Disney Rituals

I was recently asked about my Disney Rituals, and I have to admit that that topic gave me pause.  Should I tell about what I love to do when I'm on an adults only trip?  Should I share what I love to do with my family when I go with them? Do I even have Disney Rituals?!

Vinymation window at Pop Century

During my family's Thanksgiving 2010 trip, I began collecting and trading Vinylmation. I think I started with 3 Vinylmation right before dinner, and I traded them all before we got back to our resort that night! Then and there a ritual was born! Whenever I go to Walt Disney World, or a Disney Store for that matter, I trade Vinylmation. Sometimes I buy a Vinylmation just to get to trade! (I did this in a Disney Store in San Antonio last month, and I ended up pulling the exact one I was hoping to get in an open trade!) There's a rush you get when you open a Vinylmation blind box: what will I get? Will it be the chaser? Will it be the one I was hoping for?! There's also a rush when you go to trade for one you've spotted in an open trade box that you've been dying to find. Even better when a neat one comes out of a blind trade box! It turns my trips to Disney World into a more interactive game where I'm jumping from shop to shop to see what trades I can make! I don't think I'll ever tire of the hunt!

Other rituals center more around food. My sister and I shared a Ghirardelli Cable Car Sundae on that trip, and we've been dying to go have another together. I've been to the World without her twice now, but it doesn't seem right to have one without having her there to share it with. No trip is complete for me without my "breakfast cupcake", as a friend dubbed it! I am not a breakfast eater (unless it's the one day during the trip that I have Mickey Waffles), but around 10 AM I get hungry, and for some reason a cupcake always hits the spot! Oh and what kind of trip would it be without a visit to the Boulangerie Patisserie in France in Epcot? The Napoleon there is to die for! Looking back, perhaps my Disney Ritual is eating my way around the World...

One of my favorite memories of trips with my family, especially my niece and nephew, is riding various attractions with them and singing along. I do not believe in keeping quiet on favorite rides, and I very much so believe in keeping the magic alive during trips, so we joyfully sing along (quietly). My niece and nephew once walked through Epcot with me singing The Seas with Nemo and then Journey into Your Imagination! What could be better than seeing an attraction through the eyes of a child?

it's a small world is another family favorite!

As I look toward my future, I think about new Disney Rituals I'd like to create. I hope to one day take the love of my life to Walt Disney World and get photos made with princesses and their princes. I want to make it a tradition to share a kiss during Wishes in front of Cinderella Castle. I hope that one attraction becomes our "special" one that we always go back to and smile quietly while holding hands. Yes, it's mushy, but it's the part of Disney I've never been able to have. I want to have rituals I'd never thought of having before. I'm a great lover of tradition, and I look forward to new and exciting traditions to come!

So what's your Disney Ritual? Can you really have just one?

Ways to Make the Days Go By Fast

As of today, my family and I have less than 140 days until our first Disney Cruise. To some people that probably sounds like a long time. For me, I break it down into shorter chunks, so that it feels like it comes quicker. In my head, as a teacher, I've just got to get to the end of summer, and then Thanksgiving will be here before I know it! Thankfully I also have plenty to occupy my mind between now and then. However, there are other fun ways to make the time pass.

One of my sister's and my favorite ways to pass the time is to create t-shirts for our vacation. A few years back my sister introduced me to the DisBoards, the Creative DISign boards in particular. There you can find wonderfully generous Disney fans who create and personalize designs, or DISigns, for FREE!  With these designs, they also share great ideas for crafts like t-shirts, pillowcases, CM thank you gifts, fish extenders (we'll talk more about those another day), pressed penny money carriers, gifts from Tinker Bell, window clings, and much more. Surfing the boards can be addicting, so I warn you before you head over there that you may find yourself going to craft stores much more than you ever have before!

While on the DIS, I found that I had a natural talent for PhotoShop, and I became a Creative DISigner myself. If you're from the DIS, you might know me as everydaymathchick. Here is my DISign album and thread, but I warn you, DISigning for free was taxing, and I eventually had to stop. Because of Disney's copyright, DISigners work for the pure joy of spreading pixie dust to other fans going on Disney trips. I loved seeing finished products that used my designs! A lot of what I did was personalizations which are really fun for kids since it allows face characters to call them by name.

So let's get to what all this means for you and your countdown, shall we? For starters, shirts are fun when you're going as a family since the whole family can have the same shirt for a day!

Our lime green Thanksgiving 2010 shirts got a lot of love
and attention from cast members and guests alike!

My sister and her family made Incredibles shirts as well! Keeping
with the theme, I made my "Super Stitch" shirt which was my
favorite by far!

By adding a border to some artwork from DeviantArt,
I was able to help my sister make some cool shirts
for her and my brother in law. This design combined
their love of Disney and Marvel comics!

 Now that you've seen some examples, you can see the shirts aren't obviously handmade. In fact, by making your own shirts, you can customize them to be more "YOU" than one you by in the store.

The best part about all of this is these shirts take weeks to make. You get to enjoy the fun of the hunt for the perfect designs, the joy of supply gathering, and you get to take your time actually creating your final products. You end up with a shirt (or other creation) that you'll enjoy on your trip, definitely get compliments on, and will be unique to you and your family!

I recommend you start by exploring the Creative DISigns boards. From there you can get ideas and tips on how to create your shirts as well as what supplies you will need. Learn right there from the experts! Pretty soon you'll be making items like my sister and I did; here's a few of my favorites:

Sweatshirt designed by me for my sister and I

Shirt designed by yours truly.
Sometimes grown ups want their names on their
shirts too! This was really only fun in the Parks...

I also used some other DISers' designs to make pillowcases
for the kids and me since we shared a room! The Stitch on
top is my design though.

My sister also did some amazing shirts for her and my
niece. She HAND-JEWELED those mouse ears! (The
tiaras and words were pre-made, but still amazing!)

Having a special bag can be fun too! That shirt on the right
says "What Do You Mean I Have To Go Home?"

I'll leave you with a few of my old DISigns (click on them to make them bigger) and the encouragement to countdown your days by crafting! Enjoy!

"Like" the Technicolor Interwebs on Facebook

Just a quick post to let you know that Joanna & her Technicolor Interwebs is now on Facebook!  You can "like" it here.

I'm still getting the hang of running a Facebook page, but I've had some practice this year running the one for my school.  So far it's just a place for me to let you all know about recent posts and share some Disney World photos.  I'm hoping to get to the point where I have "Friday Favorites" and share favorite posts from the past.  I promise to not spam you and to only post once a day or so!  Come on over and join the fun!

Keeping the Disney Magic Alive Between Trips

Let me take a minute to apologize for my absence on my blog. For the past month I have been busy with state testing, the end of the school year, and dating a new, wonderful man! In fact, back in September of 2011, I wrote a post about Dating Like a Disney Princess, and I'm happy to say that I've found my Disney Prince!  

He's a wonderful mix of Enchanted's Prince Edward and Robert which is what I was looking for because while we've fallen fast, we've gotten to spend time together building that relationship on a foundation of commonality and friendship. I feel so blessed that he found me! Now, let's get back on schedule, shall we?

Most Disney fans find themselves one of two places: on a Disney Trip or planning their next Disney Trip. The real bummer is that the time between trips can sometimes be quite long. One of my friends told me their next family trip won't be for a couple of years! My next trip is a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas and then a few days in Disney World in November of this year, but that will have been almost a year since my last trip. In fact, my family has been planning this trip since June of 2011!

So the challenge here is how to make countdowns that start in the "200+ days away" pass by smoothly and with a touch of Disney magic. I admit that after traveling to Walt Disney World numerous times since 2009, I have quite a few ways to pass the time. I'll be sharing all of those with you in a series of posts, but for today, I'm going to share a quick, simple tip that's fun for any age.

I like to play the "What are You Looking Forward To?" game with my traveling partners. Sometimes this is in tweet form, and other times it's sitting around the family dinner table making conversation. In the past, I've tweeted one experience a day that I'm most looking forward to. Usually it's the first thing that comes to mind when I wake up and think about my trip, so it ranges anywhere from specific attractions to snacks to views I love to see. Lately my family has been having this discussion quite often since my nephew is going to finally be tall enough to ride almost any attraction that he wishes to visit. We talk about what the kids want to try for the first time either because they're older and braver or because they're taller and now able to see what all the fuss is about. This trip the kids swear they'll be brave enough for Pirates of the Caribbean and my nephew says he wants to ride Space Mountain with me! We'll see how all of that plays out!

I encourage you to make "What are You Looking Forward To?" part of your Disney countdown. It can be a fun list to tape to the fridge and have each family member add to each day. You can tweet it or make it your Facebook status. Or it can just be a conversation starter around the dinner table. Make it your own! Even 200 days out, you'd be surprised how many unique things you'll find to look forward to!

The Haunted Mansion Resort

A few years back I was still scared to death of The Haunted Mansion, and now I gleefully recite the script along with the Ghost Host as he guides me through the Mansion. Wanna join me on the ride real quick? Come on... join me!

As you're leaving the Library and heading to the Music Room and Staircase, the ghost host says this phrase:

They have all, retired here to the Haunted Mansion, actually we have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for one thousand. Any volunteers?? If you should decide to join us, final arrangements, may be made at the end of the tour.
I think my friend James said it best when, in true The Hunger Games fashion, he posted how he wanted to react: "I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!!!"  A part of me REALLY wants to scream that next time I'm on the ride.  But... what if you could join along and be a happy haunt for a few nights?  This month we were supposed to write about what attraction we'd turn into a resort.  I threw around some ideas like 

• Swiss Family Treehouse - Disney already has tree houses.
• Pirates of the Caribbean - Who wants to have to invoke the right of parlay while they're on vacation?
• Spaceship Earth - What if you get stuck in the Ice Age section of the resort?!
• Tower of Terror - That could be fun, but I sure wouldn't be getting on the elevator!
• Living with the Land - I decided that one was lame, but I do like how Garden Grill rotates through it, so I'll happily go back to eat there again.

So that left me with The Haunted Mansion.  Can you imagine rooms and buildings they could have?  Not to mention the pools and recreation areas!  I bet some Imagineers could take this idea and really run with it.  

Ideally the common areas would not be too creepy, so guests with small children could enjoy the resort without their children being too fearful.  The pool would be the perfect place to pay homage to the Stretch Room.  The pool would be a wade-in pool so it went from very shallow to deep.  At the deep end would be a tall water slide themed around the drop from the attic, and there would definitely be a hidden wedding ring in the pavement somewhere.  The kiddy pool and splash zone would have a sea captain's crypt in the middle to splash water periodically.  Other busts would randomly spit water.

Marble busts and tombstones would, of course, be scattered throughout.  The busts and tombstones would lead guests through various series of riddles like the busts in the interactive queue area.  The food court would be themed around the dining/party scene complete with illusions of ghosts partying throughout.   Picture chandeliers and an organ playing constant Disney music.  

For recreation guests could take rides in horseless carriages (pre-programed to run through the resort on their own, like a self-driving car).  They could take dance lessons with hitchhiking-esque ghosts who would dance with them in a wall of mirrors.  Could it really be The Haunted Mansion Resort without a library of ghost stories?  In the evenings, cast members would hold special ghost story nights in the small graveyard scene set up along the outskirts of the resort.  (This would have to have different ages at different times, so young and old could enjoy it.)

Rooms could have special effects windows that as you passed certain ones, ghosts would appear to watch you or follow along.  You could stay in various rooms themed like the mansion with details pointing to which husband/wedding the room represents.  Other rooms could be reminiscent of the seance room with floating tables and lamps (all illusion and practice though).  Rooms could be a bit lighter in spirit (see what I did there?) by focusing on the more jovial parts of the Mansion like the ballroom dancing spirits and hitchhiking ghosts. There's so much that could be done with this!  The one part of the resort I can't quite figure out is the food court area.  I keep envisioning rotting food, and that just wouldn't do!  Even fake cobwebs and dust would be a bit gross.  So what do y'all think?  At a Haunted Mansion Resort, what would the food court be like?

The Adventures of Kyle and Joanna (Part II)!!!

After a long series of Pre-Trip Report and Trip Report posts, I find it's nice to have them all put together in one place. Kyle and I went to Walt Disney World in Decemeber 2011 for our second trip together.  We decided to make the most of the Christmas season by attending as many of the special events that we could.  If you've always wanted to go to WDW for Christmas but have never had the chance, you've come to the right place! 

Pre-Trip Reports are a great read for anyone traveling to Walt Disney World. They're a fun place to get ideas for your trip and to read about how to plan for a great experience. Check out my second pre-trip report below:
Two Months from Today - Joanna & Kyle announce their 2nd WDW Vacation!
Wanna go to Walt Disney World... Again? - How did these two crazy kids decide to go to WDW again after leaving it only 6 months ago?
Tie Dye Cheesecake Makes All the Difference - Really, when planning what resort to stay at, it kinda does.
This Trip is Going to be Legen... wait for it... - December offers numerous special event opportunities. Find out which ones we decided to plan for our trip.
I Can't Wait to EAT!!! - In June I didn't get to eat much, find out how our food conversation went this time.
Where Do You REALLY Want To Eat? - Food conversation: Take 2, where we decide to change up our dining reservations.
Snacks To Try - Doesn't everyone drool over WDW snacks before they head out on their next trip? We sure do! See what Kyle and I are eager to try.
DIY Disney Craft Project and Giveaway - While counting down the days until WDW, sometimes a craft project helps pass the time. Check out what craft project I completed with WDW napkins!
And the Winner Is... - Alas, the giveaway is over, but it's never to late to congratulate the winner!
My Disney Bag of Tricks - Time to start packing for Disney World! What do I always make sure to take with me?
Choose Our Adventure (Again)! - Kyle and I decided that we would head to Epcot first on this trip. We let our readers pick which attraction we'd ride first (like we did in June 2011).
Follow Our Adventure! - Love reading about Kyle's and my adventures at Walt Disney World? This post details how you can follow along with us for future fun!

Our Trip Report had to be split into two parts per day because of all of the amazing meals we had as well as the pheomenal events we attended! These posts are FULL of videos and photos!

Day 1 - Do You Think Those Rocks are for Fantasmic? - Join us as we go to Epcot on our first day back at Walt Disney World! Tons of videos in this post!
Day 1 Dining - Let's Just Walk Over There! - Thinking about dining at the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue? We loved it!
Day 2 - Tea Parties are More Fun When No One Stabs You! - Magic Kingdom brought on bird attacks and violent stabbings!
Day 2 Dining & Events - Wait for It! - Find out more about Japan's Teppan Edo in Japan, join us at the Candlelight Processional narrated by Neil Patrick Harris, and take a trip to Downtown Disney for some Vinylmation trading!
Day 3 Dining - You're Like a Bratz Doll, but You're a Sexy Platypus! - A day at Animal Kingdom brings us some rainy fun on the Safari, a cupcake you have to see to believe, a meal at the Yak & Yeti, and the Jingle Jungle Parade.
Day 3 Event - Why is it so Difficult to Get to Naboo? - Our third day ends with a couple of Christmas spectaculars: the Osborne Lights in Hollywood Studios and IllumiNations (with the holiday tag) at Epcot.
Day 4 Dining - They Bring it in a Pineapple? - A morning at Hollywood Studios (complete with hilarious ride pics) and a scrumptious lunch at Kona Cafe.
Day 4 Events - You Can Never Have Too Much Glitter! - One post completely dedicated to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (the MVMCP): includes lots of photos, details, and a video!

Day 5 - Oh d-d-d-d-dear!! - Our last at at WDW included breakfast at Wilderness Lodge, a video of Beverly-tasting in Epcot, lots of beauty shots of Spaceship Earth, and Kyle and I butchering a song on video!

After I finished writing the trip report, I realized all of the attractions that Kyle and I somehow missed on this trip.  I reflected on them in Things I Missed But Actually Didn't.

Sprinkled throughout the trip report are some videos that Kyle and I made throughout the trip. I compiled them into a playlist on YouTube which you can find below. This trip the videos were much shorter, and we knew what we were doing a bit better. As a result, the videos are a bit better in my opinion.


When we got back from our trip, Be Our Guest Mike from the Be Our Guest Podcast asked Kyle and I to join him in Episode 399 to share our stories from our trip. You can hear the podcast by clicking below.  If the player doesn't work for you, click here.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Just like our last trip, I can't say enough that it was a BLAST! Going to Walt Disney World with Kyle is one of my favorite things.  I had hit a point in my life where I felt I would always be stuck traveling alone or as a tag along with my family or some of my couple friends.  Then Kyle and I started planning a trip, and that bleak future changed.  While we won't always travel together, I do hope we'll go again sometime. Friends like this are hard to find.

WDW Trip Report - Things I Missed But Actually Didn't

Every trip I make (either with Kyle or my family), we always miss riding some of the attractions.  This trip was no exception to the rule.  There were numerous attractions we missed, and surprisingly most of them were big ticket attractions.  Usually missing attractions doesn't bother me.  I mean, I going to visit the parks again.  I will get the opportunity to ride those attractions some other day.  Unless this is the ONE trip your family will take to Walt Disney World, you need to be ok with the reality that you will miss out on some attractions.  Instead, focus on the awesomeness that is the attractions you see.

Four months after our trip, here's my thoughts on what we missed:

Toy Story Midway Mania: While I LOVE this highly interactive ride, I don't love the long wait times. I understand the desire to want to play the game because I so want another chance to beat Kyle at this (since he's still undefeated), but I think we used our time better by not doing this ride this time.

Space Mountain: I'm not sure how we missed this. We meant to do it during MVMCP, but I think we hurried off to eat when we were in Tomorrowland and then forgot to go back.  I enjoy this roller coaster, but there are others I like more.

Carosel of Progress: No, this isn't a big ticket attraction, but it is one of my favorites.  Anyone who has "ridden" it with me knows I sing along the entire time. Who can help but join along? It was closed during MVMCP, and we missed it the day we spent in Magic Kingdom. I'm mildly sad that we missed this.

He looks cute here. I think I need to experience this.

Stitch's Great Escape: I put this on the list because it's one of the few attractions I still can't get up the courage to visit. Maybe I'll do it in November. I'm not sure, but this time I had no desire to smell the "chili burp" or whatever it is people whine about. Kyle definitely wasn't going to drag me onto this ride, and I'm not sure I could drag him on it even if I wanted to ride it!

Soarin': This is another attraction I'm actually kinda sad we missed.  The times just didn't work out for us.  We were either at Epcot after FastPasses were gone, or we didn't want to stand in line for 3 hours. We were at Epcot every day but one, so we should have checked for FastPasses one morning, but we didn't. We did get to ride numerous rides more than once there, so I still count myself as lucky!

Test Track: I enjoy this ride, but I'd like it more if it had different sequences every time you rode kind of like Tower of Terror.  I don't need to have this experience over and over again.

Mission Space: I don't understand people's love of this attraction. I refuse to go on the "I volunteer for an attraction to kill me" orange side, and the green side is boring. I didn't push going on this ride since I didn't care for it. I'm betting Kyle's a little bummed we missed it, and I always offered to play at the end of the ride while he rode, but we never got there.

Cool ride but very wet ending!

All Water Rides (Splash Mountain and Kali River Rapids): Who likes to walk around theme parks soaking wet?  Raise your hand! OK, let's add wearing jeans to that mix. Any takers? No? Didn't think so. I don't have to get soaked to feel like my trip is complete. I still have not experienced Kali River Rapids, and I'm not sure I ever will.  As for Splash Mountain, I do want to ride it again, but we never got over there.

The underlying theme here is "we never got over there."  We were having so much fun and enjoying so many of our favorite attractions and places that we didn't make it to some others, and that's ok.  I found this trip to be more relaxing than usual because we weren't rushing around nonstop.

A note on the super low crowds: Even with very very low crowd levels, the top attractions can still have 2-3 hour waits and will run out of FastPasses quickly.  The low crowd levels allowed us to ride most other attractions with 0-20 minute wait times (heavy on the 0-10 minute section). 

What attractions on this list are you shocked that we missed?