How to get special souvenirs at Disney World!

What is our other favorite park at Disney World?

Surprise! It's Epcot!

Yes, we love Epcot so much that when we only had 1 and a half days to spend at Disney World, the Magic Kingdom got the first day and Epcot got the second!

Epcot really is fun for the whole family, although for some people it has the reputation as being the park that is the least fun for kids.  All of our family believes it offers something for each of us.

There is all kinds of international fun to be had at Epcot. One half of the park is called World Showcase. Eleven countries are represented through architecture, food, rides and shops. As you can see here, Petunia has a grand time, even in the shops.  These shops are just one way to get a very special...even exotic...souvenir from Disney. And...we have a favorite one! Can you guess which country?  We'll get there in a bit.

  In Epcot, there seem to be characters that either you cannot see in other places or that are harder to see elsewhere. Since many of Disney's stories take place in foreign countries, Epcot creates a natural place to see some of these special folks.  For instance, Beauty and the Beast takes place in France.  So, Petunia has gotten to meet and talk to Belle there. In fact, she was once first in line and Belle walked up to her, took her hand, and walked her over to the photo spot. How special!

Well, since this visit was in October, Duffy (Mickey Mouse's teddy bear) was dressed up in his jack-o-lantern costume when Petunia got to meet him.

As if this trip wasn't already awesome, we got to meet up and spend lots of this day with good friends of ours who we now live far apart from.  In fact, these friends re-introduced Disney to us in our adulthood and I can thank them for my extreme love of Disney parks now!

Petunia and their oldest have been friends since birth!

 All kinds of amazing sights at Epcot!

Did you guess that our favorite shop was in the "country" of Japan? It is!  Read on for the details of how to get a souvenir that I often tell people about and many people have never heard of.

It is one of our very favorite things to do at Epcot. In fact, it was on my Top 3 list for the day.

In the department store in Japan, you can go in, pay a very reasonable fee, and pick out an oyster.

There is quite a to-do made over your oyster selection and anyone in the store can witness the hullabaloo! Fun to have others join in your ceremony and to watch it happen for others, too!

 After all the fanfare, your oyster is opened to reveal its treasure.  A pearl!

The pearl is yours to keep!  I have seen large pearls, small pearls, colored pearls and even twin pearls come out of the oysters.  You just take your chance, pick which oyster you want and that's what you get.

At that point, you can take your pearl and go, or leave it there and have it made into a piece of jewelry. On this trip, Petunia and I each picked a pearl and had them set into necklaces. Talk about a special souvenir!

One thing I love about going to Disney World is that there is so much to do that every trip can be different.  Each time, I try to repeat our very favorites while also trying plenty of new things.  New for this trip was the princess dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Dining Hall.

We were pretty excited to get in there!

And were we ever right to be excited!  The food was different...all kinds of food in a large buffet, so no long wait for food once you get in. While you're waiting to get your seat, your family gets a photo with a selected princess and you are given a 5x7 copy of it while you're there.  Another special souvenir!

The best part, though, are the conversations and the HUGS with the various princesses that come around to greet you while you're eating.  As you might can tell--especially if you're a parent--the look on Petunia's face made the "expensive" dinner worth every penny!

 Childhood memories are made from moments like these!

 We emerged to the most gorgeous evening! What a magical day, indeed!

 We didn't leave before getting a second ride of the day on one of our established favorites--Soarin'!  That was also just about the first thing we had done that morning because it was--you guessed it--part of the Top 3 for the day!

We saw, rode, greeted, and ate much more.  These are the special highlights, though. It was a short trip, but I hope this helps you see that even with only a couple days, and a little bit of planning, you can pack a lot of magic into your time at Disney World!

NYC: The Top 3 (Part 1)

In my last post, I revealed one of my strategies for success while traveling: The Top 3.  The idea is that we make a list of our top three priorities to see or do (on a day, during a weekend, whatever fits) and do our very best to make sure those things get accomplished.  We often get to see or do much more, but knowing we carved out time, money and energy for our highest priorities makes the other things feel like bonus points!

After checking in to our hidden gem of a hotel (yes, "secrets" still exist in New York City and yes, I will tell you more about our hotel in a future post!) we had enough time to walk around and soak up a bit of the Big Apple atmosphere, grab a bite to eat, and go back and change before heading out to the first of our Top 3: the Broadway play, Mary Poppins.

I highly recommend the experience of going to a live show in New York if possible.  There are currently 40 Broadway theaters and even more Off-Broadway theaters, which describes venues in the same area that seat less than 499 people and are often smaller in scale of production.  With all that variety, there is bound to be a show that fits the taste and appropriateness level of all but the very youngest travelers. As long as your children are old enough to be entertained themselves and not disturb other theater-goers, look for a family show!

Finding Discount Tickets

There are several different ways to look for discounts to shows.  If you have some time in your schedule and are flexible, there are the TKTS booths in the city which sell day-of tickets to shows up to 50% off!

Other websites, such as Broadway Box, which offer good discounts to all but the most popular shows.

Finally, there are unique ways to get discounts to certain shows that may not be available to everyone (or not known to everyone.)  We got a discount on our Mary Poppins tickets, a Disney show, because of a promotional code in a Disney e-mail newsletter to which I'm subscribed.  With a little flexibility and looking, a show can usually be found at a reasonable price.

We all had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the show.  Even though Petunia saw it at the age of 6, two years later she still brings up things she remembers. Knowing the whole experience had such an impact on her young self is so dear to me.

Unfortunately, our late lunch/early dinner did not keep our bellies full through the late evening entertainment. We had a great idea to get New York pizza and have it back at the hotel. I will just say that an unplanned detour of many, many city blocks (really, don't ask) got us back to our hotel room with slightly grumpy attitudes, very sore feet, and cold pizza.  Just being transparent that we have lots to learn on the journey of traveling well!

Next post we will keep checking off the Top 3 with a very big day in New York City!

New York City the whole family can enjoy

New York City is a wonderful destination for families! Don't believe the myth that the Big Apple is no place for young kids (or equally untrue: if you choose the sites that are fun for kids, the adults would not really enjoy the city.) Attractions abound that entertain, educate, thrill and inspire all ages!

A couple years ago, Mark and I made the decision to add a couple days in New York City to a vacation we were taking to Maine to visit family.  We did not want to take too much time away from our loved ones and yet, as I am sure you are getting the idea, it is a priority for us to introduce Petunia to new places where she will get a fuller sense of the wild world.

Plans were made and airline tickets bought, granting us just about 2 days in the City.  What can you do in New York in less than 48 hours?  A lot.

I had to employ a strategy that I often use on travel days with much success. To end the day feeling we have accomplished what is most important to us without feelings of exhaustion and frustration, I regularly turn to my Top 3.

The Top 3 refers to the 3 places to see or things to do that I really want to make sure we get to almost no matter what. Okay, it's important to stay flexible, even about the Top 3, so that if plans have to change, your day does not feel like a disappointment.  For Petunia's first trip to NYC (and our first trip in years) here were my Top 3: seeing the city from atop a skyscraper for a bird's eye view of Manhattan, riding the Staten Island ferry and getting a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, and attending a Broadway play.

Did I know we could do more even in a short amount of time? Yes, I was pretty sure we could. But here's the deal:  Everything else was gravy.  We had some idea of other things we could see, but with no set agenda.  If we had to leave our little weekend excursion having accomplished only those three things for whatever reason, well...that's a pretty good introduction to New York City even still.

But we saw and did so much more.

In upcoming posts, I will share more details, tips, favorites and "secret" gems we uncovered in the city.  For now, if you're wondering what play we saw on Broadway, here ya go.