Hey Everyone! Happy Wednesday! How are you all doing? Me? Good, but TIRED. Oh my goodness it’s been a crazy week. Let’s get caught up on all the fun!
Thursday and Friday we did work from home, because I knew that the weekend was going to be busy. We did have friends over on Friday, which was nice, because I knew that my schedule was filled after that. Saturday, we had some things to do around the house, took the boys to dinner, then had to get ready to go cover Disney After Hours at the Magic Kingdom. Disney After Hours is a special ticketed event, and we’d never done it before. I heard good things though, so when Disney invited us to check it out I was excited. We checked in at the TTC, and I was stopped by a really sweet gal who follows us. We chatted for a few and took a pic before Scott and I headed to the monorail. I absolutely love meeting the people who support what we do, it’s great to be able to thank them in person. Speaking of, another friend who we met though TMSM was also waiting for us at the park to say hello. Sheryl has followed us for quite a while, and it was nice to be able to meet her face to face. We went to Starbucks, watched fireworks, then it was time for me to get into “work mode” and get ready for the after hours fun. The park closed at 10 for guests, and only people with the event lanyard are allowed to stay in the park. It was so much fun. Disney After Hours is from 10 pm till 1 am, and you can get right on the rides of your choice, no lines and no fastpasses are needed. Also part of the deal is ice cream, popcorn and drinks. You can walk right up to the the food carts and get a snack for no extra charge, that’s a good thing. It feels like you have the entire park to yourself. We walked around, did a video by the Haunted Mansion with basically no one there, went on our favorite attractions and took advantage of the snacking. It was a lot of fun. By the time we got home though, it was pretty late. I’d say 2:30 or so, and we had to be up and ready to go to Disney Springs to kick off another event in the morning. I’ll post the video below of the Haunted Mansion area, be sure to check it out!
Sunday morning, the kick off for the ESPN at Disney event was held at Splitsville, Disney Springs. When I was asked to cover an event for Disney Sports, I was a little scared. Sports? Me? Could I do this? Self doubt, you know how I am. I said yes anyway because I firmly believe that we can’t learn and grow unless we try new things. Facing fear is good. We were treated with a brunch and presentation on what the activities will entail over at the ESPN Complex. Afterwards, they put on the World Cup and gave everyone the opportunity to bowl if we wanted to. I haven’t bowled in YEARS, and it was pretty evident by my low scores. It was fun though, I’d like to take the boys over there sometime so they can bowl too. I was able to go home and get ready for the evening events, I had to be at Disney’s Boardwalk to catch a bus by 5:00. The rest of the event I covered by myself, and I was really hoping to be able to get decent coverage on my own, as usually Scott and I tag team pics and video. The bus took our small group of media over to ESPN Wide World of Sports. I had drove past there so many times, it’s not far from my house, but I had never actually been there. I was really excited to see what it was all about. They took us up to a suite to watch the opening ceremonies of the Disney Cup International, a soccer tournament for those who aren’t familiar. The ceremony is awesome, these kids have such a great opportunity and are so excited. The parents are beaming too. As a bonus, we got to take pics with Mickey and Minnie too, I never turn that down. Once the ceremony was over, we were taken back to the Boardwalk to have dinner at the Flying Fish. I was worried, as I don’t eat seafood of any kind, but of course Disney always has a solution for special requests and allergies. The dinner took a LONG time. I mean, hours. The food was good though. I didn’t get home until about 11:30 or so, and I had to be up at the crack of dawn in the morning to continue the event. Who needs sleep, right?
The early morning meeting place was at the globe outside of ESPN. They gave our group a tour of the facilities, starting with the newer building where basketball was going on. Speaking of basketball, we were welcomed by Nick Anderson who used to play for the Orlando Magic. He was really nice and told us a lot about the youth programs that are offered at the complex. Also on hand were Goofy and his “coach” who reminded me of the sports commentator “Pepper Brooks” from the movie Dodgeball. I’m not even kidding, he was hilarious. If you’ve never seen Dodgeball, you really should watch it, it’s good I promise. Goofy handed me a basketball, and the coach instructed to dribble the ball and actually hit the net. Shocking, right? I haven’t played basketball in years. But guess what? I got the ball in the basket on the first try… go me! It was such a fun time. After our basketball session, we continued to tour the rest of the property and saw some of ESPN behind the scenes. We even got to sit at the sports desk. As we were walking around, I couldn’t help but think how LUCKY I was to be included in this group of media. There were journalists from all over, one from Mexico, and it was a very small group. How did I get here? It still amazes me, the opportunities that Disney has given me, new things to experience, etc. I’m so thankful. I brought home photos for Scott to have, including the one at the sports desk. He was excited for me, but he really wants to go tour ESPN Wide World of Sports sometime after I told him what it was all about. Maybe football season?
Even though I hadn’t slept much, I didn’t want to postpone our live show. Monday night we did TMSM Weekly Live, and it was funny as usual. The viewing audience gets bigger each week, and I’m thankful for that. Actually I’m thankful for all of it. The events, the live show, the daily interaction with our followers…. everything. Sometimes I work myself too hard, but to me it’s worth it. Doing our members proud means so much. Making our Disney reps happy means a lot too. I always want to do a good job, and always think there is more I could do. Will I ever be satisfied on that level? I don’t really know, but it keeps the drive there, and that’s not a bad thing. I can’t lie, I’m pretty tired, but I have to get it together because we have another media event on Friday morning. It’s always something, but I wouldn’t change it. I’m so appreciative to Disney for what they do for us. So watch for coverage of Christmas in July on Friday. I’m hoping we get to see the new Christmas merchandise for the upcoming season, fingers crossed. To get a better idea of everything that’s been going on, watch our live show at the bottom, we explain it all! That’s it for this week…. you can watch some of the videos from the week below. Please, if you like what we do at TMSM, be sure to tell a friend or two. It’s appreciated. Until next time, wishing you love, blessings and pixie dust! See ya real soon. ~M
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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