My Disney Resolutions

Happy 2012 everyone!

 Here are my New Years Resolutions Disneyland style!!!

1. Take my Husband. He has missed our last three trips.

2. Eat a churro! Somehow I always forget about them. How do I do that?

3. Stay at Paradise Pier Hotel. It's the only hotel I haven't stayed at.

4. See one of the wild cats that live in the park.

5. Buy a balloon!

6. Give Mickey a high five.

7. Find all of the original ticket booths left in the park.

8. Ride Tender on the E.P. Ripley

9. Make a wish at Snow White's Grotto

10. Buy a Candy Cane.

11. Take my son on Indiana Jones. He should finally be tall enough this year! Whoo Hoo!

12. Take a guided tour! I've gone so many times and haven't done that yet, SHAME ON ME!



Big Decision

Big decision here! Would you rather spend New Years Eve at Disneyland or California Adventure?

Our Disney Christmas

When my son was born in 2006 my husband and I decided that we wanted to start him a collection of Christmas decorations. It was very easy to decide what type of decorations we were going to get him. Disney of course!!! We buy him one or two decorations each year and sometimes he gets a few from other family members too!

I thought it would be fun to share just a few of his decorations!

First he has his own tree in his room. Does anyone else allow their children to have their own tree in their room or is it just me? I love the Mickey lights.

He has gotten some really cute ornaments.

He also has this adorable lantern

and one of my favorites is this music box.

All right now its your turn!!! Please link up your Disney holiday decorations. I would love to see anything bought or made by you. Just please link up to that specific post, now lets have so fun!

O'Christmas Tree

Here are some fun facts I found from the Disney Blog!

This picture is gorgeous! Click here to see it on Wallcoo.net

"7,410 total feet of ribbon is used to make 812 bows. That’s 1.4 miles of ribbon!"

"2,365 ornaments on the Christmas tree on Main Street, U.S.A."

"79,000 ornaments all throughout Main Street."

"2,015 feet of garland help set the holiday tone."

"10,395 lights make everything sparkle and just a little bit brighter."

from the Disney Blog

Fa La La La La

Feel like a little Christmas music while you are visiting Disneyland. Stroll through the

Disneyland Hotel area they always have Christmas Carolers.

Picture from Travelholic

Christmas Candy Canes

Every year at Christmas Disneyland makes home made candy canes for guest to purchase. I've heard they are amazing but alas I have never had one. In fact I have never seen one. They are really hard to get. The candy canes are only made on certain days and they limit how many you can buy. I have even read that you have to get a voucher when you enter the park.

pictures provided by The Disney Food Blog

The Disney Food Blog has a great article about these special candy canes and provides us with a few tips on how you can get one. Head on over and check it out.

Oh, I hope I can get one this year!

Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse

Original Oranges

I've heard that there is still one of the original orange trees from the Anaheim Orange groves located at the Disneyland Hotels. Disneyland was built on 160 acres of orange groves that Walt bought in 1953. I have never seen it but have read that its still there and that cast members can point it out to you if you ask. I would love to know if any of you have seen it. I will have to find it on my next stay at Disneyland.

Yummy!

It's Blog hop Thursday and the topic for today is FOOD! YUM, that is a great topic! We love food in our house. We love food at Disneyland too! One of our favorite places is the:

Carnation Cafe

Lunch & Dinner
Main Street USA
Disneyland

My son loves to order the PB&J off the kids menu so he can make his own! It makes eating lunch a little more enjoyable. He forgets about asking if we can skip lunch to go back to the rides.

Don't forget to head on over to these two wonderful Disney blogs. They are co-hosting the hop today. Thanks Ladies, you are wonderful. I always learn something new when I read your blogs.

Celebrations

Hey there blog hoppers, it's Thursday Yay!!!

Today's Blog hop theme is Celebrations.

Thanks Babes in Disneyland for hosting every week! 

On our most recent visit to Disneyland we celebrated my sons 5th birthday (I can't believe he is 5 already) We headed straight to Town Hall to get his birthday button. He wasn't to happy with me either! He wanted to go on the rides, in fact I was lucky to get this picture.

We spent the next few hours in the park having a magical time and around three we headed back to our room for a quick rest and to meet up with family. We left his birthday button on the night stand next to the bed and headed back to Disneyland to have some more fun. To our surprise when we came back for a good nights rest there was something special waiting for him. 

These are the details that make our trips to Disneyland so magical.

Pinterest Party

Hello all my Disney Pals. Have you heard of the website Pinterest? Oh, I love Pinterest! It is a site filled with just about everything! If you want to check it out click here this will take you to my boards so you can see all of the fun ideas I have found. 

Well one of my favorite blogs Over The Big Moon has decided to host a linky party on the 4th and final Friday of each month for their readers to share projects they have found and made from Pinterest.  I thought this was a great idea and figured I would share the Disney projects I have made. My first project was this cute count down chalkboard I found.  The original pin on Pinterest was from Tip Junkie

Here is the Mickey chalkboard that I made.

I used a scrap piece of MDF my dad had in his garage and traced a small plate for the face and then a small bowl for the ears. After we cut it out I applied a flat black paint for a base coat and then two coats of chalkboard paint I picked up at Walmart.

Now I just need to plan my next trip to Disneyland! I can't wait to use our countdown chalkboard! 

For more great craft ideas head on over to I {Heart} Naptime

Autographs!

Did you know you can write any Disney Character a letter and they will send you and autographed picture! Awesome!!!

picture from http://www.couponingtodisney.com/

Here are the address.

 Walt Disney World Communications
P.O. Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

or

Walt Disney Company
Attn: Fan Mail Department
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521

Gone Bad

I just thought since I shared someone else's Splash Mountain picture I might as well share mine too!

 On our last trip to Disneyland my five year old decided he was going to be brave and ride Splash Mountain for the first time. I was proud of him for wanting to go on it but I didn't know if he was ready for it just yet. We took him on it anyway and he seemed alright through the whole ride! He was a little nervous as we climbed the hill before the drop but not to bad. It wasn't until after the ride and I saw this picture that I felt awful! The look on his face is complete terror! I don't think we will get him back on that ride for a long time! Does anyone else have a story of a ride gone bad? I would love for you to share it.

Proposal

I just happened upon this picture and had to share it with all my Disney friends. Is this not the cutest idea for a marriage proposal, I love it!

Picture from disneyeveryday.com

I Love Awards!

Whoo Hoo! I am so excited!  Mouse Encounter was awarded

with the Liebster Blog Award!

Thank you Lisa and Pam from Over the Big Moon! I love your blog as well!

So, the goal of the Liebster Blog Award is to spotlight your favorite up-and-coming bloggers. Rules are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have fun!

Five Fun Blogs 
1. Over The Big Moon ~ Everything family!

 

2. Disney Bird ~ A Chronicle of her Disney Experiences

3.  Shadows*N*Stitches ~ A great blog that gives awesome reviews on make-up!

4. Children's Learning Activities ~ If you have children you'll love this blog.

5.  Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons ~ Absolutely the most creative food blog ever!

The Tale of the Haunted Mansion Spider

A cast member at Disneyland recently shared a story with me about the spider located on the glass in the ballroom scene of The Haunted Mansion.  The story is that a guest with a sling shot cracked the glass and because the special effects glass was so expensive and difficult to replace the spider was placed there to cover the crack.  I have looked for this spider three times now and still can't find it to take a picture. My sister saw it however and I now know where it is so next time I will see if for sure. If you have a chance to ride on the Haunted Mansion look for the spider on the second to last pane of glass before you head to the attic. Also there are two sheets of glass the spider is located on the second sheet.  Good Luck, let me know if you find it.

 

The amazing folks over at Finding Mickey.com found the spider! This picture is from there site. If you haven't stopped by to see all their fun Disney facts you need to, they have so many great pictures.

Also if you are visiting from Over the Big Moon thanks for stopping by. I hope you are ready for some Disney fun!

I Love This

I am always excited to go to Disneyland but I can't
even come close to this little girl's excitement!

Getting Married?

Did you know that you can send a wedding invite to Disneyland? According to Getmarried.com you can. Mickey and Minnie will send you a special surprise. Head on over to their site for the details. They even have the addresses to send the invites to! It's so fun, check it out. Click here to go get all the information and read their story.



picture from getmarried.comm

Mickey's Halloween Party

Just wanted to share some of the fun decorations at Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party.

The Lilly Belle

Yay, it's the second Friday Finale at Over The Big Moon. I found a picture of the Lilly Belle on Pinterest one day and thought to myself WOW, I want to ride on this train car. So we did!!! To see the original link and picture here. Below is our trip around Disneyland in the Lilly Belle.

On our recent trip to Disneyland we were lucky enough to ride the Lilly Belle train car. For those of you who don't know the Lilly Belle is the Disneyland Railroads Presidential Car. Walt Disney originally had it brought to the park for his wife Lillian. We were told by our guide that Lillian was very quite and keep to herself so she enjoyed riding the car when she visited the park.

The original carpet from Walt's office is still in the car and of course even in the beginning there were hidden Mickey's.

The first non family member to ride on the Lilly Belle was the emperor of Japan. He later sent this silk robe to the Disney family to thank them.

The car is beautifully lined with mahogany wood and the furniture was bought from the Queen Mary.

and now for the most important part of this post! How can you ride on the Lilly Belle? When the park opens head straight to the Main Street train station and ask one of the train conductors if the Lilly Belle is running for the day. If they say yes ask for reservations to ride. They only allow guests on twice a day and space is limited so you'll need to go first thing. It is also a full circle trip so expect to enjoy a full trip around Disneyland. We had so much fun! If you get reservations and are able to ride I would love to hear about your trip around the park!

Magic Photos

Next time you are at Disneyland ask a cast member with a camera to take a Magic Shot of you and your family! It's so much fun to have the characters added to your pictures!

Happiness

Hoppy Hop Day!!! This weeks theme is Happiness! What makes me happy at Disneyland? Just about everything especially when this little man smiles.

click on the link to see the other great blogs

Got Another Urban Ledgend For You

According to associatedcontent.com 

Haunts in It's a Small World - Supposedly, Disneyland employees working on the It's a Small World attraction report strange occurrences, such as the lights turning on and off by themselves, and the dolls moving when the electricity is off. Rumor has it that this is the work of three former employees who loved the attraction so much that they decided to stick around even after death!
Picture frome sparklette.net

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

"Ahoy! and Happy Talk like a pirate day all you Disney fans. Grab your sprogs and head on over t' this fun translator. You and your family will have a blast soundin' like a pirate."

Click on the Link below.

Pirate Translator