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WALT DISNEY WORLD ROOM DEAL

A new Walt Disney World room discount program covers dates from January 2, 2012 until February 20, 2012, and needs to be booked by 12/21/2011.

Discounts off of standard rates include

• 20% off of All-Star Movies, and 25 percent off of the rest of the value resorts
• 25% off of Port Orleans French Quarter Resort and 30 percent off the rest of the moderate resorts
• 30% off of the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian Resort, and  35 percent off the rest of the  deluxe and DVC resorts

For the official Disney World scoop on this deal, click here. For other discounts, see this.

EASTER 2012 AT DISNEY WORLD

2012 Easter crowds (and prices!!) at Walt Disney World will hit a very high peak in the week beginning March 31, 2012, and be as high for most of the week beginning April 7, 2012.

Try your best to avoid Walt Disney World during these two weeks.

For specific 2012 Disney World Easter events (as they are announced)–ranging from where to find the Easter Bunny at Disney World to Easter Sunday services at Disney’s Contemporary Resort–see this page on MouseSavers.com.

For off property Easter services, see this for places of worship near Walt Disney World.

At Walt Disney World itself, typically Easter services are held in the Fantasia Ballroom at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny greet kids at the Magic Kingdom, and Epcot has Easter Egg hunts.

In addition, many Walt Disney World resort hotels hold “candy scrambles” Easter morning.

Check with your resort when you check in for more details.

[Read more →]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAGIC KINGDOM!

This morning the Magic Kingdom celebrated its 40th birthday.

The celebration was low-key (for reasons Jim Hill speculates about here) but well attended.

The castle forecourt was packed by 9.10a, and by then the stores were sold out of 40th anniversary swag.

Around 9.40 or so, the Main Street Philharmonic began entertaining those in the area of the castle with a medley of songs beginning with Zippity Doo Dah, and later the Dapper Dans joined.

By this point, the special parade was nearing the castle, and the audio shifted to the soundtrack for the special parade.

A parade of characters and songs from prior anniversaries ended at the forecourt, and the characters all assembled there.

Brief, low key speeches, fireworks, an explosion of streamers, and a community sing-along of “When You Wish Upon a Star” were the highlights.

The image on the right includes one of the streamers, and also the special 40th anniversary souvenir park map and button that were available this morning.

For more details on the day, see this.

I can’t hear “When You Wish Upon a Star” anymore without crying, as I am now older than my parents were than they first brought me.

Getting frail and in their 80s, my parents have probably made their last trip to Walt Disney World.

Happy Birthday, Magic Kingdom, and thanks, Mom and Dad.

(This post first appeared as a guest post on
MilitaryDisneyTips.com‘s Patriotic Disney series.  Thanks, Steve, for letting me republish it here in celebration of Walt Disney World’s 40th Anniversary.)

FRONTIERLAND: A MUSEUM OF DREAMS

First, consider birth and death years of three great Americans:

• 1734-1820: Daniel Boone
• 1835-1910: Samuel Langhorne Clemens (that is, Mark Twain)
• 1901-1966: Walt Disney

With just one 15-year gap, these three lives stretch from before the French and Indian wars to the Space Age.

Daniel Boone and Mark Twain both lived and mythologized the American frontier experience; Walt Disney then re-mythologized the frontier into Frontierland, combining the myths of his boyhood with the pioneer and western imagery created by Hollywood.

As Margaret J. King noted, the result is a kind of “museum” for “the most nostalgic images and dreams of a nation.”

The introduction to Frontierland in The Imagineering Field Guide to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is worth quoting in detail:

“Frontierland celebrates the American pioneer spirit. It is the perfect embodiment of the wonder of the unknown and the quest to discover it…Frontierland is often referred to as the most distinctively American statement in all the Magic Kingdom. It lives as a tribute to the pioneer spirit that drove Americans westward…a subject that was as near and dear to Walt as Main Street, U.S.A. and equally connected to the fondest memories from his childhood.” (51-52)

THE GENESIS OF FRONTIERLAND

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THE 2012 SPRING BREAK SEASON AT DISNEY WORLD

The spring break season at Walt Disney World begins a few days before Presidents Day and extends through the week after Easter.

In 2012, that means from February 16th through April 14.

Crowds will be high from February 16 through February 25, and again from March 10 through April 14.  They will be good in late February, early March, and the second half of April.

For the gory details on crowds, see 2012 Spring Break crowds.

Prices will be very high during the same periods that crowds are high, peaking the weeks before and after Easter, and will be high during the lower crowd periods.

For more details on these prices, see 2012 price seasons.

WEEK BY WEEK COMMENTS ON SPRING BREAK 2012 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD [Read more →]

CELEBRATIONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Magical Blogorail Teal is writing this month about Disney Celebrations: anniversaries, birthdays, and such.

Welcome to those of you joining me from The World of Deej and those of you who have just hopped aboard. I am the final stop on our Magical Blogorail.

My Disney Celebration topic–you guessed it–is celebrating your first visit!

FIRST VISIT CELEBRATIONS AT DISNEY WORLD [Read more →]