A Tour of Magic Kingdom - Part 2 (and a quick note on Black Panther and Toy Story Land)

Hi Disney friends,

My last post began a series of tours around the different Walt Disney World parks and today I am going to move to Andventureland.

Adventureland is home to some of the more iconic rides when you think about the Magic Kingdom. The Jungle Cruise & Pirates of the Caribbean are two rides that you will find in this area. When Walt Disney created the first Jungle Cruise in Disneyland he actually wanted it to be a serious ride. However when the tour guides started making jokes the ride gained popularity and now jokes are a common part of the ride. Also, staying with the jungle cruise the rumors are coming out that they will start making the Jungle Cruise movie starring The Rock this summer. For those of you who are Weird Al fans, I hope that the Rock's character is named Skipper Dan. (https://youtu.be/a0cCRRFi1aA)

Pirates of the Caribbean is just down from the Jungle Cruise. After the success of the movies, the ride actually closed down and remade to have Jack Sparrow characters look more like Johnny Depp.

For the kids, there are the Magic Carpets of Aladdin but be careful heading that way you'll need to keep an eye out for the spitting camel.

In terms of food, there are numerous quick service/counter service locations here.

Now just a couple of side notes about two pieces of Disney news that came out today. First, Black Panther is on track to be a record busting film. Current projections from boxofficemojo.com have the films weekend's gross coming in behind only the 2 Avengers films. It should easily become the highest grossing film in terms of opening weekends for the month of February. Later in the weekend, I will bring you more data on the film.

Also, I will speak more on this in later posts when I get to Hollywood Studios, but Disney announced that Toy Story Land will be opening on June 30, 2018.

A Tour of Magic Kingdom-Part 1

Hi Disney friends,

In my last post I shared with you what a “normal” day may look like for my family. I also shared we make our decisions based upon which park has extra magic hours in the morning. Some of you may not care and you just want to go to the park you want to go to. So with that in mind, I am going to start a series on the different parks at Walt Disney World—and this may take a while. Along with breakdowns of what is in each park and most parks will have multiple days, I will try to share interesting tidbits about each park.

Since it is the oldest and most iconic, I will obviously begin with the Magic Kingdom which is actually broken down into 6 areas: Main Street USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland (the last 5 are listed in order of moving counterclockwise around Cinderella’s Castle.) Cinderella’s Castle which is the iconic center if the park stands at 189 feet tall. By using forced perspective where items at the top are built smaller than normal, it give the sense that the castle is taller. The reason for the height is that Disney imagineers had to build the building less than 200 feet tall or else it would have had to have a blinking light at the top to warn aircraft of the height and that was not something that Walt Disney wanted. (Also, the urban legend that the castle can be dismantled in case of a hurricane is incorrect.)

Cinderella's Castle at Night--Waiting on Happily Ever After Fireworks Show

Main Street USA, which is based upon Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Missouri, does not have any rides, but houses many stores and food locations. Casey’s Corner is known for its hot dogs and throughout the day various “shows” take place on the “road.” You can also use the entrance to the park to get on the Walt Disney World Railway for stops around the park. You can even get a haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop.  Just as you leave this part of the park heading towards Adventureland, you can stop into the Crystal Palace (Advanced Dining Reservations are highly suggested) for a meal with Winnie the Pooh and some of his friends. A couple of other notes: the second floor windows have names of some real individuals for Disney’s past as a way to honor their importance to the development of Disney. Also, it is a great place to watch the nighttime fireworks displays on Cinderella’s castle.

Main Street USA Train Station

I will admit that these posts will not come close to doing the parks there justice. There is just so much to take in that it is hard to describe what the park is like, but I will try to give you a taste of some of the things you can expect to see if you visit the park. If you need help planning a vacation to Walt Disney World, please let me know by emailing me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com and I will be honored to help you plan a magical vacation.

A "Normal' Day in the Parks

Hi Disney friends,

I know I have thrown a lot at you in the past few posts regarding planning your Walt Disney World trip and I hope I not overwhelmed you. If you feel overwhelmed and you still want a to go, please shoot me an email at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com and I will help you through the process.

Now, for this post, I want to share with you how my families day goes (this will be generic.) We plan to hit the park that has extra magic hours in the morning. Since we are getting moving early, we generally eat something simple (a bar type item) before we leave the room. Be getting to the park early, we are able to get to rides with just people who are staying on site. We are able to get multiple rides in before the crowds hit. We also plan our fastpasses for that park for the morning. Fastpasses are only available for hours when the park is open to the general public.

At this point, we are ready to take a break and eat lunch (probably a table service meal for a little longer time to rest.) Sometimes this is a slow process since many people break for lunch around the same time. At this point we decide whether or not to push and stay in the park or head back to the room for a midday break. Most of the time we do take advantage of the break and hit the pools or walk around and admire the theming of the resort.

Then we will head back to the parks and grab a quick service meal and take in one of the nighttime shows and maybe hit a couple of more rides. This does keep from getting so run down during the vacation. I know some people just go-go-go, but I am there partially to relax.

I hope this helps in your thinking about your magical vacation. If you need any help, please let me know. Also, if you have any specific questions that you would like answered, please let me know.

Beginning of the "river" that flows into the pool at Wilderness Lodge

Packing for Walt Disney World

Hi Disney friends,

This series of post have been focused on planning for a trip to Walt Disney World. I have not focused on a specific time of year because that will be determined by your needs and more than likely school schedules.

What I want to do here is talk about how I go about planning which clothes to pack for a trip to Walt Disney World. I will admit that I do have one advantage over some of you in that I drive to the park. Many people who live within about 12 hours tend to drive because of the costs associated with flying. The reason I say that I have an advantage is that I do not have to overly rely on limits to the amount of clothes/items that I can pack. Now I still have to take into account that what I pack does have to fit in our vehicle.

The point of this is that I get asked many times about the weather. I will admit that I am a weather nerd and enjoy keeping up with what is going on in the environment. However, I do not start preparing to pack clothes until about 1 week before a trip. At that point, I begin looking at multiple websites and averaging the different temperature and rain forecasts. The reason I wait until about 1 week is that up until that time, the different sites may have vastly different predictions, but about 1 week before a trip, the variances between the sites shrinks dramatically.

Now, for a few points about the weather. It will be hot and humid in the summer. A couple of items to pack for the summer are rain ponchos and sunscreen. Many people will get sunburned in Orlando if they are not prepared. The winter can vary greatly.  This past January, the temperature actually dropped below freezing for one night and was in the 70’s 4 days later so layers are important.

I hope this helps you prepare for packing, which may be one of the most stressful parts of the pre-trip. There are stores nearby in case you forget an item or two and there are shops at all of the resorts, but the less time you spend on items that you can pack ahead of time, the more time you have to do what you want to do. If you need any help or just want to keep up with Disney, please email me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com or visit my google+ page https://plus.google.com/communities/111981664285147051843?sqinv=N3Z0UGZ0cmxwb2dqSEEyOXFiYk9IamVMZGwxdU1n

Purchasing Walt Disney World Tickets

Hi Disney friends,

My last posts have centered around the parts that need to be planned ahead of your vacation to Walt Disney World—fastpasses and resort choices. I have also looked at the costs of choosing to purchase a dining plan. Today, I want to talk about tickets for your stay.

Generally, most people get the number of tickets that coincide with the number of nights that they plan on being at Walt Disney World. A couple of issues come up with this. One issue centers around whether or not to get a ticket for the day you arrive or the day you leave. That is a personal decision, but I would think if you were going to be getting to Walt Disney World early in the day, then you would want a ticket for that day. You are allowed to enter the park even if you have not checked in to your resort (assuming you are staying on site.) On the day you leave, you would probably not have an opportunity to use a ticket (unless you have a flight late in the day or you are driving and will be leaving late.) Another question you would need to ask yourself is whether or not you might want to spend one day just hanging out at the resort or heading over to Disney Springs. In all honesty, if you are staying for more than 5 days, the price for a 5 day ticket and 6 day ticket is not vastly different.

The other thing to think about is whether or not you would want to purchase the park hopper option. The park hopper allows guests to enjoy more than one park per day. Depending on how many days of tickets you get the price can vary between about $65/ticket (2-3 days) or $80/ticket (4+ days.) The price is not per day, it is per ticket, so for longer stays is seems to be more financially feasible. The nice thing about the park hopper is flexibility. I have use the option to see multiple fireworks shows in the same night. Also, if a park is open early and you want to hit that park and then head over to a second park that may have lower crowds, that is also an option.

If you have any questions about tickets, please let me know and I will be glad to help you figure out what will work best for your needs and budgets. Just email me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com. Again, thank you for reading my posts and I hope that I am being helpful.

Disney Box Office Weekend Numbers (looking ahead to Black Panther)

Hi Disney friends,

The weekend is over and the 2 Disney films are still in the top 25. Coco for the first time since it opened at Thanksgiving dropped below the $1 mil mark for a weekend but it still has grossed enough worldwide that it is the number 95 film all time on a worldwide basis. It is also only $100,000 behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The other House of Mouse film in the top 25 is Star Wars: The Last Jedi which grossed over $1.2 mil for the weekend. It is still hanging at number 9 all time on a worldwide basis and is still the number 1 film for both the domestic and worldwide markets for 2017.

Next weekend sees the release of Black Panther and things are looking bright for the newest Disney/Marvell release. The numbers are growing for projections but to put it in perspective, according to Fandango, Black Panther is outselling all of the other Marvell films in ticket presales. Here are some numbers that the film could be aiming for.

Deadpool largest 3 day February opening at $132,434,639.

Iron Man 3 3 day opening $174,144,585. (the largest opening of the Iron Man series)

Thor: Ragnarok 3 day opening $122,744,989 (the largest opening in the Thor series)

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 3 day opening $146,510,104.

We will see how high this film can go.

Thank you for letting me share my love for Disney and films with you.

Brian

Planning Fastpasses at Walt Disney World - Part 3

Hi Disney friends,

I come to the last post in the series of planning fastpasses, and I wanted to spend time talking about how my family goes about our plan for a day in the parks in regards to booking our fastpasses. For starters, we stay on site, which means we are able to book at the 60 day window which allows for more opportunity to book rides. There is one thing to remember though, when the window opens at 7am eastern, some rides have already had people booking them, because when you stay on site, your 60 day window includes up to 7 days of the trip. That means that if your window opens for a trip on a Monday, you are able to book through the following Sunday (again if you are staying on site.) Therefore, some of the times may not be the best, but if you start early you should be able to get what you want.

What we do is try to plan on going to parks with extra magic hours in the morning. Since we are staying on site, we are able to ride rides one hour prior to the official opening of the park. At EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, we book one Tier 1 ride for as close to opening as we can get and then 2 tier 2 rides as soon after that as we can (they will not let you overlap times.) We get to the park for extra magic hours and hit the other tier 1 rides if we can. Then as close to opening, we head over to our first fastpass ride (tier 1.) Once we have checked in, there is still some waiting, we will try to go to our other 2 rides and move them up and finish them as fast as possible so that we have the option of booking other fastpasses for later in the day. If most of the fastpass options are gone, we will book one of the fireworks shows that have fastpasses (Illuminations at EPCOT, Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios, or Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom.)

So a typical fastpass day for EPCOT may look like:

800 am Test Track (at rope drop—not fastpassed)

900 am Soarin (as soon as booked through start trying to move times up for other rides)

1000 am – 1200 am Journey Into Imagination with Figment and Mission: Space

Then we are free to do other things.

A quick not about Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. The ride is so popular that early morning times are booked out when you get to your 60 day window. Therefore, you can plan a late day at the park or book from the end of your trip (book the ride for the last day you are in the parks) and then back up to other rides. When my last trip occurred, I was able to FOP at 630 pm on the third day of our trip and I booked fastpasses at 702 am when my window opened.

Walt Disney World does not have tiered rides, but 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight are 2 of the more popular attractions and book relatively quickly.

I hope this helps you in any planning you have coming up for a trip to Walt Disney World and again if you need any help booking a Disney vacation of any type, please let me know at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

PS: There is one disadvantage that I can think of when using fastpasses—you do miss out on some of the more interesting queues for some of the lines. An example is that in Space Mountain in Magic Kingdom, there are games to play if you are in the nonfastpass line—but you are moving faster—so in the end, it is about tradeoffs.

Part of the queue at Flight of Passage