I’ve been spending this morning working on last minute emails and documents for the conference.  My Mikita has been right by my side waiting patiently for me to get done and spend quality ball time with her.  I’ll take a few breaks and entertain her since she’s been such an angel today. I’ve got iTunes cranked to my favorites songs and looking out the window at a spectacular gorgeous day.

I love putting events like this together.  While some days it’s no picnic the reward happens when it all comes together when everyone arrives.  There is an extremely talented team working together on all the details.  That’s also what makes it rewarding.  I’m blessed to work with awesome people.

The weather forecast for this week (as of this morning) was sunny and warm. Let’s keep our fingers crossed it stays that way.

Looking forward to meeting and seeing everyone in a few short days.

I spent part of the day yesterday (New Year’s Eve) at the Magic Kingdom working a Cross-U shift. For those not familiar with this every so often, usually during peak periods, salaried cast members will be asked to work a shift in the parks to help out.  The exciting and sometimes intimidating part of this is that we have no idea what job we’ll be assigned until we show up for our shift. My assignment this year:  Popcorn stand at the Castle hub in the Magic Kingdom. I was in charge of filling the popcorn orders as they came in. It was pretty easy because there were only two size options – a small box or a souvenir bucket. Once our team got a flow going we were rockin!  I’m positive we were the best and most efficient popcorn stand in all the parks yesterday.

It was so much fun to see everyone at the parks having such a good time. At 4pm the cast started handing out the New Year’s Eve hats and horn blowers which quickly added to the buzz along Main Street.  If I had anyone to hang out with I might have just stayed at the park for the rest of the night to ring in the year. It seemed everyone was having a great time.

I feel very blessed going into 2010.  While I have few tight personal friendships, those that I have I cherish.  I am also grateful for the many wonderful people I work with and for those amazing people that I met through work (read: Moms Panelists and bloggers). Your support and encouragement means so much to me.  I appreciate everyone so much and wish you all the very best in the coming year.

For those that have asked – Jefferson is doing fine.  He cooperated so quickly I am actually stunned.  The boxer shorts lasted less than 24-hours.

Here’s where the lump was removed from his right hind leg.

Happy New Year to all!

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.

]]> http://leanneslife.com/2009/12/08/40-quick-hours-at-disneyland/feed/ 1 http://leanneslife.com/2009/09/29/voluntears-disney/ http://leanneslife.com/2009/09/29/voluntears-disney/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:50:11 +0000 Leanne http://leanneslife.com/?p=786 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! 

Mickey Towel Art awaiting me in the room at the Boardwalk

It’s no secret to anyone that part of my job involves working with many talented and amazing mom bloggers. While I’m only a mom to my baby dogs, I do blog, occassionally so I have the experience to know what it takes to maintain a blog.  It truly amazes me the work these women put into their blogs. The writing is often flawless, the stories are creative and captivating and the accompanying photos are all so professionally shot. I sit in shame and bewilderment as to how they do it and maintain their homes and families.  My hats off to all of you. You inspire me.  I will provide a blog roll list on one of my next updates so you can check them out yourself.  I can’t do it right now because I need to be downstairs in a few minutes to meet the next wonderful mom bloggers - who are calling themselves on Twitter – #disneymochamoms.  Follow our trail this weekend on Twitter.

Michelle Stevens, me at Rix Lounge

Gorgeous bar at Rix Lounge

  

Artsy cool lighting