Amy Stone 
Disney always holds the promise and potential of perfection, but often, it’s our resourcefulness in the face of the unexpected that helps us achieve the desired result. Now that we’re living through an unprecedented time of unanticipated circumstances, we’re finding ourselves applying many of the lessons we’ve learned from trying to make the best of … Read more
Where to Give in When Your Body Is Giving Out In honor of February 28th being National Public Sleeping Day, it seemed a perfect time to remind everyone of all the ample opportunities available within any Disney park for catching a few needed zzzz’s. After all, when there’s no parent or guardian to hold you … Read more
Is an Annual Passport really worth the money? Fact: Loving Disney is an expensive hobby. When we tell people we’re off to spend the night at the Disneyland Resort or, say, 10 days at the Walt Disney World Resort, the very first reaction we get isn’t a shared excitement over the fun we’re going to … Read more
No kidding, Disney merch is hard to pass up. After all, there’s always something for everyone… along with something for every room, every season, every holiday… every occasion, hobby, interest, sport, smartphone… the list never ends. On our last trip to Walt Disney World, the Magic Kingdom shot glass we brought from home (as part … Read more
We’ve often joked that our annual Walt Disney World vacation is our Olympic event, and we train like athletes going for the gold! Only, truth be told, it’s no joke. Just getting there requires strategy, endurance, solid preparation, and the right gear. It’s as much a mental game as it is physical, and just the … Read more
My husband and I were at a holiday party when word got out of our love of Disney. Within minutes, we were on the hot seat as a couple spared no expense in expressing their disappointment in Epcot after their recent vacation. We were instantly taken aback, as the wife had been a character at … Read more
Mindful Conversation a Better Queue Makes When you know you’re going to be spending the day at a Disney park, do you think about what you’re going to talk about while standing in line? Do you have potential conversation topics stored in a small recess of your brain like a squirrel’s stash of nuts? Does … Read more
The hardest part about going to a Disney park is leaving a Disney park, and somehow, the longer you stay, the harder it is to say goodbye. There’s something about breathing Disney air 24/7 that makes no stay seem long enough, and we’ve tested this! Every year, we manage to find a reason to extend our … Read more
Virtually any Disney day can be described as “go, go, go.” From arrival to departure there’s more to do than can realistically be done, so… go, go, go! And there’s nothing wrong with that! But amidst all that go, go, go-ing, there’s room—and opportunity—for standing still and seeing where that takes you. We didn’t always … Read more
Part of the love of Disney is the love of detail. We take no small pleasure in knowing that the landscaping around Disneyland’s Matterhorn is completely indigenous to the Alps, or that the houses in the Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square are an authentic representation of architecture through the 1800s—the last two digits of each home … Read more
Ride, show, or restaurant, you have more control over where you sit than you may realize Seeing a show in the park, boarding a ride, or even going to a table-service restaurant where you have a reservation is always risky if you’re particular about where you sit. Even if you have VIP seating for a … Read more
When you’re the Happy Couple, confronting negativity can be challenging: Confront it, and the bubble may burst. Rock the boat, and it may capsize. When you don’t have a script to follow or a role model to emulate to deal with unexpected downturns, finding your own voice for getting what you want without incurring the … Read more
Taking the Fantasy of Living at Disney to the Next Level If you could live anywhere in any Disney park, where would you live and why? It’s a question we’ve often seen posted in Disney Facebook groups and we’re always surprised to see such responses as: “On the bench in front of the castle,” or, … Read more
If not for the allure of the savanna at night—and the opportunity to use night-vision binoculars—I would have been done for. No, I hadn’t had too much to drink—I’d had too much of too many yummy things. Boma – Flavors of Africa had bested me with so many tantalizing offerings that my willpower was overcome by a … Read more
It just so happened that the one and only time we ate at Carnation Cafe was one of the worst experiences we’d ever had at Disneyland—and it had nothing to do with the food! Suffice to say, family was involved, and that one lunch managed to sour any possibility of our ever wanting to going … Read more
At the very least you’re sending a positive message! When we showed up for our 10:45am breakfast reservation at Steakhouse 55 at the Disneyland Hotel, we were wearing the “Let’s Celebrate!” badges issued to us when we checked in at the Paradise Pier Hotel. “What are we celebrating?” the hostess asked as she checked us in. … Read more