What I Wouldn't Do in Disneyland!

Last October we took the kids to Disneyland to celebrate Alexa's 3rd birthday. Check out my post "Finally Pictures from Disneyland  to see our vacation and my 5 Tips For Your Disney Vacation post.

Today I would like to share 2 things I would avoid while in Disneyland.

1. Go to Blue Bayou Restaurant - We loved the Blue Bayou and on every previous Disney vacation we made sure we took on afternoon to enjoy lunch. Our last trip had been 7 years ago and Jacob still remembered the pirate hats and lunch under the stars. He wanted Alexa to have that memory and was adamant we made time on this vacation. We were incredibly disappointed - the restaurant had become one of the most expensive places to eat in the resort. The pirate hats were gone and the food portions were tiny. They certainly became a restaurant that was not family friendly as far as we were concerned. No amount of money will get us to ever go back.

2. Not taking a break - Because we only had 3 days we wanted to make sure we didn't miss a single thing. We got to the park when it opened and left when it closed and didn't stop in between. In the end we needed a vacation to rest from our vacation. For our next vacation we will make sure we take a few hours each afternoon to go back to the hotel and rest.  If we can maybe even take a nap. I will also bring a container of Epsom salt so we can soak our feet in the afternoon and before we turn in for the night. My feet were so sore after the first day.

So there you have it, only two things I would have changed. I think that's pretty good.

Until next time,
Karri

5 Tips For Your Disneyland Vacation

In October my family and I took a much needed vacation to Disneyland. You can check out the pictures by visiting my post: Finally Pictures from Disneyland.

It had been seven years since our last trip to Disneyland and we knew a lot had changed. So I did a little research to help put our trip together. I was also very lucky to have a friend who's daughter is a frequent Disneyland visitor who sent me a two page list of tips. The following are my 5 favorite tips for a successful Disney trip.

1. Purchase the PhotoPass Plus - Disneyland has photographers scattered all around the park, including at all the character experiences. The PhotoPass is a simple card you hand your photographer and all the photo they take go into one simple account you can access online. The PhotoPass Plus allows you to have all those photos for one price. It is well worth the $99.95 price but if you purchase it at least 14 days in advance you can get it for $69.95. Here is link to access that incredible deal - PhotoPass offer. Using the PhotoPass allowed us to have some wonderful character photos we couldn't have gotten from our cell phone cameras and we also were able to have several family photos taken that had all of us in them. That was a real treat.

2. Stay at a Disneyland Resort Hotel - I know this is not something that fits within everyone's budget but if you can you will find it is worth it. I can't tell you how nice it was after a long day in the park to have such a short walk to our hotel room.

3. Use the Fast Pass system - It's a common tip on most Disney tip websites but it is really worth saying again.

4. Disney Dining - Did you know you can book all your restaurant reservations before you even arrive at Disneyland? You can even book your reservations at restaurants in Downtown Disney.

5. Download Disney park apps on your smart phone. These allowed us to get an idea of estimated wait times for rides, check off rides we had been on, and also set reminders for when we could use our Fastpass or get a new one. I promise to go into more detail in a later post.

I will share more tips in later post, as well as my list of what to avoid while in Disneyland. I'd love to read your tips please share them in the comments.


Until next time,
Karri

Finally... Pictures from Disneyland

Greetings everyone and welcome back to My Life's a Treasure. It has been a while since we were last together, I hope that this will not become a habit. As we entered into Fall, life in the Reiser home got extremely crazy and finding time to write was impossible. Thankfully we have finally found a nice rhythm so my hope is that a 3 month break will not happen again. 

When we were last together I shared my excitement about our vacation to Disneyland. Well we took this wonderful vacation in October and truly had the most magical time. . 

 While in Disneyland one must always take a picture with Walt and Mickey

It was Halloween Time during our visit - I love the Mickey Mouse pumpkins

Toon Town: Still a favorite of Jacob's. He had fun showing Alexa all the silly things to do there.

I cried often during this trip (tears of joy). I cried a waterfall when Alexa got to meet her favorite Princess, Snow White (Jim and Jacob thought I was weird)

One evening we enjoyed Mickey's Halloween Party - Alexa dressed up a Minnie Mouse (she wouldn't wear her ears but everyone still knew who she was.)

I love this picture of Jacob and I at California Adventure. I was so glad he humored me by taking this picture. 

Cars Land was great - It was like stepping into the movie as you stroll down Route 66. We unfortunately never made it on the Cars Ride this trip. Alexa was still a bit to short and the line was just too long for us. 

We spent 3 days in the parks and it was not enough time for us. We really could have used at least one more day, maybe even two. Jacob and I are currently trying to convince Jim that 2014 should be the "Year of Disney" and we should get season passes. I will keep you posted on the outcome. Also keep checking back for more Disney posts. On the schedule - Tips I Learned From This Trip; How I'm Treasuring the Memories; What I Won't Do Again; Alexa Meets Some Princesses and so much more. Plus I'll share what else have we been doing the last 3 months. 

So much to share, I wish there were more hours in the day. 

Until next time,

Karri

Mouse Stash Jar

Here's my first project in preparation for our vacation to Disneyland this October. I thought it would be fun to collect all of our spare change over the next few months and then use it to enjoy a special treat. I used the Cricut Mickey and Friends cartridge to create Minnie and Mickey and used the Mickey Font cartridge to write Mouse Stash! Enjoy!

Until next time,

Karri

Preparing for Our Disneyland Vacation

Today is an exciting day! This morning I booked our hotel reservations for our upcoming vacation to Disneyland to celebrate Alexa's birthday. 

I can't begin to contain my excitement over the whole idea. We have not been on a proper vacation in over 5 years. This trip is well deserved and long over due. 

I have 4 months to plan and prepare for our vacation and I am using Pinterest to help: 

Here is my inspiration for my first two projects-

Disney Countdowns

Oh my which one to choose

Countdown Chain from Get Away Today Vacation

Countdown from The Crafting Chick via Someday Crafts

Countdown from A Creative Princess


Autograph Books
I would like to make one for Alexa 

Mommyword.com via That's Vandy

Upside Down Homeschooling

RobbyGurl's Creation

I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Faith Abigail Designs

I can't wait to get started!

Until next time,

Karri

Throughout the week you can find me at these fabulous link parties

Dizzney Mania

In April our Church had it's annual dinner auction to benefit the school, religious education program and the Youth and Young Adult ministry program. Once again I was in change of transforming our gym into our version of the Happiest Place on Earth. (So no one thinks I can't spell we decided to spell Disney as Dizzney to avoid any copyright problems in our advertising)

From the beginning I knew I wanted surround the room with silhouettes of some of our favorite Disney character. I was very lucky to have a former teen from my youth group who is an amazing artist. Every silhouette was hand drawn and inspired by a picture she had on her phone. They were amazing.  

To help pull the rest of the theme together I went to Pinterest. (If you would like to view my Pinterest board full of great ideas including the ones I used click here.)  

Enjoy our Dizzney Mania Auction........

Semi full view of the room

One of the auction tables 

This year we had featured premier tables. Premier table holders received a bottle of wine, real serving pieces, two personal waiters and bottled waters. Each table featured a different Disney character or characters.

(Pictured here clockwise: Princess, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse and Goofy)

It all started with a Mouse! Mickey and his better half were our featured characters of course.

The Mickey Mouse theme table. (Pinterest inspired) 

One of the two Disney Princess theme tables. 

The Donald Duck table. I also had a Goofy table, a Minnie table, a Pooh Bear table, an Alice in Wonderland and Tinkerbell Tables. 

These decorations would have never created if it were not for the wonderful people who volunteered to help.  I am very grateful to all of them. They made the week of decorating stress free. Well not totally stress free, I'm not going to lie but they did help to keep my stress to a manageable minimum. 

So now it's time to gather ideas for our auction next year. We've decided to go to the Islands! Now my mind is focused on grass skirts, coconuts  and tiki tourches. 

Until next time,

Karri