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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Sitting With Grandmother Willow | Meet Steph of Capturing Magic

As part of our on-going series, Sitting with Grandmother Willow, I am happy to introduce Steph, of Capturing Magic, a fabulous resource for creating and keeping those wonderful Disney memories. This series of blog posts highlights artists and bloggers of all stripes with one thing in common: a passion for Disney! I hope you will enjoy getting to know Steph as much as I have. And be sure to visit her website for a host of unique Disney memory ideas!

Disney by the Numbers (with apologies to Harper's):

# of trips you have made: WDW 6; DL 13 (I think)
Date of first trip: May 1983
Date of next trip: November 2013 I will be doing Disneyland and Disney World within the same week. I'm hoping to hit all 6 parks within 24 hours. We will see if I can make it or not!
# of Resorts stayed in: onsite at WDW 3; this next trip we will hit 3 different resorts.
Usual # in your travel party:  it varies widely from 1 all of the way to huge groups of Disney friends
Pairs of mouse ears in your cottage: 5

WDW or Disneyland (or other)? 
I love them both for different reasons and I'm not sure I could pick one over the other. There is a distinct feeling in each park and though different, both are equally magical!  I love WDW because it's so affordable to stay onsite compared to DL; I love all of the resorts. I love WDW because of the size and vast amount of things to do. I love DL because of the rich history. I also LOVE Radiator Springs and World of Color (my favorite nighttime show out of all 6 parks). I love how excited Cast Members get at DL when the realize I travelled more than just an hour or two to come to the park. 

How do you usually travel to Disney? 
FLY. I would need to move to live close enough to drive to either DL or WDW...which would be fine with me! ;) 

Do you have any tips for trips? Oh my! Sooooo many tips that I share on my site and podcast.  Probably my number one tip is to always PLAN! The people that I talk to that don't like Disney are also the ones that didn't have a good plan in place (they are also the people that went to WDW during Spring Break and DL during the summer). Take the time to figure out what parks will have the lowest crowds on what days and how you will tour them. Do this before leaving home and it will not be time wasted!  My other tip is to pre-order PhotoPass. It will save you a lot of money and knowing ahead of time that you have already paid for the photos, you will stop more to get photos, and the photographers will take more photos if you let them know that you will be getting the downloads. If you will be riding rides that have photos, GET PHOTOPASS+!!

Do you have a favorite place to eat while in Disney? 
Disneyland: Almost everything! My sisters and I joked on our last girls trip that we ate our way around the park. On that trip, we got to eat at Club 33 for the first time. The food was really great!  I love Carthay Circle, Bengal Tiger, Carnation Cafe, Jolly Holliday...the list is long.

What is your absolute DON'T MISS attraction?
DL: Radiator Racers and Toy Story Mania; WDW Toy Story Mania

Stage shows, yes or no?
I love Mickey and the Magical Map at Disneyland and I can't miss "World of Color".

Parades, yes or no?
yes! I love them! "Mickey's Boo To You" parade during the "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween" party at WDW is my favorite parade from all of the parks.

Best Fast Pass to get:
Disneyland: Radiator Racers; WDW: Toy Story Mania

Best fireworks:
Halloween Scream during Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland is my favorite fireworks show out of all of the parks.

Favorite park:
At WDW it would have to be Magic Kingdom (although I love them all); Disneyland...I'm going to say that now, it is California Adventure. I spend more time there usually than DL because of the overhaul and Radiator Springs.

One piece of advice you'd give a novice about WDW/DL:
You can't do Disneyland in one day!
You need at least a week to see WDW!

How do you create extra magic for your family?
On my last trip with just my sisters, I made them each a shirt with my Silhouette that had either their favorite character or a favorite quote on it.  I also gave them each some little Disney related gifts that weren't expensive, but they were thrilled with the unexpected magic. 

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