I’ve spent the past week mulling over my time in Disneyland. What do I share? What do you want to know?
The bottom line is that it’s an absolutely amazing, magical place. It’s different than Disney World, but not better per se. The atmosphere is a bit more relaxed and my whole family loved the overall vibe. It’s a place we never in a million years would have visited, but now we can’t wait to go back.
Instead of trying to cram everything into one post, I’m going to start by telling you all about conference day. This is the day where all the DSMM families go out on their own and all attendees gather together for a day of fun and learning.
We started with a lovely breakfast by Hanes and had a chance to check out some of their new bras, underwear and socks! Woohoo!
Then we went straight into conference mode.
We started off hearing from Tom Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He filled us in on all the awesomeness that Disney is currently working on – the Baltic Disney Cruise, a new Pirates land Treasure Cove in Shanghai, the first Marvel-themed attraction, the Iron Man Experience in Hong Kong, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train that opens next week in the Magic Kingdom. Their goal at Disney is to be the most trusted family vacation destination and they are constantly working on ways to improve the customer’s experience.
Next up was Jay Ward, Creative Director of the CARS Franchise and Pixar Animation Studios. He talked to us about storytelling and how much effort goes into making sure all their stories are compelling, have memorable/relatable characters and are in a believable world.
Kathy Mangum, Executive Producer and Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering, shared all the detail and research that went into making Cars Land and then Donald Driver (yes of Green Bay Packers/Dancing with the Stars fame!) talked to us about staying true to yourself and do all things with purpose.
Then we got a chance to meet Elsa and Anna from Frozen during our lunch break. The little girl in me was REALLY happy.
Twitter connects you to the people you want to know.
My absolute favorite session of the day was when Doug Bowman, Creative Director for Twitter, took the stage. Twitter was my first social media love and it was great to hear more about its start, its strategy and where they hope it’s going.
. @stop is making me fall in love with Twitter all over again. #disneysmmoms— Erin Lane (@ErinCLane) April 11, 2014
Bowman told us Twitter believes that every person has a voice and that every voice deserves to be heard. It’s the great thing about Twitter. Any major event that happens in the world can be followed on Twitter and gives you access to all sorts of opinions. In fact, most major news breaks on Twitter. Bowman shared moments of magic from Twitter and made me vow to get back to the bird.
The day was full of so much more, it’s impossible to capture it all. We met Grumpy Cat, talked Disney Bounding and heard from Maxine Clark from Build-a-Bear. We talked to magic, sharing what’s on your heart, following your dreams and so much more.
Then we ended our session with a visit from Maleficent, who I tried very hard to stare down. But as you can see, I failed. She won our stare down as only an evil villain can.
It was a ridiculously awesome day where I was surrounded by wonderful people who inspire me on the regular. But as fun as it was, the rest of the trip hit the fun out of the ballpark. Stay tuned for details of our family’s Disneyland adventure.
Photography from our family photo album and from @hyku. I attended the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration and received a deeply discounted rate. As a part of this conference, we were provided with complimentary items, special discounts and other benefits such as food and entertainment so that we could experience the magic of the Disneyland Resort. I was not asked to blog about my experience. All thoughts in this post are my own.