"..He's the Rootinest, Tootinest, Cowboy in The Wild Wild West..."

How many times do you ladies let your husband pick the restaurants? It seems to me like it has gotten to be a lot more since we had kids. My husband and I have totally different tastes in food; that is, in favorite cuisine types, but generally we can find something on a menu when the other person picks the restaurant. So I said to my husband before we went to Walt Disney World "one night you pick a restaurant."

Surprisingly enough he picked a no-so-very-popular dining location, Trail's End at Disney's Ft. Wilderness. Don't get me wrong, it's good food, I think the main reason that it's not as popular as some of the other restaurants on Walt Disney World property is that there aren't any characters, and the main reason: location.

Disney's Ft. Wilderness is a great resort, if you and your family are campers (which I am not) you can book a campsite there for your trailer, camper, or even pitch a tent! There's also the cabins at Disney's Ft. Wilderness, which are a little more up my ally. They have a bedroom with a double bed and bunk beds, a bathroom, a kitchen, and living room area that has a pull down bed as well and it can comfortably sleep a family of six.

Trail's End is an all-you-care-to-eat barbeque buffet with menu items including fried and oven-roasted chicken, ribs, spit roasted carve-to-order prime rib, corn, mashed potatoes, salad bar, macaroni and cheese, other vegetables, a dessert buffet, and then a children's buffet as well with pizza, chicken fingers, and other kid-friendly items. Also the buffet price comes with a non-alcoholic beverage.

Sounds good, right? The food is great! But keep in mind if this is a dining location that interests you and you are coming from one of the theme parks that day (and not staying at Ft. Wilderness), or from a different resort to leave yourselves a little extra travel time to get there. If you've been to the dinner show the Hoop De Doo Revue before, you'll be able to find Trail's End just fine, it's right next door. You would have to take a bus to Ft. Wilderness and then take another "resort bus" to get to where the restaurant is located. This can add about an extra 15-20 minutes of travel time depending on how long you wait for buses. Coming from the Magic Kingdom, or in our case from the Wilderness Lodge we could take a bus or a boat straight to Ft. Wilderness and it wasn't a long travel time at all.

The other thing that occurred that I wanted to tell you about that particular night was that it was the only night we were there that it rained... cats and dogs. I mean it poured. The bus from the Wilderness Lodge to Ft. Wilderness took almost no time to bring us there at all. Do you know how long we waited for the bus back??? About 20 minutes. Must have been the weather, but imagine everyone who just got out of the 5pm Hoop de Doo Revue show and all of us running in the rain from the door to the restaurants to the bus stop that's covered and hovering underneath it.. about 50 people I would guess. LOL. It was an experience.

When weighed out, my husband made a good choice, the food was nice and hot and comforting on a cold, rainy night and it was pretty convenient all in all. If only the kids had sat still a little while longer at dinner I might have gone up for thirds. :)

Good Morning, Good Morning! It's Great to Stay Up Late...

Good evening, night owls! Man, I hope my followers don't think I'm dropping the ball too bad on this. I have been B-U-S-Y! With bookings, peak season, Spring Breakers, and birthday parties, everything all at once. I did not forget about you and as all of you know I need this little outlet to write about Disney (because it's not like I spend at least 1/2 my day talking about it) :).

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, my review of our trip this past January. You read all about what I thought of our accommodations at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort. Fantastic! I really wanted to start gearing this blog to help mom's of school-aged kids tackle Walt Disney World. In the past 15 months since I started it, I have leaned more towards writing about what I thought I knew best, which was Walt Disney World in itself. But I had really mainly experienced it as an adult, with one or more adults with me, and being able to do things on my own time and schedule.

Not so much anymore.

I don't care how much you (or I if I booked your reservation for you) plan. You can plan until you're as blue as the genie, you just have to be able to roll with the punches when taking young kids to Walt Disney World. A lot of people will say that it's just for kids. From reading my blog, both you and I know that this is a point that can be argued. There are many many things that are for adults there. But, what the hay...let's take the kids.

Our first full day at Magic Kingdom in January: Day One.

"Let's go! Get up! Time to hit those parks!"

Yea, no. More like "Come on, get out of bed. I will get the kids ready."

"Sit still, let me put your shoes on."

"Don't take your jacket off, it's chilly outside."

"Are you ready yet? We're out the door."

"You have to sit in the stroller if you want to go to Disney World. "

Is it even 9am yet? This is family-fun, right? LOL. Yes, it is. :)

We ended up getting to the Magic Kingdom around 11 am that day. No, we are not morning people and I will tell you I prefer it that way. Because as much as my kids aren't big sleepers (never have been and I fear never will be), I do like getting to the park at an early lunch time so they're not completely postal by the time of the fireworks. They get to run around and ride attractions, have dinner, and take it easy, and they're still up for the night time activities as well.

Although on a side note; I can't tell you the last time before this trip that I stayed at the Magic Kingdom until the very end for the fireworks and I definitely could've planned that better. Perhaps not by getting that spot right in front of Cinderella's Castle and opting more for a position towards the front of Main Street, USA so when they were over we could've just turned around and walked out of the park rather than spending about 20 minutes in the crowd just to get through the turnstiles to the boat transportation.

With adults = don't even notice it.

With two 2 year olds who have been going all day = VERY noticeable.

Let me tell you one other thing that would be one of my biggest tips for this first day at Magic Kingdom. And this very well may be child-specific. If you have a child (or children) who are not fond of the stroller; work out a plan beforehand. We wanted to let the kids walk on their own a bit, but in the past when they got tired they wanted to go in the stroller. This time not only did they not want to ever climb into the stroller, we were using it as a time-out when they weren't behaving! Maybe not such a good idea, but it's a learning process. Really, I don't know that if we hadn't brought it at all they probably would've wanted to sit in it and also... where would I have kept all my stuff?!!

At the end of the day, their faces on the attractions truly are priceless. Prince Charming's Regal Carousel, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan's Flight being their favorites. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love going that time of year because we have the option of taking them on rides that they want to do again two or three times. It's worth it. The whole trip is worth it, and... magical. :)

"....The Greatest Adventure is Mine..."

I am so excited to tell everyone about the wonderful time we had on our Walt Disney World vacation this past month. Where to start, where to start? How about at the beginning. I had been spending some time in South Florida visiting family the week before. While there, my kids got sick. Not just a cough mind you, but one had pink eye and an ear infection and the other had pink eye and a red throat. Ugh. Then to top it off; one by one, every adult in the house got the sore throat as well. I don't get sick that often, I try not to. When mommy goes down the ship falls apart. But I was sick. The doctor at the walk in clinic I had taken the kids to gave them some antibiotics because I had mentioned our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. But when I showed up a couple of days later... nothing.

My husband was arriving from home the same day we were checking in at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort, later that night. So here I was, with two small kids, checking into the resort myself, and let's not leave out that my sore throat had now turned into laryngitis. Fabulous. Here's a general question that I'm going to put out there to anyone reading this blog... what was I thinking?!

I don't often write about my kids on this blog, I consider myself a pretty private person. But I can't write this story without telling you that I have soon-to-be 3 year old boy/girl twins. So.... what was I thinking? :) The first part went pretty smoothly! I drove up to the resort, the valets helped me get all our luggage out of the car, and they loaded up on the baggage cart and held it for me while I parked the car.

My kids were so excited! We walked through the "magic" doors of the resort (which they kept telling to "open please" and "thank you" every time they automatically opened), and they happily sat over in the TV area for young kids watching Donald Duck cartoons while mommy checked into the resort.

The cast member checking us it was very nice, she gave the kids some goodie bags with crayons and coloring pages, and I received all my check in materials. We proceeded to our room which was on the 6th floor of the main building. When we opened the door to the outside of our room, we were overlooking the entire lobby area and Whispering Canyon Cafe from the 6th floor of the resort. Every evening that we happened to be in the room around 5 pm we could here them ring the dinner triangle for Whispering Canyon and yell "cooooome and get ittttt.....!"

The room itself was nice, two queen size beds, a bathroom, vanity area with two sinks, flat panel LCD TV, two bureaus, a table and chairs, ceiling fan, and balcony with a table and chairs outside as well. Our luggage was promptly delivered to our room and I began to unpack because I didn't want to be digging through suitcases for the next five days. My kids happily explored the room, played with their toys we had brought, and colored with their goodie bags.

We were on the regular dining plan, which includes one table service meal, one counter service meal, and one snack for each night that we were staying at the resort. Both myself and my husband received 4 table service meals, 4 counter service meals, and 4 snacks for the duration of our stay. I just figured that since his plane didn't get in that night until about 8:30 pm, that I would use one of my counter service meals at Downtown Disney and share with the kids. They are still two years old, and as far as children are concerned on the dining plan; if they're under 3 they are more than welcome to share with their parents. If I wanted to get them a kids meal to share, I could've paid out of pocket.

My dad ended up calling me and asking if the kids and I wanted to go to dinner with him. That he had called and gotten reservations at Trails End Restaurant at Ft. Wilderness Resort and Campground. We had reservations at that dining location the next night, and I asked him if he would just like to come to the Wilderness Lodge and I would see if we could get into Whispering Canyon. My father had tried to get a reservation there, but unfortunately nothing was available. Well, this is proof right here that restaurants at Walt Disney World do take walk ups if they can. Mind you, it is better to have reservations, but we walked up exactly at 5 pm and would've been seated immediately, but they wouldn't seat us until my dad arrived. So I think we waited a total of 20 minutes.

Now before I tell you this next part let me explain something first. I love my kids. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them and they have been the greatest joy that I have ever had in my

life. I am so proud to see them grow and learn everyday. I think they are beyond a blessing and can't wait to see what the coming years have in store for us all. Having said that, they are 3 years old right now. You've heard of terrible two's? I'm sorry...they've got nothing on three.

This is when the "3 year old gene" kicked into full force. I should've done a counter service meal. I am not the type of parent who takes the attitude of "they're kids so you as the other patron of the restaurant have to deal". I was mortified. My daughter did not want to sit in her seat for 1 minute, she was trying to play with the utensils, the salt and pepper, the menus, my son saw what he was doing and then he didn't want to sit still. And through all this, our server felt it necessary to give me a run down of the menu after I had said that we had dined there before. Do you not see my kids going bananas? The only time they looked like they were doing what they were supposed to was when one server lead the entire restaurant in the chicken dance. LOL.

We ended up getting the food to go and immediately returning to the room where I finished my dinner. Now I understand that they're 3, I understand that sometimes these things happen, but that was the shortest (and the longest) dinner out ever. Never a dull moment.

We waited a little while, went to pick up my husband at the airport where I managed to squeak out to him in my raspy voice... "your turn". Overall, they had a big day and a lot went on, so in general I think they handled all of the excitement pretty well.

Above are the pictures I took of our room. Tomorrow look forward to day two, including restaurant reviews. :)

A Whole New "World"

Oh my goodness! Can it be? Yes it's me! Back in 2011 and with loads of great Walt Disney World travel information to help my fantastic readers create the best possible Disney vacation ever! I have been out of the blogging loop for a while, for a few different reasons. The most important being that I just returned from a 4 night Walt Disney World vacation and man, do I have lots of stories for everyone! The picture above is from the night we dined at Chef Mickey's Buffet at Disney's Contemporary Resort, and it can now be found on my facebook fan page, Jennifer Phelps; Travel Agent!

This is the most challenging part... where to begin? First off, I hope everyone had a "magical" holiday season and New Year and that 2011 is treating them alright so far. The weather in most of the country has been arctic in January thus far, and I know everyone up there is probably dreaming of someplace warm where the palm trees are a-swayin'.

I wanted to get the full experience to be able to share with everyone; so my family and I stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge in a standard view room with base park tickets (no hoppers), and the regular dining plan. I have reviews of the restaurants we went to, the resort itself, and the park for everyone to enjoy in the upcoming weeks. I am also hard at work as a Disney vacation specialist booking future guests' fabulous Disney vacations, my day to day activities of being a mom. One side note that I am going to divulge in this post.. going to Walt Disney World with young kids is a whole different animal (a whole new 'world' so to speak) than visiting the parks as an adult with friends. This is something I knew taking my kids for a day here and there since they were born; but after doing the "full experience" so to speak this past month, I have a new outlook (and respect) for parents who take their young kids to Walt Disney World and hopefully I myself and this blog will be more helpful to this demographic specifically.

I look forward to blogging in 2011 and as always any questions anyone reading may have... I am here, talk to me. :)

2010 is Winding Down...

How cool are the Woody's at Disney's All Star Movies Resort?! In lieu of Toy Story 3 being released on DVD (and having to watch it about 10 times since we got it last week with my kids) , I decided to show all my readers what a part of the 'Toy Story' building at Disney's All Star Movies Resort looks like. The value resorts are very popular to book, and by far All Star Movies is the favorite amongst all the guests.

We are approaching the end of the year and it's almost the end of my first full year of blogging. I hope that I've been of some help to those planning their trips. Even though I have slowed down on the blogging (the holidays have fast approached and I am scrambling!), it's only going to be for the moment! I will check in for the next month and keep updating specials that are going on and when dining reservations are available and general questions. If any of my readers have any questions, I'm still here.... creating the magic! :)

The First of Many Reviews From Our October 2010 Trip...

Hi Everyone, remember me?! I know it has been waaay too long since I've blogged, I've had so much going on lately that I need to get back into the swing of things! First off, I want to say that I am very happy with myself because my goal in the beginning of the year was to post at least 100 blogs this year and this one is lucky #99. Woot! What should 2011's goal be? 250? Sounds like a nice 'round number. Anyway, thank you to all who read my blog and my followers on blogspot and facebook, you're awesome!

After all the talk talk talk this past year, we finally went to Walt Disney World and to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and we had a BLAST (as usual). I have lots to talk about and review from the short 2 night trip we were there. First of, I guess it would have to be where we stayed. I was very excited about staying at The Treehouse Villas at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort because not only had I never stayed in one, I had never seen them either.

Let me start with they're beautiful. You're in the woods, nature all around you, you go to your villa and climb a set of stairs to get to the front door. But no one is under you. These are 'treehouse' villas, so they are literally lifted 10 feet off the ground and look like they are sitting in the trees. They each have they're own bbq area and porch with a table and chairs so you can eat outside as well. Then you open the front door.

Nice. You walk into the living room and everything around you is brand new. Flat screen TV in the living room, dining room table and chairs that seats 6 comfortably, high-bar with barstools, and a brand new fully stocked kitchen with marble countertops, dishwasher, fridge, stove, oven, and sink. Remember, this is a Disney Vacation Club resort so it came fully stocked as well with pots and pans, dish soap, etc. You just have to bring the food! There are three bedrooms, the master with its own private bathroom (jacuzzi tub and shower), a second bedroom with a queen, and a third with bunk beds. The second two bedrooms share a 2nd bathroom. There are flat screen LCD TVs in each bedroom and there's also a stacked washer/dryer and the couch in the living room pulls out to a queen. Also the armchair in the living room folds out to a twin!

Obviously there wasn't any lack of space. There was plenty of space for the four adults and 4 children we had in our party. The Treehouse Villas also have their own pool, and have full use of the main pool at Saratoga Springs as well. As much as I thought this resort was beautiful, I can honestly say I don't think we will stay there again. And this is for one main reason: it was just too out of the way from everything. We had our vehicle with us, and thank goodness for that. We had our tickets for the Halloween party the first night we were there, and if we didn't have vehicles, we probably would've been late for our dining reservations.

We made reservations at 1900 Park Fare for dinner (my review of this restaurant tomorrow) at 5:15 so to have plenty of time to eat, change the kids into their Halloween costumes, and hop on the monorail for the party. Check in at the Treehouse Villas is at 4 pm as opposed to the usual 3 pm at most resorts. We got to the resort to check in at about 12 pm that day thinking that if we're lucky we may be able to get into our villa a little early to get settled. Not only did we not get in early, we never got in before 4 o'clock at all. And if you have been to Walt Disney World before, you know you need to leave yourself ample travel time to get to your dining reservations on time. So we ended up changing the kids and packing the bags that we needed for the night at the pool area. I guess that could've planned better on our part. Man, you think you have everything planned!

So we drove to our dining reservation. Now, if we didn't have our vehicle, and had to wait for Disney transportation I think we may have been in trouble. The only way to get anywhere from the Treehouse Villas is by bus. But they don't have their own bus system, they are on Saratoga Springs', so you have to take a bus from the villa to the resort and then switch buses to get wherever you're going. Add in wait time for the buses and walk time to wherever you're going and a safe window of time to leave to get anywhere is about 60-90 minutes depending on how crowded it is. If you are going to Walt Disney World to really do the parks, I didn't find this convenient at all. If you're going to be there (and hey, most people who stay there ARE Disney Vacation Club and don't necessarily go to WDW to go to the parks the whole time) to relax and go out to eat and maybe go to a park once then I would highly recommend them. They're definitely out of the way and you feel like you have you're own apartment in the sky.

Isn't it Romantic...?

I blog a lot about things to do with the kids at Walt Disney World. I mean, it is Disney World, right? The happiest place on Earth! Characters and rides, and ice cream and treats and kids everywhere! But did you know that Walt Disney World isn't only for the kiddos? Party of two adults? No problem! Wedding? Honeymoon? Disney specializes in these events... and how many couples have gotten engaged there? I don't think we could count. It's one of the most romantic places on Earth as well. Today I am going to talk a little bit about an option that most couples don't know they have while there, and it came to my attention that I hadn't blogged about it yet while I was suggesting it to a client myself.

Did you know that there are six Children's Activity Centers at various resorts on property? These are places that are open from 4 pm until midnight each night where parents can drop their kids off to be watched by responsible, certified, cast members and get some alone time to themselves. Just so the vacation that they've spent thousands of dollars on is for them as well. :) How it works is you can call 407-wdw-dine (939-3463) and set up a reservation for however many kids you may have at whichever center you would like. Requirements include that each child be between the age of 3 and 12 years old and be potty trained. It is $11.50 per hour per child and there's a minimum of 2 hours per child charged. This means that if you drop your kids off for an hour you're still going to get charged for two so you might as well stay out a bit longer.

While the kids are there they play games, watch (Disney) movies, have snacks, and really don't even notice you're gone! The most popular one is probably The Neverland Club at Disney's Polynesian Resort that has a whole Peter Pan theme. The lobby where you check in looks like The Darling children's bedroom and to enter the club, the kids can go through Wendy's window into Neverland. Very cute.

Now, back to you adults. After you give your kisses bye and reassurances that you'll be back soon.. you have so many options as to what you're going to do! What to do, what to do?! My suggestion is a Sweetheart Dinner for Two. Eight restaurants on Walt Disney World property offer this fantastical, romantical, unforgettable dinner that's specifically designed for couples in love. You start off your dinner by ordering a prix fixe meal from your personalized menus; each of you get an appetizer and entree, and then you share a specialty dessert. You also get a glass of champagne each that comes in beautifully etched champagne flutes that are also yours to keep.

The restaurants that participate in the Sweetheart Dinner for Two are:

-The California Grill at Disney's Contemporary Resort

-Narcoossee's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

-Citrico's at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

-The Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney's Yacht Club Resort

-Jiko-The Cooking Place at Disney's Animal Kingdom Resort

-The Hollywood Brown Derby at The Disney Hollywood Studios

-Flying Fish Cafe at Disney's Boardwalk

-Artist Point at Disney's Wilderness Lodge

The cost for the Sweetheart Dinner for Two is $150.00 (total) for all the restaurants that participate with the exception of The California Grill which is $170.00. These prices do not include tax and gratuity. These are all signature dining locations. If you were to eat at one of these locations and you were on the regular Disney Dining Plan, they would all take two table service meals each (person).

There's nothing wrong with dropping the kids off at the Children's Activity Center and heading over to a character meal of your own. Everyone knows my husband and I have done it (see above pic). But if you're "in the mood" for more than a (great) buffet and would like to spend some time with your hunny; the Children's Activity Center/Sweetheart Dinner for Two combo is a fantastic way for the two of you to make your own magic...even if just for a few hours. :)