Do you absolutely rock it when it comes to planning the perfect Disney World vacation for your family? Do you know all the ins and outs of the parks? Are you the kind of mom who annoys friends and family members with your Cliff Clavin-esque knowledge of the Disney experience?

Well, Disney wants to hear from you (even if your friends and family would rather you keep your know-it-all lectures to yourself). Walt Disney World Resorts is currently looking for a handful of experts to head up its new Walt Disney World Moms Panel, set to debut in January 2008. The online forum will feature everyday people who can offer real advice to other families planning their own Disney vacations. Winners also get a free trip to the park to “research” all the facilities and amenities before the forum launches.

Applications are due by Oct. 5, 2007. If you plan to apply, don’t wait until the deadline. Apparently, Disney is capping the number of applications it will accept at 10,000.

If there’s anything people in the South do and do quite well, it’s tell stories. So you can expect the upcoming Storytelling Festival weekend in Colonial Williamsburg to be saturated with entertaining tales - some educational, some thought-provoking and some just fun. Held this month from Sept. 14 to Sept. 17, the festival features renowned Southern storytellers like Kathryn Windham (pictured) and Donald Davis, as well as theatrical duo Eth-Noh-Tec and children’s book author Carmen Deedy. Individual storytellers read and perform during the afternoons. By night, festival-goers can catch multiple masters of the art of storytelling together for themed events like family story time and ghost story time. And for the wine & cheese crowd, there is a special Saturday evening adults-only event featuring treats from the vine, cheeses and tall tales.

Hotel packages are available for the event. Rates range from $65 to $117/night, depending on the hotel. Check the web site for ticket pricing info and the complete festival line-up.

Boo! Did we scare you? Yes, Halloween is a ways off, but the season is already getting started. Here are Hauntworld Magazine’s picks for the 2007 Top 13 Professional Haunted Attractions:

1. NETHERWORLD Haunted House, Atlanta, GA

2. 13th Gate Haunted House, Baton Rouge, LA

3. The Bates Motel, Philadelphia, PA

4. Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses, Ulster Park, NY

5. The Darkness, St. Louis, MO

6. Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls, presented by LUKOIL, Philadelphia, PA

7. Erebus Four Story Haunted Attraction, Detroit, MI

8. 7 Floors of Hell, Cleveland, OH

9. Kersey Valley SpookyWoods and Maize Adventure, Greensboro, NC

10. Universal Studios House of Horrors, Hollywood CA

11. Queen Mary’s Shipwreck Annual Halloween Terror Fest, Long Beach, CA

12. Dreamreapers Haunted House, Chicago, IL

13. The Haunted Hotel, San Diego, CA

Other notable haunts recognized by Hauntworld Magazine include:

Best Home Haunted House

1. Castle Blood, Pittsburgh, PA

2. Haunted Overload, Lee, NH

3. Terror Syndicate, Pittsburgh, PA

4. Rot Haunted House, Thousand Oaks, CA

Best Amusement Park Halloween Events:

1. Universal Studios Horror Nights, Orlando, FL

2. Knott’s Scary Farm, Buena Park, CA

3. Busch Gardens HallowScream, Tampa Bay, FL

Heading to the Big Apple this fall for a family trip? The Museum of Modern Art offers fun free activities for families with children ages 11 to 14. Head over on a Saturday afternoon for the The Watch This! Films for Tweens program. Tickets for these international films featuring young protagonists are given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Tweens must be accompanied by an adult.

Then there are the Tours for Tweens held on Saturdays and Sundays, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. The tours take tweens and their parents through the galleries and encourage discussion about the modern and contemporary art you’ll see along the way. Tween tours are free, but you should preregister if you plan on attending. Sometimes the tours fill up in advance, in which case, there’s always the wait list. Point being - register early if you have your heart set on a certain weekend tour.

So you’re heading off for a family vacation, maybe a visit to Grandma and Granddaddy. You’re looking forward to getting away, but you aren’t looking forward to stuffing the car full of baby supplies, strollers and toys or hauling your twin toddlers’ double baby carriage through the airport while everyone gives you dirty looks for holding up the security line. Travel BaBees might just be the solution.

Available in Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Scottsdale and the San Francisco Bay Area, Travel BaBees allows you to rent baby equipment and have it delivered to your destination. There are must-haves like car seats, cribs, baby monitors and strollers, as well as plenty of fun accessories like the Exersaucer, bouncy seats, toy tubs and activity gyms. You can also rent all everyday items you use at home - like a Diaper Genie or potty chair - or snag things like safety gates that you might need to childproof your vacation rental or hotel room. Prices are reasonable, ranging from $2/day or $10/week for small items to $12/day or $60/week for a full crib with linens.

Because there is perhaps nothing more entertaining than agriculture. Though the notion of “agri-tainment” sort of makes me laugh, Uncle Shuck’s Corn Maze, located about a half hour north of Atlanta, is just the sort of fall adventure I would have enjoyed as a kid. The corn maze opens Sept. 1, 2007 and remains open for three months.

Uncle Shuck’s sits on 20 acres of land - enough space for the maze, hayrides, bonfires and a pumpkin patch. The corn is expected to reach its full height of 10 feet in a few weeks.

Not going to be anywhere near Atlanta this fall, but still want to get your maze experience in? Check out The Maize for a list of several hundred mazes located across the U.S. and beyond.

Whether summer vacation is but a distant memory or still in full throttle for you and yours, you can dig into the spirit of summer vacation with Entertainment Weekly’s list of 15 Favorite Summer Vacation Movies. Sleepaway Camp, anyone? Now that’s one freaky movie.

The Washington Post’s Travel Log blog has a post up about Norwegian Cruise Lines’ recent dinner dress code revamp. Once banned from evening meals, the cruise line has changed its policy to allow “nice” jeans and shorts, except in one restaurant each evening that will be reserved for folks who want to dine in a more formal atmosphere.

The change reflects the trend towards more casual dress codes aboard many cruise lines. And oftentimes, even when cruise lines request that guests dress formally for dinner, plenty of cruisers show up in t-shirts and cargo pants. While some lament the loss of the formal dinner dress tradition once synonymous with the cruising experience, there are just as many folks who prefer the dressed-down look.

For Cruisers, Denim at Dinner

An interesting side-effect of this year’s onslaught of U.S. passport applications? Parents who owe over $2,500 in child support have to pay up before they can get their passports. That’s resulted in big payments to some families who hadn’t seen a dime from the delinquent parent in years.

Passport Rules Snag Child Support Cash

Adding further fuel to the notion that one can earn airline miles for purchasing just about anything these days, United Airlines’ Improvement Direct Mileage Plus promotion offers travelers the opportunity to earn as much as 5 miles per dollar spent on home improvement items from lighting fixtures to bathroom faucets to ceiling fans to water heaters (yeah, I’m serious). It’s great when you can earn miles when making large purchases - and home improvement projects are notorious for costing a pretty penny. Just think, along with that new kitchen sink, you might have a United ticket on the horizon.

United Mileage Plus Improvement Direct Promo