Blog Archives - Magically Capable

11Mar 2024 by chicagocraftgal

Disney Dining Reservation System Major Update!

Blog, Disney, Planning, Travel, While You're There, While You're Waiting

The Disney Dining reservation system has received a major update. You can now search restaurants for up to 10 consecutive days for available dining at your desired restaurant. This is huge! (Especially for those who are annual pass holders and/or traveling with large groups like I do with my family of eight.) Break down of how the Disney Dining reservation system update works: From the Disney World page, select "Make Reservations" under the "Things to Do" tab. You are first prompted to select the number of people in your party, and the date you are interested in. Next, select what time of day you are interested in dining. At this point you’ll be able to see available times and locations for dining. Images captured from disneyworld.disney.com website Let’s say you…

25Jan 2020 by chicagocraftgal

Free Dining Dates for 2020

Blog, Planning

New this yearDisney modified its usual "Free Dining" offer to be just for kids so far this year. Disney Free Kids Dining Plan 2020 2020 Dates and resorts participating in FREE Disney Dining plan for kidsWith Disney's dining plans you can always pay the difference to get the next plan up, but you can't go down in price if you want a smaller meal plan. In other words, depending upon where you stay, it may not be as great a deal as it was in the past. Kids Free Dining is something new this year. I've been following Disney Free Dining for a number of years and this is the first time I'm seeing it offered for just kids. These plans have been Disney's way to get families to the parks…

25Aug 2019 by Tiffiny

Character Meals

Blog, Disney, Planning, Travel, While You're There

[caption id="attachment_1787" align="alignnone" width="735"] Child walking and dining with Mickey Mouse at a character meal[/caption] Character Meals-What are They? Character Meals are Disney Dining experiences where one of more characters come to your table while you are eating at a particular restaurant. It's one of our favorite ways to fill two needs with one activity--eating and character greeting. How Do I Get a Character Meal? Character meals like all other Disney table service meals require a reservation. You can make a reservation 180 days in advance. If you stay on Disney property, you can make the reservation 180 days out from the first day of your reservation. That means if you are staying for five days starting October 6, and your 180th day out is April 3, you actually can…

16May 2019 by Tiffiny

Disney Shirts

Blog, Craft Activities, Disney, Planning, While You're Waiting

Today's Throwback Thursday is a craft from 2011 and updated in 2013. While You are Waiting for Your Trip...One of the things I like to do while I wait for our trip date to draw near is make Disney-themed crafts. It's a bonus for us if they also will serve a purpose in the parks. I made matching shirts for our family. Originally I did it because I had seen the idea on social media and thought it would be really fun for us. Since then I have learned that dressing identically helps a lot in crowded locations. It makes it so much easier to spot each other. It also makes it easy when and if, despite my best efforts and constant head counting, one of my children wanders off…

25Apr 2019 by chicagocraftgal

Whatever it Takes

About Us, Blog, Our Life

This will be a bit of a departure from my regular Disney planning posts. I am super proud of my second oldest child, and felt the need to share. My son started the school year with white board art in the library featuring Thor of the Avengers. And now he’s finishing the year with the Avengers once again featured in the library white board art. This has been a huge year for growth for this child. At one time diagnosed with ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) as well as ADHD, and then Aspergers (Autism Spectrum), this kid has a phenomenal drive to succeed-“whatever it takes”. He used to have meltdowns that would last upwards of 45 minutes. He graduated last year with Highest Honors (and Distinguished Honor Roll), a better than…

07Mar 2019 by chicagocraftgal

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Opening Dates

Blog, Disney, Planning

[caption id="attachment_1764" width="1280" height="720"]Artist rendering courtesy of Disney Parks Blog[/caption] Just in! Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opening dates announced! The Disneyland expansion will open on May 31 and Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios expansion will open August 29! The Hollywood Studios date is a full two months before most people expected an opening (it was previously announced late fall). This is exciting, but also tempered by the fact they have divided the opening into phases. Phase II will still be late fall. No-cost reservations will be required in Disneyland May 31-June 23, 2019. No reservations are needed in Florida when it opens later in August. Additionally FastPass+ will not be an option for initial opening of Millenium Falcon: Smuggler's Run. That may change in the future. Stay tuned for future…

07Feb 2019 by Tiffiny

Our Family’s Disney Packing Lists

Blog, Planning, While You're Waiting

Trying to find the perfect Disney packing list can be challengingBefore we left, I scoured the web for ideas for our packing list. There are a multitude of packing lists out there, but none of them really quite fit our family. Ultimate Packing List is really very good, as is this one, but I've made a few changes to it based upon our family's needs. Some of the items on the lists are overkill. Why do I need to pack a portable high chair when the restaurants have them? Do I really want to be lugging that into the park? Even when we stay off site, we use our stroller as a high chair if we need one. Also, why bring walkie talkies when I get decent cell…

03Jan 2019 by chicagocraftgal

Happy New Year!

Blog, Planning, While You're Waiting

Happy New Year Everyone! The kids just got back in school, so I am hard at work again with more great tips about planning your Disney World trip. I'm still working through the vestiges of my family emergency, so hang in there with me a little while longer. I should have more new content up next week. In the meantime, head over to my Instagram to find out about a fun giveaway I'm participating in. You have a chance to win a $100 Disney gift card or PayPal cash when you enter!

24Dec 2018 by chicagocraftgal

5 Days of Christmas-Day 5 Make Sugar Cookies for Santa

Blog, Craft Activities, While You're Waiting

Today for Day 5 of our 5 Days of Christmas we have a guest post. Jenny of SweetJennyBelleBakery.com has graciously agreed to share her royal icing tutorial. Sugar cookie decorating is truly an art. If you haven't been following her on Instagram, I highly recommend you start doing a today! Jenny has a few timeless tutorials on her blog and today she is sharing her royal icing tutorial (where every aspiring cookie artist needs to start)! When you get the icing down, you can try your hand at making amazing cookies like these: My Favorite Royal Icing By Jenny Rodriguez I've had several emails and requests on Instagram for my royal icing recipe. It is not a secret, I'm so happy to share it with you! Please try it on…

23Dec 2018 by chicagocraftgal

5 Days of Christmas- Day 4: Peppermint Punch and Chocolate Bundt Cake

Blog, Craft Activities, While You're Waiting

One of our favorite holiday traditions is to make peppermint punch when we decorate our Christmas tree. When you pair it with a chocolate bundt cake it's even more heavenly. You can use your favorite chocolate bundt cake recipe. For the Peppermint Punch Blue Bunny has a peppermint ice cream in a lovely pink shade which is what we grew up with. Peppermint Punch: Ingredients: 2 parts peppermint ice cream (ie one quart) 1 part vanilla ice cream (1/2 quart) Milk Ginger ale Red food coloring if desired (when it's hard to find the pink colored ice cream) Directions: Let ice cream soften at room temperature. Mix the ice creams together and begin to add ginger ale and milk in small amounts until the whole thing is frothy and pour-able. …