About You:
Name? Nancy
Where do you live? Near Baltimore, Maryland
How long have you been with Chip and Company? Umm I think about a year…but it seems longer….in a good way of course! 🙂
What topics do you write about? How to make a Disney vacation affordable, getting the most value while at Disney World, information for the person “new” to planning a Disney vacation, and anything else that pops into my head.
Favorite C&C Writer? Seriously this is like asking me which World Showcase restaurant I like….which is all of them in different ways. So sorry Chip, you are not going to pin me down on this one…. 🙂
Do you have a Blog or Website? My site and blog is The Affordable Mouse (www.theaffordablemouse.com)
What do you talk about there? I offer help, ideas, tips, suggestions, and strategies for planning affordable Disney vacations.
Have a Facebook Page or Twitter? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theaffordablemouse, and Twitter: http://twitter.com/affordablemouse
Favorite Disney Website other than Chip and Company? I presume you mean other than my own? 🙂 There are so many amazing blogs and sites out there that offer great information about Disney. The really cool thing is that they all offer something different: a “specialty”, a fun point of view, or just ideas that are not found elsewhere. I have a lot of favorites but some that I always look forward to are The Disney Driven Life, Meltdown Free Disney, Magical Mouse Schoolhouse, The Disney Chick, Disney Dispatch, and WDW Fan Zone.
What % of your clothes and house is decorated with Disney Gear? LOL I am afraid I am NOT a big Disney clothes person….as to house, hmmm, that’s hard because that I DO have quite a bit. It’s all spread out all over the place though, so that I can have a Disney fix wherever I am, so I’m not sure exactly HOW much. Not as much as I would like….
Chip or Dale? Ever the soul of diplomacy, and wanting to continue to write for Chip and Co. I will, of course, say Chip. 🙂
About the Parks:
What’s you Favorite Disney Park? Epcot. Love them all, but I could LIVE in Epcot if they’d let me.
How many Times have you been to the Disney Parks? I have lost track now…maybe around 15 or so?
What’s your First Disney Memory? The first time I went to Disney World was about a year after it opened, when it was just Magic Kingdom. Never mind how old I was…. 🙂 The memory that sticks with me from that visit were the horse-drawn trolleys on Main Street…probably because I had a horse fixation at the time, like lots of girls do. I also remember how cool I thought the monorail was going right through the Contemporary (where we did NOT stay, but I so wished we had!)
What is your favorite Ride, Show, and Event? Hmmm, favorite Ride is Soarin. Favorite Show, is probably Illuminations. Favorite Event is a tie between the Candlelight Processional and the Food and Wine Festival.
Where is your favorite place to get your grub on? Ahhh this constantly changes, as I love so many of the restaurants! Sigh…..ok, *current* favorites are Boma, California Grill, The Captain’s Grille, Kouzzina, and Chef’s de France.
What’s your favorite snack? Again, too many favorites…..I guess my current *favorite* favorite is the Carrot Cake Cookie.
You have the whole park to yourself tell us what park it would be and plan of attack? It would be Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival. Would do all the Future World rides except Mission Space in the morning, then hit World Showcase at lunch, and pretty much eat and drink around the World for the rest of the day. Maybe take a nap at some point: since I would have the park to myself, I could find a lovely bench on which to do this. 🙂 Finish the day with a front row view of Illuminations.
Least Favorite Disney Ride or Attractions? Wow this is hard, because while I have several that I don’t especially care about one way or the other, I don’t especially have a Least Favorite. Hmm, well, here are the ones that I don’t particularly make an effort to see: Magic Kingdom: Stitch’s Great Escape; Epcot: Mission Space; Hollywood Studios: Tower of Terror and Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster (my family loves them, but I am a major Ride Wimp); Animal Kingdom: Dinosaur.
What’s missing from the Parks? I would love to see additional countries added to World Showcase. And it would be nice to see some of the newer Disney movies have rides, attractions, or shows devoted to them, like Wall-E, or UP.
Which thing do you wish Disney would bring back? When we visited Disneyland several years ago, I had the chance to ride the Finding Nemo Submarine which brought back memories from visiting MK that first time, of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was a fun ride, and I would love to see it come back, even if it was like the current Disneyland version.
What do you bring to the park with you? As little as possible. My family consists of 3 adults, so we don’t take more than is absolutely necessary, so no one is stuck carrying around a backpack all day. Lately we visit during the winter, so that presents a challenge, with bringing sweaters and/or coats sometimes, but we really try to travel light.
Do you fly, drive or take a Magic Carpet to the Disney Parks? I would love to fly on a Magic Carpet…but sadly we fly on a plane. I would be happy to drive and save the money, but we are a 14 hour drive from WDW and my family overrules me every time.
What’s your most and least favorite Disney character and why? Oh another “favorite” question….geez these are hard! Favorite “classic” Disney characters would be Tigger and Eeyore (for being total opposite personalities), Minnie (because she is just so darned sweet), and probably Donald (because I just kind of feel sorry for him). Favorite “new” characters would be Belle and Mulan (I have a daughter, so I liked being able to point out strong personalities to her when she was little), Genie (Robin Williams, ‘nuff said), WALL-E and EVE (they just make me smile!) and Ray the Firefly from the Princess and the Frog (when he meets his Evangeline at the end, I am just a blubbering mess…). Least favorite? Stitch.
Dining Plan, OOP, or Bring Food with you? Disney Dining Plan, for my family, it’s been the best thing ever.
To ADR or Not to ADR? Absolutely ADR. Seriously? I am quite the fanatic about this actually. It may even be an illness.
Events at the park that cost extra good idea or should be included with park admission? I do not have a problem with Disney charging extra for special events: I feel that there is plenty that is offered to make regular admission a good value, so charging for extra events makes sense to me. I feel like this is the only way they could keep the crowds under control.
When is your next trip to WDW or DL? ***SIGH***….I do not yet know. Am hopeful for a trip this fall for just me, and then our next family trip will hopefully be late winter/early spring 2012.
Everything Else Disney:
What is your favorite Disney Movie? Beauty and the Beast.
Do you do any Disney Collections? We collect pins!
Have you been on a Disney Cruise or Adventures by Disney? We have done two Disney cruises: a 3 day on the Wonder and a 7 day on the Magic. Hoping to do an Adventures by Disney “some day”.
Ever been to DLRP or TDL? Not yet, but they’re on my bucket list for sure.
Finally what does Disney Mean to you? You know, Disney means a lot of things to a lot of people, and it means different things at different times to me as well. I love visiting the parks for the tangible: the attractions, the attention to detail, the food, the music, and the fun. But honestly, I love the “Disney feeling” more: that idea that “magical” things can happen, and that if you believe you can do pretty much anything.
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