Star Wars Is Here To Stay!

A few weeks back I posted about some of the new experiences that would not have been at Disney World had we gone when we originally planned.  One of the experiences was that of the Star Wars additions to Hollywood Studios.  While the finished Star Wars land will not be ready when we go, Disney has added several new Star Wars additions to tide people over.  Originally they were scheduled to be taken out in the spring, but Disney just announced that they're extending theses special exhibits well into the time we plan on going.

These exhibits include the Star Wars Launch Bay, a special exhibit with props and interactive fun things to do all about the new movies.  Special character meet and greets, including new and old characters.  As well as a special fireworks show, that looks pretty awesome.  In general it seems like they've put a Star Wars overlay over a section of the park, and they're keeping it for a while longer (in some cases it's staying forever).

My guess is that they put the "limited time" label on these additions just in case the movie bombed.  This way if there wasn't any interest they could switch everything out without having to commit.  However the movie did far from poorly at the theater, and it seems like they're actually adding new things regularly to these interim Star Wars attractions.  I've been keeping up with what's going on and it seems that new character meet and greets are being added, and the cruise ships are also adding more and more Star Wars material.

The only thing that I'm not so keen on, is the change they made to Star Wars the adventure continues.  Originally the attraction would have a random story line that changed every time you rode it. Now they have a "guarantee" that you'll see the new addition every time.  This never really appealed to me, even though the new scene looks pretty cool.  I like the random idea more, and it seems like the only people that would enjoy the guarantee are regular visitors.

My hope is that even more is added before we go. Although Allison may get Star Wars'ed out, I can't get enough of it.

3 Days in Disney Paris - Day 2

Day two in the Disney Paris parks and we once again decided to take advantage of extra magic hours.  This time we didn't have a particular plan on which attraction we wanted to ride, unlike day one where we knew we wanted to ride Peter Pan's flight.  We had a few ideas about the rides that were extremely popular, but we figured we could just wing it.  Our lack of plan turned out to be a bad idea.

Our second day of extra magic hours started out great, in fact one of the highlights of the trip happened on in the first few minutes of our second day.  We started our day venturing up Main Street USA in Disneyland.  Our plan was to head towards Fantasy Land and figure out where we wanted to go from there.  On our way up Main Street we noticed something going on in a tucked away corner, there were a few people that appeared to be hanging out.  We stopped for a second to see what they were up to, and as it turns out they were there to see Goofy.  There was almost no line at all, and within minutes we were hanging out with our favorite character.

After hanging out with Goofy our morning slowed down considerably.  We had a reservation to have breakfast in Fantasy Land.  We were pretty excited about this since our hotel breakfasts were OK but nothing spectacular. We figured a breakfast in the park must be awesome, but we couldn't have been more wrong.  There was nothing additional to our breakfast in Fantasy Land, No characters to greet us, no fun new foods to try, nothing new at all.  In fact the breakfast selection was actually less than what the hotel provided.  The only thing this breakfast provided was incentive to get out of bed early, but after eating there that morning, the incentive was gone.

We had grand plans of checking out all of the lands and all of the hard to get on rides during our Extra Magic Hours, but unfortunately the only land that was open was Fantasy Land, and many of the rides in Fantasy Land were closed.  So other than a few dark rides everything stayed closed during the Extra Magic hours, a complete waste of time. We decided to take this time to just wander around around and explore what we could.  As soon as the gates to the closed areas opened we were off to enjoy our day of adventure.

We did all of the classic rides including Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, and Alice's Curious Labyrinth.  We also spent a great deal of time exploring Adventure Island where we found all kinds of fun bridges and caves to explore.  Allison rode on the Indiana Jones roller coaster, and was fairly disappointed.

Our lunch was both extremely disappointing and wonderful all at the same time.  We went to Casey's Corner where they sell giant hot dogs with insane toppings.  The quality of these hot dogs was kind of questionable, but the craziness and quantity of toppings was superb.  We went with a foot long hot dog covered in cheese and crunchy onions.  It was wonderfully insane.

We enjoyed a few more attractions during the afternoon, and then we headed to the Disney village for a meal at what would turn out to be the culinary highlight of our trip.  This time it was an all you can eat Tex-Mex buffet at La Grange at Billy Bob's.  I'm sure many people wouldn't be impressed by simple Tex-Mex, but since Allison and I haven't been living in a western country for a while, it was just what we needed.  The food was nice and fresh, the variety was insane, and best of all they have a section for adults.  It was a little crazy in the rest of the restaurant, but in the adult section it was a little nicer.  After filling our stomachs, we headed back to Disneyland to enjoy a bit of the nightlife.

The evening in the park was probably our favorite time.  We spent most of the evening exploring Frontierland.  When we first arrived it looked as though many of the attractions were closed due to lack of people around, but we couldn't be more wrong.  We started out with a ride on Thunder Mountain, which we had to wait for a little while, but it was great themeing all throughout the lineup.  After Thunder Mountain we wandered towards the Haunted Manor.

This was the part of Frontierland we thought was completely closed because no one was in sight at all.  There was no one in line for the Haunted Manor, so we were convinced it was closed.  We decided that we would check out the area around the Haunted Manor to check out the graveyards and creepy grounds surrounding the mansion. The grounds around the Haunted Manor were completely empty, and this added such a creepy feel.  It was dark and scary, and I had many a shiver down my spine.  As we walked back up towards the exit of the graveyard we noticed a few cast members hanging out around the entrance to the Haunted Manor.  We asked them if it was in fact open, and they said yes.  We made our way up the path to the attraction completely on our own.  Eventually a few other people showed up, but there was no more than 10 people on the ride the same time as us.  It was magical.

After our creepy adventure we decided that this would be the end of our day, and while watching the fireworks over the castle we headed back to the hotel.

Is Star Wars Land A Reality?

One of the question marks I have about new attractions to Disney World is the possibility of Star Wars Land.  Since George Lucas sold the franchise to Disney, rumours have been flying around about the possibility of Star Wars Land.  Presently there are two Star Wars themed parts to the park, one is an attraction and one an event.

The attraction is fairly old-fashioned in concept in comparison with most modern theme park rides.  It is a motion simulator, called Star Tours, which takes you on an adventure through the Star Wars universe.  One interesting thing about this ride is that it was one of the first simulator rides of its kind, but there's a new feature to this ride.  Recently they've updated the ride to allow each experience on the ride to be different.  So each time you ride the Star Tours experience, you travel to different parts of the Star Wars universe.

The event, which takes place annually at Disney Hollywood studios, is the Star Wars Weekend.  Once a year Star Wars fans, as well as Star Wars celebrities, meet for a weekend dedicated to all things Star Wars.  There are special shows, exhibits, and meet and greets throughout the park.  It has become one of the staple events at Disney World and attracts many fans from all over the world.

At this point I've heard two different stories about what kind of expansion might be coming that involve Star Wars.  Some say that they're going to take out several attractions at Disney Hollywood Studios, and build a land from scratch dedicated to Star Wars.  Others have said that they may refurbish Tomorrow Land at the Magic Kingdom.  At this point I'm sure designs are in the works, and I can only hope that it'll be up and running by the time we go.  Allison has already made up an expression for what might happen if so, she calls herself a “Star Wars widow".

Disney movies we plan to watch

The concepts that make up Disney world aren't pulled out of thin air. In fact almost every detail of the parks are inspired from Disney products, culture, or in some cases history. Disney world attaches a story to every aspect of the theme park, all inspired by various areas. To get the most of these references I thought it would be a good idea to catch up on some of our Disney content. To fully appreciate every single detail you probably have to watch every single thing Disney has ever produced, but that's just not realistic at all. Instead Allison and I decided to go through the list of Disney movies and cartoons and pick out which ones might be most relevant.

We're also going to ad a few episodes of the twilight zone to this list to better understand the tower of terror. Fortunately many of the websites I've been reading explain where many of the details of the park originated, so picking what to watch seems simple enough. We're also going to have to start keeping up with current Disney movies as well, since they often ad attractions based on current media.

Here's our list so far, many of these movies and shows we're fairly familiar with, but it doesn't hurt to update our memories. Some of this stuff is brand new to us and should be interesting to see.

Swiss Family Robinson
Lady and the Tramp
Cinderella
Snow White
Brave
Pinochio
Reluctant Dragon
Dumbo
The Three Caballeros
Song of the South
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Treasure Island
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
The Aristocats
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Robin Hood
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
Pete's Dragon
The Fox and the Hound
The Black Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective
Oliver & Company
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
The Little Mermaid
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
Beauty and the Beast
The Mighty Ducks
Aladdin
The Adventures of Huck Finn
The Lion King
A Goofy Movie
Pocahontas
Tom and Huck
James and the Giant Peach
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
A Bug's Life
Tarzan
Monsters, Inc.
The Country Bears
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The Haunted Mansion
Home on the Range
The Incredibles
Chicken Little
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Meet the Robinsons
Ratatouille
Bolt
The Princess and the Frog
Toy Story 3
Tangled
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Cars 2
Wreck-It Ralph
Monsters University
The Lone Ranger
Planes

Anniversary

The main point of making this trip to Disney World is to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  Normally for our anniversary we like to buy ourselves one shared gift that lines up with the appropriate material for that anniversary.  For example, for our eighth anniversary we bought copper pans, because the eighth anniversary is copper.  The 10th anniversary material is emerald, and frankly we can't think of anything either one of us would want containing an emerald.  So Disney was the perfect second option.

I've been doing some research on celebrating anniversaries at Disney World, and there are plenty of options.  The first and most important thing to do is make sure you tell someone at your hotel, or guest relations, that it's your anniversary.  Apparently they'll give you a pin that will tell the world you're celebrating an event.  While we're not really interested in cashing this in for freebies, we are curious about the kind of attention we might get.

If you're even more committed to celebrating you can order special room decorations for when you arrive.  I've checked them out online and most of the anniversary set ups are kind of tacky, and very over priced.  A few of the other event gifts look interesting, but they're still horribly over priced.

Disney also keeps suggesting that we do something grown up, like dinning with candlelight or visiting a spa.  I think we might consider one of these options since a little romance is always nice.  Our main goal however is to have a character breakfast on our anniversary morning with Goofy.

Greatest Or Worst Piece Of Disney Merchandise?

I came across this new addition to Disney's merchandise line.  Just in case you've ever wanted to look like Uncle Walt, you can make sure your facial hair is up to par.  I'm also fairly partial to the Sulley Fu-Man-Chu as well.  I'd like to tell you that this is a joke, or at the very least unofficial, but it's real and it's from Disney.

Youtube Channels of Note - Part 4 - Disney Vacation Planning DVD

The Disney DVD's online - I've been trying to order the official Disney travel DVD's for about a year now.  I love watching high quality production DVDs all about planning my trip.  Unfortunately it appears that Disney can't send these DVDs to my address (my mailing address is very complicated), so I decided to see if anybody had posted them on YouTube.

Fortunately for me, someone has, and best of all there are many to choose from.  You don't just have to watch the latest incarnation of the travel DVD's, I've found some as old as 1996.  You may be wondering why you'd want to watch old Disney DVDs, and it's simple, the new DVDs focus on the new attractions.  The old DVDs will cover in more detail attractions that were new at that particular time.  I’m very interested in learning about the updated Star Tours ride, but since it's old news, the latest DVD glosses over it.  However the older DVDs cover it in much better detail.

The problem I've found with looking for Disney travel DVDs on YouTube is the quality can vary greatly.  Often it's random clips that people have filmed with a video camera off of their TV.  I'm also fairly certain that Disney has not given anybody permission to post these DVDs, so they may get pulled off now and again.  It's a shame, I wish Disney would just post these in an organized fashion for all to enjoy.  After all it's promotion for their parks, and it's something they're giving away anyways.

Youtube Channels of Note - Part 2 - Disney Parks

Disney Parks - Disney's official theme park YouTube channel is obviously the least neutral channel, but it's still very informative.  Often this is the place where you learn true information about what's going on at the parks.  There is 0 speculation going on here, because everything you see is official.  You also have to do a bit of sorting since the channel covers all of their parks and not just Disney World.

If you follow other blogs and YouTube channels you'll get more information, however this is the channel to confirm all speculation. This channel is also very well produced, and many of the videos are fairly entertaining.

The only true downfall of this channel is the complete lack of neutrality.  Everything on this channel is about getting you to a Disney park to spend your money.

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.

Imagineering Dream

Ever since I started studying animation, I've always thought about the idea of working for Disney.  I never wanted to be a Disney animator, or any end of the television and film production. Strangely enough that's the one area I have had a little experience.  The area I've always wanted to work would be the Imagineers.  I've even stated to every employer that I've ever had, if the Imagineers wanted to hire me, I'd quite my current job in a second. I've never actually tried to get a job with the Imagineers, but I have thought about applying.

The Imagineers are the people at Disney that design the theme parks.  They're the people that hide all of the treasures, and work on every little detail.  They not only think about the grand scheme of the park, but also the parts that you don't realize you're looking at.  If I was to ever work for the Imagineers, I think I would enjoy working on the little details more than the big picture. These are the elements that I look at when I visit any Disney Park.  Sometimes I even look in the wrong place (like backwards) on a Disney ride just to see if they thought about every detail.  I have on a few occasions seen a dark square or fire exit, but I've also been surprised a few times too.

When I lose myself in the Disney parks, it's not always in the story; sometimes I lose myself in the magic and the magicians as well.

Do You Love A Parade?

I'm of mixed opinions when it comes to Disney parades.  I want to participate in the fun times, dance with characters, listen to music, and see cool floats.  However I know that the parades are also the best time to visit popular rides because so many people watch the parades.  When I've visited Disney in the past I've always gone for the idea of not seeing the parades and going on the rides when the crowds are thinned out, but maybe this trip I might want to try something a little different.

I want this visit to be more than just a re-hash of my past visits, and I think watching a parade and getting into the parade spirit might be a great way to mix it up a bit.  I do find the idea of lining up for the parade up to an hour before it starts a little daunting.  But we're planning 8 days at the park, and I think it might be worth the wait to see at least one parade.  The next question is which parades are worth seeing and which ones are worth a miss.

I'm thinking that the Magic Kingdom probably has the best line-up of parades.  Most of all I want to see the Spectral Magic parade at night if it's still running.  I might also be up for something filled with characters and street dancing during the day.  Animal Kingdom is probably the place I'm least likely to want to see the parade.  It's a jungle themed parade with the main Disney characters, and it just doesn't float my boat.

Kids and Bully Parents

I'm about to explain the one part of Disney World where I'm going to come off as a jerk.  I'm going to explain to you the part of this epic trip that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like.  There's no guarantee that this is going to happen, but I'm pretty sure it will.  I'm talking about parents and their children.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all kids and parents get on my nerves, I'm just saying that I'm expecting many kids and parents on this trip to get on my nerves.

Here's my problem, I know that you and your children have been planning your trip to Disney World for a long while, I know that it's not a cheap place to visit, and I know that you're trying to bond as a family.  The thing is, so are we, the only difference is, we don't feel that we have any entitlement over you.  Allison and I love having fun at theme parks, we like riding kiddie rides, and we love to get involved in the story.  We'll happily wait in line to ride It's a Small World, and you better believe we're going to be singing along.

I just don't think that because you have children that you deserve anything extra.  You don't deserve not to wait in line; your kids don't deserve to meet Mickey first because they're kids.  We're all here to have fun, and parents should know this.  This is our trip too; so don't go bullying your way around because your kid wants to shake Goofy's hand.

Basically I hate parents that have this sense that their kid deserves more than me because they're a kid.  Guess what?  We all paid to be in here, and we all want a good time, just because your kid has no patience doesn't mean my trip should suffer.  I don't really hate kids, I just hate parents that let their kids go crazy at places like Disney World and expect us to be OK with it.

I'll be honest, if the kids aren't related to me, or related to friends of mine, I'm not that interested in them.  To me they’re just little adults, and therefore deserve nothing extra.  There, I’ve said it, and I might be a jerk for saying it.

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.

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.

Our Love Of Goofy

Both Allison and I love Goofy, it's safe to say that goofy is both of our favourite Disney character. This love of Goofy, for both of us, came long before we ever met. In fact when we were dating, our mutual love of Goofy is one of the many reasons we fell in love.

I'm not sure how our love of Goofy will affect our visit. We do plan on going to the character breakfast where Goofy is present, and I'm sure we'll make efforts to go to at least one Goofy meet and greet. I'm also pretty sure we'll take pictures with anything goofy that we come across in the park.

The Barnstormer featuring the Great Goofini is going to be a must visit on our trip.  It's part of the new additions to Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom, and it looks like it'll be full of all kinds of Goofy fun.

If anybody knows any other must visit Goofy attractions, let me know.