Walt Disney World Mom's Panel

Who loves Disney World?  I mean, REALLY loves Disney World?  You know who you are.  The minute you leave one vacation you are already planning the next, whether it's in six months or six years.  You know how to navigate all the parks but you still pick up a park map.  You know which rides are "Must-Do"s for your family.  You know that "Must-Do" is from the loop played on Disney resort televisions.  All you have to do is think about Tinkerbell flying from the castle and you are in tears.  You would ride Toy Story Midway Mania over and over again no matter how badly your hand cramped.  You have a Junior Jammitor sticker in your wallet. (I'm looking at you, Tyler){ok, I just got a new one too.}

I LOVE Disney World.  It is my happy place.  I cannot go there enough.  I love going with my family, either my husband and kids, just my husband or the whole clan. (All eighteen from my side of the family went several years ago. Eight adults and ten kids.  It was insanity, blissful insanity!)  I love going with my friends and showing them new stuff and learning what they love about the parks.  I particularly love going with people who have never been before.  Walt Disney World in Florida is so huge that it's difficult to adequately describe.  I love watching their faces when they see Main Street and the castle for the first time.  I had the great pleasure of being with my friend, Cheri, as she experienced Epcot for the first time this past weekend.

Yes, we went to Disney World in August, and yes, it was hot and crazy humid, but I promise we had a good reason.  Four years ago, Disney started the Walt Disney World Mom's Panel.  It's an online forum where anyone can ask trip planning questions and Disney Moms answer and give trip advice.  Disney did a search for Moms who love planning their (and everyone else's) Disney trips.  They had 10,000 people apply to be on the first panel in 2008.  I believe they started with 12 members and have increased as the demand has increased.  Every year they open up the search to find new members.  I think that last year they had close to 20,000 applicants.  It is a dream of mine to be on the Mom's Panel.  I have applied and will be applying this year.  The same group of Disney cast members (employees) that is responsible for the Mom's Panel also hosts the Mickey Mom's Club.  The Mickey Mom's Club had a dessert party and special viewing area to watch Illuminations, Epcot's nighttime spectacular on Sunday night.  My friend Cheri and I drove down to be there. 

Was it crazy to go to Florida for a short weekend for a dessert party?  Maybe to someone else, but to me, 1. um, it's DISNEY, and 2. what a great opportunity to meet some of the people who are living my dream!  I met several former and current Mom's Panel members, including some dads!  I was able to get a few minutes with Laura Spencer, Disney Princess in charge of the Mom's Panel, so I'll let her tell you about the Mickey Mom's Club.



Okay, so maybe I did some creative editing!  The truth is, out of 20,000 people someone WILL be chosen and maybe this is my year!  If you love Disney and are interested in applying, the Mom's Panel search will be starting September 13th.  I'll be hoping for some pixie dust for all of us applying!

Whatever Martha {a party at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia}

A few weeks before the BlogHer conference, buzz started zipping around twitter about a party happening at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.  The twitter stream lit up.  For some of my fellow bloggers, this was like the mothership calling them home.  There are many food bloggers, style bloggers, and organization bloggers who immediately tried to figure out how to get invited.  I was curious because, COME ON, Martha Stewart!!  However, the truth is I am so not Martha.  Not even close.  I am a Whatever Martha kind of girl.  If you have never seen Whatever Martha or listened to Whatever Radio they are all kinds of awesome.  Whatever Martha is a show where Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt go back over old episodes of Martha Stewart Living and generally snark and sometimes try to recreate the craft or demo that Martha does.  The show won critical acclaim in its first two seasons and they recently started shooting season 3 which will air on the Hallmark Channel in January.  So being a Whatever, Martha! kind of girl, this is the only tweet I sent out about the Martha party.

That's it.  Didn't think about it anymore.  Imagine my surprise when I checked the email account for this, my very new blog, and found an invitation to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia!!  I immediately replied with a "Yes."  On that Thursday, I arrived in New York, went immediately to the Kodak Bus Tour, raced back to the hotel and had about 20 minutes to get ready to leave for the Martha party.  One disadvantage to the Kodak tour is that after being on top of a double decker bus for three hours on a hot sunny day, I was fried.  I had sunscreen on, but clearly not enough.  You will see in the pictures, I was a LOBSTER!  So I raced to get ready and ran to the lobby of the hotel.  There was a huge line for taxis and it wasn't going anywhere.  A gentleman approached us and offered to take us in his limo for $5 a person, up to ten people.  We quickly gathered 8 of us and hopped in, we were going to Martha in style! (yes, we were slightly worried that we would never be seen again!)



After arriving in style, we had to wait in a long line to be escorted up to the 9th floor.  Once off the elevator we were firmly in Martha-land.





The one Martha Stewart publication that I regularly subscribe to is Everyday Food.  Actually my husband is the subscriber.  We love it because it really is everyday food.  The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are easily found.  Imagine my delight when I found myself talking to Editor and Chief Anna Last.  She was so kind and easy to talk to, one of my highlights of the party. 

My other highlight brings me back to Whatever, Martha!  Not long after exploring the party I realized that tucked into a corner were Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt.  Brilliant!  I dissolved into fangirl excitement.  I didn't want to intrude on their privacy, but holy cow!  Fortunately right before I left the party they were leaving too.  I spoke to Jennifer first who is unbelievably tiny.  Alexis is just frighteningly thin, but Jennifer looks like she could use a few sandwiches too.  Maybe a brownie.  So I got a picture with the two of them and my friend Sue from Motherhood and Me.

                          photo by Sue Robinson of Motherhood and Me and Lives Less Ordinary

Then the magic happened.  On their radio show, Jennifer is known as "the sound" because girl can talk, and Alexis is known as "the fury."  I'll let you figure it out for yourself.  So I asked Alexis for the following picture and she happily complied.

                        photo by Sue Robinson of Motherhood and Me and Lives Less Ordinary

Seriously, I might frame this picture and put it up in my house.  Love.  Let me emphasize again, I asked for this picture!  I'm so glad she indulged me, she scares me a little.  Look at her arms! She could totally take me out!

All in all this was an interesting party.  I freaking loved seeing Jennifer and Alexis.  I had false eyelashes put on for the first time and found them on my pillow the rest of the week.  There were some great displays and demos, but it was an odd assortment.  I think companies and bloggers are trying to figure out what to do with each other which makes events like this interesting.  I am grateful I was able to attend and see a little more about the Martha Stewart empire!

Stop back by this week for posts about the Zhuniverse tour and my report from the Mickey Moms' Club Meet Up in Epcot this past weekend.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

A Few of my Favorite Disney Things

Today's vlog is about my favorite place in the world, Walt Disney World.  In it I mention the Walt Disney World Mom's Panel, for more information please go to the Mom's Panel website.  I also reference being able to find maps for Disney Parks in the hotels, but forgot to add that I meant the on-WDW-property hotels! (remind me not to vlog late at night!) Oh, and as usual, please forgive the scratching around of dog and cat feet! {and let's all just ignore the attack of adult acne going on!} 



Thanks for stopping by, more exciting things coming this week so check back!!