Magical Adventures & Memories
Just walking into the Magic Kingdom or any of the parks with holiday decorations up and you’ll be in the spirit. However to really create some magical memories, you simply must head over to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. This separate ticketed event runs on select nights in November and December and believe me, it is worth the price of admission.
[Read more…] about VIDEO: Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party-Once Upon a Christmastime Parade
I’ve reported previously about the fun that is MNSSHP – check out part 1 of my “Boo to You!” Parade pictures, part 2 with the “Boo to You” Villains from the parade and my Headless Horseman video from 2008. Last year and now this year again, the Horseman has slowed to a trot from an eerie gallop (perhaps for safety issues) but it’s still impressive nonetheless! New to the parade this year is the evil Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog fame. My favorite are still the gravediggers with their shovels!
[Read more…] about Boo to You! Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party 2010
The Disney Community Relations team has been working with Downtown Disney, the Heart of Florida United Way and their local agencies to create an early morning shopping experience on November 6, 2010 from 5:30 to 9:30 am.
With the purchase of a $5 voucher, all proceeds go directly to the Heart of Florida United Way, shoppers will get a wristband to gain entrance into exclusive sales offering deeply discounted park merchandise, doorbusters, designer boutiques (Dior, Pucci, Acqua di Parma & Guerlain), and product launches at several locations in Downtown Disney.
The things that really stick out to this shopper are:
The Benefit Sale site www.thebenefitsale.com, will be updated to include more information about the specials and event activities on October 1, 2010.
I have gone to the Annual Passholder sales that are held this early in the morning at World of Disney, and while getting there was a little rough the sales were totally worth the extra bags under my eyes!
I know that I’ll be there in my finest shopping PJs…will you?
~Shelley
EDIT: The Disney Parks blog has added some updated info about The Benefit Sale which takes place in just a few days —
Disney Theme Park Merchandise has never done a sale to this magnitude with select items up to 75 percent off, over 125 door busters, Authentic Disney Theme Parks T-Shirts for $5, fragrance and beauty boutiques from Guerlain, Givenchy, Acqua di Parma, Dior, and Emilio Pucci with special gifts and SO much more…this single day sale event will be THE sale of the year. The prices have never been and will never be this low again…so shop, give back, and save BIG!
So what are the special offers and discounts you can expect to see at The Benefit Sale? While there’s too much to tell you about, here’s a sneak peek of the great offers you’ll find this coming Saturday:
Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members don’t forget that this is your ONE shopping event this holiday season to save big on your Disney Theme Park favorite!
Still need to get your voucher for The Benefit Sale? It’s not too late! You can still purchase a Benefit Sale Voucher online at TheBenefitSale.com or you can purchase your voucher at Downtown Disney the morning of The Benefit Sale on Saturday, November 6!
Many of you may have heard about the Last Tour to Endor party associated with the Star Wars Celebration V that took place at the Orange County Convention Center last month. I know I was disappointed that we couldn’t get it to work out logistically, so when I saw the D23 event for the Last Flight to Endor (which was an essentially free event save for the $5 per ticket processing fee), I was all over it! What’s more, this free event was going to take place on the actual last night of Star Tours operation before it closed for refurbishment and would be limited to the number of guests that could fill the speeders in the attraction for the actual last flight. It was too cool to pass up. I am so glad I didn’t.
{I apologize in advance for the photo quality. I was using my cell all night – convenient, but not so great at night and when you are pretty much constantly moving. Hopefully the spirit of the evening comes across in the pictures, despite the blurriness! }
I make no claims to know all there is about Star Wars, but I know enough to make obscure references or movie lines when needed and get suitably excited when our escorts for the evening turned out to be some of the 501st Legion‘s finest Stormtroopers (even though my first response upon seeing one of them was “Aren’t you a little short to be a Stormtrooper?”). It was great to see so many excited fans and fellow bloggers/Disney media people there as well as meeting some twitter friends. We all checked in and were given a commemorative boarding pass and FastPass for the evening, and the first 100 guests received a limited edition Star Wars coin set as well. Soon the Stormtroopers arrived and we were on the march to our destination: Star Tours.
[Read more…] about Farewell to Captain Rex – D23’s Last Flight to Endor Celebration
NOTE: If you are looking for the Disney World Princess HALF MARATHON Dooney & Bourkes – click here!
In an interesting turn of events, Disney has decided to release its newest design collaboration with Dooney & Bourke online first. The new Princess designs are at the Disney Store online. The new designs are a Disney Princess twist of the Pop Novelty design at DooneyandBourke.com. Here are the currently available styles:
[Read more…] about Disney Dooney and Bourke Princess Handbag Designs
Following in the vein of Disney Cruise Line exclusive Dooney & Bourke bags, Disneyland park now gets its own special collection of these wildly popular handbags. Once again featuring Dooney & Bourke designer Ian Ray, Disneyland fans are sure to enjoy this newest offering from perhaps the most popular marriage of fashion and fun.
The bags showcase so many iconic images from the different silhouettes of Mickey through the years, to Mickey Mouse Club I.D. cards as well ticket media and famous phrases associated with ‘The Happiest Place on Earth.’
Disney Vault 28 will be the first to offer these Disneyland® Resort Dooney & Bourke co-branded bags. This fashionable collection highlights the essence of Disney with color, art and a nostalgic touch.
Click each picture below to head to the DisneyStore.com and purchase these bags!
Bags and prices are as follows:
Medium Tote – $270.00 Small Messenger – $ 255.00 Letter Carrier – $155.00 Large Wristlet – $70.00 Checkbook Wallet – $175.00 (not pictured)
Don’t forget to check DisneyStore.com for sales of select current released Disney Dooney & Bourke purses and Zannaland’s Disney Dooney & Bourke page with ALL handbag photos and info.
*DisneyStore.com links are affiliate links, which means it costs you nothing extra to click or buy, but if you do, I get a small commission. Thanks for reading!
Disney certainly is no stranger to circus themes, what with the whole Dumbo/Casey Jr. connection. However you may be surprised to hear there is actually a circus-themed lounge and bathroom within a now long-extinct attraction inside Epcot. A little bit of “The Greatest Show on Earth without the scary clowns.
I know it’s no secret that Wonders of Life has been used for festival events both during the Epcot Flower and Garden and Food & Wine Festivals, but I actually had not been inside the building since around 2003. I recently attended a preview event held in the pavilion and as sad as it was to see no Cranium Command marquee, Wonder Cycles with video screens, or Body Wars, my sadness was quelled by a trip upstairs to the VIP lounge. I wish I’d taken pictures of the elevator because it really was beautiful; dark wood, mirrors on all sides, you could watch yourself watching yourself watching yourself riding the elevator.
Once upstairs, you are greeted with an instant circus theme. I know in the past for Food & Wine Festival dinners, the reception area had a full-on red and white striped tent treatment going on. I was able to find some pictures on a Disney fan message board of how the space is used for wedding receptions:
[Read more…] about The Greatest Bathroom and Lounge On Earth!
Sunday I asked for picture requests for last night’s visit to the opening of Summer Nightastic! at the Magic Kingdom, with the Main Street Electrical Parade and Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular. Sadly, I only received one real request (I know you readers are out there somewhere!? ;)). However, while I was sitting on the sidewalks of Frontierland with my 19 month-old son plopped on my lap, I realized that I could take a million pictures, and certainly you can see a million pictures and video everywhere right now…but I cannot replicate the experience for you here in text and photographs.
Therein lies the magic of Disney in one of its many forms – holding your baby in your lap as your 11 and 9 year-olds sit next to you, to watch a parade you saw at their age…and haven’t seen since they were both your baby’s age. After you’ve wrapped your head around that math, pause for a moment to think about the layers of memories there. I can write about sitting on the warm concrete with the smell of smoked turkey legs wafting around me in the thick, humid air. I can try to pinpoint the moment when the music first hits the area you’re sitting in and you crane your neck to spy the first twinkling light. I can share with you the look of wonder and joy on all of my childrens’ faces as they witnessed the Main Street Electrical Parade for the very first time. But I cannot do it justice. It is simply something you must experience. Like most things at Disney, it is a multi-sensory adventure that is truly felt as much as it is seen.
Truly, to be a fan of Disney Parks, is to be a time-traveler. You can rewind the magic and experience it again and again. There is not a single time I visit Epcot or Magic Kingdom that prior visits and memories don’t come flooding back. In a world that’s ever-changing, it’s nice to have a place that has figured out how to keep time in a bottle. Sure, there are some things we loved about Walt Disney World that we’ll never again see…but it was just as important a memory for me to explain what was once there to my 11 year-old son as we stood in front of the old Fantasyland Skyway station. I’d give anything to ride on the Skyway just one more time with my children in tow, but at least now they know the history and what used to be. With the Main Street Electrical Parade, we are able to get ‘what once was’ back again.
So I urge you to get to the Magic Kingdom this summer. Whether it’s your first time seeing the parade or your 40th, how often do we get to rewind the magic and relive our childhood – or experience a whole new one? Even every 10 years is a long time to wait. Come on down and give your old memories some new friends.
So my question to you, my faithful readers, is what do YOU want to see pictures or video of? (I can’t promise too much with the video as it’s not my strong-suit and I only have the video function on my regular camera ;)) Comment here with your requests and I’ll do my best to capture them tonight and post it tomorrow here on the site. Of course it doesn’t have to be limited to the parade or fireworks; it could be an attraction, a sign, heck even a trash can!
Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot all present special events designed to add summertime energy to the after-dark theme-park experience. At Magic Kingdom, thousands of tiny lights illuminate the return of the beloved “Main Street Electrical Parade,” and the elaborate new “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular” paints the night sky more brightly than ever.
“There’s a special energy in the parks at night,” says Chris Oyen, show director for the “Summer Nightastic! Fireworks Spectacular.” “It’s all about the magic and the sense of adventure and mystery that nighttime possesses in the Magic Kingdom.”
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror adds new effects – and a summer-only drop sequence – to the mix for guests daring to step into the attraction’s infamous service elevator for a ride into the “fifth dimension.” And on Hollywood Boulevard, in the shadow of the 122-foot-tall Mickey’s Sorcerer’s Hat icon, guests are invited to the Rock n’ Glow Dance Party, where a DJ and live rock band keep popular tunes coming five nights a week.
At Epcot, live “Sounds Like Summer” tribute-band concerts rock guests each evening from June 12 to July 31 with familiar tunes ranging from “Hotel California” to “Stayin’ Alive.”
The multi-park festivities promise a veritable Cinderella-coach-full of sensory surprises for all who visit during the 10-week-plus summer celebration.
“Main Street Electrical Parade” – This classic pageant of illuminated floats goes all the way back to 1972, when it first debuted at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. With 23 floats, more than half a million tiny colorful lights, 80 performers, synthesizer music based on “Baroque Hoedown,” and Disney theme songs woven in, the parade returns to Walt Disney World Resort for the first time since 2001. A nostalgia trip for many, this “crown jewel of summer” kicks off the season with lighting effects, floats and characters new to Walt Disney World Resort.
Beloved floats like the “Honor America” finale display – featuring the American flag and giant American eagle – return, along with costumed characters like Alice in Wonderland, Mickey Mouse and Goofy.
“With this show, we’re making the skies come alive – we’re not just going to immerse you, we’re going to surprise you, too,” says show director Oyen.
“We’re constantly innovating, pushing ourselves to be more creative with the kind of pictures we paint in the sky – we’re trying to make the skies come to life and dance,” Oyen says.
New Frights at Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – If you think you’ve been to the “fifth dimension” and survived The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, think again. Surprise enhancements to this headline attraction are programmed to deliver even greater levels of special-effects frights just for the “Summer Nightastic!” celebration.
Rock ‘n Glow Dance Party – Disney’s Hollywood Studios guests are invited to trip the light fantastic at a rockin’ dance party every Tuesday and Thursday through Sunday. A DJ and a special engagement rock band play sizzling summer sounds beginning three hours before park closing on Hollywood Boulevard. Watch for popular Disney characters to step into the dance party spotlight.
“Sounds Like Summer” — Blasts from the past are in store at Epcot, where the curtain rises on popular rock-band tributes June 12 at the park’s America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase. Each evening through July 31 at 5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m., “Sounds Like Summer” tribute-band concerts drum up lots of nostalgia with hot tunes and cool riffs, from “Satisfaction” to “Saturday in the Park.” The lineup (subject to change):
June 12-19: Stayin’ Alive – A Tribute to The Bee Gees
June 20-26: Hotel California – A Salute to the Eagles
June 27-July 3: Karin Lawson – A Tribute to Janet Jackson
July 4-10: Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones Tribute Band
July 11-17: Slippery When Wet – The Ultimate Bon Jovi Tribute
July 18-24: 2U – A Tribute to U2 July 25-31: Beginnings – A Tribute to Chicago
Guests can Learn more about “Summer Nightastic!” and check out deals for summer travel by visiting www.disneyworld.com/night or by calling 407/W-DISNEY (934-7639) or a local travel agent. All special summer events are included in regular theme-park admission.