Disney Social Media Moms Conference! @DisneySMMoms #DisneySMMoms

 

The Disney Social Media Moms conference is the most prestigious event in my blog year. I have been blessed to have been invited several times..

The date and location for the 2014 event were announced at the end of last year’s conference. I had been on pins and needles for many months hoping for an invite as all the events in our life had lined up to make the timing perfect for my family. My son’s state test exams were at the beginning and end of April, and the conference would over lap with his Spring break. Perfect: this also meant we could extend our stay and have a week to explore Southern California.

The conference started with a meet and greet on the property of the Disneyland Hotel. That meant an opportunity to see my blog friends from all over the country, some of whom I had grown close to on Facebook, others that I have met at different events around the country. As I have written before, I absolutely love bloggers so I was one happy man!

Friday was tthe main conference where we sat and listened to several speakers from different areas of Disney Life, and then some high level folks from different parts of the business world. I get huge amounts of motivation from these folks!

My favorite Disney speaker is always Gary Buchanan. He is the Social Media Manager at the Disney Parks. He is the guy working hard all day meeting characters, filming videos, and he was even forced to attend this year’s Super Bowl in NY as part of his Disney duties! Gary has a clear love and loyalty for all things Disney and it is a pleasure to listen to him speak.

Last year we saw Gary jump off of a roof in Hollywood Studios as part of our dinner “theater.” This year was more about content. Not as dramatic, but still inspiring.

We also heard from the “head” guy, Tom Skaggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. I tried not to run up to him and demand a 5th park in Walt Disney World, with a supporting themed hotel, all based on Star Wars. I suppose they are working on it!

Jay Ward spoke to us about the Cars franchise where he is the creative director. He is involved with everything around the world related to Cars. After visiting Cars Land in Disneyland I can only impress upon you that he and his staff bring an authenticity to all that they do that is magnificent. I was the purchaser of all the toys, book, and die cast vehicles related to Cars as my son was growing up,  so I recognized the attention to detail that we saw which made you feel like you were transported into the movie. I may be 55, but I was just as excited as my son experiencing all of this!

There were other social media speakers from Disney and also Kathy Magnum from Imagineering. She was also involved in the amazing Cars Land, and all other new attractions around the globe.

Then came the motivational speakers. Maxine Clark from Build-A-Bear spoke to us and shared her story of hard work, determination, never giving up, and never being too old to try something new! She just killed all of my excuses!

Ex-football player Donald Driver moved us all to emotion as he shared his story. Another guy who didn’t give up. It was great as I got to share a moment with him in the midst of the crowd!

Lastly,  Doug Bowman from Twitter spoke to us. I love Twitter, I tweet all day, I love its effectiveness. Companies jump to attention when you contact them on Twitter, more than they ever had with email. I met Rosie O’Donnell thanks to Twitter, she invited us to her table while we were both dining in the same restaurant. The whole world is brought closer together, it is possible to communicate with almost anyone with this amazing social media tool. Doug shared some amazing stories about the reach of Twitter, but I was already sold. This was my personal highlight of the day! And I learned how to embed a tweet in a blog post!

But wait, there is also fun stuff! We had photo opps with some characters! I had been waiting 4 months to take a picture with Elsa and Anna from Frozen, and they were there, and no 4-6 hour wait! I am also excited for the new movie next month, Maleficent, and she was there as well! Not only was she there, but Friday we got to see a brand new trailer for the movie! Then one of the star’s of the movie, Elle Fanning, stopped by on Saturday and she and Maleficent reenacted a scene for us right in the room! That was amazing and one of the things that make this a special conference!

There were additional activities on Saturday morning which involved the kids, some of them are mentioned in my Disney Junior post here.

The big Saturday evening dinner hoopla was hosted in the Mickey’s Toontown area of Disneyland: the streets were lined with buffets and I danced my behind off in a Disney Park! That is another of the highlights of my conference experience, as well as when we had the exclusive use of Cars Land Sunday morning. This was during our final meal, a buffet breakfast, which occurred right after the Disney Run. I was unable to participate in that!

I am grateful for another wonderful Disney experience, and I hope you will all continue to follow along on my other adventures, we are planning a Walt Disney World trip for late August, it is a truly magical place for my family and I!

Disclosure: I attended a conference at Disneyland for which I paid a conference fee. Park tickets, some hotel nights and meals were provided. All opinions are always 100% honest and my own.

And special thanks to the conference sponsors, Alamo, American Tourister, Build-A-Bear, Coppertone, GogosqueeZ, Hanes, H20+, Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company, Kohl’s, New Balance, Taylor Morrison, Nikon, Disney Magic of Healthy Living, Disney Junior, Disney Interactive, Disney/Run & DisneySports / ESPN, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Living, Disney Store and Disney Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures (yes, we got to see Disney Nature’s new Bears movie as well!).