If you already have a trip planned (or are seriously considering a trip) it really might be a good time to buy your Disney World tickets. You can find the best deals on tickets at the TouringPlans tickets price calculator. (Also, as a reminder, some of these 3rd party sellers will have the “old pricing” tickets in inventory for a few weeks after the increase. If you don’t buy your tickets today, you might want to at least check the 3rd party sellers listed at TouringPlans before buying them direct at the new pricing.)
Elyssa and I just got back from a recent trip to Disney World. Though we anticipate doing more in-depth posts about various parts of the trip, here are some initial thoughts:
The location for the new Flamingo Crossing hotels is pretty awesome. It’s too early to really review the hotels themselves (they had opened only a week before our 1 night stay there), but the concept seem promising. I wonder how different it’ll feel when there is more than just 15 people staying in them, though.
Breakfast at Kona is the real deal. Tonga Toast, the Big Kahuna platter, etc…are great. If there’s a day where you don’t want to be waiting at the turnstiles at rope drop, then definitely stop by. (Same goes for Whispering Canyon, where we ate breakfast twice on the trip. Skillets AND giant Mickey Waffles, baby.)
Speaking of “real deal” food options, both Sanaa and The BOATHOUSE are great places to have lunch. Sanaa’s bread service is always good (TIP: You can order more bread for it if you want (and we almost always do)), and the filet sliders are The BOATHOUSE are delicious (and a complete steal at only $12.)
Skipper Canteen was pretty good. We both really liked the theming of the place (but I would have been fine with a few more puns from our “Skipper”.) Once you get past the slightly flowery “garnishes” to the dishes, they really are serving steak, chicken, pork, and mac ‘n’ cheese with beef. My pork was fine. Elyssa enjoyed her mac ‘n’ cheese (but not as much as the mac ‘n’ cheese from the BOATHOUSE which is probably now her favorite thing in Orlando). In an interesting twist, the $1.75 “Kid’s Volcano” dessert tasted better than the $8 Kungaloosh (so we’ll probably just 4 kid’s desserts next time instead of getting “grown up” desserts.)
The construction around the Wilderness Lodge right now is kind of bummer. I knew to expect it, but seeing so much of the resort closed and the trees near Bay Lake being removed is a bummer. I’m sure the new DVC rooms will be nice, but I’m going to miss that little buffer between the lodge and rest of the World that the “Woods View” rooms used to have.
There’s a few running jokes about Elyssa’s and my visits with Tinker Bell, but the cast members who portray her are consistently some of the best we interact with. We had one who must have dropped 15 “leaf” puns in the span of 2 minutes, all while carrying on conversations with Elyssa and I about running, pixie dust, and various other things that she was “tinking” about.
Tink Mode!
I’ll end by saying that the logistics that must go on behind the scenes at a runDisney race have to be insane. So many people getting moved around, running down World Dr., through theme parks, etc… while being provided with various character meets, and other entertainment. It has to be a tremendous effort. Our local races might get choked up if we get 2,000, but Disney handles close to 20,000 really, really well.
As I said, there will be more coming from this trip (hopefully, at least 2 or 3 of the 3,000 pictures Elyssa and I took turn out to be worthy of being included in a few posts), but these are some of the major takeaways from our 5 days down there.
If you’re looking to run the Star Wars “Dark Side” Half Marathon this year, the registration has been temporarily re-opened. There’s no word on how long it will last, so I’d jump on this quickly if you want to do it. (Also, I have to admit, this would be super-tempting if Elyssa hadn’t already booked a Kivus & Camera wedding for that weekend.)
Elyssa and I are back from our latest Disney World adventure. We finished our 10K plus half-marathon “glass slipper challenge”, got to hang out with some of the members of the BOATRIDE club, and had a pretty “magical time” overall. We’ll have some trip thoughts and other posts coming up soon! Thanks to everyone who followed along with on social media.
Okay, that description may apply to some people, but it surely doesn’t apply to Elyssa and I (unless a “runner’s high” means lots of wheezing and wanting to collapse). People who knows us, however, know that this time of year and this upcoming race are very important to us. (See also our Mickey Miles Podcast appearance, Part 1 and Part 2.)
So, if you want to follow us as we head down to Disney World to attempt the Glass Slipper Challenge (a 10K on Saturday morning, followed by a half marathon on Sunday), you can follow us on:
And, if you’re looking for some good Disney-related posts to read over the next couple of days, here are a few that you might want to check out:
Len Testa Tests Budget Hotels Around Disney World – This is Len doing hero’s work. I can’t imagine staying at some of these places (and, apparently, Len couldn’t either), but it’s pretty impressive to see the lengths TouringPlans goes to in order to show people all the options available for a Disney World vacation.
Tom Bricker shares some tips for using Uber at Disney World – Uber has greatly improved the way that Elyssa and I go between certain places, and Tom has one of the best articles about how to best utilize it at Disney World. While you’re at his site reading about Uber, you might also want to check out his review of L’Artisan des Glaces (including some nice pictures of my favorite treat: the Croque Glace.)
Elyssa and I have a big week ahead of us, so we figured we would try to start it off on the right foot…with another edition edition of the Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggets!.
There isn’t a ton of major news to start the week, but the time changes at Epcot might indicate that things are going to be a little over there until for a few months.
Let’s take a look at that and some of the other news:
Permits might show the Route for the AVATAR Boatride. – I know people like to complain about how Avatar isn’t really that popular of franchise, but–regardless of the movie–it sounds like Pandora in Animal Kingdom is going to be really, really cool. Yes, people might not have the same emotional connection to the world as something like Star Wars brings, but that doesn’t mean that Disney can’t make some top-tier attractions out of the concepts.
New Lion Guard Adventure Begins at the Animal Kingdom. – After Wilderness Explorers was such a big hit, it makes sense that Disney is going to try to add some more of those types of “edu-tainment” opportunities to the parks.
Friend of the site, Josh Gonzalez, pointed out that Universal Orlando has raised ticket prices. Since a ticket price increase was expected, and since Disney normally raises its tickets around the same time as Universal, it might be worth considering buying your tickets now for any upcoming trips. The TouringPlans Ticket Calculator is a good place to find out where to get the best prices on your Disney tickets.
With that out of the way, let’s move on to our traditional nuggets!
Two New Outdoor Kitchens added to this Year’s Flower & Garden festival. – La Isla Fresca “with flavors like Jamaican Braised Beef with Pigeon-Pea Rice and Jerk-Spiced Grouper or Chicken with Mango Salsa” sounds pretty interesting. Here’s also hoping that Cider House has some unique hard ciders available to sample.
The Boneyard closing for refurbishment – The popular playground (and place for parents to relax while their kids run around) will be closed from late February until Mid-March.
Disney Springs’ Fulton’s Crab House to lay off 214 ahead of 6-month refurb – They seem to be following the same strategy as Planet Hollywood. What I don’t know about this refurb, however, is what the end result is going to be. Do we really need a steak / seafood place at Disney Springs with The BOATHOUSE already there?
That does it for this edition of the actual “news” section of the News Nuggets, but I’ll leave you with this “Escape to the Magic Kingdom” video from The DIS to help you through your day:
One of the things I enjoy about working on Rope Drop [dot] Net is finding out about new and upcoming resources for Disney information. Though I’m woefully behind on updating the Disney Podcast directory with all of the most recent submissions, one recent recommendation by friend of the site Dutch Lombrowski piqued my interest: Backside of Magic. With the recent departure of the original cast from WDW Today, I have been looking for a replacement Disney podcast that fills that same informative, analytical slot in my playlist, and Dutch’s recommendation was all I needed to give Backside of Magic a shot.
Summary of the Show So Far
To date, there have been 3 actual episodes of the show (and 2 mini / placeholder-type ones.) So far the format of the show seems to be:
A summary of important Disney World news;
“Preposterous Ponderance”, in which one host gives the other host a “preposterous” scenario and asks for his opinion on it (James Rosemergy would be proud); and
The weekly topic.
The first episode’s weekly topic covered resources the hosts, Ryan and Jeremy, use to gather their information. Though probably not earth-shattering information to seasoned Disney travelers, knowing where they get their information helps validate their authority. (Yes, they did mention reading this site. I thank them for that, but it was really Dutch’s recommendation that got me to listen, not any kind of quid pro quo as a result of a site mention.) The second episode was a discussion about certain challenges that might arise when planning a Disney vacation (e.g., how to get Fastpass+ selection for a large group with different check-in days). Again, not particularly Earth-shattering information, but it does hint at the level of detail that hosts Ryan and Jeremy may be able to reach as their show continues to develop.
It was Episode 3, however, when the guys really hit their stride. First, in the news discussion, the hosts extrapolated how Disney’s new dining reservation policy may allow guests to avoid the current “$10 per person” fee one receives when cancelling an ADR within 24 hours of a reservation by applying the same technique that people use to avoid hotel cancellation fees (i.e., extending the reservation into the future, and then cancelling that new reservation). I followed up with the guys on Twitter to get their reasoning on that strategy. Not only did they provide me with a fuller explanation, but also informed me that they tested out the strategy during a previous trip (yes, they offered the disclaimer that maybe Bongos is less strict about its cancellation policy, but seeing that they actually tested out their theory before sharing it left me a very positive impression of the care they put into the show).
The weekly topic, saving money on Disney gift card purchases, was equally enlightening. The hosts provided 4 levels of “difficulty” in getting increasing amounts of discounts on Disney gift cards, and then explained how to apply those gift cards to your upcoming vacation. Even as someone who has previously written about managing Disney gift cards, I still learned a lot from this segment. (That said, I’m still firmly in the “you can’t pay your rent with a gift card” camp, and I encourage everyone to be smart about your gift card purchases when you have other expenses, limited funds, etc…) The segment also made me excited about the tips for saving on airfare that were teased for next week’s show. If that discussion is half as a good as the gift card one, I think it will be a real winner.
Looking to the Future
After listening to 3 episodes, I’m optimistic that Backside of Magic can be a strong entry in the Disney podcast space. Ryan and Jeremy seem to have a knack for making analytical connections related to certain news items, and I’m interested to see how they continue to apply that skill as the show continues to grow. With such a young show, there is plenty of fresh ground they have not previously covered that is ripe for their analysis.
Of course, as Tony Kornheiser tells aspiring radio hosts: “Anyone can do a Monday show. What’s your Thursday show going to be?” In other words, what are you going to do when all the major topics have been talked about. It’s too early in the life of Backside of Magic to know what they’ll do on their “Thursday” show, but if these first 3 episodes are any indication, I think they’re going to be fine.
First, I don’t see this as impacting “traditional” free dining (the one where you actually get some variety of the Disney Dining Plan when you book a non-discounted stay at various resorts) at all. Here are the start dates for free dining in previous years:
2012 – September 30
2013 – September 29
2014 – August 31
2015 – August 28
As you can see, for the past 4 years, Disney has started its actual “Free Dining” promotion multiple weeks after this new “Summer” promotion is scheduled to end. I would imagine that if Disney does a free dining promotion this year, it will, as it has in the last several years, start in late August, after the traditional summer crowd (and this summer dining offer) has ended. I don’t think this summer free dining offer gives any real insight into Disney’s future “Free Dining” plans.
Secondly, I think this promotion is targeted at a very specific group of people, namely: Budget conscious travelers trying to decide between staying onsite or offsite for their summer visit. What leads me down this path is the offer’s limited applicability to only Value resorts. This suggests Disney World has a very specific market in mind.
In order to better evaluate this promotion, let’s look at a 4 night–5 day stay during the Summer Offer period for a family of 4 with two 5-year old children (specifically, staying Wednesday, June 15 through Sunday, June 19th). The non-discounted rate for a standard room during that time at Pop Century is $155 per night before tax (NOTE: Art of Animation Little Mermaid standard rooms are not an option for this Summer Offer). Comparatively, the same family could stay in the brand new SpringHill Suites at Flamingo Crossing for $99 per night before tax. Even if they rent a car for $20 a day plus pay parking for $20 a day (neither of which is absolutely necessary, depending on how they travel to Disney World and what their plans are while there) they have a comparable per night cost at the SpingHill Suites (and that’s before factoring in things like free in-hotel breakfast, money you could save by buying bottles of water at an off-site location, grabbing a lunch at Chick-Fil-A on your way back to the pool instead of at Casey’s Corner, etc…). They could also save over $180 on the price of 4 day Park Hopper tickets by buying from a reputable third party.
Even if it turns out that there is only $200 in monetary savings by staying offsite, that is $200 of real money the family is saving. When you’re talking about a total trip budget of around $2,000, that’s a pretty important amount of savings. I believe Disney’s “Summer Free Dining” is an attempt to eliminate some of that price difference between onsite and offsite stays for guests in an effort to appeal to extremely budget-conscious travelers. It’s Disney’s way of saying something like “if you stay with us, we’ll pick up your lunch bill.”
I understand all the arguments about why staying onsite is the only way to vacation at Disney World. I enjoy the “Disney Bubble” and I love being able to just walk out of my room and take a BOATRIDE, BAYBAY!! over to the Magic Kingdom. I like getting the extra 30 days to make my Fastpass+ selections and taking advantage of some night-time extra magic hours.
But, if my budget for a Disney World trip for my family were $2,000, then those things might not be as important, and saving $100 here or $100 there could mean a lot. I think this Summer Offer is Disney’s attempt to close that off-site v on-site price gap in the budget-conscious market. I’m interested to see how it works.
With the storm taking place last week, it was a good chance for us to put together a pretty significant helping of News Nuggets. The theme for this edition: “changes”. We have closings at The Studios (shocking, I know), as well as other various changes and new entertainment offerings. Let’s get to it!
Lights, Motors, Action! to close on April 2, 2016 – There were rumors about more closures coming to the Studios, and now we have the date for Lights, Motors, Action!’s official closing. The Disney Parks blog post also indicates that “nearby locations will be closing”, but doesn’t specify what those are. On Twitter, WDW News Today suggests those nearby locations include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Backlot Catering Co., Watto’s Grotto, Youse Guys Merchandise, and the Mnnsters, Inc. meet-and-greet (which would seem to make sense.) The big question though: What is going to happen with MuppetVision?
Earful Tower to Come Down – The above mentioned change isn’t all that’s coming the Studios. The iconic “Earful Tower” will also be removed as part of construction. I like the quote that Tom Corless uses in his WDW News Today write up: the tower would be “visually intrusive” to those at Toy Story Land, where “guests are shrunken to the size of toy.” (I don’t put a lot of weight into this rumor that the Disney Springs water tower will actually be the Earful Tower.)
Flights of Wonder at Animal Kingdom to close for refurbishment – A 2 month closure from January 25th until approximately March 17 to add a new roof over the arena. It always stinks to have an attraction down for an extended period, but adding a new roof is probably as good a reason as you can get for why something has to close.
You Can Now Modify Your Disney Dining Reservations – A nice functionality upgrade. I wonder how it impacts the cancellation policy (can I change my reservation to 1 person before cancelling day-of so I’m only charged $10?)
Big Thunder Railroad to be closed for long refurb over Spring and early Summer. – Woah. April 4 through July 15 is a long time for such a premiere attraction to be closed. I doubt this will impact crowds at the Magic Kingdom, but with Soarin’ already down during that time, it’s a big hit to “iconic” Disney World rides.
Seashore Sweets on Disney World’s BoardWalk Scheduled to Close February 1st – I knew that Flying Fish was going under a major refurb, but I hadn’t heard about Seashore Sweets. I’m bummed this place is closing, I have a lot of good memories that involve getting ice cream here and walking around Crescent Lake (and it goes without saying that I really hope it re-opens.)
Menu Changes at the Nine Dragons in Epcot – A few interesting changes, and the $18 per person prix fixed lunch isn’t a terrible price. It’ll be interesting to see the first round of reviews on this.
Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter to get Separate General Managers – This is kind of a small-ish news item, but I think it might result in some improvements to French Quarter as a stand-alone resort. Combine this with being so close to always improving Disney Springs, and I think French Quarter is going to be an even more prime location in coming years.
I’ll finish up this post by urging you to check out a new feature that Josh at easyWDW has been doing: daily wait times analysis. It’s a nice “only at easyWDW” feature that it is worth checking out if you’re into that kind of in-depth analysis of crows at Disney World.
I normally don’t post these “behind the scenes”, “how they made this” kinds of videos, but–after the storm this past weekend–seeing this little bit of the Disney Springs construction made me happy:
Though this video doesn’t really tough on it, I have been extremely pleased with how Disney Springs has been developing. I think it’s going to end up being a “must go” destination when it’s completed.
Though we still haven’t recovered from Monday night, we can’t keep our loyal Rope Drop [dot] Net Readers waiting any longer. It’s time for a new edition of the News Nuggets!
Let’s jump right in:
Zooptopia preview coming to Hollywood Studios – I don’t mind Disney showing these previews, but I am bummed that it’ll be at One Man’s Dream. It’s just another strong indicator that One Man’s Dream is not long for this (Disney) World.
New Menu Items Coming to Sanaa – Grabbing a quick bite to eat at Sanaa really is a nice way to relax during the day. Get a late lunch ADR, have the bread service, and thank me later.
That’s all for this latest edition of the News Nuggets. I’ll leave you with a couple of links to WDW Magic videos of New Year’s fireworks from Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom
I had originally planned to post a News Nuggets update today, but, candidly, I’m too nervous about tonight’s College Football National title game to finalize the post. We’ll be back to our regular programming once we recover from whatever happens tonight. Until then, GO TIGERS!!!
On Wednesday night, the Osborne Lights faded to black for the last time. Thankfully, a lot of our favorite Disney blogs were there to cover the event (and give people like me–who couldn’t be there in person–a chance to see what the Lights were like in their final moments):
Mouse Steps had an excellent photo post, including a video of the show’s final moments:
WDW Magic had a photo post and an epic 10 angle video of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” and the last moments of the show before it went dark:
WDW News Today had a nice written recap and video of the final moments:
And with that, we say goodbye to the Osborne Lights. As I’ve said before, I’m sad they’re going away, and I hope they come back (in some form) some day.
I’m surprised no one thought of this sooner, but Elyssa and I recently joined the guys from Mighty Men of Mouse and Wes James to record a podcast about a recent movie that might have slipped under your radar: Star Wars – The Force Awakens.
All kidding aside, thank you to Mighty Men of Mouse for having us on. It was a blast! (And I bet other podcasts are now going to do shows about this movie.)
Trying to Keep Elyssa from Reacting to some of the Opinions
You can see the Dumbo and Ariel shoes on the New Balance page, and you can see a sneak peak of the Minnie & Mickey shoes right here:
If you want to get a pair of these new shoes at a runDisney event, you should sign up at the NB Virtual Queue as soon as possible for the day you’re attending your event expo. For Marathon Weekend, the NB Virtual sign-up queue timing is listed as:
To begin, runners can sign up at www.NBVirtualQueue.com using your bib number starting Wednesday, January 6th, at 6:00 AM EST, and all other guests can sign up Thursday, January 7th, Friday, January 8th and Saturday, January 9th, starting at 6:00 AM EST each day.
Good luck! (And make sure you ask if they accept any discounts! I know they’ve given us an Annual Pass discount in the past.)
In a move that I don’t find particularly suprising, Disney has extended the display of the Osborne Lights through Wednesday, January 6th, including running the Lights until 10:00pm on Monday through Wednesday. (Frankly, I am surprised it’s only 2 more days. I was thinking they might extend the lights through Martin Luther Kin, Jr. Day or later.)
With 2015 coming to a close, I figured we could sneak in one last edition of Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggests. After the big edition last week, this will feel like a little bit of a down week:
Pixar Short Films Festival Now Open – I was hoping this was just a temporary, holiday attraction, but the amount of work they did to update the theming makes me think it will be there for a while.
New Menu at Jock Lindsey’s – Great rundown of the menu changes from Josh over at easyWDW. I’m bummed that I never got to try the calamari flatbread, though (it’s just regular calamari now.)
Disney Testing Paid Parking at Walt Disney World Resort Hotels – I think I prefer this to the blanket “no parking at the resort without an ADR” policy. I hope it’s something they only implement during busier times, however (and they have special exceptions like late night trips to Trader Sam’s.)
Saratoga Springs might become a higher value DVC – This is an interesting look at how the DVC point charts for 2017 might make Saratoga Springs a more desirable destination. Combine this with its location near Disney Springs and it seems like a pretty good option for DVC members.
This is normally the part of the live streaming post where I encourage people to bypass going to the Disney Parks Blog homepage when looking for the livestreams, and, instead, going to the Disney Parks Live channel on Youtube. Unfortunately, with the last stream, Disney didn’t update that channel page with the video, so my tip may no longer be valid. We’ll have to see how they handle this event.
That said, no matter where you have your New Year’s celebration, Elyssa and I hope you have a great one. (And go Clemson!)
Merry Christmas to all our readers from Elyssa and me (and Fenway!). Thank you for all your kind words and support during our first few months running Rope Drop [dot] Net. We hope y’all have a magical holiday season.
There has been a lot of Disney World news over these last few weeks of 2015. So, let’s not waste any time and get right to this edition of the Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggets:
The Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen is now open! First, I’m glad they went with straight table service, instead of a mix. The menu options and the lack of ADRs are interesting choices. I look forward to seeing some of the reviews about the quality of the food.
Memory Maker gets lower pricing. – I’m glad to see Memory Maker get a price decrease, but it makes the Annual Pass price increase earlier this year a little tougher to swallow. That said, the ability to get photos via the My Disney Experience app for easy social media posting makes Memory Maker a better value than it used to be.
‘Brunch at the Top’ Debuts February 7th, 2016 at California Grill. – Eating brunch at the California Grill would be cool, but $80 a person is pretty steep. Personally, the menu is probably a little too fancy for Elyssa and me. We’ll stick to Whispering Canyon.
Pizzafari now has handmade pizzas! I thought Josh had lost his mind when he said the new pizzas at Pizzafari aren’t that bad. Looking at the pictures in his post, however, I am optimistic about this change.
New Wine Bar coming to Disney Springs – With each new announcement, Disney Springs is becoming more and more of a place you are going to want to visit during your trip.
For these types of events, I normally recommend starting to check the Disney Parks Live Youtube Channel about 20 minutes before the show is supposed to air, and then continuing to reload the page until the link for that night’s event shows up. (You can also search for “Disney Parks Live” in the YouTube app in various media streaming devices if you want to watch on your television.)
Today’s Rope Drop [dot] Net interview is with everyone’s favorite Internet trollpersonality, Howie from Maryland (known to some people as “Howie Berman.”) I think I first “met” Howie during one of the Mighty Men of Mouse listener drafts, but our “friendship” grew on Twitter (where Howie is master of Photoshop.)
If you follow Howie on Twitter, you know that he recently completed an epic trip to Disney World. This interview, however, covers his recent trip to Disneyland, including his thoughts how it differs from Disney World, and a little on why every Disney World veteran should visit it.
Howie from Maryland (picture via Howie)
Two quick notes: First, Howie also did an interview, live from Disneyland, on the Mighty Men of Mouse podcast about this trip. I try to cover different ground than that interview, but I recommend that you give it a listen to get a fuller picture of Howie’s adventures. Second, as always, my questions are presented in bold with Howie’s answers following. I have made minor edits for readability, but have made every effort to not impact the content of the answers
How did you prepare for your Disneyland trip? Was it different than what you would do to prepare for a trip to Disney World?
This trip really fell into my lap. I had known about a work event that could potentially bring me to Anaheim in early October, but didn’t commit until July or so. It was the perfect scenario from a cost and scheduling standpoint. The sponsor of the event paid for my flight and accommodations, and even threw in a 1-day park hopper ticket (I was also able to purchase additional days at a considerable discount). My work commitments were primarily in the morning and early afternoon, so I was free to tour the parks from about 2pm local time until closing (which was sometimes as late as midnight). I would have 3-4 partial days in the parks.
Cozy Cone Motel (picture via Howie)
The prospect of going to Disneyland was a big deal to me (and a daunting one). I had last been to Disneyland in 1999 while living in Los Angeles as a single, childless 23 year old. At that time, there was Disneyland Park and the Disneyland Hotel. No California Adventure. No Cars Land. No Grand Californian Hotel. No Downtown Disney. I was clearly going to be out of my comfort zone.
The first thing I did was add the Disneyland option to my existing Touringplans subscription. I needed to get back to basics and familiarize myself with the current attractions at both parks so I could prioritize, determine which days would be best for each park, and develop solid “half-day” touring plans that would fit my work schedule. I also discovered the DisGeek podcast (thanks to the Earvengers and Mighty Men of Mouse podcasts), which was a great primer for my trip.
Now originally, I had planned to bring my family with me, but it wasn’t in the cards. While I was bummed about not being able to share this adventure my wife and kids, I thought to myself, “You may never get an opportunity like this again, so make it count.” No kids. No debates about what to do to next. Just enjoy the moment. I had to see Toad again (it still kills me that this isn’t available in WDW). I needed to lay eyes on Cars Land. I had to see if the digital projection version of Soarin’ really was that much better than it’s Orlando counterpart. Oh, and I was going to get my hands on paper fastpasses again. Personally, I don’t have anything against FP+, but the nostalgia of the old system was calling my name.
If I was planning a trip to WDW (which I’m actually doing right now), I’d be making dining reservations at 180 days out, booking fastpasses in the middle of the night, maybe booking a tour, and doing a lot of detail work that would make the average vacationer’s head spin. This was going to be totally different. ADRs? I didn’t make one. Snacking was my strategy for this trip — less time eating, more time exploring and getting after it. I didn’t have to worry about FP+. I was really going back to basics.
What were your first thoughts upon arriving at Disneyland (especially after not having visited in over 16 years)?
The minute I was dropped off at the Anaheim Hilton, I noticed immediately that the area had changed considerably since I had last been there. I didn’t recognize it at all (and that was a good thing from what I had remembered of Harbor Avenue.) It was a harbinger of things to come.
I quickly checked in, changed, grabbed a few “essentials”, and made the 1/2 mile or so walk to Disneyland Park to meet up with Wes James, a guy I had never met in person, in a park I hadn’t stepped foot in in more than 16 years. Wes and I had been communicating over Twitter for the weeks leading up to this trip. We decided to do the Mickey’s Halloween Party that night. It made sense for me. For $60, it bought me 8 hours in the park on a relatively low crowd day. I could get into the park at 3:00 pm (three hours before the official start time of the party), and orient myself before Wes showed up.
Armed with a bullet-proof touring plan, I took the left off Harbor and made my way toward the gates. The first two things I noticed along the walk toward bag check were the entrance loop music (Muppets was playing) and a gorgeous view of Space Mountain to my right. I made my way through bag check, hung a right, and was stopped dead in my tracks by the entrance to Disneyland. I was excited. Really excited. I snapped a few photos of the entrance, with its oversized pumpkin decorations, and made my way inside.
Disneyland Entrance (picture via Howie)
Normally, when I go on a WDW trip with my family, we have a pretty good plan in place when it comes to touring. With a 5 and 3 year old, there’s often compromise. We love experiencing meet-and-greets, character meals, and shows as a family. No time for that this go around. Snacks and attractions. That was my mantra and I was sticking to it.
One problem, though. Once I started walking down Main Street, my plan was the furthest thing from my mind. I was in freaking Disneyland…by myself! And I was completely disoriented, so disoriented that my first attraction in 16 years was a trip on the Disneyland Railroad from the Tomorrowland Station…back to Main Street. Clearly, this was going to be a bigger challenge than I had anticipated.
Based on your “live from the park” appearance on the Mighty Men of Mouse podcast, it sounds like you did end up getting back to the “snacks and attractions” mantra. How did you make the transition from your unexpected Main Street return to riding Mr. Toad, Splash, and Alice?
Before my eventful trip on the Disneyland Railroad, I had connected with Wes and we were going to meet up at Splash. Mid-train trip, I had second thoughts. I really wanted Toad to be my first real attraction (obviously, I wasn’t counting the RR trip), so I got off at Main Street, called Wes back with the change of plans and made a bee line for Fantasyland. I waited for a couple minutes outside Toad until Wes showed up. When he did, we bro hugged, exchanged gifts (we’re good like that), and headed in. In the queue, Wes reminded me that he had made Cafe Orleans reservations, but we decided not to use them so we could maximize our party time.
When we exited Toad, we decided to hit a few more dark rides in Fantasyland–Snow White’s Scary Adventure, Pinocchio’s Journey (which might be my second favorite of the classic DL dark rides), and Alice. Fantasyland was starting to get a little busier at this point, so we headed toward New Orleans Square with the intention of riding Pirates. The ride went down while we were in line, so we headed to Splash in Critter Country. I was really interested to see how it compared to the WDW version after all these years. It was also time to get into my Halloween costume.
By now, people who have listened to the podcast know what your halloween costume was, but can you give a little more background on how you came up with that idea? Did Wes know that you were planning to do that?
THE Splash Mountain Picture (image via Howie)
I had originally planned to dress like Lou Mongello, but I didn’t want to pay for teeth whitening strips. When Wes and I firmed up our Halloween Party plans, I thought it would be fun to recreate the Dutch-Lou meet moment from the summer, but it ended up just being me dressing as Dutch when I couldn’t get Wes to take the plunge. (We did, however, recreate the Josh and Dutch moment on Splash from that same trip). (photo attached)
I found a $5 green visor on Amazon and an even cheaper wig at a local party store. I packed a dark blue polo in my suitcase, and I was in business. I didn’t wear the costume into the park. I did the unveil in the Splash queue for full effect. The wig was itchy. I don’t know how Dutch does it.
Based on what you’ve said here and the podcast, it sounds like you had quite the time at Disneyland. Is there anything you wish you’d known about Disneyland going in? What would you tell people who are Disney World “experts” that are preparing for their first trip to Disneyland?
Don’t let the relative “smallness” of Disneyland fool you. You are still going to walk a ton, so make sure you plan just like you would for Disneyworld–wear comfortable shoes, drink lots of water, etc. While it was super convenient being able to bounce from Disneyland to DCA to Downtown Disney, that convenience ends up making you walk more, in my opinion. Disneyland allows for “park hopping” in the truest sense of the term.
The life changing mud pie (picture via Howie)
Try lots of food. Have a snacking mentality. Disneyland offers, in my opinion, some snacks and treats that are far superior to their Disneyworld counterparts–tiger tails and skewers at Bengal BBQ, mud pies at Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land, and pumpkin beignets in New Orleans Square (for Halloween, of course) were some of my favorites. I ate zero sit down meals and regret nothing.
My trip to Disneyland also taught me to value solo touring. I know people feel weird sometimes getting on a ride by themselves (ask Russ Shuttlesworth), but I really embraced it. It was the first time I can remember that I got to see a Disney Park on my terms. I got to call the shots. I got to experience a ton in a short period of time because of that. If you’re faced with the opportunity to visit by yourself and feel little weird, don’t. Own it. I did, and loved every minute of it.
I do want to thank Wesley James for meeting up with me that first night in Disneyland. He really helped set the tone for an awesome experience, and it was great to meet him in person and learn from him all about his “home park.” Wes is a stand up guy and someone I’m happy to call a friend. I hope we get another chance to tour the parks together in the not so distant future.
Can we go back now? (picture via Howie)
Wrap Up
A major thank you to Howie for taking time out of his day to talk with me about Disneyland. If this interview has taught me anything it’s (1) go to Disneyland, and (2) hang out with Wes while you’re there.
If you enjoy hearing Howie’s musings on Disney (and other things), give him a follow on Twitter @HoCoHowie. To finish things off, here are some more of Howie’s pictures from Radiator Springs Racers:
Ready to Ride (picture via Howie)On the Road Again (pictures via Howie)I can’t wait to get on the road again (picture via Howie)
the easy guide to your first Walt Disney World Visit
With the holidays quickly approaching, it seems appropriate to review a book that you may want to consider putting under the tree of your favorite Disney World fan (or, in your own stocking): the easy guide to your first Walt Disney World Visit
Though have I have been fans of both Josh’s work at easyWDW and Dave’s work at yourfirstvisit.net for some time, I initially avoided a book that (by its title) appeared targeted to people who were not Disney World veterans. After getting getting asked “I’m going to Disney World, what should I know?” for the thirty-eighth time, however, I decided I should check and see if the easy guide might be my default answer to that question going forward.
Structure and Organization
NOTE: If you want a complete, super-detailed breakdown of the book, I will refer you to this post by Josh. If you’ve ever read his work on easyWDW you can probably guess what level of detail he goes into.
The easy guide is set up to walk a first time Disney World Vistor through the key decisions that any Disney World Vistor (first time or otherwise) would have to make when planning a Disney vacations, including: when to go, how long to visit, where to stay, how to tour, etc… Each one of those decisions is receives a dedicated chapter that contains a combination of reviews, recommendations, and tips on how to make the decision, and how to execute on that decision once it has been made. For example, Chapter 5, “Where to Stay”, starts by giving criteria you may wish to evaluate when making a decision about which restort to stay in, follows that up with recommendations by Josh and Dave on where they think you should stay, and then provides detailed reviews of all of the Disney World resorts. This structure means the book can be used in two different ways: as a step-by-step “how-to” for first time or inexperienced Disney World guests, or as reference for more experienced people who just want to look up certain information.
The easy guide as a Tool for First Time or Inexperienced Disney World Guests
The easy guide excels as a step-by-step guide for how to visit Disney World. It walks potential guests through the entire sequence of decisions that they will have to make as they are planning their trip, including key decisions such as when to visit Disney World and how long they should stay. The format of the book is great for first time visitors, since each chapter starts with either specific recommendations from authors Dave and Josh about their preferred choices and why they made those choices, or with an explanation of how one should evaluate various options in order to make her own decisions. (For example, Chapter 5, “Where to Stay” features a section entitled “How to Pick Your Disney Resort Hotel” that walks you through how to evaluate the various hotel options against your available budget.) Basically, it allows a first time Disney World guest to start a chapter, make the decision that chapter discusses, and then move on to the next chapter / decision, all in the order that Josh and Dave recommend.
Though first time Disney World visitors might not need to read all of the reference material available near the end of each chapter, the “cheat sheets” found in Chapter 6, “How to Spend Your Time”, are a must read. Anyone who’s ever used Josh’s easyWDW cheat sheets knows that they offer high quality advice on how to plan your day at a given Disney World park. By providing them in a book designed for first time Disney World guests, Dave and Josh have put their readers in a great position to efficiently and enjoyably see all the attractions and other entertainment available at Disney World, even if it’s their first visit.
My biggest complaint with the easy guide as a complete, go-to resource for first time Disney World guests is the sparse explanation on how to setup and use the various functionality found in Disney’s websites and mobile apps. For example, the section on making ADRs (Chapter 7, Where to Eat – Advance Dining Reservations) is only about a page and half of explanation, and does not fully convey the stressful, 6am, mad rush that takes place when trying to secure reservations at certain restaurants. Instead, that information is relegated to a “Disney World To-Do List” at the end of the book (where it could easily be missed by the book’s readers.) Relatedly, the second-to-last chapter of the book (Chapter 9, “How to Setup Everything Up and Get Everything Done”) dedicates only 3 pages to setting up a My Disney Experience account and booking Fastpass+ in advance of a trip. Though there are some very detailed descriptions of how to complete that process, some more in-depth discussion of how to use these systems (e.g., explaining that your My Disney Experience account needs to have reservations and tickets added in order to make Fastpass+ reservations) might be necessary for Disney World novices.
In summary, the easy guide is almost the perfect book to hand to someone who says “I’m thinking about going to Disney World, what should I know?” It will walk her through all the of the decisions she has to make in order to plan and enjoy her vacation. That said, if you are recommending this book to a first time Disney World vistor, you still might want to point out the importance of certain 180-day and 60-day deadlines, and don’t be surprised if you get a call or two asking for a little help when it comes time to the setup and use some of the My Disney Experience-related stuff.
The easy guide for Experienced Disney Veterans
I made a joke once when friend of the site Dutch Lombrowski was on the WDW 4 Families podcast: “Too much discussion about how various attractions matter to families, 1 star.” If you listen to a podcast named “WDW 4 Families,” you can’t really knock it when it focuses on planning a vacation for families. Here, we have a book entitled the easy guide to your first visit to Walt Disney World. You can’t really knock the book if it’s strength is in helping people plan their first Disney World vacation.
Still, I assume people who visit a site dedicated to Disney World might have some experience visiting the resort, and I want to assure those readers that they will still probably find value in the easy guide. First, as mentioned above, this book makes a great resource to hand to people who ask you what they should know when planning their first Disney World vacation, and, if you’re a Disney World veteran, you probably get that question every so often. Second, the book provides a nice collection of reviews of resorts and dining that you can reference when you need to make decisions in your trip planning. If you like Dave’s and Josh’s work on their respective sites, it’s pretty likely that you are going to like their work in the book. (You might also like the little insights from Disney historian Jim Korkis that are sprinkled throughout the book.)
Lastly, even the most veteran Disney World guest may benefit from seeing how two experts in Disney World vacations recommend planning a trip. After years and years of Disney World visits, us veteran guests might be so set in our ways that we never stop to see if someone has come up with a better way to do certain things. For example, take a look at Dave’s recommendations about which weeks to visit Disney World, or at Josh’s most recent theme park cheat sheets, and see if there’s something new you might want to integrate into your next Disney World trip.
The 864-Page Gorilla
Any review of a Disney World guide book must deal (at least to some degree) with how that book compares to the massive Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. As readers of this site are probably aware, the Unofficial Guide is an almost 900 page (three times the size of the easy guide) book that gives its readers a ton of information about Disney World and its surrounding area. Much like the easy guide, it contains reviews of hotels, restaurants, and strategies for touring the Disney World theme parks. It also adds in tons of information about off-site options, transportation (including airport and rental car information), and other Orlando area theme parks (e.g., Universal Studios Florida, SeaWorld, etc…) that you will not find in the easy guide.
After spending time with both books, I think there is room on a Disney Fan’s bookshelf (on in her Kindle) for both of them. They both contain valuable information (though Josh might have an opinion as to which set of touring tips is better) and I have used both of them as a reference at various points since I purchased them. That said, the easy guide is much more focused on presenting the author’s recommendations than providing the huge dump of information that the Unofficial Guide does. Depending on how knowledgable about Disney World you are, you might see that as a benefit or a negative.
If I was picking a book to give to someone who has never visited Disney World before, I’d probably pick the easy guide. If I was picking a book for a Disney veteran, I’d have to know a little bit more about what kind of Disney guest the person was before making a recommendation.
Don’t These Guys Already Have Websites with this Information?
Yes. Dave runs yourfirstvisit.net, and Josh runs easyWDW.com You could almost certainly get all of the information in the book by digging through these sites and putting together your own “guide to a first Disney World visit.” My question is: Why would you? Dave and Josh have put together the information from both of their sites in a convenient, easy to follow structure, that allows first time Disney World guests to walk through all the important decisions necessary to plan their vacations. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?
For people like me who read Dave’s and Josh’s sites on a regular basis, I partially look at my purchase of the book as a way to support people who do good work that I find helpful. I’m not saying I would have bought the book if it was literally cow feces, but knowing that I’m supporting these guys doesn’t hurt.
Summary
The easy guide is a great book for first time (or inexperienced) Disney World guests, since it walks those guests through all of the important decisions they will have to make as they plan their Disney World vacation. Disney World veterans, though not explicitly targeted by the book, will probably also benefit from the information found in the easy guide. In the end, if you’re looking for a Disney World guide book, I recommend giving the the easy guide to your first Walt Disney World Visit a shot.
John 
