Tuesday

Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop ~ The Letter "K"

I am so sorry for any inconvenience you may be experiencing today. The InLinkz is acting up. I just sent Mike a new script which will hopefully show all the links to follow. Please head on over to his site and he'll list you or the new linky will.

Waking up to seeing zebras off our balcony this morning was so exciting and made this Linky problem a bit less upsetting.

Kickin' back on the savanna!

Disney+Wordless+Wednesday+Blog+Hop Focused on the Magic

Welcome to The Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop here at Focused on the Magic where each week we gather with other Disney Bloggers to link up and share our Wordless Wednesday or Almost Wordless Wednesday Disney related picture posts.

We're off on another Mom and Son Magical Adventure! We'll be staying in 3 resorts during our 10 days in the magic, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa and Disney's BoardWalk Villas. My new Nikon D7100 is going to get quite a work out at the Flower & Garden Festival and Star Wars Weekend ;) I hope to be posting live updates (technology willing;) throughout my trip and visiting everyone on the hop. If you have Captha enabled I won't be able to leave a message but that won't keep me away from enjoying your awesome pictures.

Please welcome Mike of My Dreams of Disney as our co-host for the hop while I'm in Disney World. Mike is a dear Disney friend (DDF) of mine and a great guy! I'm not just saying that because he offered to help me out with the hop either. You can see for yourself, just how great he is, in my interview with him for Guest Star Day.

This week's theme: The Disney Letter "K"

L to R: Kouzzina, their breakfast is the way to kick off the day. Kilt, gotta love a man in a kilt. Komodo Dragon, kind of scary. Knives, very scary. Kilimanjaro Safari truck and Krakow Poland sign from the Food and Wine Festival. Yum love the knish!

Time to link up your post and hop **ºoº**ºoº***ºoº**ºoº***ºoº**ºoº**

Questions? Look to The Disney Wordless Wednesday 411 page if you have any questions about linking up or feel free to email me.

No linky posts please (they take away from the other bloggers linked up here) and please use a direct URL to your post.

Place the button code provided below in your sidebar and/or your post. It helps spread the word in the online community. This is the Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog hop hosted by Deb at Focused on the Magic.com.

Please leave a comment below after you link up and tell me what you think of the theme, my picture and whatever else is on your mind this week! I love reading your comments and seeing your posts!

Help spread the word in the Disney Facebook and Twitter online community about your post and the hop. The great success of this hop is because you spread the pixie dust with your efforts each week with your fabulous posts! Thank you!

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The Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop ~ 5/15

18 entries so far!!

(Submissions close in 4d 2h 21m)

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Monday

Disney Princess Royal Court Welcomes Merida at Magic Kingdom Park

In celebration of mothers and daughters everywhere, Disney proudly welcomed Merida from Disney∙Pixar’s Brave, into the Disney Princess royal court. The special ceremony to honor the brave and passionate princess was hosted at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in front of Cinderella Castle.

Merida was welcomed on stage by the entire Disney Princess court, and was crowned by her mother Queen Elinor in a touching moment of love and respect that highlighted the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter.

Gymnastics Gold Medalist and All-Around champion, Gabby Douglas, hosted the celebration accompanied by her mother, and shared her personal story of strength, perseverance and courage to win gold. Also on hand to join in on the festivities were British singers and TV personalities of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Sophia Grace Brownlee and Rosie McClelland, who celebrated their inner princess by performing an original song on stage.

Gymnastics gold medalist Gabby Douglas and her mother Natalie Hawkins look on as the heroine from the Disney∙Pixar animated film "Brave" is crowned a Disney Princess by her mother Queen Elinor on May 11, 2013 in conjunction with Mother’s Day festivities at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Rosie McClelland (front left) and Sophia Grace Brownlee (front right), TV personalities from "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," pose with the newest Disney Princess, the brave and passionate Merida, and the rest of the Disney Princess royal court at Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

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To view more official photos and video from the event, please visit The Disney Blog.

Would you like to read a first hand account of the coronation? Check out my friend Mary's blog, Capturing Magical Memories. Mary attended the Disney Social Media Conference over the weekend and was privileged to attend the coronation. Her article and up close pictures really give you a feel for the exciting event.

Saturday

BoardWalk Bakery Peanut Butter-Banana-Applewood Smoked Candied Bacon Pie Recipe

In just a few days we'll be relaxing at the BoardWalk Villas. I'm looking forward to exploring the newly expanded and remodeled BoardWalk Bakery. Can you tell I'm excited? The BoardWalk Bakery is my favorite bakery on property. I've written about it often, most recently here in an article for The Magical Blogorail. Peter is anxious to do the morning "bun run", a family tradition when we stay at The BoardWalk Villas.

“The new location is twice the size of the original bakery, themed to the 1920s Jersey shore,” says John Berko, manager of food & beverage at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and Villas. Dark wood and colorful tiles and mosaics add a new brightness to the space.

Menu items include hot breakfast items, salads and sandwiches galore. One of the new items on the menu is Peanut Butter-Banana-Applewood Smoked Candied Bacon Pie. This sounds delicious, combing sweet and salty goodness in a pie.

The bakery is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., and is Disney Dining Plan eligible.

Peanut Butter-Banana-Applewood Smoked Candied Bacon Pie
Makes 9-inch pie3 thick slices applewood smoked bacon
1/4 cup brown sugar
9-inch store-bought chocolate graham cracker pie crust
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup whipping cream
2 bananas, sliced
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper, and place a wire rack over the baking
sheet.
Coat bacon on both sides with brown sugar. Place on rack and bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until crispy, depending on thickness of bacon.
Remove from oven. Once cooled, dice and set aside.
Cream together peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth.
Whip cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl; gently fold into peanut butter mixture.
Fill pie shell halfway with mixture, then evenly top with banana slices. Top slices with remaining mixture.
Sprinkle with chopped bacon. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Source: Pam Brandon, Disney Parks Food Writer

What is your favorite bakery treat in the Disney Parks?

Tuesday

Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop ~ Relaxing Resorts

DWW Hop news! I'm so thrilled, Mike of My Dreams of Disney has graciously accepted my invitation to co-host the hop for the next two weeks while I'm in Disney World. Mike is a dear Disney friend (DFF) of mine and a great guy! I'm not just saying that because he offered to help me out with the hop either. You can see for yourself, just how great he is, in my interview with him for Guest Star Day.

Our Favorite Disney Resorts for Relaxing

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Time to link up your post!

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Monday

The Magical Blogorail Rides Again * Star Wars Weekends

May the Force Be with You is the theme for this week's Magical Blogorail Rides Again. It's a great topic for me as I furiously ready ourselves for our Flower & Garden Festival/Star Wars Weekends trip to Disney World.
This will be a galactic 9 day experience for me and a trip filled with many firsts.

We will be attending the first of all the Star Wars Weekends scheduled. There still isn't a times guides for shows and character meet and greets as of this writing. As soon I see one I'll post it here so you can plan your weekend a bit better. All we know officially for the first weekend (5/17-19 ) is that the celebrity guests will be Ray Park, Dee Bradley Baker and Jeremy Bulloch and the host for all the weekends will be "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" voice actor James Arnold Taylor, voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

►The full 2013 celebrity lineup is now posted at StudioCentral. Check it out!

On our last Star Wars Weekend in 2008 trip Peter was just getting into photography and had a little Nikon point and shoot that he took some awesome 30sec videos with. He's looking forward to shooting with a DSLR this time.

I'm really excited! It will be my first trip with my new Nikon D7100 DSLR. I've only had this amazing camera for 5 days! You may have noticed my absence lately. I've been feverishly learning and studying all it's great advanced features. I can't say much about it until I've taken it out into the field but I can say now it is awesome and I love it. I'll write a full review when I get back and hopefully post pictures as I go with my new wireless remote adapter, WU-1a.

This post is part of The Magical Blogorail Rides Again Blog Hop. If you didn't get here from there, you really should hop on over to The Magical Blogorail and check out all the great bloggers linked up to this fun hop. May the Force Be With You!

Thursday

Favorite Disney Snacks ~ The Magical Blogorail Rides Again

This week on the Magical Blogorail Rides Again we are all posting about one of my favorite topics, Disney Snacks. This is such a great topic to re-visit for me as I am busily planning for our trip in just 10 days. There are so many delicious snacks in the parks and resorts to choose from and since I'll be traveling with my DS I know we'll be doing a lot of snacking.

A Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich is a must have! Click here to continue to the post: 8 Great Disney Snacks

Tuesday

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop ~ May

Magic Kingdom Wordless Wednesday May Calendar Shot

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Time to link up your post!

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Monday

Disney Winnie The Pooh Storyteller of the Year Contest

To celebrate parents and guardians who foster their child's creativity and teach valuable life lessons through storytelling, Disney Consumer Products has launched a nationwide search for the Winnie the Pooh "Storyteller of the Year."

The "Storyteller of the Year" user generated contest taps into parents' love of Winnie the Pooh and invites them to share the loveable bear's story in a creative way through video and the use of fun props including Pooh plush toys, puppets, blankets or any other Pooh item.

We invite parents to join Disney in celebrating the art of storytelling and Winnie the Pooh, one of our most beloved characters of all time," said Stephen Teglas, vice president of classic franchises for Disney Consumer Products. "Pooh teaches us about friendship, adventure, and to appreciate the simple things in life. Through the 'Storyteller of the Year' contest we hope to capture some of these sweet family moments and encourage parents to use their best storytelling abilities to spark their child's imagination and create long-lasting memories.

Contest Details:

The contest runs from April 22 through May 15, 2013.
Choose one of the three Winnie the Pooh stories to tell (see the Getting Started page).
Record a video of yourself telling the story and upload it. MAKE IT FUN!

All visitors to this website may vote for their favorite video. Feel free to share your video with friends and family and encourage them to vote!

Prizes:

One person will be the Grand Prize Winner and will be designated as the Winnie the Pooh “Storyteller of the Year.”
The winner will win a trip for four (4) to Los Angeles, be honored at an event in early June 2013, and will receive additional prizes, including a Pooh Prize basket (see the Contest Prizes page).
Three Fan Favorites and two Honorable Mentions will also be awarded prizes (see the Contest Prizes page)

*Use fun props such as, Pooh plush toys, puppets, or any other Pooh item. For Winnie the Pooh product ideas to integrate into videos, please visit www.DisneyBaby.com/WinniethePooh.

Think you've got what it takes to be the Winnie the Pooh Storyteller of the Year?

Get started here: http://poohstoryteller.disneystore.com/home

Good Luck!

Marvel And Audi Team Up For "Steer the Story" Comic Book Contest!

Last week, Marvel Entertainment, LLC, and Audi teamed up to give fans a chance to make comic book history with an interactive Iron Man comic and contest!

Marvel's Iron Man 3 fans will have the opportunity to decide the fate of Tony Stark in the Audi and Iron Man comic book via social media. Use sketchpads, cameras, or anything you need to decide Iron Man's fate and then go to http://www.steerthestory.com/ for the chance to see your name in a Marvel comic book.

Check out SteerTheStory.com for contest details, dates and prizes!

Friday

New Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade Coming to Magic Kingdom in 2014

Disney Park News 4/26/13: A new daytime parade, the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade, will march into Magic Kingdom in spring 2014. The Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade will bring the magical stories of New Fantasyland to Main Street, U.S.A., through fantastic and innovative new parade floats, vibrant costumes, and an original soundtrack that will feature beloved songs from favorite Disney films, plus a new parade theme song. Magic Kingdom is located at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Disney)

Which is your favorite parade in the Disney Parks? Mine is Spectro Magic♥