Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

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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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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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: NOVEMBER 2 TO NOVEMBER 10, 2013

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.

[Read more →]

Walt Disney World has released a new “families with little ones” Intro to Disney offer which–doubtless inspired by this site 🙂 –it’s aiming at first time visitors.

Here’s some of Disney’s language:

“[N]ow’s a terrific time to share Disney magic together for the first time—thanks to a special offer created for families with little ones.”

The deal packages together rooms, tickets, and dining plans, and looks to be a variant of the already-released “Stay Play and Dine” deal.

The example given includes three people–two ten and older and one aged 3-9. Three nights at Pop Century or one of the All-Stars, two ticket days, and the quick-service dining plan are priced at $999. By my math, that’s at least $150 off.

Deals for other family structures and trip lengths are available.

This deal covers most arrival dates January 5 through February 12, 2014, and needs to be booked by December 31.

See more on Disney’s page on this offer here.

–And thanks, Joe Black, for the heads-up on this deal!

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Storybook Dining in Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, a table-service restaurant in Epcot’s Norway Pavilion, is one of Disney World’s three “Princess Meals”—and arguably the best of the three.

• Cinderella’s Royal Table, in the castle in Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom, is the most iconic, sought after, and—by far—expensive of the three.  Cinderella and other princesses visit at breakfast, lunch and dinner
• 1900 Park Fare, in the Grand Floridian, offers dinner attended by Cinderella, Prince Charming, and Cinderella’s family. The setting is undistinguished, the food great, and the price is about half that of the Royal Table—exactly half if you are using the dining plan—one credit, rather than two.
• Like Cinderella’s Royal Table, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall has a bucket of princesses and is set in a castle, but is priced comparably to 1900 Park Fare—more than 1900 if cash (but still not as much more as Cindy), the same as 1900 if dining plan.

STORYBOOK DINING AT AKERSHUS ROYAL BANQUET HALL

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is in the Norway Pavilion of the Epcot’s World Showcase. (From Epcot’s Future World, the second country going clockwise, right after Mexico.)

The Banquet Hall is inside Akershus Castle.

The castle,  in the less interesting Romanesque style rather than the frothier Gothic style of Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom, is not so immediately appealing, but the interior is lovely.

Breakfast is typical of what is served elsewhere but the lunch and dinner menus have many Scandinavia highlights, starting with a buffet with range of appetizers and cold dishes—fresh foods, cheeses and preserved meats and fish.  Besides the buffet, one also orders an entrée…

…possibly a silly drink for dad and mom…

…and a dessert sampler.

Unadventurous eaters will find something to enjoy, but the adventurous, and/or lovers of preserved fish, will most enjoy the Akershus lunch and dinner menus.

Meals there include visits from several Disney princesses—on our visit, we were formally greeted by Belle…

…and also met Ariel…

…Cinderella…

…Aurora…

…Snow White, and others.

The best features of Akershus are the princesses, the castle setting, and then the food.  The food comes higher on the list for those interested in Scandinavian cuisine.

Being in Epcot is a mixed blessing.  Epcot most rewards older kids willing to accept its invitation to think and to be creative.  There’s not as much there for kids young enough to most enjoy a princess meal—and such kids may also not be adventurous enough to enjoy the full range of food on offer.

(On the other hand, I was eating pickled herring and smoked salmon at age three, so I love this place…I was not sophisticated…but my dad ate them, so so did I. )

A great day for younger kids at Epcot would start before park open and include Soarin (if they are mature enough and at least 38 inches), The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, Turtle Talk with Crush, and a character meet ‘n greeting.

An early breakfast—early enough that you are done by park open, so you can take advantage of the lower crowds then–at Akershus fits this well.

Lunch also works just fine with this kind of morning.

For younger kids not afraid of fireworks, a visit—or return–in the evening for dinner at Akershus and the fireworks show Illuminations also works.

Kids just old enough to enjoy everything at Epcot—both the princess meals and the challenge to their intellect and imagination—will enjoy the park, including Akershus, the best!

*   *   *

PICKING BETWEEN CINDERELLA’S ROYAL TABLE AND STORYBOOK DINING AT AKERSHUS

I’m often asked, since my itineraries include two princess meals, Cindy and Akershus, if a family can afford just one, which should they pick.

If the kids are old enough to enjoy Epcot fully, I’d go with Akershus hands down.  You get the same piles of princesses at a lower price, with a more interesting menu.

But there’s a lot to be said for the iconic appeal of dining in the castle at the Magic Kingdom, and the Magic Kingdom, of course, appeals to all ages.  So for younger kids, that’s the one I’d suggest.

My itineraries promise all the best of Walt Disney World—so in them you get both!

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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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