Disney Character Dining Invitation

Some of the most beloved memories we have of our trips to Disney World have been the character dining experiences.  To make them even more special, we create personalized Disney Character Dining Invitations.  Can you imagine how excited your kids will be to get an invitation to dine with their favorite character?

Every family that makes the trip to Disney World or Disneyland should plan ahead and book a character meal.  The characters bring the meal to life, create personalized experiences, and make it fun for the whole family.....

Like Pluto pointing out my daughter has "ears" like he does......

Or Belle taking 10 minutes to console and cheer up my very tired 4 year old son.....

And Dale giving my daughter a flower at breakfast - made her day!!!

I can't think of one character dining experience that we haven't enjoyed.

With a little pre-planning, you can start the fun of meeting & dining with the Disney characters BEFORE you even leave home, like we did for our Akershus Royal Banquet Hall -  Princess Dinner at EPCOT.

Weeks before we traveled, I enlisted some friends who were going to Disney World ahead of us to mail a few Disney postcards from the "character" to my daughter and son from the parks.  I specifically asked for one to be from the Disney Princesses inviting my kids to dine with them while we were there.
They were flabbergasted and felt completely special to have received personal mail from Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora.

The evening before our dinner, we "received" a custom invitation to the two of them in our hotel room. I pulled out my inner crafty gal (as tiny as she is) and created something fancy and beautiful and tucked it in the suitcase before we left on vacation.  It read something similar to this:

Attention Princess Morganne & Prince Jack

You are Cordially Invited to

Dine with Princesses Aurora, Belle, Arial, and Jasmine

On Such & Such date

at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

7:00 pm

Again, they were amazed that they had been personally invited.

At dinner, each of the princesses acknowledged the invitation (my daughter of course showed it to them) and personally signed it for them (man, those gals think fast on their feet!).

This idea doesn't have to be limited to princesses too!  Imagine Mickey Mouse sending a personal invitation to dine with him at Chef Mickey's.  Just a little bit of prep work before you go makes a HUGE impression and creates a life-long memory.

Don't forget, character dining is an excellent time to get their autograph on the BEST Disney Autograph book out there. And to top off the fun,  add a little magic each night with a visit from Tinkerbell!

I'm joining Suitcases & Sippycups and Walking on Travels today as they host "Travel Tips Tuesday".  Click on over and gather some great tips!

Tuesday Travel Tips: Thanksgiving Travel Prep

Can you believe that this is Thanksgiving week??  Wow - feels like we were just getting ready for a 12 hour car trip to the beach last summer!!  And speaking of car trips.....

With many of us heading out this week, traveling for Thanksgiving, there is much to do before hitting the road for a major car ride.  I am resurrecting this post from this past summer as these are all good reminders.  Take note of a few of these ideas before heading out for any drives with the family:

1. Make a checklist....so you don't leave home without it!  We create checklists for each family member and pet.  If your children are older, have them create the check list with you so they can make sure what they want to take gets packed, yet you get final approval.

2. How's it running?  Get the car in for it's regular maintenance and tell the mechanics that you are about to travel - my guess is they will be happy to make sure everything is running smoothly.  Also, take it in to get a good cleaning.  It's so nice to start the trip in a freshly cleaned car.

3. There's gotta be an app for that.  As moms, it's in our blood to have our trips mapped & planned out - including potty breaks.  But even the most travel-savvy mom needs a little extra help.  Thank goodness for amazing mobile phone apps like these that can get us through in a pinch:

~ Mapquest: This one comes with a free voice guided, turn-by-turn directions.  Who needs GPS anymore?

~ Priceline: Follow your favorite Hotel Negotiator from your phone.  Score a last minute hotel deal right when you need it - chop!


~ Yelp: Get reviews on restaurants, grocery stores, museums, etc. from the locals who live there- can't ask for better advice.

~Sit or Squat: Find the nearest potty and get reviews on how "clean it is".  Hey, you'll be thanking me when your 3 year old has to potty and your in the middle of downtown Chicago.

4. Dollar store mania.  I have more fun gathering up toys and fun goodies for the kids to get a various times throughout the drive.  I use them as prizes for the winners of games,  prevent the "I'm bored" cries,  heck, I might even use a few for bribing.....shush, you know you do it.

5. Be prepared mom...  Have lots of ideas for these kiddos to do on the drive - so you can avoid hearing the dreaded "are we there yet mom?"  Gather a few new games to play on the road, check out some books on tape from your local library (or download some audio books), rent a new movie or two (RedBox.com comes in handy here!), or grab a classic to read out load.

Here are a few great posts that we have featured tons of great car ride games: R We There Yet Mom's Travel Games

Most importantly, take a deep breath and don't get overwhelmed - everything is going to be ready and you will all get there in one piece.  Have a super trip!

P.S. With this being Thanksgiving week, we will not have our normally featured Friday Daydreamin'.  We will be back  and ready to post next Friday, December 2.  Get ready to tell us about your favorite place to travel to for Christmas holidays - even if it is just staying at home!!!