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?”