Today's guest blogger is a Disney Fan and business owner, named Jackie Harper. She recently attended a Social Media Moms event at Walt Disney World and wanted to share her Disney World experience. Thank you Jackie for taking the time to share your Disney World visit!
When I started my blog, www.freeismylife.com, I did not know that blogger conferences existed, so to be invited to the Disney Social Media Moms Conference at Walt Disney World was a dream come true. Since I am frugal, I never thought a conference at Disney World would be in my budget, but Disney greatly discounted this conference so that the mom bloggers could stay at the luxury Disney Polynesian Resort, listen to great Social Media speakers, be part of the media at the Disney press conferences, visit the Disney theme parks with 7-day park hopper tickets with all the added extras, and experience it all with our families. Disney treated everyone like a VIP for this conference with special events just for the moms and our families.
Party like a rock star at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex - The first event in the Disney Social Media Moms Conference was a press conference on February 10th at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. While the moms attended the press conference, our families enjoyed trying out all the ESPN complex facilities. My nine year old son played football, basketball, and volleyball and he was in heaven. After the press conference, Disney showed that it knows how to throw a party! Since we were at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, the food was served as a tailgate and the kids had their own D.J. who got the party started. I was amazed that even the teenagers were joining in with the younger kids to rock it out on stage. My son, who is the king of the Nintendo DS, put his game system away and ran on stage to dance for over an hour. Kids of all ages were getting their pictures taken with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip & Dale. Disney really knows how to make kids of all ages happy. The evening ended with a performance from High School Musical 2 that had everyone dancing and singing. The Disney motto to "surprise and delight" was definitely achieved on this occasion.
Epcot the VIP way - On Thursday, all the moms and our families explored Epcot – with a twist. One of the perks of this conference was that we were given the ultimate piece of swag: A Disney Media Fast Pass Card. With this card, we could go to the head of any Fast Pass ride at any Disney World Park and we had a great time with that card and felt like VIP's the whole time we were at Disney World. My family and I rode Soarin three times in 50 minutes and went to the head of the Test Track ride twice. It was wonderful! For dinner, Disney pulled out all the stops in a celebration for their Give a Day, Get a Disney Day campaign. Our dinner was prepared by Chef Robert Irvine and the Dinner Impossible crew from Food Network. We had dinner under the stars and our entertainment for the evening was Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas from "Camp Rock" who came on stage to sing songs from the movie.
The Ultimate in VIP! - Friday was the last day of the conference and all the moms were entered in a drawing for the ultimate Disney VIP experience: a night in the suite at the Cinderella Castle. To make the drawing extra special, Disney gave us another “surprise and delight” moment by sending Cinderella and Prince Charming to draw the winning entry. The winning mom and her family were whisked away for a once in a lifetime Disney experience.
Being a VIP on the Disney Hollywood Studios Movie Back Lot - On Friday evening, Disney treated the Social Media Moms and our families to one last "surprise and delight" evening. We were bused to Disney Hollywood Studios for a private dinner on one of the studio movie back lots. We had a tasty dinner and again, the kids had a D.J. that rocked the house and everyone was dancing and having a great time. The Disney characters showed up for great photo opportunities and the real highlight of the evening was when Disney opened the Toy Story Mania ride just for us. I was a shooting maniac on that ride as I tried to beat my son’s score and we rode it so many times that my hand was about to fall off from shooting at the targets - It was great!
My family and I definitely had a great time at the Disney Social Media Moms Conference. None of us wanted to leave, especially my son who begged me to stay longer. I still cannot believe that I received a conference invitation from Disney and I hope they will do it again next year so that we can have the Disney VIP experience again.
Jackie Harper is a busy IT professional and mom who loves blogging and being frugal. Her blog, www.freeismylife.com tells readers how to find freebies, deals, and discounts in Detroit and beyond. You can follow her on Twitter at @freeismylife.
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OMG I would love to go to that next year.. Gonna have to figure out how to get on Disney’s list of invites.. Pick me!! lol
Wow-that sounds FUN! I am going to a conference there next weekend. We are staying at the Contemporary. I hope we are treated to some really cool things like you were. My girls would love it!