Here’s an interesting interview that Fortune magazine ran the other day about Bob Iger’s sense of business direction for the Walt Disney Company, what he’s done since taking the company’s top position in 2005, and his visions for the future of the Mouse as a global brand. Personally, I don’t agree with everything that’s said here - there’s some negativity about Eisner’s performance, who I actually enjoyed at the helm of Disney and wass arguably responsible for most of the growth around Walt Disney World, and the talks about Disney’s brands bridging mediums rings of some of the overbearing advertisements that some areas of the parks seem to be inundated with today. Nonetheless, it’s always good to keep up on what the chief is thinking, even if you don’t entirely see eye to eye with him.
I know that photos of arguably the top Year of a Million Dreams prize have been circulating pretty much since the first guests spent the night some two years ago now, but seeing as the promotion has finally come to a close and it’s unclear at this point just how Disney will be using the souped up hotel room so far, I thought it might be fun to take one last look at the most coveted room on Disney property…
…of course, it didn’t hurt either that I found this awesome post over at My Disney Maniathat featured tons of photos that “a friend of a friend” took when they won a night’s stay in the suite themselves. One step worse than even the author of that blog, I never won anything during our many, many visits during the Year of a Million Dreams - not a dream fastpass, not even a pair of mouse ears - but despite being maybe just a little bit bitter about that, it’s hard to deny that these photos are very cool. They cover not only the intricate details of the room, from the Cinderella relics on display to the multitude of mosaics seemingly everywhere, but even some of the more hardcore fan stuff like what their room keys looked like and even the stationary found in the nightstand! After having missed out on the ill-planned passholder tour last fall, admittedly these pictures are probably a better walkthrough of the famed suite, anyways!
Of course, the ultimate question is just what the Mouse plans to do with this whimsical prize now that the promotion is well and done - will they offer it up as a high luxury prize for celebrities, keep it reserved for making a select few guests’ trips all the more special, or just board the joint up completely and move along to the next big thing? We’ll leave that discussion for another day…
A little video of the first guest of the new year to cash in on the What Will You Celebrate? promotion that offers guests free admission to a Disney theme park on his or her birthday - it makes me wonder if every birthday guest will get one of those comical, oversized birthday cards with their admission, but judging from the emptiness of the park, me-thinks that it’s probably just more for the promotional photos and videos…
Either way, free admission is still free admission! Happy New Year, indeed.
And a new year we’ve got to look forward to at Walt Disney World in 2009, it certainly will be, what with the grand opening of the What Will You Celebrate? promotion, new expansions of the Disney Vacation Club with Bay Lake Tower and the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs, and even the openings of some of the new Pleasure Island replacements that will be taking shape at Downtown Disney.Couple those with hoards of other smaller updates and changes, as well as a particularly unsettling economy, and I think it goes without saying that the next twelve months will, to say the least, be very interesting…
But of course, this is the new year, a happy time of celebration and new beginnings, so I’m not going to dwell on the potential gloom here today … besides, I’m sure that there will be plenty of opportunity for musings in the months to come anyways!Nope, instead I want to take this month’s column to explore a slight twist on the classic New Years Resolutions that we’re all scrambling to write around this time.You see, I’m not really sure what I could write about resolutions for Walt Disney World, and we already pretty much went through my laundry list last month regarding the most recent changes that I’d like to see, so instead I thought we’d try something a little different and talk about some aspirations I have for my trips to the World over the next twelve months.
The way I see it, at this point I’ve been visiting Disney World in my “adult life” for a little over four years now and while I’ve certainly seen a lot during this time, there are still so many facets and offshoots to enjoy – that’s really one of the things I love about this place because I can’t see myself ever getting tired of it!By the time I finally do manage to get through everything that the resort has to offer, it’ll be time to start all over again … more than enough magic to last a lifetime, in my eyes.
But that said, in reviewing in my mind those things that I have done over the last four years, I started to think about new things that I haven’t necessarily done yet and while they certainly won’t all fit into 2009, I went ahead and picked out some of my favorite that I’d like to entertain with my wife (and anyone else who happens to show up!) over the next twelve months.Here’s what I came up with…
Stay in a DVC Resort So by this point I’ve seen a notable variety of the resorts on-property – all four each of the value and moderate resorts, and two of the deluxe resorts thus far – but the one level that I haven’t yet spent the night at is DVC.Granted, there are certainly still a fair share of deluxes that I’d like to check out as well, but considering that my wife and I are inching closer to that financial stability that would allow us to buy into the Disney Vacation Club, not to mention the really nice rates that have been offered as of late, it just seems like a natural progression and one that I’m definitely looking forward to exploring in the near future!
Enjoy a Nice Evening of Dinner and Fireworks at the California Grill Sure, I’ve heard mixed opinions, which is all the more reason why I want to try this signature Disney dining facility for myself!You can bet that it’s not too difficult at all to convince my wife that it’s time for us to enjoy a nice, romantic dinner, and if this dining experience lives up to its legend, then we could very well (hopefully) be in for quite the treat.While admittedly there’s not a whole lot on the California Grill’s menu that I would line up for, it’s got enough to intrigue me while we wait for Wishes to take flight over the Magic Kingdom, and that’s a good enough excuse for me…
Visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hour Evenings …which I know are far in between, but I pretty much have one very distinct goal for this particular thought and that’s the idea of getting to ride Expedition Everest at nighttime.I mean, this is one of the coolest coasters on property during the day, and comparing how much more I enjoy Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in the evenings, I can only wonder if there’s a similar experience to be had in the Himalayas as well!
Take Some Really Sharp-Looking Photos Around the World I’ve been getting more and more into photography lately, at least still on an amateur level, anyways, but I think my multitude of galleries certainly prove that of all the places to shoot pictures, Disney World is right up there near the top.That said, while I have the random shots here or there that came out decent, I’d like to get some really nice ones – you know, the kind that look like they should be part of Disney’s promotional materials?!I had planned on putting together a set of holiday favorites around the parks last month as a special project, but life got in the way and that never really materialized.Nonetheless, even just a shot or two worthy of blowing up and framing would be very cool in my books.
Check Out DisneyQuest This is actually another one of those things that we’ve wanted to do for the last couple of years, actually, with the main reason being because of all of the rumors that were floating around at the time about DisneyQuest closing its doors.Well clearly that hasn’t happened, which is good because being the geek that I am, it sounds like the kind of place I could have myself a lot of fun at!Virtual this, 3D that, and make your own rollercoaster?!Gotta do it!
Get Back to the Basics and See the Parks If there’s one thing that’s changed for my own touring habits over the years, it’s definitely that I’ve gotten to a point where I really only see certain things at each park when we visit.We have our favorites, so we hit up those and if we don’t go anywhere else, that’s fine.And granted, living right around the corner that does work for us, but every once in a while I do find myself with a yearning to just go completely buck wild and spend the entire day touring one of the parks from top to bottom!You know, get there relatively early in the day and hop from land to land, seeing absolutely everything before pushing on to the next.I certainly wouldn’t want to do it every time, but I feel like it’s been a while since we really took it all in and wouldn’t mind a little refresher tour, if you will…
Spend a Trip Longer Than 4 Days (3 Nights) at a Time Looking back, the longest we’ve ever spent the night at Disney in one shot has been typically Friday – Monday, mostly due to scheduling issues and whatnot, and those trips usually end in a manner that I’m sure yours do, too, with one of us saying, “I wish we had more time – it’d been nice to just lay around the resort a little more.”Because with all of the theme parks around, even for us we usually find ourselves spending most of our days out and about, despite the copious amount of amenities right there at the hotel.Now I don’t know if this one is necessarily a possibility this year due to my wife finishing up with school, but one of these trips we’ve vowed to make it the more traditional, 5- or 7-day excursion which should allow plenty of time to lounge and take in the sights.
And if it’s somehow possible to combine this one with the Stay in a DVC Resort one above, then all the better!
Dine at a Table Service Restaurant Inside the Magic Kingdom Is it bad that more than one of my aspirations revolves around food???I guess that’s what the resolutions are for, eh?!Anyways, I recently came to realize that while I’ve dined at restaurants inside all of the other parks, I haven’t enjoyed a single table service lunch or dinner at the Magic Kingdom.No idea as to why – maybe just none of them really jumped out at me, and with worthwhile alternatives at the three monorail resorts only moments away, it was never really a big deal.But just for the sake of argument, I think it’s time to try dining at this one, too.
Of course, I really don’t have any preferences as to which one – can anybody make a recommendation?
Watch Edward James Olmos Narrate a 2009 Candlelight Processional Show Last month we ended up missing out on Candlelight because we ended up only getting really one holiday weekend over at Disney and didn’t want to dedicate an entire evening to eating and watching the show.That said, I really want to make sure we go this year because we both have really enjoyed the show the last two years we’ve watched it.And for the icing on the cake, if by any chance at all Edward James Olmos happens to be narrating again this year, that’s the night I want to see the show.I don’t even care if it’s on Christmas day and we have to pay for admission because our annual passes don’t cover that holiday – over the last year I’ve gotten absolutely hooked on Battlestar Galactica and would love to see Admiral Adama, err, I mean Edward James Olmos perform in person!
So now that you’ve read my aspirations for my next year of fun and exploration at Walt Disney World, what stands out that you would like to do during your next visit?
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Here’s an interesting interview that Fortune magazine ran the other day about Bob Iger’s sense of business direction for the Walt Disney Company, what he’s done since taking the company’s top position in 2005, and his visions for the future of the Mouse as a global brand. Personally, I don’t agree with everything that’s said here - there’s some negativity about Eisner’s performance, who I actually enjoyed at the helm of Disney and wass arguably responsible for most of the growth around Walt Disney World, and the talks about Disney’s brands bridging mediums rings of some of the overbearing advertisements that some areas of the parks seem to be inundated with today. Nonetheless, it’s always good to keep up on what the chief is thinking, even if you don’t entirely see eye to eye with him.
