Magic Kingdom Adventures!

Over my spring break, I had the chance to visit Magic Kingdom with my roommates. While there, we were able to check out all the new areas and attractions in New Fantasyland as well as get a sneak peak into the construction of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction coming in 2014. I have a lot of photos to share, so I thought I would dedicate this blog post to my adventures at Magic Kingdom!

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot (we parked in the Heroes section-Aladdin) we made our way to buy our one day tickets, and from there, we climbed aboard the Monorail to take us to the happiest place on Earth! When we first walked into the park, I went straight for the statue of Goofy on the bench next to the Town Square Theatre to take a picture (seen below).

As I was taking this picture, I noticed a small group of people standing in line next to the hat store on Main Street. When I focused in on the group of people, I realized they were waiting to meet none other than Mary Poppins and two penguins! Mary Poppins is probably one of my top ten favorite Disney characters, so I couldn't go without taking a picture with her! She was practically perfect, in every way!

After posing for a picture with Mary, we went straight back to New Fantasyland where we got in line for Enchanted Tales with Belle (we only waited about 15 minutes!). This attraction allows guests to reenact the day Belle and the Beast fell in love. Once we got into the actual room where the roles are given out, I was chosen to play the Wardrobe!

After reenacting the story of Beauty and the Beast, all of the guest actors got to take a picture with Belle! Enchanted Tales was super cute, I highly recommend this for young mouseketeers!

After meeting Belle, we went to eat at the new Be Our Guest restaurant for lunch. We got in line around 10:15am (they open at 10:30) and we made it inside to eat around 10:45. This dining experience was amazing. I felt like I was in the Beast's castle the moment I stepped inside. Disney really hit the target with Be Our Guest. We ordered our food, received our "roses," and chose to eat our lunch in the grand ballroom. Guests can also dine in the West Wing or the Rose Garden. The ballroom was simply stunning, with intricate chandeliers hanging from beautifully painted ceilings, just like in the movie. The next time you're in Magic Kingdom, make sure to go to Be Our Guest. You won't regret it!

The rest of the day was full of character meet and greets, classic attractions, and delicious snacks!  

Ariel sporting her feet :)

Dumbo!

Dole Whip-the best snack EVER!

My favorite part of the day was meeting Merida from Disney/Pixar's Brave. Her accent was great!

We ended the day with the Main Street Electrical parade and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular, making our day truly magical!

Take a peek at all the new Disney goodies I bought while there!

I LOVE the Orange Bird! :)

When was your last trip to Disney? Feel free to share your own Disney experiences or ask any questions you have about Disney by leaving a comment below! 

Thanks for reading about my Magic Kingdom adventures and have a magical day!

Star Command: Social Media Style

Social media is continually growing as a key element of successful marketing and advertising. Because of this, businesses and professionals who do use social media need a strategy to keep up with all of their profiles, posts, mentions, comments, etc. Without a strategy for your social media management, you won't get far. One way companies are managing their online presence is through social media command centers. Yes, social media command centers. Sounds pretty cool, right? If you're like me, when you heard the words command center, you probably thought of the Space Mountain Command Center (seen below) from Magic Kingdom Park. Anyways...

Companies today are continually building and using social media command centers to help monitor all of their sites at once. Social media monitoring is important for the following reasons:

• Allows you to discover conversations happening in real time. This way, you can reply to comments or questions immediately, creating a strong connection with your audience.
• Allows you to understand your audience better.
• Helps you determine what content works best and doesn't work at all with your audience.
• Helps you discover which content your audience is most engaged with.
• Makes a connection with strategies and objectives of a social media campaign.

These social media command centers are a great investment for businesses wanting to have a better way to control all of their social media sites. All a social media command center really requires is a few TV screens, computers, and the wires needed to hook them together. The American Red Cross, Dell, and even the 2012 Presidential campaigns use social media command centers to manage their social media sites and receive the benefits of having them.

So, if your business isn't quite keeping up with all of its social media, think about building a social media command center. You'll only benefit from it if you do! And, you'll be able to pretend like you're Buzz Lightyear when you talk to your coworkers by saying things like "We have a new comment, Space Ranger!" or "This is *insert your name* of Social Media Star Command, do you read me?" Or at least I would. :)

Thanks for reading and have a magical day!

Get It Before It's Gone!: "Limited Time Magic"

Disney's limited time ice castle in Time's Square

On October 17, 2012, Disney announced “Limited Time Magic” for Disney Parks by creating a giant ice castle, much like Cinderella’s, and placing it in front of The Disney Store in Time’s Square. This ice castle, made of 45,000 pounds of ice, kick started Disney’s “Limited Time Magic” by showing magic, but only for a limited time (ice melts, ya know?).  

So what is this “Limited Time Magic” thing all about? Well, each week, Disney will surprise guests at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort in unexpected ways. 52 weeks in the year, with 52 limited time surprises! For example, from Jan. 21-27, Disney delighted guests with “Long Lost Friends Week” at Walt Disney World. During this week, guests had the opportunity to meet and greet with characters from the olden Disney days, such as Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, The Three Little Pigs, Robin Hood, and even Friar Tuck! Amazing! I would have LOVED to meet Clarabelle Cow. How about you?!

This week, Disney is celebrating “True Love Week,” with special romantic dinners for two, a blushing pink and red Cinderella Castle, and even meet and greets with all your favorite Disney princesses…joined by their princes! Swoon!

Here are some of the “Limited Time Magic” events that Disney has announced but haven’t happened yet:    

·         President’s Day-A Weeklong Celebration

·         Independence Week

·         Pirate Week

·         Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands (...I'm especially looking forward to this!)

·         Unleash the Villains

So if you’re traveling to Disney World or Disneyland this year, be sure to click this link to check back with Disney's Limited Time Magic  page for updates on new and exciting events happening! I’ll be going to The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in March, so I can’t wait to find out what event will be going on during my visit! Whatever Disney may do, I’m positive it will make my trip much more magical! 

Thanks for reading and have a magical day!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Blog!

Let's talk about blogging. Today, blogging is becoming more and more mainstream. Employers expect possible future employees to know how to blog, how to write on a blog, and how to represent themselves or their company on the blog while being creative and innovative. So, blogging is an important skill for young professionals to have.

Here are a couple reasons why you should blog:

• Blogging humanizes your brand. Make sure your audience knows you aren't a soulless robot. Connect with them through comments to build relationships.
• Blogging separates yourself from the rest of your competitors! Be creative and unique so you stand out.
• Blogging on a regular basis helps tremendously with your writing skills. Practice makes perfect!
• Blogging helps promote your personal or professional brand. It also creates interest and drives traffic to your personal or professional brand! Woohoo! 

Now that you know why blogging is so important, I'll give you an example of one of my favorite professional blogs...The Disney Parks Blog! I think Disney does a great job with this blog. Each post is something exciting and engaging, which is what any blog should aim to be. The Disney Parks Blog shares relevant information about Disney Parks news, and keeps readers interested by using great photos and creating engagement among readers. 

Here's the link to the Disney Parks Blog so you can enjoy some exciting Disney Parks news! http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/  

Have a magical day, everyone!

Transmedia and Magical Sorcery

     Transmedia is a growing way in which people are telling stories. For those of you who aren’t quite sure what transmedia is, I’ll explain a bit. Transmedia is telling stories across multiple platforms. While the platforms in which storytellers use are important in getting the message out to the masses, the real key to transmedia is the stories.

     I’m currently a Content Strategist Intern for a social media marketing company, and the first thing I learned on the job was this: you can use the hippest, fanciest, rootin-tootinest social media tools available, but if your content isn't engaging, then you’re S.O.L. (Stuck On a Log).

   

     People love to hear good stories. So that’s what you should give them when trying to be a successful transmedia storyteller. Especially in this age of information overload we live in. Stories allow for the “experience” mentality, so instead of simply telling information, we can actually show what happened, when, where, and why, etc. Stories also create emotional and personal connections which in turn create continuing bonds from hearing about the experience in the story.

     Effective transmedia storytelling is driven by the following:

·         Creativity- use that noodle and be unique!

·         Cultural Attractors- these draw together a highly involved audience.

·         Cultural Activators- these are motivators to initiate behavior.

·         Strategy-any successful story needs a well thought out plan to maximize its impact.

·         Sustained Engagement- getting people to stay engaged with the story is important in keeping the story relevant to its viewers.

     This brings me to Interactivity and Engagement. One of the most important things for transmedia storytelling is engaging your viewer. Without engagement, your story really won’t be able to soar in success. You have to get your audience to care in order to create engagement. This can lead to interactivity, creating an even deeper engagement throughout your audience. In order to keep your audience interested, you have to create an environment with your story that will keep them coming back for more.

     A good example of transmedia storytelling from a large company is Walt Disney World’s “Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.” This interactive game allows Magic Kingdom visitors to become sorcerers who travel across the theme park fighting Disney villains by using collectible cards like the ones shown in the picture. This attraction takes classic Disney characters from their own stories and creates a unique and changing interactive experience among guests. This experience seems to be pretty popular among kids visiting the parks, and keeps them coming back for more villain-fighting, sorcery-fun!

     Here's a link to Inside the Magic's article on Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom:   

http://www.insidethemagic.net/2012/07/walt-disney-world-to-expand-sorcerers-of-the-magic-kingdomwith-final-spell-cards-at-home-trading-game-pin-collection/ 

  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about transmedia storytelling. Thanks for reading and have a magical day!