The whole post-a-day thing may not be exactly happening. But I'll try :-)
So Epcot just turned 35 and is in need of some love. The festivals have been great, but Future World is a shadow of its former self and the World Showcase hasn't seen a new pavilion in many moons. The Walt Disney top brass has promised a huge investment in Epcot over the next several years, big to the tune of billions of dollars, but has been pretty vague about the specific plans. As far as World Showcase is concerned we are to get a new Ratatouille attraction in France for sure, but nothing else has been confirmed.
This has left the rumor mills turning at full tilt. Two new national pavilions have been rumored to be pretty safe bets, Spain and Brazil. But Spain was to include a ride based on Gigantic, a planned re-telling of the Jack and the Beanstalk story set in Spain, and Gigantic has been scuttled. Will Spain survive?
An article I read a couple days ago (and I can't for the life of me remember what blog posted it) says no. This is a bit of a bummer from the perspective of wanting more countries represented, but it leaves money in the budget for other things, and those things are interesting.
Brazil is apparently on track, but will not feature an attraction. Its big draw will be a Brazilian Steakhouse, which is fine by me. The problem this leaves, because of the loss of Spain, is one of crowd flow/control. Disney Imagineers want an attraction in the space between Norway's Frozen and France's Ratatouille and that was to be Spain's Gigantic. Now they are looking at existing pavilions in which to build a ride and Japan has risen to the top of the list. One option is a Matterhorn-style coaster based upon Mt. Fuji. This was part of the original plan for the Japan pavilion so it stands to reason it's still on the board. But the other option is the one I'm excited for. Big Hero 6!
Big Hero 6 did well in theatres, the meet and greet with Baymax is popular and the franchise has a new cartoon on the Disney XD channel that is also performing well. The characters tie in well with Japan. I think it's a winner. LEt's see if the Imagineers think the same thing!
Showing posts with label Epcot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Epcot. Show all posts
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Saturday, January 7, 2017
My Favorite New Stuff Of 2016
We were lucky to be able to experience a lot of the newest offering around Walt Disney World on our fall trip last year. We missed Disney Springs entirely, but we did hit each of the parks. Here's a run-down of what we saw.
Magic Kingdom
I think we only got to experience two really new things here, but they were both glorious. The Muppet show in Liberty Square is a must-do. It's perfectly Muppet-esque. The show is funny, the Muppets look exactly as you'd want and expect and it was carried off flawlessly. The setting is great, right in an open courtyard area, and you can sit yourself down on the wall surrounding the Liberty Tree and have a terrific view. We loved it.
We also got to try the newest table-service restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, the Jungle Navigation Company Skipper's Canteen. This place is themed perfectly to the 1920s-30s era of adventure in far-flung lands. We ate in the main dining room, which was great, but next time I'll request the Adventurers' Club room, which is even better. The menu is a bit different, but for us that's a good thing. We enjoyed pork, chicken and fish all cooked very well and presented in unique ways, especially the fish which was a whole deep fried lion fish with spines and all poking out and its little fishy face looking right at you. This place is really worth a try if you are looking for Magic Kingdom dining options. And now it even serves beer! So go ahead and give it a shot :-)
Epcot
Not a lot new here, especially since we decided not to even attempt the new Frozen ride. We did, however, really love the new Soarin' movie, so much so we rode it twice in a row. We also got to see Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker on their Mobile Muppet Lab. Apparently this is headed for Hollywood Studios sometime, but wherever it ends up, you need to track it down. It's a hilarious interactive show with, again, very Muppet-y looking Muppets. I just can't get over seeing these guys in the parks. Love it.
Hollywood Studios
With so much of the park closed and under construction, this one is getting a lot of shade thrown its way. We had a good day there, though. We enjoyed all the Star Wars stuff immensely, from the March of the Stormtroopers to the Chewbacca greet. They may seem like little things compared to a Star Wars Land, but they were some of my favorite things on our trip.
Animal Kingdom
This was my favorite. And none of the highly anticipated things, like Avatarland and Rivers of Light, were open. The thing is, they've begun leaving Animal Kingdom open into the evening hours, after dark, and it's the best thing ever. The nighttime safari was great! It's quiet and just different enough to be a lot of fun. Plus, we got to see the male lion roaring at the fireworks going off in another park, which was thrilling. But the entire atmosphere of Animal Kingdom at night is the real draw in my opinion. People left in the afternoon, so the place was empty. No lines for anything at all. We did Expedition Everest several times in a row with no wait. But just wandering around that place at night is great. It's the best-themed park Disney has, I think, and it becomes absolutely magic after dark. We were so very impressed.
Oh, and we ate at Tiffins, which was spectacular. It's not cheap, but the food and service are some of the best I've experienced on the Disney property. Next trip I hope to spend more time in the attached Nomad Lounge, which looks across a river at the forthcoming Pandora.
I know there are some biggies planned for 2017, the opening of Pandora chief among them, but I'm wondering what else we'll see. Some of the coolest things from 206 were quietly introduced without a lot of pre-opening fanfare, like the Muppets in Liberty Square. Here's to 2017 bringing more of that!
Magic Kingdom
I think we only got to experience two really new things here, but they were both glorious. The Muppet show in Liberty Square is a must-do. It's perfectly Muppet-esque. The show is funny, the Muppets look exactly as you'd want and expect and it was carried off flawlessly. The setting is great, right in an open courtyard area, and you can sit yourself down on the wall surrounding the Liberty Tree and have a terrific view. We loved it.
 |
| MUPPETS!!!!!! |
We also got to try the newest table-service restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, the Jungle Navigation Company Skipper's Canteen. This place is themed perfectly to the 1920s-30s era of adventure in far-flung lands. We ate in the main dining room, which was great, but next time I'll request the Adventurers' Club room, which is even better. The menu is a bit different, but for us that's a good thing. We enjoyed pork, chicken and fish all cooked very well and presented in unique ways, especially the fish which was a whole deep fried lion fish with spines and all poking out and its little fishy face looking right at you. This place is really worth a try if you are looking for Magic Kingdom dining options. And now it even serves beer! So go ahead and give it a shot :-)
 |
| The waiting room at Skipper Canteen is even cool |
Not a lot new here, especially since we decided not to even attempt the new Frozen ride. We did, however, really love the new Soarin' movie, so much so we rode it twice in a row. We also got to see Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker on their Mobile Muppet Lab. Apparently this is headed for Hollywood Studios sometime, but wherever it ends up, you need to track it down. It's a hilarious interactive show with, again, very Muppet-y looking Muppets. I just can't get over seeing these guys in the parks. Love it.
Hollywood Studios
With so much of the park closed and under construction, this one is getting a lot of shade thrown its way. We had a good day there, though. We enjoyed all the Star Wars stuff immensely, from the March of the Stormtroopers to the Chewbacca greet. They may seem like little things compared to a Star Wars Land, but they were some of my favorite things on our trip.
Animal Kingdom
This was my favorite. And none of the highly anticipated things, like Avatarland and Rivers of Light, were open. The thing is, they've begun leaving Animal Kingdom open into the evening hours, after dark, and it's the best thing ever. The nighttime safari was great! It's quiet and just different enough to be a lot of fun. Plus, we got to see the male lion roaring at the fireworks going off in another park, which was thrilling. But the entire atmosphere of Animal Kingdom at night is the real draw in my opinion. People left in the afternoon, so the place was empty. No lines for anything at all. We did Expedition Everest several times in a row with no wait. But just wandering around that place at night is great. It's the best-themed park Disney has, I think, and it becomes absolutely magic after dark. We were so very impressed.
 |
| Nomad Lounge bar |
I know there are some biggies planned for 2017, the opening of Pandora chief among them, but I'm wondering what else we'll see. Some of the coolest things from 206 were quietly introduced without a lot of pre-opening fanfare, like the Muppets in Liberty Square. Here's to 2017 bringing more of that!
Saturday, November 5, 2016
The Magic Worked
Before we left for Walt Disney World I wrote about how much the lovely and talented Lisa needed this trip. The stress of work was getting to her in a way I'd not seen in a long, long time and she desperately needed to get away. I didn't say it then, but one of my big concerns was that she wouldn't be able to "let it go" and be truly away. I was picturing emails and texts about Town of Oak Island issues making it impossible for Lisa to relax and leave the real world behind.
As it turned out, that wasn't a problem. Lisa seriously limited the number of times she checked her phone for messages and when she did check, there were no problems or even questions waiting for her. Her co-workers and even the elected officials left her alone, and I am eternally grateful for that. Lisa was free to let Disney work its magic, and magic happened. We got our relaxed and happy wife and mom back, and it was magical.
Driving to Cary for John's final marching band competition and leaving from there turned out to not be a very bad detour at all. The show was great, John and his band competed well and we all left excited and happy by about 7 pm. The drive to Disney wasn't bad at all from there, just a straight shot down 95. South Carolina seemed to last forever, but with Little Steven's Underground Garage on the Sirius for company, I was fine driving while Lisa and John got a little sleep.
We used the online check-in option, so Disney had texted me our room number in the afternoon and we were able to head straight to our room catch a few hours sleep before heading out to our first park, Hollywood Studios.
We got there just after lunch time and were immediately sucked into the magic. Hollywood Studios
has been very Star Wars-ified, and in the very best way. Lisa got to see her Muppets and I got to meet Chewbacca and introduce him to my family. The weather was beautiful, and it stayed that way our entire trip. We were all a bit sleepy, but stayed to see Fantasmic and were all pretty pumped up after seeing it. Lisa and I got to see John completely blown way by the show and talking about how he wants to come work for a theme park's entertainment division making shows like that happen. We all crawled into bed happy and ready for day two at the Magic Kingdom.
Our Keys to the Kingdom Tour was unbelievable. By now we were all firmly ensconced in the magic of WDW. Instead of worrying about work, Lisa was looking with complete amazement as a few Disney princesses showed up right next to us in the Utilidors under the castle on their way to a show. We spent the afternoon riding rides and the evening experiencing Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, staying in the park until midnight.
Tuesday was Epcot Food & Wine Festival day, and we had a ball. By now, I'd even stopped wondering if Lisa would have to deal with some emergency or issue from home. I can't tell you for certain it wasn't in the back of her mind, but it didn't seem like it. We rode Soarin' twice back to back, grabbed a quick bite and drink from the little food counter in The Land pavilion and took the boat ride through the greenhouses before heading over to Test Track and then beginning our F&W experience at the Festival Center next door. Lisa got "sipping chocolate and a pretty new shirt and we headed off for World Showcase and all sorts of munchies.
We ate and drank our way around the world, we popped back to Future World for a ride in Spaceship Earth and took another lap of the food booths. We all decided to forgo the Illuminations show in favor of a relatively early bedtime and beating the crowds out of the park. I gotta say here, bus transport to and from the parks was easy,quick and hassle-free.
By Wednesday, we were all completely relaxed. Lisa was a different person from the week before.
We enjoyed Animal Kingdom from open to close in a completely relaxed and easy-going manner. We never had to rush anywhere, we stopped to watch all the street performers we saw, we enjoyed the beauty and intense themeing that defines Animal Kingdom, and we had a leisurely and delicious late lunch at Tiffins. Lisa may have mentioned once or twice how no one from work was contacting her, but it was in the context of being able to completely let go. Seeing Animal Kingdom, including the safari, at night topped off what was probably our favorite day of the entire trip.
We had to leave the bubble Thursday, but went to the Magic Kingdom first and got to see it decked out for Christmas. I loved it myself, but seeing the old wonder and happiness back in Lisa's eyes that morning was the absolute best. We had a truly Stites Day, riding the Peoplemover around twice without getting off, enjoying lunch in the new and amazing Skippers Canteen and finishing off with the Christmas version of the Jungle Cruise, now called the Jingle Cruise for the season. Oh, except
that we saw Elena of Avalor being welcomed into the pantheon of Disney Princesses on the Cinderella Castle stage on the way out. Oh, and on our way fro Tomorrowland to Adventureland earlier, Minnie Mouse interacted with Lisa from the float of a parade we stumbled across by posing and waving just for her.
See, it's those kinds of things that still get to us, Lisa and I. Whether it's seeing Chewbacca or waving to Minnie or staying on the Peoplemover for another lap or riding Expedition Everest in the front, back and middle all in the same day or having Tinklebell magically appear with us in photos or seeing Mickey and friends open the park, the unplanned magic is what sucks us in and allows us to completely leave the world behind.
Fantasy merges with reality and dreams come true at Disney World. Yes, it's not a budget-conscious trip. Yes, it's a longish drive. But some people spend that much money and all sorts of time on anti-depressants and doctors' visits trying to cope with life. Me, I'll take a dose of magic for myself and my family. Four and a half days in another world is pretty priceless if you ask me, and seeing it completely turn my frazzled and stressed out love back into a happy and relaxed and smiling woman is worth more to me than anything.
As it turned out, that wasn't a problem. Lisa seriously limited the number of times she checked her phone for messages and when she did check, there were no problems or even questions waiting for her. Her co-workers and even the elected officials left her alone, and I am eternally grateful for that. Lisa was free to let Disney work its magic, and magic happened. We got our relaxed and happy wife and mom back, and it was magical.
 |
| My people at a jaunty angle, waiting for the First Order |
We used the online check-in option, so Disney had texted me our room number in the afternoon and we were able to head straight to our room catch a few hours sleep before heading out to our first park, Hollywood Studios.
We got there just after lunch time and were immediately sucked into the magic. Hollywood Studios
 |
| Chewie & my peeps |
Our Keys to the Kingdom Tour was unbelievable. By now we were all firmly ensconced in the magic of WDW. Instead of worrying about work, Lisa was looking with complete amazement as a few Disney princesses showed up right next to us in the Utilidors under the castle on their way to a show. We spent the afternoon riding rides and the evening experiencing Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, staying in the park until midnight.
 |
| Rockin' her new F&W shirt :-) |
 |
| My people outside France |
We ate and drank our way around the world, we popped back to Future World for a ride in Spaceship Earth and took another lap of the food booths. We all decided to forgo the Illuminations show in favor of a relatively early bedtime and beating the crowds out of the park. I gotta say here, bus transport to and from the parks was easy,quick and hassle-free.
 |
| Yep, we were having a good time :-) |
 |
| We like hats |
By Wednesday, we were all completely relaxed. Lisa was a different person from the week before.
 |
| Perusing the Tiffins drink menu |
 |
| I just love these two. |
 |
| Lisa likes tigers. Grrrrr. |
 |
| Off to tackle Everest and face the Yeti! |
We had to leave the bubble Thursday, but went to the Magic Kingdom first and got to see it decked out for Christmas. I loved it myself, but seeing the old wonder and happiness back in Lisa's eyes that morning was the absolute best. We had a truly Stites Day, riding the Peoplemover around twice without getting off, enjoying lunch in the new and amazing Skippers Canteen and finishing off with the Christmas version of the Jungle Cruise, now called the Jingle Cruise for the season. Oh, except
 |
| Christmas Magic! |
See, it's those kinds of things that still get to us, Lisa and I. Whether it's seeing Chewbacca or waving to Minnie or staying on the Peoplemover for another lap or riding Expedition Everest in the front, back and middle all in the same day or having Tinklebell magically appear with us in photos or seeing Mickey and friends open the park, the unplanned magic is what sucks us in and allows us to completely leave the world behind.
Fantasy merges with reality and dreams come true at Disney World. Yes, it's not a budget-conscious trip. Yes, it's a longish drive. But some people spend that much money and all sorts of time on anti-depressants and doctors' visits trying to cope with life. Me, I'll take a dose of magic for myself and my family. Four and a half days in another world is pretty priceless if you ask me, and seeing it completely turn my frazzled and stressed out love back into a happy and relaxed and smiling woman is worth more to me than anything.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
4 Days: Our First Epcot Food and Wine Festival
Tuesday will be Epcot day! We hope to arrive at rope drop and hit the new Soarin' before crowds build. Our Test Track FastPass+ is for the 10-11 am window, so we figure we can get at least the Living With The Land boat ride in before heading over.
Then it'll be Food and Wine time! We've never experienced this, so we're very excited. We have all three been pouring over the menus of all the booths and I have a map now, so by the time we go we'll have a good game plan. There's just so much that looks good! I mean , it looks like I'd be perfectly happy living inside either the Belgium or New Zealand booths. I'm thinking of maybe lobster roll at Hops and Barley and some buttered chicken at the Africa booth. A few of the Asian dishes look great as well as many of the Latin American ones. I'm just looking forward to grazing all over the World Showcase.
We have FastPasses spread out in the late afternoon and early evening to try to draw us away from the feed bag for a while. You know, so we don't explode. It's evening Extra Magic Hours and I'm told the booths remain open for at least a portion of the extra time, so more chance to munch before stumbling to the bus depot to get back to bed to rest up for....
JAMBO!
Then it'll be Food and Wine time! We've never experienced this, so we're very excited. We have all three been pouring over the menus of all the booths and I have a map now, so by the time we go we'll have a good game plan. There's just so much that looks good! I mean , it looks like I'd be perfectly happy living inside either the Belgium or New Zealand booths. I'm thinking of maybe lobster roll at Hops and Barley and some buttered chicken at the Africa booth. A few of the Asian dishes look great as well as many of the Latin American ones. I'm just looking forward to grazing all over the World Showcase.
We have FastPasses spread out in the late afternoon and early evening to try to draw us away from the feed bag for a while. You know, so we don't explode. It's evening Extra Magic Hours and I'm told the booths remain open for at least a portion of the extra time, so more chance to munch before stumbling to the bus depot to get back to bed to rest up for....
JAMBO!
Saturday, October 22, 2016
8 Days: Disney Visa Rocks
We're terrible about discovering and utilizing the perks and rewards and discounts available through our Disney Visa, but even so, we are taking advantage of a few this year, including a couple of meet-n-greets exclusive to card holders. I bring this up because they've just moved the Epcot meet and greet location from Innoventions West to the Imagination Pavilion, and the new spot looks awesome!
We also saved 15% on our Keys to the Kingdom Tour by utilizing a Disney Visa discount I didn't even know existed until the cast member asked me if I was a cardholder. That's a decent bit of change, really. The card also gets you discounts at Disney Stores all over as well as many merchandise locations in the parks. Many restaurants, including the wonderful Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, offer a Disney Visa discount. I had no idea it could have saved us 10% at Artist Point last fall, which also would have been a not insignifcant amount of money.
The card also racks up Disney Dollars, redeemable for purchases throughout the parks and Disney Stores worldwide. I have no idea how many we've accumulated. I figure I'll check when I start planning our next adults only, non-park trip.
We've used the card's early shot at the Free Dining discount before, and many if not ll discounts are offered for a few days to cardholders prior to the general public. That's really helpful in getting the room you like in the resort you most prefer.
Here's a link to the Disney Visa site explaining all the perks and discounts. Give it a look, you might just find a way to save yourself some money!
The card also racks up Disney Dollars, redeemable for purchases throughout the parks and Disney Stores worldwide. I have no idea how many we've accumulated. I figure I'll check when I start planning our next adults only, non-park trip.
We've used the card's early shot at the Free Dining discount before, and many if not ll discounts are offered for a few days to cardholders prior to the general public. That's really helpful in getting the room you like in the resort you most prefer.
Here's a link to the Disney Visa site explaining all the perks and discounts. Give it a look, you might just find a way to save yourself some money!
Thursday, October 20, 2016
9 Days: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
I hadn't realized this film was scheduled for this coming summer until the teaser trailer dropped this week. Now I'm really excited. Sure, you can hate on them for taking the Tower of Terror in Disneyland. I don't care, and besides, that ToT doesn't even work right. Come to Florida and experience the 5th dimension if it bothers you that much. And, sure, there are those upset they are rumored to be coming to Epcot with a roller coaster replacement for Universe of Energy. Get over it. Ellen is annoying, the ride has run its course and from the rumors, the coaster would be epic. And I don't wanna hear about "edu-tainment" either, that idea has been on the way out for years. I say if you own a franchise as cool as Guardians, you use it.
And they ARE cool, the Guardians. They aren't terribly super and they are pretty lousy heroes. They are misfits and freaks led by an over-compensating, socially inept geek. In other words, my kind of people. So move over and let them into my Happy Place.
The trailer is great, and I've pasted it at the bottom of this post for your amusement, but the truly exciting part is this photo.
Am I seeing some punk here? A lot of punk here? I'm telling you right now that if they put the Ramones on the Vol. 2 soundtrack, they've earned a Guardians fan-for-life here.
And they ARE cool, the Guardians. They aren't terribly super and they are pretty lousy heroes. They are misfits and freaks led by an over-compensating, socially inept geek. In other words, my kind of people. So move over and let them into my Happy Place.
The trailer is great, and I've pasted it at the bottom of this post for your amusement, but the truly exciting part is this photo.
Am I seeing some punk here? A lot of punk here? I'm telling you right now that if they put the Ramones on the Vol. 2 soundtrack, they've earned a Guardians fan-for-life here.
Monday, October 3, 2016
26 Days: Mo Muppets, Mo Muppets, MO MUPPETS
So as if getting to eat in Rizzo's pizzaria and go potty in Gonzo's Water Works wasn't enough, Disney added Sam the Eagle, Kermit, Piggy and friends to Liberty Square with two live shows. That has the Stites fam all kinds of excited. But imagine when I spot this on Twitter!
It's Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker! On their Muppet Mobile Lab! In Epcot! I mean, what if we get to see Muppets in THREE parks?!?!? How cool is that?
Word is the Mobile Muppet LAb was appearing throughout the day today behind Spaceship Earth in Future World. I'm really hoping this is a new thing that lasts through our visit in just 26 days!
 |
| Photo by Jenny Burke |
It's Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker! On their Muppet Mobile Lab! In Epcot! I mean, what if we get to see Muppets in THREE parks?!?!? How cool is that?
Word is the Mobile Muppet LAb was appearing throughout the day today behind Spaceship Earth in Future World. I'm really hoping this is a new thing that lasts through our visit in just 26 days!
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Day 28: Happy 45th Birthday Walt Disney World
Between now and then, we will both be 45 years young. We have grown up together, me and Disney World. My parents took me the first time when we were both very young, 1972 I believe. I was there to share in the nation's bicentennial in the summer of 1976. I was back as a pre-teen and as a newly licensed 16 year-old. My parents celebrated my then girlfriend and now wife and I's college graduation by taking us and my sister to Disney World. We shared my son's first glimpse of the Magic at three years old with my parents, and Disney welcomed him with open arms and some of the most unforgettable moments of our lives as parents. We returned with John at about six and experienced the parks in an entirely new way, and again with an almost-teenaged John who reveled in the Imagineering details. We've been twice for Lisa's birthday and once for John's. We've celebrated our wedding anniversary in Disney twice, once with a full-fledged family vacation and more recently with an adults only non-parks weekend visit, both of which were magical in their own way.
In all those years I've ridden the Skyway and Mr. Toad and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; I've seen Epcot open, seen the Mickey hand and wand come and go, and seen Future World lose it's future focus; I've seen Disney/MGM Studios as an operating movie and television studio and Hollywood Studios as a very different and still evolving park; I've fallen completely in love with the "notazoo" Animal Kingdom and seen more and more come to a park that really shows what Disney can do with themeing; I've eaten breakfast at the Empress Lily in Disney Village, spent an evening at the Adventurers Club, shopped and eaten on our way in and out of "the bubble" at Downtown Disney, and enjoyed cocktails and squid on a boat at Jack Lindsey's Hangar Bar.
Disney isn't the same as it was when when I was a kid, but then neither am I. And that's a good thing. Are there things I miss about "classic WDW?" Sure there are, but there are things I miss about being a carefree 8 year-old, too. That doesn't mean I'm not
happy with who I am now and looking forward to where I'm going and who I'll be in the future. Same goes for Walt Disney World.
I can't wait to see what we are as we continue Moving Forward.....
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
60 Days: FastPass Day!!!!!
I know I already wrote of my FastPass+ plans, but 60 days out is FastPass Day, so I thought I'd tell you how it went.
We finally got John's band schedule nailed down, and we are going to be leaving for Disney from Cary on the Saturday night before Halloween, so our park visits will begin on Sunday, October 30 and we'll leave about lunchtime on the following Thursday.
My FastPass+ strategy is pretty unique to our trip. Most of the published touring plans have the goal of getting as many attractions fit into as little time as possible. We have different priorities. It's a good example of why you should either know Disney's systems well enough to sort out your own plans, or talk to someone who does before you make your own plans. To be right for you, they need to fit your needs. In our case, we have some sort of special circumstance affecting each day's plans.
On Sunday, we're headed to Hollywood Studios, but doing so on likely just a few hours sleep. We will be leaving directly from a band competition on Saturday night, maybe as late as 8 or 9 pm, so we may not get to Coronado Springs until the very wee hours. I don't know how early we will get up, but we will definitely not be rope dropping. We only get two FastPasses for this park, and Rock'n Rollercoaster wasn't available (hoping that doesn't mean it's closed....), so our first reservation is for Tower of Terror in the early afternoon. I looked through the other options and didn't see anything that was likely to offer a huge line we needed to avoid, so I made our second FastPass for Fantasmic, ensuring us seats for a show we haven't seen in probably ten years.
Monday is Magic Kingdom day but we have the Keys To The Kingdom Tour in the morning and MNSSHP at night, so our window for FastPasses runs from about 3-7 pm. I made one for Jungle Cruise at 2:30 thinking we may be able to make the hour-long window, then for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and finally one for the Dumbos just before the party begins just because I had one more and Dumbos fit.
Tuesday is Epcot, but we are looking to spend a good bit of time at the Food and Wine Festival, so I took that into account. I figure we'll rope drop this park and hit Soarin' first so I made my first FastPass for Test Track at 10 am as our second stop (or third if we can fit Livin' With The Land in first). I spread our next two out into the afternoon and evening with Mission space around 3 pm and Spaceship Earth around 7 pm. My idea is bounce back and forth between Future World and World Showcase so we can graze at the food booths. We'll see how that works.
Wednesday is the most "normal" day we have and it will be Animal Kingdom day. We'll rope drop the safari then head to Expedition Everest with our first FastPass. It's an Extra Magic Hours day, so that should work out well. Our next FastPass is for Dinosaur in the early afternoon and our last is Kali River Rapids just before the park closes at 5 and we head off to dinner at Morimoto Asia, hopefully giving us ample time to dry.
We'll be leaving Thursday, but will spend a good half day at Magic Kingdom first. I just fit in two FastPasses for this day with Space Mountain early then Tomorrowland Speedway at 1 so we can keep that our traditional last ride before we leave.
I think I've done well. The only other advance FastPass experience I have was on a one-day Epcot trip, but it worked well so I believe I have a handle on this. I will certainly be reporting back on the results!
We finally got John's band schedule nailed down, and we are going to be leaving for Disney from Cary on the Saturday night before Halloween, so our park visits will begin on Sunday, October 30 and we'll leave about lunchtime on the following Thursday.
My FastPass+ strategy is pretty unique to our trip. Most of the published touring plans have the goal of getting as many attractions fit into as little time as possible. We have different priorities. It's a good example of why you should either know Disney's systems well enough to sort out your own plans, or talk to someone who does before you make your own plans. To be right for you, they need to fit your needs. In our case, we have some sort of special circumstance affecting each day's plans.
On Sunday, we're headed to Hollywood Studios, but doing so on likely just a few hours sleep. We will be leaving directly from a band competition on Saturday night, maybe as late as 8 or 9 pm, so we may not get to Coronado Springs until the very wee hours. I don't know how early we will get up, but we will definitely not be rope dropping. We only get two FastPasses for this park, and Rock'n Rollercoaster wasn't available (hoping that doesn't mean it's closed....), so our first reservation is for Tower of Terror in the early afternoon. I looked through the other options and didn't see anything that was likely to offer a huge line we needed to avoid, so I made our second FastPass for Fantasmic, ensuring us seats for a show we haven't seen in probably ten years.
Monday is Magic Kingdom day but we have the Keys To The Kingdom Tour in the morning and MNSSHP at night, so our window for FastPasses runs from about 3-7 pm. I made one for Jungle Cruise at 2:30 thinking we may be able to make the hour-long window, then for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and finally one for the Dumbos just before the party begins just because I had one more and Dumbos fit.
Tuesday is Epcot, but we are looking to spend a good bit of time at the Food and Wine Festival, so I took that into account. I figure we'll rope drop this park and hit Soarin' first so I made my first FastPass for Test Track at 10 am as our second stop (or third if we can fit Livin' With The Land in first). I spread our next two out into the afternoon and evening with Mission space around 3 pm and Spaceship Earth around 7 pm. My idea is bounce back and forth between Future World and World Showcase so we can graze at the food booths. We'll see how that works.
Wednesday is the most "normal" day we have and it will be Animal Kingdom day. We'll rope drop the safari then head to Expedition Everest with our first FastPass. It's an Extra Magic Hours day, so that should work out well. Our next FastPass is for Dinosaur in the early afternoon and our last is Kali River Rapids just before the park closes at 5 and we head off to dinner at Morimoto Asia, hopefully giving us ample time to dry.
We'll be leaving Thursday, but will spend a good half day at Magic Kingdom first. I just fit in two FastPasses for this day with Space Mountain early then Tomorrowland Speedway at 1 so we can keep that our traditional last ride before we leave.
I think I've done well. The only other advance FastPass experience I have was on a one-day Epcot trip, but it worked well so I believe I have a handle on this. I will certainly be reporting back on the results!
Sunday, August 21, 2016
69 Days: FastPass Dreamin'
We'll be leaving straight from John's last competition on Saturday, October 29 in Cary, NC. Not ideal, as we'll be driving through the night and that will make Sunday a bit sleepy for us. Seeing as Hollywood Studios is very much under construction, we'll spend Sunday there. Monday will be Magic Kingdom Day with the Keys To The Kingdom Tour and then Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We'll hit Epcot and the Food and Wine Festival on Tuesday and Animal Kingdom on Wednesday. We'll leave Thursday, but are in no hurry so will probably be hitting Magic Kingdom again until lunchtime.
I'm thinking play it safe and secure afternoon FastPasses in the Studios, Rock-n-Roller Coaster for sure and also Toy Story if we can. We'll need to squeeze Monday's at the Magic Kingdom between the end of the tour and 7:00, so I'm think Seven Dwarves and Haunted Mansion (thinking it'll packed on Halloween). We may miss the new Frozen ride at Epcot in favor of the new movie version of Soarin', but definitely in the morning so we can hit the Food and Wine soon as it opens. I'm thinking we rope drop the safari at Animal Kingdom and use the FastPass for Expedition Everest later in the day.
This is just a basic, preliminary plan. I haven't even researched exactly how many we get in each park and what the tiers look like yet. I feel so behind already :-)
Any suggestions on the plan as it is so far?
Saturday, July 23, 2016
98 Days: Disney Food Blog's Guide To The Epcot Food & Wine Festival
The lovely and talented Miss Lisa and I are sitting on the couch torturing ourselves with the DFB Guide to the 2016 Epcot Food and Wine Festival. It's approaching lunchtime and everything in this e-book looks delicious. The descriptions alone would have done it, but the folks at Disney Food Blog have photographed everything so well we are dying here.
I like to pride myself on being good at researching all things Disney, on planning well even for things we've never attended. I hesitated buying this because I thought why spend money on information I could just as easily track down on my own. But I was interested in the e-book format, in how it would work, and I also love the Disney Food Blog for its photos and well-written reviews, so I went ahead and bought this guide last week. I am so glad I did!
First off, the convenience of an e-book really can't be beat. I was worried it would be a hassle (or impossible) getting the book on several devices, but nothing could have been easier. After purchasing the book via a link on the Disney Food Blog website, we simply used another link sent immediately in an email to download the Guide onto my PC laptop, my wife's iPad Air and a shared Kindle Fire. It comes as a PDF and works well on all three devices. I've found myself actually using the laptop to read it more often because the photos are so great and I like seeing them really big. It's fun looking at it together with Lisa on different devices and shouting out the things we've found to each other, but then we're geeky like that.
The Guide itself covers everything you need or want to know about the Food and Wine Festival. There are schedules of guest chefs and demonstrations and special events along with instructions and advice on booking everything. All the booths are described with info on all menu items and photos of many of them (did I mention how great the photos are?). There are sample itineraries for visiting for one or more days or just an evening or doing the Festival with children. I'm particularly fond of the "crawls" section with everything from a beer crawl to a wine crawl to a sampling of each continent crawl and more. Basically, if you want to know it, you'll find it here along with lots you never even knew you'd want to know.
We will only be at the Food and Wine Festival one day during our trip. We didn't plan on it at all, really. The Festival happening while we are going to be in Disney was a pleasant surprise. But since it's happening I want to get the most out of it and the DFB Guide is going to help.
If you'd like to purchase a Guide for yourself, I'd use the above link to the Disney Food Blog website because they have a code for 20% off up right now. The regular price is only $14.95 and it is worth every penny of that, but hey, a deals a deal, right?
I like to pride myself on being good at researching all things Disney, on planning well even for things we've never attended. I hesitated buying this because I thought why spend money on information I could just as easily track down on my own. But I was interested in the e-book format, in how it would work, and I also love the Disney Food Blog for its photos and well-written reviews, so I went ahead and bought this guide last week. I am so glad I did!
The Guide itself covers everything you need or want to know about the Food and Wine Festival. There are schedules of guest chefs and demonstrations and special events along with instructions and advice on booking everything. All the booths are described with info on all menu items and photos of many of them (did I mention how great the photos are?). There are sample itineraries for visiting for one or more days or just an evening or doing the Festival with children. I'm particularly fond of the "crawls" section with everything from a beer crawl to a wine crawl to a sampling of each continent crawl and more. Basically, if you want to know it, you'll find it here along with lots you never even knew you'd want to know.
We will only be at the Food and Wine Festival one day during our trip. We didn't plan on it at all, really. The Festival happening while we are going to be in Disney was a pleasant surprise. But since it's happening I want to get the most out of it and the DFB Guide is going to help.
If you'd like to purchase a Guide for yourself, I'd use the above link to the Disney Food Blog website because they have a code for 20% off up right now. The regular price is only $14.95 and it is worth every penny of that, but hey, a deals a deal, right?
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Disney Trip 2014; or I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
I talk on here a lot about Disney planning and my sort of obsessive compulsive approach to it. I'm a Disney planner, plain and simple and I make no apologies. This trip just completely validated everything I believe about the importance of pre-planning, especially on a trip that tries to cram as much Magic into two days as possible. I'm going to sound self-congratulatory in this post because I am. I nailed this one 110%.
We left home just before lunch Thursday to drop the dog off at "camp" and pick the boy up from school. I figured we'd be able to reach Kissimmee by 9 or 10 considering we'd stop for dinner on the way. As it turned out we passed the Disney World exits from I-4 at about 9:30, which just so happens to be when the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party fireworks are launched. Yep, the Stites Fam was welcomed to Disney with a fireworks display. As the fireworks ended we reached the Comfort Inn Main Gate and checked in and went to sleep with the alarm set for 6 Friday morning.
See, I wanted to drive to Florida Thursday so that we could experience a whole Disney Day on Friday, the lovely Lisa's birthday. Who wants to drive down I-95 on her birthday? Nobody, that's who. If one is going to have a Disney Day, one must rise early. Chop chop. We all sprung out of bed with varying degrees of vigor, ate at the most horrifying free hotel breakfast buffet in the history of hotel breakfast buffets, stopped to get dad a cup of coffee that didn't smell like sewage, and made our way to Port Orleans French Quarter Resort.
I know the official check-in time is 3:00 in the afternoon, but I also know the resorts will hold your bags for you and even put them in your room when it's ready, so I figured we'd go check in and then be off for adventures in Disney World. We walked right up to the registration desk (not a lot of people checking in at 8:15 am, it seems) and breezed right through the procedure. She told us our room was going to be in Building 5, third floor and that it was ready for us. That threw us for a loop and just as we were getting that bit of good news through our heads, she showed us where Building 5 was. Right outside the main entrance. And our room overlooked the pool. Holy room upgrade, Batman. We were like, are you sure, this is just too cool. And she said, "I guess you are my VIPs for the day!" Indeed. I'm not one to spring for a "preferred building" room or water view for that matter, but this time it was really, really nice. Our room looked over not only the pool but also the canal and water taxi docks. And being so close to everything was a Godsend given Lisa's bum leg. Disney magic came through big time.
We oohed and ahhhed over the Christmas decorations at the resort then took the bus to Downtown Disney, on account of the boat doesn't start running until 10 am. We shopped and looked around and ate at Earl of Sandwich (a first day at Disney Stites Fam tradition), and people-watched and mocked the New Yorker whining about where was the StaaaarrrrrrBucks? The Characters In Flight balloon was grounded due to high winds, but I'm not taking the any blame for that part of the plan not coming through. We had a ball anyhow and ended up having plenty of time to grab the boat back to POFQ to grab our jackets before heading out to hop the monorail resorts and be ready to enter the park at 4:00.
Our plan was to grab a drink and a bite to eat at the Grand Floridian so we hopped the Magic Kingdom bus and then the resort loop monorail which conveniently hits Grand Floridian last giving us a nice monorail ride. I've always been impressed with the Grand Floridian's Victorian decor and architecture, so I was really excited to experience the inside for the first time. I remembered being blown away by the Animal Kingdom Lodge as soon as I entered its lobby, so I expected the same WOW factor from the Grand Floridian. Nope, didn't get it. It was very nice, don't get me wrong, but it had no magic feeling to it for me. It wasn't terribly over-crowded, but it was busy with arriving guests and families milling about. These families included the worst behaved, brattiest, horrid children I think I've ever seen all in one place. I love kids and have an above average acceptance of a wide range of children's behavior. I give them the benefit of the doubt. But holy cow, this was insane. People, it's not only ok to tell your child "no", it's kind of a requirement of parenthood. These were NOT "our people" from a socio-economic perspective, maybe that affected my perspective, but these kids got on even my nerves really fast. I couldn't imagine staying among that crowd, it would be stressful and uncomfortable and totally non-magical. We are moderate resort people.
We saw the gingerbread house, which was very big for a baked good. The tree hadn't gone up yet, which was a bummer. The bar wasn't open. Eating at the quick service place without an adult beverage among this crowd was not an option. We boarded a boat for the Polynesian, home of the Tambu lounge and its nectar of the gods, the Lapu Lapu. Unfortunately they weren't serving food yet either. We could probably have eaten at Kona or even Capt. Cook's, but those places don't have Lapu Lapus, so of we didn't. Too bad, boy, food has to wait, mom and dad needed to drink the brat memories away. It was a good choice. I am going to enter the Magic Kingdom fresh from a Lapu Lapu every chance I get. Can't beat that feeling.
We hit the gates of the Magic Kingdom, as planned, just at 4 pm, picked up our MVMCP wristbands, rented a wheelchair for Lisa and entered the park right on schedule. We lined up and all got the special MVMCP exclusive Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card (one for the awesome Max Iapalucci) then headed for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We were slowed down a bit by the wheelchair situation. One wheel kept buckling under and threatening to dump the birthday girl onto the pavement. We have zero experience with wheelchairs so sorta thought it was operator error (John and I being the operators) and pressed on. The posted wait time for the Mine Train was 90 minutes, but we really wanted to make sure we got on and it was early, so we decided to wait. As it turned out, it wasn't quite an hour wait and it didn't even seem like that long, to be honest. It's an interactive queue with several games and gadgets to occupy yourself. And the ride is totally worth it. Really fun and very Disney. We left happy, but also convinced our wheelchair may be defective.
I left Lisa and John to find some food and headed back to the entrance to trade in the chair. Just as the Frozen castle show was getting ready to start. Uhg. About a half hour and lots of excuse me, pardon me's later, I rejoined the family, who had not actually acquired any food as the place I left them was a mac-n-cheese only establishment. I'm not a fan of mac-n-cheese. It was still early (see, getting into the park at 4 for a party that starts at 7 is key) so we were not deterred and headed to Pinocchio's Village Haus for dinner. It was great, much better than I expected. The flatbreads are really, really good, not just good for park food good. Yum.
With that we began our night enjoying Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I'll probably give this its own post, but for now let me say that while I'm certainly glad we experienced this, we feel no need to do it again. It was a sell-out, so a bit crowded, but not so much it bothered us. We were using the party as much as a discount shortened second day in a park as anything else, so we weren't heartbroken the castle-front shows were jammed and the character meet-up lines were huge. I'm sorry we didn't check out the dance parties in Diamond Horseshoe or Cosmic Rays, but we were figuring out the whole wheelchair thing and that sort of slowed our roll a bit. But we DID see and do about all we wanted with zero hassle. We rode all our favorite rides with no wait. We saw the Holiday Wishes fireworks and the absolutely incredible Celebrate The Magic Castle Projection Show from the bridge between Tomorrowland and the hub. We got set up about 20 minutes before the show and never got enveloped in a crowd, it was a really pleasant place from which to watch. And that castle projection business blew us away. We sat with mouths open for the entire 15 minutes. The fireworks were great, but after the Halloween show, nothing is going to match up. After the fireworks we made our way through Adventureland to Frontierland and grabbed a prime, uncrowded, no fist-fights or shoving involved spot in front of the Country Bear Jamboree. The parade was totally underwhelming. I didn't even enjoy it as much as I do the regular Main Street Electrical Parade. We did get to check out the Notorious Banjo Brothers and Bob. John was waaaayyyyy impressed with Bob, the tuba player. He has major chops, according to the boy.
After the parade we walked straight back into Adventureland and got on the Jingle Cruise with no wait. I loved the Jingle Cruise. Apparently they've plussed the experience since last year, and for my money it worked. I got to see one of my favorites in a whole new way and that was really cool. We closed out the park in the Haunted Mansion and were bummed to just catch them locking up Momento Mori just as we exited the attraction. Oh well, we have to go back soon now, right? All in all, it was a great night, we took the bus back to POFQ (with no wait) and made it to bed by 1:00 or so with a wake-up call scheduled for 6 am so we could make....
The Akershus Princess Breakfast in Epcot at 8:20. This worked out great. So great in fact that I'm dedicated to making as many pre-park opening ADRs in the future as humanly possible. Getting into the parks before opening is super cool, period. We were the only ones on our bus from the resort to Epcot, we walked right up and rented a scooter (the wheelchair experience combined with the Grand Floridian lobby experience taught us it was well worth the possibility Lisa would run down several small children. She didn't, by the way, but it would have been totally worth it if she did), and headed through a drizzly, overcast day straight through Mexico and into Norway. The Princess Breakfast deserves its own post, maybe one by Lisa because she was in heaven. It was really a lot of fun and the food was terrific. Where else can you get four different types raw fish for breakfast?
Here is where we descend into my self congratulations. I was not at all sure how I felt about the prospect of making attraction Fastpass+ reservations months in advance. Would it kill the magic, make my already heavily planned days even more like a military maneuver? No. No it did not. It made the day completely stress-free and easy. Everything worked exactly as I had planned. I left enough time before our first FP at Test Track to go ride Soarin' via stand-by line, hopefully early enough that it wouldn't be too long. As it turned out, we walked over to The Land from Norway and had only a 30 minute wait for Soarin', which left plenty of time for a boat ride through Living With the Land before heading over to Test Track. Our FP was for 10:15 and we went through the kiosk at 10:17, waited maybe 5 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I had planned to have time for something to eat and to hit Innoventions before our next FP at Spaceship Earth at 12:15, which is just what we did. John and I designed and virtually rode our own roller coaster and we walked into the FP line at Spaceship Earth five minutes after our scheduled window opened. Again the line went quickly and we had time to wander around and relax and shop some before John and I went to use our last Fastpass+ at Mission Space, once again scanning our Magicbands two minutes after our time started. It was perfect, we had all the time we needed to see all we wanted to see in the morning without a bit of rushing and very little waiting. This is why Disney offers Fastpass. You need to know a bit about the parks and a lot about your traveling group for this to work, but I do and it worked like a charm for me.
We had the rest of the day to explore World Showcase (where there is a coffee kiosk at the entrance with a very attractive woman named Xamary from Bolivia that is a bad influence. Did you know they had Jameson for your coffee?) John got some delicious-looking tacos from Mexico and we headed to Germany for beer and pretzels. The rain was coming down harder now and we had bought ponchos, so we were in and out of them. We hit American Experience and the giant Japanese department store. We cruised around a bit then went back to Future World for Journey Into Imagination and Living Seas. It was relaxed and no pressure and fun. We laughed a lot, we talked a lot, we had a buzz. We drifted back towards England to find a spot for Illuminations and because Lisa was in a scooter got invited into the handicapped viewing area right between the dessert party and Rose and Crown, which is about as good a spot as you can get. And once again there was no shoving or crowding or anything, just a calm, wonderful experience.
Our dinner reservations, such as they were, were at Beaches and Cream, so we planned to drop off Lisa's scooter at the International Gateway and take the boat to the Boardwalk. This ended up facing two difficulties. First, Lisa's scooter refused to accept its key and we had to be escorted with the key but not the scooter by the very friendly Cast Member Bill from Albany to the scooter return. He explained our situation and it was no problem and we got our deposit back and hopped the boat for Boardwalk. Where we discovered our second problem. Beaches and Cream is NOT at the Boardwalk, it's at the Beach Club, which I will point also begins with "B", soooooo. So, Lisa had to walk much further than her bum knee wanted to at the end of a very long day, but we arrived in plenty of time for our reservation. We got sandwiches, I got the pork belly Cuban on the recommendation of Jen who was completely right, it was out of this world. We ordered and completely failed to eat the Kitchen Sink, grabbed a cab back to POFQ and hit the sack, fat and happy.
We slept in Sunday, ate breakfast at the resort, visited Downtown Disney for a few last minute purchases and headed home into a blinding rain storm. Worst. Drive. Ever. But we made it home safely and that's the important part. What a trip! We crammed an unbelievable amount of fun, family camaraderie and leave-the-world-behind relaxation into just a few days. Disney magic works. Time and again.
Thanks Walt and Roy.
We left home just before lunch Thursday to drop the dog off at "camp" and pick the boy up from school. I figured we'd be able to reach Kissimmee by 9 or 10 considering we'd stop for dinner on the way. As it turned out we passed the Disney World exits from I-4 at about 9:30, which just so happens to be when the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party fireworks are launched. Yep, the Stites Fam was welcomed to Disney with a fireworks display. As the fireworks ended we reached the Comfort Inn Main Gate and checked in and went to sleep with the alarm set for 6 Friday morning.
See, I wanted to drive to Florida Thursday so that we could experience a whole Disney Day on Friday, the lovely Lisa's birthday. Who wants to drive down I-95 on her birthday? Nobody, that's who. If one is going to have a Disney Day, one must rise early. Chop chop. We all sprung out of bed with varying degrees of vigor, ate at the most horrifying free hotel breakfast buffet in the history of hotel breakfast buffets, stopped to get dad a cup of coffee that didn't smell like sewage, and made our way to Port Orleans French Quarter Resort.
 |
| The Birthday Girl welcomed home |
I know the official check-in time is 3:00 in the afternoon, but I also know the resorts will hold your bags for you and even put them in your room when it's ready, so I figured we'd go check in and then be off for adventures in Disney World. We walked right up to the registration desk (not a lot of people checking in at 8:15 am, it seems) and breezed right through the procedure. She told us our room was going to be in Building 5, third floor and that it was ready for us. That threw us for a loop and just as we were getting that bit of good news through our heads, she showed us where Building 5 was. Right outside the main entrance. And our room overlooked the pool. Holy room upgrade, Batman. We were like, are you sure, this is just too cool. And she said, "I guess you are my VIPs for the day!" Indeed. I'm not one to spring for a "preferred building" room or water view for that matter, but this time it was really, really nice. Our room looked over not only the pool but also the canal and water taxi docks. And being so close to everything was a Godsend given Lisa's bum leg. Disney magic came through big time.
 |
| View from our room. Yep. :) |
We oohed and ahhhed over the Christmas decorations at the resort then took the bus to Downtown Disney, on account of the boat doesn't start running until 10 am. We shopped and looked around and ate at Earl of Sandwich (a first day at Disney Stites Fam tradition), and people-watched and mocked the New Yorker whining about where was the StaaaarrrrrrBucks? The Characters In Flight balloon was grounded due to high winds, but I'm not taking the any blame for that part of the plan not coming through. We had a ball anyhow and ended up having plenty of time to grab the boat back to POFQ to grab our jackets before heading out to hop the monorail resorts and be ready to enter the park at 4:00.
 |
| This bat to DTD is a very nice perk of staying at POFQ |
 |
| Yep, it IS really big. And gingerbread. Now, if it only contained a real witch that ate bratty children..... |
 |
| Coolest topiary ever. |
We saw the gingerbread house, which was very big for a baked good. The tree hadn't gone up yet, which was a bummer. The bar wasn't open. Eating at the quick service place without an adult beverage among this crowd was not an option. We boarded a boat for the Polynesian, home of the Tambu lounge and its nectar of the gods, the Lapu Lapu. Unfortunately they weren't serving food yet either. We could probably have eaten at Kona or even Capt. Cook's, but those places don't have Lapu Lapus, so of we didn't. Too bad, boy, food has to wait, mom and dad needed to drink the brat memories away. It was a good choice. I am going to enter the Magic Kingdom fresh from a Lapu Lapu every chance I get. Can't beat that feeling.
 |
| Lapu Lapu |
We hit the gates of the Magic Kingdom, as planned, just at 4 pm, picked up our MVMCP wristbands, rented a wheelchair for Lisa and entered the park right on schedule. We lined up and all got the special MVMCP exclusive Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card (one for the awesome Max Iapalucci) then headed for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We were slowed down a bit by the wheelchair situation. One wheel kept buckling under and threatening to dump the birthday girl onto the pavement. We have zero experience with wheelchairs so sorta thought it was operator error (John and I being the operators) and pressed on. The posted wait time for the Mine Train was 90 minutes, but we really wanted to make sure we got on and it was early, so we decided to wait. As it turned out, it wasn't quite an hour wait and it didn't even seem like that long, to be honest. It's an interactive queue with several games and gadgets to occupy yourself. And the ride is totally worth it. Really fun and very Disney. We left happy, but also convinced our wheelchair may be defective.
 |
| Loved these guys in the Mine Train queue |
 |
| Of course this year's card featured Elsa..... |
With that we began our night enjoying Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I'll probably give this its own post, but for now let me say that while I'm certainly glad we experienced this, we feel no need to do it again. It was a sell-out, so a bit crowded, but not so much it bothered us. We were using the party as much as a discount shortened second day in a park as anything else, so we weren't heartbroken the castle-front shows were jammed and the character meet-up lines were huge. I'm sorry we didn't check out the dance parties in Diamond Horseshoe or Cosmic Rays, but we were figuring out the whole wheelchair thing and that sort of slowed our roll a bit. But we DID see and do about all we wanted with zero hassle. We rode all our favorite rides with no wait. We saw the Holiday Wishes fireworks and the absolutely incredible Celebrate The Magic Castle Projection Show from the bridge between Tomorrowland and the hub. We got set up about 20 minutes before the show and never got enveloped in a crowd, it was a really pleasant place from which to watch. And that castle projection business blew us away. We sat with mouths open for the entire 15 minutes. The fireworks were great, but after the Halloween show, nothing is going to match up. After the fireworks we made our way through Adventureland to Frontierland and grabbed a prime, uncrowded, no fist-fights or shoving involved spot in front of the Country Bear Jamboree. The parade was totally underwhelming. I didn't even enjoy it as much as I do the regular Main Street Electrical Parade. We did get to check out the Notorious Banjo Brothers and Bob. John was waaaayyyyy impressed with Bob, the tuba player. He has major chops, according to the boy.
 |
| Yeah, yeah yeah.... |
The Akershus Princess Breakfast in Epcot at 8:20. This worked out great. So great in fact that I'm dedicated to making as many pre-park opening ADRs in the future as humanly possible. Getting into the parks before opening is super cool, period. We were the only ones on our bus from the resort to Epcot, we walked right up and rented a scooter (the wheelchair experience combined with the Grand Floridian lobby experience taught us it was well worth the possibility Lisa would run down several small children. She didn't, by the way, but it would have been totally worth it if she did), and headed through a drizzly, overcast day straight through Mexico and into Norway. The Princess Breakfast deserves its own post, maybe one by Lisa because she was in heaven. It was really a lot of fun and the food was terrific. Where else can you get four different types raw fish for breakfast?
 |
| The boy's enthusiasm for rising early to meet princesses was hard to capture in a photo |
 |
| Santa Mickey Topiary. I like topiary |
 |
| Norway Christmas featuring St. Nick |
 |
| She was kinda excited.... |
 |
| Ariel was terrific :) |
Here is where we descend into my self congratulations. I was not at all sure how I felt about the prospect of making attraction Fastpass+ reservations months in advance. Would it kill the magic, make my already heavily planned days even more like a military maneuver? No. No it did not. It made the day completely stress-free and easy. Everything worked exactly as I had planned. I left enough time before our first FP at Test Track to go ride Soarin' via stand-by line, hopefully early enough that it wouldn't be too long. As it turned out, we walked over to The Land from Norway and had only a 30 minute wait for Soarin', which left plenty of time for a boat ride through Living With the Land before heading over to Test Track. Our FP was for 10:15 and we went through the kiosk at 10:17, waited maybe 5 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I had planned to have time for something to eat and to hit Innoventions before our next FP at Spaceship Earth at 12:15, which is just what we did. John and I designed and virtually rode our own roller coaster and we walked into the FP line at Spaceship Earth five minutes after our scheduled window opened. Again the line went quickly and we had time to wander around and relax and shop some before John and I went to use our last Fastpass+ at Mission Space, once again scanning our Magicbands two minutes after our time started. It was perfect, we had all the time we needed to see all we wanted to see in the morning without a bit of rushing and very little waiting. This is why Disney offers Fastpass. You need to know a bit about the parks and a lot about your traveling group for this to work, but I do and it worked like a charm for me.
We had the rest of the day to explore World Showcase (where there is a coffee kiosk at the entrance with a very attractive woman named Xamary from Bolivia that is a bad influence. Did you know they had Jameson for your coffee?) John got some delicious-looking tacos from Mexico and we headed to Germany for beer and pretzels. The rain was coming down harder now and we had bought ponchos, so we were in and out of them. We hit American Experience and the giant Japanese department store. We cruised around a bit then went back to Future World for Journey Into Imagination and Living Seas. It was relaxed and no pressure and fun. We laughed a lot, we talked a lot, we had a buzz. We drifted back towards England to find a spot for Illuminations and because Lisa was in a scooter got invited into the handicapped viewing area right between the dessert party and Rose and Crown, which is about as good a spot as you can get. And once again there was no shoving or crowding or anything, just a calm, wonderful experience.
Our dinner reservations, such as they were, were at Beaches and Cream, so we planned to drop off Lisa's scooter at the International Gateway and take the boat to the Boardwalk. This ended up facing two difficulties. First, Lisa's scooter refused to accept its key and we had to be escorted with the key but not the scooter by the very friendly Cast Member Bill from Albany to the scooter return. He explained our situation and it was no problem and we got our deposit back and hopped the boat for Boardwalk. Where we discovered our second problem. Beaches and Cream is NOT at the Boardwalk, it's at the Beach Club, which I will point also begins with "B", soooooo. So, Lisa had to walk much further than her bum knee wanted to at the end of a very long day, but we arrived in plenty of time for our reservation. We got sandwiches, I got the pork belly Cuban on the recommendation of Jen who was completely right, it was out of this world. We ordered and completely failed to eat the Kitchen Sink, grabbed a cab back to POFQ and hit the sack, fat and happy.
 |
| Pretty pathetic attempt, really |
We slept in Sunday, ate breakfast at the resort, visited Downtown Disney for a few last minute purchases and headed home into a blinding rain storm. Worst. Drive. Ever. But we made it home safely and that's the important part. What a trip! We crammed an unbelievable amount of fun, family camaraderie and leave-the-world-behind relaxation into just a few days. Disney magic works. Time and again.
Thanks Walt and Roy.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Hey! We're going to DISNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are taking a long weekend to celebrate the lovely Lisa's birthday, experience Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party for the first time, visit Epcot and generally get a Disney fix while we save for another week-long trip in God knows how many months/years. We are lucky to live an easy day's drive from Disney World, so we like to run down and back for these commando raids of vacations. This time we're picking the boy up from school as soon as he has his State of North Carolina Approved Full-Day Time completed, about lunchtime, and driving straight down to Kissimmee. We'll likely arrive about 9 or 10 pm and check into a cheap-o motel for the night. Then Friday we head into Disney World, drop our stuff at the Port Orleans French Quarter and immerse ourselves in the magic.
We have tickets to the MVMCP Friday night and can enter the parks at 4 pm (see, I'm not writing a whole blog about that "tip" so I'm not too cheesy) so we'll have a good part of the day to just knock around the property. We might head to Downtown Disney early to try the hot air balloon thing, Characters In Flight I think its called, because I read it's half price early. We love DTD and especially The Earl of Sandwiche, so I'm expecting that'll be lunch. We may cruise some resorts to see if any decorations are up yet. We've never even been to The Wilderness Lodge, so I'd like to see that, and I don't believe we've been in the lobby of the Grand Floridian either, so that may be another stop. I'm not applying my Obsessive Disney Planning to this portion of the visit. Yet. We'll see.....
Then it's off to the MVMCP, something we are really looking forward to. I've got an article telling me about all the new things to do (which I will write about soon), but it'll all be new to us, so we are pretty fluid in our planning. We'd like to ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train and check out the rest of New Fantasyland, so that will likely be our first stop in the park. Once the party starts, we (I) have a plan to see and do all the coolest stuff with the least hassle. Lisa and I also developed an urge to get our photos with characters as of, well, yesterday. We've not been big Meet-n-Greet people, but this time I'm intrigued by Sandy Claws and Lisa by Minnie's Christmas dress, and both of us by Mary Poppins and her penguins. I'm studying strategy on the awesome Kenny The Pirate site (another upcoming post), so I have high hopes for our first attempt at character hounding.
After a few hours sleep, it's off to Epcot for Princess Breakfast at Akershus Dining Hall. We'll try out this new Fastpass + thing and end our day at Beaches and Cream indulging in the Kitchen Sink. I'll blog about our dining choices and the hows and whys as well, because I'm sure you're all DYING to know, right?
Sunday, we hit DTD again on our way out and it's back up 95 toward home.Then I'll be able to blog about all the stuff we saw and did and experienced rather than my plans for same. There will be a good, healthy dose of Disney back on Pooh Sticks. Of course I'm going to be portraying Mr. Fezziwig a week after we return, so the theatre talk isn't over either, but Disney will reclaim the piece of my head and heart it deserves.
Friday, March 14, 2014
"Our Disney Experience" Began Tonight
So we did it. We took that step from finally, definitely planning to really and truly go to Disney World in November to making reservations. It was a pretty good week, I had a pretty big "win" at work yesterday and was pretty pleased with my bad self already, but this just put my Friday night over the top. It's real. I have the confirmation number and email with said confirmation number. And I've hooked my reservation into the My Disney Experience website and app.
I picked out my MagicBand color.
Red.
It's really happening.
This isn't to be a big trip, it's another one of our "commando raids" on Walt Disney World. We are lucky enough to live an easy day's drive from The Dis and we aren't at all averse to long car rides, so nine hours is cake. We usually split it up anyhow, leaving the night before we plan to arrive and driving until I feel tired. This makes it easy for us to go for a long weekend.
This time we are (I just wrote "we plan to" and erased it to write "we are". Heh) leaving Thursday, November 20th after work and arriving at Disney on Friday the 21st, The Lovely Miss Lisa's Birthday. We'll stay at Port Orleans French Quarter, our very favorite resort. We have a strategic plan, because, well, you kinda need one to make a weekend trip to Disney from North Carolina worth it. In the past, we've just resort hopped and explored on arrival day of our commando raids, visited one park the next day, then hit Downtown Disney on our leaving day. This time, I really wanted to try to squeeze a bit more out of our time and I think I came up with a good plan.
We wanted to see the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party because we never have and we loved the Halloween party so very much. I looked at the schedule from 2013 and made the leap that 2014 would be pretty similar. The plan depends on that. It looked to me that MVMCP was held on Fridays but not Saturdays. This works well for us. We'll arrive Friday at about lunchtime, get lunch, check in and be at the gates of the Magic Kingdom in plenty of time to enter as soon as they will let us. We will get from (at the worst) 4 pm until midnight in the Magic Kingdom, plenty of time to experience the party and see the New Fantasyland. Then it's back to our usual schedule and hit Epcot Saturday and Downtown Disney Sunday, leaving about lunchtime Sunday to drive home.
My theory is that this gives us two park days a little less expensively than buying a two-day ticket. MVMCP tickets ran about $65 last year and with park tickets going for about $100, that saves us quite a bit between three tickets. We also lucked out getting a room discount from a friend that saved us a bunch. We'll use those savings to eat very well. We have plans for dining that deserve their own post. There's a bit of a story there....
I like my plan. It's a good plan. And I'm hoping and praying that I can enjoy a little Disney Magic and actually get us into the Magic Kingdom a couple hours before the official unoffical time of 4:00 pm, because........
I picked out my MagicBand color.
Red.
It's really happening.
This isn't to be a big trip, it's another one of our "commando raids" on Walt Disney World. We are lucky enough to live an easy day's drive from The Dis and we aren't at all averse to long car rides, so nine hours is cake. We usually split it up anyhow, leaving the night before we plan to arrive and driving until I feel tired. This makes it easy for us to go for a long weekend.
This time we are (I just wrote "we plan to" and erased it to write "we are". Heh) leaving Thursday, November 20th after work and arriving at Disney on Friday the 21st, The Lovely Miss Lisa's Birthday. We'll stay at Port Orleans French Quarter, our very favorite resort. We have a strategic plan, because, well, you kinda need one to make a weekend trip to Disney from North Carolina worth it. In the past, we've just resort hopped and explored on arrival day of our commando raids, visited one park the next day, then hit Downtown Disney on our leaving day. This time, I really wanted to try to squeeze a bit more out of our time and I think I came up with a good plan.
We wanted to see the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party because we never have and we loved the Halloween party so very much. I looked at the schedule from 2013 and made the leap that 2014 would be pretty similar. The plan depends on that. It looked to me that MVMCP was held on Fridays but not Saturdays. This works well for us. We'll arrive Friday at about lunchtime, get lunch, check in and be at the gates of the Magic Kingdom in plenty of time to enter as soon as they will let us. We will get from (at the worst) 4 pm until midnight in the Magic Kingdom, plenty of time to experience the party and see the New Fantasyland. Then it's back to our usual schedule and hit Epcot Saturday and Downtown Disney Sunday, leaving about lunchtime Sunday to drive home.
My theory is that this gives us two park days a little less expensively than buying a two-day ticket. MVMCP tickets ran about $65 last year and with park tickets going for about $100, that saves us quite a bit between three tickets. We also lucked out getting a room discount from a friend that saved us a bunch. We'll use those savings to eat very well. We have plans for dining that deserve their own post. There's a bit of a story there....
I like my plan. It's a good plan. And I'm hoping and praying that I can enjoy a little Disney Magic and actually get us into the Magic Kingdom a couple hours before the official unoffical time of 4:00 pm, because........
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Disney Weenies!!!
Check out all the Weenie pics at Focused On The Magic
Wanna know what a Weenie is (if you don't know and can't figure it out from these pictures)? Ask me tomorrow when it's not Wordless anymore ;-)
Wanna know what a Weenie is (if you don't know and can't figure it out from these pictures)? Ask me tomorrow when it's not Wordless anymore ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)