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DISNEY WORLD’S SPECIAL HALLOWEEN PARTY

While Halloween itself is October 31st of course, Walt Disney World provides a special Halloween celebration at the Magic Kingdom many evenings in September, October, and even November 2013.

This celebration is called “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party,” or “MNSSHP” for short.

At the party, many of the Magic Kingdom’s rides are open, and trick or treating, special events, and different parades and fireworks are offered.

The official Disney World page for this event can be found here. Click the image for the 2013 map and offerings. And you can find a review of the 2013 MNSSHP party here.

MORE ON MICKEY’S NOT-SO-SCARY HALLOWEEN PARTY in 2013

[Read more →]

DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort is distinctive among Disney World’s moderate resorts for its level of amenities–higher than at any other moderate–and some of the characteristics of its rooms.

Both of these distinctions come from its dual role as both a family hotel and a convention hotel, which yields both positive and negative effects.

• Extra amenities available only at Coronado Springs among the moderates are those typically offered to business travelers, including a substantial room-service menu, a fitness center, and a grill at the main pool.  For access to these, you pay $3-$6 more a night for a standard room than you’d pay at one of the other traditional moderates most nights of the year.
• The rooms differ a bit from other moderates in that their fixtures and fittings have been optimized for double-occupancy convention stays, so things are just a little different than in the other moderate rooms. (More on this later.) Moreover there overall decor is starkly masculine, and not as fun as, for example, the Disney-themed rooms at Caribbean Beach.

Even so, a multi-night stay at Coronado Springs in late January 2013 confirms that Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort remains the second best of the moderate resorts for first time family visitors.

However, the recent refurbs to Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter bring them much closer in these rankings to the top two options, and either might be a better choice for many families.

(For what the moderates provide, and how they compare to the other Disney World resort classes, click here) [Read more →]

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter Resort, see this.)

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD ROOM AT DISNEY’S PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER

Standard rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter Resort are about as “standard” as you’ll find at the Disney World’s traditional moderate resorts.*

You’ll find in these French Quarter rooms two queens–standard now at all the moderates except the Pirate rooms at Caribbean Beach; typical furnishings; two sinks–standard at the moderates except for Coronado Springs; and sleeping spaces for four–standard except for the Alligator Bayou section of Port Orleans Riverside and many of the newly-refurbed rooms at Caribbean Beach.

As you enter, you’ll find two queens on one side, in a purple and gold theme

Here’s a shot of these beds from the bath side of the room.

The grace and formality of the decor of the beds is typical of what you’ll find throughout the room, in, for example, the wallpaper border.

The wall on this side that the separates the bedroom space from the bath has New Orleans-inspired art.

The other side of the room has a table and two chairs, dresser/TV/mini-fridge, and a small ottoman.

I thought the dresser was particularly nice, especially with the inlaid wood treatment.

Here’s a close-up of the inlay effect.

The three drawers are typical of the moderates, and a little scant for most families–though there’s a large hanging area with a shelf above in the bath. You’ll find the mini-fridge in the dresser, too.

Next along this side is a small bench seat, with coat hooks above. You can see too here a bit of the curtain that you can draw to close off the sink area from the rest of the room.

Inside the first part of the bath area, you’ll find two sinks…

…and the hanging area, along with an iron, ironing board, and safe.

The rest of the bath, with the tub and toilet, is separated by a wall and door.

This shows the subtle figuring of the bath curtain.

AMENITIES AT PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER RESORT

This review continues here.

*That is, all but The Cabins at Fort Wilderness.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 16, 2013 TO FEBRUARY 24, 2013

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

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

(For more on February 2013, see this.)

[Read more →]

DINING OUTSIDE OF WALT DISNEY WORLD

This site has lots of advice on where to dine at Walt Disney World–see this for a recent introduction to its “Where to Eat” material.

It lacks, though, material on anything off-property, and is thin on some on-property areas, like Downtown Disney and the Swan and Dolphin.

Those looking to supplement–or ignore!–my suggestions would be well-served by grabbing a copy of the Zagat Orlando City Guide.

THE ZAGAT ORLANDO CITY GUIDE

The Zagat Guide to Orlando–a 2013 edition published in late 2012–is a long and slim 158 page guide to Orlando dining, nightlife, shopping, and attractions.  More than half the book is devoted to Orlando area dining, with 360 restaurants ranked and (briefly) reviewed, and that’s its real strength.

The dining section begins with summaries of top-ranked restaurants in various categories, including “Most Popular,” “Top Food” (overall and also by cuisine, by “special features,” and by location), “Top Decor,” “Top Service,” and “Best Buys.”

It then gives even more detailed lists of top-ranked venues in the special features, cuisines, and locations categories, and then shifts to more than 50 pages of detailed individual restaurant entries, arranged alphabetically.

So you can use the guide in many ways.  You can look for a venue in any of the category rankings covered in the first sections, or you can check out an alternative you are considering in detail in the listings section.

Compared to this site’s material, the Zagat Orlando City Guide has much more comprehensive coverage, especially–as you might imagine–outside of the core Disney World properties. It can help with Downtown Disney and Universal Orlando dining much more than I do–and also of course with dining unrelated to theme parks!

Among the Disney World venues, Victoria and Albert’s shows up at or near the top of any category it is eligible for, and Jiko also does quite well.

Curiously, neither Rainforest Cafe nor Raglan Road is included…which would be my top-ranked restaurants in Downtown Disney for families and adults respectively.

But regardless of these lacunae, I still think the Zagat Orlando City Guide is a great buy for visitors wanting to go outside the Disney World walls for their dining, or for those looking for another source of guidance.

I much prefer it to on-line alternatives like TripAdvisor, because while like them it’s crowd-sourced, it is also both curated and edited.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 9, 2013 TO FEBRUARY 17, 2013

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

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

(For more on February 2013, see this.)

[Read more →]