Interactive Mickey Debuts at Magic Kingdom

Yesterday, the Disney Parks Blog posted this video of Magician Mickey interacting with guests. I knew they were testing this concept but did not know he was ready to go. Check it out...

You can meet Magician Mickey at the Magic Kingdom at the Town Square Theater daily. What do you think? Or what will your kids think?

Another way to interact with Disney characters is to write them a letter. To learn more visit our earlier post Dear Mickey-or-Mater-or-Donald-or-Buzz.

DIY Pirate Mickey Shirt

As we finish prep for our latest trip to Disney (just 4 more sleeps!), be prepared for cuteness and tutorial overload. While Jason's favorite parts about Disney are strategy and spreadsheets for the parks, mine is forced family matching and cute shirts. I often get comments when we wear them from people expressing that they wish they could make some for their kids but they don't sew/have time/ know where to start.  Here is the answer my friends: Pellon, also known as Under Wonder.

This amazing stuff is found in local craft stores. I buy mine from Amazon, it's cheaper and fast to ship. I'm a terrible seamstress at best and this has changed my crafting life. It's totally non-judgey and makes everything you do look good. It's the prefect best friend. It bonds fabrics to each other so that if you don't want to sew them, fine! If you want to go around the edges and add a bit of stitching, have at it, Pellon will hold everything still so you don't have to pin anything! Dreamy. You're welcome.

Today I finished up this cute Mickey Pirate Shirt

Materials: 1 yard of black material
                 1.5 yards of Pellon
                 0.5 yards of pirate fabric ( I used stripes)
                 0.5 yards of fabric for the letter ( I used white)
                 An iron
                 Shirt
                Mickey Head Outline

Since this one is for my Little, I grabbed a plain onsie, the kind that come in a pack. I didn't even wash it first. Print out this  Mickey Head Outline and cut it down to the size you need. If you are fancy I hear your computer can size it before you print, but "ain't nobody got time for that" I only have naptime to get this done!

Take a square of your black fabric large enough to fit your Mickey Head and lay it on a coordinating piece of your Pellon. You want the rough side of the pellon touching your fabric.

Flip the whole thing over so that the smooth Pellon is on top ( it feels like wax paper) and iron that sucker down. It takes holding the iron in place for a few seconds. After it's good and attached, trace your Mickey Head onto the back of your Pellon. Cut it out.

One side will be black fabric, the other will be smooth, white, wax paper-esq Pellon. Peel the Pellon backing off.

It may snag and not be perfect, that's ok.

Lay your Mickey onto your onsie with the Pellon touching your shirt and iron again. Make sure you focus on the edges.

Now repeat the Pellon process with your pirate fabric for the bandanna. Lay a small square over the Pellon and iron. Pay attention to how the stripes or pattern will end up so that it looks correct on Mickey. Lay your Mickey Head onto the smooth side and just trace between his ears and draw a tail.

 

 

Fill in the rest of the pattern freehand.

Cut out your bandanna, peel the backing off and lay it over your black Mickey Head. Iron it directly on top.

I didn't take pictures of this part but for the letter I just printed out an enlarged letter from Microsoft Word. I probably made it bold too. Then I followed the same process as above with Pellon, tracing, cutting and ironing. Here it is before I sewed it.

You could stop here if you don't like to sew, but I like the finished look and extra security that stiching gives the shirt. So I just whipped the whole thing through my machine, the Pellon held everything still while I zipped around the outside (no need to pin anything down), and it's done! Now my Little will match my Middle and Big! 

If you liked this post, check out other Shirt posts! Chevron Disney Shirts

Disney Dollars

My kids are currently begging me for chores to do. Why? These little beauties....

 

 

Disney Dollars

 

Each boy has an envelope "bank" on the fridge and can earn a Disney Dollar for doing chores, homework, getting along, almost anything I can think of.  It's lovely. On the flip side, you can lose Disney Dollars as well. Great incentive to head off all kinds of problems. See? Disney fixes everything! We made our own Disney Dollars, but here is a link to some that you can print (hers are super cute!). Printable Disney Dollars



The (John) Lasseter Family Winery

This past weekend on a quick trip to Northern California, we found a great little winery with a big Disney connection. In the small Sonoma Valley town of Glen Ellen, you'll find the Lasseter Family Winery owned by John and Nancy Lasseter.  THE John Lasseter of Disney-Pixar!


The Lasseter Family Winery is currently open to the public by appointment only. We were able to make our reservation the morning of our visit. The winery offers intimate tours and tastings for $25 a person. They typically limit each group to 8 people or less so you get a private, intimate feel for the tour and tasting.

We all know Mr.Lasseter can make great animated movies, but what about wine?

We pulled up to the gate and were buzzed in quickly. The winery sits in the middle of a beautiful valley surrounded by grape vines on all sides. The building is well designed but unassuming to blend in with the landscape. The winery is completely off the grid, totally powered by solar panels housed right on the property.

Once inside the gate, we were greeted by our host Cecil. The tour began by tasting some of the many variety of grapes grown on the vineyard. They were amazing and still warm from the California sun. Next up, we headed to the grape processing area below for a brief tour. There we saw the how the grapes are processed and prepared to go into the fermentation tanks. Next door, the barrel room was full of giant oak and steel tanks.

Just beyond that were the fruits of all that labor either aging or boxed and ready to ship. From the barrel room we headed back inside and into a beautifully appointed tasting room, set with several glasses and an amazing cheese plate. Yummy!

Our wines were already poured and waiting for us next to the plate of cheeses, dried fruits, nuts, honey, and chocolate. The Lasseter Family Winery is a small producer of around 3000 cases a year. They specialize in red wine blends that tend to mimic French varieties. Since the Lasseters policy is to only make wines that they like, what you buy is a reflection of their tastes. We tasted all five of their current wines and were offered refills of our favorites. L'ame du Sage was our pick and we eagerly purchased some to take home.The bottle labels are stunning and highlight things that are special to both John and Nancy, as do the names of the wines. For example, their Amoureux wine, a Bordeaux-style blend, is named  to mean "The Lovers" because John and Nancy were introduced to it on their honeymoon in Sonoma County. It adds a playful touch to these really amazing wines.

In the wine room is various Lasseter Family Winery merchandise such as glasses, corks, shirts (even a custom designed John Lasseter style Hawaiian shirt), posters and more. But the best souvenir was the limited edition Pixar wine glasses!! I was instantly drawn to the shelf that housed them. I thought it was only a display until I saw the price tag off to the right. Cecil said they were glasses that John and Nancy had collected from various Pixar premier parties and he only had a handful left. Couldn't pass them up, so now they are on our shelf at home - no one is drinking from these glasses!

Visit the Lasseter Family Winery to own a set of these beauties!

If you would like to visit the Lasseter Family Winery please go to their website or like them on FaceBook and make an appointment. Be sure to tell Cecil that Jason and Molly sent you.

If you're new to our blog please check out our most popular post Strollin, Strollin, Strollin.