GoGo squeeZ at the Flower & Garden Festival

During my Walt Disney World vacation last fall, I had the pleasure of reviewing GoGo squeeZ applesauce.  We are totally hooked.  They've let me know they are participating in this year's Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.  If you are visiting during select weekends, be sure to stop by their display and say hello.

GoGo squeeZ - www.GoGosqueeZ.com - the first squeezable, re-sealable, 100% fruit, applesauce snack in the U.S., is pleased to sponsor the GoGo on the Go Challenge at the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival, being held at the Walt Disney World®  Resort near Orlando, Fla. through May 15. 

We offer festival-goers the opportunity to test their jump rope and hula hoop skills while learning fun facts about active play, healthy snacks and the fascinating world of fruits and flowers.

During the weekends of March 25, April 22 and May 13, visitors will have the opportunity to try this healthy treat as they enjoy gardening activities and demonstrations at the Festival. 

The GoGo on the Go Challenge also continues on Facebook! Our fans can complete the three-question “GoGo Sweepstakes” for a chance to win free GoGo squeeZ products as well as the Grand Prize: A YEAR OF SUPPLY of GoGo squeeZ. To participate, connect with us at http://www.facebook.com/i.like.gogosqueez 

When to Go? Spring--Flower and Garden Festival

From the 2010 Flower and Garden Festival...

Festival Guide

Spring is a great time of year at Walt Disney World as Epcot hosts the International Flower and Garden Festival.  The horticultural team outdoes themselves with impressive topiaries, themed gardens, tons of flowers, and special educational and dining events.  Weekend nights are capped off with the Flower Power concert series including performances from artists of the 60s and 70s.  This year's festival runs from March 3-May 16.  You may wonder if this is a good fit for your little one, but this festival is very kid-friendly.   The specifics vary from year to year and this will give you an idea of what activities may be available for your future trip.

Several playgrounds are a part of this year's festival.  While these are some of the simplest areas of the festival, they may be your child's favorites (and yours, after kiddo burns off some energy from that Mickey ice cream bar.)  The Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden features an adorable playground appropriate for children from 2-5 years old.  Near Journey into Imagination are play structures designed for children aged 2-5 and 6+.  In World Showcase, there is another play area in the Art of Green Living exhibit.  This one was not on the festival guide, so it's a surprise when you run upon it.  Sadly, these areas are just for the festival but would be great year round.

Children of all ages can participate in the scavenger hunt to find "bees" in the fragrance garden at the France Pavilion.  At Princess Tiana's Wedding Garden and Pixie Hollow, kids can do rubbings from the signs.  When we visited Tiana's Garden, the ducklings in the small pond were the big attraction for everyone there at the time. 

The star of the children's activities is Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden.  Located along the walkway behind Innoventions East, this garden greets you with lovely flowers and topiaries of Tinkerbell and her friends, as well as huge butterfly topiaries.  In the center of the garden is Fawn's Butterfly House.  You enter through a doorway with a curtain of plastic chains to help keep the butterflies inside.  On either side, butterflies flit around on the flowers and it's easy to get a great view.  There is a chrysalis box and if you are lucky, you can watch a butterfly emerge.  Tink was fascinated by all of the butterflies .  Even though it was fairly busy, there were still areas in the house where we could let her walk around a little bit without being in the way.  Toward the end of the garden's path, you'll find the play area.  There is a small play structure for climbing and a fairy house for pretend time. 

For details on the rest of the events associated with the festival, please check out the link to the Festival Guide above. 

Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival is great for the whole family; just try to avoid the main Spring Break weeks when planning your trip.

Have you visited this festival before?  What did you think?

This article originally appeared on Growing Up Disney in May 2010.  The basics of the festival are essentially the same from year to year.  This year the butterfly garden is Bambi-themed to go with the recent DVD release.  Here is the 2011 Festival Guide.   Check out Ridge's Flickr Photostream for his photos from the 2011 Festival.  

Blogoversary Month: Giveaway from Beyond the Attractions

I've met some terrific people in the Disney online community doing some really creative things since I began blogging.  One of my favorites is Lisa Battista, author of Beyond the Attractions.  Lisa has written the book on visiting Walt Disney World with preschoolers and she's generously offering a copy to a lucky Growing Up Disney reader to help celebrate our anniversary! 

I reviewed the 2011 edition last fall prior to my late October/early November trip.  I loved the tips as we were preparing for the vacation and found it very helpful on the go.  I know I'll be reading it (or a new edition) again before our next trip.  Next time, Tink will be solidly in the preschool years and we'll have another little one.  We'll need all the ideas we can get!

Excerpts from my review:

I loved reading the book to prepare for this review. Lisa provides lots of great tips, and while there are some excellent general WDW guide books out there, it's nice to have one so well geared to a specific audience. Throughout the book, she maintains the focus of travel with preschoolers and we all know if we keep the little ones happy, the rest of the group has a much better time.

Beyond the Attractions is well-organized to make it an easy quick reference guide. There are chapters covering topics ranging from preparing for your trip to bringing home the magic and just about everything in between. The chapter on child care and safety won't be found in any general WDW guide and has some valuable information for keeping your kiddos safe while away from home.

Beyond the Attractions: A Guide to Walt Disney World with Preschoolers (2011) will be a valuable resource to anyone planning a trip to WDW with small children. Even if you've braved it before, I'm sure you'll learn something new from this excellent book.

Please read the full review here.

Beyond the Attractions is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.  If you carry a smart phone to the parks, the Kindle option is a super reference and you can search as needed to avoid crisis.

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Ready to enter to win a copy of Beyond the Attractions: A Guide to Walt Disney World with Preschoolers (2011)? 

You get one entry for each of the following. Please note each as a separate comment below so you receive your maximum number of entries. (If you are already following us through any of these channels, just note that. Hey, free entry!)

~Like Beyond the Attractions on Facebook
~Like Growing Up Disney on Facebook
~Follow Beyond the Attractions on Twitter
~Follow Growing Up Disney on Twitter
~Tweet about this giveaway, one entry per day
~Blog about this giveaway
~Follow Growing Up Disney publicly on Google Friend Connect. See widget at right.

This contest ends at midnight Eastern time on Thursday, April 14, 2011, and is limited to residents of the United States and Canada. The winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries. You'll be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Good luck!


The winning comment (determined by random number generator) is #2!  Congrats Amanda! 

And don't for get to enter our giveaway for Passholder and DVC exclusive pins from this year's Flower and Garden Festival before the contest closes on April 7 (midnight Eastern)!!!

Photo Flashback! Crystal Hidden Mickeys

Disney Floral added a Hidden Mickey to our wedding flowers.  Can you spot him?

Blogoversary Month: The Growing Up Disney Family

In April of 2010, my family met up at Walt Disney World to celebrate my daughter's first birthday.  My brother and I had been avid podcast listeners for a while but my dad had just gotten an iPad.  Chris and I were suggesting shows we liked and the idea of our own podcast was kicked around.  Once we returned home, I decided I just had to write about what I had learned.  I had many questions prior to taking my daughter to the World for the first time.  I really had to dig for many of the answers and still learned much of it the hard way.  We lived far from family and I was already blogging about "Tink" so setting up an additional blog was quite easy.  One rainy afternoon while the little girl napped, I began writing about my favorite place.

Soon I asked Chris to be a guest blogger and that role quickly grew.  We worked into a regular posting schedule and convinced Dad to hop on board.  (It didn't take much arm twisting for either one of them.)

We've each written our own bios and you can find them on "The Family Behind the Blog" page.

Chris (AKA Ridge) has really done a fantastic job and I am thrilled to be working with him.  We are very good friends and it's hard to live so far from home but this project helps.  I've always thought he was smart and funny and he brings that to the blog in his writing.  Check out a few of his articles on his page.  Chris has also become quite good at photography.  Especially on his recent solo trip, he's taken some impressive shots for the blog.   His Flickr Photostream is always on the upper right column of the blog, so if you need a little escape, drop by and look through some of his photographs.

The trunk of this Disney family tree are my parents.   Be sure to visit the "The Family Behind the Blog" page for their story and an adorable picture in front of the castle from their honeymoon.  Dad's been into Disney online boards and such since the Prodigy days (anyone else remember that?)  His main interest is Disney Vacation Club and his articles can be found here.  I love the way he writes and I'm glad we are gathering all of these family stories.  For those of you new to the blog, that's DisneyDad's hand in our logo image.  He was walking Tink down Main Street for the first time, just a couple of days before she turned one.  (LOVE that photo!)

From time to time, all three of us will answer one question.  I keep those articles listed on the "Trip Planning" page.  Sometimes we answer the questions we are asked all the time as frequent Disney guests.  Other times we reminisce or dream.  Each Wednesday, one of the three of us shares a photo from our family's nearly 40 years of WDW visits.

As we celebrate the end of our first year, I thank these two wonderful men for working on this project with me and I look forward to making more Disney memories with them.

iPhone App Review: Measurement

First, I want to thank Nicola and Punflay for being so patient with me. I received the Measurement app a while back but with all that’s going on in my personal life, I just couldn’t get out a decent review until now.  

Punflay makes really fun and educational iPhone/iPad apps for children. I’ve had the opportunity to review several in the past for each platform. This time I was asked to review their Measurement app for iPhone. It’s the latest in the Mathomatix series. The previous app was Number Sense, which helps children practice ordering numbers, compare sets of numbers, and simple addition and subtraction.

Measurement is designed for kindergarteners. They will learn and practice basic concepts of length, width, capacity, as well as time and months of the year.  My daughter loves to play with this app although at almost two years old, she's not quite ready to really comprehend it.

The first screen is simple and the child just needs to press play to begin. They are then taken to a chalkboard with five games: Crazy Clock, Scale Tale, Fill Me Up, Long and Short, and Action Months. Each game provides enough opportunities to practice the concept of the game.  The games are straight forward, allowing the child to work on the concept more than how to operate the game.  Simple reinforcing messages are given when the child gets a correct answer, and if a wrong answer is selected, they are told to try again or get a subtle buzzer.  

Crazy Clock allows children to work on telling time as well as common times when activities in their schedule may occur.  The hands will only move clockwise and once the child reaches the specified time, they stop.  

Scale Tale offers a chance to compare two items and decide which is heavier or lighter.  My daughter loves this one.  Must be the cute monster.

Fill Me Up works on understanding volume.  It's another fool-proof game.  You can't continue to put items in a full container.

Long & Short, as you might have guessed, is all about comparing length.  The child needs to touch the card of the correct answer.  I like the sparkles you get when you are right.

In Action Months, the child has to "catch" each letter and drag it to its proper place in the word.  Once the name of the month is spelled correctly, the child is rewarded with animation of the letters.  This reminds me of Sesame Street claymation.

Measurement is a great app for your pre-schooler or kindergartener to practice various concepts of measurement.  The graphics and sounds are very cute, disguising the learning a bit.  We all know kids love our iPhones and here is a fantastic chance to learn while they play.  

For the younger set, I reviewed ABC Numbers and Baby Explorer last fall.  Those are loaded on my parents' iPad.  Tink loves playing with their iPad on every visit and still enjoys these two apps, especially Baby Explorer.  

Thanks again to Punflay for providing these apps for my review.  We've enjoyed playing with them all and look forward to seeing what's next from this talented team.  

A Walk Around the World with Ridge: More From Flower & Garden

The Epcot Flower & Garden Festival was a really neat experience that I am very glad I was able to attend this year. The exceptional work done by the small army of cast members who come in under cover of night changes the face of Epcot. This week's post is just a few of my favorite pictures from Epcot and this year's Flower and Garden Festival.

The Imagination Pavilion is still one of my favorite attractions I love the way this building looks at night.

Who among us didn't grow up with Winnie the Pooh?

The Lion King.

I really liked the face as Timon is ready to serve up Pumba some fresh grubs.

The newest feature was Rapunzel's tower. Every few minutes she sings her song of renewal and then her hair that is draping down around the tower lights up. Very impressive at night. Until just yesterday I had not seen Tangled so admittedly I had no idea to the significance of the song or her hair. Now that I know what it means...good job Disney.

I took far too many pictures to show them all so feel free to check our my flickr account here.

Growing Up Disney Birthday Kick-off & Giveaway #1 Winners

We will soon be celebrating our one year blogoversary.  It's April 26, but I love stretching out my own birthday, so why not party here for a month?  Plus, it seems to be Disney's way too.  Wasn't the Cakestle up for a year and a half?

Please check with us throughout the month for special giveaways from Growing Up Disney, Travel with the Magic, Beyond the Attractions, and Eversave Orlando.

I'll also be highlighting our wonderful team (my family), our Minnie Moms, guest posters, former giveaway sponsors, and any other thank yous I can work in to the schedule.

I hope you have fun celebrating along with us.

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To start the party, let's give away a couple of favors.  On his recent trip to Walt Disney World, Ridge bought these two pins to give to our readers.  Epcot is a wonderful place all the time, but now it's transformed for the Flower and Garden Festival.  These annual passholder and DVC exclusive pins will help remind you of this beautiful time of year.  We have two pins, so let's have two winners.

You get one entry for each of the following. Please note each as a separate entry in the comments section below so I know what you have done.  (If you are already following us through any of these channels, just note that. Hey, free entry!)

• REQUIRED: What is your favorite time of year at Walt Disney World and why?

Additional entries:

• Like Growing Up Disney on Facebook
• Follow Growing Up Disney on Twitter
• Tweet about this giveaway, one entry per day.  
• Follow Growing Up Disney publicly on Google Friend Connect.  See widget at right.

  

This contest ends at midnight Eastern time on Thursday, April 7, 2011, and is limited to residents of the United States and Canada.  The winners will be chosen at random from all eligible entries. You'll be notified via email and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Good luck!


The winning comment #s (determined by random number generator) are 26 and 5.  Congratulations to Susanmeep and Bird. 

Photo Flashback! Living with the Land and Mickey

Some times Mickey Mouse even shows up in the rain. (This photo was not altered, just lucky.)

Traditions & Your Key to the World

One tradition on every trip to Walt Disney World is The Signing of the “cards” or correctly the signing of “Your Key to the World” cards. Each trip when we check in at our Disney Vacation Club resort we get our “Welcome Home” package of information and our valuable Your Key to the World cards. Everyone in the room gets their own personalized card.

The Your Key to the World card is your room key and much more. It is your identification card that says you are a guest at Walt Disney World. And it has an arrow on the front to show you which direction to insert it into your door lock so you can actually get into your room.

It has the dates of your stay and in our case the words *DVC MEMBER*. (The *DVC MEMBER* gives us discounts on dining at many restaurants around WDW as well as other discounts.)

Your Key to the World card can also be your Park Ticket. If you have purchased tickets as part of your vacation package your card is your admission to the Parks. If you have your admission ticket on your card it can be used to obtain the all important FassPass for your favorite attractions.

If you have purchased one of the Disney Dining Plans, Your Key to the World card is also your “meal ticket”. The card identifies you are on the dining plan and you use your card to redeem you meal credits.

If you put up a credit card on your stay for “incidentals”, the Your Key to the World card may also be used to charge back to your room anything you want to purchase in the parks. Shopping, Dining, or snacks. Everywhere in The World allows you to charge back to your room, including most all of the food carts.

This brings us back to our Tradition of “The Signing.”

Your Key to the World is plastic, like a credit card, and includes a magnetic strip on the back as well as the box for you to sign your card. When you check in and put a credit card on your account you may designate which cards may have charging privileges. I have always allowed charging for all my family. I have always let the kids know they may use the card if necessary to buy something to eat, but I don’t remember if anyone has used it for that. Amy and Ridge have always been very responsible with their cards.

So since this is a charge card, everyone must sign their card the first thing when I pass out the cards. It has become the tradition that says “Welcome Home” you have arrived at Walt Disney World. Your vacation trip has begun.

This is a tradition that continues even though my children are adults on their own. But when they come with me to Walt Disney World I still give my children charging privileges on the room. They might get caught out without any money and get hungry. ;-) And so when we arrive and I hand out the Cards, everyone must take time to sign them, and once they do, our vacation has officially begun.

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I don't seem to be without my card, even after we come home. The one pictured above is from our last trip. It has been in my wallet with all my "stuff" since the trip. I took it out just to take it's picture. It seems like it stays there until I get my next "Welcome Home" packet and a new Your Key To the World card. And I can always pull it out, remember the last trip and dream of our next.
--DisneyDad

What Traditions does your family have on your trips to The World?

We're almost ONE!

Growing Up Disney will soon be one.  What started as a desire to share what I had learned while visiting with my daughter has grown into a wonderful experience!  I've met some amazing people and have loved sharing my family's stories and yours. 

Be sure to check the blog during April for our celebration.  I'll be thanking those who have contributed to the site over the past year, both bloggers and giveaway sponsors. 

And don't forget, a birthday needs presents and these will be for you!  Ridge picked up a couple of surprises on his recent WDW trip and Kelly at Travel with the Magic is sending even more Disney goodies.  Let me know if you'd like to give a gift to our readers. 

Thanks to all who have been a part of this journey, both readers and writers!  Let's celebrate!

Guest Post: 3 Kids in Diapers or Pull-ups

In 2008, my husband and I decided it was time to bring all three of our children to Walt Disney World for Hayley and Emily’s first trip and Joey’s second trip.  Emily was just 10 months at the time and in diapers.  Hayley had just turned two and was starting to show some interest in potty training.  Joey was three and a half and in pull ups but almost potty trained.  When we arrived in Orlando, I thought I was prepared – pacifiers, security blankets, bibs, sippy cups, two strollers and every other item I thought I would need.  What I forgot?  Mentally preparing myself for a week long Disney trip with three children in diapers.  I learned some valuable lessons that I am happy to share with you. 1. Disposable changing table pads are a must have item, not only for the parks, but also for the plane and hotel room.  Some airlines do not have changing tables in the bathrooms.  The flight attendants will tell you to change your child on the seat.  This is important not only for you to be prepared for changing your own child on the seat, but also, now that I know this, I always make sure I wipe down the seat before putting my children’s seat belts on.  2. We always bring a back pack into the parks.  For this particular trip, I purchased a larger one than I would normally carry, but I made sure the straps fit over the handles of our stroller, so that no one would be carrying it around all day.  I brought a full box of wipes into the parks every day, as well as a supply of diapers/pullups for each child.  Even though we always planned midday breaks back at the hotel room, I always packed a full days supply because you just never know where the day will bring you. 3. Joey was almost potty trained when we arrived in Disney.  His issue was more that if we didn’t remind him to use the potty, he didn’t ask to use it on his own.  At home it is easy to give the consistent reminders to use the potty.  In Disney, we lost that consistency.  At the end of the second day, it hit Pierre and I that we had to get back to routine. Once we did that, Joey was back on track.  Lesson learned here is that keeping home routines consistent when in the parks, or as consistent as possible, is important for your child’s potty training success. 4. Hayley, just two at the time, was the height of an average four year old, so there was no place to change her but standing in a bathroom stall.  This was not an issue for the actual diaper change.  It was the fact that the toilets were so loud that it scared Hayley to a point that she refused to go in the bathrooms.  It made for a very long week when every time we needed to bring her into the bathroom, she turned from my character loving princess to a terrified, screaming child.  It was heartbreaking.  This actually was the beginning of a long term health issue that Hayley is still struggling with today, two and a half years later.  If you are taking a child to Disney who is getting ready to start potty training, what our family has been struggling with is a very rare case (only occurs in 1-3% of all children, with only 8% of that number being girls), and this should definitely not deter you from taking your potty training child on a Disney vacation.  But my lesson learned was that Disney toilets are very loud and depending on your child, you may need to prepare them for that. In the end, though we had some trying moments, it was a great Disney vacation filled with amazing memories.  Now we are preparing for our next trip to Walt Disney World and I am happy to say we will be diaper free!  It is quite an exciting milestone for us.   Contributed by Beth D. of Meredith, NH.  Wife to Pierre, proud mom to Joey, Hayley & Emily, creator of Pursuing the Magic, founder of The Magical Blogorail and contributor to Growing Up Disney's Minnie Moms.

Photo Flashback! It's the little things

The Growing Up Disney family recently did a team post on why we keep going back to Walt Disney World.  For me, one reason is the little things Disney does to make your day special.  This series of photos was taken in 2008 on Main Street USA as we walked to breakfast at Crystal Palace.  Plenty of people just walked right by this young man.  This custodial Cast Member was "painting" Mickey Mouse, and quite well I might add, on the pavement in water.  It's such a fleeting thing but just one more example of why you need to slow down and take in the details during a WDW vacation.  And I don't know if he was really from Custodial or not, but I do know there are lots of aspiring artists among the rank and file Cast Members.  When I worked at Crystal Palace, one of the other seaters was a talented animator working in the park to pay the bills while he pursued his real passion.