My Disney Blog

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

Alright, I know it's not a Disney clip, but I just couldn't resist! I ran into the "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" video on DailyMotion, and thought it was so great to share. What a classic, and since I am from Minnesota, I just had to share a Peanuts classic. Hope you like it :)

Peanuts: Specials: It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
Uploaded by Peanuts

--- Disney Dean

Win a Trip to the Caribbean

I know a lot of my Disney friends are also big fans of the Caribbean, so I thought I would let you know about a cool contest going on right now. I am lucky enough to be friends with the owners of CheapCaribbean.com, the largest vacation website dedicated to travel to the Caribbean and Mexico! I have been in the travel industry for about 10 years now, and have known thousands of people from companies that sell travel online. Out of all these people, I can safely say that there is one company I would trust more than ANY other for my travel plans. CheapCaribbean is that company. The owners are outstanding people and they are entirely focused on providing the best vacation at the best prices. What's cool is that if you are their 1 MILLIONTH newsletter subscriber, you could win a FREE vacation for 4 days and 3 nights to one of the amazing properties by AM resorts! There are a few ways to join.

First, you can sign up directly right on CheapCaribbean.com
Second, you can join their Facebook Group, and sign up through there

If you sign up through the Facebook Group, there is even an additional discount included on your next trip. So, if you're thinking of skipping a trip to Disney this year in favor of the Caribbean or Mexico, maybe you should give it a try.

Check out this testimonial from the March 9, 2009 episode of the Today Show on NBC!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Good luck and stay warm!

--- Disney Dean

The Incredible Shrinking Disney Dean

Well, I wasn't so sure I was going to write about this, but after all - it was inspired by an upcoming trip to Disney!! Like a lot of people, I've struggled with weight problems for most of my life. Being 6'5" tall, I can get away with it a little easier, but the ole' metabolism is starting to wear down. So, my doctor talked me into joining Weight Watchers! I must admit - I was pretty darn apprehensive about joining - but it has been an unbelievable experience for me. On May 6th, I walked into my first meeting - VERY FREAKED OUT that I was going. There were a few other men there, but mostly all women (about 45 in all). Everyone welcomed me with open arms, and really got a 'kick' out of me being there. Can you believe Disney Dean goes to Weight Watchers?

Anyway, so I did the official weigh in, and hoped the scale would go that high ;) I weighed in at a lofty 262.2 pounds - YIKES! I guess I had a few too many Mickey Ice Cream Bars! The first few days, I had such a problem figuring out the POINTS system, but after 3 or 4 days, I was well on my way to figuring this system out. I absolutely LOVE IT! I had no idea that some of the stuff I was eating was sooooooo bad for me. For example, at an Italian restaurant chain in our area, they have something like a meat lovers Calzone. That baby was definitely one of my favorite! Little did I know that there are 45 points in one of those. I am fortunate (as many of the ladies at WW tell me) to get a whopping 38 points a day because of my gender, age and starting weight. Right there, that would have been more than my daily points allowance! Whew!

Well, after the first few days - I was getting pretty good at this! I even made it through a Mother's Day Brunch day and only came out a few points over my daily limit. Despite that - I was pretty nervous to go to my first weigh-in. I stepped on the scale, and the person weighing me in gasped and started getting very excited. I lost a whopping 7.2 pounds - to round out at 255.0 pounds. I should be around 200 pounds, so I have a ways to go, but it is definitely a start, and I am going to take it slow. That is kind of a lot to lose in a week, so I am going to try to slow that down a bit, but it is so exciting!

Anyway, I thought maybe I would post from time to time about my WW experience. Would love to hear from others who have found success with WW. The beauty is that you actually CAN eat whatever you want - you just have to make choices and sacrifices and you generally end up making much better choices in the long run. I have started to eat fruits and veggies constantly and figured out they aren't as disgusting as I once thought. If I wanted to eat the meat lover's calzone - I could - I would just cut it in half and take half home - then combine it with some steamed veggies or a salad with a low point dressing or only use a few points worth.

My goal is to hit my 10% by our August trip - that would be 26 pounds. With the heat, I know I will feel much better, and it's worth a shot. Next up: Fitness!

Looking forward to hearing from others!!

--- The Shrinking Disney Dean

Caribbean Vacations

I live in a really beautiful area of the country, but I must be honest - it's darn cold for a fair amount of the year up here in northern Minnesota. Just after the holidays, I usually start dreaming of warmer climates, and although I love to go to Disney as much as possible, it's also kind of nice to hit the islands of the Caribbean, Mexico or Hawaii. I've been to several islands in the Caribbean, and there is no other company I would more highly recommend than CheapCaribbean.com. I'm lucky enough to be friends with the people at CheapCaribbean, and they are the friendliest travel booking site on the web - without question. CheapCaribbean was started by "Caribbean Jim" Hobbs about 7 years ago. He initially handled ALL of the bookings himself, and as word got out, it took off much more than their wildest dreams. The thing I like best is that they include tons of extras in their vacation package bookings, to help make your vacation a little more carefree.  CheapCaribbean.com now serves over 250,000 customers a year and is the largest website dedicated to travel to Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Mexico. What's truly amazing is that 100% of the operating profits of CheapCaribbean now go to their Cheap Caribbean Cares Foundation, and back to their hard working employees. I have been in the travel industry for about 7 years now, and have NEVER found a better and more caring travel company. So, if you or your friends are looking at heading to warmer climates, whether it be the Caribbean, Mexico, Bermuda, or anywhere else warm you can think of, head on over to "Caribbean Jim's" CheapCaribbean.com - what are you waiting for - as they say "wouldn't you rather be on the beach?".

--- Disney Dean

Traffic Growing on My Disney Blog

I am just so happy about this. When I started MyDisneyBlog.com in the middle of September 2007, I had a goal of bringing happy news to other Disney fans like me. I know there are blogs that post about bad things that happen in the parks, such as crime, accidents, etc, but I really just want to report on all the magic that goes on each and every day of the year. In just three short months, we've gone from 1 visitor a day (me!) to an average of 130 visitors a day, just by posting daily articles regarding Disney. By the end of December, with our current growth, we should have reached nearly 5,000 visitors a month! My goal now is to partner with other sites to expose the site to even more people. What a wonderful thing to receive emails from Disney fans each and every day. Living in the wilds of northern Minnesota, it helps me to keep the magic alive for times when I can't be in Orlando. OK, so you may call me a bit obsessed, but it makes me really, really happy ;)

So, if you'd like to see more people checking out MyDisneyBlog.com, I would really appreciate if you would email the web address to your friends and family that like Disney. You can also sign up on the right hand side of the site for daily updates in your inbox. I promise I won't flood your inbox - just one or two posts a day in an easy to read single daily email. One thing I am trying to do on a regular basis is highlight promo codes that you can use on DisneyShopping.com, so signing up for our daily email would be one way to keep informed.

One other favor! If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see in MyDisneyBlog, I would LOVE to hear from you. Just shoot me an email, or start commenting on some of the posts. I want to meet as many Disney friends as possible through this site, so don't be afraid to give me a holler! The one thing that I would like to change is the general appearance of the site, by adding Disney related imagery and making it more "magical" looking.

Lastly, if you know of someone who enjoys writing about Disney, please tell them I would love to have them post some stories/articles on MyDisneyBlog. I don't want the blog to be totally from my perspective, so a few other writers would be very welcome.

Thanks to the many people who now read MyDisneyBlog on a daily basis!

--- Disney Dean

Elf Yourself

OK, I know this is a Disney website/blog, and I am supposed to be writing about all things Disney, but every once-in-a-while, isn't it ok to stop thinking about Disney? Well, maybe not, but I did come across something I thought you would all like. A friend of mine sent us a greeting the other day, called ElfYourself. I didn't know what to make of the subject line, but I checked it out anyway. My whole family laughed for many minutes straight. ElfYourself, devised by the people at OfficeMax, is a hilarious greeting card, where you upload photos of yourself, family members, significant others, pets, friends, people you don't like, etc., and they make a video greeting out of it (with your photos made into elves). The guy who sent it to us is just a card, and it totally fits his character to be in the greeting, but his wife is more shy and reserved, and it just set the whole tone for the greeting. You even put in the names of the people you want to send the greeting to, and it says it as part of the song!

Anyway, if you want to create what I feel is one of the funniest greetings I've ever seen, go ElfYourself (make yourself into an elf, that is!) at ElfYourself.com. Prove to everyone that you've got plenty of time on your hands :)

--- Disney Dean