Month: August 2013


Aug
2013

A peek into Disney Vacation Club’s newest resort, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

categories: Reviews

DVC 1Disney Vacation Club’s Newest Resort is Almost Done!

As some of you may already know, at one time my husband and I worked for Disney Vacation Club and we are also very happy Disney Vacation Club “Members”.  We own points at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and also own points at our favorite place to stay, Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.  On August 8th, DVC members were offered a special on-line “First Glimpse” to see “Behind the Grand Design” with Samantha Brown.  After viewing the video, now I want stay there too!  It’s simply stunning.  I’m not going review the resort at this time, as I haven’t stayed there yet, but I do want to tell you about a couple things that really stood out during their presentation.

The Disney character touches found throughout the resort feature Dumbo or Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins fountain

Located in the Grand Atrium Lobby of The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, you’ll find this Mary Poppins’ Penguin Fountain.  I can’t wait to see it in person!  I found this image on WDW News Today.  They have a few other images you could see of the fountain. This link will take you to their site to view the other photos.

http://wdwnt.com/mary-poppins-penguin-fountain-to-grace-the-villas-at-the-grand-floridian/

The sleeping arrangements are a bit unique in this DVC resort.  They sleep an additional person!  There is a pull down bunk size bed in a studio, so it sleeps five and the 2 bedroom sleeps 9 people.  Check out Disney’s website to see their floor plans.

http://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/destinations/resorts/grand-floridian-villas/

The Villa’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa are scheduled to open October 2013.  Here are some additional photos of the current state of it’s construction.  My friend, Jodi Diamond, took these photos a few days ago and she so kindly said that I could share them with you!

DVC 2 DVC 3

 

 


Aug
2013

Mouse Ears Mom’s First Giveaway- Mickey Mouse Icon Craft Punch

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Giveaways

       Teachers Gift Idea  Mickey AmericanaMouse Ears Mom 012

I’m so excited to give one of you my FAVORITE craft punch!  Of course, it’s a Mickey Mouse Icon Punch!

From the 4th of July flag garland, to the summer watermelon place mat, to yesterday’s post tutorial on how to make Mickey Mouse pocket-sized flash cards,  I’m certain its obvious to all of you that this crafting tool gets a lot of use in my house.

mickey punchThis is a photo of what you will receive in the mail, if you’re the lucky winner!  To enter this giveaway, please click on the link below that says “a Rafflecopter giveaway” .  If you’re not familiar with Rafflecopter giveaways, don’t be scared, it’s relatively easy to enter.  There are a series of ways to enter to win, such as liking Mouse Ears Mom’s Facebook page, following on Pinterest, commenting on a post and more.  With each thing you do, you’ll be adding up your entries.  The contest is open to all United States residents and you must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  It will run for one week and I’ll email the winner within 48 hours of it’s completion.  Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Don’t forget to share this contest with your friends on Facebook!


Aug
2013

Mickey Mouse Pocket Size Flashcards for Toddlers

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts

pocket sized flash cardsMy Toddler Never Sits Still

The grocery store, a restaurant, the craft store, the pool where my son, Gavin has swim lessons, what do these all have in common?  They are places where my daughter becomes a hand full of energy as she dramatically tries to escape her seat.  Unless I have an entire bag of Goldfish crackers, it’s a battle.  At one of Gavin’s recent swim lessons, I pulled out a stack of memory game cards that I keep in my purse for Gavin, and gave them my two-year-old daughter, Victoria.  She loved them and it had her entertained, until I had to put them away.    The paper weight was too thin, so she was bending them and the cards were too big for her to handle, so she was dropping them all over the wet floor.

This past weekend I was at Lowe’s with my family.  Victoria and I explored the paint chip section.  She thought that section was the best part of the store!  So, I let her take some home and I decided to make her a set of five mini flash cards out of the paint chips.  They are  a perfect size for her little hands and for keeping in my purse. Of course I had to sprinkle a bit of Disney on them!

Here’s how I made them.

  1. Flash card suppliesGather supplies: white heavy weight card stock; 10 paint chips (2 of each color), glue stick, scissors or a paper-cutter, Mickey Mouse craft punch, hole puncher, and a piece of ribbon.
  2. DSC_2195Trim one of each different color paint chips down to 3″ x 2.5″.  This will take off the descriptive words on the paint chips.  Also cut down the white card stock to 3″ x 2.5″.  Use the remaining duplicate colored paint chips to make your Mickey Mouse craft punches for each flash card.
  3. DSC_2198Glue the heavy weight white card stock to the back of the paint chip.  This side will be your “counting” side of each card.  Glue the Mickey craft punches to each card.
  4. DSC_2201I used the rainbow to decide the order, one Mickey for red, two Mickeys for orange, three Mickeys for yellow, four Mickeys for green and five Mickeys for blue.
  5. DSC_2212On the color side of the card use a Sharpie to write the corresponding number.
  6. DSC_2216Last, hole punch the corner of each card and string ribbon to connect them all.  Now they’re ready for your toddlers next adventure in the store!

Easy as 1,2,3…4 and 5!

 


Aug
2013

Teacher’s Simple Gift Idea {Free Printable}

categories: Disney-Inspired Crafts, Free Printables

teachers desk

Walt Disney has said so many outstanding inspirational statements during his amazing life journey.   As a gift for my son’s new teacher I thought I’d share one of those statements of inspiration.  It’s a simple gift and idea, but I believe it speaks volumes about the important role she plays in her students’ lives.

To make this gift, I purchased a 5″ x 7″ treasure box frame.  Cut a piece of red scrapbook paper down to 5″ x 7″ and printed out the quote on a standard size piece of white card stock.  I formatted the quote to be 4″ x 6″.  I finished the piece by using my Mickey Mouse craft punch for the two Mickey icons.  With the use of a simple glue stick, I was done!

If you’d like to give your child’s teacher a bit of Walt’s Wisdom, click on the link below to print out his quote.  The page size is standard 8.5″ x 11″.  The quote is outlined to fit a 5″ x 7″ frame or by cutting the inside line it will fit in a 4″ x 6″ frame.  Enjoy!

Walt Disney Quote

Do you have a favorite Walt Disney Quote that you think would be perfect for a teacher?  Please share!


Aug
2013

Back to School- Five Fun Disney Book Finds at Walt Disney World

categories: Reviews

Small World Book

This week is all about Back to School!

If your family is like our family, summer’s busy schedule of events and its beautiful sunshine calling us to do something outside, causes book reading to sometimes fall at the bottom of our list to do.   So to begin our week, let’s get back to reading!  I’m going to share with you the most engaging “Disney” books that my family has found while on vacation at Walt Disney World. Some of these books are exclusive to Walt Disney World, while others you could purchase on-line today!

Baby and Toddler

Poohs HoneypotPooh’s Honey Trouble is an adorable “Touch and Feel” book that we found in the shop at the end of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction.  Each page features a different surface to touch, such as soft, smooth, rough and the last page, my daughter’s favorite, is sticky.

Toddler and Preschool

Small World BookThis Play-a-Sound book, recommended for children 18 months and up, plays the “It’s a Small World” attraction song.  What a wonderful way to remember with your child, their first time they voyaged on the boat in It’s a Small World.  Each two-page spread shows your little reader stylized illustrations that showcase a part of our world that was featured in the attraction and the text on that page teaches them something about a specific city in this part of the world.  The book is simply adorable and kids love to push the buttons.

Early Elementary

Random House offers so many fantastic Step into Reading books featuring an extensive list of Disney branded characters that I would recommend, especially the new “Scaring Lessons” book that’s about our favorite Monster University students. We love to read these before bed time.  In addition to their books, I’d like to tell you about this activity book found exclusive to Disney Parks.

photo (35)

What’s super cool about this activity book, is that the characters from Disney Pixar’s “Cars” are wearing fun Disney Parks hats.  For example, there are two different stencils for Mater in the book.  One of Mater with Goofy ears and the other stencil is of Mater with a Pirates hat.  Not only will you child enjoy creating with this book, but parents could use it to spruce up a scrapbook page.

Ages 10 and above

Fairest of All

Fairest of All tells the untold story of The Evil Queen, before we met her in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.  Not only would a tween enjoy this book, but I know a few moms that really enjoyed reading it too!

I’d also like to recommend the Kingdom Keepers books.

kingdom keepers
Image taken from the Kingdom Keepers website.

Kingdom Keepers, also recommended for ages 10 and up, is a thrill series were five young teens protect the Disney theme parks again the Disney villains who try to take over the parks. This series has a HUGE following. I’ve only read the first book, but really enjoyed it.   If you’re not in the loop on this yet, check out the series website to learn more.   http://www.thekingdomkeepers.com/

We purchased both Fairest of All and books from the Kingdom Keepers series at Walt Disney World.  However, they are not exclusive to the parks and can be purchased in book stores or on-line.

Are there any books that you purchased for your children at Walt Disney World that you’d recommend for our kids? I’d love to hear your suggestions.