Disney Details #3: Autograph Books

Getting his book ready!

This Disney DIY is still a work in progress, but so far I'm in love!  These autograph/scrapbooks are a true labor of love.  They are time consuming for someone like me who's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to scrapbooking.  On our last trip to Disney we weren't sure how into the character autographs the big brother would be.  We bought him one of the standard books at the last minute when we ran into Buzz Lightyear, his favorite character EVER!  The book definitely did the trick, but thanks to Pinterest I wanted something bigger and better this year for him, and the fussbucket too. 

After pinning a million ideas my friend Jennie & I got together to work on our books and I started on the inside pages first because I had an idea and couldn't find any paper I liked at our local Michaels.  I really wish we had a nice scrapbooking store, but I guess it's not all the rage like it used to be.  Either way, we had fun working on them and I plan to continue to build pages over the next couple months, but wanted to share the general idea of what I'm doing. 

I always draw up a little design for my pages before I do them.  It helps me visualize what I'm doing, even though I always have to fiddle with things as I put it together.  I love how the covers turned out!  They are so fun!  I'll be adding some ribbon to the top, but wanted to wait till I was done with the inside pages so it's easier to turn them all.   Yes, they're a little sparkly, but it's all part of the magic, right!

The inside cover has a great fireworks and castle scene!  My plan is to put a family picture opposite it after the trip. 

The rest of the pages follow the same model of scrapbook page on the "top" and autograph page on the "bottom".  The boys will get an autograph on the bottom page for each character and we'll put a picture of them with the character on the top. 

I have quite the list of characters to do based on our character dining and those C got autographs for last time.  I figure then there will be blank pages for any who pop up that we get autographs for and we can do the decorating when we get back home. 

I did make the books almost exactly the same based on the papers I had on hand.  My main reason for this is that even though my kids are 10 years apart, there is still that sibling rivalry so I didn't want anyone to feel left out. 

Now the challenge is to finish these before our trip!  The autograph pages are relatively quick once I put my mind to it and find paper I like that matches the characters.  That's the catch 22!  I have one more week to work on them before C gets home, then they'll have to wait till he's back in school so we can keep the surprise element of the trip.  This is the one project I wish I'd gotten more done of, but a week is a week so we'll see what we can check off the list between now and then.  Either way, they'll get done and I'm positive that these will only increase the magic for my kids, not only for the trip, but for years to come!

Disney Details #2

This is the first installment of what I should call DIY Disney I guess.  The first of my many Disney oriented projects I'm working on while the oldest is away.  The joys of a surprise trip mean that I can only work on things when he's not home so I've been trying to check some of these off of my to do list while he's gone so I can focus on the other projects when his eagle eyes and ears return!  I, of course, have a million Disney ideas pinned.  There's one problem...I don't sew.  For some reason in my home ec class we never learned how.  However, I CAN sew on a button so when I saw this project on Pinterest I knew I could handle it!

These adorable button shirts were so cute and so easy I couldn't resist.  Plus, all the materials for these four shirts cost about $25 tops so I made four shirts for the price of one at Disney and they are much more unique.  As I said this project is so easy I can do it so here are some quick instructions in case you don't want to click the link:

The Fussbucket's Shirt

1.  Cut out a Mickey silhouette shape.  I imported an image into my Silhouette Cameo, but you can google to find one online and size it as needed.

2.  Trace around the Mickey cut out with Tacky glue.  (The gold bottle in the craft section of Wal Mart or found at your local craft store.)

3.  Place buttons in colors & pattern of your choice on glue outline.  Wait for them to dry.

4.  Sew buttons in place permanently. 

5.  Done.  You are the creator of a super cute Mickey shirt for your Disney trip or your Disney fanatic. 

The Big Brother & The Gunny's Shirts

The little brother's shirt looks similar to the inspiration post, although it might be a wee bit crooked now that I'm staring at a picture.  But I don't think he'll care!  I decided though that my 12 year old and the Gunny may not want a giant Mickey made out of buttons so I got them polo shirts and put the Mickey on the breast of the shirt.  (Although according to the Gunny Mickey is 'huge" so I guess it's all a matter of opinion.)  For mine I put Mickey in the lower left corner of the shirt for a little something different. 

Little brother counting buttons while I try to take pictures.

I wanted the shirts to be matchy matchy without being too matchy if that makes sense.  Even the Gunny says they're cute so I think these shirts are crowd pleasers, even if they are cheesy!  My plan is to where them to our first day at Magic Kingdom.  Hopefully they'll make for some cute pictures!  I'd better make sure I pack a Tide to Go stick since we'll all be wearing white!   I just can't wait to see my whole family in our shirts.  That will be the true reward, even if the almost teenager rolls his eyes at me!

Disney Details #1

I have a feeling there will be a lot of Disney centered posts in the months to come and the posts will cover a wide range of things.  As I prep for Disney there are crafts, tips, etc. that I might just HAVE to share.  I grew up going to Disneyland.  It's got a million and one childhood memories for me.  As a kid Disneyland was a day of magic and a late night car ride home.  We ate hot dogs, churros, burgers, fries and ice cream.  We got to drink soda instead of milk!  But my, how times have changed.  I now live on the opposite coast and a trip to Disney can't happen in a day.  Instead we drive 11 hours and stay for a week!  I'd been to Disney World once in high school with my dad, but other than that when I planned our last trip I was a bit of a novice.  I spent a lot of time reading up on the ins and outs of Disney World.  The info paid off and we had a fabulous trip of course, but as we plan our upcoming trip I'm much more informed.

This time around I knew that there was more to Disney than hot dogs and churros.  Don't get me wrong,  I love me some churros.  They are so much harder to find on the east coast than in So Cal!  But I digress.  Last year I learned, a little late, that I could make reservations for our sit down dining experiences in advance.  I was still early enough to get most restaurants I wanted, but we ate at some funky times or some of our second, third, etc choices.  Not this time!  This girl was on the computer at exactly 180 days before our vacation making dining reservations!  Despite a set back of one restaurant not being in the system for over a week I am happy to say that we got reservations for every restaurant we wanted except one.  (More on this one later...)  So here is where we'll be eating on our trip:

Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge:  We ate here on our last trip and, what can I say, my boys love a good buffet!  Another perk is this restaurant is at our hotel this trip so it's a perfect arrival night restaurant.  Since the fussbucket will have spent quite a bit of time in the car I'm positive he'll have a ton of energy to burn off, as will the rest of us.  Hopefully it will be warm enough for the pool or the playground before dinner that evening.

Prime Time Cafe at Hollywood Studios: We'll be eating my birthday lunch here.  The best part of this restaurant is that it's set in the 50's so everyone is aunt, uncle or cousin and the food is just like mom makes.  Your table may even have a little black & white TV running old TV shows while you eat.  Best of all you can get a milkshake for your drink on the dining plan!  Hello, delicious!  Oh, and that viewfinder on the table, that's the kids menu!

Dinner 50's Style at Prime Time Cafe

Biergarten in Germany at Epcot: This will be our first experience here and I'm nervous about whether the fussbucket will have anything to eat.  However, I think he'll love the oompah band so if worse comes to worse, he'll just eat dessert or something!  I think it will be a fun experience for everyone.

Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom: We did one character dining last year at the end of our trip.  We ate at Cape May Cafe right before pulling out for home.  This time we scheduled the character dining earlier in hopes that it would help us gauge how the fussbucket would react to the characters.  Crystal Palace features Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.  The little brother sleeps with a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal and enjoys the movie so I'm hoping this is a good way to start.  Plus, I was able to get the earliest reservation so I'm crossing my fingers I'll be able to get some photos in front of the castle without a million people in them!

Cape May Cafe Character Breakfast Last Trip

O'Hana at the Polynesian: I've heard nothing but good things about this restaurant and it was one we couldn't get a reservation at last trip.  I'm really excited to try it out!  Pineapple bread, meat delivered to your table on skewers and lots of fun antics.  I hope it lives up to the expectations!

Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room in Britain at Epcot: I had wanted to eat here last trip, but it seemed wrong to sit in a pub without a beer and I was pregnant so the beer just wasn't happening.  This trip I plan to induldge in a Snakebite and enjoy some fish & chips!  We've made a late dining reservation in hopes of being able to see Illuminations from the patio seating.

California Grill at the Contemporary: This is probably my favorite restaurant at Disney World!  The food is delish and the view is amazing!  It's a signature dining experience and take 2 table service credits, but they are so worth it!  Each time we make our reservations around when Wishes is shown so we can watch the fireworks from the viewing deck at California Grill.  Plus, it's a good excuse to get cleaned up for the evening and do Disney in style.  It really can't be beat! 

Special dessert plate made by our waiter at California Grill for Den

Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary: Just in case the little brother likes the characters or we're really brave I made reservations at Chef Mickeys for the morning of our departure.  It's a great way to get the big guys autograph without standing in line and supposed to be a lot of fun.

T-Rex at Downtown Disney: This is the one restaurant we didn't get a reservation at.  I guess everyone and their mother will be eating there the same day we planned too!  However, we have this magic card called the Landry's Select Club.  We love Landry's, the restaurant, but one of the great things is that the Landry's corporation owns T-Rex, Rainforest Cafe and Yak & Yeti, all of which can be found at Disney World!  Here are some of the reasons why we love Landry's Select Club:

• Earn one point for every dollar spent
• $25 Welcome Reward - You do pay $25 to join the club, but are credited with your $25 welcome reward as soon as you activate your card
• $25 Birthday Reward - Hello, Disney in December when my birthday is!
• Priority Seating - aka, your name is moved to the top of the list & you get the next available table!

So we may not have reservations, but we're still confident we'll be able to get a table in a reasonable amount of time.  And we should have $50 in rewards to spend so we don't plan to use our Disney Dining Plan credit for this dinner, even though it is now on the DDP.  And if I'm lucky I'll earn enough points on Swagbucks or MyPoints for a Landry's gift card so that the meal will be totally free saving our dining points for other dining adventures.

We are clearly set to eat well at Disney World this trip!  What is your favorite restaurant at Disney?