Who I met at Disney

So I know I told you that I was at a Disney retreat last weekend, but I wanted to recap what I did and who I met. The group of lovely ladies really was lovely. I hadn't met a single one before I went — hadn't really even gotten to know their blogs or websites. And this was true for all of us. So it was kind of a gamble on what the group dynamic would be like. Happily the dynamic was fantastic. It was a super-positive group that basically put out one billion kilowatts of happy vibes wherever we went.

Meet the Disney Bunch:
Amy of The Lady Bug And Her Blogging Mama & Mums The Wurd!
Amy of LIParentSource.com
Christine of Boston Mamas
Cooper of The Motherhood & Been There
Darcie of The Walt Disney World Moms Panel & Such The Spot
Elizabeth of Table For Five
Erin of Manic Mommies
Jennifer of Snapshot & 5 Minutes For Mom
Jennifer of The Mom Salon
Jo-Lynne of Musings Of A Housewife
Kim of The Walt Disney World Moms Panel & Stop A Moment
Kris of Clever Parents
Lori Seaborg of Just Pure Lovely
Mary Beth of Cheaper By The Half Dozen
Mia Cronan of Main Street Mom
Stephanie of Adventures in Babywearing
Tracey of Suburban Diva

Who had the foresight to put these fantastic group together? The brilliant Maria Bailey of BSM Media.


With Stephanie at the opening reception.

What did we do? Well basically, we experienced the DisneyWorld parks. But as VIPs. And with a camera man in tow. And someone else picking up the tab. Which was delightful.

There were no lectures or classes, but wherever we went we had access to different Disney experts, so we could ask them every possible Disney question under the sun. One day it was the staff member that covers food allergies and special needs diets. Another time it was the contact for budget trips at Disney. Another time it was a horticulture expert that told us about the grounds. And there were others. I loved having in-the-know staff members at my disposal, and it made for great conversations over dinner or dessert. (I should mention here there was a lot of food. A lot.)

Darcie, Me, Goofy, Jo-Lynne and Amy at Breakfast.

My personal highlights (besides meeting the wonderful women): riding Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribbean and that perfect retro specimen It's a Small World.


Also, they took us to Cirque du Soleil, La Nouba, on Saturday night. I knew I would like it, but I couldn't believe how much I liked it! During the show Maria and I were making guesses as to what it meant or what the story line was, and at some point we gave up and just tried to take in how fantastic and gorgeous the whole thing was. I love that there are minds out there that can conceive of such a show.

Last highlight — I love how women dress up for other women. Everyone was so glamorous!

In the limo with Maria and Elizabeth on the way to Cirque.

Most useful thing I learned: when planning a trip to DisneyWorld take advantage of the Disney Moms Panel. It's a totally free service staffed by Volunteer Mom Experts that have been to the parks one gagillion times. Two of them joined us on our retreat and their knowledge of DisneyWorld was encyclopedic. Anyone can go to the Disney Moms Panel site and submit a question and they'll get a real answer from a real person right away. Brilliant.