Disney on Ice is coming to The Honda Center December 20-25 with a brand new show–Toy Story 3.
All of your favorite characters will be on the ice with a few new faces from Toy Story 3, including my personal favorites, Barbie and Ken.
It’s a tradition in our family to head to Honda Center for Disney on Ice every holiday season, but this year I’m giving away our tickets to one lucky reader. I want another family to bundle-up and experience the two-act show filled with Disney music, lights, creative costumes and fantastic skating that makes up every Disney on Ice performance.
Just leave a comment here and I’ll pick a winner of a family four-pack (via Random.org) for Opening Night on Dec. 20th, 7:30 pm. Please make sure you can attend before you enter the contest.
For more information on the show, you can go to the Disney on Ice web site.
Nicole is the winner of this contest! Thank you everyone!
If you’ve been following my posts here about Disney’s new resort, Aulani, in Hawaii, you’re sure to be itchin’ to go there yourself. Disney has just announced a special Grand Opening offer that just might get you there. Guests who book a four-night stay between Oct. 14 through Dec. 16, 2011, will get their fifth night free!
There are some restrictions. Click over to the Aulani web site for all the details.
Halloween Time is on at Disneyland Resort. So much happening there for the season; Mickey’s Halloween Party, festive decor, Big Thunder Ranch Halloween Roundup, Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, and all the characters dressed up in costume. (More videos to follow on all that.) But, you might not know that there are also special food offerings at the resort during Halloween Time.
I had the opportunity to talk to Disneyland Resort Chef, Moises Carranza, about the holiday foods. He also shows me how to make their muffuletta sandwich. Watch the video and try it at home!
The new Aulani Resort and Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaii, is Disney’s first dive into a full, stand-alone resort without a theme park nearby to keep guests busy. Yes, you’ll still find Mickey, Minnie, Stitch and Goofy, but no attractions, snazzy stage shows or booming fireworks. So, with none of the usual “Disney” activities to keep your family busy, what can families expect when visiting Aulani?
“Our hope is that families will go beyond what their expectations are for a Hawaiian vacation and find more,” Tom Staggs, President of Disney Parks and Resorts, told me on my recent visit. The resort, from the magnificent open-air lobby to the protected lagoon, has been designed with families in mind.
Disney was smart in their approach to this new venture borrowing many of the elements that work well for traveling families from their wildly successful Disney Cruise Line. Top on that list of clever ideas is the Daily ‘Iwa, which is just like the Daily Navigator you’ll find on Disney cruises. A new one left in your room nightly, it provides families with a specific itinerary of the next day’s events, like where to find characters, craft activities or special exercise programs.
Another feature at Aulani that’s lifted straight from the decks of the cruise line is their model of complimentary childcare. I can hardly bring myself to call it “childcare” because it’s so beyond the notion babysitting children. Aunty’s Beach House is modeled after the Oceaneer’s Club on the cruise line, but I’d note at Aunty’s the experience is more intimate and homey. From what I hear, kids tell their parents they have to go say goodbye to Aunty and Uncle before they leave the resort for home.
“We are hoping families take a different look at Disney. We want to create the kind of vacations families are looking for,” said Staggs, a father of three boys himself who spent time with them at Aulani before our interview. “We’ve geared it so there’s something for everyone in the family.”
Here is a quick hit of just some of the many family activities available at the Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa.
Aunty’s Beach House: At Aunty’s Beach House kids are securely checked in and brought into Aunty and Uncle’s house to play dress-up, do crafts in Uncle’s garage, romp outside on the expansive green grass lawn or in treehouses, and listen to Aunty tell stories and sing songs. They can even eat a meal with their new friends for a small fee ($12).
Waikolohe Stream: The stream winds through Waikolohe Valley and I’d say the most beautiful and creative ”lazy river” you’ll ever experience. Not only do you feel like you’re floating through a lush tropical garden, but Walt Disney Imagineers have thought to carve animals in the lava rock along the way. Every trip through the stream will surprise and delight kids.
Menehune Bridge: The Menehune are Hawaiian mythical creatures who come to life at night to create mischief. Aunty describes them as “Hawaiian elves.” Even though they’re rascals, they are industrious little guys and one night they built the Menehune Bridge inside the Waikolohe Valley.
Pool areas: The pool area offers a beach-like side for little kids and then scrolls around the lower part of the Waikolohe Valley with lots of twists and turns. Also in the pool area you’ll find a Hawaiian shaved ice, the Lava Shack– for snacks and refills on soda–and two of the resort’s jacuzzis.
Rainbow Reef: For a small additional fee kids and adults can snorkel in a 3,800 feet water wonderland. I hadn’t ever done anything like snorkeling in my life and took to it like…dare I say, a fish to water (sorry!), and spent a good half hour splashing around with tropical fish and a few undersea Menehune. There’s also a lookout at poolside in case you don’t want to brave the cold waters of the reef.
Starlight Hui: Steeped in Hawaiian tradition this hui isn’t like anything you’ve seen in Hawaii. The evening starts with kids participating in making Hawaiian crafts. Then the show which includes both traditional and contemporary hulas along with the ukulele innovator “Heart and Soul.” These two guys will change the way you think of the ukulele FOREVER. The evening ends with a Character Dance party (READ Mickey and Minnie grooving on the beach with the kids).
Here is my video of Heart & Soul from one of the first Starlight Hui’s. These guys are phenomenal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kgr3Z6zfSo
Lagoon/Beach: Guests at Aulani can enjoy the benefits of the protected lagoon that is connected to the resort. Families will love that there are no waves–thanks to the natural rock breakers–so little ones can splash away at the shoreline and older kids can enjoy paddle boarding and swimming out the the rafts placed in the middle of the bay.
Aunty’s Breakfast Celebration (Character Breakfast): Offered a few times a week at the Makahiki restaurant. Aunty hosts the interactive fun inviting kids to join in the dance line and sing along to Hawaiian songs. Served buffet-style breakfast offers what you’d expect from a Disney kitchen–Mickey Mouse waffles–but also has some Hawaiian specialties liked baked fish and fresh tropical fruit.
Menehune Adventure Trail: Pick up your Adventure Trail iTouch at the Pau Hana Room. Aunty will show kids where to go using maps and clues she’ll give you in a video from her store. The young explorers will make rocks move, drums play and trees light up when they follow Aunty’s directions. Every adventure is different so kids will not have the same experience twice.
Disney has packed Aulani with family activities keeping in mind all families are different. Some like to just kick it on the beach all day and some like adventure and lots of activity. The Daily ‘Iwa really comes in handy when you’re a family like ours that likes to pick and choose what we’re going to do that day, depending on our mood and energy levels.
There’s so much more to Aulani than I covered here, so look out for more mosts from me this next week. All the photos posted here are taken by me. For more photos, check out my Flickr photostream, here.
I’m doing it for you! I’m going to to Hawaii to cover the grand opening of Disney’s new resort, Aulani! Keep checking back her on my blog, Disneyland Locals, for updates and new information on the resort.
Be sure to leave questions and comments and I will do my best to get you the correct answers. I’ll be surrounded by Disney-types who know everything about the resort, so don’t be shy.
Are you a Disneyland know-it-all? *raising hand* Me too! Disney Parks announced something a few months ago that is going to be exciting to you. For the first time they are adding Disneyland Resort panelists to the wildly popular Walt Disney World Moms Panel.
What is the Moms Panel? Walt Disney World started the program three years ago in an attempt to link travelers to WDW with hand-selected, knowledgeable moms who will answer travel questions, suggest things to do while at the parks and make informative videos all in an attempt to help newbies plan the perfect Disney vacation. The program has been so popular that they’ve expanded it to Disneyland Resort.
If you’re a mom, or dad (or even an aunt) who plans everyone’s trip to Disneyland. If you know the park inside and out. If people lovingly refer to you as a Disneyland “Freak,” “Nerd” or “Geek,” you should consider applying to be a Disneyland Resort Panelist.
There are some restrictions, naturally. Click here to read the rules and requirements. If you’re still up for applying, click here.
I’m applying. So use me as an example of a Disneyland Nerd. I don’t mind. If you find yourself taking 50 plus pictures of the new Corn Dog Castle at Disney California Adventure. You might be a good candidate for the Moms Panel.
Then if you’re looking at your photos and you find one your friend took of you giving a corn dog two thumbs up. I’m guessing the Moms Panel wants to hear from you.
Then you send out five Tweets about how much everyone needs to try a Disneyland Corn Dog once in their life and offer a personal money back guarantee if they don’t say it’s the best, you might have a spot waiting for you on the Moms Panel.
If in the past you have ad the chance to interview the Director of Disneyland Resort Food and Beverage and you ask him to tell you the story of the Disneyland Corn Dog, this is the kind of obsessive, detail-oriented behavior I believe the Mom Panel is looking for.
So apply today! You have until Friday, Sept. 16th to apply.
Like most Orange County natives, I feel a special connection to Disneyland. Some of my most vivid and precious childhood memories are linked to visits to the park with my family. As a kid, even driving by Disneyland and spying the tippy-top of the Matterhorn from the station wagon window could make my young heart leap.
That well of warm memories and strong sentimental emotions are exactly what Disneyland Resort is hoping to tap into when guests visit the newly remodeled Disneyland Hotel. The two-year renovation not only has brought modern luxuries and more efficient design elements to the 55-year-old property, but it also delivers something unexpected—nostalgia.
“There’s a lot of history here for families and bringing the history and memories together in one place is something only Disney can do,” said Tony Bruno, Vice President, Hotels and Downtown Disney, for the Disneyland Resort. “Those elements were important to us in the redesign.”
My family and I live only minutes from the Disneyland Resort and visit the park often. But I was downright excited to stay at the Disneyland Hotel (something I hadn’t done since I was 8 years old) and share some of my memories with my kids—the koi pond, the Dancing Waters Show—and create some new ones with them. It was a “staycation” for us, Disney style!
The first wallop of nostalgia came when we walked through the totally revamped pool and courtyard area between the three towers. The dramatic centerpiece of the hotel is a replica of the original Disneyland sign that now sits atop the water slides. You remember it: flags waving high above boxed letters spelling out “Disneyland.” The 10 year old inside me squealed in delight when I saw it and so did the 10 year old standing next to me, my daughter. The entire water slide structure is reminiscent of the original Monorail Station at Disneyland, with the actual slides made to look like the Mark I, the very first Monorail that debuted in the park in 1959.
“We wanted to relate to the nostalgic Disneyland wherever we could,” John Mauro, Development Manager, Walt Disney Imagineering, told me on a tour through the property.
Even in the smallest details, the resort has clever dashes of Disney spattered everywhere. In a nod to the old ticketing system at Disneyland, the pools are named the “D” Ticket and “E” Ticket pools. The tiles of each pool are colored to match the color of that pool’s ticket—yellow for “D” Ticket and green for “E” Ticket. Even the lounge chairs are covered in fabric that looks like the zigzag embossing of the old Disneyland ticket books.
“Fans of Disney look for that kind of detail,” said Mauro. “We really raised the bar in this hotel renovation…everything has a Disney touch.” Nowhere at the resort is the Disney touch more cleverly employed than with the “Good Night Kiss,” a technological wonder built into the headboard of every standard room bed in the hotel. My kids were thrilled to see Sleeping Beauty Castle light up with twinkling stars and fireworks on the beautifully carved wooden headboard, but when the song “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” began to play in music-box style—they shrieked with laughter. They must have made that magic happen 50 times during our one-night stay. We all fell asleep with the words dancing around in our heads: “A dream is a which your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep…”
All standard rooms—with either two queen beds or one king—have been completely renovated with modern touches like flat screen TVs, cell phone and computer plug-ins and Wi-Fi. Although the headboard is the centerpiece and the real “magic” of the décor, look for nostalgic dabs of Disney in the rooms, like black and white photos of Walt Disney.
The Disneyland Hotel sits at the far end of Downtown Disney and beyond all the downtown excitement await both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. I was surprised that even though all the action was near us—we viewed the fireworks show from our room (if you are lucky enough this, make sure to tune in to the soundtrack of the show on the room’s tv)—it felt like we were staying at an exclusive resort, away from the fray and pull of the crowds.
I don’t know if it was the nostalgic charm of the newly remodeled Disneyland Hotel coupled with its abounding modern luxuries, but our staycation there felt at once homey—friendly and warm—and like a true getaway. “We knew we wanted to make The Disneyland Hotel special for that mom, that dad, their kids…something that would get them excited,” Mauro said. They have succeeded. Disney has created a hotel that will delight every member of the family as together they create memories to treasure for years to come.
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Pick up the September OC Family or IE Family Magazines for the full story on our stay at The Disneyland Hotel.
Rapunzel will officially take her place as an official Disney Princess in a star-studded event at Kensington Palace in London. What a perfect loccation to gather all of the other Disney royalty–Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Snow White, Tiana–and crown Rapunzel the 10th Disney Princess.
You could win tickets to see the coronation on Oct 2nd in London and experience the magical princess moment in person with your family. To enter to win all you need to do is make a 45 second video of your favorite little princess singing and to one of four “Disney Princess Fairy Tale Songs” or acting out her favorite Disney princess moment and upload it to Your Princess Moment (Get the detail instructions here.)
It’s that easy to enter and can you imagine? A trip to London to see see Rapunzel become a princess. Good luck!
To get you excited about Rapunzel’s big event and just because Tangled is one of my favorite Disney Princess movies, I’m giving away this Rapunzel gift set below.
It includes:
A “Tangled” Braiding Friends Hair Braider doll
The book “Tangled” The Essential Guide
The book “Tangled A Horse and a Hero” for Step 2 readers.
I’ll choose a winner on Tuesday via Random.org.
This contest is closed. Heather won the Rapunzel gift set. Thank you everyone!
I’m not a runner. You know not a “runner” runner, but I have signed myself up for the 5K during the Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland Resort. That’s my goal right now, to run in the 5K. Since I’m still recovering from my accident (I was thrown from a horse back in November), I’m taking it very easy by using the run-walk method of Jeff Galloway, the official runDisney training consultant. Galloway is a former Olympic runner with over 40 years experience in running, a monthly columnist for Runner’s World and an author of over twenty books.
If you’ve always wanted to run, but the thought of hitting the pavement has been out of the question due to the time it takes or some physical limitation, I encourage you to check out Galloway’s methods on how to get yourself out there. A group of 20 runners and a few bloggers got the chance to meet Jeff and ask him a few questions last Friday morning as a kick off to Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend.
His practical, almost comical, advice on how to keep yourself inspired to run will help the experienced runner get motivated and the newbie runner over the psychological hurtle of just getting started. “My job,” he said, “is to get you running for the next 100 years, after that, you’re on your own.” Here are some quick hits from Galloway given on the floor of the Health and Fitness Expo at the Disneyland Hotel:
* Know that at first you will walk more than run, and that’s okay. You don’t have to “puke” to have a good run. Just getting out there is enough for today.
* Running allows you to get your “executive mind” working. It is a quiet sport that will clear your mind to think.
* Amateur runners who apply the run-walk method in general finish 13 minutes faster than runners who run their entire race.
* On how to motivate yourself to run:
Show up at any race to watch runners cross the finish line. Those with cancer, the elderly and physically challenged are out there running. No excuses. So can you.
Run with a friend or join a running group. (We have a group called Disneyland Runners if you are looking for a group.)
Mentally rehearse. Picture yourself running, crossing the finish line, getting your medal.
Lie to yourself! Tell yourself you’re just going to “put on comfortable clothes” (make sure they’re running clothes). Then eat something that will give you energy to run “just as a snack.” Then go outside just to “check the weather.” Before you know it, you’ll be running through the neighborhood.
If you’re liking Galloway’s approach to running, you can check out runDisney’s video training series at runDisney.
This series has been helpful to me as not only inspiration, but also because it answers some basic running questions, like how to set your pace and determine your “finish time” of a race. Without the assistance of these videos and the whole runDisney program, I know I would have dropped out of the January Tinker Bell Weekend 5K (called the Neverland run) a long time ago.
I met up with Galloway later that afternoon as the doors opened and the first expo guests arrived. He stood at his table ready to sign books and chat with his fans. His big smile greeted me as I approached him. I introduced myself and told him all about the stupid horse, my struggle to recover and then thanked him for his work. He listened to every word and then got very serious, looked me straight in the eye and said, “You can do this. You are going to recover and be stronger than ever before.”
I’m sure he’s heard worse stories than my misadventures as a cowgirl, but he took it very seriously. He was obviously passionate about his work and cares about the people he is guiding. It was inspiring and so yes, I went home and went for a run. I guess I am a runner after after all…
The Lowdown:
The Never Land Family Fun Run (5K) is still open for registration. It is a nighttime run through Disneyland that will kick off The Tinker Bell Half Marathon Weekend (the half is sold out). Men are welcome and I personally respect any man who will run during the Tinker Bell Weekend. Register, here.
The Never Land Fun Run registration includes a ticket for the park for that day only, from 4 pm until the run, which starts at 10:30 pm. You’ll also receive a t-shirt, 5K medal, Goofy bag and lots of encouragement along the way.
You can join Disneyland Runners on Facebook, our support group for runners of all skill levels, here.
