Mouse Extra

Looking for a taste of Paris? Chefs de France in Epcot’s World Showcase enables the travel without the hassle of flying. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, Ledger.com had some additional details about the upcoming Toy Story Mania attraction going into the Studios sometime next year… Read the rest of this entry »

If worried the kids are too loud for dining in the many sit down restaurants Walt Disney World has to offer, check out Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. The cafeteria style eatery in Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland features hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, and chicken nuggets….all the foods little ones love. Read the rest of this entry »

Deb Wills of AllEarsNet.com is attending today’s press event at Walt Disney World, and she is reporting that Toy Story Mania is now officially confirmed to be going into the Disney-MGM Studios sometime in 2008… Read the rest of this entry »

It seems customary among internet Disney World addicts to author trip reports, probably for the sake of making their friends who haven’t been to the Mouse in awhile seriously jealous.   Far be it from me to buck such trends, so here is my trip report from the last two weekends.  Let’s divide it into two separate posts, one for January 13-14, and one for January 19-21…

Day 1
We arrived via Jet Blue, my new favorite airline, and took the Magical Express to the Saratoga Springs.  It was Saturday afternoon on Martin Luther King Weekend, and the airport and resort was busy, but that did not affect the service much.  Magical Express was great and the lines at check-in at the resort were handled well.   

A word of advice for those looking for certain room locations, make sure you call in advance.  I called and they wanted to give me nearly the opposite of what I had asked for.   If it wasn’t for the fact that I made the request, I surely would have gotten nowhere with my complaints.  I wanted a room close to the lobby and not Downtown Disney,    and after some haggling that’s what I got.

We hopped the bus to the Magic Kingdom, with the only purpose being to have dinner at Trail’s End in Fort Wilderness (review coming soon) and to see both Spectromagic and Wishes.   Magic Kingdom was open until 10pm, and we were able to eat and get to the park after dinner by 7pm, just in time for Spectromagic.  After the parade we road Big Thunder Mountain and went over to my favorite spot for Wishes.

Last November, a Cast Member came up to me right before Wishes was to start and told me to follow him for a good spot.   He took me right in front of the Crystal Palace and it was perfect, so that’s where we went.  Only this time it was not so good.  They must be having problems with the audio over there, because it was to low to even make out the narration.  

After Wishes we went on the Jungle Cruise, a ride I don’t normally do, and we are still laughing about the experience.   Without being rude, and that is not my intention at all, we had a skipper whose accent was so thick you couldn’t make out anything she said.  Let me tell you, bad jokes are even worse when you only understand every third word.

Day 2
We made it to the Animal Kingdom for rope-drop to get on Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Here’s a touring tip for first timers; the Safaris are great first thing in the morning.   All the animals are up and active, and nothing really enhances the experience more.  Hopefully this trip was my goodbye to Big Red and Little Red.  There were no signs of any changes, however.

We left before noon and needed to get to Downtown Disney, so I took a bus to Port Orleans French Quarter and a boat from there to the Marketplace.   For some reason that escapes me, the buses do not offer direct service to Downtown Disney from the theme parks???  But I digress…

After a lunch at Raglan Road, much better than my horrid first experience there (more on that in an upcoming review), we went to Epcot for some lazy strolling along the World Showcase promenade and a couple of performances from Off Kilter.   We had a quick meal at the Mexico Pavillion’s counter service and then headed back to Saratoga, skipping Illuminations.

This was the evening of the NFL playoffs, and my wife and I both wanted to see the late game.  The idea was that we would go to the “Turf Club Bar and Grill” for some libations and football.   The only problem was that the Turf Club is only a bar in name.  The television there was smaller than the one in the room, or at least it seemed that way, and there really is no bar at all.   Disappointed, we got some take-out and watched the game back in our room.

Day 3
We needed to travel to Fort Lauderdale for a cruise, unfortunately not a Disney Cruise (more on that in a later posting as well).   So we rented a car from the Car Care Center to drive south.  They picked us up exactly when they said they would and everything went well, better than I anticipated.   The process there was convenient and well done.  It was Monday, and our travels would bring us back to the Mouse on Friday…

I am a fanboy, a Star Wars (among other things) fanboy. I love Star Tours despite its outdated technology. Its still so much fun to ride. Its also one of the attractions to first start a disturbing trend in Disney theme park design. You must exit the attraction through a gift shop. In this case though, its the very cool Tatooine Traders. Read the rest of this entry »