Extra Animal Kingdom

Allison and I have decided that a few of the extra Disney tours available might improve our epic adventure.  Animal Kingdom in particular offers some tours I think we’ll both enjoy.  We've narrowed our choices to one of two tours, the early Morning Safari of Kilimanjaro or the Wild Africa Trek.  Both of these tours offer us a chance to see the animals in a way that you can't with the regular Kilimanjaro safari, and both cost extra.

The early morning safari not only offers us the opportunity to see some of the animals getting up in the morning, but it gives us the chance to see the whole park before the hordes of people show up.  It also gives us a chance to ride one of the most popular rides in Animal Kingdom without having to wait in line.

The Wild Africa Trek offers us a chance to explore parts of the Kilimanjaro safari at a slower pace and from angles different from the regular safari.  It also offers a walk on rope bridges and along cliff sides, which might be fun.  There is an age limit so it won't be filled with little kids either.

The only real problem I can see with the early morning safari is the fact that it's in the early morning, which would affect both our morning, and the night before.  With Wild Africa Trek I think the only problem is it will take a significant chunk out of our day, a whole 3 hours.  I think for the most part we're favouring the Wild Africa Trek at this point, because it shows a completely other side to this part of animal kingdom and we love walking.

Hotel Change?.. Again?

If I had a nickel for every time we thought about changing our hotel, I'd have enough money to pay for the upgrade to a deluxe resort.  Once again however Allison and I have decided to price another hotel and see if it was worth changing.  Our current hotel of choice is the Port Orleans French Quarter, but we did some research and the Beach Club resort is really centrally located, and even walking (yes walking) distance from two theme parks.

The Beach club is also very close to the Disney Boardwalk, and it has many boating options to get you around the grounds.  It is the home to the restaurant where we want to have our character breakfast, the Cape May cafe.  This means that getting around will be really convenient, and we don’t have to worry about taking buses too often, except to the water parks and Animal Kingdom.  It also has a swimming pool with a sand bottom, I’m not sure if this is a true deciding factor, but it’s pretty cool.

The problem is, and always will be, the price.  Allison and I are very much the types to spend less on the hotel and spend more on the attractions.  With Disney resorts you can rest assured that you’re not going to get stuck in a dump, so even going a little cheaper isn’t too worrisome.  The cost difference is around fifteen hundred dollars for our stay, and I’m not really sure we want to pay that.  While the convenience is a big selling point, it’s not like it will be impossible to get around staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter.

So what we’ve decided is to stick to Port Orleans French Quarter for now. Sometimes Disney has sales, and/or offers upgrades, and if this happens the Beach Club will be our choice.  For now though we stick to our plan.

Lineups

One of the biggest worries most people have when they visit Disney parks is the line-ups. For certain rides you can wait several hours, but one of the things Disney is world renowned for is dealing with crowds. They've pioneered ideas and technology that keeps riders entertained, and moving in long lines.

One of the ways they deal with long lines is to extend the rides into the line-ups. I've ridden several Disney rides with long line-ups without even really realizing that I was even waiting. Most common is the line-up that goes through a pre-show. It could be several interactive activities to keep you busy, or sometimes the line-up is the place where you get a pre-show that gives the ride more narrative.

The other way that Disney world deals with long line-ups is something called a Fast Pass. At the entrance to some of the most popular rides there's a time telling you how long the wait time for that ride will be. There is also a fast pass sign with an hour block shown. If the wait time is too much for you, then you can choose to use the Fast Pass instead. You just use your park entrance ticket to collect a Fast Pass ticket from a machine and you can visit other attractions in the park till your fast pass time comes up. When your time comes up you can fast-track to the front of the line.  You can only have one Fast Pass at a time, but with a little planning it can really work in your favour.

While the fact that lines at Disney are entertaining, and using Fast Passes can get you to the front of the line faster, the biggest advantage you have is that Disney works very hard at getting as many people as possible on each ride.  They spend a great deal of time to make sure that as many people as possible can ride each ride, without ruining the experience.  There is a great deal of thought put into how many cars can run at once, and how quickly you can board and unload people.

It can be very busy as Disney World, but rest assured they’re doing everything in their power to get you on as many attractions as possible.

Deadlines For Disney

Most people look at how far in advance we're planning this trip and they figure that it's pretty early to be making arrangements.  At this point we have more than 600 day till we should be walking into the front gates.  Planning a Disney trip this far in advance isn't really that unthinkable.  Not only is it fun to plan, not only is there lots to think about, but Disney actually starts its reservation dates fairly far in advance.  You also have to be careful if you have specific plans as certain meals and hotels can sell out long before you arrive.

There are a few important dates one must keep in mind when booking your Disney vacation.  The first is actually starting to creep up on us right now.  500 days before you want to stay at Disney World, you can reserve your resort room.  At this point you can put down a deposit and be sure you'll stay in the resort you want.  I'm not sure, but I think you can change your mind and switch resorts, however there are no guarantees that you'll get the other room.

After the 500th day, you get a bit of breathing room.  The next important day is 180 days before your trip starts.  This is probably the most important day for making your plans and reservations, particularly for popular restaurants and special added attractions.  At the 180th day you can make all of your restaurant reservations and extra attraction reservations.  If you're staying outside of the park grounds then you'll have to call 180 days before each of the days you want to book something.  However if you're staying at an official resort you can make all of your reservations on the same day for up to 10 days into your trip.

I've read stories that many restaurants will fill up within minutes of the phone lines opening for reservations.  So by day 180 you want to have an idea about some of the extra attractions and popular restaurants you might want to visit.  Disney also announces many of the expected closures and extra park hours at the 180 day mark.

After day 180 we really only have to worry about getting there.  Since we're driving from Canada the whole way, we have to plan our route and book hotels accordingly.  Then we just have to leave and make it to Florida on time.

Character Breakfasts

I'm told that if you want to visit a particular character, and you don't want to have to wait in line at the character meet and greets, the best solution is a character meal.  While those who like to focus on food when they eat might find characters running around and interrupting your meal annoying, I love the idea of a meal and an interactive show.  While character meals are available for just about every meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) breakfast is the most popular.

After reading some websites on the subject, I'm convinced that making a reservation is essential.  I've also read that some of the character breakfasts book up very quickly, particularly ones that feature popular characters.  Since the theme of this trip is celebrating our anniversary, our favourite meal at home is breakfast, and both of our favourite character is Goofy, we figured that our anniversary breakfast should be a character breakfast.

The good thing about the character meals is that it is well documented which characters will appear at which meals.  As I said above, there is also a great deal of information about how and when you should book these meals.  After a little searching, I've discovered that Goofy makes several appearances at several character breakfasts, that's one busy dog.  He does participate at the biggest and most popular of all of the breakfasts at Chef Mickey's, but I think we may try one of the alternatives instead.

The other discovery that we don't want to miss at these character breakfasts is the Mickey Mouse waffle.  It appears that this waffle has become very popular over the years.  It also looks like it's always available at all character breakfasts; at least I hope it is.

As an added note, if anyone knows if they serve Goofy waffles or any other Goofy themed foods, please let us know.

Getting My Haircut

Did you know that you can get a haircut at Disney world?  Strangest of all, the barbershop isn't located in one of the resorts, but instead it's in the Magic Kingdom itself.  There are two salon type places in the Magic Kingdom, the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and the Harmony Barber Shop.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is centred on the idea of little girls getting all dolled up to look like little princesses.  I'm not sure if there's an age limit, and if there isn't, I would love to see Allison give it a try.

The Harmony Barber Shop is an old time barbershop in the heart of Main Street USA.  I was worried that this was also just a kid thing as well when I noticed that the bulk of their advertising was devoted to baby’s first haircut.  But I checked out their pricing and they offer shaves, so I'm assuming adults are welcome.  I plan on skipping any haircuts leading up to our trip so I can get a trim at the Harmony Barber Shop.  I've even considered seeing if they can shave mouse ears into my head as well.

They say that the haircuts also include a pixie dusting at the end as well.  I hope that it isn't just for kids, and I hope I can share the dusting with Allison if she can't get into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

How do I Feel About Un-Costumed Characters - In Particular Princesses

Whenever I see characters in Disney Parks I love getting my picture taken with them, and I even been known to hug a character or two.  But I have a bit of an issue with certain characters.  It has nothing to do with what kind of character they are in their respective films.  My problem is how to act around those characters that aren't in a full costume, and in particular the princess characters.

As a young boy with a love of Goofy, I had focus on who I wanted to meet, and little interest in characters outside of Mickey, Donald, or Goofy.  But as I've grown up, my range of character appreciation has grown.  Now when I visit the parks I want to see all of the characters.  But my age has changed me a little.

This is the only thing that I feel self conscious about as a male adult in the Disney World.  While I want to feel free hugging and posing with all of the characters in the parks, I'm not sure how I feel about the impression I make if I run up to Tinker Bell with a great amount of glee in my eyes and ask for a photo, or maybe even asking Snow White for a hug.

I've thought about ways to try and deal with this, mostly by playing the role of Prince Charming when I’m around these characters. But that could get old quickly, and it may not work with all of the characters.

What Shows are Worth Seeing?

I like to put Disney attractions into two categories, rides and shows. Sometimes these lines can be blurred, since many of the rides are filled with narrative, and many shows are interactive. For me, a Disney show is when you find yourself sitting in a theatre type environment where you don't move at all, and the focus of the attraction is set on a stage. A show is more about the performance or movie, than it is with interaction or movement.

For me the shows at Disney World are the part that least interests me. That's not to say that all of the shows are bad, in fact there are a few shows that really interest me. The Indian Jones stunt spectacular, TheMuppet's3D show, and Captain EO are shows that I consider not to be missed, just to name a few. There are however a few shows I'm not too sure about:

Dream Along With Mickey - This is one of those big musical shows full of costumed characters.  I hate using the words "overly optimistic" as a negative in Disney shows, but it might be a little too much for me.

Voices of Liberty - This is an a capella group of singers that perform in the US pavilion at Epcot.  I'm OK with singing, but only for a certain length of time, and it depends on their song selection.

The American Idol® Experience - I really can't see myself wanting to visit this show.  The singers are actual guests, and frankly it sounds like it could be a disaster of a show, unless you are the parents of the contestants.

Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage - I actually don't mind musicals, but I worry that this one might be a little lame.  I can imagine that they may take the edge off of the movie plot and just keep the mushy stuff.

Disney Junior - Live on Stage! - I don't watch Disney Junior so I'm not really sure what to expect.  The puppets look neat.

Fantasmic! - Night Show - I'll probably go to this show if time permits.  Since it's a dedicated night show it might be hard to schedule in.  The draw for me is the hopes of big explosions.

Voyage of The Little Mermaid - I won't say that I don't like the little mermaid, but it's not one of my favorite Disney movies.

Festival of the Lion King - I've already seen the Broadway Lion King show, so how is this different? Is it better, new plot, I don't really want to see something I've seen before.

Finding Nemo - The Musical - I like puppets, but I'm not sure what I think of this show.

These shows are the ones I'm a little iffy about; please convince me if there's something here I should not miss.