Magic Kingdom News!

Recently, Walt Disney World had a press conference to show off the new "The Magic, The Memories, and You!" show at Magic Kingdom. The new show uses projectors to show over 500 pictures taken from the day to project it onto Cinderella's Castle. Of course you can opt out of the show if you really want to, but really? Who doesn't want their picture to be displayed on Cinderella's Castle?

You can watch the show here if you don't want to wait for your next visit. 

Star Tours

The opening day for Star Tours was announced by Disney last night. 

May 20, 2011 will be the first day to go along with the Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios. 

Excited? I know I am!

New Star Wars Vinylmation. 

Fastpass

At Walt Disney World, in all four theme parks, some of the most popular attractions have Fastpass.

Fastpass or FP, is designed to help guests take in more attractions without having to wait in huge lines. Usually if you get a Fastpass then you only have to wait a little or no wait at all. The ticket gives you a time to come back to hold your place in line.  At the same time while your waiting, you can go around the rest of the park and try another ride. You can get another Fastpass after a certain time that is printed at the bottom of the ticket. Here is a list of rides in each theme park. 

Magic Kingdom

Big Thunder Mountain

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Jungle Cruise

Peter Pan's Flight

Space Mountain

Splash Mountain

Winnie the Pooh

*Mickey's PhilharMagic

Epcot

Soarin

Test Track

Mission: Space

*Living with the Land

*Maelstrom

Hollywood Studios

Toy Story Mania

Rock N Roller Coaster

Tower of Terror

*Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular

*Voyage of the Little Mermaid

** Star Tours

Animal Kingdom

Dinosaur

Expedition Everest

Kali River Rapids

Kilimanjaro Safaris

It's Tough to be a Bug

Primeval Whirl

All the * attractions sometimes don't have Fastpass when it's not needed or its not busy. 

** Star Tours gets two stars because it's not open right now, but you WILL need Fastpass when it opens back up sometime in May. 

Some of these Fastpass are needed to the point where it will be at least 50 minutes for a ride unless you have a Fastpass. 

Soarin at Epcot. One day in May, when it is not too busy, Fastpass ran out by the time we got there at 2 pm. 

Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom need one as well. 

At Magic Kingdom, all of the Fastpass rides usually do need one. 

Toy Story Mania runs out of Fastpasses very early in the day just like Soarin.

There are clocks above the machines to tell you what time the tickets can be used. 

In another post I will give my personal strategy to the parks and to Fastpass. 

Full House

I am currently watching the episode in the first season where Stephanie is so excited to go to Disneyland because she has never gone. 

Then her plane is fogged in and she can't go. 

I feel so bad for the girl. 


"I still can't believe we missed Captian Eo!" - Joey

Full House has all these amazing Disney episodes and when I collect all the seasons and watch all the episodes I will update you on them =)

Loveeeeeee Full House. 

My childhood tv show combined with my passion of Disney. 

There is nothing better. 

Disney Christmas

I was especially excited for this Christmas because all I really asked for was Disney movies. I had gotten my big present which was my new 15" macbook pro which I love with my life so I did not ask for much more, except Disney movies.

This Christmas I received:

- Cars (DVD)

- Toy Story 3 (Blue-ray combo)

- An amazing Disney blanket

- Princess mug

- Princess lip balms

- With my Best Buy gift card: The Great Mouse Detective (DVD) and Fantasia (Blue-ray combo)

So I have been watching Disney movies for the past couple days and it has been great! I had not seen Cars before so when I saw it on tv about a month ago, I had to get it. Such a good movie. All of the Disney movies really get me excited for the new movies coming out in 2011. The newly shown trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 4 looks really good, even without some of the main characters. Tron:Legacy was amazing so I cannot wait until that comes out on blue-ray next year.

And nobody can forget Winnie the Pooh!

Pin Trading

If you have ever gone to Disney, you must have seen the huge pin trading sites. So if your wondering about it, here's the facts.

One of the newest pins for the upcoming 40th anniversary of Magic Kingdom. 

Image from Disney

Disney Pin Trading. The guest can buy pins from virtually anywhere in the parks, in any shape, size, character, theme and put it on a landyard (usually the best for new traders). Then you can trade any pins with cast members in the parks or at Downtown Disney.  If they have a green/turquoise lanyard, the cast member is only allowed to trade with younger kids. You are allowed to trade up to 2 pins with each cast member that you see, but the only rule is that you cannot trade them a pin that they already have. Which is usually not a big deal since there are so many pins available. 

Now, pins usually costs upwards of $8 to almost 20. So if you don't want to pay tons of money to get into this cool event, then here is my best tip. 

Usually on ebay you can get lots of 20, 40, 50 pins for cheap. This is a good idea because then you trade all the ones you don't want for ones that you like. 

In the morning, cast members have the most hidden mickey pins. Hidden mickeys pins usually have a little Mickey icon hidden on the pin. These cannot be bought in stores and are part of a larger set of the same kind or theme.

As you can see in the bottom right hand corner, there is a small black Mickey. They are not always so noticeable, but can still be seen. Image from Disney. 

I have always been very interesting in pin trading so when I went in May I tried pin trading for the first time. I got a lot of pins from ebay, got a lanyard from Disney, but also had another one that I had found. My princess one that was not from Disney would be for all of the pins I wanted to keep. The Disney lanyard kept all of my pins that I wanted to trade that day with the cast members. Cast members were always amazing even though I was 20 and asking to see their pins. All of the cast members were super nice and were very talkative about the pins and it showed that they liked trading as well. Every time my Mother turned around, I would be off looking at pins and trading. I think it is an amazing way for guests to interact with the cast members and to make interesting memories. 

Some people collect different themes of pins. Like having all hidden mickey pins from a certain year or a certain theme. Others want all the Cinderella pins or Minnie pins. Me, I do not really have a theme to my pins but looking all over the internet I saw lots of people with pins from certain rides. I thought that would be a great idea, but the ones I wanted you had to buy. I did buy one set, it was a package of two and you didn't know which ones you got, but I was lucky and got the Haunted Mansion and Soarin. Both great rides. So currently I do not have a particular theme to my pins, but the next time I go to Disney I might pick one.

I almost had a whole set of hidden Mickey pins. They were heart shaped with a princes holding a butterfly. I have 4 of the 6. You can get them on ebay, but that isn't as fun as searching for them. 

Conclusion: Pin trading is fun. And I think for most people of all ages would have fun with it. It is a very expensive hobby, but think of the different ways you can save money through ebay or getting pins that are on sale. 

Disney Marathon

This past weekend Disney held the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. 

Walt Disney holds 5 marathons throughout the year, then another one at Disneyland. 

The Walt Disney Marathon Weekend that just past. It included The Walt Disney World marathon (26.2 miles), the half marathon (13.1 miles), Buzz and Woody's Best Friends 5K, and Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge (race both the half and full marathons). 

Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend includes Disney's Princess half marathon and Disney's Royal Family 5K. February 25-27, 2011. 

Champion 5K includes the Champion 5K at Dick's Sporting Goods which is run through Hollywood studios. March 5, 2011. 

Expedition Everest Challenge is a 5K run with obstacles throughout the course in Animal Kingdom.  May 7, 2011. 

Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend includes the Disney Wine and Dine half marathon, half marathon relay, Halloween Family Fun Run 5K. September 30 - October 1, 2011. 

I don't know much about the marathons as I have never run one before. But it is on my bucket list. 

Any information and how to register for the marathons can be found at :

http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/sports/rundisney/

Good job to anyone who ran this weekend and good luck to everyone who's running this year!

Tickets

When going to Walt Disney, there are many different ticket options available to you. If you love in Florida, there are special prices for you and lots of different options. You can get an after 4 pm annual pass for instance. For Florida residents, there is a huge discount so be aware of that. 

For everyone else who travels to Florida for Disney, there are so many different options that many people can get mixed up in. 

For those who visit Disney more than once a year, they should consider getting annual passes. There is the Theme Park Annual Pass which gets you admission into every park and lets you park hop, parking, and discounts throughout the World. 

For ages 3-9 its $479.25 US. 

For 10 and older its $531.44. 

The Theme Park Premium Annual Pass gets you everything the other does, but also gives you admission to DisneyQuest, the water parks, and Oak Trail Gold Course. 

Ages 3 - 9, $603.86. 

10 and older, $669.89. 

For vacationers who aren't as lucky to go more than once, here are the different options.

Magic Your Way Base Tickets. You get to visit one park per day. This is the cheapest option. 

There is the Park Hopper Option. This gives you the ability to move from park to park as many times as you want. In the morning, you could be in Magic Kingdom, then go to Epcot during the day, and finally Hollywood Studios at night. 

The Water Park Fun and More Option. This includes admission per day to any of the water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, DisneyQuest, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, and Oak Trail Golf Course. 

No Expiration Option. The unused days from your theme park ticket and Water Park Fun and More never expire. Base Tickets usually expire 14 days after 1st use. 

Okay so here are the prices. I am going to use a 7-day ticket. 

1 Adult - 10 years or over

Base - 263.06

Base + Park Hopper - 320.57

Base + Water Park Fun and More - 320.57

Base + No Expiration - 414.29

Base + Park Hopper + Water Park Fun and More - 378.08

All together - 529.31

1 Child - 3 - 9 years old

Base - 238.56

Base + Park Hopper - 296.07

Base + Water Park Fun and More - 296.07

Base + No Expiration - 389.79

Base + Park Hopper + Water Park Fun and More - 353.58

All together - 504.81

So you can see for an adult going for more than 15 days at Disney in a year with the park hopper, an annual pass is going to be more worth it. You get free parking and discounts you can use. 

**All prices are accurate as of January 2, 2011. And are in US dollars.

http://tickets.disney.go.com/buy/TicketTrans

The site I used to get the prices.