On The Road Travel

Disneyland Vero Beach One of my favorite things about the holidays is decorating the Christmas Tree. I’m “one of those people” who is highly particular about ornament placement, light stringing, the cascade of the garland, etc, and I take little help from the rest of my family when it comes to decorating the tree. My boys have their own trees that they can decorate any way that they want, but the big tree is mine. When we were growing up, decorating the tree was a task that fell to my dad, with lots of help from my sister and me. Dad’s mantra was, and is, “lights make the tree,” and I could not agree more! So, after I string about a thousand lights on the tree (it’s a wonder the tree does not spontaneously combust), it’s time to place the ornaments. Walt Disney World Disney Cruise Line The real reason I love decorating our tree is that so many of the ornaments come from our family travels. When we travel, one souvenir that I always purchase is an ornament for the tree. If I can fi...

One of my favorite things to do at Disney is to trade pins. On our first trip to Walt Disney World, I saw that a lot of the cast members were wearing lanyards with fun character pins, and every gift shop had a ton of themed pins. So I asked a cast member a few questions about the process. The basics idea of pin trading is that if you have a Disney pin, you can ask a cast member if they will trade with you for one of their pins. I think they have to say yes, so it’s a win win for you. You can also trade with guests but they often don’t want to give up any of the pins that they have. Each cast member is allowed to trade two pins with each guest and the pin can’t be one that they already have on their lanyard. We bought a couple of mystery pins in a box to try it out, and my boys traded a couple of pins on our first trip. It was like a scavenger hunt for them to find a pin of their favorite character! It also helped them to learn manners and become more comfortable speaking to adu...