Category: Uncategorized

What in the world does it mean to be a present traveler?

This week, the community I live in was completely rocked by the sudden passing of a 14 year old girl, named Alivea. To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. There are never words to describe tragedies such as this.

In many ways, things seem like business as usual. They still aren’t finished with the building of the hotel down the street. There’s still a sign up on Interstate 95 that says that Highway 21 is closed due to a recent plane crash. Nice, older ladies, who seem like they have probably lived a hard life are still working at the local Waffle House, and people are posting on Facebook about the vacations they are taking, since it’s summertime.

Yet, things are definitely NOT business as usual, and things are not right with the world. Even though things “look” the same, internally, there is a bit of constant sadness that prevails over each day. It colors even the most mundane activities and places. Which, honestly, I believe is as it should be. We should be deeply affected when a tragedy hits close to home.

Despite the obvious pain of the passing of this little girl, there have already been a couple of really good things that have come from this difficult time. It’s been amazing to see how our community has come together to support the family of the girl, and in a very short period of time. But the biggest thing that has stood out to me is the number of people who have posted their stories about how much the girl affected them, personally, or about how she sought to impact the world. These stories have been numerous. These range from encouraging her teacher to wanting to adopt children from other countries. It’s obvious she had an impact on many people and both her wisdom and passion for life seem to have far exceeded her 14 years on earth.

But what do we do with all of that?

At the very least, we should take note and say, “How do I ensure these events do not become merely a blip on the timeline of my life with no long-term impact? How should I be different in response to what has happened?”

In a lot of ways, for me, the answer to those questions is the very reason why I started doing this blog, in the first place. And it’s the very reason it’s called, “The Present Traveler.” I want to be the kind of person whose legacy is the impact that I have on the world and how I lived my life to the fullest. I want others to see how I have gone through life not as an absent traveler, but as a present one. Not to bring glory or recognition to myself but to inspire others to do the same. Through this blog, I want to encourage others to be a present traveler, whether that be through serving others, experiencing a relationship with God, working at a job or going to school or even how a person experiences travel. Most of the time we have such a tendency to get caught up in all of the things in life that really don’t matter and then it’s not until tragedy hits that we are reminded of the things that are most important. I want to strive to be a person who is fully present in my life each day, not just when something bad happens and I’m reminded of it. I hope this blog will serve to do the same for others.

Thanks to Alivea for reminding us how important it is to live life to the fullest and work hard to have an impact on the word. Thanks for showing us what it means to be a present traveler.

Monorails, Buses and Boats. Oh my!

If you’ve ever been to Disney World, you know that they have a variety of transportation options for getting around property. From the three resorts that the Monorail actually runs through, to the resorts that offer boat transportation to and from the parks and Disney Springs, plus the buses that run continuously to and from pretty much every place on property, there are a lot of transportation options available. Yet, there’s still room for adding more options.

Minnie Vans, is the latest transportation options being offered on Disney World property. For this option, Disney has partnered with the company Lyft to provide a great transportation option throughout the Disney World property.

App instructions

In order access the Minnie Van service, there are a couple of options for how you can access the Minnie Van service specifically. For any of the options you will need to have the Lyft app on your phone.

1. You can go to the front desk of your hotel to have a cast member add the Minnie Vans option to the Lyft app for you.
2. You can use the notification that shows up in My Disney Experience that’s prompts you to add the Minnie Van option once you arrive on Disney property
3. You can go to this website and it gives you step by step instructions for how to update the Lyft app to include the Minnie Van option before you get to Disney property (https://dvcinfo.com/minnie-van-service-now-available-dvc-resorts/)

Once you have the Minnie Van update added to the app installed your app will look like this:

You will want to select the one that looks like the red with white polka dots like Minnie Mouse, otherwise you will get a regular Lyft vehicle that comes to pick you up instead of the specific Minnie Van option.  You will then confirm your pick up location and you can put in your destination, as well. The app will give you an estimated arrival time for the Minnie Van. Be sure you have your payment method, such as PayPal, set up on the Lyft app, for easy payment at the end of your ride.

No matter where you are going on property the fee for the Minnie van service is $25 one way.

Experience the Minnie Van service

A fellow travel agent and friend of mine recently utilized the Minnie Van option to get to and from Magic Kingdom and to and from Hollywood Studios from Animal Kingdom Lodge. I have to say after the experience I’m spoiled by the experience. 😊 The Minnie Vans we took were super nice! They we nice and new Chevy Equinox SUVs. My friend and I both wanted to go out and buy a Chevy Equinox after the experience. The vehicles can seat up to 6 passengers plus the driver. There is the front seat, two middle bucket seats and a third row for 3 people which is actually quite roomy.

The vehicle comes equipped with two available car seats and a universal phone charger to charge your devices when they have gone dead after a long day at the parks or shopping at Disney Springs.

The Minnie van drivers are actually Disney cast members and are super nice and informative. We took the Minnie Van a total of 4 times and each time the driver had actually worked as a cast member in another part of the company before working as a Minnie Van driver. Each had their own flavor to add to the conversation depending on where they had worked before. Some of them gave us updates on current happenings at the Disney World resort while on our way to our destination. They were definitely well informed with any questions about Disney that we had.

Siskel and Ebert say?

Overall, I would definitely give my experience with the Minnie Van service an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up. Not only was the vehicle itself comfortable and clean, it was an enjoyable ride due to the friendly cast member drivers. It was also a cool (temperature-wise) ride, with a really nice working air conditioner-which is definitely important in the Florida heat and, of course, there was Disney music playing on the radio. All of these things helped to maintain that “Disney feeling” even on the ride to and from our resort.

The Minnie Van arrived in about 5 minutes or less in each situation and it was a quick way to get to where we were going. For example, when we went to Magic Kingdom, the Minnie Van picked us up about 5:30pm and we were getting on Splash mountain at 6:06pm. So, it was actually a really quick option, definitely quicker than the buses, in our experience. The Minnie Van drops off where all of the Disney buses drop you off. This is especially important for Magic Kingdom park. Something to note: if you take a regular Lyft vehicle to Magic Kingdom, they drop off at the ticket and transportation center, which means you still have to take the ferry or the Monorail to actually get to the entrance of Magic Kingdom park. With Minnie vans, they drop you off at the bus depot, which puts right at the entrance to the park and the Minnie Van bus stop is actually #11, which is the first bus stop in the bus depot, so it is the closest walk to get to from the park entrance.

Other Tidbits

1. The Minnie Vans do come equipped with two optional car seats but, if you need more than two, these have to be specially requested and this can delay your pick up time.
2. The Minnie vans can accommodate those in wheelchairs or ECVs but the Disney website says that “an additional wait time may occur” for those needing these accommodations. I can see this being especially true for those with ECVs. Although we did see a Minnie Van that was more of the van variety, which was able to load the ECV onto the vehicle.
3. I would consider this to be a premium transportation option, as it costs $25 each way. Obviously, it’s not free like the bus, boat or monorail.
4. The drop off location for Magic Kingdom is really close and convenient. The drop off location of Hollywood Studios was less convenient. It was all the way out at the very end of the bus depot. It was a short walk but still it was further away than the buses and the tram.
5. It runs from 6:30am to 12:30am to anywhere on Disney property. It does not transport to off-Disney property locations (this is the same as other Disney transportation options)
6. Because you knew the estimated arrival time of your Minnie Van, there wasn’t as much waiting around at the bus stop like there is with a bus or boat. This can especially be beneficial with tired kids (or adults 😊)

Final Thoughts

All in all, I think you have to decide whether this is a good option for you and your party. There is an added cost to it, but there is also a lot of value in the convenience and comfort of it, so it’s definitely an option that I will utilize again in the future, especially when it comes to Magic Kingdom.  If you’d like more information about the Minnie van service, you can visit the Disney World website here.

So what do you say? Is the Minnie Van service something you’d use? Why or why not? Have you used it before? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

“You can design, and create, and build the most wonderful places in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”-Walt Disney

 Lately God has been bringing me back to the idea that he is ever present and ever constant. If you’re “lucky” in life you find that one person who is your constant, your rock, your calm when everything around you is chaotic. How comforting is it to know that you have that one person you can come back to no matter what? You feel like you can face the worst of circumstances when you know you have that “person” to come back to at the end of the day. I would call myself blessed to have found that in the person of my husband. He is my “person”, my safe place, yet this blog post isn’t about him.

 Immeasurably more than the blessing I have in my husband, I consider myself to be infinitely blessed to have a relationship with the God of the universe. I could have my relationship with God and have no earthly possessions and lose everyone that I love and still be infinitely blessed. How is that possible? Why would I say that?

You see, as much as Bryan is my constant, my safe place, God is that times a hundred million billion. 

Recently, I was in church during the music time and God kept bringing the phrase “due north” to my mind. This is where God really brought the idea of His constancy home to me. It made me think about why am I a Christian? And what’s so special about all this God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit stuff. Why does it matter that I’m a Christian? Not that I just believe in God but, why does it matter that I have placed my faith in Jesus Christ and claim to be a follower of Him? 

It’s more than just believing in some distant far off God who we ask for things occasionally and hope that we will have done enough good things to please him. Or that we have done few enough bad things to keep him from getting mad. It’s about believing in a God who is not only “due north” but is the internal compass who constantly points you back to that due north “coordinate” that keeps you headed in the right direction. 

God himself is “due north”. He is the Constant, the Rock, the Ultimate Calm when everything around me is chaotic and falling apart, yet He also puts the Holy Spirit within me to constantly point me back to the due north position. God has been around since the beginning of time. He created everything we can see and can’t see. He sacrificed His only son so we could be with him and He never changes, never fails, never makes mistakes, never stops loving us and is always with us.

Just ponder that for a minute. He never changes, never fails, and is always with us. If I consider myself to be blessed by having a husband who is my constant, my safe place, then how much more am I blessed to have the God of the universe call me his child and makes his home in my heart? How much comfort and calm and joy should that bring to my life?

Even further, being a child of God and having him make his home in my heart not only means that I can put my faith and hope in the one who controls the moon and the sun and the stars and everything on earth for this life, but he also controls eternity and says that if I put my faith and trust in him, I will get to be with him after I die, for eternity. 

That’s why it matters. When you know the God of the universe and you know that no matter what He will never not be God then that changes everything! It’s that doesn’t necessarily always mean it’s easy, it’s not that  bad things won’t happen but when you compare it to the unfailingness or who God is, the bad stuff pails in comparison. You always know, no matter where you are or no matter where you go “due north” is always there and, if you allow Him to, He will always point you back towards that cardinal position. 

The hymn “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” (see below) puts it so much more poignantly than I can. I hope this post reminds you of what you have when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. 

O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free:

Turn you eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conquerors we are!

Turn you eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

Ephesians 3:14-20

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,… that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.