Tag: Orlando

Just saw this on Budget Travel magazine’s ever-useful blog This Just In;

Disney is looking for 12 Moms who know Walt Disney World inside out and would like to participate in a panel of similarly Mouse-obsessed travel planners.

From the Walt Disney World Moms Panel announcement page:

“Walt Disney World Moms Panel, a new online forum of vacation advisors made up of everyday people who will answer questions, offer advice and address specific concerns of families in the process of planning a trip to Walt Disney World® Resort.”

I personally think it’s pretty sexist to confine this to mothers, but I suppose that Disney wants to play to some sort of Mommy feel-good factor. There are a lot of fathers (my Sainted Husband included) who are more than equal partners in parenting, and we ought to stop insulting them with all this Mommy-centric goop.

Then again, I don’t like the whole twinkly “Disney Princess” marketing push for young girls, so there you go.

Anyway, check it out if you are really into WDW vacation planning and want to help others plan their visits; the reward for being on the panel is a free family vacation to WDW December 8-12 2007.

Deadline for applications is October 5, 2007. No, I won’t apply since I haven’t been there recently enough (within the last 12 months.)

If you want to read up on my own multi-post Psycho Travel Mom trip plan for Walt’s kingdom, start with my Survivor’s Guide to Walt Disney World: Intro.

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Walt Disney World

The Magic Kingdom is the most recognized Walt Disney World theme park because it is basically the same as the Disneylands in California, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

The familiar landmarks are all there: Cinderella Castle, Space Mountain, Main Street USA, Pirates of the Caribbean (the ride that inspired the movie,) etc.

If you’ve already visited one of the other Disneylands, my advice is to focus a lot of your time in Orlando at the other parks that are less universally well known — Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios or even the Disney water parks.

We enjoyed the Magic Kingdom and it’s a “must do” if you travel with kids, but frankly, the place was a madhouse even using the Extra Magic Hours option. An extra hour doesn’t help if everyone else shows up early at the gate along with you.

This huge park is divided into different “lands” — Fantasyland (fairies and storybook stuff,) Frontierland (Tom Sawyer & the Old West,) Liberty Square (American history,) Adventureland (jungles & pirates,) Tomorrowland (tries to be futuristic, can sometimes just be hokey) and Mickey’s Toontown Fair (basically a place to stand in line and meet characters, but the kookily ‘toonish architecture is fun.)

The lands are arranged in a semi-circle around the turn-of-the-last-century Main Street USA (for inspiration, Disney used the Main Street in his hometown of Marceline, Missouri) and the Cinderella Castle, supposedly inspired by Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle.

** This park summarized: All the old favorites for you and the kids; even if you’ve never actually seen them before, they still seem cozily familiar. Usually always crowded and can test the patience of the most well-prepared family traveler. Great when it works, exhausting when it does not.

** Key tidbit: If there was ever a time to reserve your meals and use FASTPASS, this is it. Plan, plan….or you will lose your mind. Again, the park is a madhouse.

During our family visit, I was so grateful that we had made lunch reservations at the Liberty Tree Tavern, but I did feel somewhat smarty-pants guilty about going right to the head of the line at our appointed time, past lots of tired-looking families who had to wait.

Again, these meal reservations at sit-down/full-service park restaurants cost nothing and only require that you pick a meal, pick a restaurant, call (407) WDW-DINE and get a time. That’s it. Unless you enjoy standing in line with hungry kids in the heat….

** What to do as soon as you arrive: With young children, head for the back of the park to Fantasyland to get in line to see Mickey. With older kids, go straight to the popular thrill rides like Splash Mountain (great for cooling down on a hot day) and Space Mountain and get your FASTPASS time.

Here’s a rookie mistake that I made: just because a park opens an hour early doesn’t mean that all of the rides are also open an hour early. The day we went, my older daughter and husband peeled off to hit the thrill rides and my young son and I headed to the back of the park for Fantasyland rides like the nauseatingly spinning tea cups on the Mad Tea Party, but they were still closed. We killed time and eventually saw Mickey in nearby Toontown without much waiting, but I was angry with myself for not triple-checking everything in my Grand Plan.

I must confess that Disney-MGM Studios is my favorite family travel park in Florida’s Walt Disney World (and not just because the water tower has massive Mouse ears.)

It appeals to me and my husband as an adult movie buffs, to our teenage daughter who loves Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, to our young son on a variety of levels, and to all of us with its wonderful evening show, Fantasmic!

It is also relatively compact, which is such a relief after making vast footsore treks across the huge acreage of the other parks.

** This park summarized. The magic of movies for all ages. This park is also particularly strong in live shows. Remember, the Disney company casts a wide net, so there is everything here from Narnia to High School Musical to an ESPN Sports Weekend in March.

** Key tidbit. With just a little forethought, you can have a nice early dinner and then avoid standing in line forever as you sit down in an excellent seat in the Hollywood Bowl-ish theater to enjoy the multimedia, everything-Disney-but-the-kitchen-sink Fantasmic! nighttime show.

How?

Call (407) WDW-DINE and ask for the Fantasmic! Dining Experience package for the day you’re visiting. You’ll get a fixed price dinner and reserved dining time at one of the park’s sit-down restaurants (Brown Derby, Mama Melrose or Hollywood & Vine as of this writing.) We ate dinner at a rather ridiculous afternoon time at Hollywood & Vine because I didn’t call early enough and that was the only time left. Still, it was worth it to not have to wait two hours or more to get into Fantasmic!

Note: Unlike most “secret good deals,” which are usually laid out pretty clearly somewhere on the official Disney site, I could not find much/any info about this except on the unofficial Disney fan sites. Also, fair warning: this show may be too scary for very little kids.

** What to do as soon as you arrive. From previous posts in this series, you know the drill….if you want to get on the “screamers” like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster or Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, get that FASTPASS time right away. The Star Wars Star Tours ride tends to get rather crowded as well.

** Entertainment. Lots of live shows here, plus fun street performers on Hollywood Boulevard. In the one park where your feet aren’t killing you, the sit-down options abound.

** Dining options. We had a hilarious meal at the 1950’s Prime Time Cafe, where the meatloaf is hot and Mom says to get your elbows off of the table. There’s even a groovin’ lounge next door, but we couldn’t figure out how to stash the kids in a potted palm or something, so that we could go enjoy a libation.

** Attraction that surprised us. The fact that, at last, we were in a human-scaled, manageable Disney property was our first pleasant surprise. We loved the peek-behind-the-scenes of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (complete with the giant rolling boulder,) and my young son couldn’t get enough of Jim Henson’s Muppet Vision 3D (just like any Muppets show, there are plenty of inside jokes and fun for the adults.)

** Lodging. There are no Disney hotels in this park.

** Special Disney/Character Meals. Have lunch with a Disney Imagineer at the Brown Derby. Preschoolers will enjoy the Play n’ Dine special meal with characters from TV’s Disney Playhouse.

** More tidbits. The soundtrack during Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is actually a compilation of their songs; I couldn’t get it out of my head so I asked a Disney Cast Member which one of their hits was playing as we were screaming up and down, and she said that it was a medley.

We always saw Toy Story characters at Al’s Toy Barn in the Backlot area, if you like those autographs and photo ops.

Go behind the scenes on a special Backstage Magic tour — it actually starts in Epcot but includes Disney-MGM Studios and Magic Kingdom plus lunch in Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano. A mere 7 1/2 hours, $200 per person, minimum age 16.

One more link: the Fodor’s Blitz Tour of the park.

Next in line (or in the queue, for my UK readers) is the Big Kahuna, the Magic Kingdom.