Epcot Flower & Garden Festival Kicks Off This Week

This week the Epcot International Flower Garden Festival officially opens.  It’s one of Epcot’s longest events, in the length of time it’s going on at the park.  So from year to year it might not seem like a lot changes.  This year, though, it’s got something special up its sleeve. One of Disney’s big films of the year is “Oz: The Great & Powerful,” which tells the story of how a man from the American Midwest became the wonderful, terrible Wizard of Oz.  It opens on March 8, two days after the kickoff of the Flower & Garden Festival, and … Continue reading

A Year in Disney Fandom: D23 Events for 2013

Any D23 members wondering what will be on the official Disney Fan Club’s schedule for 2013 don’t need to wait any longer.  The official D23 website and the official Disney Parks blog have both posted announcements of the fan club’s 2013 events. The most exciting news to come out of D23 for 2013 is the announcement of a second year of Fanniversary.  The event, which is open to the public (but D23 members get first registration), is a must-attend celebration for any Disney fans.  It’s hours spent reveling in the best of Disney movies, history, park attractions, and more.  Special … Continue reading

Adventures at Disney World

Your family is desperate for a Disney World vacation. They’ve been begging you to go for ages, but you just can’t get into the idea. Amusement parks aren’t your thing. Sure, there’s stuff like the Animal Kingdom and special events at Epcot, but even on an off-season Disney might just be too crowded for you. You’re the outdoorsy type, you love adventure. In fact, Adventures by Disney would be more your speed, but that’s way too expensive. You’re in luck, because a little-known fact about Disney World is that there’s tons to do there that one wouldn’t associate with amusement … Continue reading

Landscape of Flavors

Given that its opening is coming (relatively) soon, it’s no surprise that the details keep pouring in about Disney World’s forthcoming Art of Animation resort. The latest Disney Parks blog post on the hotel focuses on its Landscape of Flavors food court. I love reading about food, so I’m excited to learn more. Of course the announcement of Landscape of Flavors is all a bit grand. It plays up the restaurant, making it seem like a unique and innovative new approach to dining. Perhaps it is for restaurants in Disney World hotels. All I know is it almost kind of … Continue reading

The Gooiest Apple Awards at Disneyland

This year Disneyland’s doing something a little different for Halloween. Sure, both parks are throwing the usual parties, but this time Disneyland has a little something special for the holiday on its website. Travel over to Disneyland’s Halloween Time and see what I mean. The main focus for Halloween Time is the Disney Villains, which makes sense. The flash animation on the site rotates between each of the most popular baddies, and users can click on them to read a tidbit about the character. Then they can vote to crown their favorite with the Gooiest Apple Award. But rather than … Continue reading

Fall Special Offers

With a new season comes a new batch of special offers at the Disney parks. Disney World is surprisingly light on new deals this quarter, so let’s take a look at it first. The main deal being pushed by Disney World right now is a free dining plan. Guests who purchase a non-discounted Magic Your Way room and ticket package at certain Disney World hotels get either a free dining plan or a free quick-service dining plan. The difference depends on the hotel; the bigger dining plan comes with the nicer (moderate, deluxe, or deluxe villa) hotels and the quick-service … Continue reading

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

From a possible old French Disney card-based rpg? Of all the special events held at Disney World, two have stood out as the most appealing to me: the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, and scavenger hunts throughout the parks. The latter is for D23 members only, which is just another reason why I might want in the fan club. Now Walt Disney World is taking that whole scavenger hunt concept one step further, with its new role-playing game Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, announced on the official Parks blog at the beginning of September. The game, kicking off in early … Continue reading

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2011

The Epcot Food & Wine Festival is just around the corner, so that means it’s time to look at what events are on the schedule this year. The festival runs from September 30 to November 13, and you can bet that those weeks are the ones I most wish to visit Orlando. Some of the F&W special parties require ticketing in advance. For a list of the most exclusive for which, if you’re interested, you ought to book now, check out my previous article here. Other events, while they do require that ahead-of-time admission, happen often enough or are large … Continue reading

Disney’s New Destination D

Remember when I talked about Disney’s new fan club D23, and couldn’t decide whether or not to join? The price of membership was a little high, and I was mostly interested in the earlier and cheaper ticket benefits D23 members get for the D23 Disney convention. A Disney convention sounds like a playground to me. Only tickets for the convention are open to the public, not just fan club members, hence my indecision. Well, it looks like it’ll be another year before I need to make up my mind. Disney execs have decided not to hold the D23 convention again … Continue reading