The Grand Floridian...Our Home Away from Home!

After we arrived at the Grand Floridian, we were directed to the check in desk. We were greeted very warmly, which made us feel at home. Check in was painless, and we were done in about 10 minutes. We knew our room probably wouldn't be ready, and we were right. We were given a number to call after 3:00pm to get our room assignment.

Now, those who know me, know that I have been planning this vacation since April! Pretty much every detail about where we were supposed to go, what we were going to do, where we were going to eat, etc. had already been planned out. So, we check in, find out we have to wait for our room, and I have a moment of "Now what?"! Seriously! I totally had a hard time getting my brain to connect the planning stage and the actual vacation together! LOL! It really took awhile, for me to "get it together"!

We knew we needed to eat before heading off to a park for the rest of the day, so we went to Gasparilla's Grill at the Grand. It is located in the main building on the marina side and offers many different foods. I was so discombobulated, that I forgot to take pics of our food (never fear, this was the only time I forgot)! ugh! But, Bill and I both had a wonderful Italian Sandwich on Focaccia bread. I had never had that bread before, and it was really good! Sydney had a hot dog and Hayley and Em had chicken strips with fries and grapes. It was very good, and great for recharging our batteries! After lunch we were ready to face it all.......

And......we're off!

Disney day finally arrived, and we were off to catch our plane bright and early in the morning...well, okay, technically it was still dark since it was 3:30am! This was Emyley's first plane ride, and she handled it like a pro! She never hesitated to ask lots (and lots and lots and...) of questions as well as try out every gadget she could touch! I think she slept for about 15 minutes right before we landed!

After we landed, we headed down to the Disney Magical Express Counter to check in. There was a huge line, and I just knew I was in for a looooong wait, but within 30 minutes of landing, we were on our bus and on our way to the Grand Floridian.......

First Day of School

In some ways it seems that summer just flew by, but in other ways, I am so glad it is FINALLY the first day of school!!

Sydney is now a 5th grader, which I find very hard to believe! Next year....junior high!

Hayley is a first grader and was lucky enough to have the same teacher Syd had in 1st grade! And she has many, many of her friends in her class this year! Yay!
And then there is Emyley, who isn't starting school, but didn't want to be left out! Can you hear that? Just listen really closely. Do you hear it? Aaaahhhhhh quiet! ;o)

WDW Trivia

At our library, I was looking for all books Disney related and stumbled on this one called: The Walt Disney World Trivia Book by Louis A. Mongello. Sydney has read it from front to back at least twice! I thought I would share some of the trivia with you all!!


Be sure to try to answer them before looking at the answers at the bottom of the page!!!!!



1. What name was originally planned for Walt Disney World?
a. Florida Disney
b. Disney America
c. Disney World
d. Discoveryland

2. What is the fastest ride in WDW?
a. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
b. Test Track
c. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
d. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

3. What is the busiest day of the year at WDW?
a. The day after Thanksgiving
b. Christmas Day
c. New Year’s Eve
d. July 4

4. Which popular attraction opened exactly seven years after Walt Disney’s death?
a. Space Mountain
b. Pirates of the Caribbean
c. it’s a small world
d. The Haunted Mansion

5. What happens to all the change collected in the fountains at WDW?
a. It is collected and shared among Cast Members as “tips”
b. It is used for park rehabilitation
c. It is awarded to needy families in the Orlando area
d. It is given to Disney executives as a bonus

6. What color are the walkways as you enter the Magic Kingdom?
a. Gray
b. White
c. Red
d. Red, White and Blue

7. What real-life castle served as one of the inspirations for Cinderella Castle?
a. Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria
b. Windsor Castle in England
c. Buckingham Palace in England
d. Linderhof Castle in Germany

8. According to Cast Members, why should you ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in the late afternoon?
a. The cars are sped up 10%.
b. The lines are shorter because that’s when people eat lunch.
c. The grease on the tracks is thinner thus your train goes faster.
d. There are more trains running which moves the lines along faster.

9. How many ghosts “live” in the Haunted Mansion?
a. 9
b. 99
c. 999
d. 1001

10. How much does Spaceship Earth weigh?
a. 500,000 pounds
b. 2,000,000 pounds
c. 16,000,000 pounds
d. 29,000,000 pounds

11. If you stand under Spaceship Earth during a rainstorm, the water won’t run off the globe and drench you. Why not?
a. It is drained into a children’s play area.
b. It is drained into an underground well.
c. It is funneled to the trees surrounding Epcot.
d. It is funneled into the World Showcase Lagoon.

12. How many nations are represented in World Showcase?
a. 15
b. 11
c. 14
d. 9

13. How long did it take for the parking lots to reach capacity on the Studios’ opening day – possibly due to the rain that marked that occasion?
a. Half an hour
b. 4 hours
c. 6 hours
d. They didn’t reach full capacity that day.

14. About how many man-made leaves are on The Tree of Life?
a. 250
b. 700
c. 1700
d. 2700

15. What was the original name of Disney’s Animal Kingdom?
a. Disney’s Animal Adventure
b. Wild Animal Kingdom
c. Discovery Island
d. AnimaLand

16. The monorail travels through the center of which of these hotels?
a. Disney’s Polynesian Resort
b. Disney’s Contemporary Resort
c. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
d. Walt Disney World Swan Resort

17. If you wanted to spend a night in every guest room, in every hotel that is currently open on WDW property, how long would it take you?
a. More than 5 years
b. More than 11 months
c. More than 33 years
d. More than 68 years

18. How many different monorail routes are there?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4

19. At what restaurant can you make reservations to dine at the “Chef’s Table” in the kitchen?
a. Citrico’s
b. 1900 Park Fare
c. Victoria & Albert’s
d. Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano

20. What hotel can be seen from Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom?
a. Disney’s Polynesian Resort
b. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
c. Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
d. Disney’s Contemporary Resort

Answers: 1-c, 2-b, 3-b, 4-b, 5-c, 6-c, 7-a, 8-c, 9-c, 10-c, 11-d, 12-b, 13-b, 14-c, 15-b, 16-b, 17-d, 18-c, 19-c, 20-d

Disney Dollar Fund

Back when we first decided to go to Disney World, I was doing major research online. One great idea I ran across was to collect your spare change in a jar for the express purpose of Disney Spending Money! So, I found this great print out at Eileen's Mouse House and bought a Ball jar from Michael's and voila, our Disney Dollar Fund was born!

We still have a couple weeks to go (3 1/2 to be exact but who's counting), but the jar was getting full (despite what the picture shows....I was a little late in deciding to get pictures to blog with), and I am so impatient. So, this morning we all made our guesses and rolled the spare change.....

After all was said and done, we had a total of $45.99 in that jar! Not bad considering we hardly use cash at all, huh?!? Grandma and Grandpa contributed a couple times over the summer when they visited. Oh, and Bill was the winner on guessing how much was in the jar with a guess of $32. Sometime soon we will make the trek to the bank to cash it in. And we found one Disney Dollar in the jar also which Emyley has claimed as hers!

Disney Preparations

Yep, it's true, I actually have another blog about Disney! You would think I would be Disney'd out, but not quite, yet. I have started packing the important stuff: autograph books, panchos, collapisble hamper, mister fans, etc. And that leads me to today....

I have been searching online for Disney shirts. Yes, I mean those goofy matching shirts that some families insist on wearing while at Disney. I am actually going to make my family wear them! Yes, I am a dork! Anyway, there just isn't anything that exciting out there. I really wanted to get the shirts before our trip so we could wear them on our travel day. DisneyStore.com had some cool logo shirts, but by the time I was ready to get them, the sizes and colors were all depleted! Then there is the make-your-own shirts at zazzle.com, but they came out to $15 a shirt! Nuts! So, we did what any crafty family would do, we made our own. We got the iron-on sheets for color copiers. We searched and searched for just the right image, and Bill went to Kinko's and got them copied for us. Then, I used my trusty iron, and made these shirts. I think they turned out really well. I am thinking maybe we need to make 4 more for the rest of our trip.....my family thinks that may be pushing it just a little! ;o)

So, here ya go, the Mullen Disney T-Shirt for 2007!!!

It's Official!

With 32 days left on the Disney Countdown, we received our travel documents!! Last week we received our Disney's Magical Express Luggage Tags. It was so cool to see the tags with our names with MK (Magic Kingdom) Grand Floridian on them!! Those tags will ensure that our luggage gets to our resort.

Then, yesterday, we received our travel packet from Disney with all of our itinerary information, vouchers, and "Where Dreams Come True" luggage tags (we are not going to lose any luggage on this trip...lol). I was a little let down that they didn't stick something extremely magical into our stuff....like a free room upgrade....you know the stuff dreams are really made of. LOL!!

And, I must start packing! I have had a couple of Disney Nightmares which boiled down to my forgetting something very important (autograph books, lanyards...ya know, the essentials!) so the packing will begin shortly!! I haven't come up with any more tips, yet, but I'm still looking.

P.S. I was totally joking when I said we would not lose our luggage on this trip! I was not trying to jinx anything, I was just making fun of how many luggage tags we have been given! That is all.....NO JINX!!!!