Pixie Dust Mom

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DIY: Mickey Fall Wreath

It’s finally starting to feel like fall in Tennessee and according to the calendar, we are officially in the fall season! What better way to celebrate than with Mickey wreath?!

All you need is 1 24 inch grapevine wreath and 2 smaller grapevine wreaths for the ears. I’m not sure what size my ears were, but they’re probably 6 or 8 inches. It’s honestly a preference thing, depending on how you want your wreath to look.

I also used:

floral wire
hot glue
burlap ribbon
artificial flowers/greenery/pumpkins

I attached the ears to the main wreath by wrapping a long piece of wire under where the ears connect and then pulled tight, twisted them around each other a few times, then wrapped the excess back around to tie on the back of the wreath.

**Here’s an upclose picture of what it looked like.**

I did this 3 times for each ear, that way the ear was more stable and not as wobbly.

Once you’re done, both ears should look something like this. Of course, I will use greenery and pumpkins to cover the wire so it’s not visible!

Next is the burlap ribbon. You don’t have to add this, but I already had this buffalo check ribbon in my supplies and wanted to try it and see what it looked like! I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

Once I figured out where I wanted the ribbon to start, I wrapped it around the back and hot glued the end to the back of the wreath. The ribbon I used was pretty wide, so I folded it in half and kind of twisted it to get the look that I wanted.

Once I wrapped it around like I wanted, I cut the ribbon and hot glued the excess behind the wreath. It doesn’t have to be pretty, no one will see the back of it!

Last but not least, all that’s left is to fill in the exposed grapevine spaces with your greenery and pumpkins! I had to hot glue some pieces that didn’t have long stems, but the pumpkins had long stems so I was able to just stick those in the wreath! They’ll stay pretty good! That’s what I love about the grapevine wreaths!

My other tip is, you only have to buy one or two bundles of greenery or flowers. You can cut the individual stems off the main bunch and disperse them over the whole wreath! And of course, you want to make sure that you cover the wreath wire as much as possible! I made this on the floor and then once I was finished, I hung it up and was able to see spots that I had missed!

I’m so happy with how it turned out? Have you ever made a Mickey wreath before? Let me know what you think in the comments and please, don’t hesitate to ask me any questions!

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Sanaa Dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to bring you this NEW blog, full of Disney reviews, news and more!

Our first dining review comes from Sanaa, which is located at Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Kidani Village. We decided to spend New Years Eve as our “resort day” because it fell right in the middle of our trip and also because I knew the parks would be very busy that day. Magic Kingdom actually closed to outside guests that weren’t resort guests on New Years Eve due to being at capacity. We actually had reservations for another restaurant on this night but decided to switch when I saw a reservation for Sanaa on the app. All we had to do was call and switch it, and we weren’t charged anything for cancelling the first reservation! So it’s always a good idea to check your app to see what’s available, because you never know what will be dropped last minute!

Sanaa is a beautiful restaurant with a wall of windows with savannah views of the animals on property. Unfortunately, since we were eating dinner, we couldn’t see out of the windows, but that just means we’ll have to come back for breakfast! The decor inside was so beautiful. It’s like we were eating in a treehouse!

Disney’s website describes Sanaa as “African cooking with Indian flavors”. I personally have never liked Indian food, but I loved everything that I ate here! They are most known for their bread service, which comes with 5 different breads and 9 accompaniments. Some of the accompaniments were spicier than others but I was able to try about 4 or 5 that weren’t too spicy. And the Naan bread was delicious!

**Indian Style Bread Service with Accompaniments**

For our main courses, we had the Berbere-braised Lamb Shank and a signature holiday dish that isn’t on the regular menu. I’m pretty sure it was similar to the New York Strip Steak that is on their regular menu. Both were good, but my favorite was definitely the steak. For dessert, we ordered the African Triple Chocolate Mousse to-go. This was delicious as well! Like I said earlier, I can’t wait to go back for breakfast and/or lunch and try something new!

All in all, we loved our experience and would definitely go back! Before we went to Sanaa, we literally ran into a meet and greet with Minnie mouse in the Kidani Village lobby. With only a few people in line, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet her in her gorgeous new dress! (This is not a regular meet and greet, but was a special holiday surprise!)

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about Sanaa. If you’ve been, what was your favorite dish? Would you go back again? If you’ve had breakfast here, I would love to hear about your experience as well! It looks and sounds delicious!

Until next time friends, never stop dreaming and always spread pixie dust and smiles wherever you go!

Summer of More at Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee!

Happy summer! This summer has been hotter than ever so we were so excited to experience a staycation at our favorite place in Nashville, TN!

Now through September 4th, Gaylord Opryland Resort is celebrating their Summer of More with SO many fun activities for the whole family!

Throughout the whole resort, there’s a Hidden Treasure Hide and Sea-k! Fun for the whole family and we learned quite a bit about the resort too! You can purchase the map at the Delta Riverboat counter and then later show them your completed map to win a prize!

Speaking of the riverboat, the Lost Treasure Flatboat Voyage had us looking for clues and helping the pirates find priceless gems! You may even get to take some treasure home with you!

Every Saturday, the Nashville Wildlife Conservation group has animal encounters in the Delta atrium by the fountains! We got to meet a sweet turtle named Henry and learned all about turtles and how to keep them safe in the wild!

We also visited the Adventure Kids Clubhouse, where we got to work on some fun crafts and let our imagination soar!

And of course, no stay at Opryland is complete without a visit to SoundWaves, an indoor/outdoor water park! We always have fun when we visit here!

Thank you so much to Opryland for hosting us for this magical weekend! One we will never forget! For more information about their Summer of More, you can check out all of the details at https://modules.marriott.com/leisure/bnago-gaylord-opryland-resort-and-convention-center.

Follow us on Instagram at https://instagram.com/pixie.dust.mom?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg== where I’ve saved all of my stories from this weekend to my highlights.

And be sure to follow us on YouTube where I’ll be sharing our adventures soon! https://youtube.com/@Pixiedustmom.

Mickey Shaped Earth Day Cookies

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22nd. This year we decided to make some fun cookies to go along with our lessons about Earth Day and how we can take better care of the earth!

Of course, we had to make our cookies Mickey shaped! Why not? To make these cookies, all you need is sugar cookie dough, blue and green food coloring and a Mickey shaped cookie cutter.

First make your dough. Then divide it into two separate bowls. Use the blue and green food coloring to make your two colors. (This part will probably be messy, but fun!)

Once you’ve got the colors you want, take a little bit of each color and roll it together in a bowl. Then flatten it down (we just used our hands) and use the cookie cutter to cut out your shape.

Bake according to your sugar cookie recipe. This will obviously spread when they bake, so the smaller cookie cutter, the better your cookies will look.

And that’s it! Pretty simple! And makes for a fun sensory activity too when you mix in those colors by hand!

Have fun celebrating Earth Day! 🌎

Goblins and Giggles at Gaylord Opryland Hotel

Spooky season is here! We had an AMAZING time during our staycation at Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN where we got to experience all of the offerings for Goblins and Giggles, a Halloween event taking place through October 31st, 2022!

You can find fall decorations throughout the resort, but the majority of the Halloween decorations and events are in the Delta Atrium.

Our first adventure was the Spookley the Square Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt! This was a big hit with everyone in our family! We had so much fun trying to figure out the clues to find Spookley! Purchase your booklet at the Frightfully Fun Zone desk, located under the Delta Bridge and be sure to bring your completed booklet back for a prize at the end of your hunt!

The next night, we went for a ride on the Ghouls Night Out Riverboat! We got to see so many spooky and fun decorations and even a little show before we disembarked. After that, it was time for Trick or Treating! We were given a map to find all 8 locations in the Delta Atrium, as well as a bag for all of our goodies! And boy, did we get a lot!

Next, we spent some time at the Frightfully Fun Zone located underneath the Delta Bridge. Arts and crafts are available here as well as cookie decorating kits! This is also the location where you can purchase your scavenger hunt and trick or treating booklets and maps.

Also located in the Delta is the Jack-O-Lantern Walk. It’s on display all day but it’s a lot of fun to see them lit up at night! For another fun treat, don’t miss the Light and Fountain Show located in the center of the Delta Atrium! The Monster Mash Bash takes place next to the fountains as well! You never know who you might see! All three of these events are free to all visiting or hotel guests.

One of my favorite events from the whole weekend was The Haunted Hidden Treasure Escape Room, located in the Magnolia Pavilion. This was so much fun! It was only the 3 of us trying to find the treasure, which was pretty difficult to do in 30 minutes, but I think it would be even more fun with a big group of friends! I’m not going to give away any of the clues, but you will definitely need your thinking cap on for this one! I would highly recommend it! You will need to purchase your tickets for this one in advance!

Thank you SO MUCH to Gaylord Opryland for inviting us out to experience Goblins and Giggles! We made memories together as a family that will last a lifetime! If you want to check out all the fun, be sure to visit their website here for more information! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below! You can also check out my saved highlights on my Instagram page here for more details about our stay!

Under The Sea Themed Birthday Party!

Do you a little one who loves The Little Mermaid? It’s one of my daughters favorite movies so when she requested a mermaid party a few years ago, I had a lot of fun with the theme, as you will see!

I found this underwater/waves banner that I hung from our fireplace mantle on Amazon. If you can’t find a banner like this, just hang blue and white streamers in a pattern and it will look just as nice! I printed off some pictures from our Disney trips of us meeting Ariel, her castle, and her underwater grotto and hung them from some twine over the waves. I also added some clear balloons to look like bubbles!

I found some coral accents and bowls at Target and Walmart. Just look in your local stores, you never know what you will find! Adding in Ariels signature made it much more magical!

I used Disney figurines for the top of the cake and accents everywhere. Then after the party is over, you have toys to play with!

These oyster cookies were so fun and easy to make! Use wafer cookies, put icing (I used leftover that I had from making the cake) on the bottom of one, add an edible pearl and then top with a another cookie to make your oyster! I also got this bowl at Walmart. I added brown sugar to look like sand.

The cake was the hardest part for me. I love making them from scratch, but it’s sometimes a little stressful. I found some food dye that matched Ariels colors pretty well, so I decided to do a mermaid scale look. Obviously any pattern would look great, this is just what was easiest for me at the time! I made a double layer cake and then frosted the sides and the top. I used brown sugar again around the border to look like sand. We also bought some banners and other decorations from Amazon.

Disney Plus Patriotic Playlist

Fourth of July is quickly approaching! And I have put together a list of patriotic movies and documentaries that are available on Disney Plus! For your convenience, I have included the rating for each movie/documentary, so you can plan for your family accordingly!

The Liberty Story: A combination of animation and live action stories. Walt Disney introduces his idea for Liberty Square in Disneyland. Not rated
Hamilton: Launched on Disney Plus in the summer of 2020, this is a recording of the live musical performed by the original cast of Hamilton. PG-13
Miracle: Based on the true story of the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team. PG
National Treasure: A treasure hunter’s journey to steal the Declaration of Independence. PG
National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets: Ben Gates must kidnap the president to prove his ancestor’s innocence. PG
Apollo, Mission To The Moon: Rare, behind the scenes footage from an incredible time in human history. PG
America’s Heart & Soul: Journey across the U.S. to meet ordinary people living extraordinary lives. PG
Drain The Oceans: WWII: Undersea surveys and 3-D imaging reveal secrets of World War II shipwrecks. PG
The Real Right Stuff: Story of the nation’s first astronauts. PG
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier: Share Davy Crockett’s legend, from the frontier to Congress to the Alamo. PG
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates: Davy Crockett encounters pirates en route to New Orleans. G
Night At The Museum: A new guard at the Natural History Museum finds that when visitors leave, the exhibits come to life. PG
Night At The Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian: Larry Daley returns to rescue some old friends while the Smithsonian Institution comes alive. PG

If you have any other favorites that are on Disney Plus, make sure to leave them in the comments below!

Updated Be Our Guest Dinner Review

We recently ate dinner at Be Our Guest for the second time. I already have a blog post up from our first visit to the beast’s castle, but I wanted to update it with some more pictures and new things they are doing right now in 2021.

I also have a some footage of our visit in our Magic Kingdom video, which you can find here.

At Be Our Guest, the menu is a prix fixe 3 course menu where you order an appetizer, entree and dessert. For my appetizer, I ordered the mixed field greens, which is greens with hazelnut brittle and seasonal fruit with a stone-fruit vinaigrette. I absolutely love this dish! I ordered it last time too and it was just as amazing the second time!

For my entree, I ordered the Filet Mignon. It comes with Yukon potatoes, season vegetables, and cipollini marmalade with a red wine glaze. And wow! I ordered this last time too and it was just as amazing the second time!

My daughter wasn’t too excited about anything on the kids menu as far as the entrees were concerned, so our waiter asked me what she would like. I told him chicken would be fine and he added fries as well. Our waiter was absolutely amazing!

Now, let’s talk about dessert…the reason we are all here right?! You don’t actually order dessert here…they just bring you out a sampler of everything! So you get a macaron, the grey stuff in a white chocolate Chip cup, and a dark chocolate truffle. They also have a vanilla cake with lemon curd that is plant based.

And for the kiddos, they have something very fun! Edible paint and a paint brush with your desserts!

Our waiter also brought my daughter out some extra grey stuff!

We loved dinner and would recommend it to anyone. I consider myself a pretty picky eater, as well as my daughter and we both had things to eat and enjoy! But always look through the menu and see what your options are before you book your reservation. As far as reservations go, they tend to book very quickly so if you don’t get your reservation at your 60 day mark, keep checking every day! Literally every day, even the night before you want to go! People tend to drop reservations last minute so you never know when one will pop up!

There honestly were not a whole lot of differences from this trip compared to our last trip that was before the park closures in 2020. Obviously, there is no meet and greet with the Beast right now, but he does still walk around (at dinner, not lunch) for you to see. I would recommend just taking a video of him and not trying to take pictures because he moves around pretty quick. If you take a video, you can always take screen shots from that later. Everything else was honestly just the same. The menu, the dining rooms, the service. It was all amazing, just like before! If you have any questions, let me know! I would definitely recommend eating here at least once so you can experience everything here…not just the food, but the ambiance as well! There’s nothing else like it on Disney property!

Topolino’s Terrace Breakfast Character Dining

It’s time for another Disney dining review! Today we are heading to the Riviera Resort and enjoying breakfast with Mickey and his friends!

Topololino’s Terrace is located on the 10th floor of the Riviera Resort. If you have time, get to the resort a little early so you can walk around the resort and check out the beautiful views and murals!

Character Dining in this location is only available at breakfast. The restaurant is also open for dinner, but not with characters. As of the time of this writing, the characters don’t come to your table or sign autographs. They will however, come around individually and stand in certain spots for you to take distanced selfies with them. And don’t worry if you don’t get a good picture at first…they tend to come around several times during your visit. They also come out all together and walk and dance around the room to a song. It’s very sweet and the theme is so fun! Keeping with the French Riviera theme, Mickey is a painter, Minnie is a writer, Daisy is a ballerina and Donald is a sculptor.

I haven’t even talked about the food yet! We ordered the Mickey waffle dippers for my daughter, I ordered the sour cream waffles (SO GOOD!) and my husband ordered the quiche. And the pastries were amazing as well!

And the views outside from the terrace…wow! You can see Swan and Dolphin Resorts, Tower of Terror, the skyliner and lots of Caribbean Beach Resort! It’s so gorgeous! It was a little overcast and cloudy on the day we were there, so I can only imagine what it looks like when the sun is shining! Make sure you take time to go out on the terrace and check out those views!

Overall, we had a fantastic time and can’t wait to be back and explore more of the resort! Have you dined at Topolino’s Terrace? Let me know in the comments and be sure to check out our video of our experience here!

Hollywood and Vine Minnie’s Silver Screen Dine Character Meal

We recently ate at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios for lunch. This is a character meal, available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At breakfast, the characters are Disney Junior characters for a meal called Play N’ Dine, but for lunch and dinner, it’s called Minnie’s Seasonal Dine with Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto. The theme changes based on the time of year. The Silver Screen Dine runs from January to March. Here is the main page for the character meal on Disney’s website.

We really enjoyed the food! We both ordered the Carved Herb Roasted Turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberries and green beans…basically a Thanksgiving platter! And it was delicious!

The kids ice cream sundae was a big hit with Mickey sprinkles and our vanilla creme brulee was amazing! This one was served cold as it’s more of a custard consistency, but it was SO good! I could barely eat it because I was so full from my meal!

Adults eat here for $55 a person and kids for $36 a person. At the time that we ate here, social distancing practices were in place so the characters can’t come directly to your table and interact quite the same as before. They all stop in front or behind your table and interact with you some and pose so you can take distant selfies with them.

Tables here are spaced out and there is some plexiglass on the backs of booths separating you from the people who are using the same booth behind you. You do need reservations for this character meal and when it’s time for your reservation, you check in on the MyDisney Experience app and then you will be alerted when your table is ready!

With character meet and greets not happening right now, character meals are the only way to guarantee seeing certain characters in the parks. Yes, there are cavalcades that come through the parks fairly often but you could miss them if you’re riding rides and/or not in the right section of the park.

Overall, we had a great time and really enjoyed the food and service! The characters did their best to interact with us and give our girl some attention! She loved it and was so happy to see Mickey again!

Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort Review

Are you planning a big family trip to Disney World and looking for somewhere affordable for your party to stay that’s close to Disney World?

We recently returned from a trip to Disney World where we stayed at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek which is actually on Disney World property. It’s only a 7 minute drive to Disney Springs, 12 minutes to the Transportation and Ticket Center, 10 minutes to Hollywood Studios, 11 minutes to Animal Kingdom and only a 5 minute drive to the Riviera Resort! Here is our Youtube review from our stay!

There are several pools on property and a lazy river as well. This pirate ship with a slide looks really fun! We hope to be back when it’s a little warmer so we can take advantage of all of the outdoor amenities!

During our stay, we ate breakfast one day at Tesoro Cafe. It’s only open on the weekends but kids 5 and under eat free!

The food at Tesoro Cafe was served buffet style. Our waitress also brought us some pastries to go with our meal. We enjoyed pancakes, belgian waffles, eggs, potatoes, omelets, fresh fruit and more!

Now let’s talk about our suite. We stayed in a two bedroom suite that can sleep up to 8 people. The dining room table was very large and we had plenty of storage for our groceries that we ordered from Amazon Fresh. We had a full kitchen with a full sized refrigerator, oven and stove, microwave, dishwasher, coffee maker, etc. and it was fully stocked with plates, silverware and anything else you could possibly need!

The sofa in the living room is a pull-out sofa for 2. The living room and the 2 bedrooms each had a television as well as plenty of storage underneath, as well as closets. The master bedroom has a king size bed and a connecting bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, as well as a walk in shower.

The suite also had a washer and dryer for laundry and a separate bathroom with a tub and shower. The second bedroom can sleep up to 4 people. We also had a nice deck with table and chairs to enjoy the views!

We really enjoyed our stay at Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek and can’t wait to be back! Be sure to check out our Youtube video for a full tour!

Wine Bar George in Disney Springs

Welcome to another Disney Dining Review! We recently returned from another Disney World trip where we were very lucky to experience the amazing service and food at Wine Bar George in Disney Springs!

This restaurant is amazing! The views from upstairs are incredible! Definitely try to request a table upstairs if you can! They also have tables outside so if it’s a nice day, you could eat out there as well!

All the sights and sounds of Disney Springs, right outside your window! We could see Raglan Road, Morimoto Asia, Gideon’s and the hot air balloon from our table!

We were given paper bags for our masks once we made it to the table which was such a nice touch! I loved it!

Now, let’s get to the food! Our server Mike was incredible! We mainly ordered small plates off of the appetizer menu, but we did not leave hungry!

I ordered the Crispy Mac and Cheese Bites and the Burrata, which is seasonal tomatoes with olive oil and grilled bread.

My husband ordered the Chicken Skewers with Asian Slaw and also the Saganaki On Fire, which is a type of cheese (that is literally on fire) served with crostini. They bring it to your table on fire and then put out the fire with lemon juice. It’s such a unique experience!

Our waiter also ordered some chicken fingers and fries for my daughter, which she loved! Disney always goes above and beyond to make sure even their smallest guests walk away happy!

I loved everything that I tried, but my favorite dish was hands down the Crispy Mac and Cheese bites! They are basically fried balls that when opened, creamy mac and cheese goodness comes out! It’s such a genius idea! And the sauce they serve them with is delicious as well! It really makes the dish come together! When I told our server Mike at the end of the meal that they were my favorite, he told me that the fried part was made with crumbled Cheeze-Its! WHAT?? SO good!

Overall, we had a great time and I can’t wait to go back and try some new dishes (but I’ll still have to order the Mac and Cheese Bites again!) They also serve brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30am-2pm so I will have to check that out as well!

Have you ever eaten at Wine Bar George? What is your favorite dish there? Let me know in the comments and I will see you soon with another dining review! We also have a YouTube video as well reviewing our experience. You can check that out here!