Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Festival of the Lion King has been the favorite Animal Kingdom show of many families for years.

Until January 2014 it played in Camp Minnie Mickey, but the space there has been devoted to what now seems to be named  “Pandora: The Land of Avatar.”

A new performance space was built for it in to the left of Tusker House in Africa, and it reopened there in the beginning of June 2014.

I had a chance to see it in mid-June, and here’s the story: the new building is cool, and what happens inside the building is, so far as I can tell, identical to the old show–which is great, as that was a wonderful show. So is the new one.

The new show building is wonderfully themed on the outside.

It’s a very large building, and thus is reasonably themed as the old fort. See the historical plaque.

Once you are inside, though, everything is pretty much identical to the old show. The show is hosted by a traveling group of African singers, who then introduce, and take part in, all kinds of singing, dancing, and acrobatics.

Above is the review from our book.

The show is inspired by the Lion King, but is not a retelling–rather it energetically entertains to the movie’s themes, and with many of its characters and snippets–and sometimes more–of many of its songs.

Festival of the Lion King is Disney spectacle at its best. There’s something in this show for everyone, and I highly recommend it!

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Frozen’s Anna and Elsa meet, chat and sign autographs at Princess Fairytale Hall at the Magic Kingdom.

The encounter with Anna and Elsa is as chatty and leisurely as you’d like it to be, with lotsa photographs–and the Disney photographers will take pictures with your own cameras as well.

What it isn’t is easy to get into.  Stand-by waits for Anna and Elsa of 3 hours plus have been common.  Use FastPass+, or skip it.

You will see other advice:

• Arrive at the park well before opening and get to the first group to be admitted to the park (on either the far right or left) so that you are first in line
• Do the same, but during morning Extra Magic Hours
• Book an early breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table or Crystal Palace, wolf down your food and head toward the area

–but none of these reliably work. Capacity is so low that the other people with the same idea, who may be ahead of you, can quickly put you into a two hour line.

So to meet Frozen’s Anna and Elsa, get FastPass+ or skip it.

MEETING ANNA AND ELSA

Frozen’s Anna and Elsa meet and Princess Fairytale Hall in the Magic Kingdom from park open through 30 minutes before close. See the review from our book above. Less than a month old, it’s already a little outdated as the “visiting princess” no longer visits.  This has the effect of increasing capacity, but lines are still overwhelming.

Using FastPass+ means you will miss much of the lovely interior queue of Princess Fairytale Hall–other than a brief glimpse–but instead will be brought quickly into the space.

You meet Anna first, as she acts as Mistress of Ceremonies.  Anna is delightful, down to earth and chatty.

For crass awareness-building reasons, I’d brought a copy of our book for them to autograph. (They will autograph anything, but perhaps after my visit, guidebooks will be restricted…)

Anna leafed through the book, found Josh’s cheat sheets, found the one relevant to that moment (just a little before 5p), and read aloud from page 187 that my next step was to ride the Carrousel at 5.07p!  (After I met Elsa and was about to leave, Anna called across the room to remind me about the Carrousel!)

After the autograph, we got the photo above, and I moved on to Elsa.

Elsa was friendly, but much more regal. She gladly signed the book, but was unwilling to use her special powers to cool off the sweltering afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. Snob.

A photo with Elsa…that makes me look fat. Oh well, so does the one with Anna, so I suppose I am…

…and then I was done, with an heirloom copy of the first-ever easy Guide signed by the two of them in hand!

Anna was darling, Elsa charming, and with FastPass+ this was an easy and wonderful experience. Without FastPass+, not so much. You can see Anna and Elsa in the afternoon parade as well, and Disney has just announced a bunch of Frozen-related stuff at the Hollywood Studios for the summer–most of which looks like fun, but none of which includes a meet.

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For the first page of this review of Disney’s Contemporary Resort, click here.

MORE ON DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

Disney’s Contemporary Resort is one of 8 official Disney owned and operated deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World.

In their recommended order for first time family visitors, they are

1. Polynesian
2. Wilderness Lodge
3. Animal Kingdom Lodge
4. Contemporary
5. Grand Floridian
6. Beach Club
7. Yacht Club
8. BoardWalk Inn

(Many of these also offer Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) studios and villas, all for rent to the general public–see this for more on the Disney Vacation Club resorts. The DVC offering here is Bay Lake Tower.)

You enter the Contemporary Resort into its first floor lobby, unless you are coming by monorail.

On the left you’ll find the check-in and concierge area. At Disney World, “concierge” means help with tickets, dining reservations and such.

On the right there’s a small coffee bar…

…and a somewhat abstract kids area.

Also on the first floor is one of the three table service restaurants at the Contemporary, The Wave of American Flavors.

Here’s the review of The Wave from our book.

Outside towards the parking lots and to the right you’ll find the bus stop, with service to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney ands the water parks…

…and also the walkway to the Magic Kingdom, which is 5-10 minutes away depending on your pace.

Head back into the main lobby and out the other door, and you’ll find the main pool…

…a kids water play area…

…pool bar…

…watercraft rental…

…and water sports.

Here’s someone parasailing. I don’t know why.

Also here is a second pool. Neither pool is particularly kid-pleasing, but the second pool tends to see more adults, and the main pool with slide more families.

There’s also a lot of beach here…

…and at night, movies are shown either on the beach of near the main pool.

Also in this area is the boat dock, with service to the other Bay Lake resorts, Fort Wilderness and the Wilderness Lodge.

Back in the main Tower, on the 4th floor–accessible via elevator, or often more quickly on escalators–you’ll find most of the rest of the offerings at the Contemporary, including Chef Mickey’s, a family favorite.

Here’s the review of Chef Mickey’s from our book.

Near Chef Mickey’s you’ll find an adequate counter service offering, the Contempo Cafe…

…a poorly located and weak-looking bar…

…and lots of shops.

At the north end of the fourth floor you’ll find a connector to nearby Disney Vacation Club Bay Lake Tower…

…and a patio from which you can watch Wishes.

Back inside, up a dedicated elevator or escalator you’ll find the Contemporary’s monorail stop. The resort monorail serves the Magic Kingdom and the other two monorail resorts, the Grand Floridian and Polynesian, and also the Ticket and Transportation Center where you change monorails for Epcot.

At the very top of the Contemporary is the storied California Grill. A great place for a family meal, celebration, or to watch Wishes after (or during) dinner, it’s often booked up, but its bar is not reserved, and does serve the main menu.  It may not be open to new guests, though, as the later dinner crowds gather. The podium to check in for your reservation or to see if you can go to the bar is on the second floor.

Here’s the review of the California Grill Mickey’s from our book.

THE THEMING OF DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

This review continues  here.

PAGES:  Previous  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  Next

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JUNE 28 TO JULY 6, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on June 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this, and more on July, see this.

[Read more →]

Chapter 9 of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit (now available on Kindle!) covers “How to Set Everything Up and Get Everything Done.”

(I’ve previously published an introduction to The easy Guide, and discussed Chapter 1,  Chapter 2,  Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8.)

Chapter 9 pulls everything together from the prior eight chapters and tells you how to do everything you need to do to get yourself all set for your Disney World trip.

The chapter has two major sections:

• The first section of this chapter gives detailed instructions on how to sign up for and use Disney’s new My Disney Experience mobile app and website. It then takes you through customizing MagicBands and setting up your FastPass+.
• The second section of this chapter provides a to-do list to make sure everything is booked as easily and conveniently as possible.

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For the first page of this review of Disney’s Contemporary Resort, click here.

PHOTO TOUR OF A ROOM AT DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

Note: Rooms here are being refurbed, reportedly to an Incredibles theme.

Rooms at Disney’s Contemporary Resort open from corridors–in all Tower rooms but 14th floor suites, the corridor is open to the A-Frame interior and thus to the child, monorail, or flirting noises from below. Higher rooms give better views and less noise.

Here’s the view into the room from the corridor.

As is common, the bath is on side and the closets on the other.

The closet side has the coffeemaker…

…with a mini-fridge, and some small storage shelves, below.

The closet has two parts, one with a luggage rack…

…and another with a safe, iron and ironing board, and what we will come to see as some sorely needed drawers.

Across the hall is the bath, with two sinks, a tub and shower that are not separated from the rest of the space…

…and a toilet in its own space.

The absence of a fully divided bath–with the sinks in one area and everything else in another–makes these rooms a little less handy for families.

The sinks are a bit of a design mystery as well.

Note the close up–a cool design, but the size and flat bottom means limited area to store toiletries, and also lousy drainage from the sink itself.

There’s some storage space under the sinks.

Deeper in the room you’ll find two queens on one side.

Here’s the beds from the back of the room.

A closer view of one of the queens.

The bedside table between the queens has storage.

Between the beds and the bath is a groovy L-shaped desk. Note that part of it rolls out, and can serve as a little dining or games table.

The part of the “L” that’s closest to the bed is also the dresser. Putting the dresser drawers here, rather than under the TV as is more common, allows for an arty treatment of that under-TV space (see below). But as a result, there’s not much room for these drawers–making the room overall short on drawer space. Moreover, they are inconveniently located.

On the other side of the room you’ll find the TV thingy, a very green hassock, and a couch.

The TV side from the back of the room.

Below the TV is a screen that lights with a switch, creating an interesting interpretation of a fireplace. It’s too big for a night light, and families everywhere wish it were drawers instead.

The couch …

…and flips into a bed. I measured this bed as 72 inches by 30 inches. With no end rails, in a pinch it can sleep a little longer than that. The cushion is 6 inches deep.

At the end of the room is a full-width balcony. Here’s a view from one of our rooms on the Bay Lake side of the Tower…

And here, on a less pretty day, is a balcony from a Magic Kingdom view room.

Some fireworks from the Magic Kingdom view:

Contemporary rooms are spacious, flexible and interesting. But a little too interesting. Design choices limit storage and privacy, making these rooms not quite as family friendly as some others at Disney World.

THE GARDEN WING AT DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

This review continues here.

TOPICS IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

• Overview and summary of Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• A photo-tour of a standard Tower room at the Contemporary Resort
• Details on the South Garden Wing of the Contemporary Resort
• The amenities at the Contemporary Resort
• Dining at the Contemporary Resort
• The pools at the Contemporary Resort, and
• More on theming and accommodations at the Contemporary Resort

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

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