Five Free Fun Ideas Your Family Probably Isn’t Doing

By now you know how to save money on family fun, but are you really taking advantage of all of the fun family free stuff that is out there? There are plenty of things to do, to see and to learn that can be geared toward the different talents and interests of yourself, your kids and the family as a whole. If your family isn’t doing them, you could be losing out on a lot of free fun. 1. Join free classes and clubs. There are a number of free classes and clubs out there, just waiting for someone to … Continue reading

Spice Up Your Holiday Party

  You don’t have to serve alcohol at a holiday party in order for your guests to have a good time.  There are plenty of ways you can keep your friends and family members entertained without busting your budget on a bunch of booze. Rather than stocking your bar before your guests arrive, have several games and activities on hand to keep everyone busy.  Just be sure to have a variety of fun things to do so all of your guests can participate. Also, game directions should be clear and not overly complicated.  Avoid forcing your guests to play long … Continue reading

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2011

The Epcot Food & Wine Festival is just around the corner, so that means it’s time to look at what events are on the schedule this year. The festival runs from September 30 to November 13, and you can bet that those weeks are the ones I most wish to visit Orlando. Some of the F&W special parties require ticketing in advance. For a list of the most exclusive for which, if you’re interested, you ought to book now, check out my previous article here. Other events, while they do require that ahead-of-time admission, happen often enough or are large … Continue reading

Tokyo DisneySea

DisneySea’s Tower of Terror I’ve always wanted to write a feature about Tokyo Disneyland. It seems like the most mysterious of the Disney Parks because it’s always the one I hear about the least. Its website isn’t as well translated as that for Disneyland Paris or Hong Kong Disneyland, so I can never find its special offers page or really much else substantial about which to write. Tokyo DisneySea has always intrigued me the most. For all that I say I don’t see a lot written about Tokyo Disneyland, I see the name DisneySea pop up a lot, more than … Continue reading

Disney Printables

My husband and I have been living in our house for seven months now and I have yet to hang up any of our decorations. I admit that laziness is a contributing factor, but a main reason why I haven’t done so is that I’m not very good at anything crafty, decorations included. It’s hard for me to look at a blank wall and know what should go where, so I have the same problems scrap booking, designing room layouts, or even decorating cookies. That’s probably why I never noticed just how many cool craft features Disney has on its … Continue reading

Muppets Movie Trailers

The start of summer saw the release of four Muppet movie trailers. The tone of those trailers, though they contained many of the same scenes, taught us a lot what the new Muppet movie will feel like. Isn’t that any diehard Muppets fan’s biggest complaint: that most of the Muppet movies released in the 1990s didn’t feel like Muppet movies? Something about them didn’t contain that unique Jim Henson sense of humor. It’s not that we expect they could, since Henson’s passing. That raises the question, however, of whether Muppet movies should continue if they couldn’t remain true to their … Continue reading

Explore the Disney Universe

One of my favorite party games is called “Smash Brothers.” It’s a Nintendo game wherein players control various famous characters from across the company’s franchises in a series of knock-down drag-out battles. I find getting to control Yoshi one minute and Link the next more enticing than Nintendo’s other common multi-player games, such as any of the sport or arcade games featured on Wii Play. Anyone who’s read my Disney blog for a while knows that my favorite video game is “Kingdom Hearts,” and no small part of that is because during it I get to play and interact with … Continue reading

Cars Land: Grand for “Cars” Fans

We all know how I feel about “Cars.” So I will force myself not to spend this article grinding my teeth over how, despite lackluster reviews, merchandising sales for “Cars 2” were so phenomenal, even before the film came out, that it was considered a success. Such a success (again, even before its release) that Disneyland’s California Adventure Park is adding a new attraction: Cars Land. The official Disney Parks blog has posted a series of articles lately on it, exploring what it will entail and highlighting its 2009 groundbreaking. “Cars” fans start your engines: the attraction dedicated to the … Continue reading

Character Dining at Disneyland

When I was a child I was terrified of costumed characters. For some reason Halloween didn’t bother me, but I didn’t want to go near Santa Claus’ lap at the mall, to my parents’ relief (it saved them the long line wait). What frightened me the most, however, were costumed characters at amusement parks. One of my earliest memories is running in fear from the parade at Sesame Place when I was only about three. Trips to Hershey Park had me breaking out into a nervous sweat should one of the giant anthropomorphic candy bars wander near me. On second … Continue reading

July 4 Celebrations at Disneyland

With another national holiday just around the corner, it’s time again to look at the special events going on at the Disney Parks. Last year I highlighted what went down in Orlando for July 4. I thought I would switch things up this year and focus on the events in Anaheim. The official Disney parks blog has an overview of what to expect at Disneyland on the 4th, which links to the Disneyland Daily Events calendar for the specifics. One thing you should definitely anticipate: fireworks. But then you probably guessed that already. Because July 4 is a Monday this … Continue reading