Also if you are going to be in the parks come hang out and with us. Click here to go to our live stream event

Free Dining

Travel to Walt Disney World most dates in September and each person in your party will get to dine for free. Stay at select Disney Value Resorts and get Disney’s Quick Service Dining Plan for Free. Stay at most Disney Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts and get Disney’s Plus Dining Plan for Free.

And Remember when you book with Pixie Vacations you get a dedicated agent that works with you and plans a vacation based on your families needs.  When you call Disney you get a call center and a different person each time.

- Their prices are the same or less than booking with Disney, plus you get an agent to help plan your vacation for FREE.  We can help plan your itinerary, educated you about special events, book your room, tickets and dining packages.  We will plan and book your dining reservations, etc.|

Contact Pixie Vacations
at 678-815-1584
Or at Pixie Vacations.com

Also don’t forget Pixie Vacations is hosting a private VIP Fantasmic dessert party on Friday the 13th of September they would love to have fans come out and join them.

You can find out more at www.MouseChat.net

Fantasmic Dessert Party Event Private VIP Fantasmic Dessert Party at Disney Hollywood Studios

Here is a direct link to thier events planned and discounts on Disney Resort Rooms:
http://mousechat.net/index.php/2013/03/19/disney-world-mouse-chat-friday-the-13th-villians-meet-up/

Start off the witching hours on Friday the 13th from 8:30 – 9:30 PM for a private viewing area at Disney’s Fantasmic. They have a Private Dessert Party filled with scrumptious desserts for you to enjoy while watching Disney’s Fantasmic.  Continue the night with Disney’s Limited Time Magic at Disney Hollywood Studios with a Special Villain treat and the park staying open until the Witching Hour (13th hour 1 AM)

They can only hold a limited number of fans for this event so please RSVP today. Once these are gone they are gone.

When: Sept. 13 (Friday the 13th) at Disney Hollywood Studios (Fantasmic Private VIP viewing area – Hollywood Hideaway) 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Cost: $39 per person* (adult or children)

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As usual, it will be a listener question show, so submit your questions at our contact us page and select Live Show Questions in the Subject. Or don’t, See if we care , but it does give Brett more time to rant. If it’s a good enough question, we may have you join us live on the show.

You can listen here or listen at: http://www.livestream.com/wdwfanboys

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Somewhere on the site we have hidden a four leaf clover. When you find the clover and click on it, it will take you to an enter form at Pixie Vacations so you can enter for a chance to WIN a $50.00 Disney Gift Card.

You can enter once per day. (You don’t need to find the clover each day, since you will already know where it is). The winner is randomly selected and will be displayed after the giveaway ends on the contest page and you will be contacted at the email address you entered the giveaway with. Have fun.

The Pot o’ Gold giveaway starts NOW and ends on St Patrick’s Day

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Their Fastpass+ day was for today, December 15th. At approximately 10:30, the following day of attractions were unavailable through Fastpass+:

• Main Street Electrical Parade
• Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade
• Toy Story Mania (this appeared and re-appeared when I logged in and logged out)

New Fantasyland has opened since the last test so the split of attractions in the Magic Kingdom has been modified. Guests are able to select two Fastpass+ experiences in either of the two groups:

Group 1 (Choose 2):

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Disney Princesses at Town Square Theater
• Enchanted Tales with Belle
• Main Street Electrical Parade
• Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Space Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Wishes Nighttime Spectacular

Group 2 (Choose 2):

• Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• Jungle Cruise
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor
• The Barnstormer
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

Surprising omissions are as follows:

• Pirates of the Caribbean
• it’s a small world
• Tomorrowland Speedway

Over at Hollywood Studios, guests can chose one experience from Group 1, and two experiences from Group 2. The distribution for Hollywood Studios is as follows:

Group 1 (Choose 1):

• Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
• Toy Story Midway Mania

Group 2 (Choose 2):

• Disney Junior – Live on Stage!
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Muppet*Vision 3-D
• Star Tours
• The American Idol Experience
• The Great Movie Ride
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Surprising omissions are as follows:

• Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage
• Studio Backlot Tour
• The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
• Fantasmic!

I selected the Magic Kingdom and the following attractions:

• Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid
• Enchanted Tales with Belle
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Wishes Nighttime Spectacular

At this point the website gives you four different distribution of times, the most preferred distribution also removed Wishes Nighttime Spectacular and replaced it with Disney Princesses at Town Square Theater. The distribution was as follows:

• Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid (12:20 PM – 1:20 PM)
• Enchanted Tales with Belle (1:30 PM – 2:30 PM)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (2:40 PM – 3:40 PM)
• Disney Princesses at Town Square Theater (4:35 PM – 4:35 PM)

The good:

• The first three attractions have a pretty tight cluster of time.
• I was able to choose attractions close to one another
• There was plenty of availability even day of

The bad:

• The experiences don’t take a full hour to complete so unless I start at around 1:10 at Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid there is still going to be down time between every attraction
• I didn’t have the option to include Wishes with my early afternoon cluster of attractions
• I was unable to hand pick specific times for specific attractions. I was only given an option of all attractions at once.

You have the option to change out individual attractions, and that option was available for every attraction in that group except for Disney Princesses at Town Square Theater, the one attraction I didn’t select. The way this change of attraction should work is that you can select another option in that group, but it’s really inconvenient that I couldn’t replace the single attraction I didn’t chose.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

• When You Wish Upon a Star – Pinocchio
• Someday My Prince will Come – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Circle of Life – The Lion King
• Kiss the Girl – The Little Mermaid
• Colors of the Wind – Pocahontas
• The Bare Necessities – The Jungle Book
• Beauty and the Beast – Beauty and the Beast
• A Whole New World – Aladdin
• A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes – Cinderella
• Once Upon a Dream – Sleeping Beauty
• Ev’rybody Wants to be a Cat – The Aristocats
• You can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly! – Peter Pan
• You’ve Got a Friend In Me – Toy Story
• I See the Light – Tangled
• Cruella de Vil – 101 Dalmations
• Go the Distance – Hercules
• Bella Notte – Lady and the Tramp
• Life is a highway – Cars
• Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride – Lilo & Stitch
• Reflection – Mulan

Good luck!

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

 1) All of my friends, colleagues and acquiantances hate it. 

I am not joking when I tell you that not a single person that I’ve discussed this with has expressed any positive reaction to the idea of an Avatarland.  This includes all of my personal friends, people that I work with and people that I’ve discussed it with in passing.  This also includes people who visit WDW at least once a year and people who have never been before.  It includes shareholders and people who have no financial interest in the company.  A close personal friend of mine who brings his family to Walt Disney World at least once a year grimaced when I told him the news about Avatarland and said bluntly, “I would never go see that”.  Today, he still doesn’t care what sort of attractions could be placed in the themed land.  The movie itself was enough to drive his interest away.  The shareholder I mentioned shrugged his shoulders when I told him about the breaking news of development plans being leaked on the web.  His response was, “It’s not a great idea.  I’ll see it once, but probably not more than that”.  He mentioned that as someone who holds financial interest in the company, he’s disappointed.  I understand.

2) Avatar as a cultural phenomenon is dying rapidly.

Go ahead and do a Twitter search for Avatar.  I have been searching relatively frequently for the past few days for mentions of Avatar around the web and have found basically no conversation at all around the movie anymore.  I’ve always maintained that a film within the fantasy genre is only successful if nerds continue to talk about it.  I don’t mean this in any pejorative way and don’t want to denigrate the geek demographic.  If you’re reading this, you’re probably as geeky, if not more geeky than the guy writing it.  What I mean is that for the movie based ’lands’ that have worked in theme parks, you’ll find countless message boards, fan fiction, games and so on.  I have not yet seen anything remotely close to the saturation that Star Wars or Harry Potter holds among a fan community for Avatar.  In fact, I just conducted a Google search for Avatar Message Board, and the first result was for what appears to be some Nick show.  Scrolling down didn’t reveal anything else.  Avatar as a film franchise received just as much hype as the Matrix movies.  When’s the last time you heard someone talking about the Matrix?

3) Let’s all be honest, if it weren’t for the CGI, no one would have really cared about the movie.

One of my primary contentions in the past has been that Avatar simply was an extremely bad movie once you get past the CGI.  Many people have rightly compared it to Pocahontas in terms of the story.  The film itself really doesn’t produce anything lasting in terms of value.  People latched on to Harry Potter because it’s a story of good and evil, love and self-sacrifice for one’s friends.  The story was endearing and actually spoke to people’s humanity.  It’s why the park works – people don’t just like Harry Potter stuff for the thrill of it.  They identify with the deeply human story embedded in the characters and places.  I’m still not entirely sure what the story of Avatar was because the graphics were so distracting.  And I don’t mean that they were distracting in a good way, either.  I recently compared Avatar in terms of CGI to Thomas Kinkade in terms of painting – both look like artistic vomit to me.  They’re both way over the top to the point of being simply unbelievable.  Which brings me to my next point.  If Disney is simply looking to capitalize on Avatar because it contained breaking CGI, the attractions will be outdated before they’re built.  One thing I’ve always expected from Disney is story.  We all love the parks because of the stories that were told and the inventiveness they inspired.  Avatar is neither good narrative nor good story.

So, in conclusion, my real problem with Avatarland is that it’s simply not good for Disney or for the guest.  All of the feedback I’ve received from fans and passive park-goers suggests that no one is all that interested.  Additionally, as was mentioned in the blog in a different article, Jay Rasulo stated in September, 2012 , that Avatarland, “will be funded out of the normal capital expenditure profile”.  If it does nothing to boost attendance, guess who gets to absorb the impact of that cost to recoup those retained earnings to meet the required rate of return for investors?  I encourage Disney to find something to fill in that desolate wasteland Tim calls the Animal Kingdom, but I still maintain that Avatarland isn’t the answer.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

This all being said, I am of the mindset that it’s not appropriate for guests to sneak around backstage in Walt Disney World.  I have thought for a long time that Disney is trying as hard as they can to create an care-free, clean, safe and beautiful environment for guests to play.  And they do this spectacularily well.  As much as I rail against some of the attractions and park entertainment Disney has produced in recent years, this is all a matter of personal preference.  As I stated in several articles back, I realize that not everything Disney does is for me.  I even think that if Disney produces Avatarland as they say they will, it will be done extremely well.  (My contention with an Avatar based land is simply that Avatar was a really stupid film and has had no lasting impact in culture.  I hear people talk about it now as frequently as they talk about the Matrix.) Disney is very careful and precise about what they offer us, and we mostly appreciate what it is they do to make us happy.

I believe that the relationship that Disney and guests has should be one of mutual respect.  Disney allows us to go backstage in a supervised manner, because candidly some of the things that happen backstage simply aren’t safe for people to wander in to.  I have also been backstage plenty during my time working at Walt Disney World and really don’t understand the fascination with it either.  I was admitted on several occassions to see what was underneath the ride track and behind the doors of the Haunted Mansion, and besides being able to see how the ride works and to get up close to the ballroom ghosts, there’s not a whole lot to do or see down there.  Most of it is used as storage.  When Disney admits us to the park, there is not only a legal understanding, but also a relational understanding that we will respect Disney’s private and intellectual property and they will respect us by providing excellent service and a phenominal park experience.  Breaking the terms of that contract is a violation of what Disney is trying to do for us and leaves Disney with every right to sever their relationship with the guest.

Speaking as a previous cast member, I can also say that catching someone sneaking around backstage puts the every day workers at WDW in a difficult position.  Most cast members don’t want to have people thrown out of the park, which is exactly what will happen if a person is caught.  Yet, it is ethically right that a cast member should report someone caught sneaking around backstage.  Remember, employees have a more important contract with Disney than you do as a guest.  They have an obligation to keep individuals safe and to enforce the rules of the park if there’s misbehavior.  So by entering private property, individuals are not just putting themselves at risk, but also potentially otherwise uninvolved employees.  I speak firsthand when I tell you that employees are not let off easily when they make errors in judgement.

You may call me a prude or whatever you like, but I’ve never thought it wise to enter through closed doors.  I don’t want to risk for myself or for my future children the possibility of severing the relationship I have with WDW.  You may make up your own mind, of course.  These are just my thoughts.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Disney is moving towards their “What’s Next?” presentation on December 7th, and fans have been speculating what will be discussed. There is seemingly an endless inventory of projects currently in development. Well informed forum members on sites like WDWMagic.com have suggested that the first half of 2013 will see a new daytime parade at the Magic Kingdom and the return of Spectromagic. Additionally, replacements are in the works for both Voyage of the Little Mermaid (Phineas and Ferb) and Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (Tangled) over at Hollywood Studios. However, it is still unknown whether any or all of these items will be mentioned at the December 7th press event.

For Disney fans, the items listed above aren’t necessarily the types of offerings that typically generate the buzz and mass hysteria that Disney craves. An assumption exists that Disney is holding back on many of their major announcements until the D23 Expo in August of 2013. It is expected that construction for Carsland will begin in the next 6 months, but an announcement may not be made until the D23 Expo.

This brings us to James Cameron’s World of Avatar. Very little information has been officially released on this project and until recently, there has not been much in the way of leaks either. Below is a brief summary of official Disney comments on the project:

• On September 20, 2011 Disney announced via press conference and on the Disney Parks Blog that they have partnered with James Cameron to develop a new land in the Animal Kingdom based on the movie Avatar.
• Also on September 20, 2011, following this announcement, Tom Staggs, Head of Parks and Resorts answered select follow up questions made by fans on the Disney Parks Blog.
• On October 18, 2011, the Disney Parks Blog reported that James Cameron had visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Imagineer Joe Rohde as well as Tom Staggs (photo below)
• On November 12, 2011, the Disney Parks Blog showcased a photo opp of James Cameron visiting the Carsland construction site with Tom Staggs
• Additional confirmation has been made at Shareholder meetings after audience questioning, but no specifics were revealed.
• On March 29 and March 30, 2012, the Disney Parks Blog and The Disney Blog had interviews with Imagineer Joe Rohde where he briefly discussed the project.
• At the 2012 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference 9/13/2012, Disney CFO Jay Rasulo said the following, “Avatar is coming for Walt Disney World” in “15-16″ and will be funded out of the normal capital expenditure profile.”

While official public information on the project has been relatively limited, information has started to come out from trusted sources about things that are being considered as well as the potential delays in the project.

Last month, I outlined all of the relocation being done in Camp Minnie Mickey to clear that area for future construction. At this point in time it appears that budget is still the issue and Cameron and Disney appear to be hundreds of millions of dollars apart. Initially, the budget was $500 million, but Disney was looking to cut that down to $400 million, while Cameron may be seeking a budget closer to $750 million.

As a result of this, there are two different Avatar proposals currently in the works. The larger scale proposal is going by the codename, Project Lightstorm and it is speculated that concept art from this version will be introduced at the December 7th press event. The attraction descriptions listed in last month’s Carsland article are representative of what I believe to be the attractions included in Project Lightstorm.

• Flora and Fauna of Pandora walk through: This would be a family attraction, and possibly the entrance to the land.
• Soarin’ over Pandora (Not a real name): This would use a simulator similar to the existing Soarin’ simulator but with 3D components
• Motorbike Coaster: Designed by ride manufacturer Vekoma, the Motorbike design was proposed for Shanghai Disneyland for a Tron attraction. The vehicle seating is similar to that of a motor cycle (guests leaning forward with their feet back) and would face potential capacity issues. The theming of this ride would be elaborate, and it is the likeliest thing to be cut if they’re trying to reduce the budget. It also seems this is the project that James Cameron is most enthusiastic about.

Having said that, it does not appear that Project Lightstorm is the version of World of Avatar that Disney intends to build. An additional version has also been created under the codename, Project Morpho and would include similar, but not identical components.

Current information indicates the following offerings are part of Project Morpho

• E-Ticket attraction: This will be a 3D simulator housed in a gigantic show building. The building will have multiple levels and guests will enter the building on level 3. The attraction will have four separate theaters with three rows of seating in each theater. Each row will load on a separate level. The nature of the simulator itself is unclear but capacity would be comparable to Soarin’ assuming an 8 minute cycle time. The attraction will be housed in a building by itself, with the exception of a portion of the C-Ticket attraction that will enter the Northeast corner of the building.
• C-Ticket attraction: By all accounts this appears to have replaced the Flora and Fauna walk through attraction that was speculated as part of Project Lightstorm. This attraction appears to have both indoor and outdoor components, and will actually enter the E-Ticket show building below the grade that guests enter. This means that an indoor scene for the C-Ticket attraction will be underneath the queue for the E-Ticket attraction. The ride system for the C-Ticket attraction appears to be a boat or other track based ride.
• Additional amenities: Disney will also be including a quick service restaurant, multiple shops, and at least one restroom in this project.

I fully expect additional details to be revealed on World of Avatar. Whether these details are revealed on December 7th or at the D23 Expo remains to be seen. However, it does seem likely that this project is moving forward and may not be as delayed as originally thought.

Friends of the show Tom Edwards, and Chris Lathrop contributed to the content of this article.

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Don’t get me wrong – I’ve considered Walt Disney’s intent many times within the context of what Imagineering is doing today.  For instance, I recently looked at the rise of the 1 day ticket price from 2002-2012.  In 2002, the 1 day ticket price was $48.  Today it is $89.  This amounts to an average annual nominal increase of 6.36% or a single 10 year increase of 85.42%.  Note, average American incomes haven’t even kept close to par with that increase.  I was under the impression that Walt wanted his parks to be accessable to all families.  I understand that Disney needs to increase earnings to meet the demands of its investors, but it becomes disheartening to hear most of the people I talk to tell me that, although they love going, they can no longer vacation at WDW due to the unbearable cost.

What I mean when I talk about my weariness of hearing the “Walt wouldn’t want it” line of reasoning is that it’s almost anachronistic every time I hear it.  For instance, in context of alcohol in the Magic Kingdom, I argue that Walt Disney was a product of prohibitionist America.  While some of these attitudes still remain in our cultural psyche, it’s not even remotely comparable to the 50s, 60s and 70s.  I don’t recall ever  seeing Ward Cleaver drinking an alcoholic beverage on screen.  Yet, today it’s so common place within television programming, no one thinks twice about it.  As you may know, I recently went on a Disney Cruise.  There are more bars and carts that serve alcohol on that ship than you would see in EPCOT or DHS any day.  During my entire time on the cruise, I saw one drunk person on the adults only beach on Castaway Cay.  One.  Alcohol was available in the family pool area aboard the ship, but I did not encounter a single othee person that had too much.  Any argument that suggests that drunks will be falling all over themselves after having a Chimay or a glass of wine either has not had Chimay or wine or is deluding themselves on the basis of a principal (Walt woudln’t have wanted it) that they cannot really provide proof of one way or the other.

Finally, not everything that Walt did was sacrosanct.  Walt realized this and made changes to things he did all of the time.  Yes, he was Walt Disney and had a mind that none of us could hope to inherit.  No one will ever be Walt again.  What he left behind was a legacy and a framework for thinking about entertainment, education and personal values.  The Disney company should attempt in everything they do to uphold these values, and I think they do this respectably in most cases.  Yet, the Disney company is not Walt.  They need to make decisions that benefit a company that has grown enormously since Walt’s passing.  I think in the end, Walt would have wanted what was best for his company and for all of us.  I don’t know that most of the contestations in which the primary argument is “Walt wouldn’t have wanted it” really hold up.  Walt’s not alive anymore, but his vision is, and I honestly believe that the Disney company is trying to operate a multi-conglomerate corporation in the 21st century without compromising any of his principals.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

I booked the cruise well over a year ago with Pixie Vacations.  I’m happy to say that the fanboys don’t just do an obligatory ad read at the beginning of each show for Pixie Vacations – I’m aware that at least 2 of us have used their services and couldn’t be happier with the service and attention we’ve received.  My travel agent really took care of all of the details for me so that I didn’t have to spend that agonizing time on hold with the Disney Cruise line or with any of the resort hotels we stayed at.

Anyways, we stayed at Art of Animation the Wendesday that we arrived.  Art of Animation really just is a very colorful value resort.  Aside from the extremely tacky (but fun for the kids) decoration inside and out of the rooms, there’s not much to speak of.  The lobby bears a lot of sketchings in various styles of Disney and Pixar films.  As I’m sure all of our readers have read and seen, the lobby, shop and food court are extremely colorful, and really far more interesting than the rooms.  My only real complaint with Art of Animation is that the comforter on the bed is really like a soft piece of cardboard.  I grant that the room we stayed in was just a little more than 2 weeks old, and I’m sure those value resorts aren’t pouring money into the rooms the same way they would a new moderate or deluxe resort, but the comforter was so stiff and uncomfortable, we simply pushed it to the floor before we went to sleep.  I did notice that the pool area at Art of Animation looked much better than the other Values I’ve stayed at.  It was much larger than other value pools, seemed to have better theming, and from what I understand, it even has underwater interactive features.  I’d like to put on a pair of swim shorts if we go again to check it out a little further.

We received a note in our room the night before our cruise telling us what time we should show up at the lobby for the Disney Cruise Line bus to leave.  Now, I was a little apprehensive at first about spending an extra $140 to have a Disney bus haul my wife and I to and from Port Canaveral, but my mind was put at ease instantly once we started off.  The hour and a half ride seemed like a matter of minutes as screens aboard the bus distract you with classic Mickey Mouse cartoons and other promotional material telling you what activities await you aboard the cruise ship.  The anticipation that built up as we approached Port Canaveral was rewarded by the first sight of the ship.  The bus rounds a road that affords guests the first glimpses of the ship’s towers, and you finally crest the top of a hill to see the enormity and beauty of the ship.  If you’ve ever seen a Disney cruise ship in person, it really is a stunning sight.  As you approach the ship, you walk through a security screening much like one at an airport, then are carried up an esclator to the terminal, which is really beautiful and has a lot of character itself.  Finally, after checking in and getting the key to the world, you are ushered up the gangway onto the ship.  I know that Disney ships each have their own art style, and the Dream is sort of a merge between art deco and art nuveau.  The lobby aboard the ship is extremely beautiful and is immaculately clean.  Now, the other details really matter much – we had to do a safety drill as required by the US Coast Guard, so we’ll move on to the things that really do matter.. Food.

The ship boasts a really eclectic assortment of food options and on the first day, guests are all sent to Cabanas on the main deck (deck 11) for lunch.  I ate veal, crab legs, mussels, swordfish, salmon, and some other unimportant stuff like fruit and vegetables.  Disney also breaks the mold from other cruise lines by offering free soda, coffee, tea and milk all day on the main deck.  Cabanas was actually a really nice place to sit down and have a really relaxing meal for the entire cruise.  You could eat inside or ouside on the deck right next to the railings that overlook the ocean, which was extremely nice when the wind was calm (which wasn’t very often during our cruise).  After the safety drill, we spent some time wandering the ship and found a myriad of theaters, bars and lounges.

Disney also breaks the mold from other cruises by offering rotational dining, as opposed to eating in the same huge restaurant every night.  Additionally, your servers follow you to each restaurant, and get to know what you like and don’t like.  For our first night, we dined at Animator’s Palate.  I don’t recall much of what I ate that night besides the veal trio for my main course.  The presentation of veal within pasta was interesting, but I think I’d order something else if we returned to the same ship in the future.

For night entertainment, you’ll often find live music throughout the ship, karaoke, nightclub activities, so on and so forth.  We headed up to the Meridian bar, which is wedged right between Remy and Palo, the two exclusive dining establishments on board.  The Meridian bar almost seemed to be a tucked away treasure on the ship.  At the time we arrived, the bar was hosting a whiskey tasting which was accomplished by sequestering guests in beautiful Chesterfield style leather chairs.  The bartenders were some of the friendliest, most social cast members on board.  Aside from some finer drink options, one could find a small sampling of cigars to purchase and bring outside to the small deck adjacent to the bar.  If you’re dressed appropriately and are looking for a quiet, intimate experience away from the bud lime and coors light served across the ship, head to the Meridian bar at night time.  It really is a gem.

When we awoke the next morning, we headed towards Cabanas again for breakfast.  You can get your breakfast in the morning at Cabanas or any of the 3 main rotational dining restaurants.  The buffet options are virtually the same, so don’t expect anything special if you head to one of the restaurants on board in the morning.  After consuming more than any man ought to eat for breakfast, we headed out to Nassau.  I’d post pictures of Nassau, but I’m not sure we took many.  Honestly, I was not impressed with the island and would not disembark the ship again if we returned.  We stayed on the island for a whopping hour and walked back to the ship.  We assumed that the lure of the neighboring Odyssey would draw guests from the ship so that we could enjoy the Aquaduck, the onboard water coaster, uninhibited.  This simply was not the case.  While we squeezed in a few rides on the Aquaduck, the ship seemed just as crowded as when we were at sea.  My advice if you go on the same cruise is to wait until your Castaway Cay day if you’re waiting to do things on the ship that have been otherwise crowded.  Everyone seemed to disembark for Castaway Cay at around 10 o’clock, at which point the ship was virtually empty.  You can ride the Aquaduck all you want, then head to the island yourself if you like.

The evening we disembarked from Nassau we also ate at Enchanted Garden.  I was informed that the restaurant was supposed to be modeled after Versailles, but I didn’t see any peace agreements occurring on board, so I don’t believe them.  I would post pictures of the food we ate, but this isn’t instagram.  If you’re really interested in what food we had and what we thought of it, feel free to email me at paul@wdwfanboys.com and I’ll send you some more information.  The day we were at Nassau, I should note that Ashley and I also attended an event focused on Animation.  I thought we were headed to a sort of history of Disney Animation Studios lecture, but it turned out to be a family event where they teach you how to draw Donald Duck.  Fun as this was, I felt a little misled.  If you are on the ship and have any questions at all about what a certain event entails, please please please go to Guest Services and ask for more information before you go.

On our final day, we visited Castaway Cay.  All I can say is that Disney did a phenomenal job with the island. From my understanding, there was an airstrip that was on the abandoned island when Disney purchased it.  They have since converted that airstrip to a tramway that connects the ship’s docking area to the beaches and shops that make up the island.  The adults-only beach was quiet, peaceful and beautiful and the food service on the island, Cookie’s BBQ, was really quite good.  It’s my understanding that the Cookie’s on the 18+ beach actually has more food option than the family beach.  I had plenty of food, but the ribs there were actually pretty good.  I would have gone back for seconds if they weren’t closing as I was finishing my lunch.  On that night we finished the dining rotation at Royal Palace, which was probably my favorite restaurant in terms of theming.  I had some stuff and things to eat, including caviar.  If you’re looking for the finest dining, this is the place to go.  I do recall that I had aged beef of some variety and my wife ate wild boar, so the menu is somewhat eclectic and interesting.

Finally, calling the cruise we went on a “4 day cruise” is deceiving.  In reality, we took the Disney bus to the port and arrived at around 2 o’clock.  We weren’t on the boat until 2:45 and in our room until about 3.  On the very last day, the announcement that US Customs had cleared our ship started just before 7 am and started piping through every speaker on the boat seemingly every 15 minutes.  I think the aim was to annoy people enough to push them off the ship as early as possible.  We had to eat breakfast at 8 and were basically off the ship by 9am.  True, our feet were on the ship for 4 days, but we were really only able to participate in the ship’s activities for around 2 and a half days.  I was a little annoyed that we were basically pushed off the ship so early in the morning, but it did allow us to get to WDW earlier so that we could ride the monorail loops and explore the Magic Kingdom resorts.

It was my intent to keep this as brief as possible just to give you a summary of our experience aboard the Disney Cruise Line.  If you do have specific questions or comments, either email me directly or post your comments below.  I’d be happy to discuss our experience with you or to share some advice.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

I must admit that I think Limited Time Magic is a really good idea.  Disney is attempting to create weekly events that are tailored to fans and first-timers alike.  As I mentioned in the Fanboy Quickie that was released today, having an entire pirate week centered around the annual Talk Like a Pirate day could allow Disney to leverage social media in a really great way to reach people on the internet who celebrate the “holiday”, but might like to take it to a new level.  Having abbreviated events like this will allow Disney to flex its creative muscles and test the waters in a way.  Instead of having some large annual event that includes decorating the castle to look like an awful birthday cake, Disney can take some time to figure out what works and what doesn’t work for the entire consumer base.  If an themed event flops, we don’t have to deal with it for an extended period of time.  On the other hand, if one of these themed events explodes in popularity, Disney should be able to recognize that success and build upon it.

To address the myriad of complaints from the the fan community that have surfaced in the past 24 hours, I really have one thing to say.  Not everything Disney does is for you.  All of the events surrounding EPCOT’s 30th were for you.  Having a time where obscure characters from Disney’s history come out for photo ops are for you.  However, having the Dapper Dans sing boy band tunes probably isn’t for you.  I know plenty of people at my workplace that would probably get a kick out of a week themed around the early 2000s and would certainly be happy to attend the event.  We need to recognize that there is a whole base of people that Disney doesn’t really connect with the same way it connects with us.  Those people could also be Disney fans if they only gave it a chance, and Disney is brilliantly trying to find a way to reach those audiences.  They’re not building a new attraction or a permanent themed venue.  Just take a deep breath and let’s see how this goes.  I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Disney is doing.

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Guests at Gaston’s Tavern could experience unique offerings like the Roasted Pork Shank and LaFou’s Brew. To those unfamiliar with LaFou’s Brew, it is an identical beverage to Red’s Apple Freeze from Carsland at Disney California Adventure. It is a frozen apple drink with a mango foam. The specialty beverage, the tavern environment, and the detail of the land had many guests pointing to the logical comparison of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The layers of detail in New Fantasyland look to be tremendous, and the blending of water features, rock work, natural foliage and the buildings is done incredible well.

Pixie Vacations travel agent Bridget Campi was nice enough to provide us with the images below:

Over on WDWMagic.com, they posted a full walk through of the new area as well as a walk through and ride through of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid.

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• Carsland will reside in the area currently housing the Studio Backlot Tour and Lights, Motors, Action, Extreme Stunt Show
• The Radiator Springs Racers and Tow Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree will be included as part of Carsland
• It is expected that the shops (Sarge’s Surplus Hut, Ramone’s Body Art, etc) and restaurants (Flo’s V8, and Cozy Cone) will be included.
• The shop intended to house the RideMakerz shop will probably not be included, or will have a new theme.
• Luigi’s Flying Tires will probably be modified or removed entirely due to the capacity issues with the California version

At this point in time, it is unclear what this means for other projects in Hollywood Studios and/or James Cameron’s World of Avatar in the Animal Kingdom. It seems that all of the other rumors that have been circulating are very fluid right now and could change at any moment. The other items currently being discussed for Hollywood Studios are as follows:

• The Monster’s Inc Coaster, first rumored in 2008 by Jim Hill, would be placed in Soundstage 1
• Indiana Jones Adventure from Disneyland or another Indiana Jones based attraction would replace the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. For years this was more of a Disney fan wish as opposed to something being realistically considered, however it does seem like things have changed. Even still, I wouldn’t expect this to be built at the same time as Carsland which still puts the likelihood as relatively low. While the replacement and timeframe are unclear, there does seem to be a consensus that Disney would like to close the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular show.

In the Animal Kingdom, Camp Minnie Mickey is being cleared out for World of Avatar, but it doesn’t mean that the project is any closer to construction. The clearing out of Camp Minnie Mickey began in 2008 when the Pocahontas and her Forest Friends stage show was removed. At the time, this was to make way for another project (a version of Tokyo Disney Sea’s Mysterious Island), but as the economy struggled Disney suspended those plans. After the September 20, 2011 announcement of the World of Avatar, Disney has continued to clear out Camp Minnie Mickey. In August of this year, the closed Beastly Bazaar in Discovery Island and it will be reopened as an indoor character meet and greet area. This is widely assumed to pick up some of the slack once the Character Trails go away from Camp Minnie Mickey. In January of 2013, Festival of the Lion King is expected to close for 6 months before re-opening in it’s new area behind the Tusker House in Africa.

All of this relocation seems to indicate that Avatar is still happening as a project, but multiple outlets have reported that the project is either dead or dying. As of right now, it seems that the point of contention is the budget. Initially, the budget was $500 million, but Disney is looking to cut that down to $400 million. The result of this would be the cut of a major attraction that James Cameron is excited about. Cameron is evidently upset by this potential cut as well as Disney’s suggestion that they sell Disney themed Avatar merchandise. To further clarify, this would be classic Disney characters made up to look like N’Avi. Disney has previously done similar things with Star Wars characters such as Goofy as Jar Jar Binks, Donald as Darth Maul, Jedi Mickey and Minnie as Princess Leia.

Little information has come out publicly on the Avatar project, but right now the attractions being discussed are as follows:

• Flora and Fauna of Pandora walk through: This would be a family attraction, and possibly the entrance to the land.
• Soarin’ over Pandora: This would use a simulator similar to the existing Soarin’ simulator but with 3D components
• Motorbike Coaster: Designed by ride manufacturer Vekoma, the Motorbike design was proposed for Shanghai Disneyland for a Tron attraction. The vehicle seating is similar to that of a motor cycle (guests leaning forward with their feet back) and would face potential capacity issues. The theming of this ride would be elaborate, and it is the likeliest thing to be cut if they’re trying to reduce the budget. It also seems this is the project that James Cameron is most enthusiastic about.

While Carsland has been given the green light, the other projects are still very much up in the air at this point in time. It’s unlikely that Disney would construct additional major projects at the same time as Carsland, so if these other options happen, it’s safe to assume that their time frame is further out than Carsland.

Author’s note: Our original report referenced the Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland being considered as a replacement for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. While this was considered at one point in time, as of 9/21/2012 it remains unclear what the replacement for the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular will be. That section of the article has been modified to eliminate any confusion.

WDWMagic users Lee and M.rudolf, as well as Jim Hill of JimHillMedia.com helped contribute to the content of this article.

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With a valid e-mail address and password, guests are able to add, modify and cancel their Fastpass+ reservations for their entire party. Below are the screenshots of the process, you can click each image to view a larger size, in some cases I have panned out to include more content in the image).

(Last names are present on some of these pages but have been removed from the images)

On the Login Page, users will enter the username and password linked to their regular reservation.

Once you Login, you come to the Home Screen where you have the option to “Select or Replace” your entire Fastpass+ reservation, “Change” a single Fastpass+ reservation, “View” all of your Fastpass+ reservations, or “Cancel” your Fastpass+ reservations.

Here I have selected “Select or Replace”, and from here I can select all or select members of the group to change multiple Fastpass+ reservations.

The next step is choosing the day of your trip that you wish to participate in the Fastpass+ program. Note on this page that it mentions Extra Magic Hours as well as Park Hours for some of the dates.

In Step 3, you can select 2 attractions from each of the Fastpass+ groups. It should be noted that not all attractions are available. When an attraction is unavailable the status is listed as “Standby Available”. It should also be noted that it lists the “Disney classification” of the attraction, as well as any height requirements. The attraction groups are as follows:

Group 1

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Main Street Electrical Parade
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Space Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Town Square Theater: Meet the Disney Princesses
• Wishes

Group 2

• Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• Jungle Cruise
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• The Barnstormer
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Town Square Theater: Meet Mickey & Minnie

Rather than make the specific selections myself, I selected the “Fast Picks” option and it automatically selected choices for me. From here I’m given multiple options for the time distribution. These include options that are concentrated in the morning or those that are concentrated in the evening.

I hit the back button and selected my 4 attractions: Splash Mountain and Peter Pan’s Flight from Group 1, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo the Flying Elephant from Group 2. In order to fit these attractions in the various time window options, 1 or more of the attractions may be removed as you can see in the second photo above.

Skipping ahead to Step 5, a confirmation is given that lists all of the members selected and the Fastpas+ reservations that have been chosen. In this case a change was being made so the system reflects the Current Passes and the New Passes. This page does not show the times that were agreed upon on the previous step.

The confirmation page shows all of the members of the party that are included in each of the reservations. The system allows guests to split their party if they so desire.

After the changes have been made (I have reverted back to the original Fastpass+ selecctions), you can View your selections by clicking on the “View” option from the Home Page.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

The display expects to be visually pleasing, but beyond that it should breathe some life into Innoventions West.  It will replace the current “Smarter Planet” exhibit and per the article referenced above, it is expected to open this fall.

We have come across additional information on this project independent of the information presented on Epcyclopedia.com:

• There will be 10 media displays in the exhibit
• The theater will be enclosed and have 3 levels of stadium seating
• There will be additional interactive media displays on the outside of the exhibit

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Having said all that, Disney is still planning a major refurbishment to the Polynesian Resort.  With construction expected to begin before the end of the year, it is anticipated that every room will be renovated.  It looks like this will be done piecemeal but it will certainly be an accelerated process all things considered.  Look for more updates as they become available.

Between Bay Lake Tower, and the Grand Floridian DVC, it’s nice to see that the monorail resorts have been getting some love.

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The Hogwarts Express station within Islands of Adventure will extend into the track area of Dragon Challenge near The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show.  You can see an image of that area below, or click the link here.

The Train Station will be a long narrow station that will fit in the current body of water between the two coasters. The lake will be filled to support the building.

The track appears to be elevated and will travel through backstage areas into the former Jaws area of Universal Studios. There will be ticket gates set up at each station to control travel between the two parks.

We will provide our readers with more information as it becomes available.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Last week, I got an email from Visa Signature (my credit card of choice) offering complimentary pre-screening tickets to see Brave 3D the evening of June 21st.  Since I’m a cheapskate, and since Pixar has never made a film I’ve walked away disappointed in, I grabbed that offer immediately.  I’ve just come home from the film and wanted to offer a few of my thoughts for discussion.

Brave is very much unlike any other film Pixar has ever made.  Prior to seeing the film, I looked at reviews on RottenTomatoes.com and found a modest approval with many comments indicating that the film just didn’t meet the standards Pixar has set for itself.  I think that many people have come to expect Pixar films to be total creative fantasy from start to finish.  Recent films include sequels to the Toy Story and Cars franchises, and we’ve now seen the teaser trailer for Monsters University.  This is the sort of material we’ve come to expect from Pixar – either a 100% fantastic world or the real world heavily manipulated by fantastic situations.  Brave really has very little of this, and I think it’s left some people a little sour.  Brave is set in Medieval Scotland and is a story about a teenage princess who is trying to escape the path of tradition that has pre-determined for her.  (That sure doesn’t sound like any film that’s ever been made, right?)  The general plot really doesn’t end up mattering in the film so much as importance and meaning of the family relationship.  The plot serves only as a form in which the real depth of the story happens.  The characters in the film are very much what you’d expect from Pixar.  There’s a few moments in the film where I was honestly a little shocked and amused at some of the mildly crude humor, but the characters and the gags evoked a lot of laughter from the audience I was with.  The really big thing that stood out to me in Brave was the scenery.  Recent projects from Pixar have required the animators to develop cartoonish replicas of the real world.  The sets are supposed to be believable in the context in which they are created, and as I stated, the places Pixar has created recently have been totally fictitious.  It was therefore extremely interesting to see what they did with a real place that a person can go visit.  I can simply say that I was totally stunned with the beauty of the scenery in Brave.  Much of the landscape in Scotland is very similar to the landscape I saw in Ireland in October.  I witnessed the sun draping the rolling low laying mountains of Connemara and watched it set against the crashing sea on the southern shores.  Unless you witness that scene in person, the feeling invoked by that scenery really cannot be imparted to any reader or listener.  Yet, Pixar captures that majestic beauty of that part of our world.  The aerial shots in Brave were sometimes difficult to distinguish from reality.

Pixar still knows how to pull out all the stops to create extremely emotional moments.  Brave has the same emotional elements as other Pixar movies, but it’s a very human story told in the context of the brutal world of the middle ages.  When you go to see the movie, remember that Pixar is not trying to replicate Cars or Toy Story.  The point of the film is not simply about entertainment (though it is entertaining).  It’s really about the bond of family and the freedom of the individual to pursue their own dreams.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Since this show aired, Disney began testing some of the components of the Fastpass+ system with random tests conducted at the Magic Kingdom between May 1st and May 15th.  Disney would approach guests as they waited to board the Magical Express bus at Orlando International Airport and they would help those guests schedule up to 4 attractions for a day of their trip.  They would have to adhere to the schedule that the Disney cast member set up for them, but they would have guaranteed Fastpasses for those 4 attractions days before they ever set foot in the park.

At this time, we really only know what is being considered but there is plenty to speculate about it.  The test included the following attractions:

• Jungle Cruise
• Splash Mountain
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• The Haunted Mansion
• Space Mountain
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

This list includes 6 of the 8 currently active Fastpass attractions as well as two interesting additions: The Haunted Mansion and Mickey’s PhilharMagic.  Both attractions previously used Fastpass but it was regarded as unnecessary due to their larger capacity.  The new interactive queue for The Haunted Mansion is actually configured now to better accommodate a Fastpass lane, but potential bottlenecks do exist by using Fastpass on a high capacity attraction like The Haunted Mansion.

Rumors point to more Magic Kingdom attractions being added to the full scale implementation of Fastpass+.  The attractions rumored to include Fastpass+ are as follows:

• Town Square Theater Meet and Greet
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• It’s a Small World
• Stitch’s Great Escape
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid (Opening Late 2012)
• The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train (Opening Late 2013/Early 2014)
• The Barnstormer Featuring the Great Goofini
• Enchanted Tales with Belle

Additionally, premium viewing for parades and fireworks are also being considered:

• Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade
• Main Street Electrical Parade
• Wishes Nighttime Spectacular

Admittedly, we don’t know everything about this new system but there are many that feel that this will be the end of any spontaneity in the parks.  The counter argument is that very few aspects of a Disney vacation are spontaneous, so the ability to guarantee a spot in an attraction certainly has it’s benefits.  In the Next Gen podcast episode Jim Hill highlighted the possibility of parents filling in some information about their family before hand so that it can be used later by characters in meet and greets.  The hope being that it will create a truly magical moment for the children.  Kids will be amazed that Mickey Mouse knows where they’re from or what their dog’s name is.  All of this is great in theory but many have speculated that it will come at a cost, and that cost seems to be an uber scheduled day at the parks.  Perhaps this Fastpass+ system would work better if it’s used solely for these interactive meet and greet experiences.

So with respect to this “end of spontaneity” argument, there is a significant amount of information that is currently available that all seems to be linked to the future of the Fastpass+ program.  Back in March Disney began enforcing return times on their current Fastpass system.  Previously, when guests acquired a Fastpass that said return time between 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, guests could return any time after 12:00 PM on the day the Fastpass was issued.  Under the new rules, guests would be allowed a 5 minute early return and a 15 minute late return but no other exceptions would be made.  This was met with significant resistance because currently Fastpasses cannot be scheduled, you are at the whim of the available return time when you reach the distribution machine.  What this can mean is that the family of 4 that has a 6:00 PM reservation at The Brown Derby could be faced with a tough choice when they arrive at the Toy Story Mania Fastpass machines only to see a 6:00-7:00 PM return time.  That family has the following options:

• Don’t get Fastpasses and wait in a 90 minute + standby line
• Get the Fastpasses and skip dinner, only to be charged $10 per person for not cancelling a signature dining reservation 24 hours in advance
• Eat really quickly and miss out on the Grapefruit Cake at The Brown Derby.

The preceding is an extreme example, but one that was a 100% non-issue in September of last year when the Fastpass return window wasn’t enforced and the fee for not making a dining reservation was non-existent.  Having said all that, it’s fair to argue that both of these new policies are positive ones.  Dining reservations are easier to get now as less people are double booking them, and the Fastpass lines are reportedly shorter.

Some facts about the current Fastpass system:

• Disney distributes Fastpasses for attractions in 5 minute intervals for a return time of 1 hour.  This is occasionally different for shows, and select attractions (Example: Soarin’ will often use 3 minute intervals).
• The Fastpass return windows for most attractions begin 40 minutes after park opening, and will usually go to park close.  (Example: if the Magic Kingdom is open from 9 AM to 10 PM, guests arriving at Jungle Cruise at 9 AM will see the Fastpass machines distributing Fastpasses for the 9:40 AM – 10:40 AM interval and the last Fastpass interval of the day could be as short as  9:55 PM – 10:00 PM)
• Guests can get an additional Fastpass when the return window for their preceding Fastpass opens, or 2 hours from when they acquired their previous Fastpass, whichever is sooner.  (Example 1: A Toy Story Mania Fastpass distributed at 10:00 AM may have a return time of 6:00-7:00 PM, guests would be able to get a new Fastpass for any attraction at 12:00 PM)  (Example 2: A Star Tours Fastpass distributed at 10:00 AM may have a return time of 10:45-11:45 AM, guests would be able to get a new Fastpass for any attraction after 10:45 AM)
• Usually shows that offer Fastpass are not linked to rides that have Fastpass.  (Example: Guests are able to hold a Fastpass for Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Toy Story Mania at the same time)
• A ticket must be used to enter the park on that day in order for it to be used in a Fastpass machine.
• The number of Fastpasses available in every 5 minute interval is a function of that ride’s capacity.  That means that a set number of Fastpasses is available in each 5 minute interval, when that number is reached, the return time bumps up to the next 5 minute interval.
• The return time will also bump up to the next 5 minute interval if not all Fastpasses available during the preceding 5 minute interval are distributed fast enough.  The quickest possible return time from an acquired Fastpass is 36 minutes.  (Example: at 10:04 AM, the Fastpass return time for Jungle Cruise is 10:40-11:40 AM, at 10:05 AM, the Fastpass return time for Jungle Cruise will automatically bump up to 10:45-11:45 AM if not all available Fastpasses have been distributed)
• There is not a set number of Fastpasses that any guest can acquire on any given day.  It’s conceivable that a guest can get a Fastpass every 40 minutes if the distribution allows it.

The preceding information on Fastpass is only part of the information needed to further examine how Fastpass+ may work.  Additional information has been provided by Jim Hill through articles on JimHillMedia.com, the TEA 2010 Themed Entertainment Attendance Figures, and feedback from the May test of Fastpass+.  Individual attraction capacity information has come from a variety of sources and estimates have been used where necessary.

• The amount of Fastpasses distributed per every 5 minute interval is not public information, but this number is estimated at 5% of an attraction’s hourly capacity.  This means that starting 40 minutes after park opening, 60% of an attraction’s hourly capacity is distributed as Fastpasses.
• Depending on the park, attendance, and the results of the test in May it is speculated that each guest will receive access to 2-4 Fastpass+ attractions per day
• Attendance at the Magic Kingdom in 2010 was 16,972,000 or an average of 46,499 guests per day
• The estimated hourly capacity of the 8 current Fastpass attractions (Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Peter Pan’s Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain, Town Square Theater) at the Magic Kingdom is 9550 per hour
• An average attendance day at the Magic Kingdom will see 13 hours of operation: 9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
• A 13 hour day will have 148 Fastpass Intervals of 5 minutes each (13 hours x 12 five minute intervals per hour less 8 intervals at the start of the day)
• With every attraction operating, the estimated maximum Fastpass distribution during a 13 hour day at the Magic Kingdom is 70,670.
• This means that up to 56.92% of total rides on the 8 Current Fastpass attractions can be done through the Fastpass system.  Assuming that the 5% number is correct, this percentage is accurate regardless of whether or not the attraction capacity numbers are correct.  If the number changes to 4% then the percentage changes to 45.54%, and at 6% the percentage changes to 68.31%
• The addition of the other attractions and premium entertainment viewing can potentially bring the daily Fastpass+ availability to 237,450 per day.  This would include all of the Fantasyland expansion being open as well as premium viewing for a daytime parade, a nighttime parade and a fireworks show.
• With 46,499 guests in the park, and each guest entitled to 4 Fastpass+ attractions, 185,995 of the 237,450 available Fastpasses can be distributed via Fastpass+.
• This would mean that 78.3% of Fastpasses could potentially be booked prior to guests entering the park.  If each guest can book 3 Fastpass+ attractions the percentage drops to 58.73% and if each guest can reserve 2 attractions the percentage drops to 39.15%.
• The corresponding numbers are significantly less favorable at the Animal Kingdom but that is subject to change with the addition of World of Avatar.  The numbers are comparable at Epcot, and slightly more favorable at Hollywood Studios.

Essentially what all of this means is that guests could see even less “day of” Fastpass availability for marquee attractions.  Guests currently have to plan significantly if they want to experience Toy Story Mania and to a lesser extent, Soarin’.  At Toy Story Mania, Fastpasses are regularly distributed for the day by noon.  This means that at 12 PM on many days under the current system guests can no longer acquire a Fastpass for Toy Story Mania.  If Toy Story Mania Fastpasses are available to book on Fastpass+, that number could easily drop to 11 AM or even 10 AM on even the least crowded days.

There are certainly advantages to this system to those people that like to plan ahead.  What is unknown is how far in advance guests will be able to book Fastpass+ reservations.  Currently dining can be booked 180 days in advance, with marquee dining locations often unavailable at 170 days in advance.  If Disney takes a similar approach with Fastpass+, they could potentially see marquee attractions reserved 6 months in advance.  This seems unrealistic and probably unlikely.  Logic would dictate that the fairest way to reserve Fastpass+ reservations would be at check in at your resort and/or within a week of the day the guest is entering the park.  During the beginning stages of this process there will be a steep learning curve and Disney can’t expect guests to wait on the phone for 45+ minutes in hopes of having a shorter line for Space Mountain months in advance.

The problem is that by limiting the amount of Fastpass+ reservations available to 1 or 2 per guest, the guests will prioritize the marquee attractions and eliminate the benefit of adding additional attractions to the Fastpass system.  I would think the system would be most effective at reserving highly specialized experiences, perhaps even at premium meet and greet locations or premium viewing locations for fireworks and nighttime shows.  It would be an easier sell to the public if Fastpass+ only included these premium offerings and resulted in no change to the scheduling of current offerings.

However, it is unlikely that Fastpass+ will only be limited to premium experiences; it is expected that it would include the full slate of attractions mentioned previously.  The benefit of this system that appeals to me the most would be the ability to reserve specific attraction Fastpass times in a park on the day you enter that park.  This is the most fair way to utilize this system, and it will also help pacify the guests that scorned the removal of the late Fastpass return time.  In the Toy Story Mania/The Brown Derby scenario highlighted above, that same family of 4 would be able to reserve a Toy Story Mania Fastpass after dinner and not have to worry about the cancellation fee on their signature dining reservation.

There is a growing concern amongst fans that this system would mean the end of in park spontaneity.  Scheduling attractions days, weeks, or months in advance does give many people piece of mind, but it significantly hurts those people that like to have a little less structure to their day at the park.  If given the choice, I would welcome a system driven by smart phones that was available to all guests upon entering the park but not on days leading up to entering the park.  For those guests that don’t have a smart phone, a device could be rented.  This presents other potential issues:

• Would Disney charge guests a fee or deposit to use Disney’s device for Fastpass+?
• What percentage of guests in the park are traveling with a smart phone?
• Would an entire group be able to use a single smart phone?
• Would there be charging stations available to compensate for the insufficient battery life of existing smart phones?
• What is the learning curve for utilizing the system?

The previous issues are ones that can be addressed relatively easily, but Disney will likely only get one chance to role out this system to the masses.  They need to get it right because more so than any other changes that have been made over the years, this one has the potential to be significantly disruptive.  The failure of this plan could result in many guests turning away from Walt Disney World as a source of entertainment.  The time frame for this very well may also correlate with the opening of Phase 2 of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter over at Universal Studios.  The stakes are definitely high, and while we certainly don’t know all the details there is certainly a level of skepticism that is shared by many.

References:
JimHillMedia.com:Which WDW attractions are becoming part of the xPASS experience?
TEA 2010 Themed Entertainment Attendance Figures

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Disney has also made some brilliant design decisions in some of the merchandise they have sold in the past few years.  I don’t know that I can substantiate this, but Disney started selling vintage tshirts before the modern day hipster arose.  (The hipsters probably never heard of it, though.)  Think of all the merchandise that Disney sells that has the simple image of Mickey Mouse, hands behind his back, one toe raised.  That image is older than most everyone reading this, but it’s because it’s old that people want to bear it on their person somewhere.  It’s an image that is familiar to generations of Americans, and the world we so desperately want to live in.  We want the old days back, and Disney seems to be one of the remaining places where we can almost reach out and claim it for ourselves again.

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Given that background, it is entirely possible that the information provided to this contractor was used solely for the purposes of establishing an estimate for the contractor’s services. I don’t doubt the legitimacy of the documentation provided, I believe it originated with Disney, but I speculate that the project is still early on in the development process and highly subject to change, if it happens at all.

With all those caveats in place, I feel comfortable saying that at the time this documentation was provided to this contractor in April of this year, Disney was at the very least considering a new interactive experience surrounding Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland.  This experience appears to be in addition to the experience already announced for Hollywood Studios

This seems to be another RFID based experience located entirely in Adventureland.  Multiple RFID “triggers’ throughout the land will produce multiple physical effects that appear more elaborate than those found in Kim Possible/Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure.  The plans seem to indicate very specific elements such as the following:

• Touching a skull activates the movement of the mouth of a talking tiki idol, which will reveal a jewel in his mouth.
• Touching a blunderbuss activates the movement of sails that cover a bird cage, the sails will open to reveal an animated parrot.
• Touching the fuse of a cannon activates an air cannon in the water as well as a light and smoke effect.
• Touching a piece of parchment activates a skeleton captain emerging from the water.
• Touching a snake charmers basket activates a spitting snake.
• Touching a vase activates an image on a nearby tapestry.
• Touching a shark tooth activates circling shark fins in the water
• Touching a sand dollar activates a mechanical giant clam
• Touching the carvings on a shelf will activate cannon blasts on ships in a bottle causing one ship to sink

At first glance this does not appear to be tied to a formal attraction as components can be found throughout the pathways of Adventureland.  It appears that this is more of an environmental addition than anything else.  All told there seems to be close to 20 of these RFID based effects, and each effect appears to be on a greater scale than previous similar effects found in The Haunted Mansion queue or Kim Possible’s World Showcase Adventure.

It all seems particularly interesting, especially considering the existing presence that Pirates of the Caribbean already has in the parks.  While most of the elements seem to be generic Pirate based items, the effects that are screen based appear to use images of characters from the movies.

Having been presented with this information, what do our fans think of these types of additions?  Would you be in favor of adding more moving parts to the scenery that can be triggered by the touch of a guest?

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In a shameless attempt to get screener copies of upcoming movies, I’d like to share my thoughts on the recent blockbuster, The Avengers.  While technically released by Paramount in conjunction with Marvel Studios, The Avengers does have a single distribution credit for Disney Pictures at the very end of the credits.  To no one’s surprise, the opening night of The Avengers proved quite profitable with an estimated $80,517,000 in ticket sales on Friday alone.

Update: The Avengers shattered box office records for an opening weekend, earning an estimated $200.3 million. The previous high was Deathly Hallows Part 2 at $169,189,427.

Last August, I had the good fortune of seeing the Disney Studios presentation at the D23 Expo.  The Avengers assembled on stage at the Anaheim Convention center as they showed the teaser trailer and an extended clip.  Some awkwardness ensued surrounding Robert Downey, Jr. at the event but that turned out to be linked to the presentation’s stage manager trying to wrap up the presentation instead of letting the cast have a chance to speak.

Prior to seeing The Avengers on Friday May 4th, I wanted to make sure I had enough of the back story to get by.  I’m not a big comic book fan, but I did watch Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Captain America, and Thor.  In terms of best to worst rankings, I would probably rank them as I listed them, they were all enjoyable and technologically and visually appealing.  My expectations for The Avengers was that it would be as good if not better than the original Iron Man and I feel that it succeeded in that.  I was also pleased to see that Iron Man director Jon Favreau was an executive producer on The Avengers.

Joss Whedon (co-writer and director) did an exceptional job bringing together the collection of leading actors and actresses for this film.  As many of our fans know, I’m a big fan of comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla.  Adam Carolla has stated on multiple occasions that the place where many sequels go wrong is that they lack the slow build that made whatever preceded it successful.  In a movie like Jaws, everyone went into the movie looking forward to seeing the shark.  But they didn’t show the shark in the first scene.  Ominous music led up to the reveal of the shark, and when it finally comes on screen it’s that much more exciting.  While The Avengers isn’t a true sequel, all of the characters had their backstories explained in previous movies, and with the exception of The Incredible Hulk, the actor remained the same.  So with that said, I was looking forward to two things going into this movie:

• All of The Avengers assembling
• When would we see The Hulk?

In both cases, there was a build up.  At this point, I’ll be referring to specific content in the movie so if you want to avoid any spoilers you may want to stop reading.  Individual members of The Avengers would appear on screen either by themselves or with another person, but it was well into the movie before The Avengers truly assembled.  Additionally, the conversion of Bruce Banner into The Hulk was treated as an integral plot point, once again building up expectations.  In both cases this was done very well.

In favor of a scene by scene review, my preference would be to bullet point my likes and dislikes of the movie.

Dislikes:

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor was a bit too dramatic.  I recognize that this was part of his role though, and I think they recognized this with a few good one liners on Thor’s behalf.  In one situation, Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man refers to Thor fighting as “Shakespeare in the Park” and when The Avengers assembled, Tony Stark refers to Thor as, “Point Break”.
• Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury reminded me an awful lot of Mace Windu from the new Star Wars trilogy.  While not necessarily a bad thing, it was hard for me to separate the characters other than that Nick Fury had an eye patch and Mace Windu wore a robe.
• Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye.  I don’t know what it is about him, but I really haven’t liked him in anything.  Part of that is that he often takes the role of an unlikeable character.  In The Avengers he switches between being a villain and a hero after being manipulated by Loki.  With his weapon of choice being a bow and arrow, there seems to have been very exaggerated motions with the weapon, and many of his dramatic moments seemed far more out of place and unbelievable than any of the other Avengers.  This could be a lack of knowledge of Hawkeye’s backstory, but I had less of an issue with a demi-God drawing lightening from a hammer than I did with Hawkeye shooting an arrow in mid-air.

Likes:

• Tom Hiddleston as Loki was fantastic.  He had a great evil grin and while he was far from the biggest name in the movie, he was the primary driver of the story.
• Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk was a very pleasant surprise.  As Bruce Banner, he played the nerdy scientist role very well.  As a character that hasn’t worked in previous movies, The Hulk stole the show at many times.  Some of the better lines in the movie centered around Bruce Banner and The Hulk as well.  After The Hulk jumped on a plane, the line, “I think he’s angry” was uttered.  And during his second transformation into The Hulk, Bruce Banner explains, “The secret is, I’m always angry.”
• Scarlett Johansson’s butt.
• Clark Gregg  as Agent Phil Coulson.  I first saw Clark Gregg in a short lived Aaron Sorkin show, Sports Night and have been a fan ever since.  While serving a valuable roll in assisting Nick Fury, Agent Phil Coulson also provides comedic relief just by the timing of his appearances.  Additionally, his infatuation with Captain America made for some of the best comedy in the movie.
• Chris Evans as Captain America.  While I don’t think he stood out, I do feel that Chris Evans was solid in this role.  The fact that Captain America was frozen for a period of time made for a few amusing one liners, but may have been played out by the end of the movie.
• Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man.  He was everything you would expect.  While some of his comedic moments may have been a bit overwritten, there were others that were genuinely funny.  The movie wouldn’t have worked without him.

All in all, this was a very solid effort.  On the heels of recent blockbuster failures by Disney, this was a very strong rebound.  The problem is, Disney was barely attached to the project.  I’m not sure how much of the credit goes to Disney Studios for this production, but nonetheless I was entertained.

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Even though Lou refuses to friend me on FB, I still promised him I’d review all of his Audio Guides. Maybe it’s empathy for how he always seems nervous when I’m around, but I feel it’s the least I can do for having never called security on me. While I’m sure fans of our show are likely expecting me to tear him apart in my classic comical fashion, I assured Lou I’d only speak well of his work. Of course, he repeatedly said if I didn’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything, but here it is nonetheless…

With a voice that’s made for talking endlessly, Lou Mongello has pushed the envelope to put out six Audio Guides(so far) that most any Disney fan should enjoy. Every guide is full of great facts and hidden gems, shared with the familiar background sounds that pertain to each land, making it easy to reminisce about your last trip to WDW. Even if you don’t listen to(or like) his weekly podcast on WDWRadio.com, his audio guides are stocked with little details and interesting tidbits, more than enough to enjoy while passing time between WDW vacations.

The best guide to start with is Main Street USA, as it touches upon early Disney, as well as all areas of the Magic Kingdom. Able to hear the familar train whistle and horse drawn trolley in the back, Lou points out the stories and legends one can discover walking down Main Street, with the occasion annoying guest being overheard in the background. Discussing in detail WDW Railroads, windows, vehicles & decor of Main Street, all the way up to the hub and Castle, the past and present are talked about with enough detail to easily hold one’s attention. The only questions listeners may have are “Do they use the smellitizer in the men’s room?” and “Did they make the height of the shop windows in anticipation of Lou?”.

Transitioning to Adventureland, we’re informed to expect adventure, romance, and mystery. Details from attractions & shops to the smallest sign & decoration are all pointed out, and we’re told how this land came to fruition, sometimes in an amusing attempt at speaking Spanish. Informed why Dole Whips are one of the greatest treats of all time, we also learn who The Orange Bird was and why he was there. Sadly, after the crop damaging freeze of 1986, the bird was sacrificed to the fruit gods and gone forever.

On to Fantasyland, we hear a more about Walt’s dream. Through design, architecture, attractions, and characters, we hear how this land focuses on children & families, no matter how annoying some can be. From Cinderella Castle to the extinct Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride & 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Lou shares details that many fans may not have been aware of, like the scandalous naming of King Stefan’s Royal Table.

The story of Liberty Square begins with Walt’s patriotism and facination with American history, explaining how Walt originally planned a Liberty Street in Disneyland. Numerous details are shared of the Haunted Mansion and it’s leading women, Columbia Harbour House with it’s signs for illiterates, and the remaining attractions, shops, and restaurants of Liberty Square. Shockingly, “Dueling Dumbos” does not refer to a debate in the Hall of Presidents.

In his best John Wayne, Lou introduces us to Frontierland and why it came to be. Comparing California and Florida, we’re told what these lands originally were supposed to be and in contrast what they are today. This land probably has the most extinct artifacts & attractions, along with those that never came to be. My only concern is the rumor of a guy in a bathtub in his underwear on Big Thunder Mt.

Gone but not forgotten, Mickey’s Toontown Fair had the most details I never knew before. Originally temporarily created as Mickey’s Birthdayland, then changed to Mickey’s Starland before settling on Mickey’s Toontown Fair, this land gave guests a specific location to always find Mickey Mouse. Due to it’s popularity(and County Bounty cash cow), it was given a more permanent home until Fantasyland pulled an Owl and reclaimed the deed. After listening to Toontown Fair, the only questions one may have are “What was Shirley Feeney doing at the opening and where was Boo-Boo kitty?”.

With plenty of facts & trivia peppered throughout, the Lou Mongello Audio Guides can be appreciated by most all Disney fans. Listened to by my son nightly before bed, Lou claims that his guides have been helping put kids to sleep for years, so who am I to argue? Just a reminder, we’re still waiting for the Tomorrowland and Fantasyland Expansion guides. ”The expansion isn’t even finished yet!” is no excuse.

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As I’m sure you know, I’m a big proponant of holding accountability for stupid actions. This goes for big corporations, including Disney, as well as political parties of both sides. You’d have to be wearing fused rose-colored glasses while bombed on moonshine served in a glass with a crack-salted rim to think these groups never do anything stupid.

What I’d like is for all our viewers who agree that Disney has made some stupid decisions in the past to post one in response to this article. Just to clarify, this isn’t a Disney bashing forum. I simply want our fans to post something Disney has done in the past that they feel was a pretty stupid decision. I’ll start with a couple:

#1 The shuffling of the original Habit Heroes. This ride was loved by cast members & fans alike and there were plenty of hot looking avatars to balance things out (Sweet Tooth, Drama Queen). Besides if The Glutton didn’t offend me looking like an Italian stereotype, some people just need to lighten up.

#2 The remake of the first Journey into Imagination into an inferior attraction.

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Disney World

• Grand Floridian DVC Construction
• Fantasyland Construction
• Animal Kingdom Potential World of Avatar Construction sites
• Art of Animation Construction
• Backstage at Epcot

Sea World

• Antarctica Construction Site

Universal Studios

• Jaws Construction Site

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This change in policy is meant to prepare guests for the upcoming “xPass” system that will allow certain resort guests to pay a premium to schedule their entire vacation in advance.  This means that guests will now be able to pay for the opportunity to schedule ride times up to 6 months in advance.  xPass will likely be used in conjunction with the current Fastpass system with the rides scheduled in advance likely deducted from the Fastpass distribution for certain time windows.

The question here is, ”What does all of this mean?”  To most guests, this won’t be a huge issue.  Most guests, were unaware that you could return outside of the scheduled return window, so to those guests this won’t matter.  However at this point it remains unknown what will happen to Fastpass distribution; it’s conceivable that it could be accelerated or decelerated as a result of this change.

To those guests that regularly took advantage of the previous policy that allowed for late returns, this change could potentially be very disruptive.  This will conceivably change touring plans entirely.  Guests will likely have to backtrack more frequently to ensure they can meet their new strictly enforced return time.  The other possibility is that Disney starts to see guests using the time between distribution and return time on their Fastpasses used for shopping instead of riding in additional rides.  At this point, it’s a significant enough change to the efficiency of the park that guest traffic patterns as a result of this change are unknown.

It’s safe to assume that for high demand Fastpass attractions like Toy Story Midway Mania and Soarin’, there won’t be a significant change.  However for attractions like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin or Jungle Cruise Fastpass usage may decline; these attractions typicaly have return times at less than two hours from distribution, and wait times under an hour.  Often times, guests would acquire a Fastpass for an attraction like this despite a wait time of 20-30 minutes so that they could go ride something else and return with their Fastpass with a 5 minute wait.  This change could potentially eliminate or decrease that behavior.

I would also hope that a way around the return times should be the presenting of a table service receipt.  This will especially be an issue at Toy Story Mania where often times the return window can be 8-12 hours away.  A Fastpass acquired at 10 AM at Toy Story could have a return time of 7 PM.  It’s conceivable that 6 months prior to your visit, you could also have made a dining reservation at Brown Derby.  I can see a situation where people could skip their Brown Derby reservation and then be charged $10 per person, just so that they could make their Fastpass return time.  This is going to be a bloodbath at Guest Services.

Personally, I believe that the issues/changes are likely going to evolve on a case by case basis.  In a park like the Magic Kingdom where attractions are very close together, it’s far more reasonable to acquire a Peter Pan’s Flight Fastpass that’s three hours out, and still be able to spend time in the area by eating a meal and riding “it’s a small world”, The Haunted Mansion, and Mickey’s PhilharMagic during that time period.

Conversely, in the Animal Kingdom attractions like Expedition Everest are undoubtedly going to require backtracking, but that was already the case.  Unfortunately, that park is so spread out that Fastpass could be much more difficult to handle now in conjunction with shows.  It’s entirely reasonable to now have to choose between squeezing in one of Flights of Wonder, Finding Nemo the Musical, or Festival of the Lion King or making your Expedition Everest return time.  I could definitely see an increase in single ride line usage as a distinct possibility.

The other interesting thing that’s on the way is the addition of Fastpass to several existing rides.  Work is currently being done to add Fastpass to The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and it is anticipated that Fastpass will also be added to Spaceship Earth and potentially The Great Movie Ride as well.  The thought process behind these additions is less to do with demand and more to do with creating false value.  Currently in Epcot, it’s fairly reasonable to wait less than 30 minutes for every attraction in the park while only acquiring Fastpasses for Test Track and Soarin’.  As such, Fastpass is not as important in that park.  However, the existing Fastpass system will be integrated with the new pay service, xPass.  In order to give the appearance of value to guests, Disney is looking to have as many Fastpass/xPass attractions as possible, even when they are unnecessary.  Consider the ride breakdown below:

Magic Kingdom attractions with Fastpass (8): Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Peter Pan’s Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Town Square Theater Meet and Greet

Epcot attractions with Fastpass (5): Soarin’, Test Track, Mission: SPACE, Maelstrom, Living with the Land (seasonal)

Hollywood Studios attractions with Fastpass (5): Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, Voyage of the Little Mermaid (seasonal)

Animal Kingdom attractions with Fastpass (5): Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Kali River Rapids (seasonal)

There are other attractions that have Fastpass machines but they haven’t been used in years, and then there are “Surprise Fastpasses” distributed for Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Carousel of Progress on a regular basis, but that’s more to do with crowd distribution than to save guests time.  Additionally during extremely busy times, the Animal Kingdom will offer Fastpass for two or three of the stage shows in the park.  Considering all that, in every park other than Epcot there are at least three attractions that require Fastpass in order to wait less than 30 minutes on most days.  This is largely why it will be added elsewhere (The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Spaceship Earth), to help foster that false value for the xPass customers.

Because the xPass system will allow guests to plan out their day up to 6 months in advance, I would hope that this can also be used for every day guests on the day they arrive.  I don’t expect this to happen, but in theory this would eliminate many guest concerns.  Consider this hypothetical situation:
Space Mountain distributes 100 Fastpasses for every 5 minute interval starting with 9:40-10:40 AM until park close.  If xPass distribution takes away from Fastpass distribution that will leave less Fastpasses for every day park guests, but the guests using xPass can pick any available time they want, not just the next available time.  This means that hypothetically this could leave 75 Fastpasses for the 1:00-2:00 PM window, but 95 Fastpasses for the 1:05-2:05 PM window.  More significantly, day guests without xPass don’t get to choose their return time, however because xPass is being integrated, this could conceivably be built into the software.  A day guest could arrive at the Space Mountain Fastpass machines at 9:00 AM.  The return time could be 9:40-10:40 AM, but that guest doesn’t want to get a Fastpass for that return time.  Instead they can look at all available return times, and they can choose the 1:00-2:00 PM for themselves and 3 other family members.  This would mean that when the Fastpass return time gets to the 1:00-2:00 PM window they would only be able to distribute 71 Fastpasses for that time because 29 have already been distributed.  The balance that could come into play would be that the guest that opts for the later Fastpass return time would also lock up the usage of their ticket for two hours instead of only locking it up for 40 minutes had they used the 9:40-10:40 return time.

If Disney anticpates their xPass guests are “smart enough” to handle scheduling their entire vacation, I would hope they are willing to accommodate the day guests in the same way.  Another way to help out these day guests would be through setting up centralized Fastpass machines in every land of every park.  A strict enforcement of Fastpass return times will result in more back tracking, but if a Fastpass for Space Mountain can be acquired in a distribution area in Adventureland, guests can work their way over to Space Mountain instead of having to first stop in Tomorrowland to acquire the Fastpass, and then returning at the set return time.  Again, this would likely require touch screen computer screens to be installed, but it seems that’s a trend that Disney is already headed towards.

Another problem is that xPass could be exploited in a way that old Fastpass system couldn’t.  What’s to stop people with the xPass system from scheduling rides at all 4 parks, or at the very least 2 or 3.  I would assume those people willing to pay for the premium service of xPass will also be very efficient in touring.  As such, park hopping has to be included as an xPass option.  But the question becomes will guests be able to schedule out their attractions in a way that they overlap?  Even just using 2 parks it can be pretty easy to have reservations at attractions in a park that the xPass guest won’t even visit.

All in all, the strict enforcement of return times helps to level the playing field amongst experienced guests and first time guests.  Those guests with more experience will still be able to efficiently use the system, but those slow moving families like the Grasseys are going to experience issues with this change.  I can anticipate this change upsetting some hardcore fan boys, and potentially result in some of those fans changing the way they vacation.  They may opt to cut out park hopping from their plans, or elect to visit Disneyland instead (there is currently no plan to make this change in California).

I won’t be visiting Walt Disney World until September, so hopefully all of the major issues are worked out before I arrive.  That trip will only be Marie and myself, so as able bodied adults, any backtracking will be less of an issue.  Where the real test will be is in a family vacation where the 9 of us are incapable of rushing any where to make a scheduled event.  I can anticipate an increase in stress as a result.

Some Fastpass Discussion Fastpass Podcasts
WDW Fan Boys Podcast Episode #002 12/20/2009 – Fastpass in the Magic Kingdom
WDW Fan Boys Podcast Episode #009 02/07/2010 – Fastpass in Epcot and Hollywood Studios
WDW Fan Boys Podcast Episode #010 02/14/2010 – Fastpass in the Animal Kingdom and the need for Fastpass

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You can listen live at: http://www.livestream.com/wdwfanboys

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The photos below feature looks at New Fantasyland including Storybook Circus attractions Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Fantasyland Station and The Great Goofini as well as Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid and The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train. Additional buildings include restaurants and shops like Bonjour! Village Gifts, Gaston’s Tavern, and Be Our Guest Restaurant.

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• The likeliest location is South of Camp Minnie Mickey and it may require the movement/removal of Rainforest Cafe.  It is not expected to require the movement of Festival of the Lion King.  (Others have speculated that it will go in the plot North of Asia and require the removal of the Wildlife Express Train/Rafiki’s Planet Watch).
• The cost of this land will be 300-500 million dollars
• It will be on 11 or 12 acres
• It will include at least one E-Ticket attraction, as well as other attractions, dining, and merchandise locations
• It will include elements of Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 as well as the original

No doubt this was Disney’s response to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Others have pointed to the Fantasyland Expansion as Disney’s response to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter but while the buzz surrounding that construction is large, it will not approach the buzz created by Harry Potter.  The initial response to James Cameron’s World of Avatar was luke warm at best.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about both of Disney’s major projects, but they don’t have the same level of excitement that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has maintained the last few years.  Perhaps that will change when attractions are announced for World of Avatar but right now there is so much that is unknown.

This brings us to what Universal Studios is doing.  They recently announced that the classic attraction JAWS, as well as the surrounding Amity area will be closing on January 2nd, 2012.  Universal did not specify what would be replacing this, but multiple sources have indicated that additional Harry Potter content will be taking its place.  That means that Universal Studios will have Harry Potter content in both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  While details of this expansion have also not been officially announced, it’s safe to say that the buzz for this has taken away anything generated by World of Avatar or the Fantasyland expansion.

The biggest blow to Disney is that an additional Harry Potter section will mean more time spent away from their parks.  With capacity being a major issue in the Islands of Adventure area for Harry Potter, any expansion will help spread those crowds.  This is not a dying franchise.  While the hype will certainly be lowered with no additional movies or books due out, it seems that Universal Studios is in a position of power over Disney.  They have the hot franchise, they have the hot attaction, and most importantly, they have the hot merchandise.

Both Universal and Disney seem to have very aggressive build schedules in the works.  In 2012 alone, Disney is expecting to open most of New Fantasyland including Storybook Circus with the new Dumbo the Flying Elephant and re-themed Great Goofini.  Outside of Storybook Circus will be Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid as well as the Be Our Guest Restaurant, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Gaston’s Tavern and more.  There are also two major refurbishments scheduled in Disney: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Test Track.  The rumors on Test Track point to an entirely new theme with a rumored price tag approaching $60 million.  Comparatively, Universal will be putting forth a major refurbishment of their own on The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman at Islands of Adventure and they will be opening their replacement to Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast, a simulator attraction based on Despicable Me.

In late 2013/early 2014, Disney is set to open another attraction in the Fantasyland expansion: Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train.  After this is when it really starts to get interesting.  The time frame for World of Avatar is 2015/2016, and I would expect the Harry Potter expansion to be around the same time or earlier.

I don’t think this is over, and I can’t wait for the next major announcement so that I can write part 6.

Theme Park Wars (Part 1)
Theme Park Wars (Part 2)
Theme Park Wars (Part 3)
Theme Park Wars (Part 4)

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In the pictures below you can see Storybook Circus including Dumbo the Flying Elephant and The Great Goofini.  You can also the rock work and exterior facades of the Be Our Guest Restaurant, Bonjour! Village Gifts, Gaston’s Tavern, and Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid.  The last thing is right in the center of the construction – the early prep work for Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train.

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Those that say Epcot is their favorite Disney park are basing this off nostalgia.  They love what Epcot used to be and hate what parts of it have become.  I grew up visiting EPCOT Center and as a child it was my favorite park too.  I still geek out whenever someone shows me something with a classic Future World logo on it and I’m still hoping for a nice Disney Cast Member to purchase some Mickey’s of Glendale exclusive items for me.

I recognize that if the Future World pavilions of 1989 remained unchanged today, the park would not be as good as it is currently.  Still, something isn’t quite right.  After the 2012 Test Track overhaul, every pavilion in Future World except the Energy Pavilion will have undergone a significant change since 2003.  That means that Mission: SPACE is one well placed, Bill Nye/Ellen seeking wrecking ball away from being the oldest pavilion in Future World.  Think about that – Mission: Space could be the oldest pavilion in Future World in less than 5 years.

Future World is a completely different land than it was when Horizons opened in 1983.  So many Epcot fans will complain how much they miss the EPCOT Center version of Future World without recognizing that no part of that exists anymore.  Modern day apologists will point to the empty queues that “plagued” Horizons, World of Motion and The Sea Cabs, all the while dismissing the more logical explanation for this – these attractions had huge capacities.  Frankly, everything in classic Epcot was very efficient.  They could accommodate 2000+ people per hour with ease.  Comparitively, attractions like Soarin’ and Test Track don’t come close to approaching that number.

What happened here is the opposite of what is currently happening in the Magic Kingdom.  Epcot had too much capacity compared to the demands for the park.  Epcot rarely, if ever closes due to capacity because of this.  Conversely, the Magic Kingdom reaches capacity on most major holidays, and the Fantasyland expansion was aimed to address this.  Epcot could afford to cut hourly capacity in the Motion pavilion and The Land Pavilion as well as completely closing Wonders of Life and capacity still never became an issue.  It was a rare case of over building the park early on.  Now a days Disney opens half day parks that grow within 5 years.

With Epcot, that growth wasn’t necessary, but the park still needed to be freshened up.  The approach taken was to replace and not refurbish/upgrade.  Certainly there was enough room for both Horizons and Mission: SPACE.  Certainly Wonders of Life could still exist with 3D Body Wars simulators with 54 possible ride combinations.  The Making of Me could have been re-done with Dr. Drew Pinsky and the cast of Teen Mom.

Comparatively, the capacity demands of the Magic Kingdom have necessitated the Fantasyland Expansion.  In Epcot, as higher demand, lower capacity attractions have been added, the overall capacity of that park has remained a non-issue.  The result of the initial overbuilding are these dead areas, as well as more modern attractions replacing the classic originals.  Had the park been under built initially, the modern attractions like Soarin’, Mission: SPACE and Test Track very well may have been additions as opposed to replacements.

With regards to individual preferences, Epcot does many things very well but the ardent supporters of the park seem to do so blindly without really understanding why they like it.  Much of this stems from what the remember Epcot to be, not what it is currently.  People will argue that it’s attraction lineup is bested only by the Magic Kingdom, that it has the best in park dining of the four parks, and Illuminations is the best nighttime show.  Those that don’t take that approach offer the explanation that exploring a variety of cultures or discovering the wonders of Future World make Epcot an experience driven park moreso than one driven by attractions.  I do feel that both Epcot and the Animal Kingdom are driven more by experiencing the entirety of the park rather than bouncing from attraction to attraction as quickly as possible.  However, many guests don’t want to take the time to explore everything these parks have to offer.  They want to get the most value out of their vacation, and to many people that value is measured by a count of quality attractions.

We often romanticize the things of yesterday to help support the criticisms of today.  Ironically in a theme park devoted to discovery and the future it’s the representation of Tomorrow that has undergone many changes.  I think many people  (whether they’ll admit it or not) will admit that the additions of Test Track, Mission: SPACE and Soarin’ have helped revitalize Future World.  It’s just a shame that it cost us fans some of the classic attractions of our past.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

While details of the site will remain scarce for now, one of the drivers of the site will be photos. This requires the assistance of Disney locals that can get up to date photos for us for things like menus and construction.  Recently I reached out to Chris Lathrop, a Disney World fan that is also conveniently training to be a pilot.  My initial hope with Chris was that he would be able to provide us with “research” shots for behind the scenes usage, but the prospect of aerial shots of Disney World was very intriguing.

Below are some of the photos from his first attempt from 11/22/2011.  You can click the photos for a larger resolution.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

The problem was the questions.

• Disney fans were told they could ask questions in the original announcement post, but only a handful of these questions were actually addressed by Chris Beatty.  I actually answered more of them in a response post than Chris answered in the chat.
• The only questions that got posted were softball questions.  There was absolutely nothing revealed that was not already public knowledge.
• Our friend Steve Griswold from Pixie Vacations managed to get 3 questions into the chat while several others (myself included) didn’t get any questions answered.  Steve could argue that his questions weren’t really answered either so I suppose that’s a moot point.

The positives:

• They released high resolution concept art.  All of the art had been previously seen in some capacity, but the resolution allowed for greater detail.

Some examples of questions and answers:

Q: Do you think people will really feel as if they have magically transformed into the films?
A: Absolutely. The Imagineers have done such a great job bringing these worlds and stories to life. Many of the details you see in the film, you’ll see reflected in the expansion.

Q: What do you see as the main draw for boys at new Fantasyland
A: Our focus has always been to create immersive environments for the entire family.

Q: how much work with force perspective have this new expansion? and how many imagineers work in a normal detail?
A: To achieve the idea that Beast Castle was far up into the mountains, we had to use forced perspective to bring that illusion to life.

Q: What inspires you?
A: I’m really inspired by the reaction of our guests. There’s nothing better than standing at the end of an attraction and seeing their faces when they come off.

Q: I love how Disney even takes the little things and makes them part of the experience. Ok so I take photos of Disney Trash Cans. Will there be a new Disney Trash Can design for this area of the park?
A: As with anything we do, we’re very big believers that even the smallest detail is important to our guests. To us, that’s the Disney difference.

Q: What will be inside the seven dwarf’s cottage, a chance to meet Snow White or a great place to pick up a souvenir after the ride?
A: There are some things we keep secret, so you’ll just have to wait until the attraction opens.

Q: I´ve always wanted to be an imaginner, what do I have to do to be part of this amazing group?
A: Follow your dreams, follow your passions.

Q: Share one secret with us Chris. We will not tell.
A: Okay, I’ll give you one. In a couple of days, we’ll release a picture on the Disney Parks Blog of a little something we received on-site to see if you can guess what it is.

I asked several questions, before I started to get fed up with the non answers.  Here are the questions that I asked:

• Will Storybook Circus be a separate land and if not will the Castle now “lead the entry way to six lands and more”?
• With Dumbo re-opening after refurbishment in mid february will that be re-opening in it’s new location?
• What attractions in the expansion will include fastpass?
• Will the Lumiere figure have some of the same technology as destini from the d23 expo?
• Do you plan on answering anything other than softball questions?

Admittedly, there has been discussion about all of these, but there has been no official word.  That was part of the problem for me and it resulted my posting this in the comments section of the chat transcript.

Sorry to say this, but I agree with Lauren. I know the person who got 3 questions in, and I have no issue with his questions getting through. The problem was that it seemed that Chris had a very strict gag order on him, so anything that would be remotely revealing wasn’t even asked.

Nothing new was revealed in this other than high resolution versions of existing Concept Art. I don’t expect every little detail of every aspect of the land, but perhaps some confirmation of things that are already out amongst Disney fan communities would be nice.

The Disney Parks Blog was created because the fan communities were controlling the story and this gave Disney the opportunity to get out in front of it. For the most part, trusted insiders on established fan sites are a better source for actual information than Disney themselves.

The concept of this blog is great, but it doesn’t work if the participants are afraid to confirm the smallest of details in favor of softball questions more fit for their online dating profile.

Tim
Co-Host
WDW Fan Boys Podcast

I know I probably come off as a whiny blogger on here, but I really expected more.  I was able to get more information out of the Carousel of Projects area at the D23 Expo and the Imagineers there.  They too seemed to be under certain restrictions on what they could and couldn’t tell, but at least I got something out of them.  You can find my D23 Trip Reports below:

• Tim’s Trip Report – 8/19/2011 (Part 1) – D23 Expo
• Tim’s Trip Report – 8/19/2011 (Part 2) – D23 Expo
• Tim’s Trip Report – 8/19/2011 (Part 3) – D23 Expo
• Tim’s Trip Report – 8/20/2011 – D23 Expo
• Tim’s Trip Report – 8/21/2011 – D23 Expo

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Your move Universal.

For those of us waiting for Disney’s response to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it came out early yesterday afternoon.

Back on May 31, 2007 Universal Studios announced their plans for the theme park within a theme park dedicated to the young wizard. Depending on your sources the price tag for this expansion was in the $200-250 million dollar range and by every account the money was very well spent. Crowds flocked to Islands of Adventure (You can see opening day crowds in The Game Changer) and merchandise flew off the shelves.

Even though Disney has the massive Fantasyland expansion in the works, the insatiable fan community expected more.  The Fantasyland expansion couldn’t be Disney’s only response, it didn’t make sense.  Sure it would feature two D ticket attractions, but if there’s one thing Disney fans crave it’s the revolutionary E-Ticket attraction.  So many speculated on what Disney could do to respond to this monumental achievement, and most of that speculation pointed to two franchises: Cars and Star Wars.

Herein lies the problem, both of those franchises would be welcome additions to Hollywood Studios, and I would assume, both are still on the table. I expect Carsland to be in place on both coasts before Disney World turns 50, but given the recent investments in Hollywood Studios it makes sense to take the wait and see approach just in case it flops over in California. As for an expanded Star Wars universe, the upgraded Star Tours attraction certainly lends creedence to this possibility, and the “should be vacant” Sounds Dangerous theater is prime real estate for a new Star Wars (or Clone Wars) attraction.

Star Wars and Cars certainly lend themselves to immersive environments, and the accountants love them due to the fans’ willingness to purchase merchandise. Having said all that, while these obvious choices exist for Hollywood Studios, there simply wasn’t an obvious or strong rumor for the Animal Kingdom.

Many were expecting an announcement at last month’s D23 Expo, but when the Parks and Resorts presentation came and went, people left with a sour taste in their mouth. That all changed yesterday when Disney announced the acquisition of the Global Theme Park rights to Avatar. The fan community was in shock – we were all blindsided by this. The only reporter that had any early information on this was friend of the show Lee who didn’t believe the source as he thought the whole idea was too far fetched.

I was walking around Tomorrowland when Marie saw that friend of the show Gary Hall sent us a Twitter message about the announcement on the Disney Parks Blog.  I scrambled to get as much information as possible, but it was a tedius endeavor on my Blackberry.  We were leaving the park soon and I knew that I could take advantage of MCO’s free wifi.  At that point the thread on WDWMagic was over 40 pages and the announcement was only a few hours old.

I’ll update these numbers as the information becomes more clear, but at this moment this seems to be what we know about all this:

• This will be an entirely new land with a budget in the range of 400-800 million ($500 is the most common #)
• Multiple Attractions (likely 1 major attraction and two minor attractions, presumably all rides), shops and restaurants
• The rumored location is the large plot of land North of the Asia section in the park with an entrance between Africa and Asia.  This would probably result in the removal of the Wildlife Express Train and presumably the end to guest access at Rafiki’s Planet Watch
• If It doesn’t go there, it could go in the plot of land south of the Camp Minnie Mickey area. If it does take that place it would likely mean the relocation (or removal) of Festival of the Lion King
• Construction won’t begin until 2013, it sounds like they closed the deal within the last month and that’s presumably why it wasn’t mentioned at the D23 Expo
• It will probably open between 2015-2018
• There are two more Avatar movies in development and they’ll both open before the land will open
• It hasn’t been determined what the name of the land will be, but my preference would be Pandora instead of Avatarland.
• The Animal Kingdom connection is the conservation message as well as the animal species created for the movie

Head of Parks and Resorts, Tom Staggs answered a few questions on the announcement last night, and yours truly was the fourth person with a follow up question submitted.

So now the question is, what do I think of all this?  What does this mean for my favorite park?  Will I continue to use a primitive writing style of asking myself questions?

I didn’t love Avatar.  Most people would agree that the plot was formulaic with the most common comparisons being Pocahontas or Dances with Wolves.  I like to opt for The Air Up There, but I just get quizzical looks when I make that reference.  However, the detractors of Avatar will still almost universally agree that the movie looked spectacular.  Comparitively the detractors of the Animal Kingdom will also typically agree that the park looks spectacular.  I expect this to continue with this expansion.  The movie lends itself to an incredibly immersive theme and it will allow the Imagineers and James Cameron to create something truly amazing.  I expect that this will be of superior quality and will illicit that same escape from reality found throughout the Animal Kingdom.  I won’t even take the bait and make a dig at Dino-Rama here, it’s not the time or the place for that.

So consider me optimistic.  Like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Cars I didn’t love Avatar.  But I recognize that these franchises lend themselves to theme park environments.  At this point there is so much unknown.  We don’t know the attraction lineup, we don’t know the ride systems that will be used and we haven’t seen any concept art.  Despite all that, there are plenty of reasons for optimism and I can’t wait to hear more about this project.

Theme Park Wars (Part 1)
Theme Park Wars (Part 2)
Theme Park Wars (Part 3)
Theme Park Wars (Part 5)

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Right now iTunes has 3 feeds for us, here is the status of each one

• 2 feeds called “WDW Fan Boys Podcast”: The two feeds are identical and pull from the same location.  One has all of our old comments, the other has none.  We are trying to delete the new one
• WDW Fan Boys Uncensored Podcast: This is working as of 8/12

Some additional changes that have been made

• All of the internal links should be updated – if you see a broken link, please let us know.
• Most of the images have been increased to 650 pixels wide.  If you see a photo that you think should be enlarged, please let us know.
• Youtube link added next to Facebook and Twitter
• Minor tweaks to the Donald banner
• Updates to be made over the next 24 hours so that the time stamp appears on iTunes downloads before the download is complete
• Top 100 Attraction Poll for #20 has been added.
• Removal of the link to our Forums – Facebook seems to be far more active than the forums.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

This is the foam model of the ride vehicle. You can see individual lapbars which indicates more spacious seating. This also provides the added benefit of not having a child sitting with an adult sliding along the seat like on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

So, as you can see we’ve changed around our site.  Out with the old (b2evolution) and in with the new (WordPress).  The new back end software is far more user friendly for us, and hopefully that translates well to the front end.

What’s New:

• The layout – Donald Duck at the top seems to be far more reflective of the show we’ve become
• The keywords – on the right hand sidebar is a list of some of the most frequently used keywords on this site.  I’ve gone through and tagged all of the blog posts and podcast posts with discussion topics where applicable.
• Separate but together – All 3 feeds (Blog, Podcast, Uncensored Podcast) can now be separated from one another as well as viewed together (Home)
• The comments – A big need for us was a change in the way comments are handled.  If you want to leave a comment you will now have to go through a “captcha” image.  This is simple enough and isbeneficial in cutting down on the spam we receive.
• Larger photos – Because the reading area is larger on this new site we can now have larger photos.  Previously we kept our photos to 450 pixels wide but that has since been expanded to 650 pixels
• Better spelling – In my review of all of the old posts I was able to make a few spelling corrections
• Podcast hosting address – Previously the location of our podcasts on our server included spaces which was messy when linking directly to them.  All of our shows have been updated with new names and no spaces.
• Updated Images on every show – The image associated with every podcast on iTunes should now be our new logos for both the regular and uncensored podcast feeds
• Show Links added/updated for every show – Every show now has correct links to our twitter feed and Facebook Group.  Previously these links either didn’t appear, were pointing to the wrong location, or were broken entirely.

What’s gone:

• All of the old comments – Sorry everyone, but if you posted a comment on the old site it will no longer be available
• The weird formatting – For all blog posts we had to add several blank spaces in order for them to align somewhat correctly on the page.

What’s still to come:

• iTunes updates – Since we have made a change over to new software there will be some down time on iTunes this week.  Hopefully this will be minimal
• Updated Links – Each individual blog post or podcast currently has a new link that’s slightly different than the old links.  As such, all internal links will have to be updated.  Any post tagged with the keyword phrase “links not updated” are posts that I have yet to review for internal site links.  This should be resolved over the next few weeks.
• Background Images – The photos on the film strips in the background will be updated with new photos chosen by us from WDWLive.com
• Top 100 Attraction Polls – We’re trying to find a Plugin for WordPress polls that we like, until then we will be temporarily suspending the polls.

Want to help us out?

• If you’ve posted an article of ours on a forum or other website, it would be beneficial to us to repost that article or podcast with the new links.
• If you notice any spelling mistakes or broken links on any post, please let us know.
• If any of the “click here to download” links or Podcast player links do not work correctly or are linked to the incorrect show, please let us know.
• If you would like to see us update/increase the size of the photos on a particular post please let us know.
• We would greatly appreciate any of our listeners that are willing to listen to our older episodes and provide us with appropriate show tags for all topics discussed in that particular show.  Tags can include attractions, lands, pavilions, parks, resorts, prominent people in the Disney community and more.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

When I see specials on TV on Walt Disney World, The apparent stock video of EPCOT always includes the monorail hurdling past Spaceship Earth.  It’s recognizable, and it has to be the most well known mode of transportation that even WDW virgins know it by a glance.  As Tim once said (and had to later edit out), it’s an example of the “other crap” that Disney has been cutting.  As he said, and I’ll say, crap probably isn’t the right word.  Yet, I feel like it correctly expresses my sentiment to the organization.  It smacks of penny-pinching.  A 1 day ticket now costs over $90.  EMH customers are certainly paying more, and  vacationers that would use the monorail to get back to the Polynesian or Contemporary are paying the most.  Now you’re asking those individuals who pay a premium to stay at those Deluxe resorts to stuff into a boat to take the exhausting bus ride back to their resort?  Come on, Disney. Whatever happened to putting the customer first?  You’ll learn soon enough, when you find your consumer affairs mailbox filling up and your premium customers dropping off your lists. No PIN code will save you then.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

However, it got me thinking again about how much I truly was inspired as a child by the ‘edutainment’ attractions in the EPCOT of old.  It seems to me that the forward focus of EPCOT in the 80′s and early 90′s was contained- it wasn’t so distant to seem science-fictiony and unbelievable.  For instance, Horizons inspired a notion that efficient arid agriculture was attainable in our lifetime.  While the futuristic platforms and hilarious pods used in the scene may seem to be an antiquated notion of 80′s comics, the main idea was graspable.  Now look at its replacement.  I’m not saying that travel to Mars isn’t possible, but place it in the context of a thrill ride with some joysticks, and the mystery is gone.  That’s the rub for me.  The thrill of the old EPCOT had something to do with the fact that we were faced with a dilemma, and were challenged to solve it.  World of Motion challenged us to efficient transportation.  Spaceship Earth challenged us to develop a new wave of communication.  Consider for a moment all of the scenes in these attractions that are now common in households today.  There’s some beauty in the way that World of Motion, Horizons and the like stuck with me as a child and made me want to see those futuristic scenes come to be within my lifetime.  Now that we’ve accomplished many of the things EPCOT challenged us to, I think it’s time for the next generation to receive the same mandate.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

If you’re on this site, you’re either a Disney fan or Spam.  If you’re Spam, you probably can’t read so feel free to disregard the rest of this post.  If you’re a Disney fan, and you haven’t been living in a cave (somehow this has a different meaning this month… perhaps I should say “fortified bunker”, you’re aware that Star Tours: The Adventures Continue has begun soft openings prior to its official May 20th opening date.  I have not ridden the attraction, but it won’t stop me from writing about it.

Now admittedly, I’m not a big Star Wars fan, nor am I a big fan of simulators.  The original Star Tours was never anything I did unless someone I was with wanted to go on it.  I did however have a few “Last Trips to Endor” both with the fanboys and on my last trip to Disneyland.  The “Last Trip to Endor” in Disneyland was both my first and last time on the ride in California.  Often times with simulators it has been the source material that has brought me in.  I was/am indifferent towards the original Star Tours, Body Wars and Mission: Space.  The source material for Back to the Future brought me into that attraction, but it made me sick.  Thankfully, The Simpsons doesn’t have the same effect so I can enjoy the attraction.  I suppose you could also call Soarin’ a simulator but it’s not a particularly intense simulator so I feel it’s in a different category (also, I do love Soarin’).

So with all that said, I’m excited about Star Tours: The Adventures Continue.  I’m always excited when a major new attraction opens up because it brings with it so many unknowns.  When Universal announced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I recognized the scope and scale of what they were doing, and I wanted to be familiar with the source material.  I read all the books and watched all the movies (to date) between the time the project was announced and my first visit.  If I’ve seen the original Star Wars trilogy it was 20+ years ago, and I did see the new trilogy as they came out (Phantom Menace in theaters, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith at home).  I’ll be riding Star Tours: The Adventures Continue in August and I plan on watching all 6 movies again in order (Episode I to VI). 

I expect my perspective on Star Tours to be similar to Harry Potter – I enjoyed the Harry Potter books and movies, but not to the point where I felt compelled to spend hundreds of dollars on merchandise.  What it allowed me to do was get a better understanding of the rich theming and story telling over at the Wizarding World.  With Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, the scope of the attraction and surrounding area isn’t as substantial as the Wizarding World.  Much of the surrounding area has been there for years, but the attraction does have a level of immersion that cannot be ignored.  My hope is that by re-watching the six Star Wars movies my appreciation for the attraction will be that much greater.  Here’s hoping that I have a new headliner attraction that becomes a must see for every visit to Hollywood Studios or Disneyland.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

In early 2009 the Disney company launched a viral marketing campaign that asked it’s fans, “Are you 23?” After a countdown clock emerged it was ultimately revealed that Disney is launching their own fan community called D23.  At first, many fans were skeptical, but when the magazine, events and merchandise started to pour out the tune of the fans began to change. I’m proud to say that I’m a charter member of the magazine, which reads more like a coffee table book than your standard periodical.

Every quarter when it arrives I look forward to the thin cardboard package and the gift that accompanies it. That’s one of the perks that I really enjoy – each issue comes with a small gift ranging from a D23 pin to a Tron Mouse Pad. However, the gifts that I really enjoy have been the patches.

The first series of patches featured attractions that were added to Disneyland in 1959, and even included an error on one of the patches (Monorail was spelt Monroail) that has resulted in a hightened secondary market. The problem is, each member received one of six patches, so to collect all six required scouring eBay.

The second series of patches was even better. I’m a huge fan of classic EPCOT Center, and this series featured the old logos for the EPCOT Center pavilions. I received Spaceship Earth, and I made sure that Marie knew I wanted the complete set for Christmas. This sent her to eBay and now I’m the proud owner of the complete set.

I’ve heard that Disney has since made these sets commercially available at D23 events, but they do seem somewhat hard to come by. Personally, I’d love to see them expand the D23 merchandise line. Most of the fans are nostalgics and as a nostalgic I’m a sucker for merchandise that represents the history of the theme parks. From here I’ll turn this over to our listeners – Are you a D23 member? What do you think of the Magazine? What are your thoughts on the merchandise?

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Create your own background music

Just a warning, this is very addictive, but a lot of fun.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Magic Kindom
Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom
Universal Studios
Islands of Adventure
Sea World

I feel that we’re deep enough into these park specific attraction polls that we can start hosting the top 100 attractions in Orlando voting on WDWFanBoys.com.  The first poll is up now on the right hand side of the blog page.   Each poll will have 10 options, including at least 1 option from each park.  These 7 will represent the highest rated attraction as voted by the WDWFanNetwork polls.  The remaining 3 attractions will be based on my top 100 list.

I recognize that with these sites having obvious Disney bias, we run that risk in this top 100 poll.  I would not be surprised if at some point during the polling process I feel that we have to switch this from a top 100 Orlando attractions poll to a top 100 Disney World attractions poll.

The results will be tabulated on both WDWFanNetwork.com as well as WDWFanBoys.com.

In addition to the poll that’s currently on the right hand side of this website, we have 7 additional polls going on over at the WDWFanNetwork.com forums.  These polls break down the attractions into the 7 area theme parks, and the results of these polls will be used in the subsequent polls for this topic on WDWFanBoys.com.

To vote in these polls, you must first register for a free account over on wdwfannetwork.com.  You can do that here.

You can see the previous posts on this topic here:
Part 1
Part 2

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Back at the D23 Expo in September of 2009, then President of Parks and Resorts, Jay Rasulo revealed some exciting new plans to expand Fantasyland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.  The announcement came on the heels of some blueprints that leaked over the summer, and Rasulo even made reference to those leaked blueprints in his announcement.

Fans at the D23 Expo were excited by the news that they would be doubling the size of Fantasyland with some new dining options, some new interactive meet and greets with Belle, Aurora and Cinderella, an enhanced Dumbo attraction (doubling the capacity of the current attraction) a brand new D-Ticket attraction based on the Little Mermaid.  Rasulo also mentioned a new area for Tinkerbell and her fairy friends that would be dubbed Pixie Hollow, but the full details on that weren’t available just yet.  While most were excited to hear the news, some fans both inside and outside of the company outwardly expressed concern over the heavy female slant of what would be a reported $300 million expansion.

Fast forward a little more than a year later, and the rumors started cranking up once again that some changes were coming to Fantasyland.  This time fueled by internet message boards and the new head of Parks and Resorts, Tom Staggs some rumblings started to emerge about internal debate over whether or not the appeal of the Fantasyland Forest expansion was too narrow.  Tom Staggs would report in an interview that they are looking to broaden the appeal of the new offerings, and many took this to mean that the concept for The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train ride had indeed been dusted off as was the rumor circulating around the fan community.

Today at 7 PM Disney will officially announce the changes to the Fantasyland Expansion, and they include The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train as well as many other interesting details that Disney fans can look forward to.  Earlier today, MyFoxOrlando posted some of the concept art of the project, and ever since the fan community has been in hysterics over what’s to come.  The expected completion date of everything is 2013, with most of the originally conceived plans (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo) to be complete by 2012.

Without further adieu, here is some of the information and concept art that we can all look forward to.

The revised concept art of the entire land can be found below.  With these images, be sure to click them directly for a larger version.

Beginning with the information that was aleady announced, below is a photo of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid the attraction is meant to be an omnimover attraction and will take guests Under the Sea through the songs and story of The Little Mermaid.  It is expect that this opens in 2012.  For those guests looking to preview this ride, an identical attraction will open in Disney California Adventure in 2011.

After exiting Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid guests will exit into a large maze/water play area called Scuttles Landing.  It is expected that Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid will utilize Fastpass, and most people are regarding this as a D-Ticket attraction.

Another area that hasn’t changed significantly from the original concept is the Beauty and the Beast area.  This area will feature the Be Our Guest Restaurant, a 550 seat dining area that will function as a counter service restaurant during the day and a table service for dinner.  An additional counter service facility titled Gaston’s Tavern will also be a part of this mini-village.  Finally, Enchanted Tales with Belle will have a new location after vacating the Fairytale Garden in favor of Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder.  Some photos of the Beauty and the Beast area can be found below:

While the enhanced interacive queue, and new spinners for Dumbo the Flying Elephant have been known for a while, the name for the new miniland had not yet been determined.  It appears the name of this Circus themed area will be Storybook Circus and it will include Dumbo the Flying Elephant as well as a water/playground themed around Casey Jr.  Photos of that area can be found below:

The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm has survived this expansion, but it will be receiving a bit of a makeover.  This is the first official announcement of this name and theme change, The Great Goofini.  Concept art for this attraction can be seen below:

Finally, the major announcement that’s coming from tonight’s press event is the addition of a new ride to the Fantasyland expansion.  The new ride is known as The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train and will feature cars that can swivel like a baby’s crib as it navigates through a tame roller coaster track as well as some dark ride portions.  It is expected that this attraction will open in 2013.  The addition of The Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train means that the classic Fantasyland dark ride, Snow White’s Scary Adventures will be closing to make way for Princess Fairytale Hall.  The princesses will have their meet and greet location in what many are assuming/hoping is a temporary location.  Photos both can be seen below:

Disney fans have reason to be excited by these changes, and I personally can’t wait to see this move from concept art to reality.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

The way this is working is the WDW Fan Network forums are hosting polls for the top attractions in each of the 7 Orlando area theme parks.  So far, we’ve only reached definitive votes on the Disney Parks, and those votes are as follows:

Magic Kingdom
1. The Haunted Mansion
2. Splash Mountain

Epcot
1. Test Track
2. Soarin’

Hollywood Studios
1. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
2. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Animal Kingdom
1. Expedition Everest
2. Kilimanjaro Safaris
3. DINOSAUR
4. Festival of the Lion King

Universal Studios
1. Revenge of the Mummy

Islands of Adventure
1. The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman

Sea World
1. Kraken

Once we complete the votes for each of the theme parks we’ll then use these lists to conduct polls for all of Orlando.  In these larger polls for the Orlando area top 100, each of the 7 theme parks will be represented at least once in the 10 option poll.  The other 3 options will be chosen by myself as other attractions to consider for the next item on the list.

Right now though, I encourage the fans of the WDW Fan Network to keep voting in the current polls.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

I encourage everyone that is interested in participating to join the WDW Fan Network forums, by clicking this link.  Once you’ve signed up, you can began contributing to the community wide vote for the Top 100 Theme Park Attractions in Orlando.

Participation will be through many different polls within the “Theme Parks” section of the forum.  All 7 of the beginning polls will have direct links at the bottom of this post.

To start, each of the 7 Central Florida parks will have a poll for the #1 attraction in each park.  The poll’s will continue until we have ranked every attraction in each of the parks.  All the dialogue will then be merged into that park’s “Ranking the Attractions” thread, where the overall list will be maintained. The total # of attractions for all 7 Central Florida parks is well over 150 attractions, making a list of 100 more than attainable.

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When the park first opened, there was no Sunset Blvd, which meant no Tower of Terror or Rock n’ Roller Coaster, and no giant hat to block any decent pictures. This was probably the reason for more street character/performers, which I personally really liked. Characters from Hollywood’s heyday, scattered ALL throughout the park, who were more than happy for passers-by to get involved. I didn’t have to worry about a former comedian giving me crap for varying from their storyline, as they thrived on the improv with guests. I remember being pulled in to more than one skit during my visit, whereas today if someone you didn’t know asked you to be in a video, you’d probably look around for the heaviest blunt object to hit them with.

While the initial MGM Studios did not have as many rides as today, you did have the full Backlot Tour to experience. This is another thing I really miss about the the old studios, as I went on this ride countless times during my visit and every time received the entire tour, including walking through prop departments. I don’t think I would change things back if I could, but I would like to see the old integrated with the new(if anyone’s asking).

Below is the original brochure from the park. The first photo shows the rare, unobstructed view of Mann’s Chinese Theatre. The second photo could be of a young Lou M. (he would be the one without the hat).

Photo #3 is on Hollywood Blvd and Photo #4 is from the front of Hollywood & Vine restaurant.

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I arrived at Downtown Disney late Thursday morning, on the hunt for a Full Montague. After feeding the need, Tim texted me saying they were picking up their rental and heading to the condo. I met him & Marie at the condo, when Paul & Ashley texted us that they had just arrived. Since Tim had just come from there, I do not have a GPS (like he does), and living in SW Florida I have no need for the Orlando International Airport, I let him guide. Tim was nice enough to point out the turns we needed to take after we already passed them, so it took us a little longer to get to MCO than expected.

After getting Paul & Ashley, we briefly stopped at the condo, then were off to EPCOT. While Tim went to Ticket Services, the rest of us went to take pictures at the big ball thingy. Paul, Ashley, and I went to Guest Services so they could get their Just Engaged pins. When I joking told the cast member it was Paul and I who got engaged, he unsurprisingly became very excited. After about 20 minutes, Tim’s attempt at a hostile takeover failed and he settled for Platinum Fast Passes, which got us “Chuck Norris” ride placement. After stopping for a quick frozen treat (uncomfortable choice), we headed off to Via Nipoli (according to Tim’s tweet) and admired the decor. As I’m sure you’ve read, the Italian Balls appetizer was extremely bland. The four-cheese half of our pizza was outstanding and is a definite re-order when I return with the family in December. Paul and I were noticing the couple next to us and how she seemed more into texting than her date. I guess it was another night alone on the internet for him. After our early dinner, we continued to Future World and went on Test Track & Mission: Space. We watched Illuminations, where we finally ran into the World’s #1 Hacker. What are the odds?

Friday it was off to the Magic Kingdom. We first went through Tomorrowland where we went on Space Mountain, MI Laugh Floor, Buzz Lightyear’s SRP, and TTAP. We then went through Fantasyland, where construction left an eerie looking, large empty area across from Pooh. As we continued towards Liberty Square, Paul pointed out a celebrity sighting of Princess Fiona in mid transformation. We couldn’t tell if it was Princess to Ogre or vice-versa. After roaming though Adventure & Frontierlands, we made our way back up to the Haunted Mansion. Along the way, I spotted a better dressed guy with a one person film crew. Upon closer inspection, I announced to the others it was Lou Mongello and we stopped to watch the taping. Tim seemed to doubt my photo-bombing abilities, so like a Comic Con attendee thinking Mystique would actually go out with him, I proved how mistaken he was. After their repeated takes, due to guests who couldn’t see the filming, I decided to assist the less aggressive. I explained to Team Lou how it was funny at first, but was now just annoying, and proceeded to block the blind leading the blind. It all worked out, as Team Lou was very grateful and stayed to chat for a few minutes with all the Fan Boys. We then were off to the Haunted Mansion, where I was noticeably the single rider, even after skipping eats at Pecos Bills. We went on Pirates and Jungle Cruise, where Tim’s former comedian sensitivities didn’t seem to appreciate my four non-inturruptive comments. I hope he doesn’t think I’m an anti-comedite, as hate crimes are so last year. Around 8:30 it started to rain, cancelling the parade. It was very entertaining watching guests cling on to their primo parade spots, even through a raging downpour. The fireworks still went on as scheduled, which ended our day at Magic Kingdom, and began my onset of cold symptoms.

Saturday, we humored Tim and went to the zoo. Since I had plans for dinner and had to stop for cold meds, we took two vehicles. As I was pulling into the Animal Kingdom parking lot, Tim texted me, when I told him I had gone to EPCOT. He texted back that they were on their way to Festival of the Lion King, which I was now approaching. As I reached the entrance, I saw the back of Paul and proceeded to call Tim on his phone, while he passed me within inches on the bleachers. By the time Tim answered his phone, everyone had seen me and watched as Tim gave me crap for going to EPCOT. By the time he realized I was only 4 people down from him, I think even the animals were in on it. After the Festival, which was very impressive, we went on Dinosaur, Jungle Trek, and Expedition Everest. I took off for an early dinner and we met up again later at Bongos Cuban Cafe. We proceeded to walk around all of Downtown Disney, stopping at Ghirardelli’s long enough for my ice cream hat. Paul & I grabbed one more Montague for a late night snack and we were on our way.

Sunday, we revisited EPCOT for a more complete tour of World Showcase. After going on Mission:Earth, we then walked through every showcase, watching O Canada! to see if anyone knew Rob. Lunch at Japan with booze at Norway, we completed the Showcase with Mexico and the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros. Is it me or does Donald only seem happy when he’s with other birds(his kind)? We then went back to Future World, where Captain EO called out for us to experience. If we were really like this in the 80′s, can we just delete that decade and pretend it never happened? Everyone then humored me and went on Journey into Imagination, where I promptly took a nap. Then it was off to Soarin’, Living with the Land, The Seas w/Nemo & Friends, and Test Track. Now it was time for dinner at ‘Ohana, where we met a Jack Nicholson-type cast member who gave us plenty of inside Disney dirt. Paul then ate enough meat to set vegans back 20 years and enough shrimp to embarrass a Beluga. After he was showered with admiration for his impressive nom-fest , we returned to the condo where we thought we would be crashing early. Tim had other ideas, as we recorded a late night podcast for our many fans. I made sure to make editing take extra long for this one.

Monday was my last day with the Fan Boys (and Fan Girls) and Hollywood Studios was our destination. We went straight to Tower of Terror, where they added the new drop from when I went on last year, then to Rock n’ Roller Coaster. After a stop at Sweet Spells, Tim picked up (and shared) a very tasty Carrot Cake whoopie pie, then we were off to Toy Story Mania. Even with Tim’s Chuck Norris Fastpass, it was still a good 20 minute wait. Tim’s cord yanking skills came into to play once again, where he got the best score of all of us. It was then off for what would be our actual final trip to Endor, before Star Wars is rehabbed for a much anticipated improvement. We went for lunch at Backlot Express, and then it was time for my tearful departure. Once Tim let go of my leg, I was on the road back to Naples.

All in all, this was a fantastic trip, shared with some truly great people and genuine Fan Boys/Girls. Paul, Ashley, Marie, and Tim are some of the best people I’ve had the pleasure of vacationing with, and I sincerely hope we can make this an annual gathering at minimum. Next time I plan on staying from start to finish and will even feel safe falling asleep first. I’ve also found the place we all can live someday.

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Thursday, August 26th: Epcot
Friday, August 27th: Magic Kingdom
Saturday, August 28th: Animal Kingdom/Downtown Disney
Sunday, August 29th: Hollywood Studios
Monday: Epcot (Brett’s last day)
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom (Paul’s last day)

Marie and I will be continuing the trip through Friday, but our schedule for the last 3 days is up in the air.  We will be updating our twitter feed throughout the day with our whereabouts.  If you can track us down in the parks, don’t hesitate to say “hello.”  We’ll even give our listeners the added incentive of a free WDW Fan Boys t-shirt or hat to anyone that can find us in the parks.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

So what does all this mean to the listeners?

Episode #037 8/22/2010 – The original plan was for us to have a discussion about planning for our upcoming trip.  We had that discussion last night but without my computer we couldn’t record it.  We will each come up with a shorter clip of what we do to prepare for a Disney vacation and I’ll assemble them for a somewhat different type of show.  I also anticipate this to be shorter.

Episode #038 8/29/2010 – We actually recorded this last week, in anticipation of needing to build up a log of shows before the trip.  This will come out as normal on 8/29.

Uncensored Episode #004 9/1/2010 – This will be released as normal.

Episode #039 9/5/2010 – The tentative plan here is to huddle around a laptop in Florida and have a live discussion.  I have no idea what to expect for the audio, or the topic of conversation but this should come out as normal.

Episode #040 9/12/2010 – At this point I’m hoping we’re back to normal.  For spoilers, this will either be a trip recap, or feature a special guest.

Hopefully at this point my ridiculous computer issues will be resolved.  It’s possible that some of these shows won’t have our standard Illuminations intro music, but I’ll see what I can do.  I fear that my computer issues are linked, with a virus being transferred from my old computer to my external drive to my new computer, and I don’t want to infect my fiance’s computer as well.

I apologize for the shows coming up being of a lesser quality, hopefully these issues will be resolved by the time we return home.

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Imagine how the other princesses would react if Alice in Wonderland was voted most popular. Have you ever seen a woman scorned? While Disney would like us to believe there would be hugs & kisses all around (moment to imagine please), Sleeping Beauty would be slipping Alice knock out drops, Snow White would be calling for an attack of woodland creatures, Cinderella would be hurling pumpkins and mice, Belle would hire Beast for a hit, and Tiana would pull the race card. Once the smoke cleared, we’d find a poor little girl crying next to her dead rabbit, wondering if it was the contest or that drunken grope-fest with Prince Charming.

Seriously though, what if Disney played favorites with their resorts & parks, like the popular kids at high school? You’d have some resorts receiving all the money doled out for upkeep, getting Contempo-Casual restaurants, while others were left with chipping paint on their giant speakers and dining forced to stay ”classic”. You’d also have parks that were already doing great, getting new rides & make-overs, while others were left like the red-headed stepchild, forced to make do with leftover guests that happened to wonder by. On occasion, there would be something “new”, but only because some animals got frisky a few months before. Wait, what? This is already happening? OK, from now on I promise to do my part and think of all princesses equally…during private time.

In fairness, resorts are priced differently, so it can be frustratingly understandable to see Deluxe Resorts get treated better than Value Resorts. Just like in real life, your gated community is going to be in better shape than the ghetto part of town, largely due to the cost of living in each area. Your corner pimp is replaced by a gate guard(though I’m sure he’s just as perverted), and housewives turn tricks by appointment instead of walking the streets.  As far as maintenance, all resorts still should be treated equally, as I’m sure not even Disney would want an All-Star Resort launching a new CSI series.

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To those sharpening their axes at the thought of someone daring to speak ill of the fine restaurant establishment known to contribute to the nations obesity epidemic, unclench. After seeing literally hundreds of posters across numerous WDW sites complain that after spending 5 grand on their trip, they won’t be able to save 10 bucks by eating at the Downtown Disney McDonald’s, there’s another one 5 miles down the road. In either direction. Yes, they’re all located less than a 10 minute drive from each other, in order to be sure to meet the needs of those who insist on fine dining.

Far be it for me to lecture on eating healthy, exercising, not playing Russian Roulette with less than 1 empty chamber, etc., but the uproar I’ve seen on this change is borderline ridiculous. I’m sure these are the same ones that complain there’s nothing new at WDW, then when there is a change, they make a video of themselves crying in front of a gravestone. Some are even blaming Disney for forcing out their only cheap food in order to make more money. Don’t you remember the 6 bucks you paid for a double cheeseburger at this locale, that is on most other location’s $1 menus? While I don’t frequent fast food restaurants, I will visit one occasionally, I just don’t make them a staple of my diet (like peanut butter sandwiches & coke). I will drive thru a McDonalds when I need to compact loose stool, and Taco Bell when my digestive tract needs a “run for the border”.

What amazes me is how upset so many have reacted when hearing they may have to drive 5 minutes further away for a grease meat-sicle served by a  poster child for Proactive. If you’re a local, you definitely know where to find another. If you’re not, you should be expanding your horizons outside of fast food, especially when you’re on vacation. My favorites are the ones who bash Pollo Compero, then comment how they’ve never been to one.

If you’re on a 7 day trip that’s rapidly burning through the money you got for selling that kidney, McDonald’s still shouldn’t be your family’s primary food source at WDW, considering that when on vacation you should be doing things you can’t/don’t usually do at home (like spitting from high rides and peeling paint from attractions so you have memorabilia). Seriously, how popular do you think the dad is watching Nascar in the room all Sunday, while the rest of his family is stuck roaming the resort lobby, with kids wondering “why the hell aren’t I seeing a castle in front of me”?

I guess I just fail to see the logic in eating hardcore fast food at WDW, when you can slightly upgrade for a few dollars more. Yugo’s are no longer available for a reason. If you’re already going to spend thousands of dollars on a car, you’re probably going to spend a little more on the one that doesn’t have plastic wrap for a windshield. If you’re really that upset about this McDonald’s closing, you’re likely frequenting it to much on vacation. The worst part is that the die-hard, cheap-eat hunters will surely make their way over to the other McDonald’s near Animal Kingdom. This will only mean that with the increased sales, AK animals are going to be much more edgy & tense, while you’re spending a half day at their park wondering if the Yeti’s returned. This in turn will make them much less sociable and you can forget about seeing the same animal twice, since it’ll be like Soylent Green for animals. With people eating them. Like they did in Soylent Green. Only then they were really eating people.

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I have not experienced The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and I won’t be seeing it until the end of August.  With that in mind, this won’t be another article praising the special effects or total immersion.  I’m actually looking to what this massive success means to Walt Disney World.

To really understand what type of crowds were at Islands of Adventure on Opening day, take a look at these photos courtesy of poster RobGraves on wdwmagic.com

I’ve said many times that the subject of any given ride is somewhat irrelevant in terms of making that ride a quality attraction.  I still standby this, but I’d like to modify it from a merchandising standpoint.  An attraction like Splash Mountain can succeed with characters that premiered in a movie that Disney is afraid to re-release to today’s audience.  The movie in question, Song of the South has racial undertones that could be offensive to today’s audience, even though in it’s day it was an Academy Award winning film.  While Splash Mountain certainly is a fantastic attraction, it doesn’t generate a large amount of merchandise sales by comparison to other E-Tickets.

It’s the merchandising of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that’s going to catch Disney’s attention.  They missed out on the opportunity to sell $30 wands, $8-12 Pumpkin Juice and Butter Beer, and far more Theme Park exclusive merchandise to every visitor to this theme park within a theme park.  So how does Disney react to this?  Here are some of my thoughts.

Do nothing: Admit defeat, recognize that they missed out on Harry Potter, and no current franchise can possibly compete with the marketing level and demand of Harry Potter.  Having said that, I doubt that Disney does nothing.  Disney doesn’t like to lose.  If they lose money through either attendance or merchandising it is highly unlikely they will stand by and take it.

Expand the Lucas Universe: Star Tours 2.0 opens in May of 2011, and while the last film was several years old – the fanbase is still quite rabid.  An expansion to the Star Wars area of Hollywood Studios, as well as more unique Star Wars merchandise could certainly help makeup any ground lost to Harry Potter

Re-Work the Fantasyland Expansion to include more merchandise locations: While some have speculated that the demand for the Princesses and Fairies merchandise has dwindled, it’s certainly conceivable that Disney may have re-kindled that demand with some of these intimate interactions with the Disney princesses.  I anticipate the Cinderella, Aurora and Belle attractions to be comparable to the Ollivander’s Wand shop in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  In the fine Disney tradition of dumping guests off in a gift shop, I expect all of these mini-attractions to have corresponding merchandise locations.

Carsland: Widely speculated, but seemingly never more than a Disney World fanboy’s dream, Carsland would be a logical addition to Hollywood Studios.  Already in construction in Disney California Adventure, Carsland features 3 attractions based on the hugely popular Cars series.  Young boys live and breath the Cars characters.  My nephew has t-shirts, hats, pajamas, toy cars and more of every character in the Cars universe.  The R&D for the land has already been done, and the space is available in Hollywood Studios’ backlot.

All of this talk is speculative, but here’s hoping that Disney does re-act.  As I mentioned on here several months ago, I love the idea of Theme Park Wars, and Universal has made a bold move with Harry Potter.

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Opening in Disney California Adventure in 2011 and Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 2012, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure is a classic dark ride through the songs of The Little Mermaid.  Billed by Disney as an E-Ticket, the latest internet buzz has this attraction as being closer to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh then Haunted Mansion.  So while it should nonetheless be a fun experience, I’m anticipating a D-Ticket dark ride that will help to ease the congestion in the Magic Kingdom’s busiest land.

Now, back to The Blue Sky Cellar in California, they recently introduced photos of the track layout, animatronics of characters, and even models of the attraction that will appear in Disney California Adventure.  The only difference between the California version and the Florida counterpart will be the exterior facade, so Disney World fans will have full access to the complete ride before it ever opens in Fantasyland.

Below, we have some photos taken by Ricky Brigante over at insidethemagic.net, I hope you enjoy them.

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I can’t figure out why it didn’t make it, when you had Go-Go Dancers, Power Ranger rejects, and an annoying blue troll dressed like Elvis. What more did people want? Would adding Jar-Jar Binks have helped? Add this to the fact that the whole area was out in the open, this would have been real fun in the humid inferno known as Florida summers. I will say it did have the makings of a “so bad it’s good” following, like Showgirls or Hudson Hawk, it just never got the chance to draw crowds bigger than an express line item limit.  Besides, I don’t think Disney would have gone for people yelling at the stage and throwing popcorn & drinks like a Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This was just one of the many shows/attractions that were rushed into reality by some suit who rarely even visits the parks, and who are probably the same ones that deny Gay Days even exist, while wearing red shirts the first week of June. Stitch’s SC was one of those things someone should have been demoted to gum scraper for. Better yet, professional barf bag holder at Mission: Space would have been perfect, and not the one outside for post-riders, the one needed inside when people see leather-faced Gary Sinise pretending to be an animatronic. The only thing that could’ve made that guy look worse was a comb-over…which they did.

According to many former Imagineers, too many suits make these types of uneducated guesses regarding new parades and attractions. Whenever they see two things at Disney working, they feel the need to cram them together in an attempt to be new & fresh. I like cashews and gum, but I wouldn’t eat them together (again). I would also never have a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of Coke (go ahead and try it, I’ll wait.), but they’re both still great on their own. The worst part is, some of these big decision makers can’t even name 10 attractions, even though their offices are right in the parks. That’s like our president learning about the Constitution from a restaurant placemat (no he didn’t).

The worst part of it all is Stitch’s attempted takeover of Tomorrowland. With his Great Escape already crashing property values, he almost single-handedly turned Beverly Hills into Compton (minus the cool rappers). I’m sure they had to give Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor a sweet deal, with huge tax breaks and even the ability to hire non-union. I bet not one of those 8 year olds doing improv has ever paid dues.

Alas, while Stitch’s Supersonic Fiasco is thankfully no more, I’m sure this won’t be the last ill-conceived idea from some genius who thinks it would be wise to pair The Muppets with Kilimanjaro Safaris. Sure, it’d be great for about 5 minutes, until you had to explain to your kid why the lion has a frog torso in his mouth.

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I should mention that I’m only thinking of Future World while writing this blog post- the World Showcase seems to remain pretty static regardless of the changes that occur on the front end of the park.  EPCOT Center always had a healthy focus on exploring our history, something that’s remained in the EPCOT of 2010.  Attractions like Spaceship Earth have clung on to this aspect of edutainment.  However, the attractions that pushed us to look into the future, like Horizons, were removed to pave the way for the thrill of catastrophic deep space travel.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy nausea as much as the next guy, but EPCOT has stopped reaching for the far-off vision because it’s easier to look at what might happen in the next 10 years instead of 50.  Betting on the short is much easier than the long- isn’t that what got Goldman Sachs in trouble?

Even the Living Seas with its kitschy hydrolators that led to Sea Base Alpha led us to a vision of something that could be anticipated.  Now I’m stuck sitting in a Sponge Bob prop looking for Nemo’s dad before I’m sharply transitioned to watching sharks.  I’m more confused than I am upset about these changes.  How can one change the underlying substance of what’s being represented in Future World from visions and dreams to characters and fast stuff and still refer to it as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow?  Finding Nemo happened a couple years ago, space travel as represented by Mission:Space is a HUGE (I would contend unbelievable) stretch, the slick cars of Test Track are already here and who knows who Ellen and Bill Nye are anymore?  This stuff has already happened or is happening today.  As Brett would say: EPCOT, get with the program.

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1. Haunted Mansion Butler
2. Parade Performer
3. Disney Princess
4. Pirate’s League Member
5. Jungle Cruise Skipper

I auditioned for the role of Jungle Cruise Skipper, and while I was 1 of 20 finalists, I ultimately was not one of the 5 fans chosen.  Below is my very crude footage taken with a 4.0 megapixel point and shoot camera.  We had a 45 second limit, and this is what I came up with.  Enjoy!

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

The Disneyland Skyway opened in 1956 and closed in 1994. Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 1971, closing in 1999, and in Tokyo Disney in 1983, closing in 1998. For those who were at WDW more than 11 years ago, you’re likely to remember the Skyway as a slow ride in the sky from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland, and back. They were one-way trips only, so if you left your stroller, wheelchair, or invalid parent behind, you were hoofing it back to your point of origin if you couldn’t wait in line again.

Disney’s Skyways were famous for allowing riders to hock clams at unsuspecting guests below, only to quickly duck inside their car while their victim fratically looked around for the culprit. I actually only did this once (really). When I saw the huge guy I hit washing his hand off at a fountain near the ride exit, I thought he was waiting for me in order to express his displeasure at my attempt to sprinkle him with pixie dust. When  I realized he didn’t recognize me, I took it at as sign, and devoted my life to annoying people anonymously. This has become increasingly easier with the advent of the internet.

There seems to be multiple reasons floating around as to why all the Skyways followed an unacceptable early demise. At least we know it was a shoddy real estate deal by Owl & Pooh that left Mr. Toad homeless. Too costly to maintain, not able to move mass quantities of people quickly through a ride, accidents, being in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, etc., are all thrown around by bloggers who probably even wildly guess when asked their own name. Since most accidents happened in Disneyland and were caused by idiots goofing around, I can’t believe this was a huge reason, though I know the guy in charge of park insurance payments danced a jig when he was told.  The few deaths that actually were ride related were usually from cast members not following proper procedures. If Skyway extinction was ADA related, they would have all had to close at the same time (thanks to lawsuits).

While I used to believe the closure was in large part due to some whining fat guy in a pimped out psycho-scooter, who absolutely insisted on being able to spit on guests from high above, I am leaning towards it being just another way for Disney to cut corners. Besides, with certain people trying to be more & more extreme as time passes, how long before some moron tried to dive bomb a poor kid in line at Winnie the Pooh,  yelling “Tigger Incoming!” If the ride closings were due to any one reason, why didn’t they all close the same time, or even the same year? The 5 year span between Disneyland’s and Walt Disney World’s closings seems to eradicate any one reason, such as a bitter ankle basher who isn’t happy enough already with just having the best parking spaces.

No, it looks as though the Skyway was no longer giving the churn & burn of Disney guests that corporate is known to desire on occasion. Weather related shut downs and the inability to sell stuff on board made this great ride’s days numbered. I’m sure there were other factors, including the idiots who couldn’t just sit the f**k down and enjoy the ride. At least with numerous articles, pictures, and YouTube videos, we still have our memories of what it was like to “pigeon bomb” unsuspecting guests.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

With all the complaining about checked bag fees, carry on bag fees, and limited offerings in airline travel its easy to overlook a recent trend in travel.  From many locations throughout the country, you can fly to California for a comparable price than a flight to Orlando.  I’m traveling Boston to LA at the end of the month and as of right now, I paid less for that flight than what is currently available for flights from Boston to Orlando at the end of August.

If you’re a fan of Walt Disney World, I encourage you to give Disneyland a chance.  By many accounts it is superior, most notably in the recent improvements.  I visited Disneyland last June, and will be returning less than a year later.  While certain things were simply closed for refurbishment there will be many notable changes to Disneyland in just a year’s time.  When the volume of these changes is compared to Walt Disney World I truly begin to recognize what many people are referring to as the declining by degrees at Disney World.

The following is a list of things I expect to be in Disneyland on my upcoming trip that weren’t there on my trip last June.

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln – I have never seen this show.  While I’ve heard that prior versions somehow fused Sounds Dangerous with the Hall of Presidents, I’m looking forward to seeing the most recent version in Disneyland.

Fantasmic – It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve seen this show along the Rivers of America, and my fiancée has never seen it.  They also introduced a new fire breathing dragon last summer, so that will be new to both of us.  They’re just finishing up work on the Rivers of America right now, and Fantasmic is on the Disneyland schedule for the last few days of our trip.

Indiana Jones Adventure – OK, so this isn’t a new attraction, but they did add a new animatronic in the last year, and in my book that counts as a refurbishment.

Captain EO – While I wasn’t a huge fan of the original, we’ll be sure to see this “classic” when we visit.

Magical Fireworks – These were introduced as part of Disneyland’s Summer Nightastic last year. In addition to Tinkerbell flying through the air, we will also get a chance to see Dumbo flying as well.

Silly Symphony Swings – Formerly the Orange Stinger, this will open on our trip.  It’s not a major attraction, but it is a substantial change.

Toy Story Midway Mania – Hopefully the new game Rex and Trixie’s Dino Darts will be added by the time we arrive.  The new addition will be added to both Disney’s California Adventure land Disney’s Hollywood Studios

World of Color – We remain cautiously optimistic that we will see this new show in soft openings during our visit.  If nothing else, we will be able to see the new 6000-9000 person viewing area that was constructed for the show.

While the narrative may not be as elaborate as some of my Disney World posts, I will be posting daily trip reports from my trip.  Look for those at the end of the May.

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Allow me to let you in on a secret.  We’re not normal.  I’m going to allow a minute for that to sink in.  It’s true- we’re simply not part of the normal crowd of people.  Sure we like ‘normal’ things like baseball, fishing, art, music and a whole wide assortment of other things.  But deep within us there’s a pulse that beats through all of those other hobbies and pleasures.  It’s a sort of fanatical when people like us search for huge periods of time to get that perfect Spaceship Earth picture to use on our work desktops. (check out wdwlive.com if you want that picture, by the way)  So now that we have that out, what’s so abnormal about us, after all?

One of my favorite authors, G.K. Chesterton wrote in his book Orthodoxy, “The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in.  The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens.  It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head.  And it is his head that splits”.  Chesterton is making the point that there is nothing mad at all about artists and dreamers.  He says at one point, “generally there is a vague association between wreathing laurels in your hair and sticking straws in it.  Facts and history utterly contradict this view”.  In a manner of speaking, we’re unable to explain our inalienable attraction to the world not because we’re embarrassed, but because it’s somewhat unexplainable.  I love poetry and can spend hours lost in the Romantics.  I think my attraction to WDW holds the same sort of feeling I get when I read a good poem.  I can isolate the crowds, the strollers, the screaming children, Brett, and a whole multitude of other distractions and just enjoy the creativity and art that goes into most attractions in the World.  It should be noted that I’m not elevating the WDW experience to one John Stuart Mill’s ‘higher pleasures’.  Intellectual pleasures reside in an arena of their own, and I’m afraid I’m not ready to transfer the WDW Park experience to that level of enjoyment.  I’m simply saying that to really get the fascination we all have, we have to first recognize that we are all, in a sense, poets and dreamers.

What is it that keeps you dreaming?  What is that special experience or place in the World that keeps your mind in its most distanced state?

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In the past few years they’ve played around with the use of Fastpass at this park, specifically over at It’s Tough to be a Bug Fastpass Distribution. During peak times, they have used these machines for everything but It’s Tough to be a Bug Fastpasses. At one point they used it as a centralized distribution area where guests could get Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest and Dinosaur without having to walk all the way to any of those attractions.

Over the holidays they used these machines to distribute Fastpasses for the 3 shows in the park: Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo The Musical and Flights of Wonder. They printed the Fastpasses for this shows on the generic Fastpass paper as seen below.

This distribution stopped after the holiday season, but Disney recently decided to begin this distribution once again, and apparently this will continue through May 29th. As a collector of Fastpasses I’m intrigued by this, mainly in hopes that they have generated new graphics for these Fastpasses so that I have new things to add to my collection. For Walt Disney World, none of these shows have regularly used the Fastpass system, and the only previous usage was during peak times as a means of dispersing the crowds. Historically, Disney has not had success using Fastpass on their shows, and I can’t see this test be any different. If they do decide to create new graphics for the Fastpasses for these shows, I’ll certainly collect them; I’m just not convinced they are necessary for navigating the park.

A point of note, typically these Fastpass machines have been disconnected from the rest of the Fastpass system. This means that you can hold a Fastpass for one of these shows, while also holding a Fastpass for any of the rides in the park. This was far more advantageous back when they had the centralized Fastpass location because you could actually get Fastpasses for Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris and Dinosaur at the same time. It killed the pacing of the distribution of Fastpass, but so few guests were aware of this flaw in the system that those in the know could easily reap the benefits.

As for the matter at hand, I really don’t see the need to have Fastpasses for these shows. I feel the park would be better off re-instituting the centralized Fastpass (and perhaps even fixing the flaw mentioned above). I would also recommend running Fastpass on Primeval Whirl on a daily basis. While I’m not a fan of the attraction, it does generate significant enough wait times to merit the use of Fastpass.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

I don’t know that the answer to the question can be summarily presented.  Believe me when I say I wish I could easily explain my fanaticism for WDW to the rest of my friends in a way they could easily understand.  People understand why someone may love woodworking or collecting stamps, but knowing every nook and cranny of a place that is overrun mostly by 7 year old sounds (let’s admit it) creepy to the undiscerning ear.  We all know that the meaning conveyed to the average 7-year-old guest is not the same meaning we take from the park, so let me attempt to take a stab at what I think it is that Disney does that keeps us coming back.

We all look at the world through frames of reference.  Most of us use only one frame at a time.  For instance, we can spend one moment looking at the world as full of symbols and ‘meaning’.  The next, we can be caught up in analyzing our experiences in a systematic frame.  The latter of the two we usually employ at work or when attempting to solve a complex problem that resides in an area with darker shades of ethical or metaphysical gray.  Finally, there is a frame of reference that we all like believe we’re constantly looking through- the human resource (or people-centric) frame.  I believe of these 3, Disney has the unique ability to force our perspective through 2 of them: The Symbolic and People-Centric.

I admit that I don’t find a whole lot of meaning in ordinary events.  I interpret my surroundings in a pretty mundane way.  But, when I visit the World, my whole perspective changes.  If you have listened to the podcast, a lot of what you’ll hear us discuss is how we interpret different aspects of the parks, or what we think specific changes mean.We talk about it in these terms because Disney has made us do it.  The fact that we automatically use terms of meaning or talk about symbolism is something incredibly profound!  We are made to believe that almost everything we experience in WDW ought to be left to imagination and belief in dreams.  Think about how tacky that sort of talk sounds outside of WDW, yet how natural it is to hear it within the parks.  When we visit the parks, we experience reality through a completely new lens of interpretation.  We’re all led to experience the world a little more deeply and personally.

Second, Disney uses a people-centric frame of perspective almost to abuse.  How many times “even without Horizons” are we led to the fact that people are our most precious resource?  Disney isn’t just shouting into the dark when they use these colloquialisms.  From dining service, to attractions, to the simple ”Hello” accompanied with a smile from a Cast Member, we believe that we are truly valued when we visit the Parks.  I hear and read stories all the time about Cast Members that go to the far reaches of their limits to accommodate the needs of just normal guests.  Where else do you see that kind of service or hear those kinds of success stories on such a regular basis?  Whenever I come home from a vacation to WDW, I’m accompanied with a strong sense of self-confidence and readiness to tackle any challenge.

This is what Disney means.  This re-invigoration is what keeps drawing us back.  We need to be mindful that we’re drawing deep from the well of meaning and embracing it over and over again.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

As Kevin said, there is a huge area of cleared land; but as we discussed on the podcast there does not seem to be an easy way to access this land.

Please note that the top of this map is North, and that you can select the images below to see a full size image.


As you can see in these images, the large area of land is North of Kali River Rapids and Southeast of Conservation Station.  In our show discussion, Kevin alluded to a walk way to Conservation Station that has long been discussed as guests fail to find their way back to Conservation Station because the only way to access it is via the Wildlife Express train.


As you can see in the images above, to access this land from the Expedition Everest/Serka Zong area of Asia would be somewhat ill conceived.  While the access road can certainly be moved, guests would have to walk by the Expedition Everest Barn (that houses the Roller Coaster Trains) to the East, and Kali River Rapids to the West.  The chopped down rain forest scene of Kali River Rapids is directly to the West of the Expedition Everest Barn.  As the path would continue North, the tree cover is largely obscuring the Kali River Rapids river, and you would have to pass the Kali River Rapids Water Tank before reaching the cleared land.  I don’t believe there would be enough room on either side of this pathway to merit the circuitous route you would have to take to access this land from Serka Zong.


The images above show the Anandapur section of Asia that features the entrance to Kali River Rapids and the Maharajah Jungle Trek.  Immediately north of this area is the Cleared patch of land.  The problem here is that the combination of the train tracks, Maharajah Jungle Trek and Kali River Rapids create a lot of congestion in this area so to access both Conservation Station and the cleared land from this point something would have to move.  My guess would be the train tracks.

In the image above, you can see a closer shot of the Anandapur village.  The Africa Train Station is surprisingly close to Asia, separated only by an access road.  I would guess that the easiest route to this cleared land would be to the West of Anandapur, over the access road presumably crossing where the train tracks currently reside.  While the Wildlife Express train is certainly educational, it may be rendered obsolete if a walking path is created from Asia to Conservation Station.  To me, this is the most logical solution, but unfortunately right now nothing official has been announced on the use of this land or any of the other cleared land in the Animal Kingdom.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Looking at old photos (links posted below), it’s entertaining to see a fairly fit society in the late 70′s and 80′s, along with their (ahem) interesting choice of swimwear. Having gone in ’78, ’84, ’91, and 2000, I have plenty of fond memories of Tom & Huck’s old swimmin’ hole. Even with just a handful of slides, the wait never seemed that long. I distinctly remember people patiently waiting their turn for a trip on the tire swing, boom swing, or T-bar drop, which was especially relevant since there weren’t cast members at those areas (when I went) to co-ordinate traffic. No cutting, no pushing, no urgent need to rush past the people ahead of you, Disney’s first water park offered a laid back, relaxing experience to it’s guests.

When viewing pictures of a nature reclaimed River Country, I’m brought back memories of a small but fun water park that wasn’t bent on the latest thrill slide or scream plunge. Almost apocalyptic in it’s aura, hauntingly overgrown after years of neglect, I can still see myself in every area photographed just as if my last visit were only a month ago. Viewing the abandoned entrance of White Water Rapids, I distictly remember getting in my tube and struggling to get close enough to the launch, but far enough back to avoid the cold waterfall. Overgrown beaches, slides covered with fallen tree branches, and non-Disney inspired foliage makes one wonder if River Country was forsaken decades ago, versus the 5 to 9 years it actually was. It also reminds us of how fast nature can reclaim what was once hers, without the interference of man (or Mouse). Seeing the Contemporary Resort in the background of some pictures makes things that much more ominous. Any new ones with Bay Lake Tower would be even more mind bending.

The likely main reason for its closing had to do with a new Florida State law, which required all pools and water activities to have their water originating from a municipal water system (not natural bodies of water). Also, the water at River Country was not chlorinated due to its connection to Bay Lake, which I’m sure brought up sanitary concerns. This, combined with the competing Bizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon and the fact it was not the easiest park to get to (except for Fort Wilderness guests), also kept River Country’s days numbered as time went on. The cost to bring this piece of folklore up to code would have been astronomical and just wouldn’t have made sense by Disney standards.

When remembering the good old days and seeing current photos of the abandoned water park, one thing that always hangs in my thoughts is how WDW has chosen to just forget about one of their own. The first water park of it’s kind that gave decades of enjoyment to it’s guests has been cast aside and forgotten like a prom date with an early curfew. Knowing River Country was likely no longer as profitable as desired, this only helps confirm the rumors of how Disney “cleans house” when someone or something is no longer needed or profitable.

When last visited in 2000, I remember having a strange feeling that I may not be back to visit my first water park. Whether this was because I had additional options or just a gut feeling of what was to come, my hunch seems to have been accurate. Since Walt Disney World is always changing, there’s always the possibility I’m mistaken and River Country is on the design table, ready to come back in a new and updated form. It could even be used as a pool area for Fort Wilderness/Wilderness Lodge guests. Until then, the occasional pass on a Water Sprite rented from a monorail resort is all I have to see what once was a favorite destination of mine at Disney World.

Next Gone But Not Forgotten – Magic Kingdom’s Skyway

References:
Orlando Sentinel “The Daily Disney”: Have You Seen What River Country Looks Like Today
DISboards – River Country
Imagineering Disney: Abandoned Disney River Country Part 1
WaltDatedWorld: River Country
Bing maps – aerial birds eye view

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

February, 2006:The Walt Disney company re-acquires the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC/Universal.  In exchange, The Walt Disney Company allows ABC football commentator Al Michaels to sign a contract with NBC.

May 31, 2007: Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, and J.K. Rowling announce plans for an expansion to Islands of Adventure to be called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  At different times, both Universal Studios and Disney had been in discussions about adding Harry Potter to their theme parks, and in the end Universal Studios was more willing to acquiesce to J.K. Rowling’s demands.  The land will expand the size of the park by 20 acres, and replace/re-theme existing attractions in the Lost Continent area of the Islands of Adventure park.

August 31, 2009: Disney buys Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion dollars.  The Walt Disney Company will be forced to honor existing licensing contracts, including an exclusive deal with Universal Studios for use of characters in Marvel Superhero Island at the Islands of Adventure theme park.  However, now Universal Studios will be paying licensing fees to the Walt Disney company for the exclusive rights to use the X-Men Characters, The Incredible Hulk, and Spiderman in theme parks east of the Mississippi River. The deal exists in perpetuity, meaning Universal Studios can continue using these characters for as long as the current attractions exist.

September 10-13, 2009: D23 Expo held in Anaheim, California.  What was meant to be a convention of all things Disney, one of the major announcements to come from this Expo were a major expansion to Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom (opening in 2012) as well as a complete overhaul to Star Tours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  The two announcements were perceived in part to be Disney’s main response to Universal adding The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Islands of Adventure in Spring of 2010.

September 15, 2009: Universal Studios Orlando holds a press conference with the obvious intent of drawing attention away from the D23 Expo.  At this press conference they announce additional details and showcase additional concept art for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

September 23, 2009: Rumors come out that Sea World Orlando had been sold to Universal Studios.  If true, the implications would be significant to the Central Florida theme park landscape.  Universal Studios Orlando‘s existing theme parks, combined with Sea World Orlando, Aquatica, and the deluxe theme park Discovery Cove would all be owned under the NBC/Universal umbrella, and could compete with Walt Disney World as a resort destination.

Much like what occurred when Islands of Adventure first opened, I speculate that Disney Imagineers are hoping that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is immensely successful.  The level of creativity and innovention between these two companies seems to be limitless.  The only thing holding them back is money and one-upmanship.  Expect to see more of this one-upmanship this year as the Walt Disney company has it’s annual shareholders meeting in March, and Universal should be opening The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the spring.  As guests of these two locations, I can only hope that the two companies strive to out do one another in the Florida marketplace.  This battle is far from over, and I hope to be writing Part 4 sooner rather than later.

Resources:
http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/OswaldRabbit.html
http://www.studioscentral.com/history-hollywood-studios
http://universalstudios.orlandovacation.com/articles/history-universal.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Orlando_Resort
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-potter1jun01
http://cfnews13.com/Business/LocalBusinessHeadlines/2009/9/22/seaworld_sold.html
http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2007/12/03/construction-s-officially-underway-on-universal-s-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter.aspx

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

April 22, 1998: Animal Kingdom opens its doors.  Initially opening with a slate of attractions that included the Kilimanjaro Safaris, Countdown to Extinction, Festival of the Lion King and It’s Tough to be a Bug, Disney’s Animal Kingdom failed to lengthen the vacations of guests as Disney had hoped.

Initial plans for the park were to have included an Asia section (which opened in 1999) as well as a land dedicated to mythical animals called Beastly Kingdom.  Beastly Kingdom was to have housed a state of the art roller coaster called Dragon’s Tower where the roller coaster would convert from a standard roller coaster to a suspended roller coaster midway through the attraction.  Beastly Kingdom was to open no later than 2003 as a Phase 2 expansion for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go as planned.

During initial construction, a choice was made to build Dinoland USA instead of Beastly Kingdom as part of the park’s opening day lineup.  This choice was largely influenced by Michael Eisner’s need for synergy as Disney would be opening the animated film Dinosaur in May of 2000.  Ironically when guests were surveyed about what they liked most about a possible Animal Kingdom theme park, the most popular concept was the mythical animals that would take up residence in Beastly Kingdom.  Nevertheless, Beastly Kingdom was put on hold for a future expansion for the park.

Historically, when Disney had opened new theme parks there had been a degree of  cannibalization with regards to attendance.  That is to say that the new parks would take guests away from the old parks.  To offset this cannibalization, Disney looked to add new attractions to its existing theme parks around the same time that Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened. The hope was that guests would want to see all of the new things, and not skip over an existing park in lieu of seeing Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Test Track was supposed to open in Epcot, but was delayed. 
David Copperfield’s Magic Underground restaurant had financing issues and never wound up materializing.
And the Magic Kingdom never actually had a solid attraction in the works to open parallel with the Animal Kingdom.

Instead of having a new slate of attractions, Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened without any competition for the other Disney theme parks.  Had the additions to the other parks opened on time, Disney projected that attendance in the other parks would only decrease by 5% across the board.  Because Disney failed to open these new attractions the actual numbers were more drastic:

• The Magic Kingdom‘s attendance decreased by 8%
• MGM Studios’ attendance decreased by 9%
• Epcot‘s attendance decreased by 11%

The result of this attendance drop meant that the money that was earmarked for Beastly Kingdom was to be re-allocated into investments in the other 3 parks, and Beastly Kingdom would be put on hold.

May 28, 1999: Islands of Adventure opens its doors.  The park had soft openings as early as March, but didn’t officially open its doors until May 28,1999.  The creative minds at Disney Imagineering were excited about Universal’s latest park.  They had heard rumors that they would have 3 roller coasters on opening day, as well as the amazing Spiderman attraction that was set to revolutionize the theme park industry.

The rivalry between the companies was starting to heat up, as privately Disney Imagineers were hoping that Islands of Adventure would be a success with guests.  The hope was that it would draw guests away from the Animal Kingdom and the other Disney parks causing Michael Eisner and the other financial decision makers in the company to open their wallets and invest in some of the ground breaking ideas that were being thought up by the Imagineers.

On paper, Disney had devised a plan of attack if Islands of Adventure were to have proved a success with the guests.  They made plans to open a Super-Headliner (E-Ticket) attraction at all 4 of its theme parks no later than October 2001.

• The Magic Kingdom was to receive Fire Mountain, a roller coaster in Adventureland based on the movie Atlantis.
• At Epcot, the Horizons attraction was to be replaced with a simulator called Mission: Space that would simulate the G-forces and other effects that astronauts felt during a rocket launch and trip into space.
• At MGM Studios, The Great Movie Ride was to be completely redone into a 3D ride that focused on the classic Villains in Disney movies.
• Lastly, the Animal Kingdom was to receive an entire new land: Beastly Kingdom that would be anchored by the Dragon’s Tower attraction.

All this was to be built if Islands of Adventure took guests away from the 4 parks that made up Walt Disney World.  The problem was, despite all of the great attractions at Islands of Adventure, it failed to bring in guests.  To top it off, the guests that it did bring in were largely drawn from it’s sister park Universal Studios Orlando.  The attendance at Universal Studios Orlando dropped upwards of 30% when Islands of Adventure first opened.

The lack of success of Islands of Adventure drastically changed the time table of expansion over at Walt Disney World.  Instead of having 4 major additions built by October 2001, the new timetable looked like this:

2003: Mission: Space would open in Epcot
2004: The E-Ticket for MGM Studios would be built
2006: Fire Mountain would be built at the Magic Kingdom
2008: Beastly Kingdom would open at the Animal Kingdom

January 2000: Michael Eisner and a team of Disney executives make their first visit to Islands of Adventure.  They are impressed with the attractions, but recognize that the Dueling Dragons coaster looks awfully familiar.  It turns out that several former Disney Imagineers were hired by Universal Creative to assist in the development of Islands of Adventure.  These individuals brought with them the concept of a Dragon themed roller coaster, out of the unrealized concepts of Beastly Kingdom.

By building Dueling Dragons, Universal effectively eliminated any chance that the original incarnation of Beastly Kingdom would ever be realized in Walt Disney World.  Guests wouldn’t care that Disney came up with the idea to have a Dragon themed roller coaster before Universal came up with the idea; they will only care who built the attraction first.  As it would turn out, the only part of Disney’s response to Islands of Adventure that has seen the light of day has been Mission: Space.

Part 3 of the Theme Park Wars timeline will continue tomorrow.

Resources:
http://universalstudios.orlandovacation.com/articles/history-universal.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Orlando_Resort
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2000/12/31/309.aspx
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2000/12/31/310.aspx
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2000/12/31/311.aspx
http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2009/02/disneys-animal-kingdom-original-artwork.html
http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2009/02/disneys-animal-kingdom-original-artwork_25.html

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

Something is brewing in Central Florida that is several decades in the making.  Disney, Universal and to a lesser extent Busch Entertainment have been battling for the almighty tourist dollar for decades in a market that is seemingly ever expanding.  Ever since the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, Disney has been the top dog in the Orlando area, and currently holds the distinction of having the top 8 most attended theme parks in the world.

In Central Florida, Disney operated without significant competition until Universal Studios announced they were building a counterpart to their Hollywood theme park in Orlando, FL.  Universal Studios Orlando opened it’s doors in 1990, but the rivalry between the two companies goes back decades earlier.

“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.” – Walt Disney

The reality is that this rivalry started even before Mickey Mouse.  Below is part one of the timeline of important events in the history of these two companies.

September 5, 1927: Trolley Troubles, the first cartoon featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit debuts.  Oswald was a creation of Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.  A side by side comparison of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse (as seen in his famous role, Steamboat Willie) shows the obvious similarities between the two.

February, 1928: Walt Disney meets with Universal Studios distributor Christopher Mintz about an increase in salary based on the success of Oswald the Rabbit.  Mintz not only declined Walt’s request for an increase in pay, he informed him of his plans to decrease his salary.  Of more significance, Mintz also informed Walt that Universal Studios held the creative rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  Walt decided to start off on his own, without Oswald.  He would ultimately create Mickey Mouse and the rest is history

1980s: Depending on where you look, Universal Studios made plans to open a theme park in Orlando as early as 1982.  Comparatively, the Walt Disney company and CEO Michael Eisner announced plans to open a Studios theme park of their own in 1985 with construction starting in 1986.

Disney worked with its own Imagineers as well as Star Wars producer George Lucas on some of the concepts for the theme park.  Universal contracted Steven Spielberg to help with some of the attractions in their parks, and to this day Spielberg receives a cut of the gates at Universal Studios Orlando.

When Disney partnered with MGM, it gained access to a larger list of movies to feature in its park, and when the two parks opened the rivalry started to heat up.  It was speculated that Michael Eisner and Disney fast tracked MGM Studios as soon as they caught wind of Universal Studios moving into their territory.  Eisner and Disney have argued that they had long had plans for a movie pavilion in EPCOT Center, but the ideas and concepts continued to grow until they had enough content to fill a whole theme park.  Many would speculate that Eisner and Disney rushed to open MGM Studios before Universal could open their park, and as a result the park opened with a limited attraction lineup.

May 1, 1989: MGM Studios opens its doors.  The dedication plaque reads:
The world you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood–not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine; a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was–and always will be.

June 7, 1990: Universal Studios Orlando opens its doors.  Several technical problems resulted in long lines and negative feedback from guests.  Steven Spielberg and his family were stuck in the lagoon of the Jaws attraction for several hours, and as a result the attraction was closed for over a year while changes were made.

Part 2 of the Theme Park Wars timeline will continue tomorrow.

Resources:
http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/OswaldRabbit.html
http://www.studioscentral.com/history-hollywood-studios
http://universalstudios.orlandovacation.com/articles/history-universal.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Orlando_Resort

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

50. O’Canada
49. Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream
48. WDW Railroad
47. Liberty Square Riverboat
46. Gran Fiesta Tour
45. Maelstrom
44. The American Adventure
43. Innoventions
42. Wildlife Express Train
41. The Seas w/ Nemo & Friends
40. Hall of Presidents
39. Jungle Cruise
38. Spectromagic
37. It’s A Small World
36. Kali River Rapids
35. Studio Backlot Tour
34. Kilimanjaro Safaris
33. Muppet Vision 3-D
32. IllumiNations
31. Wishes
30. Primeval Whirl
29. Mission: SPACE
28. Mad Tea Party
27. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
26. Lights, Motors, Action!
25. Teppan Edo (Japanese dining)
24. Star Tours
23. Tomorrowland Speedway
22. Boo Too You Parade (Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party)
21. Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor
20. Mickey’s PhilharMagic
19. Living with the Land
18. Journey into Imagination With Figment
17. Splash Mountain
16. Peter Pan’s Flight
15. Tomorrowland Transit Authority
14. Carousel of Progress
13. Skyway (RIP)
12. Test Track
11. Big Thunder Mountain
10. Toy Story Midway Mania
9. Expedition Everest
8. Space Mountain
7. The Great Movie Ride
6. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
4. Soarin’
3. Spaceship Earth
2. Tower of Terror
1. Haunted Mansion

I know many will find some of my choices unique. Not surprising, as I tend to be as complex as a first time guest stopped in the middle of Main Street trying to figure out where they are.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes

First, the attraction undeniably tells a story.  From the moment your foot touches the unstable cobbled grounds that litter the front of the attraction, you are launched into a period that seems entirely unfamiliar.  The backdrop is set to introduce an entirely new place and time.  The unmanaged lawns and witty gravestones do not detract from the feelings of morbidity that are induced even in cheerful daylight.  The beckoning of the “ghost host” sets the mood even further.  Paul Fries’ booming voice never fails to get me excited for the tour.  Even when I worked in the Mansion and was stationed in a stretch room for a full hour, it was regrettable every time that I couldn’t walk away with the rest of the crowd.

Throughout the Mansion, you will find that a great deal to be static, in that it hasn’t changed since 1971 and has no intention of doing so in the future.  That’s just the way some of us like it and was a cause for worry during the Mansion’s semi-recent rehab.  However, a great deal of “dead space” (heh) was used considerably well.  What was accomplished was exactly the kind of change the Mansion needed to keep it relevant and “alive”. (Okay, I’ll stop)  What you’ll find, however, is that the integral parts of the Mansion, like other classic WDW attractions, simply can not change.  I don’t mean that they will not.  I mean that such a change would force the attraction to lose its historic integrity and alter the meaning of the attraction itself.  You cannot remove the ballroom scene and still have a Haunted Mansion.  Such scenes of these classic attractions give them their vitality, and it’s exactly what makes them great!  No detail, no matter how small, is ever petty.

From the cast members, to the costumes, to the ever-developing cracks in the walls, it’s the great detail that I find so beautiful in the Mansion.  To intimate to you my affection for the attraction would be a disgrace to the thing itself.  I’m sure that no such explanation is necessary, though.  If you’re anything like me, you know a place in WDW just as well and covet the delicate details of it deep within your heart and memory.

PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes