Tag Archives: Disney Travel Tips

Walt Disney World Resources – On the Web

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LADL Computer picWhile I’m living a Disney life, I spend a great deal of time reading what other people have to say about Disney.  I particularly like online Disney resources for getting the scoop on other Disney fans’ experiences and opinions and for quickly getting official information for planning my own Disney vacations.  Today I wanted to take a minute to share with you just five of my favorite web-based Disney resources and why I love them.  Please be sure to leave me a comment if some of your favorites are not on this list!

1.  https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ – The official Disney World website.  This is a great “big picture” resource for official information.  You can find out general information, use trip-planning tools, compare resorts, ticket prices, and dining plans, see some fantastic pictures, and a lot more.  This site also offers assistance from the Disney Parks Mom’s Panel where you can find the answers to TONS of questions about all things Disney – and if the answer you’re looking for is not there?  Ask away and a panel expert will be happy to assist.  What you will not find at this official web locale is balanced feedback – there will be no negatives, drawbacks or “cons” – makes for a whole lot of pixie-dusted positivity, but sometimes when you’re deciding between restaurants or resorts, it’s good to know both the good and the not-so-good.

2.  allears.net – The first online unofficial Disney resource I ever used and still one of my favorites.  Why?  Because it offers positive, thorough, well-researched information.  If you want restaurant menus, look here.  If you want honest Walt Disney World resort reviews, check this out.  The folks at allears are great about bringing all the latest news, planning tools, event Computer Piccalendars, and more in a concise, friendly way that has never ever once let me down.  Check out their blog section – there are several to choose from.  A particular favorite of mine has always been The World According to Jack.  His recent article on Disney’s Restroom Evolution was clever and informative and insightful – and about bathrooms!

3.  WDWinfo.com and TheDISboards forums – I’ve mentioned this site several times in the past.  There’s a great deal of information here about Disney and Universal Orlando along with some terrific blog articles and excellent videos.  The Disney cruise boards are a fantastic place for Cruise Meets (find out who else is going with you) and joining Fish Extender groups.  The resort and restaurant reviews can be extremely helpful as can the trip reports.  Plus, DISboards has a handy smartphone app!  What you really need to watch out for, though, are the trolls, haters, and rumor-mongers who love to stir up heaps of unhappiness on these forums.  This site can be a double-edged sword if you’re not prepared to dismiss some of the negativity there – recognize it for what it is:  Some people are negative by nature, hate change, and don’t understand the Disney Bubble.  Don’t let them get you down!

4.  Tips from the Disney Divas and Devos – I don’t just like this site because I’m a contributing Diva Sitewriter (as Darlin’ Diva).  I like it because there are dozens of writers.  Disney experts from all over sharing tips, tricks, and reviews for making the most of your Disney vacation – that’s a LOT of different points of view!  Adult travel?  Check.  Traveling with infants, toddlers, grade-schoolers, tweens, or teens?  Check.  Traveling to Disneyland, Disney World, or on a Disney Cruise – they’ve got you covered.  Special dietary needs?  Yes, even that.  Best thing:  if you don’t find what you need to know – ASK!  The Divas and Devos are ready to assist in any way and make every effort to answer your question quickly and accurately.

5. http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ – The official site for Disney Cruise Line.  A great resource for finding a cruise, comparing stateroom categories, shopping cruise excursions, and more.  Even if you have a favorite travel agent, the Disney Cruise site has loads of useful information.  Again – being officially Disney – you’ll only get the positives and sometimes fewer details than you’d like.  This is the place to go if you need to know exactly what Disney’s offering in each port activity-wise.  When cruising on vacation, I believe there’s nothing more important than being an informed consumer.

So, are any of your favorites the same as mine?  Which websites do you find the most helpful?

What-If Wednesday – Changing Disney’s Hollywood Studios

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IMG_0906Ladies and Gentlemen!  It’s time for…….What-If Wednesday!  The game show where we use our imagination to bring about Disney change.  Contestants from Twitter and Facebook go head to head and compete to invent the most popular (pretend) changes.  Get ready to let your imagination run wild!  And as Drew Carey would say, this is “the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.”  Let’s GO!

This week’s episode – Changing Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

Okay, now that you’ve got the idea –  Here’s how this really works.  A couple of weeks ago I posed the question – If you had Superpowers, but only at Walt Disney World, what would they be?  That question was SO much fun and the answers so imaginative, I decided to give it another go.  This week’s question was:  If you had the power to change THREE things at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, what would they be?

Here is what participants had to say:

Get busy on adding Star Wars Land (Bill Maguire @wfmaguire, Mrs. Mouseward Bound IMG_3531@MousewardBound, Jordan Duncan @JordanGhastly, Stephanie via Facebook ).  See, the worst thing about Star Warsland is that Disney spoke of it.  Teased us – led us on, if you will.  Now we want them to fork over the goods!  Will the expense of MyMagic+ be the demise of what would have been a very needed, very popular addition for the Studios?

Update The Great Movie Ride! (Bill Maguire @wfmaguire, Mrs. Mouseward Bound @MousewardBound ).  I’m old enough that I still get a kick out of The Great Movie Ride as is, but you young whippersnappers probably find it a bit out of date.  There are SO many great movies, it would be very cool indeed to see this ride revamped from time to time to include a few newer, yet no less important, classics.

Make it less of a “Half-Day Park” (Waltdisneyworldwords @WDWords) by adding more rides!  I IMG_3081couldn’t agree more with this suggestion.  While we can make it a full day park, it can sometimes be a challenge.  Perhaps that’s been because after you’ve hit Toy Story Midway Mania, Tower of Terror, and Rock’n’ Roller Coaster – everything else seems a bit tame.  My theory is FastPass+ will actually help this – you’ll get more opportunity to spread the big three out over the course of a day and add things like Star Tours, Muppets, Indiana Jones, and the Great Movie Ride in between.  Anybody else think so?

Add a Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster (Bill Maguire @wfmaguire ).  Ah, Bill.  If only.  Think about how innovative and exciting this would be!  Totally different from anything already at Walt Disney World but a perfect (and much-needed) addition for Pixar Place.  The effects they could use for this would make it an e-ticket ride for sure.

Close Backlot Tour (BRGUEST @Florida407wdw) (Forever?)  – Backlot Tour IS currently non-operational.  Maybe that’s a good sign.  If the nice Disney people have no intention of restoring this attraction to some semblance of its former enjoyable-ness, they need to raze it all and put something fabulous in its place.  I adored the original Backlot Tour, but it had become a mere shadow of what it once was and for me, too depressing to contemplate riding (good thing it’s closed then, huh.)

Revise Muppets (BRGUEST @Florida407wdw) – Now that the Muppets have returned to the big screen in a big way, it is time to revamp the Muppet Vision 3D movie experience and throw a little cash and TLC over that way in the Studios.  Much of what’s there is fantastic – it just needs modernized so the younger fans feel like “their” Muppets (Walter!) are well represented.

IMG_3026Build a Hollywood Tower of Terror Resort (Jackie Psarianos @JackiePsarianos) – Jackie!  This would be sensational.  Think of the possibilities!  Restored to it’s 1930’s glory, the Hollywood Tower Hotel would be one of (if not THE) most sought-after resort properties at Walt Disney World.  Just imagine – The dining, the gardens, the pools, the rooms!  Yeah…sigh…good idea.

Destroy the American Idol Experience (Mrs. Mouseward Bound @MousewardBound).  Yes.  ‘Nuff said.  (How about a big round of applause!)

Add a Super Hero section (Stephanie via Facebook) – this idea was seconded by Anna (Facebook) who is ready to see Marvel at Disney World (hey – I gave everyone the power to make changes, that power would certainly overcome any legal obstacles involved, right?).  When you think about all the incredible things Disney Imagineers could come up with involving the Marvel franchise, it boggles the mind!  Sadly, Disneyland (and non-US Disney properties) will be the recipient of anything Marvel-ous for the foreseeable future.

Add an Indiana Jones ride (Jordan Duncan @JordanGhastly).  I would love this.  Indiana Jones was one of those movies that just got to me when I first saw it and made me a fan for life.  There is an Indie ride at Disneyland – I’m sure something like that in the Studios would be an immediate crowd favorite!

Lose Aerosmith on Rock’n’ Roller Coaster and replace them with a better band (Jordan Duncan @JordanGhastly) – WHAT?!  I challenged Jordan on this since I’m a huge Aerosmith fan, but I couldn’t help liking his Beetles and Rolling Stones ideas!  Joseph (on Facebook and member of The Fam) suggested making RnRC longer, which would give music lovers a chance to enjoy more tunes as well.

Add more rides for younger kids like a Disney Jr. area with a giant Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to play in! (Stephanie via Facebook) – Not having little ones anymore myself, I don’t have a good perspective about what’s lacking at the Studios for the curtain-climber set.  I can see that if the Studios had more attractions for the under-8 folks, it could probably go head to head with Magic Kingdom for IMG_3046popularity.

Toy Story Midway Mania drew some suggestions of its own:  The first change would be to how they do FP for this attraction. (Waltdisneyworldwords @WDWords) – I checked and this suggestion had to do with changing the ratio between standby and FastPass guests so the standby line would move a bit better (or at all!)  and second change would be to improve the stand-by line experience for Toy Story Midway Mania – Joseph suggested this one – he is his mother’s son after all.

Wow!  That was FUN!  Thanks for playing, everyone!  What were your favorite ideas?

Any suggestions for next week’s What-if Wednesday?

 

 

 

Why Watch the Parade at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom?

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IMG_51972014 is bringing about lots of changes at Disney World.  One of these changes is to the afternoon parade at the Magic Kingdom – it’s out with the old and in with the new!  I, for one, am totally stoked about this.  I liked the old parade well enough – Celebrate a Dream Come True (final performance was January 4th) – we managed to catch it several times during its almost-5-year run.  Once, in 2012 we were even pixie dusted into VIP seating.  Okay – I probably could have lived without the parade’s theme song which, like the tune in It’s a Small World,  wormed its way into my brain for the rest of the day (or longer), but I love a good parade nonetheless and Magic Kingdom’s has never IMG_5216disappointed.  It’s a great way to see many different characters – some you don’t usually get to meet & greet – at one time.

Now it’s time to make way for the Festival of Fantasy Parade which will debut this spring.  This means, unfortunately, no afternoon parade for guests to enjoy between now and then, but the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! street party will still go on (3 times a day right now) as will the Main Street Electrical Parade in the evenings.  The most exciting part is that the theme of the new parade is so appropriate –  It will incorporate the characters and stories from the new Fantasyland and include completely new floats and costumes.  Rolling to both a new theme song (oh, thank goodness) and well-known songs from our favorite Disney movies, the Festival of Fantasy Parade is sure to be a spectacular addition to the 2014 excitement at Disney World.

IMG_5219TIP:  If you happen to watch the parade in the vicinity of a newly minted little princess who has visited the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  You’ll see the parade characters, princes, and other princesses acknowledge the “royalty” in the audience in many special ways – bowing, winking, waving, blowing kisses – just another way Disney makes memories for guests that last a lifetime.

Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo and Friends

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IMG_0979When you hear “Epcot”, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  Spaceship Earth?  Soarin’?  Test Track?  The World Showcase, perhaps?  I don’t immediately think of any of those things.  I automatically think about The Seas with Nemo and Friends.  You don’t?  Well maybe it’s time to give it another try.  There’s so much packed under one roof in this (to me) underappreciated area in Epcot’s Future World (West).  I encourage you to take a closer look and give it a bit more consideration.  It’s a whole lot more than just place to escape for a while from the hot Florida sun or an afternoon rain shower…

“Oh, my God, Nemo’s shwimming out to shea!” – Nemo’s classmate, Finding Nemo

The Seas with Nemo and Friends began as The Living Seas in 1986 and was originally IMG_0981sponsored by United Technologies (until 2001).  Hydrolators (pretend under-seas elevators) took guests “down” to Seabase Alpha.  A pre-ride movie explained how the Earth’s oceans were formed before vehicles called Seacabs took visitors on a tour of coral reefs.  In the early 2000’s, the exhibit lost its sponsor and The Living Seas faded in popularity before being reinvigorated and re-named in 2006.

“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do, we swim, swim, swim.” – Dory, Finding Nemo

Today visitors to The Seas with Nemo and Friends will find an exciting, fun, and educational IMG_0980array of exhibits and attractions that offer something for everyone, every age to enjoy.  At the entrance, don’t miss the seagulls that yell “Mine!”  Great photo ops start outside the building’s entrance.

Here are the FIVE best things about The Seas with Nemo and Friends:

“It’s awesome, Jellyman. Little dudes are just eggs, we leave ’em on the beach to hatch, and then — koo-koo ka-choo! — they find their way back to the Big Ol’ Blue.” – Crush, Finding Nemo

IMG_28091.  Turtle Talk with Crush – DUDE!  This fantastically entertaining show provides guests an opportunity to interact with the coolest turtle in the seven seas.  Amazing technology allows Crush to see and talk to individual audience members – he tries to educate people about the lives of sea turtles while also asking people to explain strange and unknown things about humans to him.  Guaranteed laughs.  Amazing technology – No, I don’t want to know how it works…it’s magic!

2.  Manatees!  And other live animal exhibits allow visitors the chance to get up close with the likes of sharks, dolphins, rays, and more.  I particularly love the manatees (second level) – if you’re lucky, you’ll be there at the right time to listen to a Cast Member presentation about these endangered gentle giants.  Feeding time is also a lot of fun!  If you IMG_2776read my post on the Kilimanjaro Safari, then you know what happens when I see live animals.  Yep – I could stay right there and take pictures all day.  I have almost as many manatee pictures as I do of giraffes eating.  Don’t miss Mr. Ray’s Lagoon (first floor) for an up-close view of stingrays.

3.  Clamobiles!  Jump on into your ride vehicle and check out your favorite Finding Nemo characters as Marlin once again searches for his lost son – the show’s characters swim alongside real fish in the aquarium.

Ohhhh, let’s name the zones, the zones, the zones, let’s name the zones of the open sea! – Mr. IMG_2774Ray, Finding Nemo

4.  Bruce!  Our favorite shark in all the seas has his own exhibit next to the Turtle Talk entrance.  Bruce’s Sub House is a adorably crafted play area with many excellent photo ops – including posing as Bruce’s lunch!  Anchor and Chum are there, too, in this great place to learn and explore.  A great opportunity for little ones to enjoy a break from the confines of a stroller and burn off a little energy!

“I am a nice shark. Not a mindless eatin’ machine. If I am to change this image, I must first IMG_2008change myself. Fish are friends. Not food.” – Bruce, Chum, and Anchor, Finding Nemo 

5.  Coral Reef Restaurant – Enjoying a meal in this restaurant’s multi-level seating area is both a tasty and entertaining experience.  The main focal point for diners is a breathtaking view of The Sea’s aquarium.  While food reviews have been mixed (and disappointing) of late, the menu offers a wide variety of options with and without seafood as a main ingredient.  We have dined here (usually lunch) on several occasions and have never had a bad meal.  Make an informed dining decision with info here from All Ears.Net.  I will add that if you’re on the dining plan, Coral Reef uses one table service credit.

So?  You ready to give it another look?  If you’ve been to The Seas With Nemo and Friends lately, what did you think about it?