Leanne's Life | Disney

Posts Tagged ‘Disney’

My Christmas Caribbean Vacation

December 20, 2009 by Leanne

All I can say is what an amazing time we had aboard the Disney Magic on our 7-night Caribbean vacation to Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Castaway Cay - and during the Christmas season! I have never been so pampered, relaxed, well-fed, and totally entertained than I was this past week. The weather cooperated perfectly with the exception of our trip to Castaway Cay, but otherwise – stupendous!

I’ve got so many photos to upload and so many different posts to share stories with you coming up. But for now, because I’ve just arrived back home and am trying to get caught up on unpacking, laundry, etc… plus dealing with a house construction mess (more to come on that, too) – I’ve got my hands full for the next few days. Here are some pics to share tonight – and know there are many more to come.

Oh – and did I mention that I had NO cell phone service or email availability during 90% of the cruise? No checking email, no looking at messages, - just old fashioned enjoyment.

Category Life | Tags: Castaway Cay,Cozumel,Disney,Disney Cruise Line,Disney Magic,Grand Cayman,Key West,Mike,Vacation | 2 Comments
40 Quick Hours at Disneyland

December 8, 2009 by Leanne

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Disneyland in California.

I flew in late Wednesday night and came home Friday afternoon. One of the benefits of working for a large corporation (The Walt Disney Company) with multiple sites around the world is the ability to travel to some of those locations and visit with colleagues I don’t get to see very frequently.

After we got through our mandatory work stuff (you know, meetings etc…) my colleague Tom and I snuck out for a little Disney fun. Tom had never been to the Disneyland before so it was all brand new to him. This was my 3^rd time in the park so I led him to my favorite attractions first. I knew he had to experience Pirates of the Caribbean – Disneyland style. Their version of the attraction has some awesome differences from the one at Walt Disney World – like 2 waterfall drops, air blast effects and a longer ride through the storyline. It’s a must do if you get a chance to go there. I love it

We then made our way over to the Haunted Mansion.

Again the exterior of their Mansion looks very different from the one in Florida. I have to say – this attraction blew me away! The Haunted Mansion Holiday is inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. The holiday overlay starts from the moment you walk into the first room and then continues throughout the entire ride. It is amazing and so much fun. I have to admit, I was not expecting such a fun experience and was taken aback by all the attention to detail the Disney Imagineers put into this attraction. I know, I should never be shocked at how they always think of everything, but it was inspiring to see such creativity.

With just a limited time for fun over, we had to boogie on back to the hotel and head home. Side note: The lack of direct flights from LAX to Orlando is frustrating. Our choices were either to leave at 7am or the red-eye at 10:45pm. We opted for the 2:30pm flight that stops in Atlanta and got us back in Orlando at 1:00am Saturday morning. LONG DAY!

View from take-off at LAX.

Category Disney | Tags: Disney,Disneyland,Haunted Mansion,Holidays,Pirates,work life | 1 Comment
My Time @ BlogWorld Expo

October 25, 2009 by Leanne

I attended what’s billed as the ultimate blogging conference of the year in Las Vegas last weekend – BlogWorld Expo 2009. I was there to speak on a travel panel about how companies like and choose to work with bloggers. This was the first ever track of travel sessions held at this conference.
I was very fortunate to have fellow panelists at our session who really knew their stuff. Mike Taylor from Fairmont Hotels and Tom Martin, blogger with Helpmybrand.com were not only super nice guys but great with their information and knowledge that the audience appreciated. Another great connection was Doug Anweiler from Authentic Seacoast who moderated our session.

This was probably my quickest ever trip to Vegas. I arrived on Friday around noon and left Saturday night on the red-eye. I took an hour Friday afternoon to walk down “the strip”. No offense to anyone out there and again, this is just my opinion, but I’m fairly sure that Vegas ain’t my kinda town. I don’t gamble, don’t smoke, not into sequinned clothes and can’t afford the shows. But the town was certainly hopping!

While I was in Vegas I had the pleasure of running into two of the more prominent social media gurus, Steve Rubel and Guy Kawasaki. Not only did I run into them, but I was extremely fortunate enough to sit down to breakfast with them for nearly 2 hours. What a morning that was! Their knowledge and insights were fascinating. They talked Twitter, LifeStream, and a lot of conversation around the best iPhone apps.

If I had been smart I would have grabbed my notebook and written down everything they said. The funniest moment was when Steve dragged out his tool box for all his electronic gear he travels with – which he’s downsized to pretty much just the iPhone lately. The coolest item was a battery charger he picked up at Walmart for about $30 that will charge your phone when you’re not near an outlet. That’s pretty cool.

It was a great morning to be able to spend such quality time with them. If you want to learn more about them just click on their names above and I”ve linked to their websites. You should also follow them on Twitter.

Category Social Media | Tags: Disney,kawasaki,Social Media,travel,twitter,Vegas | No Comments
To my friend Derek Peterson

October 5, 2009 by Leanne

Derek,

I want you to know how much you meant to all of us. You were sweet, innocent and the nicest person I’ve ever met. I sit here with tears streaming down my face because I can’t believe you are gone. I didn’t even get to say good-bye to you. I think our last hallway conversation was a joke about our unexpected “couples massage” in Beijing . You and I always had that to laugh about.

I sit here and think back about all the great times we shared and the occassional ”year-long” meetings we had to attend. Remember the 12-hour Day in the Life in Hong Kong? Holy Cow!

You were such a bright spot in all our lives. Your glowing spirit and sweet personality made you a friend to everyone. No-one could ever say a bad word about you.

It’s just not fair that God took you away from us so early in your life. Why can’t he take the evil people? Why does he take you at such a young age? I guess if there’s any consolation, your illness happened quickly so you didn’t have to suffer for a long time. Still, it hurts.

I’m glad I wasn’t in the office today when word spread about your passing. I just couldn’t have handled all of the emotions and tears that I’m sure were present. Everyone loved you – everyone adored you – everyone respected you.

I think about all the wonderful things you have given us. My life is better because you were a part of it. I will miss you dearly. I will miss walking by your desk and shooting you a quick smile – just to say hi. I will miss you smiling back.

Rest in peace Derek.

Derek at the Great Wall of China – 2005

Our tour group in Beijing in 2005. Derek is bottom row, far right.

Rick, Derek and me at the Great Wall of China

Derek and I shared a wonderful post-event dinner at Disneyland Paris at the 15th Anniversary celebration

One of my most favorite pictures of Derek – watching fireworks in Hong Kong with Angie.

Category Life | Tags: Derek,Disney | No Comments
VoluntEars & Disney

September 29, 2009 by Leanne

Today Disney Parks announced an exciting new way to inspire volunteerism in 2010: Give a Day, Get a Disney Day. The program was kicked off with announcements in major cities across the country and Canada today including Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto and Atlanta. The premise is simple: Give a day of volunteer service and in return, you’ll get a free ticket to a Disney theme park at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort. There are more pictures and stories about the multiple city events on the brand new Disney Parks Blog at www.disneyparks.com/blog.

I was fortunate to be in Atlanta when the announcement was made today. Dozens of volunteers from around the city gathered at the Butler Street YMCA for a day’s work to clean up the facility. So many wonderful people got down and dirty planting, gardening, painting, building benches, cleaning, and helping any way they could. Disney entertainment teams kept the place jammin’ with music. Colorful Mickey Mouse balloon towers aligned the work areas. A fabulous acapella quartet from Voices of Atlanta rocked the house. And the weather, slightly chilly, but nonetheless spectacular. And of course, a Disney event wouldn’t be complete without a little character – and who better than Goofy and Pluto to lend a helping paw. Er, I mean hand.

Two members of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel also attended, Jennifer and Heather both of the Atlanta area. Heather had her entire family joining in the volunteer activities at the crack of dawn – weeding, painting and planting flowers. They were such an inspiration.

For all the details on how to get in on Disney’s Give a Day Get a Disney Day, go to www.disneyparks.com.

VoluntEars painting artwork for the amphitheater.

Moms Panel Jennifer, Laura and me outside the Butler Street YMCA

Voices of Atlanta – Awesome group!

Category Disney | Tags: Atlanta,Disney,Get A Day Get A Disney Day,moms,Volunteer,work life | 5 Comments
@GaryVee

September 25, 2009 by Leanne

Unless you swim in social media circles, you probably aren’t too familiar with Gary Vaynerchuk. But that is soon going to change. Gary is a rising star. In fact, in early September he was featured prominently in the New York Times. He is closing in on a million followers on Twitter - @garyvee. And he’s got 32-thousand fans on his Facebook page. What is he famous for? Wine.

Gary Vaynerchuk makes his living as a wine reviewer. He bucks the traditional wine lingo and puts his tastings in very common everyday language. But he’s also known for his social media marketing skills. It his dedication to social media that turned his life around and made him what he is today. He just signed a book deal (said to be 7-figures) to write 10-books! His first one comes out in mid-October entitled “Crush It”. And in true social media style, he uses Facebook to promote it.

Gary was at Walt Disney World Resort for the opening of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. I was fortunate to be able to hear Gary speak on social media. I felt so inspired by his enthusiasm, his humor, his passion for social media. He gets it and sincerely wants to see the rest of the world “get it”. And to put icing on the cake – he’s a super nice guy in person. What you see is what you get with him. He’s awesome.

An enlightening moment was when Gary made the observation that the internet is only 14-years old – “it hasn’t even had sex yet.” Now that’s funny!

Gary also believes that one day Facebook will be your identity, if not already. Facebook has nearly 400 million users and the day is soon coming when everyone will have a Facebook page. He thinks FB will become your new digital wallet.

Social media is all about engaging in conversation with those that are talking about you or with those people whom you have similar interests. The media world is changing rapidly and we’re probably seeing right now the biggest evolution in the media world than ever before. With technology constantly changing and getting better and better, we’re going to soon be a very digital society with applications that can think better for us and think ahead of us.

I learned so much from hearing Gary Vaynerchuk speak. He’s inspiring – he’s contagious. And – he’s funny.

Category Social Media | Tags: Disney,Epcot,Gary Vaynerchuk,Social Media,twitter | 3 Comments
Cool Disney Shopping

September 10, 2009 by Leanne

I needed to check out some of the newest merchandise in the Disney shops to find some gifts for later in the year. So today I stopped in at the Emporium on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom. I have such fond memories of that store and it’s no surprise, I’ve been going there since 1971!

While browsing and meandering through the store, I found the absolutely most fun beach towel. It’s just so colorful yet simple and not in your face Mickey. I like that sometimes. It retails for $18.95. I checked Disney Shopping online to see if it might be there, but it wasn’t. I guessing it’s only available on property.

With my pool I use beach towels all the time. I think this one just might be a fine addition to my collection.

Also… I stopped at the cast discount store on my way home just to see what they had in stock. I go there maybe once a year just to check it out. It’s a store where they sell out-dated merchandise or overstocked merchandise to the cast members at a discount price. It’s not a big secret or hush-hush. Cast members can bring family or friends every once in awhile to shop there, too. Today I got the greatest deal ever on something I’ll probably never use or need. But once you see it, you’ll understand why I had to have it.

Isn’t that great! It’s a New Year’s Eve Mickey ears hat from last year. And the best part is – it was under $1.00 AND because it’s my birthday month I got an additional percentage off that price. So, I practically got it for free. How fun!

Category Disney stuff | Tags: Disney,personal,shopping | 4 Comments
Searching for Disney Moms (& Dads!)

September 9, 2009 by Leanne

For you moms and dads who really know your way around Walt Disney World Resort, you might be the perfect person for the 2010 Walt Disney World Moms Panel. The search for 10 new members of the panel begins tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 10) at 9:00am EDT. Click on the button below or go to www.disneyworldmoms.com/2010 to apply.

Good luck everyone!

Category Disney | Tags: Disney,moms,Social Media | 1 Comment
New Citizens @ Magic Kingdom

July 3, 2009 by Leanne

New Citizens Waving the

Since I’ve been working for Disney I’ve been fortunate to be a part of many wonderful, memorable events but nothing as emotional as being there when 1,000 immigrants were being sworn in as new U.S. citizens. Today at the Magic Kingdom, more than 1,000 immigrants representing 100+ countries took the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. In that number were 35 Walt Disney World cast members.

Walt Disney World has hosted this ceremony for a number of years, on and off. In years past, the ceremony was held at Epcot but two years ago moved to the Magic Kingdom.

This year was spectacular and emotional in every way. The pride on the faces and the anxiousness in the motions of the new citizens was so special to see. As the immigrants stood when their homeland country was announced, a chill came over me watching them beam with pride, waving their US flags and listening to their families cheer them on. Actor Andy Garcia gave the keynote address speaking about his Cuban heritage. After the 45 minute ceremony, the new citizens and their families were led by Mickey Mouse in a short parade to the Hall of Presidents attraction to see the re-imagineered show featuring the addition of President Barack Obama.

Hands Raised to take Oath of Allegiance

Andy Garcia delivers keynote address

Mickey Mouse and Ambassador Vanessa lead new citizens in short parade. Guests at Hall of Presidents attraction

Category Disney | Tags: Add new tag,Andy Garcia,Castle,Citizen,Disney,Magic Kingdom | 2 Comments
RIP: Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett

June 26, 2009 by Leanne

Farrah Fawcett

What can I possibly say that hasn’t already been said by everyone else. Two pop culture icons gone on the same day.

Farrah was absolutely gorgeous. I grew up in the era where we all had “farrah feathered hair”. (No pictures immediately available.)
And Michael – the musical genius will be sorely missed. Thankfully we will have his music to remind us of his enormous talents. In today’s Orlando Sentinel is a nicely written article by Jim Abbott about Michael Jackson and his time at Disney World. I didn’t realize Abbott was a former cast member who was working at Disney in the 1980′s when Michael frequented the parks.
We will miss them both. May the rest in peace.

Category Misc | Tags: Disney,Farrah Fawcett,Michael Jackson,RIP | No Comments

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