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Paula Broadwell and Vernon Loeb quoted David Petraeus in their recent biography, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus:

“I strongly believe that our young men and women in uniform in places like Afghanistan and Iraq and other places around the world have more than earned the title ‘new greatest generation.'”

Petraeus continues in a different quote:

“I think about all of you [in uniform] every moment of every day.  I feel your hardship and your sacrifice and your burden more than you can possibly imagine, and that of your families as well.  I think you’re the best America has to offer.  My admiration and affection for you is without limit, and each and every one of you will be in my prayers every day for the rest of my life.  Thank you.”

There’s nothing to add to this…yes, yes and yes…and thank you.

To this new greatest generation–to all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coasties: thank you, and thank God for you and your families.  It is you who preserve the freedom and safety of the rest of us, by your willingness to go into harm’s way and to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect your country.

And for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their buddies, for freedom, and for the rest of us, God bless, and rest in the peace you have earned.

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

This is the third page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas. For the first page of this material, click here.

PHOTO TOUR OF A ONE BEDROOM VILLA AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

When you enter the room, first you’ll find a large foyer.

If the villa is set up to function also as a two-bedroom villa, you’ll find on one side a connecting door. Otherwise, you’ll find a closet in that spot.

As you proceed into the villa, a dining table and kitchen opens on one side.

On the other side, you’ll find a hallway that leads to the door to the washer-dryer closet, a door to the split bath, and a door to the master bedroom.

The kitchen includes all necessary appliances and a good selection of plates, cups, pots and pans, and other kitchenware.

Counter space is adequate, and the attached breakfast bar is small and comes with only two chairs. [Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MAY 26 TO JUNE 3, 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 May 2012 at Walt Disney World, click here.)

[Read more →]

OVERVIEW: DECEMBER 2012 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews Walt Disney World in December 2012: crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, special events, and operating hours; and ends with week by week summaries.

Early December, with lower crowds, lower prices, and wonderful Christmas decorations and events, has the three best weeks of the year to visit.

Later December with Christmas and New Year’s weeks has the highest crowds and prices of the year. Park closings to additional guests are common in this period, as are 8a openings and daily morning Extra Magic Hours.

December also has a special party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, a special evening event–with its own ticket–that has become a family tradition for many.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD IS GOOD FOR YOU

Welcome to those coming from The Disney Point as Magical Blogorail Teal writes about the “Disney Touch”–what makes something Disney.

Today I begin and end with the ducks of Walt Disney World–but really only as a symbol of something deeper.

Walt Disney World is filled with tame ducks.  Why?  Because they are safe there.

And so are you.

As John Hench said about the first Disney park, “the essential message [of the parks] is that there is nothing to fear.”

(Quoted by Charlie Hass in Disneyland is Good for You, 19.)

The sine qua non of the Disney touch is this sense of safety.  It’s the touch that makes every other touch possible.  From safety comes peace and well-being, and from those the ability to play.

THE DUCKS OF WALT DISNEY WORLD

I write this site for first time visitors to Walt Disney World, and so try to see things from their eyes.

This can be hard, though, as I’ve been so many times that what is foreground for first timers can fade into background for me.

One of those items is the ducks.

Tame ducks are everywhere at Walt Disney World, and I’m so used to them that I hardly notice them anymore (except outside of Casey’s Corner in the Magic Kingdom).

They are everywhere, and everywhere they are tame.

Why?  Because they know they are not threatened.

Same for us.  By the effect of design, according to Hench, the emotion of Disney is “you’re going to be OK.”  (Disneyland is Good for You 18.)  But it’s not just safety in the negative sense of the absence of threats.

Rather, as Frank Gehry noted in his introduction to Hench’s Designing Disney, “people respond to design on a deep level.”  It’s safety in the positive sense of “all is well.” This is Hench’s famous “architecture of reassurance.”

THE SENSE OF ORDER AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Hench explains the reassurance effect of Disney by tying Disney to Gestalt psychology and Jungian archetypes.

That explanation is a little too 20th century for me–instead, I see the effects as coming from the evolution of perception and the resulting rewards of our sense of order.

We evolved as both predator and prey, so there was great survival benefit to being able to notice horizontal movement (perhaps prey) and changes in the basic scene (perhaps a predator, stalking us).

Detecting either requires the ability to tell what is stable and what has changed.  And a highly ordered background is so much easier to process for changes than a chaotic background that we evolved to be pleased by visual order–by a scene that could be processed and comprehended easily.

The visual cortex, where much of this processing happens, deeply feeds many of our most basic emotions. This sense of order is part of our sense of safety.

At Disney World, this sense of order comes from composition–what gets called, sometime without much thought, “theming.”

The key to theming is consistency.  Things fit together, and what doesn’t fit is left out (or disguised).  Here’s more Hench:

“…[E]very member of the thing, every facility, agrees on what the place is.  One building recognizes the existence of the other.  There’s plenty of diversity, but there isn’t contradiction.” (Good for You, 17)

More Hench: “The sense of order…works on people, the sense of harmony. They feel more content here, in a way they can’t explain…” (16) Thus “there’s something beyond an amusement park here.  Because it works on people.  It obviously works on people.” (17, emphasis in the original)

As a result, people leave the parks “feeling more self-assured, stronger, alert, and much more alive.” (Designing Disney 1)

Well…not everyone.

Tough crowds and summer heat can sap us all; and Disney World, while very good, is not even remotely perfect, nor is it an exception to the rule that people sometimes screw up a good thing.

The arrows of fortune–perhaps shot by Brave’s Merida–still wound us all, even the ducks, even in the parks.

Yet the essential Disney touch, the composition of Disney World–the theming–gives us a stronger shot at a sense of peace there than the most of the rest of this chaotic world.

MORE ON THE DISNEY TOUCH FROM MAGICAL BLOGORAIL TEAL

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is The Disney FAITHful.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail loop should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

• 1st Stop ~ Capturing Magical Memories
• 2nd Stop ~  The Disney Point
• 3rd Stop ~yourfirstvisit.net
• 4th Stop ~  The Disney FAITHful
• Final Stop ~ Disney-Lovin’ Spectrum Mom

2012 NEW YEAR’S EVE AT DISNEY WORLD

New Year’s Eve festivities will happen on December 31, 2012 at Disney World’s Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios theme parks, and also at the Magic Kingdom on December 30.

The Animal Kingdom has no special New Year’s Eve events.

Here’s the calendar for New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World:

• Epcot is scheduled to be open until 1a on New Year’s Eve; Disney’s Hollywood Studios until midnight for the general public, and 3a for Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests; and the Magic Kingdom is open until 2a
• The Magic Kingdom has Wishes at 8.30p and special New Year’s Eve fireworks at 11.50p
• Epcot has its Illuminations fireworks show at 6.30p and 11.40p, plus DJs in various pavilions. (Note that some good sources have the first show at 7p, not 6.30, but Disney’s calendar still shows 6.30.)
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios will have fireworks at midnight, and several sets over the evening from “Mulch, Sweat and Shears,” a live band
• Note that alcohol is not available at the Magic Kingdom, but is available at Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios

The Magic Kingdom will have the same fireworks at the same times on 12/30. This date will likely be a little less crowded than 12/31.

For more details on operating hours during this week, see this.

DISNEY WORLD PARK CLOSURES ON NEW YEAR’S EVE

[Read more →]