Meal at Disney World’s Newly Reopened Crystal Palace

by The Pike's Place

If you’re thinking about dining in Magic Kingdom and not sure you want to try Crystal Palace without characters I’m here to tell you to try it out!

Crystal Palace is an American restaurant in Walt Disney Worlds Magic Kingdom theme park. It was previously a character meal buffet restaurant featuring Winnie the Pooh and friends. They have been closed since the beginning of the pandemic and reopened in December 2020. We happened to be at the parks the week they reopened and wanted a break from the park with a hungry toddler. We walked up and got right in! That is definitely not the normal, but extremely nice. We had a wonderful meal with fantastic service.

(more…)

Disney World Gender Reveal

by The Pike's Place

Prince or Princess What Will It Be?

We wanted to surprise our family with a gender reveal and do something a little different for our second baby. We had just found out the gender of our baby the week before a family vacation to Walt Disney World, so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to change it up with an exciting reveal. We had done a pregnancy announcement photo at Disney, so why not do a Disney World Gender Reveal too!

Our Reveal Idea

I had a million different ideas for a reveal and looked at a lot of different articles. I needed something that would be easy and quick since my family had no idea we’d be doing this! We had just found out days prior to this trip, so I really didn’t have time to order anything or prearrange something either. Ordering a cake was out and we had done that for our last gender reveal. We really wanted to do it while my family was all together. We decided on using Mickey balloons since they come in pink and blue and we could do the reveal at any opportune moment with the help of a Disney PhotoPass photographer. We could make it pink or make it blue and let everyone know!

How We Did the Reveal

This idea worked out perfectly! I told my family moments before the reveal so they were totally shocked. I found a photographer, named Mae, who wasn’t busy and she was so excited to help out! She helped me pick out a location that wasn’t busy while the parade was happening just off main street, so it would be a private moment for my family. My husband purchased the two balloons totaling $28. My niece was going to get the pink one after the reveal and our son was going to get the blue one, so no balloon went to waste either.

It was extremely extremely windy, so besides the wind blowing the balloons around the moment turned out exactly how I imagined it. We took some photos with both balloons then for the “reveal” I handed my mom the balloon of the gender our baby was not and kept the balloon that our baby was. In this case we are having a baby boy, so we kept the blue balloon to take photos with the blue one. Then we went over in front of the castle to snag some more photos with our blue balloon for our new little prince!

This was super easy fun way to announce we are having a little boy and my family was so surprised!

Disney World Pregnancy Announcement

by The Pike's Place

We are so excited to announce we are expecting baby #2! Being a huge Disney fan, travel agent, and living just a short distance from Walt Disney World the only way I wanted to share our families exciting news was with an announcement taken at Disney. It just so happened that our timing also meant it was right around the holidays and the parks were all decked out perfect timing for a holiday announcement.

Our Ideas

I had about 100 different ideas on how to announce we were pregnant again, in front of the castle, with a baby onesie, or maybe with a sign. The little Mickey ear hats with our announcement embroidered on the back was on the top of my list. You can get the hats all over Disney property and have them embroidered on site with any message under a certain length. They make super cute announcement photos, but time constraints an a busy two year old that really wasn’t the best option for us.

Our Announcement Photo

Instead, I decided to pick up an I’m celebrating button and just write our surprise on it! You can pick up these buttons at almost any merchandise location or stand and the cast member working there will likely have a sharpie to write on it. I had our family coordinate colors for Christmas and posed in front of the Epcot Christmas tree. We originally planned to use photo pass photographers, which is the best option if you are alone. My parents were with us so instead I had my Dad snaps some photos of us while I held out the pin with our secret message. After about 30 different shots and a few funny ones of my toddler trying to pick his nose (keeping it real here), we had a perfect Disney announcement! It was easy, simple and quick for the toddler! Even better the celebration buttons are FREE!

Congratulations

If you are pregnant and thinking of doing a Disney announcement congratulations! This is such an exciting time of life and I am so excited for your family. Share in the comments how you did your announcement!

Cruising With A Baby On Disney Cruise Line

by The Pike's Place

Are you planning on sailing with a baby? We did, it was amazing, and no you aren’t crazy! We sailed on Disney Cruise Line with our then 18-month-old son for 7 nights to the Western Caribbean. There were some trials, tears and tantrums, but he did great. He loved it and we loved it. While he won’t remember everything, we will and those memories will stay with us forever. Plus he did some pretty cool things, such as travel to 4 countries, tried new food, and met over 15 characters! What did we learn from cruising with (more…)

10 Tips for Taking a Baby to Disney

by The Pike's Place

We have a 15-month-old son who we have been taking to Walt Disney World since he was 5 months old. He had his first haircut at the Magic Kingdom and it’s truly already his favorite place on earth. His face lights up every time he meets a character and he loves the attractions. We have probably been to Disney with him more than 20 different times including one week-long vacation and another weekend vacation, for his first birthday of course. Now, I realize (more…)

Bringing a Stroller to Disney

by The Pike's Place

There is a lot to consider when taking a baby or toddler to Walt Disney World and with the amount of walking whether or not to bring a stroller should be high on your list. We visit Disney World very often with our son and have used a stroller on most (more…)

MommyCon Orlando 2018

by The Pike's Place

This post contains an affiliate link if you make a purchase after clicking this link we will be compensated. All opinions are our own.

Over the weekend we checked out MommyCon Orlando at the Caribe Royale. It was a great day filled with tons of parents information, products, shopping, demonstrations and giveaways! I attended with my older sister who was also one of the speakers and she crushed it. I was so excited to see all the hottest and up and coming mommy and baby products, some of the items were even Disney related (more…)

Animal Kingdom with a Baby

by The Pike's Place

We headed to the Animal Kingdom earlier this week to see what was new for August and what we could do with a baby. Check out the video to see what we did!

Using a Baby Carrier at Disney World

by The Pike's Place

We just took our son for his first visit at Disney World. We tried using a stroller and using a baby carrier and there were pros and cons to both. Here are my thoughts on using a carrier or babywearing at Disney World and why it might be a good idea for your family.

Why Use a Carrier

Many people love and prefer to babywear at Disney World. A carrier gives you the freedom to have your hands free, not need to park or fold up your stroller, not leave it unattended, and baby is always safely attached to you! It is super easy to walk around (more…)

The First Month With Baby

by The Pike's Place

There is a new Pike among us! It has been awhile since I last posted and that is because we have been busy enjoying and learning all about life with a newborn. I’m so excited to introduce our little baby! He is just the sweetest thing and light of our lives. Here are 10 things I have learned (more…)