Adventures of the "Moms" Panel

[DISgeeksfromDC]

And, how will you celebrate it?


The Moms Panel has a few recommendations...

wdwnews.com: Tips and Insights from the Walt Disney World Moms Panel to Create Your Own Magical Celebration

Tips and Insights from the Walt Disney World Moms Panel to Create Your Own Magical Celebration

When it comes to “celebration vacations,” a new travel trend identified in a recent national survey, who better to suggest ways to make the Disney Parks experience over the top than the Walt Disney World Moms Panel?

Formed in December 2007, the 12-person Moms Panel brings together park-savvy moms – and one dad – to help vacation-planning families map out the perfect Disney vacation. Panelists offer personal insights and advice in an online forum – www.disneyworldmoms.com.

As Disney Parks prepares to ask guests “What Will You Celebrate?,” Moms panelists were asked how they would celebrate a special occasion at America’s favorite vacation destination. Their answers were as varied as the Moms Panel – from spas and surprise floral arrangements to special underwater messages and character surprises.

For guests who are celebrating a birthday, anniversary, reunion or another milestone, here’s a Moms Panel sampling of ideas, aimed at putting the “special” in special occasion.

Darcie Maranich, Vail, Ariz., mother of four:
“There are a million and one ways to celebrate at the parks. When our family decided to hold a big reunion down in Walt Disney World, one of the best activities we planned was renting surrey bikes and riding along the boardwalk [at Disney’s BoardWalk]. All four generations of our family were on one bike; it was hilarious! The memories of that bike ride have kept us laughing.”

Laura Spencer, Boston, Mass., freelance writer, married with one child:
“My husband and I are celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary at Walt Disney World, along with our family. It is going to be unforgettable, mainly because we are dressing up as Cinderella and Prince Charming…glass slipper and all! We are having dinner at Victoria & Albert’s [the premiere restaurant at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa], but the real surprise is for our daughter. While she is having dinner with her grandma at Chefs De France [Epcot], we have arranged for a special floral arrangement to be delivered to the restaurant complete with light-up headbands to wear when they see ‘IllumniNations’ later that evening.”

Bret Caldwell (first dad on the Moms Panel), Chicago, Ill., married with three children:
“Our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary is coming up and when I thought about how to celebrate, I immediately thought – Disney. My ideal plan would be to schedule a lunch at the Coral Reef [Epcot] and prearrange for a DiveQuest diver to swim by our table with a sign reading ‘Happy Anniversary, Honey.’ Since the Coral Reef lets you create a custom menu for your celebration, I would also have our wedding picture and vows featured – my wife would be so surprised.”

Bret on celebrating his son’s birthday at the Parks:
“We let him choose which park he wanted to visit… he picked the Animal Kingdom. I had special T-shirts made up for all of us; his shirt said it was his birthday and featured Animal Kingdom designs. We also picked up a birthday button from Guest Services, which often gets you special recognition from cast members that day.”

Erin Foster, Scarsdale, N.Y., married and mother of three:
“My husband and I want to do something really special when our daughter graduates from eighth grade – we would love to take her to Walt Disney World with her best friends and her sisters. Knowing my girls, a day of pampering at a Disney spa would be the perfect prelude to a night out in Epcot, where they could sample a special dessert in each country. It would be really fun to have a PhotoPass photographer accompany us around the park and take pictures of our family and friends enjoying the day.”

For more tips and insights from the Walt Disney World Moms Panel on ways to celebrate special milestones in the parks, visit www.disneyworldmoms.com. To date, the Moms Panel has answered nearly 10,000 vacation questions from guests looking to plan the perfect Disney vacation for their family.

-30-​

NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:

Walt Disney World Public Relations – 407/566-6397
Media-only news site: www.wdwnews.com





WWYC-MOMSPANELTIPS/9-15-08

 

[Tiggsntx]

10K

I noticed earlier today that y'all only had 23 left to go!!!! I guess you hit it in the meantime!!! Way to Go! What an accomplishment for all of you. Great team effort.

HIP HIP HOORAY!

-Allison

 

[I believe]

10K

Wow-10,000 helpful answers-that is quite a milestone! Great job to all of the Moms Panelists!

Congrats! (You Panelists sure have been a busy bunch!)

On another note: I noticed a few new videos posted on the Moms Panel site.

-Beth discusses "Smart Souvenir Buying" (with Disney dollars).
-Beatrice sings the praises of Downtown Disney.

'Hope everyone has enjoyed the first official day of Fall!

I saw the two new videos. Great job on them, Beth and Beatrice! Happy fall to you, too, DISgeeks!

I loved reading about all of your upcoming celebrations! I think that more guests will have a lot of fun making their own WDW celebrations. The "What will you celebrate?" theme is a great one! Who doesn't love a good celebration?!

 

[Tiggsntx]

Did any of you see the "What Will You Celebrate?" commercials tonight on Dancing with the Stars!!!!! I loved the dancing balloon ones but the one with all the kids and their milestones....GOOSEBUMPS!!!!
So sweet! Loved it.

More Happy Waiting!!!!!

Allison

 

[I believe]

No, I haven't seen the commercial yet! I think I will turn my TV on tomorrow night so I can try to find it! Have a nice night everyone!

 

[I believe]

This is a link to the new commercial I just found. All I can say is AWWWW! Did I mention that I love balloons?!!

 

[DISgeeksfromDC]

Did any of you see the "What Will You Celebrate?" commercials tonight on Dancing with the Stars!!!!! I loved the dancing balloon ones but the one with all the kids and their milestones....GOOSEBUMPS!!!!
So sweet! Loved it.

More Happy Waiting!!!!!

Allison

Hey! (I didn't watch Dancing with the Stars tonight, but thanks for the heads up! Your post 'kinda prompted me to do some digging...)

Is this it? (Click on the "New TV Commercial" video.)

Disney Parks web site: "What Will You Celebrate?" - New TV Commercial

I also discovered some highlights from the recent press luncheon posted on YouTube.

Disney Parks announce "What Will You Celebrate" in 2009

 

[DISgeeksfromDC]

This is a link to the new commercial I just found. All I can say is AWWWW! Did I mention that I love balloons?!!

Funny, Kristen! ('Looks like I'm one step behind 'ya! )

 

[MrsCopper]

What a great commercial! Thanks for the link. I agree ... LOVE those balloons!!!

 

[I believe]

Hey! (I didn't watch Dancing with the Stars tonight, but thanks for the heads up! Your post 'kinda prompted me to do some digging...)

Is this it? (Click on the "New TV Commercial" video.)

Disney Parks web site: "What Will You Celebrate?" - New TV Commercial

I also discovered some highlights from the recent press luncheon posted on YouTube.

Disney Parks announce "What Will You Celebrate" in 2009

Thanks Disgeeks! It was really neat to see the concept art for the new street parties. I noticed some text mentioning that they will be happening on the "What will you celebrate?" new section of the WDW home page. It looks like they will also be adding some other Celebration things including some dessert packages that I noticed in the Dining area of this new Celebration website. They have also organized a nice shopping area on this Celebration section of the website that lists some neat Celebration-specific merchandise that is offered and it includes the location and shop name in which these items may be found. It is all so exciting to see the new theme unfold!

 

[Tiggsntx]

Thanks Scoopy and Kristen for all those great links!!!! Yep, that was the commercial I saw. Well, have a great night!

Allison

 

[dredick]

This is a link to the new commercial I just found. All I can say is AWWWW! Did I mention that I love balloons?!!

great commercial! so is that the new theme for '09? they also need to add anniversarys ( ) we always go in June for ours, that would bee too great!!

 

[Beckie w/ an IE]

This is a link to the new commercial I just found. All I can say is AWWWW! Did I mention that I love balloons?!!

Love it, love it, love it!

 

[lori1043]

I want you all to know that Disney must have seen US in the parks in February to have this theme for this year .

We "Celebrated Life" and my birthday too, in February. My TR link is below and I never finished it, but for MY sake and memories, I just may! It has the PTR and TR all in one. I never had too much of a following, but finishing it for me sounds good, esp in light of Disney's new Celebration theme. We had "Celebrate Life" on the back of all of our shirts and even pins made up with the theme and my DD10's 5 year old impressionist painting of Mickey.
We were there Celebrating out family's journey through childhood cancer-that she was 5 years off chemo!




Here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1638090

Lori​

 

[magic2go]

I want you all to know that Disney must have seen US in the parks in February to have this theme for this year .

We "Celebrated Life" and my birthday too, in February. My TR link is below and I never finished it, but for MY sake and memories, I just may! It has the PTR and TR all in one. I never had too much of a following, but finishing it for me sounds good, esp in light of Disney's new Celebration theme. We had "Celebrate Life" on the back of all of our shirts and even pins made up with the theme and my DD10's 5 year old impressionist painting of Mickey.
We were there Celebrating out family's journey through childhood cancer-that she was 5 years off chemo!




Here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1638090

Lori​

That's an awesome reason to celebrate! And a great place to do it!

Disney must have seen us right after you - We celebrated two birthday's there in early March. Homemade Tshirts are a must for us too - we have quite the collection now too!

 

[Tiggsntx]

I want you all to know that Disney must have seen US in the parks in February to have this theme for this year .

We "Celebrated Life" and my birthday too, in February. My TR link is below and I never finished it, but for MY sake and memories, I just may! It has the PTR and TR all in one. I never had too much of a following, but finishing it for me sounds good, esp in light of Disney's new Celebration theme. We had "Celebrate Life" on the back of all of our shirts and even pins made up with the theme and my DD10's 5 year old impressionist painting of Mickey.
We were there Celebrating out family's journey through childhood cancer-that she was 5 years off chemo!




Here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1638090

Lori​

Wow, Lori, what a story!!!! Thanks for sharing such a personal story. It brought some tears to my eyes, but also a smile to my face at the end. So glad to hear that things are going well for y'all these days. Have a magical day!

Allison

 

[DisneyBride'03]

I was so excited to be watching DWTS again.....and then those awesome commercials

 

[chrisw127]

I want you all to know that Disney must have seen US in the parks in February to have this theme for this year .

We "Celebrated Life" and my birthday too, in February. My TR link is below and I never finished it, but for MY sake and memories, I just may! It has the PTR and TR all in one. I never had too much of a following, but finishing it for me sounds good, esp in light of Disney's new Celebration theme. We had "Celebrate Life" on the back of all of our shirts and even pins made up with the theme and my DD10's 5 year old impressionist painting of Mickey.
We were there Celebrating out family's journey through childhood cancer-that she was 5 years off chemo!




Here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1638090

Lori​

Amazing. Good for you all.


Chris

 

[I believe]

I want you all to know that Disney must have seen US in the parks in February to have this theme for this year .

We "Celebrated Life" and my birthday too, in February. My TR link is below and I never finished it, but for MY sake and memories, I just may! It has the PTR and TR all in one. I never had too much of a following, but finishing it for me sounds good, esp in light of Disney's new Celebration theme. We had "Celebrate Life" on the back of all of our shirts and even pins made up with the theme and my DD10's 5 year old impressionist painting of Mickey.
We were there Celebrating out family's journey through childhood cancer-that she was 5 years off chemo!




Here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1638090

Lori​

I read your thread. You and your family certainly do know what it means to truly celebrate life; you have been through so much together. I won't ever forget your story. Your daughter is an inspiration and you are a great Mom. I look forward to hearing about your many future Celebrations of Life!

 

[lori1043]

Thanks you all!

I hope that wasn't counted as a hijack, but it hit me this morning about our Celebrate Life trip after viewing the commercial-heck, we DID that!

Thank you for allowing me to share it with you. There are reasons beyond my comprehension that she had cancer and the reason she is still here with us!

Waiting patiently for someone to post about getting an email about the Moms panel !!!

Lori