Disney Magic: Sorcerer Dylan

What a fun surprise we had recently when Dylan had the opportunity to "open" the Disney Store with a little magic!

We set out for the mall to buy some new shoes for school and accidentally arrived before most of the mall stores opened for the day. Strolling around to pass the time, we were walking by the Disney Store when I remembered having seen photos on social media of other kids getting to "open" the store. Without telling Dylan (in case I was wrong), we convinced him to wait outside the store. We spent the time encouraging him to search out hidden Mickeys in the window display.

So glad we waited! I'm not sure when we'll get this chance again and it was such fun for the 3 of us. Dylan got to dress up like Sorcerer Mickey and do some "magic" to get the book to light up. Then one of the Cast Members gave him a special Mickey lanyard as a gift. He wore it the rest of the day and it now proudly hangs in his room with one from our visit to Walt Disney World last year.

Thanks, Disney, for helping us turn an ordinary day into something magical!

Supplies: Storyboards 1 template and Digi Essentials by Karla Dudley; Bermuda Triangle collaboration from Pixels & Co; Create Something Beautiful kit by Sweet Shoppe Designs; Dude kit by Robyn Meierotto; Peachy Keen kit by Dawn by Design.

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A Goofy Birthday?

A bit of an early (Thursday) throwback today in honor of my sister's birthday.

This photo was too cute not to share. That's Mary on the left and me on the right with Goofy at a character breakfast at the Contemporary Resort in April 1984. Our first trip to Walt Disney World. Before today I never realized that 1) apparently she got a birthday trip there [dear parents, where was my birthday trip to Disney?? ;) ]; 2) that lady in the background looks terrified of Goofy. Did she miss the memo it was a character breakfast? and 3) what's up with Goofy's eyelashes? I honestly don't recall them looking quite like that on my visit last year.

In all seriousness, a very happy birthday to my little sister! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and celebrating your birthday again.

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Friday Freebie: DIY Disney Stroller Tag Template

Last fall I shared details on the Stroller Tag I made for our last trip to Walt Disney World. I was asked about a template and had been meaning to create one.

This month's Friday Freebie is the DIY Disney Stroller Tag. It's free for personal use only and your download will include two .psd files. One features the name side and is ready to edit with your family name and, if you choose, add the resort/hotel name and trip month/year at the bottom. (Note: if you don't have Waltograph font, download it for free at dafont here for use with the Stroller Tag template.)

The second file contains a red, black & white Mickey background with a single white text letter to edit with your family's last initial.

After you've download the template, edit the files, print, trim and seal with a wallet size Scotch Self-Sealing Laminate Pouch. Punch a hole and use a ziptie or ribbon to attach to your stroller.

Click here to download Stroller Tag Template

Don't have Photoshop? No worries. I have a simple free printable available as well. Just print and handwrite your family's name. Then seal like the template option.

Click here to download Stroller Tag Printable

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

Not sure how to edit one of my free templates? See my Digital Template Tutorial for quick, step-by-step instructions.

FTC Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

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Disney All-Star Music: Resort Fun

The cold weather and household conversation about our next Walt Disney World trip (nothing planned ... yet ;) ), have me Disney dreaming. And what better to daydream about than enjoying the pool and other fun entertainment at a Disney resort?

I put together this page for our photo book last year to give a snapshot of the fun we had swimming in the guitar pool and playing in the arcade at All-Star Music Resort:

On previous visits, Trent & I stayed at Port Orleans - Riverside. I'm still a bit partial to it and thinking that might be what we do next time. What's your favorite resort?

Supplies: Dude mini kit and Clearly Simple Sans alpha by Robyn Meierotto; Inspire papers by Sarah Sullivan.

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Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate

Trent surprised me a couple months ago by telling me he bought the three of us tickets to Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! We used to love going every year. It was quite often his birthday gift to me. Then we stopped going when Dylan was born and began waiting until we felt he was old enough to sit, watch and enjoy. What we didn't do (unlike our trip to Walt Disney World last May) was tell Dylan until we were in our seats. He was so excited and pretty much captivated the entire show by the performances.

Here's a small taste of what we saw (all photos SOOC) …

A Very Merry Unbirthday with Alice & the Mad Hatter

Halloween fun with Sorcerer Mickey & Jack Skellington along with other Disney villains

Valentine's Day Ball with Disney Princess including Dylan's favorite - Ariel

Eyes focused on the rink and enjoying a new Mickey Mouse glow necklace (Party City $2)

Hawaiian luau with Lilo & Stitch

Chinese New Year celebration with Mulan

Winter Wonderland with Buzz, Woody & Jessie

Grand finale

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Disney Trip Envelope 2013

I originally created the Disney Trip Envelope in fall 2007 and updated it a year later. Since then, it has sat amongst our trip albums and other memories waiting for a future use. The future finally arrived last spring as we took Dylan to Walt Disney World for the first time. Here's a look at the changes I made for our latest trip ...

Park Hours I kept this one essentially the same. Updated the dates and park hours for each (hint: find park hours on WDW's website here - https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/).

Parades & Fireworks On Disney's website, you can search parade times for a particular date. I searched for the 4 days of our stay and made a note of times by park so we could easily plan for when we wanted to see one.

Table Service We opted not to buy a dining plan this visit and pass on all table service. The latter was partly in not wanting to be tied to a specific place and time. We wanted to just move at whatever pace worked best with Dylan. And, while I was somewhat tempted to book a character breakfast, as he was showing a little nervousness around costumed mascots locally at the time, I didn't want to chance a similar fear and have a terrified child stuck at a table. Thus, this card was pulled from the envelope and stashed for use hopefully on our next trip.

Kid Attractions In my original design, I had a card listing our personal favorite attractions at each park and which had fast passes. I recreated the attraction card and made a new list of kid friendly attractions that we thought Dylan might enjoy and underlined the ones that had the fast pass option.

Pressed Pennies This was a new card I added. Dylan already had a pressed penny collection from various trips. Thinking he might want a specific character or two during our visit to Walt Disney World, I searched online at Presscoins.com to find where some of his favorites were located as well as noting which ones were at our resort.

Disney To Do List Before the trip, Dylan & I talked about what he might want to do at Disney and came up with a list of 7 basic things. I printed these out for him to use as a checklist during the trip. This was a fun way to enjoy our visit to Walt Disney World and also not feel as pressured to "do it all."

Admittedly, when I first created this envelope, smart phones weren't what they are now. I did have a Blackberry on the 2008 trip, but the "there's an app for that" phase hadn't begun. Part of my reason for continuing with this (besides the simple tradition for us) and for leaving my DSLR at home (*gasp*) - we wanted to be in the moment and enjoy that magic with our son. Not faces glued to little screens in our hands or fumbling with a heavy camera to get the 'perfect' shot. As magical is Disney is at any age, watching him light up with excitement was the most magical part of all.

Planning a trip to Disney with your young child(ren)? Check out my tips for Disney with a Preschooler and how to save money with Packed Fun for Less.

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Disney Book: The End

The final page in our Disney photo book - heading home.

I chose to use 3 photos on this page that summed it up perfectly: watching the rain fall as we waited on the Magical Express to take us to the airport (only rain during our trip!), Dylan looking out the plane window just before we pulled away from the gate, and pulling our luggage through the pickup area at RDU.

Supplies: Destination: Adventure freebie kit by Shannon McNab.

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Friday Freebie: Disney Resort Fun

The photo book of our trip to Walt Disney World wouldn't be complete without a page about the fun we had playing at our resort, All-Star Music. All trips need a little downtime and after spending the morning at Animal Kingdom, we returned to the resort midafternoon to do just that. We played games in the arcade (the middle photo cracks me up - my attempt at a shot of all 3 of us playing a racing game. Dylan was in my lap and the mouse ears on his head are just barely visible) and swam in the guitar pool before ordering a pizza for dinner. Simple, fun Friday night in the happiest place on earth.

Supplies: Inspire papers by Sarah Sullivan (recolored); Count on Me brushes by Deena Rutter; Dude kit & Clearly alpha by Robyn Meierotto.

Want to recreate the look of this page? Do it easily with this month's Friday Freebie template. The template features 12 layers including photo masks, arrow head embellishment & title. It's free for personal use only.

Click here to download the Resort Fun template

Enjoy!

Have you missed one of my previous digital freebies? Click HERE to find them. And, don't forget to subscribe to my feeds so you won't miss future freebies!

Planning a trip to Disney with your young child(ren)? Check out my tips for Disney with a Preschooler and how to save money with Packed Fun for Less.

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DIY Disney Stroller Tag

When planning for Disney, I frequently saw mentions of stroller tags to identify your stroller. Throughout your visit in the parks, you have to leave your stroller in stroller parking areas. Cast members will shift the strollers as needed to fill the space as much as possible. Meaning your stroller might not be in exactly the same spot you left it. Plus, if you have a popular type/style, it's very possible to see many that look just like yours.

We took our Maclaren Volo. Amazingly, I only spotted one identical stroller during our entire visit. Possibly a perk of having a color scheme that's now a few years old? Regardless, two things helped us spot our stroller quickly - the liner I made a couple years ago and the stroller tag I made for the trip.

If you search online, there are LOTS of ideas and even some free download & print styles especially for the park rentals. I decided to use some supplies I had on hand and put one together in just about 30 minutes.

I wanted something simple that would help identify our stroller for our 4 days at Walt Disney World. Well, it did that and then some. I confess, 4 months later and it's still on our stroller and looking as good as it did the day I attached it. Maybe I'll remove it later. Maybe. I kind of like that bit of Disney on there.

Supplies: white card stock, Waltograph & Tekton Pro fonts; Disney scrapbook papers; QuicKutz Tangerine font, Mickey's shoe eyelet; Scotch Photo Laminating Sheet - wallet size; ziptie.

*Updated March 2014: Find my free template and printable to create your own stroller tag here **

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Hidden Mickeys

On previous trips to Walt Disney World, Trent & I have had fun hunting for hidden (and not so hidden) Mickeys. Dylan was just old enough during our trip in May to play along himself. Once we showed him a couple, he got the hang of it and had fun pointing out any Mickey likeness he saw. To this day he will make a hidden Mickey any chance he gets (3 M&M's = hidden Mickey, 3 slices of cucumber = hidden Mickey, etc). So cute.

As he also is really into the camera and getting photos of certain things, he often asked me to take photos of the Mickeys he spotted. Thus, we have the page dedicated to Mickey in our trip album:

I created a template with a simple grid outline to arrange all the photos. The larger picture of Dylan with the Mickey Mouse ice cream is straight from Instagram.

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Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

Our visit to Walt Disney World ended up being during the annual Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot. This meant special exhibits throughout the park including 3 playgrounds (we stopped & played at 2) and lots of gorgeous topiaries. We took photos of many of them and I wanted to include some in our book.

click to enlarge

I used PhotoStory templates from the same sets I've used for several other of my Disney pages. I like the simplicity and how it allows the photos to be the focus. After all, those topiaries are gorgeous enough on their own.

Supplies: PhotoStory template sets 1 & 2 by Mary Moseley

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Walt Disney World - Rides & Shows

Making a page per ride or show seemed a little extreme (and time consuming!) so instead I opted to create a simple, two page design that showcases a few of my favorite photos and lists all we did.

Supplies: Sunny Days kit and Frame Clusters volumes 1 & 2 by Karen Funk; Digi Essentials kit by Karla Dudley.

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You've Got Ears

I have 2 pairs of Mickey Mouse ears from Walt Disney World (my original pair is from the early 80s!). Dylan had seen them before our trip and I promised he could pick out his own pair. We visited the Chapeau on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom where he selected the Pirates of the Caribbean style. Argh!

Supplies: template by Laura Edwards; Sunny Days kit by Karen Funk; Spooked kit by Jen Allyson; Digi Essentials elements by Karla Dudley; mouse head brad by 2paws Designs; Minnie & Arial fonts.

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four days 4 parks

I came across this layout on Pinterest and thought it was the perfect inspiration for a title page for our photobook. I followed the general idea of a single photo & simple journaling for each day of the trip. Then I changed things up a bit for my own design. Loving how it turned out.

Supplies: More or Less collaboration kit from Pixels & Co; Count on Me brushes by Deena Rutter; This Week elements by Karla Dudley.

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Fish are Friends

My boys posing in Epcot at The Seas with Nemo & Friends:

Supplies: Just Keep Swimming papers by Robyn Meierotto; Digi Essentials brushes by Karla Dudley; En Route embellishments by Erica Coombs; Project 365 - Frame Clusters vol 2 by Karen Funk.

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meeting characters

We met a few characters during our trip to Walt Disney World. I decided to use simple clean lined templates to let the photos tell the story.

Supplies: PhotoStory template sets 1 & 2 by Mary Moseley; More or Less collaboration kit from Pixels & Co (paper recolored); Where the Magic Begins add-on by Britt-ish Designs; Minnie & Pooh fonts (title).

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First Flight

Our flight to Orlando in early May was Dylan's first flight. Minus the fact that Trent wasn't with us (he was already there for business), I am glad this milestone waited until now. He was old enough to understand and get a bit excited about the whole thing. He did surprise me by spending most of the flight coloring or drawing and only looked out the window a few times.

Supplies: En Route papers by Erica Coombs; Fly Away with Me elements (stitches recolored) by Sarah Sullivan.

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reunited

Dylan & I flew to Orlando on our own last month to meet Trent who was already there for business. He managed to get to the resort before us. After Dylan & I got off the Magical Express, we passed through the lobby and toward the pool area looking for him. The excitement as he spotted his dad was priceless - pure joy. Probably my favorite moment from our trip.

Supplies: Spring Freebie Collection by Just Jaimee; Photo Clusters vol 2 by Karen Funk; Noted brushes by Jen Allyson; 2ps Peas & Carrots font for title.

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Animal Kingdom: drumming

During our visit to Animal Kingdom, Dylan spied a grouping of drums and quickly joined other children in playing them. I love the joy in his smile here - definitely one of the highlights of his day.

Supplies: May 2013 Design Challenge template & More or Less collaboration kit from Pixels & Co; Sunny Days papers by Karen Funk; Playground Flairs & Spring Freebie Collection by Just Jaimee; Digi Essentials by Karla Dudley; Mellow Alpha by Robin Meirotto; En Route elements by Erica Coombs; The Woodsong Collection papers by Deena Rutter; Baby Dinos papers by Tiffany Tillman

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Friday Freebie: Mouse Ears & Pressed Pennies

I mentioned in my Disney Packed Fun for Less post that I would have a free printable to share at the end of the month. I had fun creating simple labels to dress up mini M&M's tubes complete with a few hidden Mickeys. The "chocolate mouse ears" tubes did have mini M&M's in them (which was a hit as a treat but a miss as I didn't think about the old "melt in your hand thing" - totally will in hot FL weather so have those handwipes ready!). The other held a stack of coins (2 quarters & a penny, repeat) so we were ready for the pressed penny machines. Dylan is really into those right now and they make a fun, inexpensive souvenir.

The labels fit 6 to a sheet on Avery Shipping Labels 8164 or similar. Peel off the original label on the tube. Then print, peel & stick the new ones. Simple as that.

Click here to download the Mouse Ears Labels from Google Docs

Click here to download the Pressed Pennies Labels from Google Docs

Enjoy!

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