Tips & News

What's better than one baby giraffe? Two baby giraffes.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge announced the birth of two new adorable members coming to its savanna. They are scheduled to make their debut by the end of the year.

Rori gave birth to Gemma, at roughly 160 pounds and 6 feet tall...wow. Also, last month Azizi gave birth to a boy named Griffon.

I found this extra exciting and wanted to share with you all for two reasons. First, who doesn't want to hear about or see pictures of baby giraffes. And second, for a long time Janey and I have been wanting to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge with a room facing the savanna. I think now the possibility of waking up to baby giraffes right outside our window may be the extra motivation we need to book this trip. We'll keep you posted.

Rori & Gemma pictured below.

Source: @Disney

Looking for something sweet and cold to cool you down on your next trip? Well, Walt Disney World is now offering an all-you-can-drink milkshake at the Plaza Restaurant on Main Street, USA. Each month, a new flavor will be selected for this endless-refill option. This month you can grab a Vanilla and Nutella flavored shake with whipped cream and a cherry on top! The shake will cost you $9.00 + tax, but after that you can get it as many times as you want. Maybe just make sure you don’t go on any crazy rides like Space Mountain right after you guzzle these babies down.

This might be our new favorite treat at MK. Only one way to find out! Do you plan on getting one on your next trip??

The Disneyland Half Marathon weekend is quickly approaching. It's shaping up to be an incredible weekend filled with all of our favorite Pixar friends. The races will take place at the Disneyland Resort from August 31st to September 3rd. For those of you participating in the event you are most likely starting to shorten your training runs and focusing more on race day. Let's take a look at some event details and the awesome commemorative merchandise.

The weekend gets kicked off with the runDisney Health and Fitness Expo. This is a must stop for participants as you'll need to pick up your race number bibs, shirt and gEAR bag.   You can also shop all the official runDisney merchandise as well as other participating exhibitors. The expo will be located in the Disneyland Hotel Exhibit Hall.

Thursday, August 31, 2017 - 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday, September 1, 2017 - Noon - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 2, 2017 - 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

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The 5k is hosted by The Incredibles and gets started bright and early at 5am on Friday morning September 1st. Its a 3.1 mile run that starts on Disneyland Drive and ends in the Limo parking lot.

Saturday September 2nd plays host to both the Kids races and the 10k. The 10k will be very similar to the 5k as it starts at 5am, begins on Disneyland Drive and ends in the Limo parking lot. This race is hosted by Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. and will span 6.2 miles. The route will include both Disney California Adventure Park and Disneyland Park. The kids races get going at 9am in the Stitch parking lot.

Sunday is reserved for the half marathon and will be all about Toy Story. You'll be going 13.1 miles with Woody, Buzz, Jesse and the rest of the gang through the Disneyland Resort and some of Anaheim. It too gets started on Disneyland Drive and ends up in the Lilo parking lot.

The Disneyland Double-Dare will be celebrating its 5th anniversary this year. It is for you all who are crazy enough to take on the 10k and half marathon on back-to-back days. Completing this challenge earns you a special Double Dare medal in addition to your 10k and half marathon medal. It also earns you some sore legs and a lot of sleep on Sunday evening.

Last, let's take a look and some of the amazing Pixar inspired merchandise you'll be able to grab. This year you'll find a lot of the traditional favorites as well as a few new options.

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We'd love to hear your stories.

Are you running at this years event? If you've ran a runDisney event previously, what was your favorite memory?

*photos from Disney Parks Blog

Of course it took Disney to take Halloween from easily my least favorite holiday to my 2nd favorite (1st is Christmas). So how did they do it? By throwing a Halloween party that I honestly was not expecting to be so much fun. Let me explain.

This magical weekend trip began with a fantastic day at Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. We were already expecting this to be amazing and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend this experience, but that's a conversation for another day. We saved Magic Kingdom for the last day of our trip, a Sunday as this was our only opportunity to attend a MNSSHP. We had a great day at MK, and I actually remember somewhat dreading our decision to stay late for the Halloween party. It was a long day, I was pretty exhausted and as I stated before I had zero interest in anything scary or Halloween related my entire life to this point. I had Halloween in general on such a low pedestal. That all changed the moment the sun set and the magic seemed to turn up to a level that caught me completely off guard.

Dance Parties
Our party started abruptly in Tomorrowland. I remember standing around trying to figure the whole trick or treating thing out when we were swallowed up by the most hilariously fun dance party. I have vivid memories of Janey dancing while selfie-ing with Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. It was the amazing. Find the dance parties and dive right in. You won't regret it.

Trick or Treating
Again, I seriously disliked Halloween as a kid. Yes, even the trick or treating part. Not at Walt Disney World, though. So much candy. So many amazing costumes. Everyone goes all out and the costumes add to the theming and magic of the party.

Boo To You Parade
We had never seen this parade before and it was an all around great experience. The headless horseman, the dancers scraping their shovels and the songs were stuck in our heads for weeks. We will randomly bust into Boo To You tunes to this day.

Hallowishes
I think this was very similar to the Boo To You parade from an experience standpoint. We had obviously never seen this show before either so it was new and fresh. I think everyone can relate to how they feel when the experience something incredibly "Disney" for the first time.

Characters everywhere
It seemed like every single character was out and dressed in their absolute best Halloween costumes. Again, this added so much to the overall experience of the event and made us feel like we were doing something special.

I could go on for days. Riding the Haunted Mansion, short wait times on just about everything, the special snacks, the special merchandise etc. All in all, Walt Disney World's MNNSHP changed my entire perspective on Halloween. It's special to us now and we're trying to see if we can turn it into an annual thing!

Have you been to MNNSHP? We want to hear what you love about it.

What's better than Disney parks during the day? Disney parks at night. I'm listing my top 6 Disney parks rides I absolutely love riding after the sun goes down.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

This ride is fantastic regardless of the time of day, but it really seems to bump up a notch at night. It's a very visually stimulating ride with great storytelling and the colors of all the gems really come to life after dark. Next thing you know you're catching all the feels as you dip and dive through Fantasyland.  Nothing beats the views of a glowing Cinderella's castle and Prince Charming's Regal Carousel.

Tower of Terror

I feel like this one is a no-brainer. The theming and storytelling seems to get just that much more creepy after dark. As you weave through the hotel grounds up to the front doors, it almost has a haunted house feel. The majority of the ride is indoors but when you're thrown several stories into the air overlooking a glowing Hollywood Studios, you'll understand why it's such a great nighttime ride. 

California Screamin' 

I'm taking you out to Disney's California Adventure park for this one. There's no better feeling than seeing the boardwalk and Mickey's Funwheel lit up at night. Ok there's one better feeling and that's looping your way through the boardwalk lights on this highspeed wooden coaster. The line usually moves quickly so be sure to ride it more than once.

Splash Mountain 

This is a perfect daytime ride on a blistering hot summer day, but I also love it at night. Going on water rides at night brings such a different feel and dynamic that it actually makes it feel like a completely different attraction. Also, this is the money shot at WDW. If you've ever been on this ride then you know right before you take the plunge you get a breathtaking view of Cinderella's Castle. When it's lit up at night, it makes that view ten times better.

Test Track

This one makes the list solely based on a personal experience Janey and I had. This ride is mostly indoors except for the outdoor finale that accelerates to over 60mph down a long loop track. On our last trip to Epcot we were lucky to ride this as Illuminations was lighting up the sky with fireworks. It felt like we were in a WDW commercial speeding around the track as fireworks went off all around us. Such a special experience. 

Radiator Springs Racers

This is California Adventures's version of Test Track. For the same reasons I stated above, speeding your way through a fully lit up and neon glowing Radiator Springs is something you must experience. Radiator Springs at night is one of my favorites already so hopping on this ride puts the cherry on top. 

All photo credit: Disney Parks Blog

What are some of your favorite rides at night? Let us know in the comments.