Hi all! It has been a really long time since I've posted a blog (I'm sorry), but there were lots of announcements that were made at the D23 Expo this past week in Anaheim, California that I thought needed to be shared! Major announcements were made for new projects as well as updates to projects that are already underway. Attached is a document that highlights all the changes and then details each new item. I hope you share in my excitement!
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I just recently got back from a weeklong trip to the Disneyland Resort in California. I have been to Walt Disney World many times, but I hadn't yet made the trip out west to visit the land where it all began...Disneyland...that is, until now. All I have to say is, I don't know what took me so long. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I consider Walt Disney World my "home". When I want to go to Disney my immediate thoughts go to Walt Disney World. That is what I am comfortable with, that is where my memories are, it is so vast there is so much I have yet to do there, the restaurants I like are there, yada yada yada...Oh and lets really be honest, for someone who gets a little nervous about flying (ok, maybe a lot nervous...it's not so much the flight as it is the fear of plummeting to my death) the 2+ hour flight to Florida is a lot more appealing than the 5+ hour flight to California...All I can say is, thank you Southwest Airlines for funny flight attendants and free Live TV streaming! I flew into LAX which I thought would be really intimidating, but it actually was not bad at all. The few things I didn't like were A.) I didn't see any celebrities B.) I had to organize my own transportation to Disneyland ahead of time and C.) I had to claim my bags at baggage claim. There is no free Magical Express bus like Walt Disney World has, and no one to pick up your bags and have them delivered to your room so that you can avoid baggage claim. Disneyland does have a shuttle that you can pay for, but it only runs certain hours and has specific pick up times. I chose to take the Super Shuttle instead of Disneyland transportation. It was a little cheaper too. Disneyland is about 45 minutes from LAX airport...and 45 minutes turns into almost 3 hours when your flight arrives at rush hour! I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which is one of the three Disneyland Resort Hotels. The other two being the Grand Californian Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. I loved the rooms at the Disneyland Resort Hotel. Your bed is cozy and it has a fireworks headboard that plays music when it first lights up (Dear Husband, I want one! Yours truly, your wife), there are beautiful pictures in the room, and the bathroom has little Mickey touches everywhere, right down to the handles on the sink faucet. Our room overlooked Downtown Disney and you could see California Adventure Park and Disneyland in the distance. There was so much that I really loved about Disneyland. I will be honest when I say that I really didn't think I would like it as much as I did. My number one reason for thinking this is because I love Walt Disney World and people have always told me how small Disneyland is. Well, it is small, but mighty! I think it is the smallness of it that I liked so much. We WALKED to EVERYTHING! That was the best part in my mind! We would walk out of our hotel, walk through Downtown Disney, which is also very small, and then go through security. Once you went through security you could either go into Disneyland Park or California Adventure Park...and guess what?! They are RIGHT ACROSS FROM EACH OTHER! So if you get the park hopper it is SO EASY to park hop. You don't have to hop on a bus or monorail you literally just walk across the walkway and BOOM you are there. I was anxious to see California Adventure Park because of Cars Land. It did not disappoint. Cars Land is so adorable and Radiator Springs Racers ranks up there as one of my all time favorite Disney rides...we rode it a lot :) Thank you single rider line! Cars Land is really cool during the day, but even cooler at night. If you have seen the movie Cars the whole strip lights up just like in the movie. Check your weather app or a cast member to see what time sunset will be that day, then head over to Cars Land a little before sunset so you can watch the strip slowly light up. They do it one at a time and it is really neat. There is lots to do in California Adventure Park. Buena Vista Street, which is their "Main Street", has shopping and dining, Hollywood Land has lots of fun stuff including a really cute Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley ride, a fun Broadway type show of Disney's Aladdin (the Geanie is hilarious!), The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and a few other shows. A Bug's Land is also super cute and makes you feel like you stepped into the movie A Bug's Life, and has lots of really fun rides for kids. The Pacific Wharf area has lots of dining. The Grizzly Peak area has some dining and a few rides, including the Grizzly River Run and Soarin' Over California. I was really surprised at how short the line to Soarin' was. In Disney World the line is always crazy long. The longest I saw it while I was in California Adventure was 30 minutes. The Paradise Pier area was really neat. Lots of attractions to ride including California Screamin' roller coaster. I got a fast pass for it but when it came time to ride it I chickened out. Later on I opted to ride Goofy's Sky School because it looked more tame. Let me tell you that looks can be deceiving. They make it look like a kiddy coaster, but I screamed and laughed my head off (I laughed because I was being such a sissy!). I think I would have done better on California Screamin'. Paradise Pier is also home to the very popular night show World of Color. This is not to be missed! Right now they are showing two shows. One for the Holidays, "Winter Dream" and one for Disney's 60th Diamond Celebration, "Celebrate". Both are amazing but "Celebrate" was my favorite...and I may have cried just a little...shhhh! I had gotten a fast pass for "Celebrate" and the view was just so so. For "Winter Dream" I had a World of Color dining package from Ariel's Grotto and that view couldn't be beat. We had front row seats, plus the food was amazing...I'll blog about that another time. California Adventure Park also has the Pixar Play Parade which is really cute, and at night on the weekends they have the Mad T Party, which features live entertainment by Alice in Wonderland members. As you can see California Adventure Park has a lot to offer and is really a lot of fun. Now I need to talk about Disneyland Park! My first time entering Disneyland Park was actually not through the main entrance. There is a monorail that you can catch in Downtown Disney but it is very different than the monorail in Disney World. To get on this monorail you actually have to go through security and have a ticket to get into Disneyland Park because the monorail drops you off INSIDE Disneyland park. We were coming into the park at night to see Fantasmic, which is one of Disneyland's night shows. I had not been to Disneyland before so I didn't realize the monorail went through parts of the park. I was looking at photos on my phone and had I not looked up in time I would have missed a truly beautiful thing. The monorail goes right by It's a Small World ride and during the Holidays it is decked out in Christmas lights. An amazing sight to see! There are three rides in Disneyland that go all out for the Holidays. It's a Small World is one of them, plus the Jungle Cruise, which turns into the Jingle Cruise, and finally the Haunted Mansion. All of them are must sees, but be sure to see Haunted Mansion Holiday if you can only pick one. Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas takes over the Haunted Mansion and they really go all out with the decor. You can see all three rides without waiting in line if you take the "Holiday Time at Disneyland Tour"...which I did take and will blog about that tour in another entry. Disneyland Park is smaller than Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, but they utilize the space they have very well. In fact most people are surprised to hear that Disneyland Park has more rides than any other Disney Park in the World, and Disneyland Park and California Adventure Park combined have more rides than all FOUR theme parks in Walt Disney World! One of the biggest differences between Disneyland Park vs. Magic Kingdom is the castle. When I did enter Disneyland Park the next day through the main entrance down Main Street I kept trying to get a glimpse of Sleeping Beauty's castle (75 feet tall)...and it was small and harder to see than Cinderella's Castle (189 feet tall). In fact the Matterhorn bobsled ride is really the focal point and stands at 147 feet. Once I got used to the smallness of the castle I was fine. In fact after being there for a week I got so used to seeing the small Sleeping Beauty Castle that now when I see pictures of Cinderella's Castle it just seems so ginormous! Some of the rides in Disneyland are similar to rides in Walt Disney World but there are quite a few rides that are different and some that are better (I won't list them all, but will highlight some). The Main Street area has dining and shopping, and a must see on Main Street is the firehouse. Above the firehouse is Walt Disney's family apartment. You can actually see inside the apartment when you take the "Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footstep's Tour". Adventureland has dining and some of your classic rides like the Jungle Cruise, but it also has a ride called Indiana Jones Adventure which is a lot of fun and similar to Animal Kingdom's Dinosaur ride. New Orleans Square has the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. I personally like Disneyland's Pirates ride better because it is longer, and I like the outside of the Haunted Mansion better as well. And you can't beat the Haunted Mansion Holiday. New Orleans Square also has some unique shopping and dining. If you like beignets this is the place to go. Very tasty but you will end up with powdered sugar everywhere. Not the best things to eat when you are trying to appear like a lady. I had it everywhere...mouth, forehead, hair, pants, shirt...but they were good! Critter Country has rides, like Splash Mountain and Winnie the Pooh plus Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes. Frontierland has a few rides including one of my favorites Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I don't know what it was about this ride in Disneyland, but I kept sliding in the seat making the ride even more fun and had me laughing through the whole ride. I don't know if the seats are wider or if the turns are harder, but I don't remember sliding in Walt Disney World. My poor friend kept getting nailed by my boney hips throughout the whole ride. Frontierland is also home to the night show Fantasmic! Some of the dining and attraction space in Frontierland will be closing to make room for Star Wars Land. Can't wait!! Fantasyland in Disneyland Park has a lot of the classic kid rides including Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice and Wonderland and more! Fantasyland is also home to the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Fun ride but really bumpy. I had jeans on that have buttons on the pockets...I felt every bump thanks to those buttons! Mickey's Toontown is a really cute area that has houses for the Characters plus Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. Tomorrowland has some of the classics like Autopia, Space Mountain, and Star Tours. Plus while we were there "Season of the Force" just opened so there was quite a bit of Star Wars things going on...including turning Space Mountain into Hyperspace Mountain. I also had the pleasure of getting a big furry hug from Chewbacca and entered the Dark Side when I met Darth Vader. A lot was going on in Disneyland when we went. When we got there the Avengers half marathon was going on. Plus Holidays at Disneyland and Feel the Force was starting, and of course the 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration is going on! For the Diamond Celebration there is the amazing Disneyland Forever fireworks show, plus the super fun Paint the Night Parade. Don't miss either!!! During the Holidays there is also the Christmas Fantasy Parade which is really cute. So I know this blog is long, and hopefully you made it to the end. As you can see I had a lot of fun in Disneyland and I hope to go back again sometime soon. Disneyland is definitely more of a leisurely trip. I was there for a week which is more than enough time, and I didn't feel like I had to do the Disney death march to fit things in. We could really take our time seeing the parks and shows, and I even fit an LA day tour in. I will blog about that tour in another entry. As I mentioned earlier, Disneyland is small but mighty. It would be a good place to take younger kids because there are a lot of rides, and because it is smaller it is not as overwhelming as Disney World. The fact that everything is in walking distance makes it a lot easier for strollers too. You don't have to worry about getting strollers on and off buses or monorails. There is more than enough fun too for adults without kids.
I have so much more that I could talk about but this blog is long enough. If you want to head west feel free to contact me and I would love to tell you more and help you book your trip! Keep checking back because I plan to blog about my LA Day tour that you can book when you take a trip to Disneyland, plus the Holiday Time at Disneyland Tour and much more! Check out the House of Mouse Travel Newsletter for September! Check out the August newsletter! Enjoy! I am a bit of a sucker for Disney Parades so I was pretty excited to see the new Festival of Fantasy parade during my trip to Walt Disney World in November 2014. The Parade debuted March 9, 2014, just AFTER I had returned home from a Walt Disney World Trip / Disney Cruise! But, thankfully I went back to Walt Disney World in November and was able to see it. My first full day was to be spent in Magic Kingdom (by myself while waiting for another agent I was traveling with to get out of a conference) and I was looking forward to seeing the parade since I had heard so many good things about it. Unfortunately, the Florida weather had other plans. Around 11:00am the rain started. The parade wasn't supposed to start until 3:00pm so I held out hope the rain would stop in time for the parade. I dodged the rain by whipping out my poncho and trying to get on every ride possible that kept me dry. If you have a poncho and you don't mind rain and having "crazy Florida humidity rain hair" then you can ride a lot of rides with minimal wait time after everyone starts leaving the park...I am serious about the hair though. I entered the park that day with straight hair that had no body to it and I left with a perm. Anyways, around 2:00pm I made my way over to Frontierland to get a nice viewing area of the parade. Since it was still raining I didn't actually need to get there that early because so many people had left the park. I was still hopeful that they would have it because they were roping off areas for the parade. I made the mistake of standing near Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. The smell of burgers and fries was hypnotizing. Next thing I know I was accidentally eating a huge serving of french fries...with melted cheese sauce...Oh...my...gosh...give me more! After pigging out on fries the rain never did let up and they ended up canceling the parade. Boooo! I rode a few more rides then decided I needed to go back to my resort and get dry before my dinner plans. It wasn't until the end of my trip that I was able to see the parade. It was worth the wait. Disney did an amazing job on this parade! It is worth seeing while you are there in my opinion. The first float in the parade is the Princess Garden. You get to see Belle and Beast, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Tiana and Naveen, and the crowd favorite Elsa and Anna! Next up is the Tangled float which is a ship that has Rapunzel waving at the crowd with her hair intertwined throughout the whole ship, swaying pendulums carrying patrons of the Snuggly Duckling, and Flynn Rider. The Little Mermaid float is next carrying Ariel and her friends Sebastian and Flounder. Dancers dressed as seashells, coral reef, lion fish, and sea horses dance around this float...I'm not gonna lie, I totally want to be one of the coral reef dancers. That costume is too cool! The Peter Pan float follows Ariel and it starts with the Lost Boys dancing around it, then it has the float that holds Peter Pan and Wendy, Captain Hook and Tinkerbell followed by Smee and Tick Tock Croc The Brave Movie float is next which features Celtic couples dancing around a giant bagpipe that carries Merida. Next up is the Sleeping Beauty unit that features all the major characters...except Aurora?? Walking in front are the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, then you have Prince Phillip battling Maleficents dragon and also stilt performers and raven dancers. Maleficents dragon actually breathes fire which is really cool and draws lots of claps from the crowd. Next in the parade are characters from Alice and Wonderland and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, followed by a float carrying Pinocchio, Dumbo, Donald, Daisy and Pluto. The parade ends with Goofy, Chip and Dale, Minnie, and everyones favorite, the mouse himself, Mickey Mouse!!! If you haven't gotten a chance to see this parade be sure to check it out on your next trip to Walt Disney World!!
Here is the April 2015 House of Mouse Travel Newsletter! Check out of March House of Mouse Travel Newsletter! Hi my name is Liz and I'm a Disney addict. It has been 4 months since my last Disney vacation...and I am anxiously awaiting my next one... I know I am not the only person out there who feels this way. There is something magical that happens to you while you are in Disney and it makes you want to go back over and over and over again. I have been to Walt Disney World many many times recently, and yet each time I go there is one nighttime show that I have to see at least once, if not more, while I am there...that is Celebrate the Magic at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Celebrate the Magic is a newer nighttime spectacular show that premiered in 2012. It is a projection show on my...I mean...Cinderella's castle that showcases Disney's most beloved characters, and it is choreographed to music. I absolutely LOVE it! It is only about 10 minutes long and worth waiting for in my opinion. The best place to watch the show is on Main Street in front of the castle. Check the times guide to find out what times it'll be showing. I love Disney movies. I always have. I grew up watching many Disney movies, some of my favorites being Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. Even before I had a child I had a very long list of Disney VHS (remember those!), DVD's, and now Blurays that I purchased. From old classics to new movies, I have a lot...but I need more! WHY DOES THERE HAVE TO BE A VAULT!?!?!...breathe...just breathe...anyways, I think my appeal to Celebrate the Magic is all the Disney movies that are showcased during the show. And I can't help but get a little choked up when Walt Disney appears in the montage at the end and says one of his most famous quotes; "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing - that is was all started by a mouse." If you have never been to Disney you may think I'm nuts, but my Disney friends get it! Seeing the montage of Disney characters, films, and then Walt makes me smile (I can't help it...I am even smiling while typing this!) and it's such a great ending to the day! I attached a video of the ending below. It is not a high quality video, I think I took it with my cell phone, but you will get an idea of what Celebrate the Magic is. So now I ask you, what is your favorite nighttime show and why? |
Elizabeth (Liz)I am a FREE Disney vacation travel planner for House of Mouse Travel. Archives
July 2017
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