The Disney Driven Life

Community Blog for Neurotic Disney People

There are many paths that lead to a Disney Driven Lifestyle. Some get there by way of family memories. Some get there by way of ideology. Many get there by way of a kick-butt vacation. But our Neurotic Disney Person of the Month got there by way of . . . homework. Meet Kristen H., Neurotic Disney Auntie #12.

Kristen was exposed to Disney Parks as a wee little mouseketeer, but her Disney upbringing was cut short at the young age of four years old when her parents declared that they would not return. Many years later as a young adult, a friend suggested that Kristen and she make a trip to the World together. The trip planning began, and Kristen was captured by the dream of her future destination.

The trip ended up falling by the wayside, but Kristen’s interest did not. In fact, she was so mesmerized by this “Fantasyland” that when faced with the dilemma of picking a topic for her college thesis, her muse was the vacation destination that continued to escape her grasp. “I knew that I had to pick something that would hold my attention because I would be working on this paper for a full year,” Kristen relays. “I was an American Studies major, so I needed an American topic. What could be more American than Disney?”

Kristen decided to focus her thesis on two Disney Park attractions, The Hall of Presidents and The American Adventure. She used this assignment as an opportunity to thoroughly analyze whether Disney accurately depicted our nation’s history and culture within these shows. For six months she researched and studied the delicate matter, allowing her passion for Disney to overtake her life. It culminated in a “research trip” to gain the necessary first-hand experience of these classic Disney staples. It was that trip that permanently cemented her love for the brand.

On her expedition, she found that Disney’s retelling of the American tale qualified as some type of glamorous reality. While not a fairytale version of the American journey, it skirted over many of the controversies and unpleasantries that glare at us in the history books. But rather than find fault with this, Kristen understood Disney’s angle. “There is a time and place for everything, and being at Disney is not the time nor place for reliving the cruelties that did happen,” she explains. Her paper proposed that rather than criticizing the skeletons in our country’s closet, Disney’s higher purpose was to instill a sense of patriotism and unity among Americans. Did they achieve that goal with their tributes to the United States? Kristen believes they did.

Kristen finished her thesis paper, yet she never stopped writing about Disney. Her interest and willingness to chase a dream brought her to the door of Len Testa, co-author of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Teaming with him, Kristen has been involved in recording Disney Parks research, planning Disney-esque events, and blogging about her passion on TouringPlans.com. Her very unique homework assignment also landed her as a feature story for a  WDW Radio Show episode with Lou Mongello.

Currently living what she feels is a lifestyle that has reached her highest expectations, Kristen can even claim responsibility for helping others discover the NDP within themselves. On her most recent trip to Walt Disney World, she brought a friend with her to meet the other Disneyphiles she has grown to love.

Kristen was initially worried that her Disney-indifferent friend wouldn’t feel comfortable around so many strangers, but she hoped that somehow her companion would dig deep to find her “inner mouse” With much pleasure, Kristen watched her comrade be welcomed, embraced, and loved by the Disney Driven group throughout the duration of the trip. But the magic of it all climaxed when the crew found themselves at the Magic Kingdom’s Town Hall on the last day, cheering as Kristen’s buddy purchased her first Annual Pass.

“I’m Celebrating” buttons were passed throughout the clan in honor of the milestone and the Cast Members were in awe of the solidarity displayed. They made such a grand impression that before they left they were all offered “golden ticket” FastPasses “just for being awesome” (as one Cast Member put it).

Kristen, at The Disney Driven Life we couldn’t agree more. You are awesome! Incorporating the Disney brand into various facets of life is the essence of what we celebrate, and you have managed to bring the brand home in a manner that is really “out of the box.” For this reason, we bestow upon you the title of Neurotic Disney Person for the month of September.

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So did any NDB’s attend the open house last weekend at Franck’s studio at the wedding pavillion? If so we would love to hear from you and get all your thoughts. So far all that I have read has been very positive and the brides are loving the changes. Unfortunately I was stuck in Massachusetts and miles from the mouse but I’m sure there is a bride to be out there reading this right now who had a blast making plans and sampling yummy cake!

The picture above does show the newly redecorated  area and it looks beautiful!

Contributed by Karen (NDM #224). Karen is our resident Disney Wedding’s expert and co-creator of The Best Friends Guide To . . .

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A couple of our very own NDDs were selected to participate in the filming of this promotional video with their families in tow to cheer them on.  If you stay alert you’ll be able to spot some familiar NDDs, NDMs, NDTs, and NDKs.  Vroom!

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Here is the third beta episode of The Disney Driven Life’s new LIVE show, Inner Mouse. In this week’s show Scott, John, and JL continue to work out the bugs of their new venture while discussing how the Disney brand can be incorporated into the realm of education.

Watch live video from KeithBarrett Live on Justin.tv

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Hi folks, I’m just helping JL with some technical stuff here at the site.  First thing I noticed is that the RSS feeds were mostly dead (there, but they hadn’t updated in days).  I re-created them on feedburner and re-attached them here at the site.

If you were using the old feedburner links directly, you’ll have to re-subscribe in your RSS reader.  Sorry there, I just couldn’t manage to grab control of the old feeds.  However, if you were just using the site feed links of thedisneydrivenlife.com/feed or thedisneydrivenlife.com/comments/feed inside of a program like Google Reader, then they should just auto-update and all the articles you’ve been missing should magically appear (this is how it worked for me).

The feeds were broken because feedburner was getting overwhelmed (it can only handle 512k) at a time.  To combat this I had to drop the feed from full to summary.  I realize full is preferred, but a few large posts will overwhelm feedburner and it will get shut down.  This is just better functionally.

If there are other things you notice broken on the site, please let me know here or on Twitter (@tperlmutter).  Enjoy!

Edit: also fixed tonight were: disneydrivenlife.com will take you to the site now as well.  The extra, and sometimes broken image in posts is now gone, and the “little lady” that was part of the sidebar is now gone.

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Here is the second beta episode of The Disney Driven Life’s new LIVE show, Inner Mouse. In this week’s show Scott, John, and JL work out the bugs of their new venture while sharing their heartfelt stories and explaining the reasons that they have chosen to lead Disney Driven Lives.

Watch live video from KeithBarrett Live on Justin.tv

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Walt Disney World announced last week that a popular buffet, Chef Mickey’s, would get a few added meals, but only for a short time.  From September 19^th to October 2^nd, Chef Mickey’s will offer lunch from 12:30pm to 2:30pm and will include character interactions just as at breakfast and dinner.

This was added due to the popularity of the restaurant and the necessity for more dining options during the free dining package season.  This lunchtime opening is not just open to guests with the dining plan though, anyone can book a lunch reservation there.  The cost is $28.75 for adults and $15.97 for ages 3 to 9.  Under 3 years old is free.

I am curious if they are doing this as a test, seeing if this lunch option is popular to guests.  Free dining time is always a good time to try new dining options to see the popularity.  I think this is a great option and would be excited to see this continue next year during free dining or even be added permanently!

Contributed by: Jessica C. (NDI#21). Jessica is our resident “Gossip Girl” and creator of The True Disney Fan Blog.

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Fairly early on while walking on the Pangani Trail in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, if you are paying attention to details, you will encounter a rather strange warning.  A boulder on the side of the path urges us to “Beware Of Buffalo!”.  The first time I saw it, I froze in my tracks and looked around fearfully, dreading the appearance of something that could potentially trample me.  So… raise your hand if you’ve ever seen a marauding buffalo on the Pangani Forest Trail… yeah, me neither!  LOL!

Contributed by: Erin is one of our roaming DDL photographers and creator of My Mobile Adventures.

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I had visited Disney World for many years before ever staying at a moderate resort. So upon my first stay at a moderate resort, the Caribbean Beach, I was delightfully surprised at the bus system. When a small child and when the prices for the deluxe resorts were more affordable (from my parent’s purse), I had stayed in the monorail resorts. I had even spent many, many nights in the value resorts utilizing their bus system.

I will say that I am a fan of the Disney bus system. It is a good way for a family to get to their resort from the airport and to also get to each of the parks and Downtown Disney. The buses allow families to travel together in air conditioned comforts with no additional costs. For larger families, this is especially a perk in that they may even require more than one car rental per visit.

I love the trips to Disney when the bus system fairy is on your side and the Disney buses magically appear at the stop of choice at just the right time. Of course, there are also trips where that same fairy seems to be on vacation themselves, as the wait for the buses seems to stretch on for hours (or in my mind, several attractions worth of wait time). But even when the bus system fairy is on my side on a particular trip and I have hardly any waits, there are always the long walks from the bus pickup area to my standard resort room at the value resort. (I hear you, purchase preferred rooms!)

So upon my first visit at the moderate resort, I was delighted and confused to find that the buses picked up the guests from various bus stops all around the parameter of the resort! Why had I not been contacted by So upon my first visit at the moderate resort, I was delighted and confused to find that the buses picked up the guests from various bus stops all around the parameter of the resort! Why had I not been contacted by Disney on this matter! I mean, really, who knew! I found this to be so nice! The ride around the resort was short before continuing to the parks or Downtown Disney. This allowed guests at the moderate resorts to travel within the resort to the check-in building or restaurants with less walking and more air conditioning! How great is that! And even when waiting on the buses at the various locations around the moderate resort, benches could be found.

So if you are planning on using the bus while staying at this resort, you more than likely will find that you do less walking when using the buses than you would if you were staying at the value resorts. And let me tell you, when visiting the Disney World Resort, less walking is definitely a perk!

(Photo credit: Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, NDM#118)

Contributed by: Natalie H. Natalie is the Disney Driven Life’s resident resort expert.

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Contributed by: J.B. C. (NDD# 27) of Mouse of Zen. J.B. is our resident Disney haiku writer and author of the recently published book “Mouse of Zen”, which is a collection of his work.

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