Disney's Magical Express

Disney's Magical Express is a fabulous, free service offered to guests flying to Walt Disney World who are staying on property. Not only do they provide free transportation from the Orlando airport (MCO), but they'll also handle your checked luggage. You check it at home, and the next time you see it will be in your hotel room!

The service works on the way home, too! You can check in for your flight right at your hotel. They'll check your luggage there and give you a ride to the airport. You'll pick your bags up again at baggage claim at home.

If you are staying on Walt Disney World property, and plan to arrive by plane, you'll want to add Disney's Magical Express (DME) to your vacation package. You simply add the service to your package and you, or your travel agent if you book with one, will provide them with your flight information when you get it.

You'll receive yellow luggage tags for everyone in your party. (These are different than those that come with your Magic Bands.) They should come in the mail, or from your agent, a couple weeks before your trip and should be affixed to your luggage before you check it with the airline. If for some reason you do not receive them in time, it's quite alright. You would simply keep your baggage claim tickets to give to to the DME Cast Members upon check in.

A letter detailing what you should do before your trip and upon your arrival will accompany the tags. If you have your Magic Bands you can check in using those, but it's nice to have the letter with you for the handy map.

So, here's what this looks like in action...

Check your bag when you arrive at the airport. You'll want to have a day bag with you for your carry-on, as it could take around 3 hours for your luggage to arrive to your room.

When you arrive at MCO (Orlando airport) look for the Disney's Magical Express signs and follow them to Side B, Level 1.

Check in using your MDE letter or your Magic Band. You'll be asked here to confirm your return flight home, so have the info handy.

They'll direct you to the appropriate line for your resort motorcoach. The bus may make multiple stops, so allow 45-75 minutes for travel time.

The bus will drop you off at your resort lobby for check-in. If you've done on-line check in, you may be able to proceed directly to your room if you've gotten the info via text or email.


This is a great added value to your trip. In addition to DME, Disney provides transportation to and from the parks, resorts, and Disney Springs. There's no need to even rent a car- they've got you covered! What a savings!

We've had nothing but great experiences with Disney's Magical Express and recommend it to everyone!!


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Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple

Younglings, aged 4 to 12, are invited to learn the ways of the Force at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple is a popular, free activity with multiple shows per day. Advanced registration on the day of the show is required. Registration begins at park opening, even with early extra magic hours. Because availability is limited, and it's on a first-come, first-served basis, it's recommended that you arrive early to proceed registration when the park opens for the day. All participants must be present at the time of registration.

Registration takes place at the Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost. This is located between the 50's Prime Time Cafe and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. You'll enter the park and should walk down the left side of Hollywood Boulevard. You'll take a left after the shops and pass Hollywood & Vine and 50's Prime Time Cafe. From there you should see the sign for Jedi Training sign ups.

The participants must be present at time of registration. They'll ask them a few questions to make sure they can follow directions and won't mind being in front of people in a show setting. It's a good idea to have your itinerary with you with any FastPass and dining reservation times. They'll do their best to find a show time that works for you. The show last 20 minutes and they'll have you arrive early to get ready. These shows are first-come, first-served, so if the only times left interfere with FastPasses, You may have to rearrange that instead if it's important that your little one participate.

Please arrive on time at the time they designate. This allows them to account for everyone and see if any stand-ins will be able to participate in the show. They'll entertain the kids with trivia while they pass out the Jedi robes and go over some rules and guidelines with them.

From there you'll be directed to the staged area, which has expanded to two stages. Don't worry if you don't get that front and center spot. They'll have a PhotoPass photographer on-hand to capture lots of great action shots. Participants will receive a card afterward that can be used to link the photos to your MyDisneyExperience account. (If you plan on attending, this is a great reason to pre-purchase the Memory Maker!)

The younglings will learn how to use a lightsaber and a sequence of moves proven to defeat the Dark Side. Once they've learned the ways of the Force they'll have an opportunity to use those new techniques to battle the Dark Side!

(The following photos are from Jedi Training Academy, before it was expanded and changed to Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple. They'll give you the concept though.)

You can see the PhotoPass photographer getting up close here

Check out the awesome edits you can make to the PhotoPass photos in MyDisneyExperience!

The kids have a great time, and the show is a lot of fun for the adult spectators as well! If you have any Star Wars fans aged 4-12 who don't mind being on stage with other kids, this is definitely an activity you should plan on adding to your next trip!

Please keep in mind, the shows are done outside and could be canceled due to inclement weather. I would still show up at your designated time, despite rain. They've been known to try to reschedule people if they have room in other shows, or will provide another fun alternative to the missed show ;-)

Feel free to comment if you have any questions or if you'd like to share your experience with Jedi Training!

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Keeping the Magic Alive

I announced yesterday on my Facebook page that my husband and I were very recently given an opportunity to go to Walt Disney World this weekend without the kids. We could have said no, since we're going as a family in November... or because the kids aren't able to go... or because it's for such a short time, or any number of excuses...

Or, as we decided, we could find excuses/reasons why we should take this opportunity and run with it! Sure, it would simply be fun to get away for the weekend, but the more we talked about it the deeper it went.

We both stay very busy with work and other obligations. Our daughter plays softball (2 Fall Ball leagues right now) in addition to other school functions; our son is joining scouts. My husband works a lot of overtime; and I'm pretty busy between my full-time job and my blessing of a second job. I'm a caregiver to my Nana who lives on her own but is becoming more dependent on others. It's hard to squeeze in personal time, but we're both also trying to take better care of ourselves by exercising regularly and eating better. There just aren't enough hours in the day, let me tell ya.

We may not be a well-oiled machine, but we somehow make everything work.

There's certainly no trouble in paradise here, but as you can imagine with such crazy schedules, sometimes you get in a funk. I'm sure others can relate. The grind of the day-to-day takes over, and it seems like your head is no sooner hitting the pillow than your alarm is going off. You simply start going through the motions. Living your life for others- working countless hours, school/daycare drop offs, practice pickups, late games, grocery shopping, doctor appointments, meal prep and pharmacy runs, late night quotes, laundry... the list goes on and on.

When do you get the time to focus on the two of you again? To focus on each other and the magic that created this beautiful chaos? I'll tell you when...

When you make the time! That's when!

As I said, we're not in bad shape or anything. We love each other very much and are very fortunate to have these crazy schedules. It means we have people in our lives whom we love deeply and are blessed to care for. It means we're able to work and can provide for our family. It means we have a home to call our own. These are our privileges and we couldn't be more grateful.

Things don't have to be going wrong in order to make the time to focus. Sometimes you just need to make that time to keep the good going. So, when presented with this opportunity, we talked about it for an evening or two, realizing how nice it would be to share a couple days together. We could adventure together and laugh and play. We could be on our own time and not watching the clock for our next appointment. For two whole days we could be present with each other without distraction from the real world.

Let's do it!

What better place to keep the magic alive than Walt Disney World?! It's been several years since we've been to Disney without our kids (yes, we've done it before!), so we're quite looking forward to this adventure. We haven't done FastPasses or anything. We're just going to wing it and see where the day takes us! I can't wait!!

Follow along via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram as we work on
#KeepingTheMagicAlive this weekend!

Custom button by CrowleyCastle on Etsy

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Wordless Wednesday: Shadows in the Porthole

I know this is supposed to be wordless, but I just have to say... these were some of my favorite photos when looking through my 11 year old's photos from our cruise. She's such a creative photographer. She sat in the porthole and took a picture of her shadow. I never would have thought to do this.

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Tip Tuesday: License Plate Game

We love the license plate game when taking road trips. You know, where you try to spot as many of the 50 state plates as you can. On our last road trip we downloaded a really cool app to help us keep track (rather than writing them all down or checking them off our paper list).

This one, called "Plates Free" in the Play Store, not only included Canadian and Mexican plates, but it also showed pictures of the most common plate for the state! It put a star next to the ones you've seen and keeps count of them, too!

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Disney Cruise Line Stateroom Review

Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah

Room 8540

on the Disney Dream

Back in April, my family of four went on a 4 night Bahamian cruise with Disney Cruise Line. My husband and I had been before, but this was our kiddos first cruise. We sailed on the Disney Dream and opted for a Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. The 4 night itinerary has a day at sea, and we figured it would be nice to have the verandah to enjoy the view.

Here's a review of our room with some photos.

This was a category 05B stateroom located on the Starboard side of Deck 8, toward the front.

• This room is 246 sq. ft, including the verandah
• Sleeps 4 people max
• Queen bed, single convertible sofa, upper berth pull-down bed
• Split bath with tub and shower

We were located very near the elevators, which I'd often heard could be disruptive, but we never had any problems. As you can see here we decorated our door (that'll be another post). In addition to the fun, this also makes it easy for the kids (and adults) to spot your room.

Coming in the door the split bath is on the right (sink and toilet first and then the sink and tub next). There was ample shelving in the units for everyone's toiletries. The split really worked nicely for us. One could shower then move into the next bathroom to get ready while someone else showered.

To the left behind the door were two very nice sized closets with shelves. We were able to put our shoes on the shelves and hang dresses, shirts, and slacks. There was also some additional storage space at the end of the closet.

Next you walk in to see the bed and then the desk and sofa before the sliding glass door to the balcony. Let me just say, this bed was so comfortable. Like, I should have asked what kind of mattress and pillows these were!

The bed has a lamp and night stands on both sides which was nice, and the privacy curtain hangs nicely between the bed and sofa area.

The desk area had plenty of storage in the form of drawers and shelves. It also hid the mini fridge nicely. The tv was on the end and could be swiveled toward the bed or the sofa. In addition to the stateroom phone on the nightstand, you'll also find two wave phones per room, which can be taken anywhere on the ship and Castaway Cay. DCL also provides you with some postcards and other typical hotel stationery.

In front of the sofa is a nice chest, which provided some extra storage. We used it to put our beach bag and swim stuff in.

On to the verandah. Oh, the verandah. I was so glad to have chosen a verandah room. While it was so, so dark out on the ocean at night, it was wonderful to hear the waves lapping as we surged through the water. It was a beautiful sight to see the vast open waters as we sailed through the day. Seeing the ports as we pulled in to turnabout... so cool. While I'd gladly take an inside room again just to be able to cruise, I would definitely choose to upgrade to a verandah anytime I'm able. It was worth it. There were two chairs and a small table. It made it nice to sit outside with a little snack from room service while getting ready.

Our stateroom host took care of setting up the upper berth pull-down bed each night while we were out for dinner and put it back up while we were out for breakfast. He would also draw the privacy curtain at night. The kids took turns sleeping on the top bunk. This worked out quite nicely.

Overall, we were quite pleased with this room. It fit our family of 4 just fine. We were out checking things out most of the day, but when we were in the room, we still had plenty of room to spread out. The split bath was really nice when getting ready. There was plenty of storage (I forgot to take a photo of our suitcases under the bed). I'd say there was even more storage than in a hotel room. We liked the location being near the elevators and never had any problem with that. We would certainly book this category, and even this specific room again. The furnishing were modern and very nice, and everything was very clean. We were thoroughly impressed.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be glad to go over anything I missed or just discuss our cruise in general. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again!

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