The Disney Chick

No Parks? No Problem!

2013-05-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the second stop on our Magical Blogorail.

While nothing compares to a day IN the parks, there is still plenty of fun to be had in WDW without having to shell out for a park ticket. My personal favorite activity? Shopping! Inside the parks, you find a lot of the same merchandise (the World Showcase is an exception to this), plus you're usually juggling drinks, FastPass times, crowds, and more. Over the years, I've found that some of the best shopping in WDW exists outside the parks - stores with unique finds, different selections, and a more relaxed atmosphere. Here are some of my favorites:

Basin (Downtown Disney - Marketplace): For anyone who bathes or showers (which should be everyone), this is a must-visit. Filled with soaps and bath goodies in just about every scent combination you can think of, Basin is a great place to stock up on gifts for loved ones, and for yourself!

Bayview Gifts (Contemporary Resort): This one makes the list because of its carefully curated selection. Located on the main floor of the Contemporary Resort, Bayview Gifts sells an upscale mix of kitchen items, home decor, clothing, jewelry, and handbags. I think of this store as a "best of WDW" shop, and never come out empty handed.

Summer Lace (Grand Floridian Resort): This one can be dangerous to the ol' wallet, but it's probably my favorite store in all of WDW. It's the only place on property (that I know of, at least) where you can find designer clothing, plus it carries swimwear, jewelry, handbags, and branded Grand Floridian merchandise. I rarely make a purchase here, but it's a great place for browsing.

Art of Disney (Downtown Disney - Marketplace): A favorite of Disney fans, the Art of Disney carries just that - limited edition prints and original artwork inspired by Disney films, characters, and attractions. More of a gallery than a store, this is another great place to browse/dream.

Zawadi Marketplace (Animal Kingdom Lodge): Every resort has its own store, but the one at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is easily the most unique. Here, you'll find an array of African-inspired clothing, housewares, artwork, musical instruments, accessories, and more. Some of these items can also be found in various shops inside Animal Kingdom, but it's much more relaxing to shop here.

Mickey's Pantry (Downtown Disney - Marketplace): Do you have a kitchen? Do you like Disney? Then this is the place for you - you'll find everything you could possibly need (and plenty of things you probably don't, but would like to have anyway). You can also find specialty teas, olive oils, salts, and more.

Do you have a favorite place to shop in WDW? Share your comments below!

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Disney Point
2nd stop ~ The Disney Chick
3rd Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
Final Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
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Related Links:
* Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA
* Pins, Planets, and Pyrotechnics
* Call of the Wild: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

Pining for Disney Pins

2013-04-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Black. Enjoy the ride as we share our secret (or not so secret) Disney obsessions.

It started out innocently enough. Back in 1999, my family was staying at one of the All-Star Resorts and we were given a gift upon check-in - it was a lanyard with two pins on it. We were confused what to do with it, never bothered to pay attention to the carts advertising this new thing called Disney Pin Trading and packed the lanyard away in our suitcase.

Sometime between then and now, pin trading and collecting became something dangerously bordering on an obsession for my family. In addition to all the usual things people look forward to when going to Disney (rides, food, fun, etc), we can often be heard speculating about what new pins might be out for us to purchase. Wonder what the DVC member pin looks like this year? I bet there are new limited editions out. We should stay at Bay Lake Tower because it means there are three pin boards within walking distance!

Mind you, we don't 100% participate in the pin trading experience the way the hardcore people do - in other words, we only trade with cast members and pins are usually stored deep inside our purses, instead of around our necks. Armed with a starter set (often purchased during one of the Disney Store's online sales), we plunge headfirst into the parks, leaving no pin board, retail outlet, or cast member unsearched. We crane our necks awkwardly staring at the chests and hips of every person manning a register or providing customer service looking to see if he or she happens to be wearing that one pin to complete the set, or that one pin we saw someone else with and have been coveting ever since. And when we find that pin, THE pin, watch out - it's like a gambling addiction, one that causes us to buy more starter sets and become even more voracious in our lust for pins.

At the end of the trip, as we're packing our things, we take stock of our loot the way kids do with their presents on Christmas morning. Once we're home, our pins find their permanent homes on carefully curated corkboards. And then - if all this doesn't make us sound crazy enough - we spend the months in between trips assessing our collections. Hmm, could use a few more attraction pins. I've got pins of every Winnie the Pooh character except Piglet. I'm still missing that one pin from this set.

It's funny to think that those original two pins we were given almost 15 years ago were treated with such nonchalance - if you gave us free pins today the response would be overwhelming gratitude, excitement, and possibly hugging. For us, pins have become a way of documenting each trip beyond the pictures we take, kind of like a grown-up version of collecting autographs from the characters. It's an expensive hobby, for sure, but one that we can all share together. And if nothing else, those carefully curated corkboards make for an interesting conversation piece.

Are you a Disney pin trader? Share your best find in the comments!

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make astop along the way and want to reboard:

1st stop ~ The Disney Chick
2nd Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
3rd Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
Final Stop ~ The Disney Point
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Related Links:
* Hold Your Horses: Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort
* Bay Lake Tower of Terror
* Disney Meets High Fashion, World Responds with Blank Stares

Wordless Wednesday: Now Boarding

2013-04-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

A Disney Dream Date

2013-02-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 4th stop on our Magical Blogorail.

First off, let me apologize for my incredible lack of posting these past few months. Between the holidays and a hectic work schedule, I've had very little time to write. But! My family did go to WDW for Christmas. And I promise to share those stories with you soon (at least, before next Christmas).

As for Valentine's Day, I've never been to WDW in a romantic context before. But if I had to design a dream date in WDW (with Flynn Rider, duh), it would include the following:

Spa treatments: I've never done a spa treatment at WDW, but it's always been on my list of to-dos. The Spas at Saratoga Springs and the Grand Floridian Resorts offer couples treatments, perfect for Valentine's Day.

Take a stroll: Walking though the crowded parks filled with families and children may not be the most romantic activity for some, so why not explore the grounds of some of the resorts? The Wilderness Lodge and Saratoga Springs have my two favorite walking trails - both are quiet, lovely, and perfect for some down time with a loved one.

Take a stroll (part II): Up until this point, I haven't mentioned the parks. But a stroll through the World Showcase in Epcot can be like a honeymoon sampler - a Mexican street fair, an Italian piazza, a Moroccan labyrinth, an English garden - you can travel the world without leaving WDW!

Dinner at Victoria & Albert's: Every Valentine's Day needs a nice romantic dinner, and those who have been tell me that V&A's is the ultimate WDW dining experience.

Wishing all of you a love-ly Valentine's Day!

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make astop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
2nd Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
3rd Stop ~ The Disney Point
4th Stop ~ The Disney Chick
Final Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog

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Related Links:
* Three Disney Characters I'd Rather Spend Valentine's Day With
* A Disney Date with Me
* Finding Zen in WDW

The WDW Holiday Newbie

2012-12-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Black. Enjoy the ride as we share our WDW holiday must-do lists.

My family is doing something crazy this year. At least, other people tell us it's crazy.

We're flying to WDW on Christmas Day.

Yup, opening presents at home, then dashing to the airport and landing in Orlando just in time to drop our bags at the off-property hotel (the room was gifted to us by family friends with extra time-share points) and book it over to the Yachtsman Steakhouse for dinner. Then we'll stay in Orlando for two days of park hopping, followed by one almost-entire day of non-park activities before boarding a plane home.

This trip is out of character for two reasons: 1. Christmas is an incredibly sacred time in our house, one steeped in tradition and routine, and 2. when we go to WDW, we deliberately pick the lowest-attended times of the year. But when the hotel stay was given to us for free, curiosity and the need for adventure won out, and so, my very first WDW holiday experience will start in just a few weeks.

Truth be told, I'm already wary of the crowds and the stroller beasts and the all-gone FastPasses and the two hour queue lines. But I am very, very excited for several reasons:

New Fantasyland is open! Our last WDW trip was in September, when New Fantasyland was still under construction but open juuuust enough to let some guests sneak a peek. We got to see a preview of Enchanted Tales with Belle, which was great, and we saw Cast Members and Imagineers putting the finishing touches on the Little Mermaid area. I can't wait to see the finished product, and I'm especially excited to try Lefou's Brew.

Test Track is back! Test Track, which was/hopefully still is one of my favorite Epcot rides, was also closed on our last trip. I'm always cautious when major changes are enforced on an attraction that was already fine (cough*JourneyIntoImagination*cough), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights: If the photos are any indication, this is going to be the highlight of the trip. If you have any advice on the best place to stand/how early to get there, please please please share those tips in the comments or tweet me (@thedisneychick).

Holiday Wishes: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is not offered during our trip, but I've read that Holiday Wishes is still performed until December 30. I really, really hope that's true, because I'm dying to see this. We saw Happy HalloWishes on our last trip, and haven't stopped talking about it. I have high hopes for the Christmas version.

The Decorations: I love me some Christmas decorations, and I am fully confident Disney will not disappoint. I want to see it all - the castle, the hotels, the World Showcase, Downtown Disney. We've even booked the Yuletide Fantasy Tour so we can get a closer look. We have dinner reservations at the Yachtsman Steakhouse and Citricos, so we'll be making stops at the Yacht Club and the Grand Floridian, but what other hotels should be on our list?

As someone who visits WDW often, it's exciting to be doing something new within the parks, but at the same time, I want to make sure we hit all the highlights. If you have advice on how to best navigate the parks during this very busy time, or if there are other must-dos I should add to my list, please share your thoughts in the comments!

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make astop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Disney Chick
2nd Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
3rd Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
4th Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
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Related Links:
* The Coolest Queue
* Review: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
* Pins, Planets, and Pyrotechnics

My Favorite Nighttime Show

2012-11-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the final stop on our Magical Blogorail.

It goes without saying that Walt Disney World boasts the most impressive fireworks displays of any theme park (at least, any that I've visited). Whether you see Wishes or Illuminations, you're guaranteed to catch a master class in pyrotechnic synchronicity, a perfect marriage of music and light. But my favorite nighttime show is much simpler, much more low-key, and steeped in Disney history.

The Electrical Water Pageant takes place every night (weather permitting) around the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. Featuring 14 floats depicting various sea creatures, it's one of the only shows from WDW's opening year in 1971 that is still running today.

Though the show has been tweaked slightly since its debut in 1971, the basic idea is the same. Fourteen floats make their way to various stops around the lagoon and lake, where they then display various sea creatures, illuminated by colorful lights, all in tune to Disney music. The current version of the show was first introduced in 1996, and features a musical score that includes tunes from The Little Mermaid, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Peter Pan, and more. And one thing that hasn't changed since 1971: at the end of the show, all the floats change from sea creatures to a mix of American flags and stars, while the music plays "Yankee Doodle," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and "America the Beautiful."

One of the reasons I like the Electrical Water Pageant so much is that for a long time I didn't even know it existed. When my family and I first started visiting Walt Disney World on a semi-regular basis, we generally stayed in the All-Star Resorts, and never had occasion to be anywhere near the lagoon or the lake around 10 PM, when the pageant usually starts. And then during our first dining experience the California Grill, we were seated next to the window, and were surprised to see these lighted floats in the water. We asked the server what they were for, thinking it was some kind of special occasion, when she smiled at us and said, "They've been doing the water pageant since the park first opened." Whoops.

Since then, we've seen the water pageant from almost every possible angle - the viewing platform at the California Grill, the viewing platform at the Top of the World Lounge, the dock outside Narcoossee's, even our room at Bay Lake Tower. There's something so charming about the water pageant - it's such a simple concept, and yet it always brings a smile to my face. If you know other viewing locations, I'd love to hear them, because this is one nighttime show I just can't get enough of.

Thank you for joining Magical Blogorail Black this month. We will be back in December with an all new theme. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney news, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to The Magical Blogorail website to see all our membersand their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make astop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
2nd Stop ~ The CanaDisney Blog
3rd Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
4th Stop ~ The Disney Point
Final Stop ~ The Disney Chick

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Related Links:
* The Wishes Dessert Party - Worth the Money?
* Review: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
* Wordless Wednesday: Wishes!

Bay Lake Tower of Terror

2012-11-04T10:23:00.001-05:00

On our latest WDW vacation, my family and I decided to try a different DVC hotel than our home base of Saratoga Springs, and given that we had never stayed at a Magic Kingdom resort before, we decided to try Bay Lake Tower. It was an interesting experience, and one I hope to never have again. What follows is our hellish tale.

Bay Lake Tower is a companion hotel to Disney's Contemporary Resort, which means it feels a little bit like half a hotel. The pools are small, there are no cafeteria dining options or shops - you need to walk to the adjacent Contemporary for those. And as far as overall decor, the hotel is definitely missing that certain Disney je ne sais quoi:

Lobby chandelier

Lobby seating

It's pretty, clean, and modern, yes - but it could also just as easily belong to any of the non-Disney resorts dotting I-4. And although it makes sense that Bay Lake Tower needs to match the Contemporary decor-wise, when you remove the things that make the Contemporary special - the monorail, the shops, the Mary Blair mural - you just get a regular ol' modern-looking hotel. And most unfortunate of all - the front desk only has two kiosks for staffers, versus the 10-12 stations that the other Disney resorts have.

We had checked in online prior to our flight, and in that process you're allowed to select which floor you want, make special requests, etc. We requested a quiet room on a high floor. When we initially booked the reservation we selected a Bay Lake view, because the Magic Kingdom ones were sold out. We arrived around 11 AM and our room was not yet ready, but the Cast Member gave us our keys with our park passes and said we would receive a text with our room number once it was ready and we could proceed straight to the room. She explicitly said that they had been able to accommodate our request and had placed us on a high floor. Great, lovely, we went to Downtown Disney for the afternoon .... and around 4 PM realized we had not received any text. So when we returned to the hotel, we were forced to wait 20+ minutes in a terribly long line at the front desk, thanks to the fact that Bay Lake Tower only has two check-in kiosks.

Eventually, someone took pity and recognized us from earlier in the day and was able to quickly look up our room number so we didn't have to wait for what would have been at least another 20 minutes before we would have reached the front of the line. So we proceeded to our "room on a high floor," thinking we were headed to the 10th, 12th, or 14th floor (Bay Lake Tower has 16 floors), when it turns out we had been assigned to the 6th floor. As in, not even above the halfway mark. This was our "Bay Lake view" ....

You can see water, so technically it's a Bay Lake view.

... of the marina and convention center. It is also worth mentioning that to the bottom right of that picture is the Activities area, so we could hear guests playing sports and as well as the outdoor movies they play every night, until about 11 PM or so. In other words, this was not a quiet room on a high floor. Unless it was Opposite Day and no one told me.

Here's the other thing about Bay Lake Tower: even though it opened in 2009, making it one of the newer WDW hotels, the place is beat up. The tabletops are scratched, the furniture has tears and gouges in it, and this was in the bathroom:

Lovely.

We've stayed in other WDW hotels before - ones much older than Bay Lake Tower, and I've never seen anything close to this. The state of our room went beyond wear-and-tear - it looked like the room hadn't been renovated in 20 years. You'd never know the hotel was only three years old. And again, the decor at Bay Lake isn't particularly Disney:

There's also a Disney print in the kitchen, but that's about it.

But back to the bigger issue at hand. We called the front desk and requested clarification - given that we had been told multiple times during the check-in process that we were on a high floor, how did we end up on the 6th floor? We were told the rooms were assigned as they became ready even though we had been told otherwise and would have been willing to wait for the room we were promised (not to mention we ended up waiting all day anyway because the hotel never sent us the text message with our room assignment). We were told the hotel was currently at capacity, but there were a bunch of people checking out the next day and we could move to another room tomorrow, all we had to do was bring our bags down to the front desk, which opened at 7 AM.

We had booked ourselves on the Wild Africa Trek tour at Disney's Animal Kingdom that next morning, and had to meet at the front gates at 7:30 AM for a tour that departed promptly at 8:00. It was a tight squeeze but we had a rental car and figured traffic would be light at that time of day. We arrived in the Bay Lake Tower lobby at 7 AM with our bags in hand ... but no Cast Members were in sight. After some yelling ("Is anybody here?!") a woman materialized from a corridor. And it turned out that the process involved a lot more than just "dropping our bags" like they told us the night before. After waiting 10 minutes for the Cast Member to turn the computer on and boot up the system (no exaggeration), she discovered that our room change had not been entered into the system so she had to redo it, and then we had to wait another 10 minutes for the bellman to arrive from the Contemporary to get our luggage. By this point, we were running spectacularly late for the tour and boiling over with anxiety and seething rage. We pretty much threw our bags at the poor bellman and ran into the parking lot, hopped into our rental car, broke some speeding laws, and miraculously made it to the Animal Kingdom in record time.

During the day, we received a call from the hotel saying we'd been assigned a new room and our keys would transfer automatically to the new room number. All we had to do was let ourselves into the new room and call the bellman to bring our bags up. Fine.

Predictably, we shlepped ourselves to our new room (now on the 14th floor, thankfully) only to discover the keys did not work. We returned back downstairs, where there was no line, but it took the Cast Member another 20 minutes to redo our keys. During this process, he said he would try something "that usually works." The keys were reprinted, and we were sent back upstairs with another Cast Member. During our trek upstairs we were told that if this magical reprinting thing didn't work, we would need to be completely rechecked in, along with our ParkHopper passes. He said "needing to do that is usually not a problem. I know it sounds scary but everything will be fine."

Once again, predictably - the reprinted keys did not work. Sensing our rising need to punch him in the nose, the Cast Member let us into our new room with his master key and said he would return with our new set of completely rechecked-in keys, which would have our ParkHopper passes on them. Another 40 minutes later, our new keys and luggage arrived. Our 14th floor room was a vast improvement on the 6th floor one, view-wise ...

... but still had the same wear-and-tear on the room, plus some puzzling bathroom graffiti:

Connecticut? Or are there two letters missing?

Finally - finally! - we were ready to continue with our vacation and take advantage of Bay Lake Tower's biggest plus by walking over to the Magic Kingdom. We heard the music, saw the railroad station above us ... and felt the sudden sharp pain to the stomach as the turnstile refused to budge. Yes friends, our new "everything will be fine" keys did not work. We headed over to Guest Relations and desperately explained the situation, clearly agitated and on the verge of a mental breakdown. It turns out the "everything will be fine" keys didn't have our Park Hopper passes loaded on them at all, and after speaking to a manager at Guest Relations, everything was sorted out. (When we told her we were staying at Bay Lake Tower, she rolled her eyes and said "Not surprising.")

After that, things were fine and we had a perfectly lovely stay. And there were a few things we really did enjoy about Bay Lake Tower. Walking to the Magic Kingdom in less than 10 minutes is amazingly convenient. Having access to the monorail is nice, although we found it faster to drive to Epcot rather than wait for the monorail and have to transfer at the Transportation & Ticket Center. We had a great view of the water pageant from our balcony:

My favorite.

And the Top of the World Lounge, available only to Bay Lake Tower guests, has the best view of the Magic Kingdom I've ever seen, making it a great place to watch the fireworks.

But this was Bay Lake Tower, so of course we couldn't just leave peacefully without any issue. We had an early flight home, and we needed to leave at 6:30 AM for the airport. We woke up to find that there was no check-out slip placed under our door, as is customary at all the DVC resorts. We called the main number and were told the slips are delivered between 6 AM and 8 AM. We explained that we had a plane to catch and asked if they could expedite ours since we were leaving at 6:30. The Cast Member told us our check-out paperwork was with the person delivering all of the slips, they had no way of locating him, and we should come to the front desk so they could reprint it for us. We called the front desk and were told that no one there could help us because the front desk doesn't open until 7 AM and we needed to be out the door at 6:30. In other words, tough cookies. We were told a receipt would be emailed to us. Predictably, it wasn't and three days later I had to spend an hour on the phone with various people at the Disney billing department before we finally got our folio. And then, mercifully, we were done with Bay Lake Tower forever.

Our trip overall was tons of fun, and we had a great time, but our experience with the hotel definitely added a lot of unnecessary aggravation and anxiety, not to mention all the precious park time we wasted waiting for the staff to get their acts together. And while the Top of the World Lounge and proximity to the Magic Kingdom are nice amenities, I definitely would not recommend staying at Bay Lake Tower. There are much cleaner, nicer, more Disney-fied DVC properties available elsewhere, for far less points. I'd love to know if any of you have stayed at Bay Lake Tower before, and what your experiences were. And if you have any suggestions about which resort to try next, I'd love to hear them!

Love in a Roller Coaster

2012-10-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from Capturing Magical Memories and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the third stop on our Magical Blogorail.

When I found out that this month's theme was "Favorite Attraction Music," my first thought was how much I love the theme music in Innoventions Plaza. As in, I've requested it on Sorcerer Radio before. It's my favorite piece of music in all of WDW. But Innoventions isn't really an attraction, per se, so my vote passes to a completely different park.

When Disney first announced that they were building an Aerosmith-themed roller coaster, the general reaction was one of confusion. Aerosmith? As in, The Bad Boys of Boston? In a Disney park? On paper, it sounds silly. Yet somehow, it all works.

I'm obviously talking about Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios, a ride where, as the name suggests, music is part of the experience. Beyond the queue that takes guests through the offices as G Force Records (including everyone's favorite celebrity pre-show), Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is literally a moving boombox. Speakers are positioned right into the headrests so that guests are rockin' from start to finish. And if Steven Tyler screaming in your ear doesn't wake you up, going from 0 - 60 mph in less than three seconds will.

Imagineering aside, I've always been a huge Aerosmith fan, especially since I'm also a New Englander, which basically (in my head) makes me an honorary member. And my first real adult (read: non boy-band) concert was an Aerosmith one, when I was about 16 years old. The seats were great, the music was loud, and the arena was rockin'. And when you add that excitement into a WDW thrill ride, you get a match made in Disney heaven.

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make astop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
2nd Stop ~ Capturing Magical Memories
3rd Stop ~ The Disney Chick
4th Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
Final Stop ~ (What's Going on in) Heidi's Head
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Related Links:
* The Coolest Queue
* I'm Starting to Hate Lightning McQueen
* Overheard in WDW: Sunset Blvd Edition

Review: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

2012-10-04T21:01:00.000-04:00

On my most recent trip, I crossed a big item off my WDW Bucket List: attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was, in a word, spooktacular.

For the uninitiated, MNSSHP is a ticketed evening event in the Magic Kingdom in which the park transforms into a spooky celebration, complete with a special parade and fireworks display. There are also character greetings, trick-or-treating, and best of all, incredibly short lines for the attractions.

I'll back up and start with the park itself. I'm an autumn person anyway, but the Magic Kingdom decorations and overall ambience during this time of year are the best. The lighting, decorations, and music all come together for a truly memorable experience.

This was taken earlier in the day,
the giant pumpkins only appear on MNSSHP days.

Let the ambiance begin!

The event itself is pretty simple - the Magic Kingdom remains open until midnight, and there are several stations and walking trails around the park for guests (young and old) to trick-or-treat. The special Mickey's "Boo to You" Parade runs twice, with the Happy Hallowishes fireworks show in the middle. Guests are encouraged to dress up - no one in my family is really a "Halloween person," but we thought wearing coordinating custom t-shirts and Halloween fascinators was a good compromise. In truth, most of the adults weren't dressed up at all, there were lots of little pirates and princesses, and the award for The Greatest Thing Ever goes to the family that was dressed as The Incredibles, right down to the baby.

I haven't been trick-or-treating in many, many years, but being able to participate in candy-begging around the Magic Kingdom was incredibly fun. I had been told to expect to walk away with pounds of candy - I don't know that I collected as much as I thought I would, but we also attended the first MNSSHP of the year, so perhaps the Cast Members were rationing. Either way, it was excellent. There is at least one station in every section of the park, and because there were no lines (when we went, anyway), we were able to spend the entire night trick-or-treating and riding pretty much anything we wanted. I'm talking walk-right-onto-Space-Mountain levels of queue-emptiness. Inside tip: the station on the Liberty Square Riverboat sees very little foot traffic, so they are much more generous with the candy there.

The "Boo to You" Parade is generally considered to be one of Disney's better parades - I'll be honest, parades aren't really my thing, so I have no idea how it stacks up to anything other than the Spectromagic one. We did watch the whole thing from a great spot near the parade start in Frontierland, and you definitely get to see characters, especially the villains, that I haven't otherwise seen in the parks. If you can stay up, definitely attend the later parade and hit the rides while everyone else is watching the first showing.

Now. The fireworks. They are worth the price of admission. I've seen Wishes, oh, seventy billion times and while that never gets old, the Happy Hallowishes show is like Wishes on steroids. It's easily the best fireworks display I've ever seen. The fireworks are set to a mix of ghoulish tunes ("This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas provides a standout moment of synchronicity), and I cannot stress this enough - This. Show. Is. Enormous. We were standing near the castle, to the right, and it felt like the fireworks were exploding all around us. It was like being at a concert where the sky was on fire. When you're a Disney person and you visit the parks on a somewhat regular basis, it's rare to come across something you haven't seen before and that completely surprises you. Hallowishes was both for me.

No blue fairies here.

By the end of the night, we were completely exhausted, high on a mix of candy, fireworks, and Disney magic. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party was one of the highlights of our trip, and it's officially graduated from the WDW Bucket List onto the WDW Must-Do List. If you're going to be WDW this fall (or next fall), I definitely recommend making MNSSHP a part of your trip.

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Related Links:
* The Wishes Dessert Party - Worth the Money?
* Segway Tours in WDW: This is How I Roll
* Call of the Wild: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

Wordless Wednesday: Renaissance Man

2012-10-03T12:09:00.000-04:00

Disney Meets High-Fashion, World Responds with Blank Stares

2012-08-30T18:56:00.000-04:00

Remember when Disney and Forever 21 decided that the world needed to see a sex-ified version of Minnie Mouse? Remember how the general consensus was, wtf is that kill it with fire? Well, this is coming to a holiday season near you, if you live in New York City - the rest of us will just pretend it doesn't exist:

She must be hungry.

Why no, that's not Jessica Rabbit. That's Minnie Mouse. Remember her? She looks like this:

Fatty.

Anyway, she is offensively commercial, so Barney's New York is giving her a high-fashion makeover, along with some of your other favorite Disney characters, as part of the store's holiday window spectacular, "Electric Holiday":

When unveiled to the public on Nov. 14, Barneys’ Madison Avenue flagship will feature a three-dimensional electric light show; a moving art short film in the window displays that will turn Disney’s most favorite heroes into runway supermodels and fashion regulars into Disney types, and an original score by Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino.

Don't get me wrong, that actually sounds awesome. I can't wait to see it in person. But who are these pencil-people that vaguely resemble Disney characters?

“When we got to the moment when all Disney characters walk on the runway, there was a discussion,” [Barney's Creative Director Dennis] Freedman recalled. “The standard Minnie Mouse will not look so good in a Lanvin dress. There was a real moment of silence, because these characters don’t change. I said, ‘If we’re going to make this work, we have to have a 5-foot-11 Minnie,’ and they agreed. When you see Goofy, Minnie and Mickey, they are runway models.”

Oh, okay, that makes perfect sense now. 5'11" is fashion-speak for size zero, right? It's not like these characters are beloved by children or have their own preschool channel or anything. No danger of sending the wrong message here.

Don't feed the ducks.

There are many moments that I wish Walt Disney was alive to see, but I really wish he was around today just get the reaction on this:

Homeless man? Prince? Powerline? You decide.

Hipster Goofy officially exists. I give up.

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Related Links:
* Meet the New Minnie Mouse, Then Back Away Slowly
* The Problem with Disney Princesses
* Finally! A Princess I Can Get Behind

Wordless Wednesday: Geodesic Sky

2012-08-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

Hold Your Horses: Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort

2012-08-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Black. Enjoy the ride as we share with you our favorite Walt Disney World Resorts.

I recently wrote about my love for Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, but my favorite WDW resort is our DVC home base, Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa.

Prior to becoming DVC members, my family and I had stayed in other Disney resorts (namely, the All-Stars), but our first stay at Saratoga Springs was the first time I really felt like we were at a home away from home. Some of that is part of the DVC experience, yes, but Saratoga Springs has always been a little extra special for me. For one thing, this resort is probably the furthest afield of all the WDW resorts - it's located on the far side of Downtown Disney, which means it's much less crowded than the other resorts and much quieter. If you're looking for a little extra relaxation on your trip, this is the place.

Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort is an equestrian-themed, Victorian-style Disney Deluxe Villa Resort, and also includes the Treehouse Villas, where as many as nine guests can sleep among the treetops. There are lots of activities and amenities to keep you busy, including four pools, two playgrounds, a game room, tennis, basketball, shuffleboard and bike rentals. There is one casual dining restaurant, The Turf Club Bar and Grille, and one cafeteria option, the Artist's Palette. I've only stayed in the main hotel, which has never disappointed, except for a really unfortunate situation where they booked us in the middle of a construction zone, which you can read all about here. (It turned out fine in the end).

Beep Beep

The grounds at Saratoga Springs are some of the prettiest - the resort is huge, and there are lots of trails and walking paths that allow you to explore and get in a bit of nature time. The grounds are sprinkled with streams and little bodies of water - if you're an early riser, you can see otters playing on the banks. We happened to catch this while we were waiting for an early bus for Extra Magic Hours one morning, and it was probably my favorite thing that happened on that entire trip. Otters? In the wild? Only at Disney, folks.

There's also a path that takes you directly into Downtown Disney, which is a major plus. And the views are fantastic:

Who wants to go shopping?

The biggest drawback to Saratoga Springs, not surprisingly, is its location. Unless you're going to Downtown Disney or Typhoon Lagoon, the rest of WDW is really far away. And the resort is comprised of six sections (The Springs, The Paddock, Congress Park, The Carousel, The Grandstand and the Treehouse Villas) and the buses stop at all six, so depending on which section you're staying in, you're looking at a 15 minute bus ride before you even depart the resort. You need to budget extra time if you're trying to make a reservation or a rope drop, and expect that post-fireworks ride home at night to turn into Group Nap City.

All told, Saratoga Springs is a great resort if you're traveling with older kids, or in an adult party. There's not a lot of things for young kids to do, but if you're looking for a little peace and quiet along with your Disney magic, I definitely recommend staying here.

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Disney Chick
2nd Stop ~ Manda's Disney Blog
3rd Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
4th Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
Final Stop ~ The Disney Point

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Related Links:
* Call of the Wild: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
* Getting Mugged in WDW
* Two Hotels, Five Rooms

Wordless Wednesday: Once Upon a Dream

2012-08-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

Call of the Wild: Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

2012-07-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from Focused on the Magic and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the final stop on our Magical Blogorail.

Welcome, or as they say at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, jambo. The Animal Kingdom Lodge (or the AKL, if you're fancy) is arguably the most unique of the Disney Deluxe Resorts - it has all the conveniences and comfort you'd expect from a Disney Deluxe Resort, set in a 43 acre wildlife preserve. It's what I always imagined going on safari would be, but with indoor plumbing.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge is actually two buildings - the main lodge, Jambo House, and the newer Kidani Village. Both areas boast the same fantastic views of the "savannah," detailed African decor, and access to some of the best restaurants on WDW property. When you cross the threshold into Jambo House, you are immediately transported to a another world, filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of Africa. This is Disney detail at its finest:

Inside Jambo House

Inside a room off the main lobby

The guest rooms have a lovely African theme, with subtle Lion King touches:

Headboard

Inside the shower

Bathroom tile

And the animals? You'll see them - everywhere, and often. Each room comes with a private balcony - a nice place to enjoy breakfast (we usually buy breakfast at the Main Street Bakery or various Epcot pavilions as we're leaving the parks each night). It's an open savannah, so the animals come and go as they please. You never know what will be waiting for you when you look out your windows!

Savannah view

Giraffes and cattle

Antelopes

Zebra (taken from the lobby level)

Animal Kingdom Lodge also has a fitness center, family activities, bike rentals, a jogging trail, an arcade, a playground, and two pools. Toss in two of the best restaurants WDW has to offer - Boma, home of the legendary breakfast buffet (and the fruit juice cocktail I've been craving for months), and Jiko, home of the famous filet-and-mac-and-cheese entree, and you've got a true all-in-one resort. Sanaa, located at Kidani Village, falls somewhat short, in my opinion, and the Mara offers more budget-friendly cafeteria style dining. Mara is a step above some of the cafeteria offerings at the other WDW resorts, serving African-style dishes like African stew in bread bowls and African-spiced chicken. And for the adults, there is a lounge that serves cocktails and small bites well into the night.

If there is a drawback to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, it's the location. Not surprisingly, it's located by Disney's Animal Kingdom, but it's a hike to get to the other parks. As in, about a 20 minute bus ride. This can be a little rough in the morning, when the buses are crowded (and maybe this is just my own impatience, but it seems like the buses don't run as frequently as they should, considering the travel time). But that's a small price to pay for such a unique, immersive, unforgettable hotel experience. If you're looking to try something new on your next trip, I definitely suggest heeding the call of the wild and booking a stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Thank you for joining our special edition Magical Blogorail loop this month. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney news, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to The Magical Blogorail website to see all our members and their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make astop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Disney's Contemporary Resort
2nd Stop ~ Disney's Polynesian Resort
3rd Stop ~ Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
4th Stop ~ Disney's Yacht & Beach Club
5th Stop ~ Disney's Wilderness Lodge
6th Stop ~ Disney's Boardwalk Inn
Final Stop ~ Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

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You May Also Like:
* Getting Mugged in WDW
* Golden Oak: If You're Not Rich, Then Why Are You Reading This?
* Segway Tours in WDW: This is How I Roll

Ducks Fly Together

2012-06-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the fourth stop on our Magical Blogorail.

I'm just going to come right out with it: The Mighty Ducks is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time. Yeah, I just said that. Judge if you will. So when prompted to name a movie I would want to live in and experience as though it was real life, this was a no-brainer - partly because I spent much of my formative elementary school years fantasizing that I was, in fact, part of the District 5 peewee hockey team. So really, this post wrote itself more than 15 years ago.

Note: if you haven't seen The Mighty Ducks or its sequels, stop reading now. There are lots of spoilers (assuming you've never seen a Disney sports movie before), and nonsensical references ahead.

I really don't have an articulate reason for why I love this movie so much more than the other "ragtag group of misfits plays sports" movies that were so popular in the early 90s, but I will feebly defend myself by saying that based on conversations with others around my age, I'm not the only one. I mean, there's an NHL team named after this movie. That has to count for something, right? In all seriousness, I do know The Mighty Ducks (and sequels) pretty much verbatim, and I find myself quoting it often, usually without even realizing it. Actually, I'm pretty sure I yelled "Take the fall! Act hurt! Get indignant!" while watching the NBA Eastern Conference Finals the other night. Oh, who I am I kidding - I totally yelled that.

But as far as living in a movie - I want this one. I want this world populated by soft hands and cake eaters and flying Vs and rollerblading in malls and using your eyeballs as hockey pucks. I even want to live in the sequel, with its Goodwill Games and Air Bombays and knucklepucks and strudel heads and scary Icelandic coaches/dentists and goalies named Scooter. And then there is the third movie, which we can just forget about, and which I wouldn't want to live in because it's set in a prep school.

The Mighty Ducks represents a kinder, gentler time in my life when Hollywood actually made live action PG-rated movies and those movies did not suck. When the entire family could watch the same movie and everyone would like it. When people listened to "Whoomp! There It Is" unironically. I want that back. I want to live in a world where the good guys always win, where The Bash Brothers is not the name of some cable reality show, and where people have names like Mr. Tibbles. I want to publicly quack as a symbol of pride. I want to win championships. I want to pretend to be related to Aaron Spelling and go shopping on Rodeo Drive. I want to create a distraction in a fire in a barrel. I'd be proud to be a Duck, and I'd be proud to fly with any one of them.

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
2nd Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
3rd Stop ~ The Disney Point
4th Stop ~ The Disney Chick
Final Stop ~ Manda's Disney Blog

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Related Links:
* How Much Planning is Too Much Planning?
* Moroccan My Vote
* The Coolest Queue

Pins, Planets, and Pyrotechnics

2012-06-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from Return to Disney and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the third stop on our Magical Blogorail.

As a tradition-heavy family, our list of Disney Must-Haves is fairly extensive. Must try a new restaurant. Must purchase an entire year's worth of soap at Basin. Must watch the entire loop of updates on the Disney Resort in-room TV station (did I mention we're also lunatics?). So it's impossible for me to narrow it down to just one thing, but I've outlined my biggest must-haves by category:

Food: I've posted before about my family's tradition of trying a new restaurant each time (next up is Citricos), but our love affair with Disney dining goes further than that. There are certain food items that have wormed their way into our hearts, making us crave them once we're home and establishing themselves as a priority on any trip. The popcorn in Disney's Hollywood Studios (it's better than in any other park, I swear - try the cart by the Sorcerer Hat). The pretzel bread at Le Cellier, which is almost worth sitting through the subpar lunch you have to eat in order to get it. The Rice Krispie balls, freshly made, from the Main Street Confectionary, which will make you forget all about the packaged treats you find everywhere else. And I don't think I need to explain the allure, the power, of the Dole Whip.

Shopping: Aside from the soap stockpiling I mentioned above, this can be summed up in one word: pins. We do not trade pins. We buy them. We horde them. We display them on corkboards in our homes. And we cannot go to WDW without buying at least five apiece. My favorite spot? The shop in the Contemporary Resort. Great selection, without the crowds at other locations.

Attractions: Obviously, we try to do as many attractions as possible, and we have our favorites that we ride multiple times, but Space Mountain is really my desert-island attraction. I once detailed my love in a post for DISTherapy, but it was my first roller coaster, and it's still my favorite. There are faster rides, scarier rides, newer rides, but Space Mountain is a classic that I have to experience on every trip. In 2009, when the ride was closed for refurbishment, it was like we were missing a piece of the WDW experience. I still haven't fully recovered.

Magic: And then, of course, there's the big finale - the fireworks. The unofficial rule is: if we can, we WILL watch Wishes. That means seeking out dining/drinking locations with a view of the show, or making a special trip into the Magic Kingdom at night. We even tried the Wishes Dessert Party (with mediocre results). On our next trip, we're staying at Bay Lake Tower (which did not have any Magic Kingdom view rooms available), and I'm very excited to catch Wishes from the Top of the World Lounge. Is it Wishes we love, or just collecting views from different vantage points? Probably a little of both, but Wishes - any way you slice it - is a definite must-do.

What's on your Disney Must-Do list?

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is DISTherapy. Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Magical Mouse Schoolhouse

2nd Stop ~ Return to Disney

3rd Stop ~ The Disney Chick

4th Stop ~ DISTherapy

Final Stop ~ Delightfully Disney
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Related Links:
* Of Mouse and Man
* The Agony of Making Disney Dining Reservations
* The Wishes Dessert Party - Worth the Money?

How Much Planning is Too Much Planning?

2012-05-01T18:41:00.002-04:00

So. WDW Magic is reporting that Disney has begun testing the next phase of the evolution of the FASTPASS system, which should delight people with control issues and irritate everyone else:

1. Guests in the trial will choose a FASTPASS itinerary for the entire day before they arrive at the park.

2. The FASTPASS itinerary will be emailed to the guest and encoded onto a RFID FASTPASS card which will then be used to gain FASTPASS access to the attractions chosen.

The significant point here is that this system is allowing the guest to book their entire day FASTPASS itinerary BEFORE arrival at the park, and therefore eliminates the current system of only holding one FASTPASS at a time, and having to wait for windows to become available.

In other words, you can plan out your entire day at the parks before you even get there. No word on whether there’s a limit to how many FASTPASSes you can preload on these cards, or if you can do multiple passes on the same attraction, but if that’s the case, you’ll have an awful lot of cards with 17 straight rides on Toy Story Midway Mania.

Let’s get something straight - I’m a planner. A Type-A planner, even. So I hear some of you thinking “but some people are neurotic and like to plan and how will we possibly do all the things we want to do and omgIneedtogocheckmyADRsagain.” I am one of you. I get it. But I am not a fan of this.

Honestly, why do the Imagineers even waste their time building interactive queues? Whatever happened to getting there being part of the fun? Yes, waiting around for your FASTPASS return time to arrive can be annoying (and often leads to unnecessary gift shop purchases), and I think the system will be quite popular for that feature alone. But in theory – if the majority of the guests are using the FASTPASS line for an attraction, wouldn’t that make the standby line the quicker option? And more importantly, would guests still have the option to get a FASTPASS on the spot, because, I dunno, they’re on vacation and want to take things as they come, rather than planning everything out the night before? And if getting a FASTPASS becomes as stressful as getting an ADR, then pretty soon, guests will start foregoing things entirely and spend all their time whittling the hours away eating Dole Whips, until Disney decides you need a FASTPASS for those too.

And not to get all, “back in MY day…,” but really – 10 years ago, this never would have been seen as something beneficial. But thanks to a society increasingly bent on instant gratification (thanks, social media), and a FASTPASS system that has gradually weaned people off of waiting in line, this is where we are. Now you don’t even need to be in the parks before you’re forced to decide where you will go first. Can’t get a FASTPASS? No worries, you can get real-time information on wait times on your iPhone via the Disney Parks app. Leisure time is for the weak … and for people who don’t have smartphones.

It’s beginning to feel like going to the parks is some sort of competition – not against anyone in particular, but there’s an unspoken goal of experiencing the most attractions, scoring those prime dinner reservations, arriving at a certain location first, being at the front of the line. Once upon a time, guests would come to the parks and just BE. Not “be at this attraction for our FASTPASS time,” not “be at dinner 15 minutes before our reservation,” not “be checking emails for ADR confirmations.” Just BE. Without feeling like if you weren’t running around, then you weren’t really experiencing everything. Without the prompts to be here, there, and everywhere. Without needing to draw all over your park maps to make sure you did everything in the most efficient manner. Without needing to have a family meeting every night to plan out the next day in fine detail. I don’t know about you, but I miss those days. And on my next trip, I’m going to do my best to fight the urge to do everything and just … BE, and hopefully recapture some of that ol' Disney magic.

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Related Links:
* WDW Things that Never Cease to Amaze Me
* FastPass Fail
* The Coolest Queue

I'll Take a Nap for $100

2012-04-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 2nd stop on our Magical Blogorail.

It goes without saying that for the majority of the attractions at WDW, Imagineers have put significant thought into the pre-show or queue experience to enhance the experience for guests. I've posted before on my favorite queue in all the World, but in tems of highest entertainment value, that's a whole other story. The pre-shows I find myself quoting the most after a trip (or let's face it, in perpetuity) are the ones for Muppet Vision 3D, Rock n Roller Coaster, and Honey I Shrunk the Audience (I've said "safely exit the ____ safely" in public far more often than could ever be considered appropriate). But for the pre-show that entertains me the most, we must turn to old friend:

Spoiler Alert: Brain Power.

I know that the Ellen's Energy Adventure is somewhat polarizing among Disney fans, especially EPCOT Center loyalists, and I've posted before on the need to update this attraction so that it feels somewhat current, or at the very least, contains updated information. But I think part of the reason it hasn't been updated in 14 years is because guests don't complain about it. Because, the truth is, it's awfully charming, and the pre-show has a lot to do with that.

Bill Nye agrees.

The concept of the ride is pretty simple: the "ride" takes place inside Ellen deGeneres's dream, but this is one of the few attractions in WDW where the pre-show is just as important as the ride itself - without it, the ride doesn't make much sense. And although you can enter the pre-show theatre at any time before the ride starts, the entire show is so entertaining that you don't want to miss it. Ellen deGeneres, long before she has her talk show, is watching Jeopardy - and to her horror, her former roommate is a contestant. Neighbor Bill Nye drops by to borrow something for an experiment, Ellen falls asleep while watching television, and a dream sequence/40 minute ride ensues. And let's get this out of the way - the thing is Dated with a capital Dinosaur - this pre-show takes place back when Ellen deGeneres and Bill Nye lived in New York, when women wore oversized oxford shirts unironically, and before Jamie Lee Curtis wanted to help you regulate your digestive system. But whatever, it's still funny.

My favorite thing about the pre-show is watching the first-timers react. There's not a lot of Disney magic here, not like there is in Turtle Talk with Crush or some of the newer queues. It's straight-up comedy, done right, and still family-friendly (I love watching people look around to find the woman with the short hairdo that Ellen's complimenting). There's something kinder, gentler, easier about the Universe of Energy - it's like an old friend, always there, still making you laugh.

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Disney Point
2nd Stop ~ The Disney Chick
3rd Stop ~ Mandas Disney Blog
Final Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad

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You Might Also Like:

* What I Would Do with One More Disney Day
* Golden Oak: My House is Better than Yours
* Stupid Judy, Stupid Energy

The Agony of Making Disney Dining Reservations

2012-03-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, a nice family of three made reservations for their next trip to WDW. Being Disney Vacation Club members, their trip was at the mercy of when their points would become available, and so they planned their journey for September 2012. After booking the hotels and flights, they eagerly awaited the opening of the dining reservation window, so they could confirm their upcoming feasts.

After many weeks of scouring menus and making their wish list, the nice family called DVC to make their reservations, on the very first day they were allowed to do so. They were told, much to their chagrin, that the restaurant they were requesting to dine at, the Yachtsman Steakhouse, had no reservations available. Not a single one. For the entire week of their stay. An unapologetic Member of Cast told them to try later, and then directed them to a phone survey that took more time to complete than their original call.

Not satisfied with this, the nice family called back. Again. And again. Every day. Each time, Members of Cast offered a different, vague, uninformed explanation. Maybe the restaurant is being renovated. Maybe they haven't made their reservations for September available yet. Maybe, even though it is the off-season, everyone who is visiting the parks wants to eat here and made reservations already. Maybe you would prefer to eat at the Maya Grill?

The nice family, who had been considering the Disney Dining Plan option, was very sad. If they couldn't get a reservation at one non-park restaurant 180 days in advance, then what would become of their Table Service options when they arrived at the resort? Would they be left hungry, unable to eat anywhere, Table Service credits filling their pockets? Or would they be rushing from place to place, always at the mercy of some last-minute reservation? The nice family yearned for the days of old, when they could eat where they wanted, whenever they wanted, without having to make decisions three months in advance.

While the nice family's story is tragic, it is probably a common tale. Share your tales of dining hardship in the comments below!

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Related Links:
* F is for Family and Food
* The Disney Dining Plan, or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About My Figure and Love My Sweatpants"
* Golden Oak: My House is Better than Yours

Moroccan My Vote

2012-03-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Black. Enjoy the ride as we take you on a virtual tour of our favorite World Showcase Pavilions.

I did an interview a few months ago on Sorcerer Radio where I was asked to name my favorite World Showcase Pavilion, and my answer was “China for the shopping, Mexico for the food.” And while both of those sentiments are still true (though I would add “Canada for the grounds-keeping”), upon further reflection I realized that my favorite World Showcase pavilion is actually one I’ve never eaten at, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never made a purchase there either:

Morocco.

Image via

While all of the pavilions are charming and special in their own ways, Morocco is the one that feels the most transformative to me. Sure, Mexico invites you to experience a street scene at night, but you’re always aware that you’ve walked into a pavilion box, and once you exit you’ll be right back into the Florida sun. And it’s probably a testament to its layout (a series of winding alleyways versus the usual “walk-in, walk-out" approach), but it’s very easy to get lost in Morocco – literally. And that’s a good thing. Beautiful, detailed architecture hugs you on both sides as you explore a series of shops filled with craftwork that exceeds my budget or is difficult to take on the plane (hence my “never making a purchase”), but I do make mental notes of how I would like to decorate a room in my house with these things.

The Morocco pavilion was the first “expansion” pavilion to be added to the World Showcase, making its debut in 1984, and many of the beautiful mosaics were created by Moroccan artists sent by King Hassan II. Native North African plants like citrus trees, olive trees, and date palms add extra authenticity, and the pavilion has two restaurants, Tangerine Café and Restaurant Marrakesh. And fun fact – depending on your vantage point, you can see the Tower of Terror peeking out behind the Morocco pavilion – something the Imagineers realized when they began planning the Tower of Terror’s construction. So, in true Imagineering fashion, they sculpted the top of the Tower of Terror to blend in with the Moroccan architecture.

Image via

During the day, the Morocco pavilion is usually bustling with activity (cries of “how do you get out?” are commonplace), but at night it’s quiet, peaceful, and you really do feel like you’ve been dropped into another world. I’ve written about the amazing ambience of the pavilion at night before, but it bears repeating – for me, it’s the best spot in the World Showcase to enjoy a nighttime stroll before Illuminations. The Morocco pavilion is Imagineering at its best, Epcot at its finest, and that's why it's my favorite.

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Manda's Disney Blog.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ The Disney Chick
2nd Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
3rd Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
4th Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
Final Stop ~ The Disney Point

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Related Links:
* The Coolest Queue
* A Salute to All Nations but Mostly EPCOT
* Finding Zen in WDW

Getting There is Half the Fun

2012-02-25T07:58:00.002-05:00

Between baggage fees and rising gas prices, traveling to WDW feels more expensive than ever. So once you've made the decision to go, picked out your hotel, and mentally made your ADRs, you're left with the all-important task of deciding HOW you'll get there. If you don't live in Florida or on the West coast, odds are you're left with deciding whether to fly or drive. I've done both:

By Land: There is one important criteria for traveling by vehicle: everyone in the car must get along. Otherwise, this will be the most unpleasant experience of your life. The nice thing about driving, however, is that it becomes a trip all on its own. When my family drove to WDW (from New England), we stopped in Hershey, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the seventh circle of hell known as South of the Border. The car broke down, we stayed in cheap hotels, and it was definitely a memorable experience, for better or worse. Of course, unless you can take the extra vacation days required to make a road trip happen, this may not be the best option for you. And there's something very depressing about driving home - you've had a nice trip down while everyone anticipates visiting WDW, you have a great time in WDW, and then you're stuck in a tin can for two days with nothing but the interstate ahead of you and a pile of unread emails waiting at home.

By Air: If given the option, I'd prefer to travel by air. I'm not a huge fan of flying or airports, but it's so much easier to get to your destination in a few hours rather than a few days. And as far as airports go, MCO is pretty nice. It's cleaner than most, and I like to think of the shuttle between the terminals as the first of many monorail rides I'll be experiencing. From there, we usually rent a car and drive to our resort hotel, where we'll use the shuttle buses for most of the trip, but having a car allows for extra mobility when you're visting another resort for dinner or pool-hopping. And then when it's time to leave (boo), you don't have to worry about catching a shuttle or whether the taxi will be on time. You can just pack up the car and head back to reality.

How do you usually travel to WDW?
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Related Links:
* Golden Oak: My House is Better Than Yours
* Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA
* Two Hotels, Five Rooms

A Disney Date with Me

2012-02-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the final stop on our Magical Blogorail.

I've never been in WDW for Valentine's Day, but if I was, this is what would be on my to-do list:

Watch the Sunrise over Bay Lake: You need to be staying in one of the nearby hotels, of course, but what a romantic way to start the day.

Do a Backstage Tour: This is a great way to have a memorable experience with a loved one, while also learning something new about the parks. And by "loved one," I mean me.

Stroll through the World Showcase: It probably goes without saying, but a casual stroll through the Showcase allows you and your beloved to experience different cultures, food, and spirits from around the world. And by "your beloved," I mean me, and by "spirits," I mean "go easy on the margaritas."

The Spa at Saratoga Springs: The Grand Floridian spa is under renovations, but Saratoga Springs is open, and ready to massage you. And by "you," I mean me.

Dinner at Victoria & Albert's: If you're looking to impress your date, there's no better way than with a five-star, six-course dinner. And by "your date," I mean me.

Get Married: Hey, if things are going along smoothly, why not?

Thank you for joining Magical Blogorail Black this month. We will be back March 13th with an all new theme. Keep checking in with our blogs in between loops to keep up to date with our Disney news, photos and stories. If you are looking for more Disney magic, you can make your way over to The Magical Blogorail website to see all our members and their blogs, as well as all our previous loops.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Manda’s Disney Blog
2nd Stop ~ Mommy Mouseketeer
3rd Stop ~ The Magical Mouse Pad
4th Stop ~ The Disney Point
Final Stop ~ The Disney Chick
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Related Links:
* Give the Gift of Disney
* Three Disney Characters I'd Rather Spend Valentine's Day With
* Finding Zen in WDW

Golden Oak: My House is Better than Yours.

2012-02-10T21:45:00.001-05:00

Guys, remember when I told you that I was moving to Golden Oak, the exclusive residential community inside Walt Disney World, so that I could enjoy the magic of the parks year-round without having to subject myself to the indignities of air travel and - shudder - being jostled by commoners?

Well, prepare to get jealous, because Disney just released a fancy new CGI video of how awesome my new home will be:

It's the assisted-living-facility-meets-country-club home of my dreams! And yours too. It's the home of my dreams and your dreams. And did you see that freshly squeezed orange juice? Freshly. Squeezed. If that's not worth 1.4 million dollars, I don't know what is.

And a golf course designed by Tom Fazio! TOM. FREAKING. FAZIO. While I don't actually play golf, I know that he is important, because he has a Wikipedia page, and so you should be impressed.

Plus, my very own Four Seasons hotel with my very own rooftop bar to watch the fireworks! Wishes, every night! Just one of the many perks for me, from Disney, because I have lots of money. And you don't, but you shouldn't feel bad about that. If everyone could live at Golden Oak, then it would just be like one of those atrocious DVC properties. Have you seen those things? The people there actually park their own cars. Have you ever heard of such nonsense?

Yes, I suppose all this beautiful land could have been used to build another theme park. By why build something everyone can enjoy when you could build something that only a few people can enjoy, assuming they are rich and can pay you for the privilege?

Maybe, maybe, if I'm feeling generous I will let you come visit. But I'll have to insist that you remove those Mickey ears before you come in - good heavens, what will the butler think?

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Related Links:
* The World Just Became a Little More Terrifying
* Golden Oak: If You're Not Rich Then Why Are You Reading This?
* Two Hotels, Five Rooms

Of Mouse and Man

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to those of you joining me from The Disney Point and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the fifth stop on our Magical Blogorail.

Those of you familiar with JB Conway's work know that he has an amazing ability to bring the sights, sounds, smells, and satisfaction of WDW to life through a few choice syllables. This haiku is one of my favorites:

brick by brick

he built a kingdom
history

When you visit WDW, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement, the attractions, the FastPasses, the churros, the Dole Whips, the shopping, the characters, the music, the parades, and trying to avoid neon-clad tour groups. And why not? Disney prides itself on providing a seamless experience for guests, transporting them to a world of magic, discovery, fun, and adventure for an afternoon. But behind all the Imagineering, all the carefully thought out design - behind all the show, I always think back to Walt's famous quote, which now adorns so many pieces of merchandise:

"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."

It seems incredible that so many things came about because Walt Disney (and Ub Iwerks, represent) put pencil to paper and created a sketch of a mouse. And then Walt's wife Lillian named the mouse Mickey and the rest, as they say, is history. That before the movies, the awards, the resorts, the hotels, the monorail, the castles, the global empire ... there was a blank sheet of paper. Walt Disney was a true original - the world had never seen a creative vision like his before, and it's unlikely that it will again. And the fact that he was a shrewd and savvy businessman made the Walt Disney Company the rare venture that could accomplish major goals without sacrificing the vision along the way.

Walt Disney never lived to see the Magic Kingdom open in 1971, but his spirit is felt throughout much of the parks. It's in the children's eyes that light up when they see the castle for the first time. It's in the Sherman Brothers songs that have you humming about tiki rooms and small worlds for a week. It's in the railroad that celebrates the good ol' days and the monorail that represents the days yet to come. It's in the laughter, the smiles, and the memories created by a day at the parks. It may have all started with a mouse, but it became a reality because of a man.

Thanks Walt.

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Capturing Magical Memories.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop - Disney Living
2nd Stop - Focused on the Magic
3rd Stop - A Disney Mom’s Thoughts
4th Stop - The Disney Point
5th Stop - The Disney Chick
Final Stop - Capturing Magical Memories

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Related Links:
* Better Know a Disney Fan: Interview with Mouse of Zen
* Finding Zen in WDW
* Wordless Wednesday: Zen