With the current status of the world today amongst the recent COVID-19 outbreak, most of you are already going stir crazy inside of the house. It can be a very depressing time, so we came up with a few fun ideas that are bound to lift your spirits. We hope these ideas will put a smile on your face when you are missing walking down Main Street!

1. Break out the Mickey Waffle iron! If you do not have one yet, it is time to treat yourself. While we love our Mickey waffles during our Disney vacation, they are not always just for breakfast. Why not spoil yourselves and create a waffle ice cream sundae and watch a Walt Disney movie you have never seen before?

2. It's time to dust off your old vacation photo albums, your scrap books and character autograph books. Enjoy looking through years past of your family's Walt Disney World vacations. Doing this together will bring back good memories which in return will bring back good feelings. Talk about what your very favorite memory is and what you are looking forward to doing next time you get to go back.

3. Did you know there is a very easy recipe to recreate your favorite Disney dessert, the Dole Whip? You can use your imagination to come up with different Dole Whip desserts just like our Maleficent Waffle cone here from Storybook Treats! Just utilize Google, you will find tons of them. 

4. This is one of our favorite things to do! We LOVE burning our favorite resort scented candles and melting wax melts to fill our house with the scent of the Beach Club! There are so many options to choose from, your favorite resort scent, Pineapple Whip (hey burn this when your making your homemade Dole Whip form above), Mickey Waffles and more! I can assure you they all smell spot on! We always get ours from Fandoms And Fairytales who has generously extended an offer to all of our Starstuff Travel fans for an extra savings (look for the info at the end of our blog).

5. Commit to a Disney puzzle. Depending on the age range, choose a puzzle that is slightly challenging to keep it fun. When your finished make sure to glue it together using puzzle glue so you can have it to look back on. We are all going through a historic period right now, one day you can tell your children and/or grandchildren about the time you were stuck in the house and all worked on a puzzle together!

These are just a few of many neat Disney focused things to keep our mind off of what is going on in today's world. Please feel free to comment with any neat crafts, recipes and ideas you may also have to offer, right now we can all use it! Thank you to Fandoms And Fairytales who is offering our readers 10% off of their purchase on their site by using the discount code of STARSTUFFTRAVEL at check out until the end of April 2020! Click here to access their site. Thank you also to JP Mulhearn Photography for their photograph for our blog. Another great thing to do while missing WDW is to head over to their Facebook page and check out their awesome pics by clicking here.

We have visited Walt Disney World so many times, and although we love it dearly, we needed something new to enjoy. This past week we took part in the 7 hour Backstage Magic tour which is run by two Adventure By Disney guides. If you are not familiar with Adventure By Disney as a whole, they provide group guided family vacations to various domestic and international destinations under the Disney brand. The guides on those adventures are top notch, so it was quite a treat to have two of them for our 7 hour tour. 

The tour itself is currently $275 per person and includes a table service lunch as well as all the bottled water and snacks your little heart desires while on the motor coach (our snacks for this tour were allergy free chocolate chip cookies). The tour does not require park admission and children must be 12 years of age or older to attend.

We met at the front of Epcot where they went through some housekeeping like no photography allowed (they take photos for you in specific areas) and then we boarded the motor coach. They drove us behind the scenes to the American Adventure. For those of you who have not yet been behind the world showcase, the drive alone is very neat. We also had access before the park was open so we were able to see how many cast members get ready for the day. Outside of the American Adventure we learned some of the many tricks the Imagineers used by forced perspective to create the three story building image to look as though it was five stories tall. Our guide then took us behind the scenes of the actual show as we learned all about the system used to manage the attraction (which by the way is still from the 70's) and we even got to touch a real animatronic!

After we finished our lunch we were brought to a hidden marina where the lotus and animal barges are prepped for the Rivers of Light nighttime spectacular. It was so incredible to see exactly what the barges look like up close but even more so how they are cared for. Then we were walked inside for an exclusive visit to see what happens with the technology portion in the control room. These are really things you just never think about when you are watching the show. ​

Right in the heart of the American Adventure pavilion in Epcot, you will find this new BBQ Quick Service dining option named after Sam Eagle of the Muppets. Before even entering the establishment you can smell the fragrant summer time BBQ essence of something being smoked. The outside area surrounds a large smoker and a bunch of picnic tables for generous outdoor seating. 

The outdoor bar and patio offers an extensive drink menu that features a number of craft beers and ciders from across the country on draft, as well as wines from the west coast, fountain beverages and specialty regional cocktails you can now add to your "Drinking around the world" bucket list.  

We visited Regal Eagle smack dab in the middle of lunch time and were pleasantly surprised that we barely waited to order. They have a nice selection of BBQ items from all over the south, along with some great sides that you would imagine pair nicely with these types of dishes. After ordering you gather your food, stop at the soda fountain machines to gather your beverage if ordered, as well as your silverware. There is no need to look for napkins in this area, they have a full napkin roll holder right in the middle of your picnic type table. 

Our choice for lunch included Kansas City Smoked Half Chicken which was $13.99 and came with a choice of one side (we opted for the beans), North Carolina Chopped Smoked Pork Butt Platter with a side of fries at $12.49, and lastly a BBQ kids Chicken Leg meal with two sides (we chose mac and cheese as well as creamy coleslaw). They also have selections for Gluten/Wheat allergy, Egg allergy, Milk allergy, Peanut allergy and Soy Allergy/friendly options. I was pretty impressed at how extensive those menus for allergy option guests really was. We are giving this new Quick Service option the thumbs up for the ample amount of inside/outside seating and the friendly menu items. They could give bigger portions but the quality of the food was pretty decent for the price.

To book your next Walt Disney World vacation, reach out to a Starstuff Travel Planner here!