I love Disney fireworks! My favorite part of our trips is always the chance to see fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. “Wishes” always brings a tear to my eye, and the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party fireworks are not to be missed. I was upset when I found out that we were going to miss the new Summer Nightastic Fireworks by only one night on our recent trip. We had stayed a week and on our last night, we went to see “Wishes” and I loved it as usual.

The next day, we sent the kids off to my mom’s house and planned on spending our anniversary dinner at the Polynesian and then watching “Wishes” one last time from the beach. However, when we checked in at the Poly, I found out that they were doing a soft opening of the new fireworks one night early and we could, indeed, see it! We headed to Kona an hour early and were lucky enough to get in so that we could make it over to the Magic Kingdom to see the new parade (which was too short, in my opinion) and then the fireworks. We parked in front of the castle about 3 hours before the fireworks to ensure a great spot.

We were not disappointed! I loved the fireworks–even more than “Wishes.” Maybe not quite as much as MNSSHP, but probably close. The fireworks were definitely less traditional than “Wishes.” There were some interesting effects regarding Cinderella’s Castle.

I found this video from Inside the Magic on YouTube. It’s not one that I took but is from about where I was sitting. If you are not going to make it to the Magic Kingdom for the Summer Nightastic Fireworks this year, you should definitely check it out!

Everyone who knows me knows that I am an absolute Disney fanatic. I cry when I go to a Disney movie and see the castle before the movie starts because it reminds me of my Disney trips. I love the precision of Disney, the attention to detail, and the way that everything moves so smoothly. More than that, I love the memories that I have of my kids having birthdays in Disney, my husband and I running from ride to ride before we even had kids, and the true family time that we have spent together.

But the other thing that I love are the mysteries of Disney. So many things that you don’t know what to believe. Am I just seeing “hidden Mickeys” everywhere or are they placed there? Is there really an elite, member-only restaurant above the shops in Disneyland? (I know the answer to that one!) Is there really an underground city under Walt Disney World?

To answer that final question, check out this video from Disney Parks that I found on Youtube. It’s only 5 minutes but you actually get a glimpse “behind the magic”!

Let me start out by saying that I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a Social Media Butterfly until this morning. I was thinking about what I wanted to blog about and it kept coming back to me that I seem to be spending half of my time these days social networking on different sites. In my head I kept equating it to being a “social butterfly” and I decided to title my post “social media butterfly.” I did a quick Google search only to discover that lots of other people thought of this term long before me.

In essence, the Social Media Butterfly is the technical equivalent of the traditional Social Butterfly. You move from group to group networking and socializing. You may do it for fun or to futher your business. You know a lot of different people in different circles and enjoy making friends.

I wouldn’t say I’m exactly a social butterfly in my real life, but a big part of that is working in a home office and spending a lot of time and energy raising two kids. But lately I have absolutely become a Social Media Butterfly. In addition to my time on the Sunshine Rewards forum with those members (and the corresponding Twitter account and videoblog), I spend a good deal of time on Disney sites talking about both friends and business. I keep my Facebook page open constantly (partaking in a little Farkle, Mafia Wars, and even Farmville). I couldn’t get into Twitter much until I installed TweetDeck, and now I am addicted. Add to that my Ning sites (like TwitterMoms and Smaller Indiana). Oh! And my actual job…networking on various affiliate marketing sites and commenting on blogs. I even got a new phone that I could better text on because my other one was too hard.

It remains to be seen whether all of my time as a Social Media Butterfly is going to be profitable. It’s hard to figure out an ROI on the time that you spend Twittering. I guess I’ll give it a go for the rest of the summer and see where it takes me!