Friday, February 6, 2009
No longer at CCE/MEV
Well, it has been a very hard decision, but for personal and health reasons, I have resigned as a Leisure Travel Consultant with CruisingCo. and MouseEarVacations. I still LOVE travel and Disney and the cruising industry, but I need to focus on myself and home and family right now. Once things settle down, I am hoping to find another way to make a niche for myself in the travel industry. I've made several wonderful friends and have learned so much in the past year. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything! If you are interested in having someone help you with your vacation plans, I have several wonderful travel agent friends who would love to help you!!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The most fun ever!
On our last night of the Agent Education Program at WDW this past June, we had to make sure that we rode on Splash Mountain, as it is Lee Ellen's favorite ride. I had promised Leel that we could sit in the front seat (as I think that Splash Mountain doesn't exist for her unless she's in the front seat!!!) Ok, so Mary Jane doesn't like rides with big drops (don't think we'll EVER get her on the Tower of Terror!) The entire time we were waiting in line, MJ looked very nervous--we kept telling her that the ride is not so bad, and that we thought she would enjoy it.
So our car pulls up, and as Lee Ellen and I start climbing in the front seat, Mary Jane looks as though she might not go through with this! But she is brave, and climbs in behind us.
Most of the ride is very tame; finally the steep drop appears before us--here is our picture at that moment. Priceless! Me--having fun, Lee Ellen--couldn't be enjoying her ride in the front seat any more than she is at this moment, and Mary Jane--looking scared to death, and probably wondering WHY ON EARTH she let us talk her into going on this ride!
It was a blast!!! (In another post, I'll write about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The Art of Disney!!!
What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase, “The Art of Disney?” If you are a shop-a-holic, you may think of Downtown Disney’s gallery named “The Art of Disney.” Or if you are a Disney-movie fan, the term animation may come to your mind. But when I think of “The Art of Disney,” I am thinking of the hand-made art made by Disney cast members each day. Two types of their hand-made art that I especially enjoy are: that of the “towel variety” and , of course, that of the “food variety!”
Those of you who have already seen this special Disney art know what I am talking about—those of you who haven’t are in for a wonderful surprise when you do see it!
I love putting my Disney hotel room key into the door for the first time—because I never know what sort of towel art may be peeking out at me when I open it. When I stayed at Disney’s All-Stars Music Resort recently, I opened my door and found a wonderful Mickey head made out of towels greeting me from the king-sized bed.
A few days later I was on a Disney cruise ship, where the tables in the Parrot Cay Restaurant were adorned with napkins folded into the shape of shirts. And in the couples’ area in the ship’s Spa was a scene straight out of a romance novel. Right in the middle of the room is a mosaic-tiled fountain, complete with red rose petals spread about and two towel Swans, in the shape of a heart, sharing a smooch.
Disney’s towel artists have some stiff competition in their counterparts, the food artists! You’ve gotta love the Mickey-shaped rice krispie treat cookies, especially when they are dipped in chocolate! Or one of everybody’s favorites, the famous Mickey waffles!
Some of the food art that I saw on Disney’s “Wonder” cruise ship was simply beautiful! First, there was the watermelon that greeted passengers coming on board with the word, “Welcome!” Later, I saw another watermelon that had a beautiful flower carved into it. Other beautiful carvings were vegetables that had been shaped into flowers, and displayed in a pineapple “vase.” And of course, a Disney table of food wouldn’t be complete without Mickey, the Big Cheese himself, although in this case he was a large, glaze–covered cookie, greeting everyone who joined him at the restaurant’s buffet table.
Whether you are a museum-going art lover or not, you are sure to be enthralled by the masterpieces that await you when you visit a Disney destination—just keep your eyes open, keep your camera close by, and enjoy!!!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sprinkling Pixie Dust
Sprinkling Pixie Dust at Walt Disney World
Shortly before my last Disney trip, I was perusing the Passporter message boards and read a post by a woman that both intrigued me and touched my heart. She stated that she and her husband had taken jugs of maple syrup to Walt Disney World, and had given them as gifts to cast members who had “gone the extra mile” for them. I felt that this was a wonderful idea and quickly thought up ways that I could do something similar on my own upcoming trip. Just as some of you might, I like to go to Disney destinations in the hopes of receiving at least “a little bit of pixie dust.” But I have found that sprinkling some on others can be just as memorable! Some of the ways in which I tried to do this on my last trip was by giving out little packages to select cast members and fellow guests, by being a “Fairy Godmailer, and by trying to perform “random acts of kindness.”
I had fun putting little care packages together before our trip. In each one, I placed a small Virginia momento (since that is where I live), a heart lollipop, and a “Virginia is for Lovers” postcard, on which I wrote a message stating, “Thank you for making our day a little bit more magical!” Then I put Disney character stickers on the outside of each package.
Each day during our vacation I placed 3 or 4 packages inside our backpack. When we met someone who DID make our day more magical, we gave them one of our little gifts. Some we gave to cast members, others to fellow vacationers. In each instance, the person receiving the gift seemed genuinely surprised and pleased. I’d like to share the experience my husband and I had with two of the cast members.
The first person to whom we gave a package was Ame, the woman who checked us in at the Registration Desk at Port Orleans Riverside. She was so nice to me and my husband Mark, making us feel welcome and giving us big “Happy Anniversary” buttons when she saw that we were there for a special occasion. As we were leaving the desk, we thanked her and gave her the package. When we got to our hotel room later that day, we found that it was rather smoky. We were disappointed because we had requested a non-smoking room. When we called Guest Services to see if we could get a different room, we were told that all of Disney’s resort rooms are now non-smoking rooms, that the resort was completely booked, and that we wouldn’t be able to get another room. A mousekeeper was sent to spray our room with air freshener, but it really didn’t help. After a rough night’s sleep, we woke up in the morning, determined to find another room, even if it meant changing resorts. We decided to try asking someone at the Port Orleans French Quarter desk, hoping to have more luck in that part of the resort. Imagine our surprise when the castmember at the Registration Desk was Ame, the woman to whom we had given the package the previous day at Riverside! Ame went out of her way, placing several phone calls in order to find us a more acceptable room. We hadn’t given her a gift the day before in order to gain anything, but we decided that the adage, “You reap what you sow,” really did apply to us in this case. After she worked her magic for us, my husband Mark and I went to the nearby gift shop, bought a Tinkerbell pin, and slipped it on the desk next to Ame while she was helping another resort guest. This was really getting to be fun!
The other cast member we gave a package to was one of the food court workers at Port Orleans. Mark and I had been relaxing after breakfast, just enjoying a few quiet moments together before we hopped onto a bus to one of the parks. We had been watching this woman cleaning tables, and thought that she is probably one of many behind-the-scenes cast members who don’t receive enough recognition for all that they do. After we thanked her for all that she does to make guests’ visits more enjoyable, we gave her one of our thank-you packages. She was so surprised, and got a little teary-eyed while thanking us for doing something nice for her. She said to us, “Stay here – I’ll be right back.” She rejoined us a few minutes later, laden with Mickey stickers and Mardi-Gras coins and necklaces. Again, we hadn’t asked for anything – she just wanted to repay a kindness. We found that just a little thank you goes a long way, and that people truly do appreciate being acknowledged.
Something else that I did for the first time was to sign up on the Passporter boards to be a Fairy Godmailer. Several people messaged me asking me to send postcards to their loved ones—I was really tickled when one of my requests was from a woman who wanted to do something special for her 27-year-old sister who would be not only visiting Walt Disney World for the first time, but who also would be taking her first airplane ride!
I had such fun looking for just the right postcards for each of my Fairy God “children.” I browsed through gift shops with my list in hand, seeing who liked which characters and trying to find something to please each one. In Fulton’s (the gift shop in Port Orleans Riverside), I happened to mention to three cast members who were manning the cash registers what I was doing. They said that they had never heard of Fairy Godmailers and that they thought that it was such a neat idea. In one of the shops in Downtown Disney, I was so intent on looking at Winnie-the-Pooh items for one of my “kids” that I actually took a few steps out of the store, carrying my as-of-yet-unpaid-for items, before I realized what I was doing. I hurried to turn around and go right back to the store, so that I could pay for my purchases. The cast member at the cash register said that she was just about to call Security! (Warning to other distracted Fairy Godmailers – make sure you pay for your items before you walk out of the store!)
The last thing I did in trying to spread pixie dust around was to perform small “random acts of kindess.” Nothing major, just things like keeping a positive attitude while waiting in long lines, making sure to thank bus drivers for their service, and straightening up the River Roost Lounge after a large group left the room in order to maintain the sparkling clean atmosphere that Disney is known for.
I also noticed some children on the boat ride from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney who were really well-behaved. I complimented them for it and gave them some stickers. It was a small thing, but I wanted those children to know that an adult was impressed with their good behavior.
Making an effort to “spread the magic” at Walt Disney World really was easy and fun. I am sure that the benefit I gained was much more than anything I could have done for anyone else. Sprinkling pixie dust on others, whether you are doing it for people at Walt Disney World, or just for the people you encounter in your daily life, can really be a meaningful endeavor. Why not give it a try?
Shortly before my last Disney trip, I was perusing the Passporter message boards and read a post by a woman that both intrigued me and touched my heart. She stated that she and her husband had taken jugs of maple syrup to Walt Disney World, and had given them as gifts to cast members who had “gone the extra mile” for them. I felt that this was a wonderful idea and quickly thought up ways that I could do something similar on my own upcoming trip. Just as some of you might, I like to go to Disney destinations in the hopes of receiving at least “a little bit of pixie dust.” But I have found that sprinkling some on others can be just as memorable! Some of the ways in which I tried to do this on my last trip was by giving out little packages to select cast members and fellow guests, by being a “Fairy Godmailer, and by trying to perform “random acts of kindness.”
I had fun putting little care packages together before our trip. In each one, I placed a small Virginia momento (since that is where I live), a heart lollipop, and a “Virginia is for Lovers” postcard, on which I wrote a message stating, “Thank you for making our day a little bit more magical!” Then I put Disney character stickers on the outside of each package.
Each day during our vacation I placed 3 or 4 packages inside our backpack. When we met someone who DID make our day more magical, we gave them one of our little gifts. Some we gave to cast members, others to fellow vacationers. In each instance, the person receiving the gift seemed genuinely surprised and pleased. I’d like to share the experience my husband and I had with two of the cast members.
The first person to whom we gave a package was Ame, the woman who checked us in at the Registration Desk at Port Orleans Riverside. She was so nice to me and my husband Mark, making us feel welcome and giving us big “Happy Anniversary” buttons when she saw that we were there for a special occasion. As we were leaving the desk, we thanked her and gave her the package. When we got to our hotel room later that day, we found that it was rather smoky. We were disappointed because we had requested a non-smoking room. When we called Guest Services to see if we could get a different room, we were told that all of Disney’s resort rooms are now non-smoking rooms, that the resort was completely booked, and that we wouldn’t be able to get another room. A mousekeeper was sent to spray our room with air freshener, but it really didn’t help. After a rough night’s sleep, we woke up in the morning, determined to find another room, even if it meant changing resorts. We decided to try asking someone at the Port Orleans French Quarter desk, hoping to have more luck in that part of the resort. Imagine our surprise when the castmember at the Registration Desk was Ame, the woman to whom we had given the package the previous day at Riverside! Ame went out of her way, placing several phone calls in order to find us a more acceptable room. We hadn’t given her a gift the day before in order to gain anything, but we decided that the adage, “You reap what you sow,” really did apply to us in this case. After she worked her magic for us, my husband Mark and I went to the nearby gift shop, bought a Tinkerbell pin, and slipped it on the desk next to Ame while she was helping another resort guest. This was really getting to be fun!
The other cast member we gave a package to was one of the food court workers at Port Orleans. Mark and I had been relaxing after breakfast, just enjoying a few quiet moments together before we hopped onto a bus to one of the parks. We had been watching this woman cleaning tables, and thought that she is probably one of many behind-the-scenes cast members who don’t receive enough recognition for all that they do. After we thanked her for all that she does to make guests’ visits more enjoyable, we gave her one of our thank-you packages. She was so surprised, and got a little teary-eyed while thanking us for doing something nice for her. She said to us, “Stay here – I’ll be right back.” She rejoined us a few minutes later, laden with Mickey stickers and Mardi-Gras coins and necklaces. Again, we hadn’t asked for anything – she just wanted to repay a kindness. We found that just a little thank you goes a long way, and that people truly do appreciate being acknowledged.
Something else that I did for the first time was to sign up on the Passporter boards to be a Fairy Godmailer. Several people messaged me asking me to send postcards to their loved ones—I was really tickled when one of my requests was from a woman who wanted to do something special for her 27-year-old sister who would be not only visiting Walt Disney World for the first time, but who also would be taking her first airplane ride!
I had such fun looking for just the right postcards for each of my Fairy God “children.” I browsed through gift shops with my list in hand, seeing who liked which characters and trying to find something to please each one. In Fulton’s (the gift shop in Port Orleans Riverside), I happened to mention to three cast members who were manning the cash registers what I was doing. They said that they had never heard of Fairy Godmailers and that they thought that it was such a neat idea. In one of the shops in Downtown Disney, I was so intent on looking at Winnie-the-Pooh items for one of my “kids” that I actually took a few steps out of the store, carrying my as-of-yet-unpaid-for items, before I realized what I was doing. I hurried to turn around and go right back to the store, so that I could pay for my purchases. The cast member at the cash register said that she was just about to call Security! (Warning to other distracted Fairy Godmailers – make sure you pay for your items before you walk out of the store!)
The last thing I did in trying to spread pixie dust around was to perform small “random acts of kindess.” Nothing major, just things like keeping a positive attitude while waiting in long lines, making sure to thank bus drivers for their service, and straightening up the River Roost Lounge after a large group left the room in order to maintain the sparkling clean atmosphere that Disney is known for.
I also noticed some children on the boat ride from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney who were really well-behaved. I complimented them for it and gave them some stickers. It was a small thing, but I wanted those children to know that an adult was impressed with their good behavior.
Making an effort to “spread the magic” at Walt Disney World really was easy and fun. I am sure that the benefit I gained was much more than anything I could have done for anyone else. Sprinkling pixie dust on others, whether you are doing it for people at Walt Disney World, or just for the people you encounter in your daily life, can really be a meaningful endeavor. Why not give it a try?
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