Category — q. Reviews

HOOP DEE DOO REVUE…REVIEW

Welcome to those coming from The World of Deej as Magical Blogorail Teal writes about our favorite things to do outside the parks!

This site promises first-time family visitors who may never return all the best of Walt Disney World.

From the start, that’s meant the best in or outside of the parks.  Some of the key things outside the parks in the itineraries are Cirque du Soleil at Downtown Disney, and the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues.

Another “best outside the parks” is the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue. [Read more →]

WHAT IS THE DISNEY INSTITUTE?

The Disney Institute is the professional development –I would say leadership development– arm of Disney.

Through a variety of paid programs, it aims to help people build their toolkit to enable cultural change in organizations –particularly, but not only, in improving the quality of service delivery.

Disney Institute programs  are delivered in single and multi-day sessions at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.  Single day sessions are also done in various cities.

In addition, Disney will deliver a customized program at an organization’s site, and engage with organizations in long-term change journey.

See this for the current set of topics and current calendar of programs available to the general public.

I had the chance to see one of Disney Institute’s one-day programs a few weeks ago in my home town.

I thought it was terrific.  But I know I am odd.  So here’s a couple of thoughts for those less odd:

• Don’t attend a Disney Institute session unless you’ve to Disney World or Disneyland at least once–so those here planning their first time visit, don’t attend a session yet!
• Start by reading the key books first–they are much cheaper than attending a session
• If the books resonate with you, then try a one-day session, nearby or at Disney World
• Getting the full value out of the Disney Institute concepts requires sustained top leadership commitment and likely extensive changes in their behaviors.
  • If you aren’t the top leader, or the head of a unit with major control (e.g. over hiring, orientation, training, operations, etc.) then you need to get your top leaders on board.  Major change takes a multi-year effort that starts at the top.
  • It’s not about making front-line staff less annoying–your front-line people are annoying because by neglect or by mistake you’ve made it rewarding for them to be so. So it’s about the leadership team putting together a system of values, behaviors and processes that encourage, enable, and reward great service.

REVIEW: THE DISNEY INSTITUTE

[Read more →]

THE PIRATE-THEMED ROOMS AT CARIBBEAN BEACH

Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is this site’s top-rated moderate resort for first-time family visitors to Walt Disney World.

It gets that position because it has a little more kid appeal than the other moderate resorts.

For example, it’s the only moderate where all the rooms have Disney theming. Most rooms at the sprawling and often inconvenient resort are decorated with a light Finding Nemo theme, but a subset in its Trinidad South section have pirate theming.

This pirate theming is pretty cool, but, given the inconvenience of Trinidad South, is not worth the extra $30 a night it costs (pre-tax, Fall Season 2012).

Moreover, by building these rooms, Disney may have put itself at the end of a gang-plank on the question of adding queen beds to Caribbean Beach. [Read more →]

(This review is also an entry in the series on Disney World Controversies.)

THE MOVE IT! SHAKE IT! CELEBRATE IT! STREET PARTY

Move It Shake It Celebrate It–I’m dropping the exclamation points–is a combined minor parade and brief dance party that happens several times each day at the Magic Kingdom.

I find it somewhat awkwardly named–must I also celebrate that which I am otherwise delighted to move and shake?–but otherwise a hoot, and the equal to better known and more widely anticipated and attended formal afternoon parades, like the Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

But you won’t find it in this site’s itineraries, nor in its Comprehensive Guide to Rides and Attractions.  Why? And why might that be changing? [Read more →]

DINING AT DISNEY WORLD’S DELUXE RESORTS

One of the best features of the deluxe resorts is the often wonderful dining venues at them.

Some of these dining venues are better for adults than for kids; moreover, for every resort other than the Animal Kingdom Lodge it’s also worth thinking about options at other nearby deluxe resorts. (The Animal Kingdom Lodge has no nearby resorts.)  Sheer variety also has its virtues.

See the image for some distinctions based on these points. You can find detailed reviews of all the resort table service restaurants in the individual resort reviews.

A few comments:

• The monorail resorts–the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian–are just a short monorail ride from each other, so the great options at the Grand Floridian and Contemporary in particular are easily accessible from each of these hotels.
• The two resort meals included in most of this site’s itineraries are Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary and the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness.  The next best resort meal for kids is the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge (this meal used to be in the itineraries, but I took it out a few years ago as part of a simplification exercise).  The Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary are linked to each other and to Fort Wilderness by boat, so these resorts get an extra kick on the kids meals ranking.
• The Epcot Resorts–the Yacht Club, Beach Club, and BoardWalk Inn–are a short walk from each other and from the BoardWalk.  Those who have park hopper tickets and enough days on their tickets also have easy access from these hotels to all the dining options at Epcot.
• The Animal Kingdom Lodge has three great options, but is isolated from other resorts.

For more on dining at Walt Disney World, see this.

DISTINCTIONS AMONG THE DISNEY WORLD DELUXE RESORTS

• Disney’s Polynesian Resort. Only resort with both own resort monorail stop and in easy walking distance of TTC and its Epcot monorail. Only deluxe with no fitness center–guests are allowed to share the one at the Grand Floridian. One of only a few deluxes with no spa services. Strong kid appeal. At high end of room sizes.
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Only resort from which you can walk to and from the Magic Kingdom. One of only two deluxes with no on-site child care programs. One of only a few deluxes with no spa services. At high end of room sizes.
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. Shortest monorail ride to Magic Kingdom; longest back. Largest standard room sizes of WDW resorts. Best adult dining among WDW resorts.
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. One of only two deluxes whose standard rooms sleep only 4. One of only a few deluxes with no spa service. Stunning kid appeal.
• Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. Greatest variety of dining options. However, breakfast–especially for kids–is awkward, and counter service is weak. One of only two deluxes with no beach or marina. One of only two deluxes with no on-site child care. In middle range of room size.
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Only resort with close up views of many types of wild animals. (All resorts offer views of lizards.) Only deluxe with no transportation options other than buses. Only deluxe not on a lake. One of only two deluxes without a beach or marina. One of only two deluxes whose standard rooms sleep only 4. One of only a few deluxes without spa services. Stunning kid appeal.
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and Disney’s Beach Club Resort. Best pool (shared) at Walt Disney World. Wide variety of dining options, but counter service is week. In the middle of room sizes among deluxes.

This is the second page of this review of PassPorter’s 2012. For the first page, click here.

PASSPORTER’S CHECKLISTS, WORKSHEETS, AND PASSPOCKETS

PassPorter’s is a sound guidebook for any family looking for anything other than the highest level of detail.

It also has some distinct tools no other guidebook shares.

Planning a Disney World vacation–unless you simply follow this site’s instructions!–is an iterative process of making notes, assessing alternatives, setting preliminary decisions, testing them–affordable? available?–and making revisions.

This planning results in final decisions, and in schedules, notes and reservation numbers associated with them.

The vacation itself then generates additional material–tickets, souvenirs, and above all memories.

PassPorter has a unique system for helping with all of this, from possibilities to memories.

Each major section of the book concludes with worksheets and other tools for making notes, assembling alternatives, and recording decisions–see the image at the top of the page for an example.

Moreover, bound in at the back are a series of “PassPockets,” onto which you can make further notes, and into which you can insert media ranging from printed confirmations to mementos of your trip.

Pre-printed heading in the PassPockets include “Our Journey,” “Our Rooms,” “Our First Day,” “Our Second Day,” (etc.), and “Our Magic Memories.” Moreover, the team at PassPorter also provides a blank PassPocket that you can customize, and additional stick-on labels like “Our Cruise,” “My Birthday,” etc that you can use to personalize the pockets.

The result is that, more so than any other guidebook, you can easily organize your notes, your decisions, your paperwork, and your memories of your Walt Disney World trip.

OTHER STRONG FEATURES OF PASSPORTER’S

Without having any particularly good examples of it to share, I really like the tone of PassPorter’s Walt Disney World 2012. It’s professional yet friendly, and the choice of font (which is also used on the Passporters.com web site) reinforces this friendliness.

SOME ISSUES WITH THE 2012 EDITION

Here and there are some minor issues of fact or judgment. (Note that updates/corrections will be available here.)

Disney does not offer resort hotels for every “taste and budget.” (27) While it has less expensive options, inexpensive options are still missing—unless one is thinking of group camping at Fort Wilderness for $10 per person per night.

There’s some minor problems with the chart on p29. The single asterisk mark is used to refer to two different points, and the Roaring Fork food court at the Wilderness Lodge has been obliterated, as has the more minor offering at the Beach Club Marketplace.

Weekend room rate bumps can be much higher than $30/night (31)—there’s several deluxe resorts where they hit $50 at certain times of the year.

Only some of the two-bedroom DVC villas “allow up to nine’; the language on p33 may imply to some readers that they all do.

The Animal Kingdom has not been having evening Extra Magic Hours on Wednesdays for long enough now that the graphic on p34 could have been changed to show morning EMH there on Wednesdays.

Not sure how the three All-Star Resorts are “connected.” (37)

The treatment of the DVC options in deluxe resorts with paired DVC resorts is inconsistent. For example, the compare the villa types priced on p44 vs. those priced on p60.

The moderates that now have queens are correctly indicated as having queens in the text, but the floor plan illustrations on pp61 and 86 still show double beds.

I’m pretty sure the studios at Old Key West still sleep 4, not 5 (73). On the same page, the two-bedrooms sleep 9, not 8.

The first entry in “Making the Most of the Magic Kingdom” (134) reads “Take a spin around the park when you first arrive by boarding the train at the Walt Disney World Railroad station in Main Street, USA. The 20-minute journey is a great introduction to the park.”

Well, I bow to none in my love of railroads in general, and Disney railroads in particular, but this is wrong in a lot of ways.

• First, the railroad is not a good introduction to the park, as you will see very little of the Magic Kingdom from it—a little Frontierland, a little Fantasyland when the expansion opens, a little Tomorrowland, and that’s it.
• Second, if you arrive before rope drop—as you should—there’s nothing more valuable than the first hour in the park for riding the most popular rides before the crowds build. Spending 20 minutes “when you first arrive” on a B-Ticket is not the right way to deploy this time.

(288) Nights of Joy is at the Magic Kingdom, not Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

ALL IN, A RECOMMENDED GUIDEBOOK

These are mostly minor issues.  Overall, PassPorter’s Walt Disney World 2012 is a wonderful choice for any family seeking a guidebook to Walt Disney World. It has a nice balance among topics, a friendly and accessible tone, and some unique planning tools.

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