Wishes And Pixie Dust

Follow the journey of a Wisconsin family of 4 who relocated to the Walt Disney World area in July 2011


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The Princess And The Frog

In Wisconsin we had a ritual on Saturday night:  we would eat a dinner of pizza while sitting around the television and watch a Disney movie.  We did this for years, ever since the children were toddlers, and weren’t quite able to participate in eating pizza yet. 😉  When we moved to Florida, we needed to adjust our plans somewhat and forgo pizza night, as one) we had no television, and two) we had no furniture.  We are happy to report that we now have both a television and furniture, but we’re discovering that Saturday doesn’t exactly work the best for us, as we’re usually in a theme park that day.  So we’ve decided to be flexible with the date, and tonight was our pizza night, while we watched, of course, The Princess and The Frog!

We originally chose The Princess and The Frog as this blog’s theme as a way to conceal our identities until we were ready to announce who we are.  The movie fit our family’s dynamics well, but the selling point was Louis, because our daughter just loves alligators. It’s funny, because when we first saw the movie, it didn’t seem all that good, and we weren’t sure if we were even going to buy it.  But we did, and now it’s one of our favorites.

We were at Port Orleans Riverside on our daughter’s birthday; she saw this and we picked it up for her as a present.  Kissing would be nice, yes?

You can imagine our delight last weekend when we were able to do a character meet and greet with Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen.  Naveen is no longer a regular with Tiana, so we were thrilled to be able to come across both of them together:

We started our blog on June 7, 2010 on Blogger (if you go to March archives and scroll back, you can see all our earlier posts), and then made the jump to WordPress in March. We initially started it for ourselves, as documentation of our move, and as an ongoing record of what we had completed and what we yet needed to complete.  We were thrilled when our readership jumped, and we saw that our progress was helping other people with their own moves. Our readers comments have helped us to make decisions along the way, and we are grateful for all the feedback and suggestions we have received.  We are blessed to have made friendships over the past few months; friendships that probably would not have existed without the blog, and we are doubly blessed to continue these friendships in person.

Our blog has always been about relocation, and the issues and concerns regarding it.  We have never been, nor don’t intend to be, a Disney blog.  There are many Disney blogs out there; we follow a lot of them, and we don’t feel that we could add anything unique to what’s been written.  Now that we are settled, honestly, we don’t have much to write about regarding the relocation process, and at this point in time we feel like our blog has served its purpose.  You can find a list of our favourite blogs (and podcasts) by reading our blog on Getting, and Staying, In The ‘Disney Mood’.

We will keep the Facebook page, Wishes And Pixie Dust active, as well as our website that contains our blog, as we hope it will help those who are still in the relocation process.  We may post occasional blogs to the site, but generally we will not publish regular posts.  It’s hard to set aside something that has been a part of our lives for 15 months:  in one form or another, we both have been actively involved in Wishes and Pixie Dust, whether it be blog writing or website development or researching information.  But it’s time to let go and move on.

We welcome our readers to contact us on Facebook or Twitter if they have any questions regarding relocation, and we’re happy that you have been a part of our life over the past fifteen months.

May you have a magical, pixie-dust filled day, and remember the words of Walt Disney:

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.


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Getting, and Staying, In The ‘Disney Mood’

I’ve been asked how to stay in the Disney mood during down times, blah days and just for inspiration when needed.  As we hit our 40-day countdown, I’m happy to share some of the things we do to get in, and stay in, the Disney mood.

First is our collection of Disney music.  Music from the movies, TV shows and theme parks take up a huge chunk of my iPod and iTunes library.  An easy way to get the magic going.  I keep a selection of our favourites in the playlist on the right for you to enjoy.

Second, I listen to Disney podcasts on a daily basis.  Some come out weekly, some more and less often; but I always have some ready to listen to every day (even going back to older past episodes.  These are great shows giving excellent information and they all entertain while informing.   I can highly recommend all of the podcasts on my list below to you.  I start with my “Top 6” and then list, in no particular order, all of the podcasts I listen to weekly; all are available on iTunes.

  • The WDW Radio Show – My number 1 can’t miss podcast.  Hosted by the amazing Lou Mongello, a true Disney ‘genius’.  I’ve listened to WDW Radio from its beginning; having been a huge fan of Lou’s since the days of the long-gone and fondly remembered MouseTunes podcast.  Lou is my favourite source of Disney information and he has many rotating regular guests (Jim Korkis, Tim Foster, Beci Mahnken and others) who bring an excellent mix of Disney History, current news, reviews, travel tips, ‘Top Tens’ and just plain fun to every episode.  Lou is the author of The Walt Disney World Trivia Books (Volumes 1 and 2) and the Producer/Host of the Audio Guides to Walt Disney World.  He also hosts a weekly live video Disney Newscast every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET.  No one I know pursues their dream with a passion quite like Lou does, and his Disney credos of “If we can dream it, we can do it.” and “Keep moving forward.” are ones we follow as we move forward with our Dream.
  • WDW Today – My number 2 can’t miss podcast.  Matt Hochberg, Mike Newell, Mike Scopa, Len Testa, Annette Owens and an unlimited number of special guest hosts provide first-rate information and reviews along with current news.  They answer listener questions on a variety of subjects and always know their stuff.
    Matt Hotchberg also hosts several Hollywood Studios web sites.
    Mike Newell also owns and operates MouseWorld Radio (www.mouseworldradio.com), a great online radio station for Disney music and theme park music lovers.
    Mike Scopa is a regular contributor at AllEars.net.
    Len Testa is the co-author of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (a must read) and creates the touring plans available at TouringPlans.com.
  • Be Our Guest WDW Podcast – My number 3 can’t miss podcast and another I’ve listened to WDW Radio from its beginning.  The BOGP team of Mike, Rikki, Pam, and Debbie are always entertaining and informative combining reviews with ‘how to’ and trip reviews from many guests.  Mike also runs the Magical Mouse Radio station on Live365, an awesome collection of Disney music and Park Loops.
  • Betamouse – An awesome podcast for those of us who are both Disney and tech geeks.
  • PassPorter’s Disney and Beyond – If you are a fan of the PassPorter guides or just want to listen to a family-driven show bringing you family-friendly tips on WDW and beyond; this is a ‘must listen’.
  • The WDW News Today Podcast – Tom Corless and his group always entertain and inform.
  • Disney Film Project Podcast – A great new podcast delivering awesome reviews and in depth discussion of favourite Disney movies.
  • WaltCast – An overlooked and underrated podcast featuring interviews with many great celebrities.
  • Disneybrit Podcast – A UK-based podcast giving insight into the Disney Parks here and overseas.
  • Inside the Magic
  • Your MouseCast
  • WEDway Radio
  • inner mouse
  • DestinationD
  • MouseVent – A seasonal Christmas series of short podcasts from many different Disney podcasters.
  • Magical Definition Podcast – Lou Mongello’s former MouseTunes partner, Nathan Rose, hosts this podcast.  And if you’re a fan of Jim Hill, he co-hosts this informative show.
  • Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Pod
  • MouseStation
  • LaughingPlace.com Disney Podcast
  • Disney Dudes Podcast- A show with a little “zing”, Wayne and Trace have a very unpredictable format, but this show is strictly ‘Adults only’.
  • Magic Never Ends – An occasionally updated podcast/vidcast sharing the Disney Parks Magic through the eyes of a young family.
  • The DizFanatic “Ears On Ears” Podcast
  • Remember the Magic
  • Mr. Frank’s Wild Ride (mrfrankswildrides.com)
  • The DIS Unplugged
  • Mousetalgia
  • WDW Memories Podcast
  • WDW Fan Boys Podcast
  • Mouse Lounge Podcast
  • Character Breakfast – Disney Variety Show
  • A Window To The Magic
  • Trapped on Vacation
  • MouseChat
  • YWaitDiz – A new podcast that gives info and ride audio from your favourite attractions.

I also enjoy reading many Disney sites, news sites and blogs.  My ‘ongoing’ list:

I’ll start off with the one we follow most ardently right now, the blog written by our good friends (and fellow WI to FL relocators) Amy and Craig Petermann.

And finally, I enjoy the many Tweets and Facebook updates from our many online Disney friends.  You all bring smiles to our faces every day.  🙂

~Mark.