Belle, there will be a lot of different kinds of meets at MouseFest.
Some meets are casual get-togethers which provide an opportunity for folks who have gotten to know each other on boards like this one can hang out and enjoy each others company face-to-face, often for the first time. The casual type of meets are often held at restaurants or food courts, which gives attendees the opportunity to sit down, maybe enjoy a little something to eat or drink, and relax after (or during) a busy day in the WDW parks.
Some of the meets at MouseFest will be a little more structured, like the Tagrel Holiday Gift Game, where each person brings an inexpensive wrapped gift, and as each of us in turn pulls our name from a hat, we get to choose a gift from the unopened pile, or choose one of the already-unwrapped gifts. If we choose an already-unwrapped gift, the person we take it from then has to unwrap another from the pile. This meet was a smash hit last year! Although it was attended mostly by Tagrel members, there were 3 or 4 folks from other communities who attended and became instant family with the Tagrel folks. I had a blast - and I wound up with what I still think was the very best gift of them all, a stuffed Milestone Mickey in 1955 Mousketeer outfit.
Other meets include riding popular WDW attractions, like the Passporter
Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Play It! meet.
Steve Barrett, author of
Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Walt Disney Worlds Best Kept Secrets, hosts Hidden Mickey Hunts in each of the parks during MouseFest.
Some meets are set up by a particular web community just for thier members, to give them an opportunity to hang out with online friends. Other meets are open to anybody, like the
MVMCP Wishes Fireworks meet on Dec 1, hosted by Deb Wills of AllEarsNet and Dave Card of Tagrel. This was a very popular and well-attended meet last year and I'm sure it will be again.
The crowning glory of all the MouseFest meets is, of course, the Mega Mouse Meet, held this year at the Dolphin on Sat, Dec 3, from 1pm to 3:30pm. All of the webmasters, authors, travel agents, and sponsors set up tables at the MegaMeet, and several hundred online Disney fsanatics like us mingle about, meeting all of these wonderful people and trying to express just how much all of thier hard work on web communities, guidebooks, and various WDW-related businesses like travel agencies, DVC resales, and towncar services, really means to us. Words are not usually enough, but the handshakes, pats on the shoulder, backbreaking bear hugs, and hundreds of smiling, happy faces mostly do the trick.
The master schedule of MouseFest events is here:
http://www.mousefest.org/calendar.htm
MouseFest is so popular over at Tagrel that Dave set up a whole message board for it in the forums:
http://www.***********/forum/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewforum&f=32
And there is a schedule of Tagrel MouseFest events, too:
http://www.***********/forum/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewforum&f=32
So don't be too nervous Belle. Most of MouseFest is just people hanging out and getting to know each other, sometimes while riding Tower of Terror, sometimes while eating dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern, sometimes while watching Wishes, sometimes while scarfing down a Dole Whip, and sometimes just sitting on a bench. The one common denominator is that we all love WDW, and that has brought us together over the internet in amazing ways.
You'll have a blast. I know I will!