I’ve been VIP many times before in different arenas.  My uncle, being a bishop, gives me VIP status in certain church circles.  My husband, working most of his career in the music business, included me in many VIP events in that world.  Being backstage at a Will Smith concert is nice–don’t get me wrong–but I think that I’ve been spoiled forever by Disney VIP (sorry Will, but Mickey is The Man).   I’ve done Disney World the easy way (off-season and short lines) and the hard way (during Spring Break when the park was at such capacity that they shut it down and lines were 2 hours long), but I’ve never done Disney World VIP-style until now.  And I must say, it’s going to be very hard to go back to being a normal park-goer after the experience I just had!

My pass to VIP-dom.  I’m officially press!

Believe me, I was working; we were gone from about 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. everyday and moving fast the entire time, but there was plenty of fun and Disney magic in everything we did.

Let’s start with the people that I was so fortunate to be with during this fabulous experience.  Taking us on this whirlwind journey was Laura Spencer, Social Media Manager for Disney World.  She was our fearless (and hilarious) leader.  I met Laura at Blogalicious ’09, but didn’t know just how wonderfully kooky she was until now.  Laura ran a tight ship, but provided plenty of laughter along the way; she loves her job and it shows.  Heather Murry and Darcie Maranich, both on the 2008 Disney World Moms Panel, were also on hand to share their wealth of Disney World knowledge.

Heather, Laura & Darcie

Besides myself, there were 7 other bloggers invited to Disney World (pictured below from left to right):

Lucinda Anderson Hughs, FrugalSocialite.com

Deveter Brown, Blackplanet.com

Angela Cooper, Hangingwithmrsacooper.blogspot.com

Onica Cupido, Blasianbabynotes.blogspot.com

Me: Sherrelle Kirkland-Andrews, Funkidivagirl.com

Lorraine Robertson, Askwifey.com

Tara Jefferson, Theyoungmommylife.com

Lashanda Henry, Blackparenting.blogspot.com

Lorraine is the only person that I knew before the trip, but by the end, I had made new friends.  We were the social media bunch; there was traditional media represented as well and we spent much of our time as one big group.   Here’s a group shot of almost everyone:

The magic started upon entering Animal Kingdom Lodge; I had been there before, but didn’t get to spend much time in the lobby.   (more…)

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*As anyone who has traveled through the nation’s busiest airport knows, “T is For Tango” refers to the Concourse T stop on the airport train.

*If you missed our road trip entertainment on the way to Disney World, you can see it here.

After a fun-filled week at Walt Disney World we are back home and I’m very grumpy.  It was a hard re-entry for me both physically (the exhaustion finally settled in) and mentally (back to reality).  This morning my husband told me to go find my Mickey ears and put them on because I needed to get out of my funky mood.

I experienced my first Disney theme park (Disneyland) when I was five years old and have very vivid memories of having a great time.   But living in the Midwest for most of my childhood, I didn’t go back to Disneyland until I went to college on the West Coast and then I would go several times a year.  Often I went to Disneyland on a whim if I was having a bad day and it never failed to cheer me up.

But as much as I loved Disneyland and as many times as I had been, I had never been to Walt Disney World and I was just dying to go.  I figured, if I had so much fun in the “land”, well the “world” had to be even more fun!  When we moved to Atlanta in 2003 and I found out that Disney World was only a 7 hour drive away, I began plotting and planning.   My daughter’s 5^th birthday in October of 2006 was the perfect excuse.

So we went on a four day vacation for her birthday and had such a blast that we couldn’t wait to go again.  It took a few years, but finally we made it back to Disney World for the entire spring break vacation last week.  This time we were able to experience more and move around easier without a stroller and mandatory naptimes.

Disney World can be tons of fun or a nightmare vacation, depending on how well you plan both in the logical sense and mentally as well.   If you don’t like Disney as a brand or the Disney characters, really don’t even bother going.   It will be a very expensive waste of time for you; Disney World is not for cynics.  The people who enjoy Disney World the most are the ones who can suspend belief and get into the spirit of the place.  Even if you don’t ride a single ride at Disney World you can have a great time just being “in the magic”.

Trust me when I say that Disney World is not a place that you roll up to without a plan!  Your plan can be loose or it can be airtight, but you need some sort of plan because Disney World can be overwhelming.   Besides the books and websites that I will recommend, you have me, Funkidivagirl, to help you! (more…)

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*As anyone who has traveled through the nation’s busiest airport knows, “T is For Tango” refers to the Concourse T stop on the airport train.

You’re back!  That means that I didn’t scare you off in my last blog post about Disney World and you are ready to learn even more!  This is all the fun stuff: what to ride, what to see and what to eat.

Before I begin telling you about our experiences at the different Disney World parks, a note about MEEETING CHARACTERS.

If you have a child between the ages of 3-6, meeting the Disney characters may be high on their list of priorities. Since our first trip to Disney World was for my daughter’s 5^th birthday, we tailored much of the trip around her wishes and hunting down characters was a good part of each day. I’m not going to lie; it’s a huge time-suck. The characters are very gracious and talk to, take photos with and sign each child’s autograph book. As charming as this is, as you can imagine, it takes forever.

To cut down on standing in line as much as possible, research where the characters congregate in each park and get there early (although many characters roam around, each park does have a specific character meet-and-greet place). Another good way to hit a bunch of characters at once is to attend a character meal. At any one meal there could be 4-6 characters. Allears.net has a list of all the character meals and it is recommended that reservations be made early. I’ll write more about the character meals that we attended in my next blog post.

Since we exhausted meeting many of the Disney characters on our first trip (and have the autographs and photos to prove it), my daughter didn’t express interest in talking to them again; she was happy to wave at them from afar. As for me, as long as I saw Mickey at least once, I was good–and he blew me a kiss during a parade. He knows I’m a fan!

DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

This was our first trip to Animal Kingdom and our first day at Disney World, so we were anxious to explore. It’s not a terribly large park and is easily explored in one day, although we did return another day for a couple of hours. It was very crowded and like most of the Disney parks, the beauty is in the details—which is hard to see with so many people. Our second time there it was not as crowded and we were able to appreciate all the small details that made everything seem so authentic in “Africa” and “Asia.” (more…)

© 2009 – 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*As anyone who has traveled through the nation’s busiest airport knows, “T is For Tango” refers to the Concourse T stop on the airport train.

I’m feeling a bit sad as I sit here sipping green tea and typing the last installment of How To Do Disney World Like Funkidivagirl because I have really enjoyed sharing Disney World with you through these few blog posts.

If you missed the previous 2 installments, go back to part 1 (how to prepare for Disney World) and part 2 (Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney) to catch up. To make it even easier for you, all the posts are in a special “T as in Tango: Disney World” category.

But before I break down Epcot and Magic Kingdom (this is a very long post, there’s much to say about these parks), here are reviews of some RESORT RESTAURANTS at Disney World:

Chef Mickey at Contemporary: We loved this breakfast buffet in 2006, but we couldn’t get a reservation for our last trip. The food is good (especially the pancakes), but we were there to see the characters. This is the best part of a character meal because the characters come around to each table and spend a good amount of time socializing (as much as they can non-verbally), signing autographs and taking photos. My daughter was excited to see Chip & Dale and Goofy while I loved seeing Mickey.

O’hana at Polynesian: This was by far our favorite dinner during our 2006 trip and I tried almost day to get a reservation for this last trip, but I couldn’t swing it. The décor is great, the atmosphere is fun and participatory, but most of all the food is really, really good. Grilled meal is served all-you-can-eat family style and I think that my son tried to eat it all. I kept the grilled shrimp coming to the table. We all loved the bread pudding with bananas and caramel sauce for dessert. Next time I am making my reservations early!

Whispering Canyon Café at Wilderness Lodge: This was our first experience at Whispering Canyon, but it won’t be our last. The boys had the All-You-Care-To-Eat Canyon Skillet and wow that was a lot of food. (more…)

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.