Christmas is a special time for Central Florida theme parks – each park hosts Christmas events and is adorned in beautiful holiday decorations. Walt Disney World, of course, is no exception and hosts Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. This special night-time event is not included with regular Magic Kingdom admission, but is an event that you and the kids will love.

We were able to enjoy the festivities again this year via a media invitation to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Baby boy was able to enjoy a lot more this time since he’s now walking and able to partake in the fun. He and his big sister enjoyed riding several rides, meeting some characters, and of course, snacking on cookies and hot chocolate. I always enjoy seeing Magic Kingdom decorated for Christmas and just walking around taking in the sights. Christmas and Disney World make a good combination, don’t you think?

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party began on November 9 this year and continues through December 21, on select nights. A very family-friendly event, this Magic Kingdom Christmas party includes various holiday-themed fun:

• Cinderella’s Castle is decorated with Christmas lights that change color.
• Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade will be enjoyed by the little ones and they’ll love seeing Santa Claus at the end!
• Exclusive holiday fireworks – Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season - can be seen during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
• Special shows and entertainment featuring Disney characters are scheduled each night of the party.
• Disney characters dressed in their holiday best are available for pictures and autographs. Special characters also tend to make an appearance that normally are not in the parks, such as Donald Duck’s Uncle Scrooge.
• Complimentary cookies, apple slices and hot cocoa are provided throughout various locations in the park.
• Walking down Main Street, U.S.A. with “snow” falling on you is always fun, especially for the kids!
• Several of the Magic Kingdom rides and attractions are open for you to enjoy with less lines.
• Kid-friendly dance parties with a DJ and Disney characters dancing too!

If you’re local to the area or plan to visit Walt Disney World this December, consider attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party; you still have time as the event will be held several nights in December this year and goes from 7 p.m. until midnight. Several other holiday events are also happening throughout other Walt Disney World parks – see Disneyworld.com/holidays for more information!

What do you enjoy most about Christmas at the theme parks?

Disclosure: We received complimentary admission to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to experience the fun as a family.

The last week of April began what has been a month of travel, conferences, and fun. It kicked off with a bang, though, as it all started with a trip to Walt Disney World to attend Disney’s Social Media Moms Celebration!

This was our third year attending this family-inclusive conference and as always, we had a great time. It’s great to be able to take the family along and have events that are for the whole family! It definitely makes it easier when trying to balance work and life.

Speakers at this year’s Social Media Moms Celebration included Chris Brogan, Peter Shankman, Ramon De Leon, Amy Jo Martin, and Lisa Druxman. They each spoke on a variety of topics, ranging from how they use social media in their businesses, to how they balance out their lives. It’s fair to say that the overall message from the speakers was that you need to create your own success and find the fun in life.

Here are some of the snippets I shared via Twitter from the presentations we heard:

The Social Media Moms Celebration also included a day of mini-sessions, of which I attended a Doc McStuffins presentation. I was able to learn more about this new show on Disney Junior and hear from the show’s creator about the inspiration behind Doc McStuffins – she saw a need for helping children learn about doctor visits after being in and out of the hospital with her son his first year of life. It was also very interesting to find out that when she pitched the show to Disney, her son was about 8 months old and the show did not premiere until he was almost 5 years old!

Between pirate-themed family dinners, a night-time visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and a sneak peek at the new resort, Disney’s Art of Animation, my family really enjoyed themselves. Personally, I was able to reconnect with many friends from our blogging community and learn more about how Disney world provides families with many opportunities to create memories. One of the strongest statements made during the conference that resonated with the majority of attendees was that we only have eighteen summers with our children to make lasting memories before they leave our house (traditionally). Wow, right?! Eighteen years! That’s it!

What are some of the more special memories you’ve been able to create with your children so far?

I encourage you to search the #DisneySMMoms hashtag on Twitter to find links to more posts from other Disney Social Media Moms Celebration attendees. I’m sure you’ll get a variety of stories from the conference and a wealth of information about Walt Disney World!

Photo: Josh Hallett

Our Disney princess patiently waiting to arrive at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for a night of fun during the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

Today’s the day! We’re heading to Walt Disney World for the Social Media Moms Celebration!

Learning, fun, family, and friends? Yes, please! We’ll share insights with you soon, but in the meantime, follow along with us on Twitter and Facebook!

A few photos from our weekend safari tour of Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, part of the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Central Florida.

Have you ever been to Disney’s Animal Kingdom? What’s your favorite part of that park?

Helping folks find their way to Cinderella’s Castle. Icons on parking lot floor of Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World.

My family and I recently attended Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. We were part of a media group invited to attend as guests of Disney and were able to join the fun of celebrating Christmas Disney-style. This is our second year attending Mickey’s Christmas Party and it was just as fun as our first time attending!

Some of the highlights of attending the holiday events at Disney World are special character sightings, special event merchandise for those who collect Disney merchandise, and event-only parades and other activities. During Mickey’s Christmas Party, we got to see Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade, which has a special appearance from Santa at the end. You can also catch a holiday version of Wishes, Magic Kingdom’s fireworks show. There were also a couple of character-themed dance parties for the kids; baby girl got to dance with Jessie from Toy Story!

Throughout the night, we spotted some new characters we had never run into in the past: Abu from Aladdin, the bears from Frontierland’s Country Bear Jamboree, and Captain Jack Sparrow. I’m not sure if these characters are normally out and about at the parks and we’ve just missed them, but I know that it was our first time being able to get their autograph and picture. We actually had something really nice happen to us as we were waiting for Abu’s autograph. As is normal for character greetings, Abu and Aladdin were switching out with Jasmine and the Genie. The only character my girl was missing was Abu, since she’s met the others at previous park visits. As she was getting close to the front of the line, it was announced that only one more person would meet Abu and Aladdin, as Jasmine and the Genie were about to come out. So, baby girl was going to miss her chance to meet Abu! But, the very nice little boy in front of her told her it would be okay to switch places since he was fine with meeting any of the characters!

Something my girl was really looking forward to was the complimentary hot chocolate and cookies that are provided to guests throughout the park. The night we attended, it was actually pretty cool out and windy, so hot chocolate came in handy. The snow on Main Street is also a fun treat! Another bit of Disney magic that happened for us that night was not being charged for baby boy’s skullcap; the cashier told my husband as he went to pay, “I can’t let the baby be cold!”

We had a nice evening out and enjoyed seeing Magic Kingdom decorated for Christmas. It’s always fun to visit the parks during these special events because you see them in a whole new way. In the coming weeks, we plan to visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

Have you ever visited Disney World or Disneyland during the holidays? What is your favorite part?

Photos © ModernMami.com

New Magic Kingdom parking lot set-up.

I recently participated in the Trekaroo KidsMobile blog carnival, where a few Orlando bloggers created lists of their favorite kid-friendly activities in the Orlando and Central Florida area. Many of the lists created have suggestions for traveling to Disney. I offered up a list of Free and Low-Cost Activities in Orlando for Preschoolers.

Since Orlando is a popular vacation destination for those with families, and you may one day find yourself coming to visit the various theme parks housed here, you might find these links handy.

The Orlando KidsMobile blog carnival has many recommendations from Trekaroo families and local bloggers. Check out the following lists for more information on activities for kids in Orlando:

• Top Activities for Kids in Orlando, Florida – voted by Trekaroo parents
• Top Kid-friendly Hotels in Orlando, Florida – voted by Trekaroo parents
• 5 Tot-friendly Restaurants Favorites in at Disney by Two Kids and A Map
• Disney Hotels for Tweens and Teens by Travel with Teens
• Top 5 “Must Do” Walt Disney World Attractions with Teens by Disney Everyday
• Water Parks in Florida – Cheerio Family
• More Disney, Less Waiting – A review of RideMax – Li Er Hanson
• 71 Activities for Kids in and around Orlando, Florida
• Kid-friendly hotels in and around Orlando, Florida

The Trekaroo KidsMobile’s next stop is Memphis, Tennessee. The Trekaroo KidsMobile is a blog carnival with a twist. It’s designed to provide a unique opportunity for mom and dad bloggers to be featured on Trekaroo while 1) expressing their unique point of view, and 2) getting a web of link exchanges. Join them for one of their next stops.

Last year around this same time, I took my daughter to see Disney on Ice. It was a spur of the moment thing, since a friend of the family had discounted tickets and asked if we wanted to go.

My daughter was only 2 1/2 at the time and had never been to Disney World. But, she did watch Playhouse Disney and I thought “Why not?”

So we went. And we watched as the performers skated around in their costumes and did lovely flips and twirls and sang. My baby girl was enjoying it for the most part even if she was a wiggly toddler.

Then, the Lion King came on. And, well, the Lion King can be kind of dark and ominous and scary. For a 2 year old anyway. Especially one who had never seen the movie and didn’t know what in the world was happening to Simba’s dad! But, she knew Simba was sad. That much she could tell.

And so my baby girl decided to be empathetic…for Simba. And she cried. And was  scared.

I felt so bad for her because I had brought her here thinking it would be fun and instead she was scared! But…we made it to the end of the show and she enjoyed the Little Mermaid and Tinkerbell segments much more.

This year, she’s much less wiggly, more willing to sit and watch a show, and has been to Disney twice.

So, when I was contacted by Jennifer Bisbee and offered to attend the latest Disney on Ice show with my family, I got all excited at the opportunity to try again. And…of course…one of you gets to go and take your family as well! Just don’t stalk me and my family or anything. Ok?

Show Information

Disney On Ice presents Celebrations! will be the first time audiences see Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, live on ice, from the upcoming film, Walt Disney Pictures’ The Princess and the Frog. You’ll get to see Disney characters celebrating holidays and festivals from around the world, including:

• Halloween with the Disney Villains
• Valentine’s Day Royal Ball with the Disney Princesses
• Brazilian Carnivale parade
• Hawaiian luau party
• and a Japanese Cherry Blossom festival

The Prize

I’ve been told I can give one of you four tickets for the opening night show on Friday, September 11 at 7:30 p.m in the Amway Arena.

How to Enter

1. If you’d like to enter this contest, simply leave a comment below and let me know why you wish to go see Disney on Ice.
2. For an extra entry, you can tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.

All entries must be in by Saturday, September 5th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your comment.)

You can also purchase your own tickets via www.DisneyOnIce.com.

Updated 9/14/09: Contest is closed. Winner has been chosen and show has passed.