe all 8 of these ideas won't work for you - everyone's budget is different - but use as many of the tips as you can and squirrel away that extra cash and you'll be singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" before you know it.  Feel free to post any other ideas of fun ways to save money for a vacation in the comment section!

Want to save even more? Contact me: Emily@Wishdrawals.com and I'll find every discount and best price available to you for FREE! 

Are We There Yet?

Because we can't look like this the whole way there...

What Should We Do on the Drive to Disney?

Today I was contemplating my next post and asked my daughter what she thought I should write about (she just turned 5 a few weeks ago).  And I loved her answer! She said: "Well, it's really far away.  How about what we are going to do on the way there!"

So today I am going to share a list of fun activities to keep your family busy on the long ride to Disney. Whether by train, plane, or car, it seems like the hours to fill on that journey go on forever for kids since they are so excited.

Let's cover a few of the obvious answers first:

1. Watch movies:
- I like to fill my ipad to capacity before we head out on a trip.  Those digital copies of the Disney movies we paid so much money for are now finally useful!
- If you rent a movie from the iTunes store and download it, it will be there even if you don't have wi-fi on your drive.  But beware: once you hit play, you're on the clock for your 24-hour time window!
- Disney DVDs in your car's system or on a portable DVD player.

Quick tip: I always ask my girls what their favorite Disney movies are a few weeks before we head down to Disney.  With Amazon Prime shipping, I was able to get Bolt on DVD with a digital copy for just $4.75 shortly before we were surprising the girls with a Disney trip and it was a big hit! I didn't even know they liked Bolt!

I personally like to limit our movie time to one or two at most on the drive there, since it's only an 8-hour trip for our family, but to each their own!

2. Listen to music:
I like to burn a CD of our favorite Disney tunes before we hit the road.  One of the best purchases at the theme parks for a Disney nerd like myself is a soundtrack.  I own the Fantasmic CD, Spectromagic, and a few discs of the theme park ride sountracks from over the years and there's nothing better to put you in a Disney mood! Of course, we always switch it up with some of my hubby's music, too, to keep him happy while driving.

3. Coloring Pictures:
My favorite are the Crayola color wonder books and markers.  This allows my kids to color with no chance of marker ending up on their clothes or of hot melted crayons being found in the car later (yes, I'm saying this from experience). Buy them on Amazon.com or in your local store.  And these clipboards are handy to have for coloring time, too: Amazon's clipboards.

4. I-Spy:
We love to play I-spy with Disney maps.  I always bring brochures from my last Disney trip and pass them out to the girls and play "can you find...?"  Each girl has a Magic Kingdom map and I will tell them to find Splash Mountain, a specific Disney character, etc.

We also play it with road signs.  Who can find the first letter "M", who can spy the Welcome to Florida sign, who spots the first palm tree, etc.  And of course, there's a small prize for the first person who spots a Disney billboard!

5. Reading Books:
This is my favorite choice- especially now that the Kindle app on the iPad makes reading even after dark super easy.  But I don't highly recommend this for kids unless you've given them Dramamine or something to make sure their tummy doesn't get upset.  Often when reading in the car in the backseat, even the best junior travelers will find their tummies feel sick.  When the kids want to hear a story, I pull out their Disney books (which I pack with the coloring books) and hold it up so they can see the pictures and read it aloud to them. Some of their favorites are photobook and scrapbooks of past Disney trips that remind them of how much they have to look forward to at the end of the car ride.

6. Planning our itinerary 
I always make my dining reservations 180 days in advance and know the park hours and which park we'll visit each day so that I can make my Fastpass+ reservations 60 days in advance, but when we're all in the car, I like to ask the kids which shows, rides, and characters it's most important for them to get to and prioritize them on my list.  This way, no one is disappointed that they didn't see Ariel or get to ride the Peter Pan ride.  Remember, those Fastpass+ reservations can be changed if they have to!

7. Play Mad Libs - especially of the Disney variety!
I make my own that are really simple for my girls who are 6, 5, and 3 and I'm attaching the file at the end of this blog post.  I have done the writing in the past, but my 6-year-old is about ready to take that part over! The best part is that at the end, they get to hear a story they've never heard before.

8. Snack breaks
I love to pack fresh fruit - grapes, apples, clementines, and bananas for the girls.  In addition to their favorites: chex mix, cheez-its, goldfish, and pretzels.  But in addition to the fun things we bring on our own, the girls have a ball running into a gas station and each picking one treat while my hubby re-fuels and we all take a quick bathroom break.  I have to approve the size and cost of the snack, but then they're good to go back in the car and enjoy their little vacation goodies.

9. Toy time!
I always bring the small Disney toys my kids have - usually the little pvc multi packs we got from the Disney Store and a few soft princess dolls to play pretend with.  Inevitably their dolls end up going to WDW and they pretend they're on rides.  This keeps my girls busy for a long while.

10. I'm thinking of a Disney character...
Our family likes taking turns describing Disney characters.  You can ask for up to 5 clues.  To help little ones, we like to pull out Disney story books to give them ideas for clues.
For example:
1. I love to sing and paint.
2. My best friend is green.
3. I have really long hair!
4. I'll knock you out with a frying pan if you scare me!
5. I was locked in a tower for a long time.
It's Rapunzel from Tangled!

I hope these activities and planning strategies will help make your next trip to Disney smooth and fast!  Feel free to share other activities you and your family enjoy on your trips in the comment boxes below.

Tips for Toddlers and Infants

Disney was designed for families and you can have the most memorable vacation of your lifetime there.  Let me help you make those memories positive for you and your little one with 10 helpful tips that I learned the hard way:

1. Disney's strollers are not infant-friendly.  I deem them appropriate only for babies about ages 20 months+ since they are hard and don't have a very secure way to buckle your child.  They're not really budget-friendly, either ($15/day for a single stroller or $31/day for a double stroller).  I highly recommend you either rent from a 3rd party company and let them deliver it to your hotel, buy one there, or bring your own stroller on your trip with you.
2. Your children will be begging to ride in the stroller within the first 3 hours.  Even if they seem like they're too old (5-6) for a stroller to be necessary all day, I've neglected to bring mine and ultimately shelled out a lot of cash to get one for my sweet daughter whose feet were killing her before the 3:00 parade. Disney has stroller parking attendants and cast members all over the park, so don't be afraid to park your stroller in the morning (maybe even leave a small cooler with some cold drinks in it) and come back to grab it later in the day when your children have walked 5 miles and can't keep up any more.
3. Baby Care Centers are great for diaper changing, nursing babies, or even letting your little one get a quick nap without heading all the way back to the hotel.  They have high chairs and even a kitchen with a microwave where you can prepare whatever you need to keep your kiddo happy in the happiest place on earth!
4. Disney's cast members are authorized to invoke the "no sad kids rule" at all the theme parks.  This means that if your little one drops their ice cream, spills the drink you just paid a pretty penny for, they'll happily replace it for you if you just let them know what happened.
5. You can maximize your time in the parks by being there 10 minutes before the park is going to open and riding as many rides as you can in the first 2 hours of the park day. Insider tip: if you're not staying at one of Disney's resorts, try not to go the park that has Extra Magic Hours that day.  If you get to the park that opened at 8am for Disney's resort guests and 9am for you and everyone else, the park will already be semi-crowded and the lines will start out longer.  Instead, aim for a day that the park you want to visit does not have extra magic hours that day.
6. If you arrived for the park opening and got to ride rides before the heat of the day (and it does get hot hot hot around lunchtime in Orlando) then head home when it gets really hot.  Let the little ones take a nap in their quiet bed (if you want to save a little money, you can even stop at a drive-thru on your way back to the hotel for a cheap lunch). Then head back to the theme park two hours later, feeling refreshed for fireworks and energized enough to stay till park closing when the evening hours are so much cooler than those lunchtime hours!
7. Make realistic goals for what you want to accomplish in the park that day.  For example, I let everyone in the family pick one thing that I will guarantee them.  Last time we were at Epcot, the list was Soarin', Finding Nemo, and the Journey into the Imagination attraction, and they were all dying to meet Anna and Elsa (yes, I was one of the crazy people in line for 3.5 hours).  After that, we did whatever we thought sounded fun.  By making a realistic goal and limiting promises to toddlers, you can cut the disappointment meltdowns out of the picture.
8. Speaking of meltdowns, if you don't want to spend upwards of $50 on souvenirs, don't take your toddler into any stores.  When I want to shop, my hubby takes the kids into a play area or on a ride and then I meet back up with them.  It is near impossible for toddlers to play in a toy store and then be told to leave all those toys behind.
9. Make sure you get that child in front of videos of the costumed characters before you leave for your trip! Youtube has lots of great videos of character shows (hint: type in "dream along with mickey show") and the FREE Disney vacation planning DVD has great footage of the characters, too.  This pre-trip exposure will help avoid some unnecessary tears for your child since they will already have an idea of what to expect.
10. Write a list of what you want to have in your diaper bag and check it before you leave the hotel in the morning.  If you want to see what I keep in my diaper bag when I head to the theme parks, check out my Comprehensive Packing List.  And I also have a few essential items I bring with me no matter where I go in Disney on my Essential Items list.