Tag Archives: guests

Was it worth it?

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Back in August I shared a post about Disney’s Photopass and Photopass+. Since returning home from my vacation I’ve had several people ask me what I thought of the new Photopass+ service and whether it was worth it.

Firstly the price….by pre-ordering the Photopass+ package before my vacation it cost $169.95, which I must confess is expensive for a bunch of holiday snaps on a cd. But I think it’s the extras that make it worth it for me.

Not only do you get the Photo Gallery cd with the Disney ‘stock’ photos on it but I love being able to use the Photopass website to edit my own photos before ordering them on the second disc. You can zoom in, crop, change the colour, add borders (including ones for special events) and dates….and there’s no limit to how many times you recreate a photo. I chose one of ours from Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and reproduced it six times with different borders! And you can do all this with the attraction photos too…

Speaking of attraction photos…this is the main highlight of Photopass+ for me. We were riding attractions just so we could get another photo added to our card. It was great fun looking for our photo on the screen and knowing that whatever it was like we would be getting a copy. Also, digital copies of attraction photos are added to your Photopass account so that you can download those straightaway, without waiting for your cd to arrive in the mail.

Unfortunately we were only eating at one of the restaurants on the list where you would get a dining photo as part of the Photopass+ package. But I was pleasantly surprised when we turned up at Chef Mickey’s for breakfast and were told that not only did the arrival photo get added to our card but we also got a printed version in the Chef Mickey’s presentation folder at no extra cost!

I was a little disappointed with the ‘lanyard’ used to hold the Photopass+ card. I think at the price paid Disney could afford to provide a nicer piece of material; even if it had the Photopass logo on it, it would have looked more like a standard lanyard and we would have been more happy to show it off.

I had also hoped that the sight of a Photopass+ card would have encouraged more interaction from Photopass photographers. By having the card it indicates that you have already pre-purchased the cd and therefore must be keen to have photos taken in the parks and capture those special memories. Unfortunately we saw very little acknowledgement of the fact that we had already handed over $169 for the package and the majority of the enthusiasm for the photos came from us.

After queuing up to have our pictures taken with various characters, just because we could add them to our card, we even commented that wouldn’t it be nice if the Photopass+ package gave you some kind of ‘fastpass’ for the character meet and greets….it would certainly add to the list of reasons to pick it up.

 

So….was it worth it? To me….yes….but I do admit that it is an expensive treat. And one only worth getting if you are going to fill that disc with a LOT of pictures that will help you remember that magical vacation for years to come.

I’m now waiting for the finished disc to arrive in the mail and cannot wait to share some of those memories with you in the coming weeks. :)

 

 

All fine for the Food and Wine!

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This October will see my first ever visit to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. Now this Walt Disney World special event is a huge hit with guests; many making it the reason they return to WDW at this time of year, every year.

As you all know I like to read about Disney A LOT so it comes as no surprise that I’ve spent years reading details about past Food & Wine Festivals and have a pretty good understanding of what actually happens during the event. But do I know how to go about actually attending the event myself AND getting the best out of my visit? With so much information available it can actually make it difficult to know what you need to remember, and know what you can afford to forget!

And that is where the Disney Food Blog and the DFB Guides come to your rescue! These guides are downloadable and can be used at home or on the go. So far the collection includes the DFB Guide to WDW Dining 2012, the DFB Mini-Guide to Epcot Snacks, the DFB Mini-Guide to Magic Kingdom Snacks and the DFB Dining Adventures: Magic Kingdom.

 

 

So when I heard that there was a DFB Mini-Guide to the 2012 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival I just knew that this would have the answers to all my questions and more!

Firstly….who knows why it’s called a ‘mini’ guide…with over 160 pages of details and photos covering everything there is to know about the Festival! There’s an introduction giving an overview of all the happenings at the event, then chapters on the International Marketplace Booths, Special and Signature Events, Seminars, Celebrity Chefs, Eat to The Beat, RunDisney events and Frequently Asked Questions.

I found the guide really easy to follow and the linked index at the beginning takes you straight to the information you’re looking for…it’s so much easier than having to spend time searching through several websites trying to piece the information together.

The guide makes you feel like you know what’s going to be happening when you arrive at Epcot and makes you think in advance about how you want to experience the event. I particularly like the Festival Touring Strategies and the World Showcase Booth Crawls….I’m a fan of anything that helps me plan my time!

But do you know? Even if I wasn’t able to attend the Festival this year I think that this e-book would still make a good read for any Disney fanatic wanting to learn more about the different happenings at the World. I picked up the original DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining last year; not because I had started planning my 2012 ADR’s already but because I just wanted to read more about WDW dining!

So there you have it…I have my DFB Mini-Guide and I’m all fine for the Food and Wine!! ;)

 

 

 

Thank Disney it’s Friday – May 11!

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Hello Friday!! It’s felt like a busy week and I don’t think I’ve really stopped since coming back from Mousemeets 2012 last weekend!!

So I fancy a bit of relaxed daydreaming today….here’s your Friday question….

If you could be sitting on a bench anywhere in WDW right now…..just watching and listening to the sights and sounds of the parks…where would you be sitting and why????

 

:) :) :)

Gettin’ around….

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As I have previously mentioned we don’t drive whilst at Walt Disney World. Letting someone else take the strain of getting us from A to B is part of the break for us.

I do however have a vivid memory of having a hire car in Orlando and I think I have just about recovered from the experience! It was during a family holiday back in the 90’s, in the days before everyone had GPS and sat navs. I will spare you all the gory details but I will say that we left Universal Studios in the dark, via the wrong exit, and spent hours trying to get back to our hotel….well, it felt like hours to the scared and embarrassed teenager that I was at the time!!!

Now that I’m all grown up and have the luxury of staying on property we make full use of the complimentary Disney Resort Transportation, or ‘Disney buses’ for short! We love the convenience of hopping on and off the buses, going from resort to park and back again.

Once you know your way around the transportation system you can work out how to get to just about anywhere on property. When we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside we started to notice that the buses going from the parks to Port Orleans French Quarter would often arrive more frequently and there would be less of a queue, so we soon started hopping on the French Quarter one and walking the short distance along the river back to Riverside.

During our last stay at Wilderness Lodge we noticed that the Magic Kingdom bus only took 5 to 10 minutes to get to the park so we started hopping on that one and then making our way elsewhere from MK. Whilst trying to get to Epcot from Ft Wilderness one night a Wilderness Lodge bus turned up so we jumped on that, knowing that we could start the journey again from our home resort!

Unfortunately in recent years the Disney Company has chosen to limit the bus drivers’ interaction with guests. I’m not sure of the official reason for this but I wonder if it had something to do with the negative ‘situations’ the bus drivers seemed to be experiencing with guests. I still get an excited feeling when I hear the recorded message announcing where the bus is heading to, for you to “have a nice day” or when the familiar music starts as you head towards your home resort, but it’s not quite the same as the crazy interactions we used to have with drivers in the past.

On our last trip we were on a bus around midday heading to Downtown Disney with only a few other guests on board. I assume the driver decided we looked like a friendly bunch as he switched off the pre-recorded announcements and decided to have a quiz with us! We had such fun answering his trivia questions about the number of fireworks let off in WDW during a year or how many cars are on Disney property on New Year’s Eve!! It felt even more fun as he sounded EXACTLY like John Candy!! The driver really made our day and we departed at DTD with huge grins on our faces; that was a magical Disney memory right there.

I know that some people have bad things to say about the Disney buses but I think they do a pretty impressive job of transporting thousands of guests around the WDW property each day. Yes, you can be stood at a bus stop for what feels like ages, seeing every bus go by except the one you want, but that’s no different from being in your home town or city…traffic is traffic no matter how much pixie dust there is to go around!

The only downside of Disney buses for me is unfortunately the other guests who use them. For some reason at certain resorts guests waiting for a bus choose not to queue, just stand in a crowd around several of the bus shelters, and then try to push their way to the front when a bus arrives. If you want to be first on a bus why not form an orderly queue? The other unfortunate habit is the people who think they can board first by using the side doors…you know….the doors that say ‘exit only’!!

So I’m prepared to put my hand up and announce that I love the Disney buses ;) I will continue to tolerate other people’s bad behaviour in order to use a transportation system that suits my needs whilst in the World.

And all I ask is the next time you use a Disney bus make sure you smile and thank that driver for his or her hard work, for they are responsible for getting us to the magic everyday :)

Magic in the distance!

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Sometimes we daydream about Disney because we have just returned from our Walt Disney World vacation, sometimes we daydream Disney because we are planning our next trip and sometimes we daydream Disney to escape what’s happening in the real world. Unfortunately it’s been the latter for me this week, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying daydreams of my happy place.

If I asked you to close your eyes and think of the most important image from Walt Disney World I reckon that many of you would see an image of Cinderella Castle. If I ever need to fill my head with happy thoughts and Disney daydreams as quickly as possible it’s certainly the image that works for me.

Cinderella Castle stands in the middle of Magic Kingdom and is 189 feet tall; did you know that Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle is only 75 feet tall? Cinderella Castle is a fantastic and beautiful example of a ‘weenie’, Walt’s term for a visual building or structure that would draw people into a certain space. The castle can be seen from two miles away, meaning that you can see it even when outside of Magic Kingdom, a constant reminder of the magic that exists inside WDW.

No matter how many times I visit WDW I never tire of looking at Cinderella Castle. Like thousands of other guests I could photograph it all day and night long, from different angles, distances and lighting. And once I have those photographs I can spend hours studying the details in front of me.

I find it wonderful that one image can transport me right back into the middle of the most magical place on earth; whenever I need comfort that image is right there in my daydreams waiting for me.

Whilst I now return to my daydreaming, here are some of my favourite personal images of Cinderella Castle.

Are you guilty of attraction neglect?

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When I heard about the fire and then the subsequent ‘temporary’ closure of the Enchanted Tiki Room at Walt Disney World back in January this year I felt guilty. Now, I know what you’re thinking, but I can assure you that I was nowhere near WDW the day of that fire ;)

I felt guilty because as a Disney fan I’d neglected that attraction and in that moment I realised that because of my neglect if they closed that historical attraction forever I would not get to experience what others had seen and heard behind those automatically opening doors.

As Disney fans and WDW regulars I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Whether you get to visit the World every week, a couple of times a year, or maybe once every two years, you will have your ‘must do’ attractions. Mine are the TTA Peoplemover and It’s A Small World (yes, I’m being serious). I cannot even contemplate starting a visit to Magic Kingdom without those two attractions being first on my list. But then there’s the attractions that I’ll go on if there’s time, or if there’s no queue…..and then there are the attractions that I don’t really factor into my visit at all…and I feel ashamed….for I am guilty of attraction neglect.

And right now, to all my readers, I am going to confess to not only neglecting the Enchanted Tiki Room but also the Country Bear Jamboree. I haven’t seen these attractions for years. It’s been so long that I can’t even remember if I have ever seen them. But I wasn’t worried because they’ve been there for years and surely they’ll be there for the next visit or the one after that, right?

Well, who can say for sure, especially at this time of great change in the parks? The Enchanted Tiki Room has been given a new lease of life since the fire and thankfully has reopened this week to guests queueing to see the reimagined show. And I promise here that on my next trip I will visit my neglected attractions and appreciate them still being around.

So now I’d like you to confess and share your own neglected attractions. Maybe some of you don’t bother with It’s A Small World (although I cannot understand how anyone can find that song irritating?!). Is anyone guilty of neglecting Peter Pan, Stitch’s Great Escape, or maybe Splash Mountain? Just take a moment to see if you can find time to fit that attraction into your next visit….you never know how long it will be around ;)

What time is the 3 o’clock parade?

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Been on the Keys To The Kingdom tour? Chatted to a cast member about working with WDW guests? How many times have they been asked “what time is the 3 o’clock parade”? Well this post is about people who genuinely need to know the answer!

I love being a Disney fan in the 21st century. I can connect to fellow Disney geeks from all over the world through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, forums, live broadcasts etc etc. I love the fact that my closest friends live in various states across America. And because of technology we can be at WDW any time of the day, no matter where we live.

I really enjoy taking part in live broadcasts from the parks. I remember watching Lou Mongello do his first live broadcast from within WDW; it was from Magic Kingdom on a very cold January day. I couldn’t believe that I was sitting in my living room, in front of my laptop, watching and interacting with people that were in Magic Kingdom right at that moment; it was brilliant!!

But…there’s a problem with live broadcasts…and it’s time zones!! I now know that different states in America are in different time zones and that makes it very interesting for us here in the UK. Every time a new event or broadcast is announced I hop on over to a useful website http://www.timeanddate.com/. It gives me current times, future times, a meeting planner, and anything else I need to know about setting the UK time for a broadcast.

I now also have their World Clock app on my phone; which allows me to set up my favourite places and instantly see the current time, relevant time zone, and whether they observe Daylight Saving. It’s worth noting that different places put their clocks forward and backward at different times…so we’re not always 5 hours ahead of Orlando…but the app lets me know that.

And so, now I know the time differences and I can plan my diary accordingly. Sometimes it’s frustrating that we’re 5 hours ahead of our friends at WDW but sometimes it can make for magical experiences. Like the time that I set my alarm for 1.45am. I sat up in bed, in the dark, and reached for my laptop. Not wishing to wake anyone else in the house I plugged in my headphones. I logged into Beci Mahnken’s live stream account just before 2am and waited, in the dark, in silence. And then it happened. The screen came to life, and there in front of me was IllumiNations, taking place in Epcot at that very moment. It was a surreal and magical moment for me…and perhaps makes me a little strange, but aren’t we all?!! When I saw Beci in December I retold that story and she also thought it was magical; she couldn’t believe that someone had set their alarm to wake up in the middle of the night just to watch something she was broadcasting from the parks.

So because of us all wanting to take part in the magic of Disney as often as we can perhaps we should change that original question to “what time is the 3 o’clock parade in the UK?” ;)