Today I spent an hour with a friend who is embarking on her first Disney journey, hoping to plan a trip for her family and her sister’s family to fall the end of next year.  For those new to the world of Disney vacations, the experience can seem daunting, the terms like a foreign language….

I love looking back at photos from trips to Walt Disney World because while some pictures are carefully posed next to characters or in front of castles, so many more capture spontaneous moments that come rushing back when I see the picture again. Here are just some of my favorites… The Alice photo bombing of…

A couple Christmases ago I found a stack of old college notebooks, somehow unearthed by my had-enough-of-the-clutter mother and placed in my brother’s room. I am a save everything kind of girl, but it was still jarring to find the notebook from my senior year literature seminar. Nearing the end of the road to completing…

While we certainly enjoy many of the same attractions that are among the most popular at the Walt Disney World Parks, my family also has a list of favorites that many people overlook. Here are our favorites by park. The Magic Kingdom Mickey’s PhilharMagic: This 3D movie follows Donald Duck on a hilarious adventure as…

The first time we attended Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, a sweet woman in line behind us asked if we knew about Cinderella’s horse on the carousel. She explained that she is a Disney Cast Member and usually brings her grandchildren to Very Merry, but since they…

Before sharing my tips and tricks on how we save money during our Walt Disney World vacations, I first need to admit that I can be a bit strange when it comes to spending. I love to save money. Love it. I am that person who gets nervous when her bank account goes below a…

When I planned our first trip to Walt Disney World, I believed that it would potentially be our only trip to the World. I grew up visiting Orlando every couple years in conjunction with trips to visit my aunt in nearby Tampa, but my nuclear family was living on one income in one of the…

Anyone who has traveled from a Walt Disney World Resort to the Orlando International Airport on the Magical Express in recent years has watched the video introducing Adventures By Disney, trips to various locations around the world led by Disney Adventure Guides. My family has the segment memorized from the part where we learn that…

My second 31 Days post celebrated the 30th anniversary of the opening of EPCOT at Walt Disney World, and as promised I am sharing my recommendations for favorite restaurants, activities, and attractions inside EPCOT. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of experiencing EPCOT as a child, with my extended family, with my own little family of…

Last month I wrote “Hands Off Our Content” after a series of alarming examples of big brands stealing content from independent bloggers. The main offender was NickMom.com, the site associated with a new programming block on Nickelodeon that launched last night.  People were shocked.  How was it okay for a major corporation, one that makes…

Today EPCOT, the second theme park built at Walt Disney World, celebrated the 30th anniversary of its opening day.  EPCOT – Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow – opened on October 1, 1982, and a year and a half later my family visited.  Milestones at Walt Disney World always make me think of my own favorite…

My mom recently retired and has begun cleaning out old craft drawers, toy boxes, and cupboards. Each time she cleans a room, she unearths treasures from my childhood, frozen in time for decades. Last week she brought me this: A word of explanation – my mom was a doctor, so most of my childhood drawings…

Welcome to the home for the 31 Days of Disney!  Over the next month I will be sharing my favorite stories, best money-saving tips, Walt Disney World reviews and more.  Check back daily for new posts as Resourceful Mommy makes October all about the Mouse! Day One – A Disney Fashion Flashback Day Two –…

Our parents all warned us. Moms of older kids nudged and told us. Trace Adkins even sang to us about it, and if you’re like me, you sighed and changed the station. And then earlier this week when everyone panicked that Facebook did didn’t may have released private messages from 2009 to our public Walls,…

I have a confession. While I have had the occasional good organization idea (I still love using bins to turn shelves into drawers), I continue to find myself overwhelmed by the papers that come home each day in my children’s backpacks. My kids’ backpacks are very organized with folders that contain a “keep home” and…

I have been reading Redbook since I was fifteen, and every month when my new issue comes, I turn immediately to the Whys Guy feature by Aaron Traister. I could say that I read his articles to decode male behavior and gain a better understanding of my husband, but the truth is that I just enjoy…

I have shared this story so many times with friends in person, in emails, on Facebook, that when I sat down to write this post, I honestly couldn’t remember if I had already shared the story with you, the readers of Resourceful Mommy. We were nearing the end of our time in Tanzania with Compassion…

UPDATED: 9/15/12 1:30 p.m. ET We have continued to receive information about other images used without permission including this back-to-school image from NotJustAHousewife.com.  You’ll note that the bold text over the picture covers up image owner Stacy’s watermark. We have also heard from NickMom who apologizes, assures us that they are taking this issue very…

Two years ago I wrote a series called 30 Days of Change, a parenting challenge that a small group of bloggers participated in, trying each daily challenge and blogging the results. As last year came to a close, I wanted to try another challenge, but something a little less…deep. I wavered between silly little daily…

I’m sitting here at my computer, poised to write about my favorite Disney memory. And I’m stuck. Asking me to share my favorite Disney memory is like asking me if I prefer dark or milk chocolate. The answer, of course, is yes. The first memory that comes to mind is when I somehow conned my…

My daughter was born with a full head of hair despite being born 8 weeks early.  People told us it would all fall out and her real hair would grow in later, but people being people, they were wrong. I always assumed I would have a boy first so was surprised when I found myself…