Back to the Vault for Some Disney Classics

April 30th is the official day three Disney classics will be going back into the vault.  That means you have just one day left to get your hands on them.  They include Pinocchio, Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 and Snow White. 

We have ours, do you have yours?

Just 5 Days Until I Can Make Dining Reservations!

Chef Mickey's for Dinner, 2008

With only five days left until I can make my advanced dining reservations (ADRs) for our October trip to Walt Disney World, we have made our finalized list of ADRs.  I base where we will dine on which park we would be in each day to try to reduce the travel times from resort or theme park to dining spot.  As you know, I am a huge fan of Touring Plans Crowd Calendar.  I have used their park recommendations for the last several trips and it has been 100% accurate.  I set up my Excel sheet yesterday listing our dates and crowd levels. 

For our first morning, we will trying out Chef Mickey's for breakfast.  We have only enjoyed dinner here and look forward to starting the day off with Mickey and friends.  We plan to take the bus to Magic Kingdom and then walk to the Contemporary (it is only about a 10 minute walk from the bus stop).  This way, as soon as we finish breakfast, we can walk (or take the monorail) back to the Magic Kingdom. 

On Tuesday, my parents will be celebrating their anniversary, so they will be enjoying a nice dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse.  I tried to convince them to try out California Grill or Artist Point, but I was obviously, unsuccessful!  While my parents are enjoying a quiet meal, we will be taking the kids to Coral Reef.  Now I know this is one of the places that does not have the best reviews.  But we decided that it would be great place for the kids, who love The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion, to have a great view of the aquarium, while we enjoy a nice meal. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Moment with Frasier Crane

I just love Flights of Wonder over Disney's Animal Kingdom.  If you want a little more information about it, you can check out my previous post Flights of Wonder at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

This Month's Minnie Mom Contribution ~ Scary Attractions for the Little Ones

Each month I contribute to Growing Up Disney's Minnie Moms.  Amy gives us each a topic relating to vacationing in Disney with our children, and we share our perspectives on the topic.  It is a great way to read multiple points of view on a single topic.  This month's topic is Surprisingly Scary Attractions.  Head over to Growing Up Disney to see which attraction is scarier for my son than I thought it would be!

If you'd like to see other topics the Minnie Moms have discussed, you can head over to Amy's Minnie Moms Page.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Pooh's Playful Spot

Hayley loved Pooh's Playful Spot, but did not like having to leave!

Oldies but Goodies ~ The Disney Book of the Month Club of the 70s

There are many things that could be the start of a person's love of Disney.  For me it was the Disney Book of the Month club, something I loved long before ever even knowing a Walt Disney World or Disneyland existed.  I received my first book when I was just four and remember my mom reading me these stories over and over.  As I got older, I remember reading them to my dolls, my brother and even to the other children in my neighborhood.  Recently, I even found out that one of my Disney friends was also a part of this book club!  Beth at A Disney Mom's Thoughts just posted a similar article about these books.  She and I have connected online through our love of Disney and the more we talk, the more we find we have in common.  Head over to her post Disney Book Club to see her favorites and her childhood memories of these books.  As she said when I e-mailed her about posting a similar article ~ great minds think alike!

I can tell from the covers of the books, which were my favorites.  Of the 60 or so books I have, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians and Brer Rabbit Saves His Skin were my favorites. These four books had ripped bindings, scuffed covers, pages falling out and curled up corners.  These injuries weren't from lack of care, but from an excessive love of reading them.  Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, sadly, have not stayed together long enough to read them more than a handful of times to my own children, but I still have plenty others to share with them.

I am so happy that I have held onto these books through the years.  Pierre and I read to the kids every night, and though Joey, Hayley and Emily have hundreds of books to choose from, they rarely choose something other than one of these Disney books.  Each of them has their favorites, but they mostly are the Mickey, Donald and Goofy stories, though the Robin Hood books are close behind. 

We Pursued and We Found the Magic This Week

It has been a very busy week here at home, so I only had a few posts this week. 

On Monday, I posted my first contribution to Cooking with Mickey.  I am so excited about this because my series of articles will be called Little Chef Disney Creations and will be based on recipes I create with my children inspired by Disney movie moments.  You can check out this month's posts Mr. Potato Head's Pizza Planet Tortilla Treats.  I will be posting new recipes the second Monday of each month.

For Wordless Wednesday this week, I shared a photo of my son, Joey, after his first trip on Kali River Rapids.  I also included a link to an article by Bruce at A World View, which has full details about the Kali River Rapids attraction.

On Thursday, I shared a review of my family's favorite character meal ~ Goofys' Beach Club Character Breakfast.  It is a must do for us each and every trip.

How did you find Disney magic this week?  I would love to hear about it!

Goofy's Beach Club Character Breakfast at Cape May Cafe

Before having children, it never occurred to me to experience a character meal.  I honestly thought it was just for kids.  But after our very first character meal, we realized what a mistake we had made never experiencing one before. Even my parents couldn't believe all the years we had missed out on such fun.  In 2006, my husband and I decided it was time to take Joey, just 14 months at the time, to Walt Disney World for his very first trip.  We figured the best way to kick off this particular vacation would be a character meal.  I researched all our choices, and decided that breakfast at Cape May Cafe at Disney's Beach Club would be it.  Our group included my parents, my brother, sister-in-law, my husband, Joey and myself. 

The moment we arrived at Disney's Beach Club, I loved it!  The decor, the landscaping and the view were just beautiful (this started my desire to stay at the Beach Club, though that is still  on my Disney bucket list!).  We checked in and walked around the lobby to take it all in, while we waited for our table to be ready.  There was a small sitting area for the kids with a TV playing some Disney cartoons.  Joey was content to sit in one of the little wicker chairs and enjoy the show.

When our table was ready, we walked into Cape May Cafe and I immediately saw Minnie in her beach clothes.  I could not wait to start taking pictures!  Our server was Katie, and to this day is one of the cast members who really stands out as just magical.  She explained to us how the characters would make their way around and also gave us the layout of the buffet and where to find things.  She made sure she was constantly checking in on Joey to make sure he was comfortable with the characters and who hadn't been to the table yet.  She made an already exciting experience even better for all of us.  When we were getting ready to leave, she told us to wait a minute because Goofy wanted to say bye to us.  She returned moments later with Goofy and put us in position for a great family photo, which she took herself.  To this day it is a favorite of mine from that trip and sits right in our family room in one of my favorite Disney frames.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Joey's 1st Ride on Kali River Rapids

In 2008, Joey took a ride on Kali River Rapids, an attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom, for the first time.  I was inspired to share this photo after reading a post from my fellow Magical Blogorail member, Bruce, at A World View. You can check out his article about Kali River Rapids for more information about the attraction.

I'm Cooled Off Now!

Exciting News ~ Cooking with Mickey Contributions

I am so excited to announce that I will now be contributing to Cooking with Mickey once a month. My series of articles will be called Little Chef Disney Creations and will be a collection of kid friendly recipes inspired by my children's favorite Disney movie moments. 

To see the first recipe in my series, head over to Cooking with Mickey, where you will find the recipe for

Mr. Potato Head's Pizza Planet

Tortilla Treats

We Pursued and We Found the Magic This Week

This past week was another exciting week here at Pursuing the Magic.  I finished up my Disney in the 90s series (for now), as well as passed my 100th blog post! 

On Monday, I shared all the details for Sorcerer Radio's Listen and Win D23 Contest.  Have you qualified to win?  It is certainly an amazing prize for any Disney fan out there!

On Tuesday, I shared a link to The Info Mouse.  I have contributed photos to their Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort slide show.  Feel free to check out The Info Mouse site to see all the great Disney info they have to share.  If you want to read a review of our experience at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, check out my post My Favorite Kid Friendly Resort ~ Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. 

For Wordless Wednesday, I posted some 90s photos of one of my all time favorite parades from Walt Disney World.  It is the Toy Story Parade in Disney's MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) from our May 1997 trip.

To end my Disney in the 90s series, I posted pictures from my 1997 trip when I experienced Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival for the very first time.  This is one of my favorite times to visit Walt Disney World, so I found it fitting that this would be my 100th posts.

On Friday, I shared ways we keep Disney magic alive between trips.

Hope you were able to find some Disney magic this week!  Let me know how you brought a little Disney into your home, you know I would love to read about it!!

Disney Magic at Home

I am very excited that we are sharing how we keep Disney magic alive at home between trips.  That is the basis of my entire blog ~ finding Disney magic!  But as I started thinking about it, I had so many things to add, you would be stuck here at the Pursuing the Magic stop for quite some time had I added everything, so I decided to share my top three ways we "pursue" Disney magic here at home.

All three of my kids love to cook.  We have such great family moments when we are working to together to create a special snack or dinner.  The recipes we make the most often are from Walt Disney World.  Our favorite Disney recipes are the honey-lime dressing from 'Ohana, the cornbread from Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue and the Canadian cheddar cheese soup from LeCellier.  If you want to find one of your favorites, I have found many ways to obtain Disney recipes :

• An online search will give you many results, though I find some are people's attempts to recreate the recipe themselves and some are authentic, but there is definitely a lot out there.
• Head over to Cooking with Mickey (yes, you just visited her in the loop today!)
• You can request a recipe while in Disney from the restaurant itself or from Guest Services
• You can contact guest services after returning home to request a recipe by phone or e-mail. 

I have used all these methods and found they are great resources to get my favorite Disney recipes.

More of the 90s ~ Epcot Entertainment and the Flower and Garden Festival

I have had a lot of fun reminiscing about the 90s over the last two weeks.  But for now this will be my last 90s article.  I have decided for my 100th post to this blog I will share photos about my favorite time to visit Epcot - The Flower and Garden Festival.  To keep in the 90s spirit, all the photos you will see here were taken in May 1997, when I experienced this for the first time and was just amazed at what Disney could do with flowers and plants. While looking through my photos, I also came across a few entertainers from World Showcase that I have not seen in Epcot since this 1997 trip.  Enjoy!



Wordless Wednesday ~ Disney's MGM Studios Toy Story Parade, Circa 1997

Sharing Photos with The Info Mouse

One of the things I love is to share stories and pictues about Disney with fellow Disney fans.  That is why I started this blog and also why I started the Magical Blogorail.  I have connected with so many great writers and really have learned a lot about blogging in a short amount of time.  This past week on Twitter @TheInfoMouse put out a request for photos of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort.  I was hesitant to respond, since I am not a professional photographer and generally I am clinging to my camera, while also keeping track of three children, a backpack, a stroller and a husband.  But the reality was I have stayed at CBR so many times that I knew I had a lot of photos with maybe one or two shots they may be able to use.  I sent the link to my Carbbean Beach post to The Info Mouse just to see what they thought of the photos.  Well, they now are using a couple of them on their website in a slideshow!  I am so excited! 

If you want to check them out, head over to The Info Mouse's Caribbean Beach page.  While you are there, check out all the great info they have on dining, resorts, parks and more.

We Pursued and We Found the Magic This Week

Over the week, I have had a great time reminiscing about my Disney experiences in the 90s.  Sorcerer Radio had 90s week last week and I had fun getting into the spirit of it!

Monday I kicked off my 90s week with The 90s ~ The Decade I Converted My Non-Disney Husband.  Have you ever converted a non-Disney believer to a believer?

For Wordless Wednesday, I shared a photo of 90s park hopper pass.  Hard to believe that a ticket that included 3 parks, park hopping, and had no expiration only cost $100.

Friday I discussed Dixie Landings, now Port Orleans Riverside.  I was even able to find my refillable mug with Brer Rabbit on it.  I'll be staying there in just a few short months.  You can find some photos and information in my post More Disney in the 90s ~ Dixie Landings.  In this post, you will also find a link to my review of Port Orleans Riverside.

For a non 90s post, I shared a Disney memory inspired by a Mouse of Zen haiku by JB Conway.

I had so much fun with 90s week this week that you just may see a continuation of it this upcoming week.  How did you find Disney magic this week?  I would love to read about it!

More of Disney in the 90s ~ Dixie Landings



Resort Refillable Mug & Sassagoula Times



The more I think about my Disney life in the 90s, the more I realize I saw a lot of firsts in Disney during that decade.  One of my most favorite places to stay on Disney property is Port Orleans Riverside, which you may know if you have already read my post Resort Hopping with the Magical Blogorail.  In 1997, when we ventured to Walt Disney World for our friends' wedding, we stayed at Dixie Landings, which is now Port Orleans Riverside, for the first time.  As soon as we arrived, we knew we loved it! 

I remember we checked in very late our first night.  We deposited our luggage in our room and made our way to the lounge.  As we approached River Roost, we could hear a lot of clapping, singing and cheering.  It was Yeehaw Bob.  We loved his show, and it was certainly a great way to kick off our first Disney vacation alone.  I had only ever traveled with my family before, so this was quite different. 



Magnolia Terrace



The best part about Dixie Landings is that it was May, and all the Magnolia trees were in bloom.  The landscaping was just beautiful.  Besides, you could hardly take 10 steps without a bunny crossing your path.  We were in Magnolia Terrace, one of the mansions along the Sassagoula River, which was directly across from the food court and lounge area.  Ever since this trip, anytime we stay here, we always request Magnolia Terrace.  After 2001, Dixie Landings was changed over to Port Orleans Riverside, but we still love it!  Though I will admit, I really loved the Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear theming around the resort at the time, especially the refillable mugs.

As you may be able to tell, I am really getting in to the spirit of Sorcerer Radio's 90s week.  It just so happens I have been working on a photo project for my family, since this October will be our 25th anniversary of our first trip to Walt Disney World.  Socerer Radio's 90s week has given me inspiration for working on our the 90s decade in my photo montage.  It is so fun to look back at how we have all changed over the years.  If you want to listen into Sorcerer Radio's 90s Week, you can use the Live 365 player here on my page, or head on over to Sorcerer Radio and listen directly from their home page.  If you missed either of my previous 90s posts, you can check out The 90s ~ The Decade I Converted My Non-Disney Husband and Wordless Wednesday ~ More of the 90, in which you will see a park pass that cost $100 and included 4 days, 3 parks, park hopping and no expiration.

What is something from Disney in the 90s you miss?