Lado Disney Archives - Over The Top Mommy

The day I got an email in my inbox inviting me to attend the Disney Social Media Moms on the Road Conference in Arizona was a Magical One!

I’d connected with so many other Disney-loving moms online who are also in the social media world and this was finally going to be my chance to connect with many of them in person! I was also excited about the location of the conference, The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort! The property looked like it had so much to offer when I checked out the website. Emi was excited for the pools and Sonoran Splash, which are the watersides. I just couldn’t wait for all of it!

As the conference date neared, I started to plan out which necessities I’d need. I made a list of road trip necessities, in-room necessities, and conference necessities! Since Emi was going to be traveling with me to Arizona, although she wouldn’t be attending the actual conference, I wanted to get some extra special things for our trip to maximize our dual Disney Side.

First of all, let’s talk EARS! I love wearing ears. I wear ears when I’m in the parks. I sometimes wear ears when I’m teaching. I wear ears when I’m cleaning the house, unless I’m already wearing a tiara to clean! I will find any excuse to wear ears. Emi and I both already have black and red ears but I was in search of new ones for this special occasion. I came across an adorable local (to me) shop on Facebook called Popsikle Shop. She makes custom ears, so I decided to order a pair for both emi and I, matching of course!

Next we went shopping for warm weather necessities. Wait, I didn’t mean warm weather, I meant HOT weather! (Have you ever been to Arizona at the end of June?) Emi wanted to find some items that were matching and Disney-ish. We really lucked at Walmart! Their Juniors section had a ton of really cute bathing suits and swim shorts. Hot pink with white polka dots was VERY “Minnie”

So adorable, don’t you agree?

Do you like our hot pink visors, too?

We also found matching polka dotted coverups at Walmart that we wore as sundresses!

Walmart had everything we needed for our trip. We found sunglasses, water shoes, some other summer clothes, sunblock, and even snacks for the road trip! Not only did they have everything we needed, but it was also very affordable!

We also packed the personalized t-shirts we had made for Disney24 to wear in the room as part of our pajamas. I think this was the first trip we’d gone on where we had almost exact matching wardrobes. It was pretty cute!

I knew I needed to find something special to bring to this conference and hand out with my business cards. I racked my brain for something that I could make, but I truly had no extra time to really make anything by hand. Then I came across a post from a friend of mine, Xenia, who had recently hosted a Disney Junior Familia Party. It was on that post that I discovered alfajores! I KNEW immediately that they where what I needed to bring to the conference. Melo made me some AMAZING Mickey-shaped alfajores in both pink and white animal-cookie flavor and churro flavor! She was sweet enough to wrap them individually for me to pass out to friends. Needless to say, they were a hit!

Emi and I picked out a road trippin’ buddy to take with us. It only seemed appropriate that we chose Minnie Mouse. She sure loved to take pictures with us on our trip.

We even went to Michael’s to buy some chalk paint pens and the night before we left, we wrote on our car windows! We had to be the most prepared car driving through the desert! Emi even wrote “Honk if you love Disney” on my rear window!

I DO think it’s weird that not one person honked though!

Oh well, more Disney for us, right?

I must admit that I was a little hesitant about attempting the Rock Your Disney Side 24-hour event at The Disneyland Resort with Emi. I have an immense love for Disney, I just wasn’t sure how it would be with a 9 year old by my side. We did some pre-planning for the day and even organized a little bit, thinking it might help make our experience a little easier. (to see that post, click here.)
I originally planned on arriving at The Disneyland Resort around 5 a.m. but waking up Emily was a little more difficult than I anticipated. We still made it by 6:30 a.m., which actually turned out a little bit better for us, because those initial crowds were already inside of the parks. We parked in the Mickey & Friends parking structure and that’s where the Magic started for the day! Emi had a HUGE smile on her face after the CM gave her these.

Disney even offered carpooling perks for guests carpooling to the event!

Here we are going down the escalator to the tram…at 6 a.m.!

The parking structure didn’t seem very crowded nor were the trams. After exiting the tram and going through the security bag check, we spotted the media area in the Esplanade with sand sculptures in it. As we walked towards the giant Olaf sand sculpture, we were both in awe of its beauty. Clearly we had no idea there was an even better surprise over there!

After walking around the media area to see if any of our friends might still be over there, I recognized the amazing Lisa Robertson of Babes in Disneyland and saw that she was taking a picture with someone, right in front of the Olaf sand sculpture. That’s when Emi tugged at my shirt and (practically) shouted, “Mommy LOOK…it’s Olaf!!!” Lisa was actually taking a picture with Josh Gad, I guess I just didn’t realize at first! I try not to fangirl but THIS WAS OLAF! Emi and I walk around on a daily basis talking like him, quoting him, doing his snowman dance…we LOVE Olaf! When we saw Josh had walked over to the other side to take a few fan pictures and sign some autographs, we walked (very quickly) over there too. He was so kind and genuine with the fans, taking time with each one. He chatted with them, signed autographs, took pictures with them, and even recited a line from the movie for one girl, as she recorded it. It melted my heart when my daughter backed up to make more space for a guy in a wheelchair, so he too, could have access to Josh. It melted my heart more when Josh approached him and the guy’s face light up as they took a picture together. I then overheard a high school kid next to me say, “Oh my gosh, this JUST made my entire graduation trip here SO MUCH BETTER!”

At this point I was already overjoyed about our day and it was only 6:45 a.m.!

We chose to start our day in the parks inside Disneyland. I loved walking in and seeing Alice and Mad Hatter dancing in the entryway with some children to the music of The Disneyland Band. I loved being inside Disneyland this early in the morning because there were still lights on that you’d normally only see at night and it just feels like you’re getting a view of Disneyland that you normally would never get during a regular visit. I loved seeing all of the guests in costumes. I already loved the ambiance. I think I loved a lot of things that day!

As Emi and I walked down Main Street, U.S.A., we just kept running into social media friends. First we saw our friend Caryn from Rockin’ Mama and we got to meet Heather from It’s a Lovely Life and Nicole from Presley’s Pantry too. Next we spotted Pattie from Living Mi Vida Loca, who was channeling her inner Snow White. Then we got to sit for a little while on the patio of The Jolly Holiday and have coffee with Liz from Family is Familia!

We LOVED our Maleficent buttons that they gave us at the Main Gate!

A little later it was time for some fun in Fantasyland. Surprisingly, the lines weren’t very long. Emi and I have several mandatory things we must do in Fantasyland each time we visit Disneyland. Some of them include a ride on King Arthur’s Carousel (specifically on Jingles), a ride in the caboose of Casey Jr. Circus Train, and a spin in the blue tea cup over at Mad Tea Party.

Jingles is so beautiful!

From Fantasyland we strolled over to Big Thunder Ranch to visit the animals. We have a special bond with the goats and sheep over there, and taking pics and selfies with them has just become something necessary for us on each visit. We’re even starting to know each one by name. (you can learn their names from the tags on their collars). I’m convinced that the Disney goats have actually learned how to pose for a properly for photo. What do you think?

We were fortunate enough to run into the ladies behind Disneyfluentials while we were there and got one of their cool buttons!

We also got to watch an interview they did with one of the goats.

You HAVE TO check out that hilarious interview below!

I love how festive Mickey is in his Spring suit!

All of the socializing really made us work up an appetite, so we cruised over to Stage Door Cafe next. We were on a mission to try the Red Velvet Funnel cake, which was offered exclusively for the Disney 24 event! After one bite, it was like…..WOW!!! We were fighting over who was getting bigger bites and who was eating more of the cream cheese frosting! Sometimes it’s just hard to share!

We headed over to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad next but the line was a little longer than we were prepared to wait, so we just grabbed a fast pass for each of us. This is when we ran into The Disney Sisters! I’m telling you, it was a super social media day and, although we had never gotten to meet in person, it was fun to chit chat with them for a little while!

I feel like we did so much walking, talking, eating and tweeting all day long until we found ourselves in the early evening. Emi and I were both exhausted but neither of us was willing to admit it to the other one. We decided to take a walk into Downtown Disney for a little while to break up our day and re-energize with a Frozen Strawberry Lemonade and some Cinnamon Bits at Wetzel’s Pretzels. As soon as we both sat down, outside of Wetzel’s Pretzels, I think I knew what was going to follow. We were both exhausted and I don’t think either of us had any energy to walk back to the parks. I felt like we accomplished a lot in the 13 hours that we did rally that day! Honestly, it was one of the BEST days we’ve had at The Disneyland Resort! We saw so many of our friends and got to do so much and let’s not forget, WE MET JOSH GAD!!!! I think THAT one is going to be hard to top!

Are you ready for my grand finale shot? Here ya go……….

Should YOU attend the next 24-hour event that Disney has? TOTALLY!