Category — p. News and Changes

Steve Bell of MilitaryDisneyTips.com and I will be meeting our fan(s) this Wednesday, 11/13, from 4.30 to 5.30p at the Magic Kingdom!

We picked this time and location for the Retreat at 5p–and Disney is enhancing the retreat this week as part of its Veterans Day salute. The location is marked on the map above–click it to enlarge it.

I scouted out the specific spot yesterday–we expect that while our meet is on, it won’t be quite so crowded.

The first five people to shake our hands (both of us!) will get one of Disney’s new “Glow in the Show” hats, seen in a pile in the image above from my room at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We’ll also be giving out such hats to a few randomly selected people who during the meet-up re-tweet our tweets or comment on our Facebook posts!

Here’s hoping you can make it!

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The first-ever yourfirstvisit.net and MilitaryDisneyTips.com joint fan meet up is on!

It will be 4.30-5.30p on November 13th in the northeast corner of the Magic Kingdom’s Town Square, interrupted by the 5p Flag Retreat.

Steve Bell of MilitaryDisneyTips.com and I will be

• Meeting and greeting our fan(s)
• Giving away the new “Glow with the Show” mouse ear hats to the first five fans that show up (if we hit that many…), and
• Watching the Retreat together.

Steve will have a white shirt on, I’ll have a red shirt on, and we’ll likely both be wearing mouse ears and carrying a bag with more! Look for us between the candy (“Main Street Confectionery”) and hat (“The Chapeau”) shops!

Afterwards, Steve and I will be wandering around the Magic Kingdom, mostly together, and then having a nightcap, likely at the Wilderness Lodge. We will tweet and update on Facebook where we are, and we’d love to meet you later in the evening as well, if you can’t make the 4.30-5.30 meet up.

We’ll be also be giving “Glow with the Show” ears away to randomly selected people who join the meet-up virtually by re-tweeting our tweets or commenting on our Facebook posts.

(On Twitter, Steve is @MilitaryDisney and Dave is @yourfirstvisit. On Facebook, Dave is here and Steve here.)

To RSVP for the meet-up–not that you need to, we aren’t all that formal–click here. And for why I partner with Steve, see this.

Don’t miss it!  The first ever fan meet up for either of us! In the northeast corner of the Magic Kingdom’s Town Square, 4.30 to 5.30p, Wednesday November 13!

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WDW MAGAZINE ISSUE TWO IS OUT!

The second issue of WDW Magazine came out late last week.

(For more on this new magazine about Walt Disney World, see this; to subscribe, click here.)

The theme of the latest issue is Disney World dining.

Carl Trent, founder of Dad’s Guide to WDW and editor and publisher of WDW Magazine, likely against his better judgment, continues to assign me topics for first time visitors to Walt Disney World.

This month the topic is “Three Things First Time Visitors Need to Know About WDW Dining.” (Excerpt above; as always, click it to enlarge it.)

I also helped out with another article, with my bud Joe Black, on the prospects for free dining in 2014. (Click the excerpt above to enlarge it.)

Regular readers of this site will already know my thoughts on both these topics, but there’s tons of other good stuff in the latest WDW Magazine, so check it out!

As I noted last month, I have no financial interest in WDW Magazine, and thus have nothing to disclose–other than that I’m honored that from all the options out there, Carl’s chosen me to lead the magazine’s materials for first time visitors to Walt Disney World, and delighted to have been able to write a second article with Joe on free dining in 2014!

So with twice as many articles by me this month as last, you can see why this month’s issue is twice as “something” as last month–twice as good, or twice as bad–you make the call!

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There’s been speculation by all who can do math for years now that FastPass+ might need to be restricted to one “headliner” per day for everyone to get a chance at these most popular Walt Disney World rides.

See, for example, this.

Until lately, this has not been an issue among the Fastpass+ tests.

But while making FastPass+ for my December trip (yes, there’s a December trip coming up too) I noted that at Epcot I could only pick one from among Soarin, Test Track, Maelstrom, and the character greeting there.

See the image above for what I saw on MyDisneyExperience.com
Kenny the Pirate adds Illuminations to this list from which you must pick one, and says this applies to all new Fastpass+ selections at Epcot between now and December 29.

I’ve already given my advice here for how to handle Epcot with just one headliner, but here it is again:

Epcot: Plan to arrive early and see Test Track from the stand-by line.  Target for Fastpass+ first Soarin, then Turtle Talk with Crush,  and then Spaceship Earth (the last two aren’t that hard to get now, but I predict they’ll become tougher as Fastpass+ takes more of their capacity).

And the other options?

• No one should bother with a Fastpass+ for Maelstrom–just see it first thing after Word Showcase opens, or skip it
• Lines at the Epcot Character Spot will grow because it is the only FastPass+ option especially appropriate for little kids. FastPass+ it only if you plan to see nothing else on this list
• I can’t right now see a Fastpass+ for Illuminations as the highest priority for many, but will have a better sense next weekend, after I’ve seen if from the Fastpass+ location

You would think that this change should have no effect on those who made their Epcot Fastpass+ choices before it went into effect on Friday.

But you know what?  I wouldn’t change any prior Epcot Fastpass+ reservations until we hear from the field that people are able to do this and still keep the three headliners available before this new wrinkle to the Epcot test!

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I like getting surveys from Walt Disney World–not the ones about satisfaction with the hotels, because they are too long and boring, but the ones about real business issues, like this one about room deals.

These surveys about real issues help to illuminate what Disney is thinking about.

So I’m getting ready for my second test of MyMagic+, MagicBands, and Fastpass+, coming up in mid-November, and Monday I got a really interesting survey emailed from Disney about my process for getting ready for that visit.

Now I am OK with FastPass+–so far–for first time visitors following the approaches recommended by this site, as among other things they’ll have their target parks set months ahead.

But repeat visitors have raised a number of issues with this new Disney program that’s being tested now–and so far as I have seen til now there’s not been much response.

The survey, though, raises some real hope that some of these concerns might be heard…

The first interesting thing about the survey is that there are typos in the emailed invitation. (Frequent readers of this site know I’m an expert on typos–though usually in their creation, not their discovery.)

The word “we’re” in the first line is rendered as “were.”  And–as Heidi notes below–the “We’d” that should begin the second para has also lost its apostrophe.  Mandy notes below that the comma in the second para is wrong, and the “for” before “we” in the last para, though perhaps not a typo, is certainly not idiomatic.

Not a big deal…but one could reasonably infer–not certainly, but reasonably–that this survey was created in a bit of a rush…which is itself interesting…

I usually just “spam” unsolicited emails with both links and typos, but I was hoping this survey was real, and so tested the survey link–and it passed Sucuri with all green.

But it’s still a bit of a bummer, because, as you’ll see in a second, I see this as an important survey, and many who notice the typo will assume because of it that the email is a phishing attack, and dump it to spam.

That would be too bad, as there are some important questions here that are worth your answering…and answering well!

The survey is pretty short, and soon into it you get asked about aspects of preparing for the MyMagic+/MagicBands/Fastpass+ test that were troublesome.

I noted issues I’d had with online check-in (eventually resolved), and also checked that I had some problems with Fastpass+ selections.  I had no technical problems with them–rather, I had problems of desire.

Like about ten million other people, I wanted more Fastpass+ than 3, more parades, and the ability to park hop. And I wasn’t sure what screen would come up next…

And what’s above was the next screen. Note that I got to explicitly address the issues of not enough Fastpass+, attractions offered, and no park hopping. Fascinating…and potentially quite important.

Disney did not need to do this survey, and if it wanted to duck some of the widespread complaints about the emerging Fastpass+ program, while claiming it had surveyed its guests, it could easily have done so–like this (I’ve seen similar surveys):

What did you think about your FastPass+ Selections? (Click the one answer that best fits)

1. Spectacularly Marvelous
2. Quite Marvelous
3. Marvelous

But that’s not what this survey question is…it’s a real question that gives as options real concerns.

And guess what the next page (above) was about? Spontaneity, or lack of same–another of the resounding issues with Fastpass+.

Despite the firmness with which some make their predictions, no one really knows anything about the final implementation of Fastpass+. It’s way too early for any of us–even Disney.

Me, I’m delighted that the program will have the opportunity to be influenced by surveys like this…but dismayed that the typos in the emailed invitation will lead many to not trust it enough to answer it…and if enough people “spam” it, it’ll get classed as “spam” when delivered…and many will never see it at all.

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News on Fastpass+, MagicBands, a possible meet up, Pinterest, and more!

FASTPASS+ INVITATIONS STILL COMING BY EMAIL, MAIL, PONY EXPRESS, ETC.

I’m getting ready for my next test of FastPass+ and MagicBands in November.

(For the last test, see this; if you have no idea what I’m talking about, see this.)

As happened last time, I did everything first in MyDisneyExperience.com, but also got an emailed invitation—on the right—and a mailed invitation—see below.

I’d thought that maybe these weren’t coming out anymore to those who have already tested FastPass+.

Wrong again.

BTW—Josh reported last week that the ability of FastPass+ testers using MagicBands to also get regular Fastpasses (using the backup Key to the World Card all testers have been getting), may be “scaled back” beginning today.

Josh is almost always right… but while this program so far has been a leaky as a sieve, many of the reported leaks have not quite panned out…so I guess we’ll see…

I have no actual information or sources on the issue, but do have a guess forecast.  My forecast is that since Disney’s discussion of FY13 results is 11/7, and there might be a howl–and resulting bad press–if this cut-back actually begins today, Disney World will hold off killing the ability of testers to use both Fastpass systems til after November 7th.

I don’t feel strongly about this forecast–I can argue the opposite side almost as compellingly. I balance between the two possibilities by noting that Disney doesn’t lose much by delaying til after 11/7…and delaying avoids the chance that a lot of complaints by sell-side analysts from New Jersey (as most are) will clot up the earnings call…

CUSTOMIZING YOUR MAGIC BAND

The scoop on customizing your MagicBands is here. The link tells the tale of my red MagicBand.

While I love my red MagicBand, I got a blue MagicBand for this visit.

(You can re-use your old ones, or get new ones.  I’ll be getting new ones for each visit until 1. the tests are over and the MyMagic+ program is stable, and 2. I have one of every color…)

The two gray MagicBands are ones I didn’t customize—that’s the default color.

You get a total of nine characters for customizing, including spaces, and can’t use special characters like commas or periods.  We had a spare—long story behind that—so I did what I could with the new red one.

Here’s a close up.

Maybe it’ll be a giveaway if we do the meet up!

A POSSIBLE MEET-UP IN DISNEY WORLD ON NOVEMBER 13?

Our last night at Disney World on the November trip, Wednesday November 13, overlaps with the first night of the trip of my favorite Disney World blogger.  He and I are chatting about doing a joint meet up with any fan who wants to meet us the afternoon or evening of the 13th.

Planning is still at the early stages—largely emails: “Got any ideas?”  “Nope. You got any ideas?” “Nope.  How about you—had any ideas since my last email?” “Nope”—so I’m not even naming him, and you shouldn’t view this as an invitation. Yet.

But I really like the idea of a joint meet-up–the cool thing about both of us hosting it is that each of us is guaranteed that the meet-up will be attended by at least one fan!

More to come, maybe…

A REALLY COOL PINTEREST BOARD

I had a chance to chat Thursday with Linda, a Facebook friend who has given me a lot of really great advice.

We had a nice talk, and it reminded me that I’ve never recommended her pinterest stuff.  So if you are a Disney World fan, you should check out her pins and follow her boards!

Linda’s goal is to present only the best of what she’s seen about Disney World…which will save you a lot of time!  And you may learn about some great other sites.

I know, I know…I’m really lousy at Pinterest—some of the most important stuff on this site isn’t really even pinnable…but I’m beginning to work on it, with the help of some of the best in the world at this—like Linda!!!

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