Carowinds Alert: Snag your Season Pass Before Price Hike

Haven't gotten your Season Pass for the year yet? 
Well, you better sprint to Carowinds soon or you'll miss your chance of getting a golden deal on your passes.  The prices of 2016 Season Passes goes up on May 31st.

Why DisneySMMC is More Meaningful to Me and My Family this Time Around

Inside Yacht and Beach Club Convention Center 

The Disney Social Media Moms Conference is perhaps the most coveted conference available to bloggers out there. It is by-invite only and limited, making the conference a very exclusive event. To be invited is almost an achievement all on its own. And rightly so. It's an invite by Disney itself afterall. None can top that!

Alice Through The Looking Glass: A Twisted Reality

Alice and Absolem inside the "parallel reality" after she crossed the "Magical looking glass" / Photo: Disney:

I have seen trailers of Alice Through the Looking Glass a few times and heard all the buzz, but nothing prepared me for how awesome it was to actually watch the entire movie on the big screen and on 3D - waaaayyy before it officially opens in theaters! Nothing also prepared me for the unexpected surprise that this movie is entirely a story all on its own and only inspired by the original story based on the book by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. However, this version will surely make you mad - mad with delight!

Disney World's New Disney Springs: An Exclusive look Behind the Wall

Disney Springs Welcome Pedestrian Causeway / Photo : Disney

Downtown Disney No more...
If you frequent Disneyworld or is from Orlando, you probably noticed or heard that Downtown Disney is no longer referred to as such. Rather, it is now aptly called, "Disney Springs". And it's not just the name that changed. Instead, there is a whole redesign and re-imagined shopping overhaul to the town center that will make you feel like you're walking through Florida's historical timeline while enjoying a top of the line shopping experience.

The World Behind The Wall
I was one of the privileged few - thanks to DisneySMMC (Disney Social Media Moms Conference) - to not only step inside the enclosure hiding the new Town Center and final expansion of the new Disney Springs shopping hub but also got a private tour to walk around the site and had a sneak peek on what's in store for the shoppers once it opens. All I'll say is that Shopaholics will surely have the time of their lives once this finally opens to the public!

Disney Pixar's Finding Dory: Her Forgotten Past Finally Revealed

We all know Nemo of course and when we think of this famous clown fish's movie, that Blue Tang, Dory, isn't that far away from our minds, is it? Wait...

Dory who? 
That's right. Dory in a nutshell. The Blue Tang with its relentless STML (Short Term Memory Loss) disability. Nemo's reliably unreliable forgetful friend. However, she possesses a big heart and big enough to make up for her usually erratic misgivings. A positive quality of hers that overcame her sometimes annoying flaw. Her wackiness is so cute and so impressionably adorable that Dory swam into our hearts in full speed and stayed there.

Disney Social Media Moms: The Magic Happens When You Keep Believing

Life sometimes have a way of teaching us a valuable lesson in the "Keep Believing" department. It's easier to give up on a dream when it seem like there is no possibility of it ever coming true. But in the famous words of Walt Disney himself, "When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable" and of course, "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." Which simply means, keep believing... Dreams do come true. And to the tune of Journey's Keep on Believing, here's my version of  keep believing to make you keep believing... Believing in that getting invited to Disney Social Media Moms Conference is really not that impossible - just, well, keep believing...or better yet, just sing it!

Here's the link to the music with original lyrics to sing along to: Keep Believing
Or the Karaoke Style without lyrics: Keep Believing

I'm not a small town girl
Not livin' in a lonely world
We took the morning drive goin' to Disneyworld
Just a New Yorker boy
Born and raised in Buffalo
We took the morning drive goin' to Disneyworld

The Fast Way to NOT Get Invited to the Disney Conference Inspired by Disney's Iconic Villains

Photo Disney world

And so the magic happened again. When the lovely Leanne Jakubowski O'Regan tweeted a "coded" tweet on a particular time of the year, everyone paid attention. You paid attention. Then your next move was to call on all the gods of Disney you may happen to know and fervently prayed that they'll bless you with a pixie dusted email. Beyond that point, you started to stalk your email. It was a feat to be patient. But you have no choice but to be. Afterall, there is only one Tinkerbell spreading all the pixie dusts. Also, navigating through the ethernet to make sure you get the magical invite does takes a bit of work. To the lucky ones, this is an auspicious time. A time for great celebration. It may even drive them bonkers with excitement, apprehension and delight.

I should know this. I've experienced this exhilarating emotions 3 times. It's the happiest kind of bonkers you'll ever feel.

However, there's always that flip side to every happy event. The Yang to the Yin. The dark side to the light. The evil Darth Vader to Anakin Skywalker. You get the picture. It simply brings the wickedness in others and all the crazies seem to come out of the woodwork all at once. The unlucky ones.

If you're vying (or dying) to get invited to the most coveted Disney conference, here's a nugget of wisdom for you. Don't be a sourpuss! 

What Legacy Will I Leave my Child? #ShareYourLegacy with Disney and h20+ and Win!

Love this girl to the moon and back! / Photo +Maricris G 

I was watching my daughter walk ahead of me the other day when a sudden truth hit me. It was like being sucker punched in the tummy. Ouch! Reality sure hurts. There was no denying it - "My baby is growing up way too fast!". Then it so happened that my all-time favorite brand Disney asked me if I wanted to participate in a campaign to share "MY" legacy - my answer was a resounding YES! of course.


Because, hey it's Disney, and I also have my own story to tell and a legacy that I hope to instill in my daughter, and what the heck, possibly my future grandchildren as well. A legacy that I hope they'll always remember me for.

My Moms' Night Out At The Red Carpet

I yet again find myself in this unglamorous world of moving and packing and surrounded by these boring brown boxes that never, not in a million years, did I think that I will have a break to do a Moms' Night Out involving a night filled with celebrities, glamming up - in stilletos! -  projecting my inner Marilyn Monroe at first try, and stepping on the famous red carpet, at the Chinese theater in... Hollywood!

Heartbreak #1: Don't Trust Your Fans and Followers Count

Let's admit it. Across the board, blogger or entrepreneur, it brings us joy when we see our followers count grow! Who doesn't? We identify it as an integral measure of our "growth". Thus, we end up obsessing over the numbers to a point that when we lose followers by any form or fashion, it cuts us like a knife and it affects us emotionally. But I say STOP, right there, right now! Wasting precious energy sulking and whining about it ain't worth it! When you lose followers, think of this - It has nothing to do with you, it's them!

Sounds so cliche' doesn't it? An overused line that we'd politely say, or receive, when we are dumping someone, or tragically, being dumped! Though in this case, I simply can't agree more. Yes! It's them and not you! 

Facebook Finally Gives Bloggers Freedom to Promote Or Maybe?

Facebook recently revised their Promotion Guidelines which obviously made a lot of [us] happy! To me, this is more of "a sigh of relief". No more confusion. No more fear that you're violating a (vague, highly debated) TOS. And best of all, no more Blogger police gnawing on the heels of your giveaway ethics! Brilliant, right? Yes. But there's a catch. There's a limitation to the new term and you should not be caught unawares.

Royal Tea Party with Cadbury

Let me tell you now that we did not hold a tea party in honor of the birth of the Royal Baby though that certainly wouldn't have been a bad idea either. It was rather a celebration of friendship, the chance to connect and sip a warm (or sweet - we're from the South) cup of tea, to relax and have a much needed break from all the back-breaking move we recently have and socialize with friends we missed. We so needed to just have this single day to slooooow down and be "human" again. Thanks to Cadbury who provided the "sweet treats" to get this tea party started,  royalty style! Plus, we love drinking tea as much as we love coffee, so overall, it was a good excuse to throw a party and no one needed to twist my arm to make me do it! 

Lactose-Free Dining with Lactaid Milk and Melissa D'Arabian at Today Show

Melissa has yet again created a superb lactose-free meal for lactose-intolerant sufferers like me using Lactaid milk and shared it at yesterdays Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda. She made Chicken in Creamy Mushroom sauce and she got me at mushroom! 

Sambazon Your Way to A Healthy Lifestyle - Review and Giveaway

The path to a better lifestyle and healthy eating habits can sometimes be a hard road to travel especially when you really don't know where to start or how to get there and you're always on the go. Nutrition most often than not gets compromised. Thank goodness for products like Sambazon who have created smoothies and juices and packed it with the finest organic Amazon Superfoods™ that you can conveniently grab and go! Best of all, they're sure to fill you up and they're ORGANIC!

Give the MOM in your Life the World of Coca-Cola this Mother's Day - Giveaway

The World of Coca-Cola - photo courtesy of Coca-Cola

I had the pleasure of experiencing the fun World of Coca-Cola during Spring break and boy! What a blast! My family and I definitely had a fantastic time! It's one of those discoveries that you would want to go back to over and over again. Needless to say, it has made it to our family's regular travel vacation destinations. And with Mother's day just around the corner, If I could, I would go there in a heartbeat and celebrate it there!

Busting Lactose Intolerance with Melissa D'Arabian and #Lactaid + Giveaway

Kathie Lee and Hoda with Melissa D'Arabia
making a lactose-free Blueberry Muffins 
with Lactaid milk at the Today Show.

If you are one of those individuals that can't handle dairy, like me, you're not alone! According to National Digestive Diseases Information, 40 Million Americans are lactose intolerant but worst for Asians, like me, where 90 Million suffers from this very uncomfortable and sometime lifestyle-altering condition. For those who suffer from this condition, you'll easily agree that dairy is like the dreaded bogeyman that you try to avoid as much as you can! Boo! 

Yet knowing more about this condition can greatly help you understand how to deal with it and still enjoy a life, or a meal or two with milk and dairy.

Britax Opened Its Doors To A New Location in SC

Jon Chamberlain, President of Britax cutting the ribbon to officially open the doors
to their new facility in SC. Next to Chamberlain, is South Carolina Director of External Affairs, 
Michael McInerney (right) and two other SC dignitaries.

And I was there to see it! Indeed, Britax found a new home just across the border. A hop away from NC, their former home. Their new facility looked very impressive and their presence in SC will certainly mean jobs and definitely a needed lift to South Carolina's economy. I'm sure Charlotte felt a loss when they left its boundary but Britax needed more room to grow and South Carolina have the space they needed.

Top 5 Must-Have Resolutions To Start Your BLOG Right in 2013

If you think that blogs don't need resolutions, think again. Trust me. After visiting a few many blogs today, I reckon a lot of us do! Make that very crucial that they do! We all want our blogs to be reader and visitor-friendly and yet I don't understand why some blog owners makes it miserably hard for us to navigate their blogs. Yes, I'm totally biatching here. You would too if you were in my shoes today.

New Fantasyland's Enchanted Tales with Belle Video Sneak Peek

Watch this on our YouTube Channel: New Fantasyland Enchanted Tales with Belle

Enchanted Tales with Belle is one of New Fantasyland's newest attractions that is interactive and highly entertaining that both children and adults will surely LOVE! Not to say get tickled at the whole thing!

Disneyworld's New Fantasyland: New Attractions Will Make You Go Gaga with Delight!

Prince Eric's Castle at Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid 

Disney has done it again! Creating new attractions that fans not only will love but go total gaga over! Yes, gaga. Let's just say, I had, ahem, the case of gaga-ness myself when I saw and experience all the cool attractions that was ready to open at the New Fantasyland located inside Magic Kingdom before it opened to the public!