I'm back...

Ok so here we go again. I really do want to blog, but can never seem to find the time. I LOVE to read all of the numerous blogs I follow, maybe this is one of the reasons I have no time, so here is my New Year's resolution four months late...I will update at least twice a week. So in my return I want to finish telling the story of my fantastic Disney Mom's Panel Training weekend back in Decemeber. When I last left off I was gearing up for the start of my weekend with my fellow panelists and our leaders, the wonderful Disney Cast Member....



Our schedule begins:
So I anxiously walked over to the Rix, it was so exciting to finally be there and be seconds away from our first "official" 2009 Mom's Panel event. I ran into fellow mom Jennifer in the lobby and we strolled over to the Rix. Suddenly coming thru the door was Leanne, for those who do not know- Leanne was the head CM that oversaw last year's Panel-there has been some re-organizing and Leanne has moved to a new title/position but is still working with us and actually handing the Mom's Panel reigns over to Laura-who was a 2008 Panelist that is now a new CM for WDW.
Leanne needed a big hug hello from all of us. It is so hard to explain how great it was to finally meet her. We were welcomed into a private room at the Rix where we were greeted at the door by glasses of wine and champagne and a really nice spread of munchies. We were also greeted by our first site of our faithful camera crew that would be with us most of the weekend. There were so many CMs there to meet us as well as reps from Disney's PR group. They were all so friendly and were as excited to meet us as we were to meet them.-lots of names to remember but luckily they were with us most of the weekend and were like old friends by the time we parted ways. A few of the current panelists were joining us for the weekend and we finally go to meet them. (Hello to Kim, Beth, Heather, Bri and Michelle) We spent about an hour chatting and mingling while the drinks and munchies flowed. After settling in and breaking the ice it was time to move on. We were led out to our shuttle bus for our first road trip to Magic Kingdom. A huge excitement for all of us as we were on our way to see Cinderella's suite. So our ride was filled with laughter and plenty of conversation and we were led to the back entrance of Magic Kingdom where we were met by some MK CM's and escorted into the back entrance. We were quickly spoiled this trip and joked we could never go back to our usual visits as we were led in and out of the parks thru the back doors. We were led to the Castle and split into two groups for our tour. No one had to ask twice, I quickly volunteered to go in group A and suddenly we were thru a special door and then an elevator for our tour. The suite was gorgeous and there was such detailing in every nook and cranny. There were so many things to look at and touch of course.

All to quickly it was time to leave so the other half of our group come come up. We hung around outside and were able to see the lighting of the Castle-how awesome-then it was on to dinner at Crystal Palace. I love this place and what a fun enviroment for our first meal together. The characters were happy to join us and we had a great time. Fully stuffed we were off to our next stop...a private viewing spot above the train station for MVMCP. Upstairs there were chairs and, because we were oh so hungry, more munchies....warm cookies, and lots of bevreage choices. It was so great to watch the parade from that angle with our new friends. Then came a huge surprise, one of us would be selected to spend a night inthe suite on Sunday. Names thrown into the hat and drumroll please...Cathy's name was pulled out. Woohoo...how awesome Cathy. We watched the fireworks from there and then broke up into groups to spend a little free time at MK before our bus left. Most of us scrambled over to BTMR for the wildest ride in the wilderness. Time was running short and the line for HM was not so IASW was next on our list.
After the ride we were out of time as our coach was about to leave without us. We gathered at our back door secret location and were whisked away...we didn't even have to wait in line for a Disney resort bus...what star treatment

We were dropped off at our resort around 11:30pm amd were exhausted. Many of us had been traveling since early morning and were ready to hit the hay. It was amazing that so many fun and exciting things had already happened and we still had three full days to come. I headed back to the room, checked in at home and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Whew! That is a long one so I will stop here-well on my way to up and running again!