Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

On this Veterans Day, just a note to thank all of those who have put their lives at risk so that the rest of us can be free.

My favorite veteran is my dad–that’s him above during the Korean War.

Next favorite is my wife’s dad–that’s him above, on the right, during World War II.

After him, my next favorite is my sister’s husband, who served with the riverine Navy in Vietnam.

And another favorite is Steve (above) from MilitaryDisneyTips.com, a retired Air Force First Shirt who does a great job keeping military families up to date on great Disney World deals and other important info.

And all the millions of the rest of you are my favorites too!  Thank you for your service, and God bless! Wherever you are, and whatever you do, my gratitude goes with you.

LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

• Military Families at Walt Disney World
• Deals and Discounts
  • Military Discounts and Deals
  • Other Walt Disney World Discounts and Deals
• Shades of Green
  • Review of Shades of Green
  • Splitting Your Stay Between Shades of Green and Another Resort
  • Overflow Rates at Shades of Green
  • Shades of Green website
• Other Resources for Military Families
  • DisneyMilitarySales.com
  • Disneyworld.com/military
  • MilitaryDisneyTips.com

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: NOVEMBER 10 TO NOVEMBER 18, 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 November 2012, see this.)

[Read more →]

OVERLOOKED VILLAINS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Welcome to those coming from Capturing Magical Memories!

This month, Magical Blogorail Teal focuses on overlooked villains at Walt Disney World–villains that we think should be more present in the parks!

WHAT’S A VILLAIN AND WHAT MAKES THEM OVERLOOKED?

In current literary theory, a “villain” is any white male, especially one who did not fight on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War. [Read more →]

My friend Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com has published recently a couple of important news items for military families:

• He’s broken the story that families can now use the 4 day Disney World Military Salute tickets back to back for a trip longer than 4 days. See this.
• He’s also recently posted on a new Universal Orlando military deal–the first since Harry Potter opened.  See this.

Thanks, Steve, for writing about these!

A VERY MINOR LANDMARK

So after thinking about doing so for years, last week I finally bought yourfirstvisit.com, and (after the usual comedy that happens when I get mixed up with technology) re-directed it so that if people type “yourfirstvisit.com” into their browser, they’ll get to the home page of this site instead.

What that means practically is that more people who mean to get here actually will get here. Emotionally, it brings me back to the days in early 2008 when the site’s first set of research and resulting material was done, and what was left were the questions of what name to use for it and how to pull the whole thing off technically.

So I’m gonna go back there for a bit, and then wander back to now…and yes, for obvious reasons I have created a whole new category for this post!

WHY THIS SITE BECAME YOURFIRSTVISIT.NET [Read more →]

THE REFURBISHED 5 PERSON ROOMS AT PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE

The only standard moderate resort rooms at Walt Disney World that can sleep five are in the Alligator Bayou section at Port Orleans Riverside.

Both the Port Orleans resorts have been refurbished over the past 18 months or so (for details, see this), with the main improvement being the replacement of the old full beds with queens.

In addition, the rooms in the Alligator Bayou section of Riverside, which used to sleep a fifth person on a trundle bed, now sleep the fifth person on a mini-Murphy bed.

I’ve finally had a chance to stay in one of these refurbished rooms.  I’ll post a full review later this month, but wanted to get the details on the new mini-Murphy out now. [Read more →]