Capture the Moment! 

Have you ever wanted to have a personal photo session in Disney with your family or friends but thought the cost would be outrageous? So did I until I found capture the moment! This was a private session at the castle with my family and friends! We had half an hour with a photo pass photographer to capture memories that will stay with us for a lifetime! Since we already had memory maker, we didn't have to purchase the photos, and was just able to download them to our personal devices! 

There is a limit of 8 guests per session, booking two session back to back will get you more people into your session! You meet your photographer at Town Square to start session. We were asked to arrive 15 minutes prior to our start time. The photographer came out and greeted us and gave us the option of location either castle pictures or down on Main Street for a holiday session since it was on New Years Eve. We opted for the castle!! 

We had three families between our "crew" and we went with a plan! Biggest piece of advice that I could pass on, plan out your pictures! We did multiple and were able to jump in and jump around and even move inside the castle archway for more romantic pictures, as the kids all went ewwww! 

Here are a few samples of what we did! 

This was truly a great experience and the cost made it even better! The cost was $50 per session, and again since we had Memory Maker, we were able to download all our photos to our devices. The total time that it took for the pictures to show in our My Disney Experience app was about 45 mins, we took around 70 photos! 

Disney During COVID - Its Different, but It's Disney :)

So many changes that are currently in place at Disney, will make your head spin! Literally! I didn't know that I couldn't exit out the same door that I came in, planning your vacation down to the park that you are going into? WHAT? Mobile ordering, no passing your phone to a photographer to not pay for photo pass, and masks masks masks! 

 First thing that was the biggest change that put me into PANIC mode - Park Reservations! What? I have to make a reservation to what, get into whatever park I want! AND I can't park hop! What is this all about? !?!?!?!?! I am so used to waiting till last minute, like the morning of, to see where I want to go for the day. Usually we have dining reservations in a park, but we HOP over to it! OYE! My first thought was this is going to be insane. But afterwards, spending the time there with this new system and during the transition back to park hopping, I LIKE IT! I think this is genius, for crowd control and monitoring the numbers closely. That is my personal opinion, I know that there are different opinions out there, which is great, this is just mine. 

Lets talk about dining. This, this is different. Really different. There are pros and cons to the new systems for quick service, but isn't that the case for everything? Lets list the cons first. Make sure you have ample battery on your cell phone, the ordering process is now "virtual" through your MDE app. Also have a credit card or gift card stored and ready to go. There is now waiting to get into quick services if you don't have an order placed. The cast members will insist that you use your MDE. Now onto the pros!! There is no insanity inside quick service locations anymore! There are seats available! You don't have to hover and wait for  a seat! It's wonderful!! You can also order with allergies through the app! We used mobile ordering constantly in the parks and at our resort! I fell in love with it! On my way to a quick service, I literally can place my order, when I was close I would let them know I was arriving. It would be a few minutes till my screen turned the "blue" that stated my order was ready. When it was I would just walk to the nearest cast member and then they would direct me to which lane my order was waiting for me. To our family, we became familiar with the new system and fell in love! 

Table service dining is all pretty much the same with the exception that you can now only make your reservations at 60 days prior to your trip rather than 180. There is a limited amount of availability due to the restaurants keeping that social distancing and of course keeping it safe. It is really easy to use the check in service from your MDE app. They will ask you the same questions as if you were coming up to the desk at check-in. It also gives you the opportunity to readjust the number in your party if just 2 out 3 are arriving, or if they have space, it will offer you up to another person to join. Menus inside the table service restaurants are all done by scanning a QR code, so make sure that your device is capable of the scanning. There are disposable menus available if needed. The servers are not only in face masks that cover from chin to nose, but also wear a shield. BONUS! The chefs are also in personal protection equipment, which I loved! It literally has become a part of the new normal at Disney. 

Now that I have brought up the new normal, lets talk about the mask situation. Disney is observant to those not wearing their masks properly. They will give you a friendly reminder to make sure that your mask is on properly. Disney requires two layer ear looped masks that cover your nose and mouth. There is no exception. All persons in the park age 2 and up must wear the mask properly. As you are entering each park, there are cast members who will kindly remind you the masks that are acceptable if you have on one that is not. There are vending machines out close to the first temperature check where you can purchase a disposable mask. I am going to lay this out there. There is no arguing with the cast members about the mask, none zip zero zilch, so it's not worth it. Plan accordingly if you are going to the parks and can not wear a face mask. Best advice I can give. No one will have a magical memory. 

Back to the new stuff! The buses are running more frequently, but that is due to spacing on the bus. Not going to lie, I only rode the bus once during this last trip, but it was so much calmer than normal. They do ask that everyone sit since there are enough spaces for everyone. There are dividers on the bus so the driver can assign seats that put families together! 

Last but not least, those temperature check tents. They have this down and it's quick! There are cast members there with the medical staff to help keep things moving swiftly. At dining locations for table service you will also have your temperature checked as well as at Disney Springs. 

I have a few more areas to touch on, but we will save that for the next post! Stay tuned to see how Capture the Magic works, scan and go on your app at two stores, and also how the resorts are doing during this time of new change. 

Thanks for reading! 

What kind of blog is this? Inspiring? Motivating? A joke? A laugh? Well I hope that it's a bit of all mixed together, well not a complete joke, but some room for joking is there. I mostly am writing this to not only inspire myself to get back on a full running schedule, but possibly inspire someone else to either run, find a an activity they have always wanted to try and get out and try it, or find something they love and pursue it.

I fell into "running" literally by accident. I didn't have any idea what I was thinking or really signing myself up for when I did my first runDisney race. I was like oh that looks like fun! Little did I know that 6 years later I would be looking for a way to hit all the races that Disney hosts as a goal for my 40th (oh that hurts to say) birthday year long celebration. But here I am out to hit those goals.

So I have ran the Princess 5k as my first big runDisney race with my at the time 7 year old daughter, and our two cousins. Then I became addicted. It was finding friends and family again to run with, the next year I was like i want to go bigger and said let's do the challenge and dragged my cousin along with me and my friends - they were smart and just did the 10k, while me and Court did the 10k and the 1/2 that weekend. Don't judge our thinking at the time. Let's just say there was liquid encouragement. Oh and if you are offended with liquid encouragement as part of training, this is not the blog for you to be motivated by, because there is a lot of that. And swearing. A lot. I did a great one recently that was not Princess related and Star Wars themed which was wet and cold, but we made it!

I ventured off my Disney path over to Universal for their first ever run, needless to say that was a mistake. A huge mistake. I know that was their first run, lets just say that I hope they get the kinks worked out and not throw everyone into the same corral next year! Until it is all worked out, "cach me at Disney" - did I even say that right? Probably not! LOL!

So my first race of 2021 will be the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. (trying to convince the hubs to cruise for 4 days after, but we will see about that one!) My husband will be running with my daughter and my self this next year which is even more exciting for me, to do this as a family. They will join me for the 5k portions of the weekends, and I will run the half marathons on my own. Maybe by November Wine and Dine my daughter will be ready to join me, but for now she just wants to join in on the 5k with her dad.

So here I am, ready to start my journey. Once registration hits, there is no turning back and no tip toeing around the topic about running or not. I am in this to make this change. I am in this to make myself healthier. I am in this to set an example for my daughter.

Now to go pour a beer, and relax before I cook dinner. Hey I warned you that there would be liquid encouragement damn it, and you kept reading!

Oh wonder if anyone baked a cake?? NO! Healthy cake don't worry.... yeah i can't even say that without laughing!

~Fluffy Momma

** Update thanks to COVID: As the world faced this global pandemic, you can only imagine how the Disney running world went, all virtual. It's not nearly the thrill of running through the parks and they still have limits of how many people they allow in the races! Yes they even sell out virtually. So I am taking to this blog to write my thoughts about the new systems at Disney. I went in December for Christmas and New Years and plan on heading back. 

Next halt to my running adventures, my body. During the race at Universal, with all the craziness, I fell. It was like an orange that was old and wrinkled that you play catch with in the yard watching me go down. After weeks of PT and two new doctors, surgery will eventually be happening. Running is literally a reach right now at any point. So, lets follow my travels!