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Know Before You Go - Your Next Disney Trip

Know Before You Go – Your Next Trip To Disney

March 24, 2021

Many people are heading to Disney for spring break, so I researched things you should know before your next trip to Disney. It will be much different from past trips. It was this time last year that we were planning to take our family vacation to Walt Disney World for spring break. We weren’t able to go because of the pandemic, so now we are getting excited as we prepare for a new adventure this year.

A year later, I am grateful that we are able to traveling by plane again to visit our favorite place. I have been working so hard with very little time off and really need an escape. We have traveled by car for vacation last summer; but we are in need of our Disney fix.

Pack Your Masks

This is the biggest change that is strictly enforced on all Disney properties. You must wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth, and you cannot wear bandanas, gators, or masks with a vent.

There are a lot of cute options around that you can choose from to coordinate with your attire. I found some great KN95 masks to use on the plane from Amazon. I also found a lot of cute Disney masks from various Etsy shops that support furloughed Disney cast members.

Pack several masks to use throughout your day in a zip lock bag to keep them clean and also bring a bag to put the used masks into. It’s also a good idea to bring some disposable masks to keep on hand. When you return to your hotel, you can wash them and hang them to dry for the next day.

Expect Different Experiences

If you have been to Walt Disney World prior to the pandemic, things are much different now than they were then. While some things may not be available like they were in prior years, there are some nice additions and modifications to what you may have been used to.

Riding Attractions

Prior to going to Disney, many people would make their dining reservations and fast pass selections. They are fun things to do as part of your pre-trip preparation. With the parks operating at a 30% capacity right now, they are not offering the ability to book a fast pass. The current wait times for several major attractions are an hour at the longest for the most popular big attractions.

Events That Are Taking Place

During these current months until July, Epcot is hosting the Taste of Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival like they have in previous years. This year it is running the longest it ever has, now ending on July 5. This event will still offer the different outdoor kitchens with wonderful food from various locations around the world.

Some live entertainment shows are taking place throughout the world showcase during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. From concerts in the America Garden Theatre, to the Jammin’ Gardeners at the Canada Mill Stage. This festival is one of my favorites that takes place in Epcot.

Events That Are Not Taking Place

Fireworks and parades are still on hold at this time. I don’t know yet when they will return. I was hoping they would be back for the summer; but it could be wishful thinking. But in lieu of the traditional 3:00 and night time parades, there are cavalcades that pop up throughout the parks with characters and singing that you can still enjoy.

Live entertainment like the many live dancing and singing shows in Animal Kingdom are currently on hold. But I do have some good news! The Festival of the Lion King will be coming back to the Animal Kingdom during this summer.

runDisney is also not holding their races at this time. The Star Wars Dark Side race weekend usually took place in April; but this year it is now converted to a virtual race. The next race in line is the Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend; but we have not heard anything about registration or if the event will even take place this year.

That leaves us with marathon weekend registration. This too, is usually the time of year that the registration opens up for the popular race weekend. As of today, there is no mention of the 2022 race weekend at all.

Anything that involves getting a large crowd together in one tight space is understandably not a wise idea at the present time. But there is an end in sight, and I’m anxious for new changes and openings to happen throughout the year.

Modifications at the Parks

The first, most important thing to note is the change to how and when you can visit one of the four theme parks. You must have a room reservation, an annual pass, or purchased tickets in order to make a reservation for the theme park you wish to visit. This means you have to plan your trip before taking the trip. You can’t come and go to any park you want anymore.

Park Hopping is still allowed; but you can’t leave your park and enter another park until 2:00 p.m. You have to check which park will allow entry to park hop to by checking the Park Hours calendar and the My Disney Experience app. It’s important to realize that the entry to the second park depends on the park’s capacity limitations. You will be notified in real time via a push notification from the My Disney Experience app.

Hotel Accommodations

Not all of the hotels are open yet. The remaining hotels that are not open yet are listed below with their projected opening dates. In addition to this list below, the Boardwalk is also closed at this time without a reopening date.

May 30, 2021	Disney’s Beach Club Resort
June 6, 2021	Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Summer 2021	Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

When you arrive to your hotel, you will have a more touch less experience. Your magic band or the My Disney Experience app can be used to unlock your room. You can use online check-in and direct-to-room service for information about your room. When you receive a notification that your room is ready, you can go directly to the room and you don’t have to stop at the front desk of your resort.

You have to wear your mask at all times when you are not in your room. This also means walking to the pool and at the pool deck. Once you are seated in your chair or swimming, then you can remove your mask.

Dining

You can still dine at many of your favorite restaurants, but there are no longer buffets and self-service stations. The dining plan is no longer being offered by Disney. Buffets are now family style options; and self-service items such as beverages and other options are now served by cast members instead.

At quick-service restaurants, menus are displayed on signage, and you can also pre-order using mobile ordering. At table-service restaurants, you can scan a code with your mobile device to access the digital menu.

The My Disney Experience mobile app now offers a mobile check-in option for select table-service restaurants at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Guests receive a push notification on their mobile device when their table is ready; they can also begin the check-in process by scanning a QR code located in the restaurant’s lobby. (Matt Stroshane, photographer)

There is no longer a dining plan available as there was in the past. You can continue to make reservations to your favorite locations ahead of time. Tables in Wonderland is also not being sold at this time; but they are honoring the discounts with the program for members who had one prior to the closure.

Masks are required in the dining location, even as you wait for your food to arrive. Once you begin eating, then you can remove your mask.

Are You Planning A Trip To Disney this Year?

There appears to be a light at the end of this year long tunnel and more opportunities are opening back up again to allow us to experience the magic of Disney. It’s what you make of it, so remember to have a open mind and patience for the modifications that have been made to keep us safe.

Click here for more detailed information from Walt Disney World regarding their Covid precautions. Please feel free to reach out to me for any questions you may have before I go! Don’t forget to follow my adventures on my Facebook and Instagram stories!

How I Feel About The Disney Closures

March 13, 2020

Disney will be closed. All of the parks and the cruise line will not be open for business for a period of time. When they will reopen is still an unknown. Wait, what? Let that sink in for a minute. I’m sharing how I personally felt when I started hearing the news about the multiple Disney closures.

The Phases Of The Disney Closures

Asia

When the outbreak of COVID-19 started in Asia, the parks in Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland had to close. In all honesty, I think we all expected that. Because those parks are on the other side of the world, it was out of touch for me. It didn’t really affect me.

Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland closed during the last week of January due to the outbreak of the virus. It is still unknown when they will reopen again.

As of Thursday morning, we all weren’t sure what was going to happen here in the United States. Throughout the day, more and more news updates were coming across my phone about school closings in my state. As the alerts were increasing, we knew there was a chance our schools were going to close for at least two weeks.

What did this mean for us? It meant that the kids would most likely either have online schooling for 4 hours a day; or, they were going to have packets of work to do without a school check-in and they will need to make up the time somehow. Our family has a vacation booked in the near future. We don’t know yet if we will be going on that vacation.

California

Disneyland announced in the late afternoon that they were closing until the end of March. That’s when I thought, “ok, it’s serious”. I knew it was serious all along; but people were still talking about business as usual in every other area except school. I kept thinking, will we still be able to take our trip? Will Walt Disney World close? Is it worse in CA than it is in FL? Do we even want to fly or be in Disney during a time like this.

Florida

Then a few hours later Walt Disney World and the Cruise Lines were halting operations until the end of March. In my opinion, that was big. I also felt it was important. People needed to see the seriousness of the matter. I think we were in the “if you give an inch, they will take a mile” mentality. Places were closing; but people can still go out, travel, drive, shop, go to the movies, and more.

Paris

Disneyland Paris is following the same schedule as Walt Disney World and they will be closing effective, Sunday, March 15 through the end of March.

How can you control a pandemic if people are still going on vacation to places with large congregations of people from areas all over. Sure, closing schools will help reduce the spread of the virus; but if you take the kids out of school and then take them somewhere else, it defeats the purpose.

The Emotional Impact of Disney Closures

When I heard Disneyland was going to close, I held my breath. I assumed that the number of cases being discovered in the West Coast were higher than those on the East Coast so they were starting there first.

When it was announced that Walt Disney World was closing, and that the cruise line was halting operations, I got the sense like Disney would set the precedence for other large businesses in their industry to follow suit.

I Have To Be A Grown Up

We also got official word that our schools were going to be closed but we didn’t know when or how they would make up the time. This meant we have to make some grown up decisions about our vacation around the kids’ school schedule. They are older now and we can’t just take them out for our selfish wants to spend time with them. So we are going to have to find an alternative time to go on our trip.

There was also talk about post-vacation quarantines. So if we were to take the kids out of school for a trip, they may need to be quarantined for an additional 14 days. It’s a no-brainer.

We had a family meeting with the kids over dinner and talked about it all. We told them that with everything going on and so many unknowns, that our vacation will most likely be impacted and we will have to reschedule it. But we will do whatever we can to make the time we are spending together at home a positive experience, and we will have time for vacation as a family as well. We will work it out.

I was very impressed at how the kids handled the news. I expected more emotion or disappointment from them. My daughter was a little emotional about not being able to go to school for two weeks, and my son seemed a little relieved. I think he was needing a break from the heavy workload of homework. He even said on Wednesday that he was looking forward to Spring Break, and I got excited when I heard him say that because I knew we had a surprise for them.

What About….

The runDisney Star Wars Half Marathon Races

It’s still unknown what the status of the race weekend is. You can join my Facebook group for current updates on this race status.

Annual Passes and Tickets

Disney is adding the number of days closed to the expiration date of your existing annual pass.
If you have unexpired multi-day theme park tickets with unused days, or dates during the closures, they will be automatically extended to December 15, 2020.
After Hours and Early Morning Magic tickets are being refunded automatically. See the graphic below for more info.

Vacations Booked

The resorts and Disney Springs are still open.
You can modify or cancel a reservation up to your original check in date for a refund.
All cancellation fees up through June 30, 2020 will be waived.

What Can We Do During The Disney Closures

When Lou Mongello went live from Disney’s Beach Club on Thursday night, I started a watch party. A lot of people joined. We all wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to know what the vibe was like. Were people panicking? Was there still music playing in the parks, and people were strolling along Main Street with their family and having their “normal” vacation? What’s it really like?

Lou went live from The Beach Club in the Breezeway with a few of his friends and his wife. They were walking out of Epcot for the day and he just felt at the moment that he needed to go live. So they sat down and hit the Live button. Lou began sharing why he was going live at that moment and he was feeling emotional. That made me emotional.

There was some shock and awe when the Disney closures were happening. I felt like someone was taking away my favorite toy. Even if I am not there now, I have friends who go there often. I live vicariously through them as I watch and share their live broadcasts. If you know me, you know how much my family and I love Disney. But if it is closed, we can’t go, and our countdown changes, and everything feels out of whack!

It was the human component that was sinking in for me. People were sick and dying. It was because an illness is being spread, and Disney is a place where MANY people congregate. It’s just too risky for everyone. The cast members, the visitors, those traveling to and from there. So I don’t think it was a bad decision to close. It just comes with lots of different emotions. Especially for the groupies like us.

If our favorite place, the place we call home, the place that brings us joy and pleasure has to close, then things must be pretty bad. They aren’t just closing for the day either. They will be closed until the end of March, and anything after that is yet to be determined. Whoa.

As Lou was chatting with us online and with the folks sitting with him in the room, we all felt the need to be together online. We all have this common bond with our love of Disney, but we are also people who care about other people. As US citizens, we needed to be responsible in helping prevent this disruptive virus from crippling the world even worse than it already was.

What Can We Do Now?

Share the good news. Find the silver lining. I already saw some good news coming out of Disney. Disneyland Resort is donating excess food during the temporary closure.

Host your own online events!

I will be going live with my family every day to share what we are doing during our time at home. I also have some creative ideas to bring us all together virtually. I’ll be sharing more on that soon! If you have a shared interest with others, get online, talk about it! Sometimes just saying things out loud to other people helps make you feel better.

How do you feel about Disney closing? Share your comments below!

Traveling with Grandparents to Walt Disney World

May 10, 2017

I travel with my parents to Walt Disney World every January for marathon weekend. Here are some tips from my guest blog post at the Mouse For Less about traveling with grandparents. It’s kind of like the days when you were touring the parks with your toddlers. They need to take a break sometimes and sit in the shade and have a snack, or in my parents’ case, a cup of coffee!

More Inspiration For runDisney Marathon Weekend 2017 – Mike Green

January 3, 2017

The next inspirational athlete who will be running the runDisney Marathon Weekend 5K is Mike Green from Houston TX.

Mike is a U.S.military veteran and retired police officer of 25 years who recently found a new, rewarding way to serve his community and stay healthy at the same time. By participating in the YMCA’s Enhance®Fitness program made possible by a Cigna Foundation grant, Mike has improved his health, increased his strength and endurance which opened the door for him to discover and achieve new goals. In recognition of Mike’s milestone, this January, Mike will participate on Team Cigna in the Walt Disney World® Marathon Weekend 5K. As part of Cigna’s commitment to the health and well being of people at every stage and phase of life, Cigna is sending Mike and his wife to the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, an annual 4-day event that combines family, fun and physical activity, to be an ambassador for the EnhanceFitness program.

“After I retired, without a way to serve my community I felt lost. My health was also not at an optimum which added to my challenges.” Mike took three different blood pressure medications to manage high blood pressure and manages post-traumatic stress disorder, a disability from war. That’s when Mike, a longtime member of his local YMCA, decided to make his health a priority and turned to his community at the YMCA and friend, YMCA associate director, Lharrisa Jacobs, for support and ideas how to achieve his health goals.

“Earlier this year I joined the EnhanceFitness program at my YMCA provided through a Cigna Foundation grant. By keeping myself healthy, increasing my strength and endurance in the EnhanceFitness program, I’m now able to compete in community 5K runs for charity to help raise money for education scholarships and other community causes,” said Mike. He also mentors other participants in the program as a way to give back.

“Through EnhanceFitness, I feel better, have more energy and have new and rewarding ways that I am able to continue serving my community.”EnhanceFitness is a proven community-based senior fitness and arthritis management program designed to help improve health of older adults through increased physical activity and strength exercises in a fun, social environment. EnhanceFitness is nationally recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Council on Aging and several other federal agencies.

Measurable health improvements like reduced risk of chronic disease and falls are benchmarks tracked and results of the EnhanceFitness program. Mike is one of 13,569 EnhanceFitness participants.As a result of participating in the EnhanceFitness program at the Greater Houston YMCA, Mike’s blood pressure is now within a normal, healthy range; his doctor reduced his blood pressure medication from three pills to one and Mike is no longer pre-diabetic. Mike’s improved core strength and balance empowers his independence and enables him to walk with stability and confidence across uneven ground and sidewalks without his cane, and he no longer needs to wear a brace on his left ankle. Since joining the program, he reports no falls—a marked improvement.

“The Cigna Foundation has been the stronghold for the EnhanceFitness program at the YMCA. Cigna Foundation’s support of the EnhanceFitness program along with the dedication of the YMCA instructors have helped me get to this point,” said Mike. The Greater Houston YMCA is one of two YMCA’s in the U.S. to launch the EnhanceFitness program earlier this year as a result of a Cigna Foundation World of Difference grant. The classes are specially tailored to support health and well being for older adults. This isn’t one-size-fits-all. Members are encouraged to participate at their level, and the instructors are trained to know how to support individuals’ ability levels and meet them where they are.

“The Cigna Foundation is dedicated to helping individuals live healthier, more secure lives; and for our seniors that means healthy aging through physical, mental and social well-being,” said David Figliuzzi, executive director of the Cigna Foundation. “We’re proud to partner with the ‘Y’ to help seniors in Philadelphia and Houston become more active, energized and empowered for independent living through the EnhanceFitness program.”Mike shared, “When Lharissa invited me to participate in the 5K at Disney World on Team Cigna,I was very excited to have this opportunity. I’m looking forward to representing the YMCA and hopefully inspiring others to keep achieving your goals and discover new ones.”

Mike supports other EnhanceFitness members along their journey to success.“I tell other members, be dedicated to the program and it will be dedicated to you. Do what you can, and you will get there.”After Mike crosses the 5K finish line in Walt Disney World, he looks forward to accomplishing new goals like running in community 5Ks to raise money for educational scholarships, and mentor other members in the EnhanceFitness program along their road to health and wellness.

2017 runDisney Marathon Weekend Race Inspiration – Nicole Gaines

January 2, 2017

This year, as in several years past, Cigna is the sponsor for the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. I had the pleasure of being invited to the blogger meetup event taking place this weekend. Prior to the races this year, I want to share some inspirational stories with you to give you some encouragement if this is your first race, or maybe your 50th race. Nicole is part of Team Achilles, which I also volunteer for. I hope to meet Nicole in person this weekend.

Nicole hiking Mt Ellinor after concussion

The first story I will share with you this week is of Nicole Gaines. Nicole is a Cigna customer and Achilles athlete participating in the Walt Disney® World Marathon 5K. Nicole Gaines, 33 years old from Troutdale, Oregon, is an active mother, wife, and registered nurse whose passion is caring for infant patients in the NICU and family birth centers patients. When she isn’t caring for patients or spending time with her family, you’ll find Nicole on the mountain slopes volunteering on ski patrol or teaching wilderness medicine to mountaineers and skiers.

But, on January 8, 2016 her active lifestyle came to a halt when she suffered a traumatic brain injury during a skiing accident. Nicole was also left with sustained injuries to her (left/right) shoulder and bicep tendon. In the days following, she went to an Urgent Care center and started physical therapy, but six weeks later when her symptoms of not being able to keep her balance, stay focused or have a coherent conversation persisted, she saw a concussion specialist who did an MRI and diagnosed her with post-concussion syndrome.

At work, Nicole’s injuries limited her ability to perform regular duties. Her main barriers to returning to work were vision challenges, memory issues, and fatigue as a result of her head injury. She took time off work to recover. Nicole continued with physical, occupational and speech therapy for eight months. During recovery, her husband and daughter were a huge support—driving her to and from her appointments and helping her with simple tasks at home such as cooking and cleaning.

By April, Nicole felt ready to return to work part-time doing back-office tasks and following up with patients over the phone. But, she was still unable to meet the cognitive demands of the shift, so Nicole was asked to take more time off work. That’s when in mid-June Nicole met Cigna vocational coach, Robin Randol, and the two teamed up to help Nicole reach her health and return to work goals.

Nicole vision therapy

Robin provided Nicole with screen magnifiers and screen readers to assist with vision issues, coached Nicole with nutritional and sleep hygiene best practices as well as computer use best practices to alleviate concussion syndrome triggers and fatigue, and provided cognitive strengthening strategies. “Robin has a deep background in working with people who have had brain injury,” said Nicole. “Robin’s expertise and the resources she’s provided helped normalize my struggle so I can worry less and stay focused on getting healthier and stronger.”

Robin also provided job placement and resume assistance to help Nicole connect with other RN opportunities, not 12-hour shifts, to help with her recovery. This September Nicole started a new RN position in employee health at a local hospital where she’s much happier working with patients again, has better hours and a better commute which support her while her brain continues to heal. To help Nicole strengthen her physical and cognitive stamina, Robin introduced Nicole to Achilles International, a non-profit organization Cigna partners with to help people with disabilities achieve their goals. Nicole worked with an Achilles personal trainer who provided a customized exercise program to help her increase physical activity gradually.

“Increasing physical stamina has made a big difference in my cognitive stamina,” Nicole said. “By doing my Achilles walk/run exercise program, I have more energy throughout the day which helps my cognitive stamina as well. I wasn’t a runner before my accident, but I love running and am making long-term health improvements.

”In recognition of Nicole’s desire and dedication to regain her health, Robin invited Nicole to participate as a sponsored Achilles athlete in the Walt Disney World® Marathon Weekend 5K in Orlando this January.“When Robin invited me to participate in the Walt Disney World 5K, I was excited to join Team Cigna with other Achilles athletes whose stories have motivated me along my health journey. I hope my story can motivate others too.”

Nicole and daughter Kaytlin will participate in the 5K together. After completing her 5K, Nicole looks forward to her next goals: returning to work without restrictions, volunteering and being back on the mountain slopes. “My dream is to be fit and recovered enough to climb Mt. Rainier next year. Doing this 5K is a great start in making that a reality.”

Nicole 11-2015 Mt. Hood

Disney Released Tiered Pricing Structure Or “Seasonal Pricing”

February 28, 2016

I am a Disney lover, you should know that about me by now. But I am not a lover of the higher prices it is now costing us to take a trip to my favorite place. Unfortunately my husband is more angry about the pricing increases that have been going on at Disney World than I am. Enough so that he is mentioning skipping our annual trip and considering going every two years instead. We are still in discussions about this. Mind you, we got married in Disney, we are DVC members and have taken our children since they have been born. When it gets to this point, it must be serious. The bottom line is, it’s becoming too expensive.

Effective Sunday, February 28 at 6 a.m., Disney will have special pricing for value season, regular season, and peak season. As I watched the announcement on the news, the reason that was mentioned was to help control the crowds during the usual peak seasons, to better spread out visitation throughout the year. Last Christmas the Magic Kingdom reached its capacity by 10:00 a.m. and had to close the park to additional guests.

It is important to note that this pricing is for one day passes only. It does not affect annual passes and multi-day tickets. However, multi-day pass prices will rise starting today. Four-day tickets are increasing from $305 to $325. Ten-day tickets are increasing from $365 to $400. When does the price increase stop? Are we at the point now where we will push back and not attend? I’m kind of there. I hate to say it. But we are finding alternatives to purchasing our tickets. Instead of purchasing an annual pass for all four of us; we are considering a multi-day pass and now we won’t go to the parks every single day on our vacation. We are going to plan in some resort/pool days and do other activities such as mini golf, a water park. or perhaps Disney Springs (a movie or the balloon ride).

I always try to find the silver lining and find the best, most affordable way to make our Disney trips possible and I will still do the same to try to get the most bang for my buck. We will shop at Target or Wal-Mart when we arrive to get our groceries to use in our room so we can eat breakfast and pack lunches to bring to the park. We also save a lot of money on water, drinks and alcohol by purchasing it off property and having it in our room to bring to the pool and parks.

Here is a breakdown of the new rates:

Magic Kingdom one day ticket (no park hopper)

Value Season – the current rate of $105
Regular Season – $110
Peak Season – $125

Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Value Season – the current rate of $97
Regular Season – $102
Peak Season – $114

The dates for each of these seasons can be found on Disney’s website. Here is a breakdown below:

Photo by Attractionsmagazine.com

Has this new pricing structure affected your decision on planning your next vacation to Disney? Will you change dates to a different time of year to avoid the higher price?

D23 Expo News

August 17, 2015

The D23 Expo took place August 14-16 in Anaheim, CA and it was a BIG deal this year. I had heard of the expo before and had been curious about it; but never was interested to attend. Then when I was at the Social Media Moms Celebration this past May, Jeffrey Epstein from D23 gave a presentation. The theme of his presentation was “When Did It Start For You?” While I found his presentation interesting, I felt like D23 was going to be a big deal this year. Apparently it was. There were tweets, Facebook posts, Periscopes and video blogs going up everywhere about this year’s D23.

The biggest news is the new addition of Star Wars Land on both the East and West Coast and then the addition of Toy Story Land on the East Coast. The Star Wars and Toy Story Lands will be at Hollywood Studios. Given the recent closings of several attractions at Hollywood Studios it is no surprise that something was going to happen there. If you follow any of the rumors in the Disney community, there has been a lot of chatter about a Star Wars Land coming to Hollywood Studios for a few years now. There was also a rumor that Cars Land would be coming to the East Coast; but I always felt that it belonged in the West Coast to give people a reason to travel out to Disneyland and see all they have to offer.

This is a BIG deal. I have been reading posts on Facebook recently with people showing sections of Anaheim being purchased by Disney. There was talk that it was purchased for a parking garage, to move Disney offices off property from the actual parks to an off-site location.

Source: Slashfilm.com

Star Wars Lands

The plans to bring Star Wars lands to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World is very ambitious. The Star Wars lands will have two signature attractions,. one including the Millennium Falcon and the other that puts guests in the middle of a climatic battle.

Source: Disney Parks Blog

What could this mean for the future of runDisney races? I bet there will be some EPIC races to come to runDisney when these 14- acre lands are completed. Imagine that? Two Star Wars lands on each coast, the coast to coast Star Wars race challenges, the MEDALS! It’s going to be so awesome and I have to take part in it!

Toy Story Land

Toy Story Land sounds awesome to me! Toy Story is one of my favorite movies. The new land being built in Hollywood Studios will give guests the perspective of being the size of a toy and explore the world of Andy’s backyard.

Souce: Disney Parks Blog

Source: Disney Parks Blog

Some of the attractions you can look forward to at Toy Story Land will be a family friendly roller coaster incorporating Slinky Dog’s back as part of the coaster, an Alien saucers attraction with the little green aliens taking a spin in their flying saucers, in addition to the already existing Toy Story Mania.

What does this mean for things already existing at Hollywood Studios like The Osborne Lights? Will this be the last year for it? What else will be going away in Hollywood Studios? Stay tuned to the Disney Park Blog and Twitter and my blog for the latest updates and news!

When Did The Disney Magic Begin For You?

May 16, 2015

Something that I heard when I was attending the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration was a question of “When did it begin for you?” That question has been on my mind since I heard it. I have been vacationing here in Walt Disney World for a little over a week and have been enjoying every minute here with my family. We have done many of our favorite things, and have also tried some new things that we haven’t done yet.

So when did it begin for me? When I was young, my best friend who lived next door went to Florida on vacation. Her grandmother lived in Florida so when they went to visit her they went to Disney World. I never understood what Disney World was, but it always sounded so interesting and magical and special. She would go to this amazing place and come home with cute souvenirs. I most envied her Mickey Mouse dangle earrings. She did give them to me when we got older and I have to see if I still have them somewhere.

Then when I was 14 my parents said they were going to take us to Disney World! They have friends in Lakeland, Florida so we were going to rent a car and drive to Florida and visit them, go to Daytona Beach, Universal and Disney World. It is a fuzzy memory for me; but I’ll never forget the looong drive, the South Of The Border signs that seemed to appear for days, the sunburns, shopping for new clothes and brand new sneakers just prior to going away, and piling into the back seat of a car for the longest car ride of my life.

But it was worth it. From what I can recall, I remember driving to the parking lot of Magic Kingdom and seeing the gates welcoming us to the Magic Kingdom park. That now is still one of my favorite things to take a picture of during my marathon and half marathon races because it stems back to that time when I saw it for the first time as a kid. I also remember seeing the castle, walking down Main Street, the Barber Shop Quartet, the horse and carriage, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the Skyway Ride (gondolas in the back of the park), the lines in the roped off ques that zigged and zagged forever, the cinnamon rolls on Main Street and the smell coming from the bakery, and the building for Space Mountain stands out strong in my memory. I also remember fondly the Electric Light Parade at night and standing on Main Street seeing these amazing floats going by all lit up and the music playing loudly throughout the park. It was something I had never seen anywhere else before.

As I write this post and think hard of the memories, they are coming bac to me in bits and pieces. Is that when it began for me? Or is it when I started to come to the parks with my husband before we were married. He and I began coming to the parks together in August of 1998. We had a blast coming here together for the first time. Then we made it a yearly tradition, and sometimes we came twice during a year for a long weekend getaway. Each time we came we learned more and more about Disney and people would often ask us why we kept going to Disney. They didn’t understand that each time you go there is always something different you can do or something new to see, or a restaurant to eat at that you haven’t gone to before, shopping to be had and much, much more! The same holds true when you come here with your children. First, when they are younger, you do the children’s rides with them, they as they grow bigger you can do more of the thrill rides with them, you can take them to more restaurants and the water parks. You can stay out later with them!

Then of course, my husband and I met with a wedding planner in 2001 and he secretly booked our wedding date after we left our meeting with them. So then the magic continued as we had our wedding at the wedding chapel 13 years ago today, and our reception in Epcot at the French pavilion outside for the Illuminations show. So when did it begin for me? It may have been that time when I was 14 and saw the Magic Kingdom for my first time and got a taste of it. Only to have more and more exposure each time we came. I couldn’t get enough of it and I still can’t! We have to leave this amazing vacation tomorrow and we will always be looking forward to the next return trip back.

When did it begin for you?

Tag: Walt Disney World

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