Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

AN ENCHANTING ATTRACTION

Enchanted Tales with Belle, a New Fantasyland attraction that had its formal Magic Kingdom opening in early December 2012, is by far the best recent Disney World offering.

Described by some as a “character meet,” it is so much more–and in one way a little bit less–than the routine character meet and greet at Walt Disney World that it deserves to be classed as an attraction.

Enchanted Tales with Belle is as charming and fun an attraction as you will find in the Magic Kingdom.  While little kids who volunteer to appear in the “show” (more on that later) will have the most fun, all ages will be delighted by the overall experience.

Even if your kids are in their 20s, there’s wonderful magic here, and watching the little ones put on the show is more than half the fun. [Read more →]

DUMBO IN NEW FANTASYLAND

Dumbo–a simple and undistinguished flying elephant ride–has been a mainstay in the Magic Kingdom since the park opened, delighting millions of toddlers, not so much their parents.

As part of the Fantasyland expansion project, Dumbo has been moved to the new Storybook Circus section of Fantasyland (where Toontown Fair used to be located), spiffed up, added to the FASTPASS program, duplicated so that there are now two copies of the basic Dumbo ride, and had an air-conditioned indoor waiting play area added.

For both parents and little ones, the changes are an improvement.

For the little ones who love Dumbo so much, the ride has the same appeal to little kids that it (and its earlier incarnation at Disneyland) has always had. Little ones will enjoy the added color and action of the new Storybook Circus setting, and the play opportunity in the stand-by line.

(The image is my sister and I on Dumbo at Disneyland in the late 60s.)

For the parents who wait with these kids, the changes–so far–have been a godsend.

The addition of FASTPASSES and the doubling of capacity means wait times are down, and the air-conditioned play area both increases the comfort and decreases the boredom the waiting line.

It’s still just Dumbo–skippable for all but the younger set–but Dumbo with a faster moving, more comfortable line than it’s ever had before, and a more charming and thematically appropriate setting in Storybook Circus!

UNDER THE SEA ~ JOURNEY OF THE LITTLE MERMAID AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM

The signature ride of Disney World’s Fantasyland expansion, Under the Sea ~ The Journey of the Little Mermaid, formally opened in early December 2012.

Located in Prince Eric’s castle, and duplicating the already opened version in Disney California Adventure, this new attraction is both wildly popular (so far) and quite a disappointment. [Read more →]

Disney World currently has two deals out covering most arrival dates from January 2 through early March 2013.

These deals need be booked by December 31, so if you are interested, book them soon!

For more on the deals, see this.

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 22 TO DECEMBER 30, 2012

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 December 2012, see this.)

[Read more →]

FINALLY, A FACEBOOK PAGE FOR YOURFIRSTVISIT.NET

So on Saturday, about four and a half years late, I finally put up a page for this site on Facebook. (The image is the page’s profile photo–me and Ariel in New Fantasyland.)

Now, no one has ever called me an early adopter of technology or tools, or even a fast follower.  If I’m in on a trend, it’s usually by chance, or by mistake.

It’s not that I’m against technology or trends; rather, my poor attention span means I don’t usually notice what’s going on, and if I do notice what’s going on, my poor memory often means I forget to do something about it…

But these flaws of character and capability aren’t why it’s taken me so long to take the site to Facebook.  I’ve known about Facebook forever, as a buddy of mine joined the Facebook team right after they opened up beyond college students, and signed me up a personal account for it way back then

Rather, I’ve been afraid of creating a Facebook page for yourfirstvisit.net because I’ve worried about providing lousy service, for two reasons.

• First it’s hard sometimes for me to keep up with just the comments on this site (so far, almost 5,000 questions and observations from you, and almost 5,000 responses from me), so I’ve worried that having a second venue to keep track of and be responsive to would mean that I wouldn’t do a good job in either place.
• Second, a surprising number of people read through the comment streams on a page before asking their own question.  That is, the questions and answers here help a lot of people get their issues resolved.  I’ve worried that dividing such material across two places means fewer will get fully helped in either place.

My friends and counselors have reacted to these concerns as though I’m nuts, noting that the site is losing traffic and Google cred by not being on Facebook.  This has not been compelling, as I’m worried much more about providing good service than I am about traffic.

But the other week, someone put the situation in terms that got through even my thick head.  “This site exists to help people.  You can’t help them if they can’t find you.  More people will find you if you are on Facebook.  And then you will help more people. Just deal with it”

OK, I get it, so almost five years after launching this site, it’s now on Facebook! Like the page if you think that this site could possibly help other people.

And if you have a moment, let me know if you think the site should jump on that other hot new trend that’s just emerged this past week (or perhaps earlier)…I forget what it’s called—“twoodle”?–you know, the one that uses what I think are called “mushtags”?

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!