Easter Activities at Bass Pro Shops!

Bass Pro Shops is hosting fun Easter activities this weekend and next weekend! Easter egg hunts, crafts, and pictures with the Easter Bunny!

Each one has different times and days so make sure you're paying attention if you want to hit them all. We ended up just missing the egg hunt, which is held during the Easter Bunny's carrot break, so we missed him too. 

The egg hunt is on Sunday the 13th, Saturday the 19th, and Sunday the 20th. Registration starts at 1:30, and the hunt starts promptly at 2. It's for ages 2-10, and after you collect 5 eggs, you return to registration to exchange them for candy. The Easter Bunny was on carrot break from 2-3 while we were there Saturday the 12th.  

The Easter Bunny is there all week! Sunday the 13th, Saturday the 19th, Sunday the 20th, he's there 11am-4pm.  Monday the 14th through Thursday the 17th, he's there 6pm-8pm. Friday the 18th, he's there 2pm-7pm. They have some great photo packages, and you get a free 4x6 photo just for visiting! 

They have crafts as well, different depending on the weekend. Sunday the 13th from 1pm-4pm is coloring a plaster Easter egg magnet and then Friday the 18th from 4pm-7pm, Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th from 1-4pm is making a bunny frame or a scratch art bunny. 

Little Man coloring his egg

His Easter egg magnet

For an additional fee, they also had a face painter who had some really cute designs! All in all, a super fun event and we'll be back next weekend! 

Sea World's Just For Kids Festival

Sea World is hosting the Just For Kids! Festival on Saturdays through April 12, 2014; and, it's included with your park admission! Don't let the name fool you though, it's definitely family friendly! While it is kid-centric, it brings families together for fun activities, rides, Animal Ambassadors, and more!

We were given a festival map as we came into the parking lot.  They are also available at the Ocean Adventure areas as well. The map is the perfect size for your little one to help navigate.  It has all the Fun Stations mapped out for you with just a few main park locations for reference points.

Just for Kids Festival map

The stars on the map are the Ocean Adventure areas.  That's where your kids can go on an educational and fun trip around the park.  They have games and information at each of the four stops.  After you complete your activity, the bottom of your map will get a punch and you get a limited edition Explorer's card! The stations are really easy to spot too- there is a "take an Ocean Adventure" sign along with Just for Kids! banners like the one pictured here:

Ocean Adventure activity

The Ocean Adventures are spread out around the park, but not too spread out!  One thing that I loved about this is that they never excluded Cole. He's almost two, so he's really into doing these fun things like the matching games, but he's not quite old enough to answer questions about oil on penguin.  Some of them they let me help him with but some tailored their activity to be more his level.  It was tons of fun!

                                     

After you complete all four Ocean Adventure activities, you get a ticket that allows you to go to one of three stores and turn it in for a special surprise! 

The four limited edition cards.

Another fun part of Just for Kids is the Rockin' Rockhopper Party in Antarctica that starts at 11am. A DJ is there with some rockin' hoppin' music to get everyone moving.  There are even special penguin guests who come out and party with you! They have games, snacks, face painting and you can even see live penguins!  You don't want to miss out!

As always, there are lots of great Animal Ambassadors to wow and amaze!  It's neat to see all the different animals and to hear their stories. The SEA Garden is home to one of the Ocean Adventures, many of the Animal Ambassadors and special story tellers.

Animal Ambassadors

Story time!

A highlight for my little one was the Elmo Rocks! show. He couldn't stop talking about Elmo all weekend! Be sure to get there early as the show is only performed in the earlier part of the day and there are only a few shows.

Be sure to stick around for the end of the day too.  The Shamu Dance Party, at the front of the park in Village Square, starts one hour before park close and lasts until 30 minutes after park close.  There is a stilt walking emcee, music for the whole family to enjoy and dance to, and Shamu and his crew are there! Unfortunately no pictures of the party because we've had plans that caused us to miss it the first two weekends, but we'll be there for the third one!

Have you been to Sea World's Just for Kids Festival yet?  What was your favorite part? We are excited to go again this weekend and hopefully next weekend as well!

Baby Care Center- Magic Kingdom

This post is the third in a mini series, there will be four total; one for each theme park. If you have a Disney, Travel, or Mommy blog (or any other kind of blog you think this could fit into) and are interested in using this post and the ones that follow, please contact me!  Part one was Disney's Hollywood Studios. And part two was Epcot. This time we will be exploring Magic Kingdom.  

The Entrance 

 The Baby Care Center at Magic Kingdom is located right next door to First Aid, between Casey's Corner and Crystal Palace.

Unfortunately it is my least favorite location out of the parks, but, don't get me wrong, I'm still very grateful that it's there. Since I usually travel alone with the little one (while my husband is at work) I have to juggle all our stuff. That's one super helpful perk of having a stroller, it's a place to stow things & babies have a lot of things! Just like Epcot, the Magic Kingdom Baby Care Center does not allow strollers inside. You have to park them at the door. 

Signage

When you walk in the door, you're greeted with a curio cabinet showcasing the baby products available for sale inside. 

Curio with merchandise

As you pass the display, the nursing room is on the right. Also like Epcot, this one is a community nursing room. Four padded rocking chairs in a very dimly lit room. It's soothing, but I wish it was a tad brighter; it takes some time to adjust between that light level and  the bright Florida sun outside. Also in the room are two small tables and some outlets for pumping or phone charging. Unlike Epcot this one has 2 doors, an in door on one end and an out door on the other end. Be aware if you sit on the out door wall and the door opens all the way, you can pretty much see into the park. So if you are on the shy side when it comes to nursing in public, I'd stay away from that wall. 

Blurry, but a shot of the other 3 rockers from the 4th rocker.  

The out door, see how your in line with it if you're in the rocker on the left?

Continuing on from the nursing room is a very large feeding/play room! It has a TV, some books and a big layout. It has 3 high chairs, 4 kid sized tables, lots of child sized stools, and 8 full sized chairs. 

Feeding/play room

To the left of the feeding room is the changing room. They have 5 large padded changing tables, a hand washing sink and a restroom. 

One corner of the changing room. 

Another corner of the changing room, with the sink.

The next, and final room is the kitchen. Just like the other Baby Care Centers, it has a sink, microwave, bottle warmer, mini fridge; and it also sells any baby necessities that you have run out of or forgotten.

Kitchen

List of items available

A fun fact- this Baby Care Center, then called Baby Services, has been around since the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort! "Facilities for changing infants, preparing formula, warming bottles. Babysitting not available in Theme Park. Babysitting services available at hotels." 

Stay tuned for our last Disney installment of our Baby Care Center series, Disney's Animal Kingdom! 

Dr. Scholl's® For Her Cozy Cushions

Did you know Dr. Scholl's has an entire line of products just for women? Their Cozy Cushion inserts are amazing!! They provide comfort for staying on your feet for long periods of time and they help keep your feet warm and dry! I feel like they would be perfect for your winter boots (not that I get to wear them in Florida though!)

Cozy Cushions have multiple layers- an insulating layer and then TWO layers of dreamy plush for walking on cloud like comfort! The top is also fuzzy, who doesn't love fuzzy? These can be trimmed to fit your shoes, you just need a good pair of sharp scissors. 

These are hand washable with lukewarm water and a mild soap, then leave them out to dry. Do not machine wash or dry. 

Right now, If you go to their website (http://m.drscholls.com/SpecialOffers/Index 

sorry can't do linking on my phone) 

You can get $2 off any Dr. Scholl's For Her. 

Check out the other savings they have on there as well! 

I received this product complimentary from Influenster. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Santa's Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops

Are you lucky enough to have a Bass Pro Shops nearby? We are, right in Festival Bay Mall in Orlando! Now through Christmas Eve, Santa has set up his Wonderland right in the middle of Bass Pro!!

Santa's Wonderland

They have several game & activity stations set up in the store. Most of them are right in the immediate area of Santa, but the ornament decorating is in front of the big fish tank (at least it is in the Orlando location). 

The first thing we saw walking into our Bass Pro was the AMAZING Christmas tree! I loved the rustic simplicity of it!!! 

The big tree!

Then you smell popcorn, fudge, and cinnamon nuts! The first activity you come upon is Little Man's favorite, the carousal! Lots of outdoorsy animals - bears, deer, polar bear, reindeer, moose!  We rode it twice, and he wanted to go again! (We went again for week two and he went crazy when he saw the carousal! Of course we had to ride it on this trip too!)

The carousal!

There was a slot car race track set up, along with RC trucks, a laser shooting arcade, a duck shooting gallery & a model train! There are even tables to color holiday pictures and write letters to Santa! These are all available store open to close. 

Activities

Other fun things include free weekly crafts (while supplies last)!! They do them by the big fish tank Monday-Friday 5-7 pm, Saturday-Sunday noon -5 pm, and Thanksgiving & Christmas Eve from 3-5 pm. We've done the first two, a wooden ornament & a felt penguin ornament. Other crafts are Popsicle stick reindeer ornament (November 25-December 1), stuffed Santa ornament (December 2-8), candy cane owl ornament (December 9-15), reindeer gift bag (December 16-22) & cookie decorating (December 23-24).

Making ornaments

After you finish your craft, head over to Santa's Wonderland, where you can get a free backpack clip (while supplies last) for the first 125 kids to visit each weekday, 5-7 pm. The first two were a Christmas tree & a candy cane, then comes a gingerbread man (November 25-29), Santa's sleigh (December 2-6), a stocking (December 9-13), a snowman (December 16-20) & Santa in a chimney (December 23-24, 24th is 3-5 pm). They are MUCH bigger than I thought they'd be, I was pleasantly surprised! Little Man likes playing with them too! 

Backpack clips

The highlight of Santa's Wonderland is, of course, the big man himself Santa! He's got a nice set up with reindeer this year! Santa's times are different than the crafts so be sure to check before you go. You get a free 4x6 picture, with the option of a photo package. Packages start at just $15. Both times we've gone, there hasn't been a wait; but later in the season Santa should get very popular! If Santa'a line gets longer than a 30 min wait, the Bass Pass will allow you to go check out the rest of Santa's Wonderland and Bass Pro and when your time is up, come back to see Santa!

Santa and Little Man

Have you visited Santa's Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops? Let us know what you think!