This is a question we get all the time!  For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the story, when Magic Kingdom opens, the train comes into the station at the Magic Kingdom gate with all of your favorite Disney characters; Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and so on.  As part of this entourage, one family gets to "help" open the Magic Kingdom.  You ride in on the train with the characters, throw confetti, and so on.  Sometimes, you get to open Mickey's Toon Town Fair, the Tea Cups, ride in the parade, etc.  It really depends on the day, whether you have kids or not, and lots of other things.

More importantly, how do you become "that" family?  One of my favorite answers is 50% luck and 50% magic.

In truth, luck has a lot to do with which family is selected, but there are some things you can do to sway the odds in your favor.

1. Arrive EARLY!  By early, I'm talking 2-3 hours before the park opens.  Your goal is to be the first family at the gate.
2. Be enthusiastic!  I know this can be very tough when the kids are up early and cranky and tugging at your leg, whining for a bathroom and so on.  However, Disney wants happy families to open the Magic Kingdom, not stressed, frustrated parents.
3. DO NOT bother when Extra Magic Hours occurs in the morning at Magic Kingdom.  They don't have the ceremony, so you'd be wasting your time.

You can also try to be "pre-selected" to be the Magic Kingdom opening family.  Remember, I said "try."  Disney and the Magic Kingdom insist that the selection process is completely random and that you cannot "request" to be the opening family.  However, we've known several people that did get "pre-selected."  So, how did they do it?  All of them did it the night before the day they wanted to be the Magic Kingdom opening family.  Your best bet is to talk to one of the gate or guest services managers and have a story.

What do I mean by have a story?  Your grandparents are with you and celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, you have a terminally ill child, you just got back from the Olympics where you won a medal, you saved money for 40 years to make this trip to the Magic Kingdom.  You get the idea.  Add some spice, adventure, or emotion to why they should "pre-select" you.

As I noted, this is a long-shot, as we've been told repeatedly (even when we've tried the above tactics) that you cannot be pre-selected.  However, we've known too many people that have been pre-selected to realize that this just isn't true.

Your best bet is just to arrive early and look like the biggest, most enthusiastic Disney fan you've ever seen.

Good luck!

Here's a video from the selected family perspective:

Tomorrow: Disney parades and shows.

My son's changed his mind, several times on the "theme" of his room.  First, he wanted Thomas The Train.  Then, Disney-Pixar Cars and most recently, after 3 Disney Cruises last year, he wants it decorated like a cruise ship.

Fortunately, for this latest decorative endeavor in my son's room, we were able to get self-stick wall murals through some of our contacts.

However, you can get similar types of self-stick wall murals at Amazon, now.  Here's an example of one that's Cinderella's Castle:

They are some of the top-selling items on Amazon, right now; getting very good reviews.

From our experience with the Disney Cruise Line murals in our son's room, they are very easy to put into place (although you may need to use a credit card or some other long flat edge to get all the bubbles out) and amazingly easy to move around to a difficult location.

They don't leave any kind of film or adhesive behind -- at least ours don't.  Our two kids love them and my daughter has been asking from some of her own.

You can find lots of different self-stick wall murals for Disney themes and characters at Amazon.

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After entering the wedding dress business a couple years ago with their fairy tale dresses from Kirstie Kelly.  Kirstie will continue her success with Disney bridal by designing Disney wedding rings for Pascal Mouawad ranging in price from $1,200 to $6,000.

The line consists of six engagement rings with matching wedding bands that correspond to six Disney heroines, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

The rings will not include the center stone, allowing buyers to select their stone for the centerpiece of the ring.

We've spent the week catching up from our Disney Cruise, last week, so posts have been seldom, this week.

However, I'm going to make up for it with a great tip for your next Disney Cruise!

Don't wait for any Disney character pictures!

All throughout your Disney cruise, you'll have the "opportunity" to visit with your favorite characters and get your photo with them after waiting in LONG lines.  That's no fun!  I don't want to waste my vacation waiting to see Belle and Peter Pan!

Instead, wait until the last night of your cruise for the "'Til We Meet Again" party!  All your favorite characters will be in attendance and you can literally get around to most of them within 5-10 minutes!!!!

My daughter had her picture will all her favorite characters at this party in just a matter of minutes without a single line.  No waiting.  No fighting with her when she gets bored and restless.  Just pure Disney character fun!

So, while all those other people are waiting in lines, just smile as you walk by and come back for the "'Til We Meet Again" party and walk right up to your favorite Disney characters!

Today, Donald Duck celebrates his 75th birthday!  However, there seems to be some discussion as to whether this is Donald's birthday or whether his film debut should be his birthday.  What we celebrate, today, seems to be a combination of the two.

Donald Duck first appeared in the Disney short, The Wise Little Hen in 1934 (hence, the 75 years):

In Happy Birthday, Donald, his birthday is cited as March 13th:

So, between the two dates, we have today as Donald's 75th birthday! The number 13 shows up throughout Donald's film history, including his birthday being mentioned as "Friday the 13th" in The Three Cabelleros. In Donald Gets Drafted, his draft order number is 13 and the recruiting station is number 13.

It's said that this would account for Donald's bad luck in almost all of his appearances and could even turn into a game or challenge like the Hidden Mickeys.  How many times can you spot the number 13 in Donald's appearances?