Adventures of the "Moms" Panel

[cdotla]

Thanks for keeping us posted and along for the ride. With the little bit of feedback thus far, I am on pins and needles waiting for the full reports.

I am secretly hoping that one of you is so antsy from being removed from the World that they are up late tonite preparing their report so as to re-live everything! Trust us, no other person in the world will understand your excitement for this trip more than the people on this thread!

In the meantime, dying to hear if the "mystery" members were actual lurkers here, or had never ventured onto any of the major websites before. What a shocker it must have been for them to get there and realize that the majority of you had already "met" online!

 

[PartyOf5]

Bret and Erin - thanks for checking in! I am also anxious to hear any details you are willing to provide. In fact, I have a little list of wonders...

- First, how did you all enjoy Coronodo Springs?
- Were Amy, Leanne, Duncan and Michelle actually part of the training process or were they only in charge of the selection? My gut tells me they were part of the training as it seems like they wouldn't want to miss all the fun! Hopefully you were at least able to meet them...they sounded like a lot of fun during the interview. (And who is the man behind that cute little accent!)
- I also wonder about the general workflow. If you are all required to answer 8 questions/week and there are 12 of you, that would be a total of 96 questions answered per week. What happens if you receive 200 questions per week? Do you pick and choose which ones will be answered?
- How will the questions be answered? Will all answers be posted to an online board or will you be emailing responses back to the vacation planners directly?
- Do you have to keep your responses to 100 words or less?
- Were you able to choose your own username or will you be using your actual name? And Bret, can we call you RatBoy if we submit a question...it can be a fellow DIS code! LOL

As you probably can imagine, I have a ton of other questions/wonders...but I'll leave it at that for now. I am very happy to hear your trip was a dream come true. And I look forward to seeing your debut on the MOMS panel!

Good luck to you all! Diane

 

[RatBoy]

Bret and Erin - thanks for checking in! I am also anxious to hear any details you are willing to provide. In fact, I have a little list of wonders...

- First, how did you all enjoy Coronodo Springs?

It was perfect, as it had great meeting facilities, beautiful grounds, and very friendly staff. Wish he had had more time to enjoy it all.

- Were Amy, Leanne, Duncan and Michelle actually part of the training process or were they only in charge of the selection? My gut tells me they were part of the training as it seems like they wouldn't want to miss all the fun! Hopefully you were at least able to meet them...they sounded like a lot of fun during the interview. (And who is the man behind that cute little accent!)

They were all very much involved, as were many others. Everyone was so amazingly supportive, energetic, and helpful. When I (same experience for all of us) was personally met by a wonderfully friendly CM at the airport (in full CM attire), it started to dawn on me how well they were going to treat us. For the next 4 days they never disappointed. I'm no rock star, but I think we all got a small taste of what that might be like. Of course, now we are all adjusting back to reality

- I also wonder about the general workflow. If you are all required to answer 8 questions/week and there are 12 of you, that would be a total of 96 questions answered per week. What happens if you receive 200 questions per week? Do you pick and choose which ones will be answered?

We should answer AT LEAST 8 questions a week. I'll let you discover the rest when the site is launched 1/7/08.

- How will the questions be answered? Will all answers be posted to an online board or will you be emailing responses back to the vacation planners directly?

Sorry, but I'll also let you discover this on 1/7/08.

- Do you have to keep your responses to 100 words or less?

Ditto.

- Were you able to choose your own username or will you be using your actual name? And Bret, can we call you RatBoy if we submit a question...it can be a fellow DIS code! LOL

You can try , but I think that might get editted.

As you probably can imagine, I have a ton of other questions/wonders...but I'll leave it at that for now. I am very happy to hear your trip was a dream come true. And I look forward to seeing your debut on the MOMS panel!

Good luck to you all! Diane

Next stop....photos!!!

 

[RatBoy]

Unfortunately I don't have a photo with all 12 of us, but across these two, you can find us all...

Here we are at the MGM lights show (LtoR: Darcie, Laura, Kim, Erin (partially hidden - sorry), Heather "1", Brigittta, Beth, Heather "2", Kara, Michelle, and Beatrice):

Here we are just moments after we first met, at the Coronado, before Beth arrived (LtoR: Beatrice, Brigitta, Darcie [in the front], Kara [in the back], Kim, Erin, Michelle, Laura [sitting], Heather "1", me/Bret/ratboy, and Heather "2"):

 

[DisneyMissy318]

That's a classy bunch of women you got to hang out with there RatBoy!

(Has your wife seen the pic??!)

Can't wait for the "rest of the story"!

 

[PartyOf5]

Bret - thanks for the reply...love the photos! You all look GREAT and, more importantly, you look like a team already!

 

[dollhouse]

Hello everyone!

I loved the pictures. It is so nice to put a face to postings..ha ha! Thank you!

You all look very professional and happy! Ratboy, you look exactly how I expected..isn't that funny because normally it is the opposite /I am so glad you guys were made to feel so special, you deserve it. I can't wait for the panel to go live. I can't wait to hear more details of the trip. How was MVMCP and Cindy's lunch..anything special there? I thought you all would be in the parade!

Okay, here is the questions...what is the future of the Mom's panel? Any clues on that? I know they have to wait to see how it goes.

Ratboy, you have been so awesome in keeping us posted. You probably don't know how much it has meant to all of us! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I hope all of you are getting caught up on all your busy lives.

Leslie semi finalist mom's panel!!!!!!
dh
dd 7
dd 4

 

[EEFOSTER]

OK folks,

The kiddos got sent home from school early today because of an ice storm, so I’m going to try to power-write here and hope I don’t get interrupted too often.

So, as Bret said, Amy, Michelle, Leanne, and Duncan were very involved in our training, as were a few dozen other people. They were all warm and welcoming and made us feel immediately at ease. The cute accent belonged to Duncan and he is as charming in person as he sounds on the phone.

My Disney magic started at the airport. My flight from NY arrived in Orlando several minutes early! I’m so not used to being the celebrity businessmom that I walked right by driver at first. I forgot to look for the sign with my name on it. Then I found Tim, my helpful and pleasant driver who took me to CSR.

At CSR there was a big sign at the check-in desk that said “Welcome Disney Moms Panel.” I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to take a photo of it. I’m hoping that one of the other panelists has one to share. Check-in was easy (especially since I didn’t have three kids crawling all over me while I was doing it) and the cast member at the desk gave me a big envelope with a welcome letter, nametag, our schedule for the trip, etc.

Several of us had “met” online and shared pictures of each other prior to the event, so was able to recognize a few of the panelists around the resort before we had any official meeting. It was nice to be able to see friendly faces right from the start. The first event was a getting-to-know you meeting at the Laguna Bar at the CSR. That’s where we officially met the entire panel and the first batch of our “handlers” (all exceedingly kind cast members). Then we went in our own bus to the Studios where we were able to see the Osborne Family Holiday Lights and had the opportunity to go on a few rides. Many went on Tower of Terror and the Rockin Rollercoaster, but I skipped those because I wanted to make sure that I could enjoy my dinner.

Dinner was at the Brown Derby. I had the duck entrée which was yummy. And then I had the grapefruit cake which was one of the tastiest desserts I have ever had. I must say that they fed us outstandingly well during the entire trip and that, combined with Xmas coming up, will put me on the treadmill for quite a while in January.

We got back to CSR at about 10:30 on Sat night. Some stayed up talking late into the night, but I crawled into my bed right away because I was so beat from traveling. More soon…

E

 

[PartyOf5]

Thanks, Erin....look forward to reading more. And I'm glad you aren't keeping your posts to 100 words or less!

I have never been to the Osborne Family Holiday Lights but I did see them on a Travel Channel special with Samantha Brown the other night. And speaking of the Samantha Brown show...I kept thinking she was going to run into the MOMS panel and kind of introduce you all...but I knew it was taped before your arrival. Maybe some of the MOMS can make a guest appearance in a future show...how cool would that be? (At least it would be for me!!)

 

[dollhouse]

Thanks Erin!

Keep it coming, can't wait to hear more!!! Gosh, it sounds like such a wonderful experience!

Leslie

I wasn't even in Disney and Christmas is 12 days away & I got to get to the gym a little more frequently..but who has time between cookies and parties? HA HA! New Years Resolution, here I come!

 

[EEFOSTER]

To continue …

Sunday morning we had a 7:30 am breakfast call at the CSR convention center. Regular breakfast food in the training room. A highlight of the morning was when we had two imagineers give us a preview of the new Toy Story Mania attraction that they’re developing for the Studios (will be located where Millionaire was). It was so cool to meet people who had actually worked on designing a new attraction. The ride is a bit like Buzz Lightyear, but 3D and there is an element of adjustability for skill levels. I can’t wait till it opens.

After the training, we went to lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. We all took photos of each other with Cindy, Belle, Aurora, and Mary Poppins. In addition to the regular meal, they gave each table (with so many panelists and cast members we needed two big tables) a chocolate slipper dessert to share.

Following lunch we went in two groups to tour the Cinderella Suite in the castle. We got to spend about 15 mins there and took lots of silly photos of each other sitting on the beds. There have been other detailed reports and photos of the suite on the web, so I won’t go into it too much here. Long story short … the place was spectacular! And I feel very fortunate to have been able to see it.

Then a veteran cast member, Lisa, gave us a “Guestology” tour of the Magic Kingdom. She walked us around the park (mostly in Fantasyland, Liberty Square, and Frontierland) giving us lots of trivia about the attractions. Lisa was working hard to stump us on our knowledge of the park. I must say the we panelists gave her a run for her money. They don’t call us Disney Moms for nothing. During the tour, we were able to ride Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. I hadn’t been in the Mansion since the re-do. I rode with Bret and we were remarking that the dirt inside looked a lot cleaner than it used to. Seriously, I really enjoyed it an thought the flow of the story was much more easy to follow for a new visitor to the attraction.

After the tour, we zipped back to the CSR for a quick change in our rooms. Then we went right back out to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner. More soon…

E

 

[Marshay]

Just another vote saying thanks so much for the posts on your trip! I love reading about it and look forward to more!

 

[PartyOf5]

Erin...you are my new favorite author!

 

[RatBoy]

Thanks Erin for doing the hard work. I'll try to follow along with some photos!

Here is the check-in sign you mentioned (please note that there is an error in the sign, as the real name should be "Walt Disney World Moms Panel". As Erin mentioned earlier, the site will be located at "disneyworldmoms.com")

 

[cdotla]

Thanks Erin for the early and informative post.

Can't wait for more details and pics!

 

[PartyOf5]

Bret - you are my new favorite photographer!

The lobby is beautiful!

 

[EEFOSTER]

One part I forgot to mention earlier was that for most of our trip there was a still photographer and a video crew following us around. The video guys were in and out of our classroom training and they followed us into the Cinderella suite and throughout the Magic Kingdom on the Guestology tour. Most of the time they were unobtrusive, but once in a while you were talking and found a camera right in your face. That was a bit unnerving at first, but amazingly after a while you kinda get used to it.

So we got to the Wilderness Lodge and video guys were there as we got off the bus, just like when they film celebs leaving their limos at an awards show. It was really too funny. If this footage eventually turns up somewhere, you’ll see that we were all wearing spiffy pink windbreakers with the Moms Panel logo on them (Bret got a navy blue one. I have no idea why. )

Dinner at Artist Point was delish! That’s always been my favorite restaurant on property and it didn’t disappoint. I had the salmon (of course) and I heard that the halibut was particularly good that night.

After they hustled us out of the WL (we ended up having to skip dessert because we were so busy chatting with each other we were slow on the eating and got a little behind schedule), we got on the bus for the MK. We had VIP seating for MVMCP – a little roped off area above the train station. Cast members brought us cocoa and cookies (so we did get dessert after all). From the station, we watched the parade and fireworks. So special. About a third of the panelists had various family members with them (at their own expense). This was one of the few opportunities for the other panelists to meet the family that was there. They were able to join us for the parade viewing.

Once the parade is over we could take one of two busses back to CSR, one at about 9:45 and one at what ended up being 11:15. I was on the party pooper bus (with about half the panel) – I was trying to only burn the candle at one end. Mr. Ratboy Bret stayed out late!

E

 

[RatBoy]

A shot of an arcade at the Coronado, near our rooms...

Room shot one (please pardon the mess )

Another view...

Here we are at the CRT...

And another (LtoR: Me, Beth, some chick who wanted her picture taken, and Heather 1)

Can we all say "aaaaawwwww" in unison?...

A clock in the entry lobby of the Cindy Suite (note the clock is permanently at one-minute-to-midnite)...

The gang on PoC during the Guestology tour...

Ok, I think I'm caught up with Erin!

-Bret

(Note to other panelists: if you have better pics, please post)

 

[RatBoy]

Here are a few shots of the camera crew...

At Cindy's Suite...

And at the Wilderness Lodge...

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Wow - I think I would freak with a camera crew following me all around...

Love the photos - really love the pink jackets...
Keep the photos and TR's coming... I am enjoying reading them and all the fun you had over the weekend...