Hi folks!
I’m back from my trip to Walt Disney World and a wonderful voyage on the Disney Dream with the WDW Radio gang. I’ll be posting some reviews and musings over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, feel free to read my latest blog post for The Disney Driven Life where I give you 3 Disney Transportation Tips!
Have you read what Disney Parks Chairman Tom Staggs was talking about at today’s investors’ conference? It looks like The Mouse has some pretty cool ideas regarding how to use modern technology to enhance the Guest experience at the Disney theme parks. (You can read all about it here.)
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I have already received some emails asking what I think about one particular concept: The idea of reserving ride times from home in order to make planning easier.
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Here’s what I think: It sounds like a great idea in theory. If you knew that you could walk on to Space Mountain at any time between 2:00pm and 2:30pm with virtually no wait, you’d be pretty happy and so would I. What it really amounts to is a variation on FastPass where you reserve your ride time at home instead of going to the attraction, being assigned a time, and returning to ride later.
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Will it really help people plan their daily theme park itinerary? It could certainly cut down on the mad rush for FastPasses that occurs at rope drop as well as give people something to plan their day around, much like a dining reservation. Will it allow people to plan their entire day from start to finish, step by step, without ever having to wait in a queue? I’m not too sure about that and even if it were possible, I’m not sure that I’d recommend it. While a good itinerary should be well structured, it also has to be flexible enough to allow spontaneous Disney magic to occur.
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I’m looking forward to seeing how it all works out.
In September of 2008, I took my family to Disney World and when we returned I told my mother all about the trip. About a month later, my mother asked me, “James, if I went to Disney World, would you be my guide?” I was doing something else when she asked me this question, and I responded with a distracted, “Sure, Mom.” About a minute later she asked, “How soon can we go?”
“Go where, Mom?”
“Disney World!”
“You were serious?!?”
So I arranged to take her to Disney World in November. One of my brothers wanted to join us, and then my uncle tagged along as well. On our second night, I had us going to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. However, a torrential downpour around 7:30pm, in addition to a day taking them through Hollywood Studios in commando mode, brought my three charges to their limit. They literally followed the first parade down Main Street and left to go back to our resort.
Of course, I stayed. I looked like a drowned rat from having ventured out from the Frontierland churro cart to go to the Haunted Mansion before the parade. It didn’t bother me, though. I’m from NJ, and even though it was the middle of November and I was soaked to the skin, the temperature was 60°F so I was quite warm. I decided to walk over to Mickey’s Toontown Fair to meet Tinker Bell, since I had never met her before. As I passed the old Skyway station in Fantasyland, I saw they had a character meet set up. However, there were only four people on line, and there was no character there. I decided to take a chance and get on the line.
In less than a minute, Belle and the Beast arrived. I felt I had hit the jackpot! Belle is my favorite princess, and I had never met her wearing the red Christmas dress, nor had I ever met the Beast. I chatted with the people to either side of me in line, and soon it was time to meet the characters.
Belle started talking to me, and asked if I had met her prince. ”Prince?” I asked. Gesturing to the Beast, she replied with much love in her voice, “Yes, this is my Prince.”
Something in me was disturbed by this emotional pronouncement. I told Belle, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you had feelings for this monster!”
Belle looked a little shocked. Still, she declared, “Yes, he’s my Prince. I love him.”
I suddenly turned away from her and faced the people who were still on line. I shouted to them, “The Beast will make off with your children! He’ll come after them in the night! We’re not safe until his head is mounted on my wall! I say we kill the Beast! Who’s with me?!?”
My impromptu proposal was met with shocked silence. Suddenly, a guy in the line shouted, “I am!” A gasp emanated from Belle, and I turned around.
“Oh, no! You have it all wrong! He wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’s really kind. And gentle,” implored Belle.
I looked at the Beast, who posed in what might be considered a friendly manner.
“Kind and gentle, you say?” I replied. “Well, then, I guess there’s no reason to worry.”
Belle looked relieved.
So we let bygones be bygones. I inquired as to what her Prince’s name was. She told me he is called “Beast.” I told Belle that he certainly looks like a Beast, but that he must have a real name. Belle then told me why her Prince was named “Beast.”
“Once he was human and had a name, but he was cursed. It was so long ago, and he’s been a Beast for so long, he has forgotten what his name was. So now he just goes by ‘Beast’ even though he is no longer a beast inside.”
Having learned something new for the day, I decided it was time to depart. The three of us posed for a picture together.
Yeah, I can be crazy like that, but sometimes you just have to have fun with the characters. Give them a moment to remember. I have to say that I was impressed with the Cast Member portraying Belle. She took what was (probably) a completely unexpected turn of events in stride. Not only that, she responded with Belle’s exact words from the movie! She really did a great job.
I’m just glad that the Beast didn’t prove her wrong about being kind and gentle. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here to write this blog post.
For those of you who don’t know, they officially announced yesterday that Snow White’s Scary Adventures, a long running attraction in the Magic Kingdom, will be closed permanently as part of the Fantasyland Expansion. I’m sad to see Snow White’s Scary Adventures being closed. I will admit that this was an attraction that was hard to swallow — too scary for little kids and not enjoyable enough for most adults.
I remember the first time I rode it. The year was 1983. I was ten years old. Back then it was just titled “Snow White’s Adventures” (or something akin to that) and unbeknownest to me, Snow White didn’t appear in the ride at all at that point in time. I loved the movie and was looking forward to going on the ride. I was excited to get into one of those mine cars. While in the queue, I experienced my first aura of foreboding when my sister pointed out that the Evil Queen kept opening the curtains in the castle window, gazing down menacingly at the line of people. When the mine car made the quick transition from shaded-but-sunny outside to a dark-and-dismal ride interior, I got chills up my spine that weren’t from the temperature difference between the Florida heat and the air conditioning. My blood finally froze when the Evil Queen, looking into the mirror, suddenly spun around and was transformed into the Wicked Witch!
There I was, a ten year old, scared by a Snow White ride! But being the oldest of four children, I would never admit to it. So once we got off the ride, I made fun of my siblings who had been, of course, scared by the ride. My parents did not take kindly to my derogatory comments and, probably knowing that I was trying to hide the fact that I had been frightened, called my bluff. They told me that if I wasn’t scared, I wouldn’t mind going back on the ride again all by myself. To save face, I had to do it!
Although it took me 4 more rides over the next 2 years to really overcome my fear of the Snow White attraction, in doing so I came to love it. In my mind, it became a right of passage for me, for my siblings after that, and in recent years for my two oldest children. Now that Disney is closing it down, I’m saddened that people, including some of my own kids, will never have that opportunity. That said, I’m very happy that they’re keeping Snow White around in the form of the Dwarfs’ Mine Car attraction! It looks like it has the potential to be a fun ride that everyone will be able to enjoy.
Were you or your kids ever frightened riding Snow White’s Scary Adventures? What are your thoughts on its closing?
The recent fire in the Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) got me thinking about changing/modifying attractions. To me, the suits at Disney made a big error when they “updated” the attraction. To quote Vizzini from Princess Bride, they fell victim to one of the classic blunders; the most famous of which is, “Never mess with a classic, timeless attraction by adding content that will automatically date the attraction in a few years.” But only slightly less well-known is this: “Never add potentially child-frightening content to an attraction that shouldn’t be frightening!”
If I had my way, I’d have Disney do with the Enchanted Tiki Room what I want to see done to the Country Bear Jamboree — keep the original show but update the audio-animatronics. Do I think that is going to happen any time soon? No. But a man can dream…
1. Walt Disney World is not just a theme park. It is a vacation destination that is about twice the size of the island of Manhattan. It has four theme parks, two water parks, dozens of hotels, hundreds of restaurants, a sports complex, and more. Get the idea out of your head that you can experience all that Disney World has to offer in a day, a week, or even a month.
2. You need to plan out a vacation to WDW whether you are visiting for just one day or three weeks, just as you need to plan out a vacation to New York City or London. In addition to having an overarching vacation plan, you also need to have a daily itinerary if you want to get the most out of your time and money. Your itinerary should be well structured, but it must also be flexible. A truly good itinerary should also be customized for you and your family. What works for someone else may not work at all for you.
3. There is no need to get stressed because you are planning a vacation. In fact, planning a vacation to Walt Disney World can be almost as exciting as the trip itself! Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Whether you want to plan it all yourself or have someone plan it for you, there are plenty of resources out there to help you.
My tweep Tammy inspired me to post this little personal quiz I made up about the Magic Kingdom. I’ve put down my questions and my answers. I invite you all to post a comment with your own answers. I’m really curious as to what you think.
What are your top 3 favorite attractions in each land in the Magic Kingdom (MK)?
Main Street USA: (Yeah, I know these aren’t exactly attractions, but go with it.)
1. Main Street Bakery
2. Dapper Dans
3. WDW Railroad Station
Fantasyland:
1. It’s a Small World
2. Prince Charming Regal Carousel
3. Mickey’s Philharmagic
Liberty Square:
1. The Haunted Mansion
2. Liberty Square Riverboat
3. Hall of Presidents
Frontierland:
1. Splash Mountain
2. Country Bear Jamboree
3. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Adventureland:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Swiss Family Treehouse
3. Jungle Cruise
Tomorrowland:
1. Carousel of Progress
2. Tomorrowland Transit Authority
3. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Mickey’s Toontown Fair
1. Minnie’s Country House
2. Pixie Hollow Meet & Greet
3. The Barnstormer
What are your top 3 favorite MK attractions?
1. Haunted Mansion
2. Carousel of Progress
3. It’s a Small World
What are your least favorite MK attractions?
1. Stitch’s Great Escape
2. The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)
3. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
What are your favorite “extinct” MK attractions:
1. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
3. Enchanted Tiki Room (original)
What is your favorite table service restaurant in MK?
1. The Plaza Restaurant
What is your favorite counter service restaurant in MK?
1. Casey’s Corner & Main Street Bakery (tie)
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to post your own answers!
