Tag Archives: Magic Kingdom

Who Goes to Walt Disney World to Shop? I DO!

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Olaf PinWho else is excited about the new Disney Market Place Co-Op in Downtown Disney?  I cannot wait to shop there – I’ve been browsing some of their merchandise on their online store and whoa!  Great stuff – especially the home goods in Disney Centerpiece!  I just missed being able to shop in the Co-Op by a couple of days – it opened at the beginning of this month, just a few days after our WDW vacation ended.  Well, I’ll be back in October and I’ll save some pennies between now and then just for that particular store – because one of the things I like to do at Walt Disney World is shop.

There are many stores and shops at Disney World that I love.  Many I just browse, but seldom buy make a purchase in – I just think the stuff is great, with no real need to have any of it for my own.  This would include the giftshops at many of the ride’s exits – like Expedition Everest and Tower of Terror – those giftshops are really neat and offer cute and clever attraction-related merchandise.  The one on the way out of Pirates of the Caribbean is a particular favorite as well.  I also love to browse the shops in Disney’s Hollywood Studios – I just seldom find anything there IMG_6606I can’t live without.

Now, let’s talk about where my money goes.  There are four places I go to shop (as in like-an-Olympic-sport shopping) – The Fam is used to this and they know they can either help or get out of the way – I’m good with either of those opptions as long as I have some completely uninterrupted time to carefully select what will be going home with me.

Disney Shoe Ornament - MaleficentMouse Gear in Epcot

I love Mouse Gear because of its size, but also the way the store is merchandised.  The place is always bright, clean, well organized and neat as a pin.  Part of what’s so great about it is how open it is – one huge room all on display for my shopping pleasure.  Most recently, Megan and I added to our Shoe Ornament collection with the purchase of three new shoes from Mouse Gear.  If you saw my post on another Epcot store (Mitsukoshi in the Japan Pavilion), it deserves a shout-out here, but unlike Mouse Gear, I don’t always buy something from there.

Haunted Mansion Mickey OrnamentDisney’s Days of Christmas (Downtown Disney)

Disney Christmas ornaments are a must-buy souvenir for me.  The nice folks at Disney’s Days of Christmas will carefully pack my ornament purchases and ship them straight to my house where they will arrive safely unbroken.  Yes, I pay about $25 extra for that, but it’s totally worth it to me not to have to fret over what may happen if I tried to carry all the ornaments with me on the plane home.  As long as there’s room on my 9-foot Disney Christmas tree, I’ll be buying ornaments at this happy holiday shop.

World of Disney (Downtown Disney)

This store is, with regard to presentation, the exact opposite of Mouse Gear.  It’s a little darkerHaunted Mansion Singing Busts Ornaments and messier inside and divided into many rooms and sections – you could look around in World of Disney for a couple of days, I think, and still not see it all.  Clothing, watches, and souvenirs are the kinds of things I buy here.  It can be really crowded, though, so if you’re serious about shopping here, a little patience and crowd tollerance helps.  Most recently, I bought a tee shirt (for our dog, Junior) from the boys’ section, some Haunted Mansion ornaments (the singing busts) that were not at the Christmas Store, and some small souvenirs for friends back home.  I also bought my new, one-and-only, perfect-for-me Earhat!  (See me wearing it on our Facebook Page – oh, and if you press “Like” while your there, I’d be ever so appreciative since I’m only 20 shy of 1000!)

The Main Street Emporium (Magic Kingdom)

All the stores on Main Street’s left side are connected.  So, you can enter the Emporium and shop your way (in cool comfort) down to Casey’s Corner!  It’s the atmosphere of The Main Street Emporium that draws me in.  It’s got great Victorian details and I can find camera batteries, gift cards, and one of my favorite things to buy there, Disney Pins (for collecting and trading).  Yeah, I know they sell pins literally everywhere, but it has become tradition for me to at least attempt to find a pin or two from the Emporium to take with me.

Now it’s your turn – which of Walt Disney World’s stores are your favorite?  What are your favorite souvenirs to buy on every visit?

Disney Christmas Ornaments

Personalized Disney Ornament Dumbo Christmas Ornament Disney Shoe Ornament - Ariel Disney Shoe Ornament - Anna Classic Earhat Ornament

 

 

Disney’s Under the Sea – Voyage of the Little Mermaid

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In Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Fantasyland has always been a favorite place for Fantasyland Photo Opparents and grandparents to take small children and enjoy some of Disney’s more whimsical, milder rides and attractions.  These are the ones made for every age – low or no height requirements, no rough twists and turns, no scary surprises – The kinds of rides Walt Disney himself had a hand in creating so children and adults could have fun together.

As part of the Magic Kingdom’s new Fantasyland expansion, the Little Mermaid ride (officially:  Under the Sea-Voyage of the Little Mermaid) is an adorable tribute to Ariel’s story – full of all our favorite characters and Queue for Voyage of the Little Mermaidscenes.  Tucked beneath Prince Eric’s castle, guests board clammobiles for a fun and fanciful journey through familiar scenes – brought to life, straight from the movie!  As you approach the attraction, there’s a great photo op and most likely a Disney photographer will be standing by to snap your picture in front of a ship with Ariel as the figurehead!

The queue is full of clever surprises – so much so that I was actually disappointed that the line moved quickly and I couldn’t look at the details as long as I would have liked.  The queue starts outside where you’ll feel just like you’re IMG_3003at the seaside walking in and out of caverns carved by the ocean’s waves.  Look down and you’ll see a variety of seashells under foot.  Look along the walls and find starfish and barnicles.  Once you go inside, there are interactive parts to this queue involving Ariel’s treasures and some cute and funny little blue crabs.

The indoor part of the queue is cool and dark – as is the ride itself.  Lighting effects make you feel like you are truly going under the sea in your clam shell.  Unlike Epcot’s The Ride Vehicle for Voyage of the Little MermaidSeas With Nemo & Friends which offers a new storyline continuing where Finding Nemo left off, Under the Sea – Voyage of the Little Mermaid (similar to Peter Pan’s Flight) offers only a selection of scenes straight from the movie. This is what divides visitors’ opinions about this attraction – Little kids (and Mermaid fans) love seeing the familiar scenes reproduced in great detail and larger than life.  Big kids and adults are often disappointed by the scenes’ simplicity and how the ride offers nothing new or different – basically just replicates parts of the movie exactly (with low-tech animatronics to boot).

Judge for yourself!  This attraction is worth at least one visit for the experience.  The highly detailed, interactive queue is very well done and the ride itself is a great place to sit down and cool off for a bit fromScuttle the Florida heat.  This is a continuously loading attraction, so you may want to save a FastPass for something else as the line moves pretty quickly.  Personally, I liked the ride okay, but I LOVED the queue!  I have to agree with the folks that would have liked a little something new or different in the Little Mermaids story – there seems to be wasted potential.

Have you ridden the new Little Mermaid ride?  What did you think about it?

 

WDW Ariel and Eric in Silhouette Ariel Getting Legs Ursula - Voyage of the Little Mermaid WDW Little Mermaid's King Triton

 

 

So Long Snow White – Hello Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

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Snow White's Scary Adventure - WitchThroughout my life (yes, nearly 50 years!), I’ve often found myself in a small minority of people who like change.  Change doesn’t generally bother me – most of the time I’m in favor of it.  For sure, I’m not as resistant to it as most folks tend to be.  In fact, in my job (the one I have to support my Disney vacation addiction), I’m often responsible for helping people adjust to and embrace change.  This sort of brings me to today’s topic…Snow White's Scary Adventure - Peek Inside

Two years ago we were at Walt Disney world during the last week of May.  Snow White’s Scary Adventure was closing forever after May 31st, 2012, so I planned for our group to be in Magic Kingdom that day in order to take a farewell ride.  As we rode along through all the scenes, I tried hard to feel sentimental and drum up some appropriate feelings of nostalgia – tried hard to be a little sad even.  Well….not so much.  Snow’s ride had never been one of my favorites and, in the spirit of totally honesty, I was not going to miss it.  At all.  I didn’t hate it or anything – To name my feelings, I would say I was perfectly ambivalent.  Yes, it was a Fantasyland classic, but it always seemed to lack the whimsy of Peter Pan’s Flight.  For sure, it wasn’t as interesting as It’s a Small World and Fantasyland Construction Wall Signwas completely without a catchy tune.  I guess you could say – I was in pro-change mode.  Close the ride and make something else?  Build a new Snow White-related attraction?  Make a Princess Fairytale Hall for meet-and-greets?  YES!  I was completely in favor of those plans.  Change is sometimes good and necessary.  This was certainly one of those times.

I walked by the walls surrounding the Fantasyland Expansion that day in 2012 and wondered what we could expect from the barely-begun Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – it seemed a fitting plan to pay tribute to one of the most Disney-esque of movies, while adding some much needed pizazz to a Snow White experience.  Back then, very little was know about the would-be attraction and its cutting-edge technology.  As construction updates began to appear on my favorite media sites, my excitement slowly built….

Next week, almost exactly two years to the day from the date we said goodbye to Snow Seven Dwarfs on Fantasyland Construction WallWhite’s Scary Adventure, I’ll finally get to ride the much-anticipated Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!  I’ve watched the YouTube videos, read the reviews and blog reports and am absolutely thrilled to have booked FastPasses for the afternoon of May 30th.

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Seven Dwarfs Sign Fantasyland Construction WallAre you excited for the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train?  Do you wish Snow White’s Scary Adventure had stayed in Fantasyland in place of the Princess Fairytale Hall? 

Walt Disney World’s Splash Mountain – 5 Great Things

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Splash Mountain Warning Sign“Everybody’s got a laughing place (high ho!).
   A laughing place to go-ho-ho! (high ho!).
    Take that frown, turn it upside down
    And you’ll find yours we say-hey-hey.
 And soon you’ll find you’re here to stay!” – Everybody has a Laughing Place – Splash Mountain

Whenever we visit the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, The Fam and I love the mountains!  Tomorrowland’s Space Mountain and the twin peaks of Frontierland – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain.  A visit to the Magic Kingdom wouldn’t be complete without hitting these three rides at least one time.

The strategy for our mountain conquering expedition always involves arriving before the park opens and heading for Frontierland first – we’ll hit Splash and Big Thunder before the standby Walt Disney World's Splash Mountainlines grow too long (more than 30 minutes), then use a FastPass later in the day for Space Mountain (if necessary).  I’ve mentioned before our best-loved things about Big Thunder and I’ll save Space Mountain for another day – right now, I present to you….

FIVE Great things about Splash Mountain (Note: must be 40″ to ride):

1. It’s one of the most highly themed rides in the World!  So. Many. Details – This ride (based on the 1946 Disney movie Song of the South) tells the story of Br’er Fox’s attempts to capture Br’er Rabbit.  Of course, Br’er Fox is assisted by his bumbling side-kick, Br’er Bear.  Following along on their adventures adds an extra element of fun to this attraction – which lasts a whopping TEN minutes!

The 50-Foot Drop on Splash Mountain2. Dark ride, log flume!  It’s a dark ride, but unlike most (Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain) – this is not a scary ride!  It’s a bit like riding in a little log boat through a cartoon.  Br’er Frog starts the ride off with a little speculation about what he thinks will happen.  As you bob along, you’ll meet a great number of adorable musical creatures who add to the tale.  As you go, a couple of little dips and drops prepare you for the main event: The 50 foot plunge!  At 40 miles an hour!  Yes, you will get wet, but it’s totally worth it!

3. SO many animatronics.  In addition to the main Br’er characters, Mr. Bluebird and many other birds are singing and playing instruments, there are frogs, turtles (riding geysers), ‘possums, gophers – just bunches of creatures to see and hear….and that’s not all!

4. Little houses, little mailboxes, little clothes drying on the line – the animals aren’t the only fantastic details that make up this great ride.  Walt Disney World's Splash Mountain SceneryThere are honeybees, briar patches, even a huge paddle-wheeler-grand-finale!  This ride’s got everything and…

5. Catchy tunes!  Along with The Laughing Place song and other great tunes, who doesn’t love Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah?  There’s enough variety of happy music, it doesn’t get monotonous (I’m not pointing fingers *cough*smallworld*cough). And the songs add so much to the experience, you’ll find yourself toe-tapping and singing along.

Br'er Rabbit - Splash Mountain“Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay!
My oh my, what a wonderful day!
 Welcoming back Br’er Rabbit today.
We always knew that he’d get away.”

What do YOU love most about Splash Mountain?