Disney has released the dates for this year’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, and it includes 29 parties. The parties start early this year, with Sept 2nd being the earliest party, but they do not have a party in November as they have in year’s past.
A new Disney event has been posted to the Disney website. The details of the event are listed below on the screen shots from the Disney website. As a summary, the park will remain open for 3 extra hours on certain dates (there are currently 7 dates that Disney has listed) for those that are paying to attend the event each night. During the event, many of the “long wait” attractions will be open and character greetings will be available. The event will also include select ice cream novelties and beverages. The total cost of the event is $149 per person. For more details, please see the information below from the Disney website. Continue reading New Disney After Hours Event
The last day was an early day for all, we tried our best to get there early and we almost did. We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 7:45 and the welcome show was already starting. We were not able to get into the turnstiles before “rope drop” but we were pretty close. Since it was an early magic hour, the crowd was much lighter at 8 am then it was the prior day at 9 am opening. It was a great morning as we were able to get a lot accomplished (14 attractions) between 8 am and noon, before leaving for a midday break. The following is a list of the attractions we completed in the morning: Continue reading Disney Day 5- MK last day
We were very excited today to try to get off to an early start. Our friends were going to need to get on the road about midday, so it was very important to get in the park early and get a lot done as fast as possible. We started off the day by getting off the monorail at about 8:30, about 30 minute before the scheduled park opening. As expected, the park opened early, at approximately 8:45. We were not able to get all the way up on the rope as hoped, but we made due.
Rope drop at Magic Kingdom deserves its own blog post, but to keep this short I will explain briefly here. Do to large amounts of guest running at rope drop when Anna and Elsa moved to the Magic Kingdom, Disney instituted an organized walk of sorts to Anna and Elsa’s meet and greet and Fairytale hall. The cast members hold a rope across the tunnels on both sides of the train tracks, and slowly walk guest into the park, up main street, through the castle, and around the carousel. This morning, when the cast members completed the walk around the carousel, the guest following them continued to walk around the stroller parking, while my son, his friend and myself were able to walk through the stroller parking to be the first person in line for Anna and Elsa. Of course, we were not actually the first, because those eating breakfast in the park are already in line before we got there. But a 5 minute wait for Anna and Elsa is about as good as it gets.
This was a great start to the morning as we were really on top of things. Unfortunately this is probably the busiest day that I have ever been to Disney, and the lines got long very fast. The following is a list of the attractions we were able to experience before leaving the park just after noon:
Meet and greet with Anna and Elsa
Meet and greet with Rapunzel and Cinderella
Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
Under the Sea
Space Mountain
After riding Space Mountain, we decided to head out of the park with our friends. They were leaving to go back to Houston and we would have one more day in the park before leaving ourselves. 13 people moving around a crowded Disney World is not something that should be expected to go smoothly, but for the most part, it did. What was more amazing is that 8 out of the 13 were 10 and under. It was a lot of fun and we hope they can come back with us again sometime. The kids had a blast together.
After leaving the park, we went to Disney Springs to walk around for a while. One of our favorite places in Disney Springs is the Ghirardelli Ice Cream shop. We were really looking forward to sharing an Earthquake with our friends, but there really was not any time since we were at the parks so much. We decided to get the earthquake anyway, even with a few less people. The Earthquake is a large Ice Cream platter with 8 scoops of ice cream, 8 toppings, whip cream, and 8 cherries. I originally thought that this would be much too big for 7 of us to share (since 4 were under 8), but it went pretty fast. I am now wondering if we would have needed two if our friends could have joined us.
After eating our ice cream, we went to Once Upon a Toy. Although we let our kids go in the shop on each trip, it is rare we buy anything there anymore, because our kids have been so many times. Since I found the Disney Infinity characters on sale, I decided to let my oldest have one. Of course, that upset my daughter since he already had a lightsaber on the trip and she did not have anything. My daughter ended up asking for a lightsaber, and then my youngest wanted one as well. We had quite an awesome experience at the toy shop building a lightsaber. I was struggling to figure out how to build the Darth Vader lighsaber for my daughter, so we asked an employee for help. I soon began to notice that the employee we asked for help was digging deep into the containers and coming out with the correct piece every time. I was looking at the pieces sitting on top and could not figure it out on my own. Not long after that, I realized that the employee, Erik, was blind. I felt like it was an honor to have his help. I am amazed at how the Lord takes away some of our abilities, but in turn makes our other abilities amazingly stronger. Erik was awesome with helping both Morgan and Mason with their light saber
After leaving Disney Springs, we decided we would take it easy and prepare for an early and possibly busy last day. We went back to our room and wound up with more cool event for the night. As we allowed my daughter to crawl around the room (which she just started about a week ago), we turned and noticed that she pulled up on a high chair and was standing. This was quite a cool moment as my older daughter took her first steps at Disney World five years ago. Disney is definitely in our blood, with one child taking the first steps and now one pulling up for the first time. Family vacations defiantely create memories that last a lifetime.
The trip started the way it always does for my family, with a long overnight drive. This time we did things slightly different. We usually leave late in the afternoon from our home in Texas, make a brief stop in New Orleans to see my parents and drop off our dogs, then race to the park for opening. This trip, we stayed in Houston until Sunday morning. We left fairly early, and spent a half day in New Orleans relaxing and letting the kids play. Our original plans were to leave at 8 pm, but we moved it up to 6:45. The extra time was needed to pick up our cousin near the Orlando airport before heading to the parks.The drive went pretty quickly, until the very end. The last 3 hours were pretty challenging, with my wife and I trading seats several times to take turns napping. Continue reading Spring Break 2016 – Day 1
There are so many things to do and see at Disney World. It is really difficult to come up with a list, because there are so many things to “not miss.” Since everyone has their own separate list of “don’t miss,” I decided to ask my family what activities they like best. Below are our individual list from Tory , Michell, Tanner (8 years old), Morgan (6 years old), and Mason (2 years old).
Top 3 Magic Kingdom Attractions:
Tory
Michell
Tanner
Morgan
Mason
Top 3 Hollywood Studios Attractions:
Tory
Michell
Tanner
Morgan
Mason
Top 3 Epcot Attractions:
Tory
Michell
Tanner
Morgan
Mason
Top 3 Animal Kingdom Attractions:
Tory
Michell
Tanner
Morgan
Mason
Favorite Character Breakfast
Tory – Ohana
Michell – Tuskar
Tanner – Chef Mickey
Morgan – Ohana
Mason – All Character Breakfasts
Favorite Show
Tory – Festival of the Lion King
Michell – Festival of the Lion King
Tanner – Main Street Electrical Parade
Morgan – Fantasmic
Mason – Story time with Belle
Favorite Character Meet
Tory – Characterpalooza
Michell – Baymax
Tanner – Dark Vader
Morgan – Anna & Elsa
Mason – Buzz Lightyear
As you can see by the list created by my family, there are many things to do at Disney and each person has their own favorite. You may have also noticed evidence in our Epcot list that helps explain why that park is not our favorite. One also cannot miss for our family is ice cream at Ghirardelli in Disney Springs. We have also been looking forward to the “Kitchen Sink” at Beaches and Cream, but we have never been able to get a reservation there.
Please feel free to add your comments below to let us all know which are your “cannot miss” activities, shows, and others when you are at Disney World.
When using FastPass+ in the parks, it is always recommended to not book any fastpasses in the first 2 hours of the day. The lines in the park are a lot lighter at this time and the Fastpass+ is usually not needed. It is best to use FastPass+ later in the day when the crowds arrive and lines began to grow long. FastPass+ in the Magic Kingdom is fairly straight forward, there is not a tier structure that is present in some of the other parks.
The following is a list of the rides that you should get FastPass+ for in the Magic Kingdom in order of longest wait times:
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Anna & Elsa Meet
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Storytime with Belle
Buzz Lightyear
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is this most popular ride in the Magic Kingdom. In all our visits to the Magic Kingdom since the Dwarfs Mine Train was open, our family has never been able to secure a fastpass for the Mine Train. The line for this ride is rarely less than an hour. If you are not able to secure a fastpass, make sure you are one of the first people “on the rope” at rope drop and go straight to the ride. After only 5 minutes of park opening, this ride line is an hour long.
Anna & Elsa Meet regularly had waits in excess of 5 hours when they first arrived at Magic Kingdom a few years ago. The waits have reduced significantly, however; along with the Mine Train, this is one of the attractions that everyone rushes to at park opening. If you are unable (or unwilling) to get a fastpass for this attraction, I would plan on watching the ride time throughout the day. I would plan on waiting until the wait time goes down to about 30min. During busier times of year, the wait time expectations may be closer to 45 min for a “short wait” for this attraction.
Peter Pan is another ride in fantasyland that frequently has a really long wait. The line does not grow quite immediately as the previous two attractions. Without a fastpass, you could get in line immediately at park opening without much wait. If you do not immediately get in line at park opening, you should expect to wait no less than an hour for this ride. Peter Pan is definitely a nice ride and a classic, but it is really hard to understand how people would wait so long for a 30 second ride. I personally would either plan on getting a fastpass, riding it first thing at park opening, or just do not plan on riding at all.
The Mountains (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mounatin) are typically not very busy first thing at park opening. If you would like to save your fastpass+ for other rides, you can plan on riding the mountains without much wait within the first two hours of park opening. Space Mountain tends to be a little more unpredictable and should be rode first, or get a fastpass if you only plan on using one fastpass on the mountains. Splash mountain typically gets a long wait as it gets warmer in the day, and may not get much of a wait at all during cooler days.
Storytime with Belle is on the list because it creates a unique dilemma. The wait time is typically low in the morning, but it is not advisable to see in the morning because the attraction typically takes 30 to 40 minutes. It is not a great idea to waste 30-40 minutes in the morning when you could otherwise experience 3 or 4 rides in that time.
Buzz Lightyear is a favorite for my family, but I would not recommend wasting one of your first 3 fastpasses on the ride. After using your first 3 fastpasses, you are able to go to a fastpass kiosks in the park and add an additional ride one at a time. As you can imagine, the rides that are available at this time are normally rides that don’t require a fastpass to ride. Buzz lightyear is usually a ride that is available, but may still have a fairly decent wait otherwise. Another great way to ride buzz is to wait until late in the evening. If you wait until after the parade and fireworks are complete, you can generally ride Buzz over and over again with a wait of 5 minutes or less.
What about parades and fireworks? I have never been one to wait on the curb for hours waiting for a parade, or standing in the middle of Main Street for 30 minutes or more for the fireworks. I have seen people pay $70 a ticket for the Halloween or Christmas party then walk in and sit on the curb for 3 hours to wait for the parade. If you are one of those people, you may want to use your fastpass for parades and fireworks, but I cannot relate. 
Mouse Guide To Walt 