Posted by Scott Sevener on September 30, 2008 under Site Updates | 
FYI - Although I had originally planned on publishing the fourth installment of my Favorite Favorites series in October (this time featuring Disney’s Animal Kingdom), I’ve instead decided to postpone that one for just a short while and instead put up an article summarizing some of my final thoughts regarding last weekend’s closing of Pleasure Island. I haven’t really taken the opportunity to speak on it much yet and I’d like to still do so while it’s topical, and besides, I’ve got this wedding thing coming up in the near future and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but those things seem to take an awful long time to write!
For Favorite Favorites fans, though - never fear, for I’ll have the final installment of the series up and posted soon enough - possibly as soon as mid-October, but then again, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t show up until November, either. Hey, a guy deserves a break for his honeymoon, now doesn’t he?!
Posted by Scott Sevener on September 29, 2008 under Random Blog Stuff |
I can’t help but wonder what crowds are actually going to look like at Walt Disney World this fall. Back in August, I did a bit of speculation and at the time, I made the assumption that attendance throughout the remainder of 2008 would remain fairly constant under the idea that most trips that close had already been paid for, but after seeing a couple of the latest deals that popped up on MouseSavers lately, now I’m starting to wonder if this might be a little different…
Free Dining on Select Dates for Disney Visa Cardholders
http://www.mousesavers.com/packages.html#dvfreedining
“Florida Neighbors” Resort Discounts for Nearby Southern States
http://www.mousesavers.com/disneyresorts.html#alabama
I should note that it looks like at this point both of the discounts listed above expired with in the last couple of days, but they still both caught my eye nonetheless when I noticed the comments that MouseSavers had made for each package – the Free Dining promo has never been offered during this period (it usually runs from August – September, give or take); and the Neighboring States promo for Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas hasn’t been offered for many a year.
It’s a tough call, really, because I certainly didn’t have a fun time fighting to get my honeymoon booked the second week of October, so it’s technically possible that these promotions were just trying to fill a little leftover space because of the teetering economy … OR it could also very well mean that we’re in for a quiet couple of months over in Orlando this fall! All of the happenings on Wall Street sure can’t make people feel very comfortable about their money – heck, I just got word a few minutes ago that the bank that I personally use is being sold to a competitor (Wachovia —> Citigroup) – so I can certainly understand why folks would be a little hesitant to go spending thousands of buckazoids on vacations at this particular moment…
Apparently Hurricane Season may be the least of our problems here in Florida this year – stay tuned for more news as it develops. In the meantime, though, enjoy these pictures of Mickey battling Maleficent at the end of Fantasmic! You can pretend that the dragon is our rapidly failing economy here in the US, and Mickey Mouse is…well, just keep your fingers crossed that we find out who Mickey can be sooner than later!
Posted by Scott Sevener on September 18, 2008 under Disney News |
So I’m not sure if this alone is intended to replace the Year of a Million Dreams promotion beginning in 2009, but today Disney announced a new Celebrate with Disney Parks promotion to highlight all of their guests who celebrate birthdays and honeymoons and anniversaries and so forth with their vacations. Apparently a study was done that showed 7 out of 10 people using such a celebration as the reason for at least one of their vacations as a family.
I heard something musing about this a while ago and wasn’t terribly excited about the idea, but now that something official has been released, I think it could be kind of cool – namely because there are presents involved! That’s right, this isn’t just a name-only promotion – the driving force behind this marketing campaign will be Disney offering a free one-day ticket to any of its Walt Disney World or Disneyland parks on anyone’s birthday throughout 2009. Sounds like an easy excuse to celebrate your birthday at Disney right off the bat!
But it gets better, at least for people like me who just so happen to be annual passholders and are thinking, “Unless my birthday is during a blackout date, how does this help me?!” Well, just for the record, neither my nor my fiancee’s birthdays fall during the seasonal passholder blackout dates and, in fact, we’ve both already spent birthdays there in the past already. Fortunately, the Mouse has gone and went the extra mile even for folks like us, too…
[ from the Free Admission on Your Birthday FAQ at disneyparks.com ]
Q: I am a Passholder (or have a valid Multi-Day Ticket or a Seasonal Pass that I will use for admission on my birthday in 2009), so I don’t need to take advantage of this offer. If I register, is there anything else I could receive on my birthday?
A: Yes, you have several options which are available for you to select once you arrive at the Park with your confirmation message and your proper ID. You can receive:
· A birthday fun card in an amount equal to the price of a 1-day Magic Your Way base ticket* for you to use on your birthday for merchandise, recreation or fun activities at select participating locations at Walt Disney World® Resort; or
· A special birthday FASTPASS® badge+ for certain attractions at the Theme Park you visit on your birthday; or
· A 1-day Magic Your Way base ticket for you to use any time until your next birthday.
So basically, spend your birthday at Disney World or Disneyland in 2009 and get a $75 birthday gift from Mickey Mouse himself … not too shabby! As I read the specific verbiage over and over again, I’m starting to wonder if the birthday fun card is simply a Disney gift card or something more limited, but even if so, I still wouldn’t mind taking the 1-day MYW base ticket and either applying it towards my pass renewal the following year or using it for a Christmas Day trip or something.
I wouldn’t have guessed it until I saw it for myself, but it looks like this might make for quite the nice little promotion for the Mouse after all! I think I can pretty much already guarantee at least two birthdays right in this household being spent over in Orlando, and as I’m sure they’re hoping, no doubt we’ll end up putting up for a night or two at the resort and dinner and everything else, too. Like they say, just get ‘em in the door and watch the money come rolling in!
Posted by Scott Sevener on under Random Blog Stuff |
I noticed an interesting change to the Walt Disney World reservation line when I called this morning to update our honeymoon reservation – instead of being prompted to “Press 1 for the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida; 2 for Disneyland Resort in California…” I was told to speak my choices. I’m not sure exactly when this change took place, but the system was still touch-tone only when I first made our honeymoon reservations so it must’ve been within the last month or so…
I’ll be honest and admit that I normally hate these kinds of automated systems with a passion – our cable company uses one that rarely ever works, and one of the reasons I actually switched from Sprint to Verizon Wireless was because their IVR never understood what I was trying to say. I think the problem with these, though, could be that when calling one of those companies, it’s usually for some type of support and I’m already angry or upset, meaning I’m not really in the mood to think about whether I’m speaking clearly and succinctly so that the computer understands me!
That said, I was pretty impressed by Disney’s system – it understood every word I said perfectly, even when I said “update reservation” and it was looking for “change reservation” as the key phrase, and thankfully, I never once heard, “I’m sorry – I don’t understand that command. Please speak your request clearly so that I can direct you to the proper group.” Other than actually having to speak my selection instead of press buttons, it was exactly the same conversation as before (i.e. “If you’ve visited the Walt Disney World resort in the last ten minutes, please press 1…”).
Now if only I could get Disney to have a chat with my cable company…
Posted by Scott Sevener on September 16, 2008 under Disney News |
Boy, do I need a $17,900 raise, quick…
Two big announcements on the DVC front today – the widely anticipated Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and the hush-hush little secret that apparently was the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Both are scheduled for completion in 2009 (Bay Tower in the fall and Treehouse Villas in the summer), with the Treehouse Villas adding 60 new units to Saratoga Springs and Bay Tower adding a whopping 295 rooms to the Contemporary, and this I just noticed - Bay Tower will also feature a covered bridge that will connect it back to the main Contemporary building for monorail and concourse access. The concept art for both properties that Disney has offered up is very impressive!
More concept art, photos, and all sorts of details for each can be found over at AllEars.Net:
http://allears.net/acc/faq_baylaketower.htm
http://allears.net/acc/faq_treehouse.htm
And unlike the Four Seasons deal, I’m pretty excited about this for a couple of reasons. 1) This introduces two very unique new properties to Disney World’s resort offerings; and 2) more importantly, sometime in the next couple of years is going to be when Sara and I will likely be buying into the Disney Vacation Club … and man, are we going to have a tough time making a selection now!
Let’s see…
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – watch animals right from your balcony
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas – walking distance to Epcot for Food & Wine, plus Stormalong Bay
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort – watch Wishes while soaking in the Jacuzzi tub in your room
- Treehouse Villas @ Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa – the drawings just look plain cool
I certainly don’t look forward to the ease of making that decision one bit, but fortunately at least for now I can rest knowing that said decision is still a good $17,000 away. That is, unless somebody wanted to get us a really nice wedding gift…
Posted by Scott Sevener on September 12, 2008 under Disney News |
…Tables in Wonderland???
I feel like I’ve been a little critical of the Mouse lately, but this one just really doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I’ve never really been a fan of name-only changes (Disney’s Hollywood Studios, anyone?), and I don’t know if I really buy their reason given for this one, either…
Our Festival [13th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival], which will take place from September 26 – November 9, 2008 will celebrate Cities in Wonderland, and following that theme, your dining club will be named Tables in Wonderland as of September 15, 2008.
This new name will not alter any of your current benefits. We have simply decided to do this to help distinguish your membership from any other dining privileges at Walt Disney World Resort that bares a similar name to the Disney Dining Experience.
Allegedly some guests were getting confused between the Disney Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Experience, but I’d like to think that passholders deserve a little more credit than that … assuming we’re the main purchasers of the card because it’s usually a better deal for us than buying the dining plan. This, to me, just seems like a silly change for somebody who needed a project and I’d have much rather seen a change come about to announce that all of the outside dining vendors (i.e. Rainforest Café, Yak & Yeti, etc…) would start accepting the DDE instead of a simple name change.
Plus, frankly I just really don’t like the new name! And to be honest, it’s going to make not renewing our membership this year a little easier – to me, the Disney Dining Experience sounds kinda cool, whereas Tables in Wonderland just sounds like awkward, marketing garbage that I don’t necessarily feel as bad about not being a member of. Granted, there are also other reasons for our non-renewal – my fiancee’s nursing school continues through next year and that’s going to continue to limit our time available to splurge over at Disney, but also just for the record, we didn’t really have all that incredible of savings with the card this year. I mean, 20% was nice, and I do plan on writing up a much more comprehensive breakdown of our experience at the end of the year when the card expires, but just as a guess at this point, I think we’re going to come pretty close to breaking even at the $60 purchase price for annual passholders.
I still have a feeling that we’ll sign back up the following year once we have some free time again, and it did certainly help persuade us to dine at some more table service restaurants than we normally would, but let’s just hope that by then Disney has some good sense to come up with a better new name for the program!
Are you telling me with Ratatouille providing such a great theme for Food & Wine last year, they still felt the need to reference a 50-year-old movie???
Posted by Scott Sevener on September 4, 2008 under Disney News |
Disney announced recently that their plans to sell 298 acres to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts for the purpose of developing “a world-class family resort destination that offers the exceptional service and amenities and one-of-a-kind guest experiences that are the hallmark of both our brands.” Color me less than excited about the deal…
Maybe I’m just pessimistic, but I guess I just don’t understand why Disney can’t do this on their own – it just smells of so many of the other vendor deals that have popped up around Walt Disney World as of late, from the new T-Rex Restaurant and all of the reported expansion that’s said to take the place of Pleasure Island after it closes to existing restaurants like Rainforest Café and Planet Hollywood. It really makes me wonder – is the Mouse just out of creative juice for this kind of stuff, or is it simply an easy way for Disney to subsidize expansion costs by letting another company pay for it in exchange for a chunk of the revenues…
The thing is, I don’t want an experience that I can also find outside of Walt Disney World when I come to visit. I want unique attractions and restaurants and hotels, not something that can also be found in shopping malls or overpriced downtown areas across the country. Is Disney really not capable of building a world-class, luxury resort on its own? If the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary aren’t considered to be of this caliber, then what’s stopped them so far from building a high-end, luxury hotel of their own? Am I the only one who feels like Disney is kind of selling out part of their magic by outsourcing functions like this to other companies instead of stepping up and doing something new and creative themselves???
I suppose one other question that could be posed would be whether this is actually even going to be a Disney-themed resort or if it will be similar to the other Downtown Disney resorts just off-property that are close to the magic, but not close enough to partake in the special features like Extra Magic Hours and Disney’s transportation (with the exception of The Hilton)? Maybe it is all about money to give the Mouse the capital needed to begin other projects, but still, it just doesn’t sit right with me.
Posted by Scott Sevener on September 1, 2008 under My Time with the Mouse... - the column |
You’ve seen them in just about every gift shop on property, every attraction, character, and special event covered, and no doubt at least once you’ve gawked at the price tag associated with them – it’s ok, I used to do that, too! In my mind, pin trading was one of those truly crazy offerings at Walt Disney World that just seemed like it was designed specifically to scarf down your wallet in one fell swoop, and granted, that particular position on the subject hasn’t exactly changed all that much, however I suppose it is still important to mention that after one fateful weekend getaway in October 2006, suddenly those steep price tags didn’t seem nearly as cumbersome to bear…
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen – the column you’ve all been waiting for, even though I’m sure many of you would’ve never seen it coming from the likes of me – but regardless, this month we’ve going to talk about the addictive, expensive, and yet surprisingly enjoyable trend of Disney pin trading.
Of course, right off the bat I suppose I should mention that technically speaking, it’s not necessarily pin trading that’s gotten my fiancée and I hooked over the last two years … but we’ll get to that in just a moment!
I’ll freely admit that when I first came across them, pins just seemed like an insane waste of money, with their absolute cheapest running $6.95 and many limited and special editions pushing $10 - $12 or more, despite the fact that there I was, walking around the land where admission was $65 / day and a hamburger for lunch was $7 by itself! And mind you, I’ve had my share of collections over the years, from trading cards and comic books growing up to DVDs and coral reef collectable scenes more recently, so I could even understand the idea of dumping considerable amounts of money into one’s collection, but I think ultimately it was actually the whole concept of pin trading that came along with these $8 purchases that threw me for a loop. I mean, sure – I’d trade a card or two that came out of a pack that cost maybe three bucks total for something comparable, but to trade something that just cost me eight bucks, not to mention carrying around a dozen or so of them at a time on one of those goofy lanyards?! Sorry, just not my thing…
The pin that started it all for us...
Nonetheless, that whole experience changed a couple of years ago when my then girlfriend (now fiancée) and I spent a long weekend at the World to celebrate six months into our newfound relationship. It was a bit of a splurge trip – we stayed in a savannah-view room at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and had an absolute blast watching all of the animals right from our room, we enjoyed our very first table service meal together at the Tepanyaki Dining Room in the Japan Pavilion at Epcot, and I really think the trip as a whole really helped us to cement our love for Disney as a couple as we proceeded to have a great time for the entire four days straight. Over the previous six months we’d spent a day or two here or there roaming the parks, but we did a whole lot of new things on that Animal Kingdom Lodge trip and one of those firsts that we stumbled upon, incidentally, was pin collecting.
Starter pins from our anniversary trip (on green background), plus a few others from 2006...
I believe it started the way I can only imagine that most folks get hooked on these things – Sara happened across a neat looking pin depicting the resort on our last run through the gift shop before checking out and thought it would make for a neat souvenir. Of course, when checking out at 11:00am, we still had nearly a full day ahead of us so we headed over to the Studios for the afternoon, and let’s just say in looking through the pin stands a bit more thoroughly than we might’ve before throughout the day, we ended up eventually ending our trip with a grand total of seven pins – three that we’d specifically chosen to highlight the trip, plus a special four pack depicting each of the four theme parks to help “jump start” the effort – and as they say, an addiction was born!
That was only a little less than two years ago and as I look up on the wall across from me, it seems that we’ve already built up quite the little collection. We may not buy our pins to trade, per se, but we’ve still managed to have a grand old time picking up one or two (or sometimes more…) here and there to help commemorate our various excursions over to the World, both big and small. For ten bucks or so each trip, we’ve found ourselves another way in addition to photos to keep the memories of our trips alive, to the point where these days Sara isn’t the only one scouring the racks for our next purchases! I must admit that I, too, have found myself bitten by the pin bug – I especially enjoy the passholder-only pins and also the pins released for special events throughout the year, such as the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival and all of the activities that take place at Christmastime. Maybe it’s an aesthetic thing, but they seem to really pull out the stops and issue some eye-catching merchandise for those events…
a trio of pins from 2008 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
Looking back at how I sort of disregarded pins in the past, I suppose I may have been a little harsh, although I still can’t say as though I understand the trading perspective of it … but to each his own. For us, we look forward to picking out a couple of pins that help represent the trip at hand – maybe an attraction pin for when we went over earlier this spring for the passholder preview of Toy Story Mania or a resort pin showing where we stayed if we spend the night. Last week, in fact, we even had a very special trip where we pretty much spent the entire day hunting for pins, a la the Find-a-Pin scavenger hunt of sorts that Disney introduced this year, releasing a new pin each month that offered up clues as to where the next month’s issue could be found. Boy, did we put in a lot of walking that day and we didn’t come away with every single pin that had been issued to date, but we still had a great time and I have little doubt that the remaining three will come our way via the wonder that is eBay before the end of the year anyways!
So to wrap things up, no – pins aren’t necessarily the $10.95 wastes that you might think, and in fact, for those that find themselves going as frequently as we do, they almost actually make sense as a worthwhile souvenir that won’t simply end up getting piled in the closet – really, how many plushes and picture frames and t-shirts can one person accumulate over the years?! Of course, don’t get me wrong, we’ve certainly got our share of those, too, but at least with the pins, we’ve got a nice collection that we can utilize for a nice stroll down memory lane any time we so desire – heck, only two years into our little journey and I already find myself doing that from time to time! As you can see from the picture below, Sara and I have come up with what we think is a pretty darned creative way to display our collection in our home, the only foreseeable problem being that eventually we’re going to run out of wall space and have to do some rearranging! But we’ll deal with that just fine, as I think I speak for both of us when I say that our collection will probably continue to expand and grow as long as we keep vacationing at Walt Disney World, to the point where eventually our children will also start adding to the wall their favorites when we visit as a family and introduce them to everything that Mickey and his friends mean to us. Talk about a pretty swell collection – I can only imagine what our wall(s) are going to look like twenty years from now…
Our pin collection through 2007...
...and "a portion" of our pins from 2008 waiting to go on the wall.
Maybe that’s the secret when it comes to buying pins – sure, they’re a bit on the pricey side, but really, everything is more than what you would pay at Wal-Mart for something similar … then again, you don’t see people planning for years and years to spend their family vacation at Wal-Mart! For us, pins represent memories of the magic that Disney makes us feel, and when you put it that way, $10.95 a pop doesn’t seem like such a bad deal after all.
