Youtube Channels of Note - Part 1 - The DIS

All this week I'm going to highlight some of the YouTube channels that I've started to watch on the subject of Walt Disney World. As I've mentioned before, I've decided to open my brain up on the subject and try to take in as much as I possibly can. While I've also been reading a lot (come back later for my list of great blogs on the subject), there's something really great about being able to watch videos on Walt Disney World as well.



The DIS - The DIS is probably one of the driest podcasts on the subject of something so fun.  This recorded podcast (which is then posted on YouTube) is a group of Disney fans that get together and talk about what's new at Disney World that week.  There are a few regulars throughout but there are also some people that rotate in and out.  One thing to note is that the host is part owner of the main sponsor, and many of the sub-hosts work for the sponsor, so you're often subjected to advertising.  It's also worth noting that several of the regulars used to work at Disney World, so their information can be on the inside track.

The great thing about this show is you get many different opinions on the same subject.  They're also on regularly so the news is up to date.  This is a great source of up to the minute Disney World information, but isn’t as exciting as some other YouTube channels.

I Want a Vinylmation

Both Allison and myself aren't really big souvenir people.  When we travel we take home memories, and a million photographs.  I also like to keep little stubs of paper and fliers that we get (for free) and put them into a scrapbook.  Yes I'm admitting it, I like to scrapbook.  My only defense against this is the fact that I don't really decorate my scrapbook, as much as I just stick the various pieces of paper to it rather randomly.

Back to the souvenirs.  When we travel we tend to only buy one or two things to commemorate any given trip. If the trip is only a day or two we've been known to come home with nothing (other than the photos and random bits of paper).  We also often buy souvenirs that are useful as well.  We would buy a spaghetti strainer with the London skyline on it way before we'd buy a miniature Big Ben.  We figure that this allows us to not only collect a few things, but we don't have to worry about it taking up space, since it's useful.

For this Disney trip, Allison has her heart set on a new pair of Disney pajamas.  She had a pair a while back, they lasted forever, and she thinks another pair would be great.  Me, I'm thinking of breaking our regular routine and buying something that doesn't really serve any function, I want a Disney Vinylmation.  For those of you unfamiliar with Vinylmations, they're little Mickey Mouse shaped toys that are painted in various ways.  The basic shape is always the same, but the painting is always a little different.  The concept comes from a series of Japanese toys that have been coming out for the last 10 years or so.

To be allowed to have this new toy, Allison has set one stipulation.  I must first get rid of one of the toys I already have.  Fortunately, one of my current toys seems to have gone bad.  It's looking pretty rough, and I think it's time that it goes.  I'm not going to say which toy it was, since it was a gift, but I'm not worried about opening up a new spot for my Vinylmation.

Our First Day

Allison asked me on one of our "talk about Disney walks", what the first thing I want to do when we get into Disney World. She's not asking me to plan our first day out, she wants to know what I plan to do in the first hour right after we check in. This is a difficult question to answer for two reasons, first of all we're showing up before check-in, and secondly because there's so many options when it comes to things to do.

Our plan is to spend the night before our first day about an hour or two away from the park. This way we get an extra day at the parks and we don't have to pay for the more expensive Disney hotel. So our plan is to drive into the parks around 10 am and get the ball rolling, the problem is check in time for the hotel isn't until mid afternoon. This means that we might have to give our bags to the front desk and head out on our adventure before unpacking and settling in our room.

The second problem, of there being too much to do, doesn't seem like such a big deal now, but I imagine the minute we get through the Disney gates we're going to be like really excited puppies. We'll have no attention span, and we're going to have a hard time focusing on anything. So everything is going to look shiny and fun, and picking that first thing might be overwhelming. This might be a reason that thinking about our first thing before we get there is a good idea.

So here's my answer, Allison feel free to comment: If we get our room right off the bat, then I think we should take our bags to our room, get into our bathing suits, and jump into the hotel pool. Our hotel of choice (currently the Yacht and Beach Club) has an awesome pool, with an awesome slide. This will allow us to literally dip our toes in the waters of Disney fun a little slower. If the hotel room is not ready yet, and we have to lock our bags up until the room is ready, I think some kind of sweet treat is in order. Maybe a walk to the Boardwalk and a funnel cake would be tasty, or maybe just an ice cream cone. This will again get us going before visiting our first park.

We've decided that most likely our first park will be Disney Studios, but that'll happen more than an hour after we get there.

The Trip Plans Update

Since we started this blog, we've been constantly changing our minds as to which hotel we want to stay at.  Every time we do a little research we figure there's someplace better and we change our minds.  Over the last few months we've been constantly changing from Port Orleans French Quarter to the Disney Yacht and Beach Club.  At this point right now we're leaning heavily towards the Yacht and Beach Club.  The primary reason for this choice is location, it's close to two parks, plenty of restaurants (including the Disney Boardwalk), and it has an awesome pool too.  We're approaching day 500, when we can make our first reservation, and it looks like the Yacht and Beach Club is going to be our pick.

We've also made a small change in our travel plans.  Originally we had planned to make a fairly long stop in Washington DC to check out all of the cool monuments and stuff, but I think we're going to skip that.  If we want to visit both Philadelphia and Washington it's going to make our day very rushed.  So we decided that we don't really have time to visit both... sort of.  We can either visit Washington and skip Philadelphia all together, or visit Philly with only a quick (dinner) stop in Washington.  We've decided to spend the time in Philadelphia with only a quick dinner in Washington.  The choice is for two reasons, first of all there is so much to see in Washington that it makes more sense to make that a trip on it's own at a later date.  Secondly we really don't want to miss the Liberty Bell because of its close association with Disney World.  We will be stopping in Washington, but only for a quick dinner with friends who live there.

Other than that our plans are still pretty much good to go.  Many of our travel plans are still pretty tentative, and may remains so until we leave.  I can tell you that we are looking for a good BBQ place either on the way there or back, but other than that it's fairly open.

Disney's Latest Technologies

Since we stated to plan this epic vacation, I've decided to keep abreast of all of the latest news out of Disney about Disney World.  One of the key things that Disney seems to be focusing on is interaction.  Most notably they seem to be attempting to incorporate modern technology towards making planning your trip easier.  While a few of these new ideas sound great, many of them are making me a little worried.

Most notably are the restaurant reservations and fast pass reservations.  As I understand it Disney is looking to make it possible to make reservations online for both restaurants and fast pass rides.  This will allow people to plan out their trip to the minute, before even leaving home.  You might even be able to order your food and pick a table long before you leave for Florida.  How about knowing that at 3:30 pm on the third day of your trip, you'll be able to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror?  While the technology of this is interesting to me, the actual idea of planning my trip that far in advance sounds terrible.

I'm very worried that the Disney technology is going to take all of the spontaneity out of our epic adventure.  It seems like they're designing the parks for those people that come again and again, and not for those of us that only want an occasional visit at most.  It seems like you'll have to be in the know if you want to see something cool.