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Special Tours at the Disney Parks

The Disney Parks are just so big that it seems like there will never stop being things to learn about them. New features and attractions are added all of the time.  Today we’re going to take a look at one unique aspect of the park: tours.  Disney World offers all sorts of special year-round and seasonal tours, but it also has something called the VIP tour. The VIP tour isn’t what it might immediately sound like: it’s not a special behind-the-scenes, comprehensive look at Disney World.  Instead, it’s a service that will transport you around the park to the attractions … Continue reading →

MyMagic+ to Record Disney Guest Experience

Disney’s always looking for a way to get ahead in its parks, including providing the best customer service around. Its constant raising of prices might seem counter intuitive to that, but at least it keeps upgrading its services.  The New York Times has a fascinating new report on the Disney Parks’ latest effort: MyMagic+. MyMagic+ takes the physical form of a wristband park guests wear in place of tickets.  Guests won’t have to trade in paper tickets anymore, instead waving their bands in front of the new FastPass monitors (even if they didn’t purchase a FastPass, those Mickey monitors are used).  MyMagic+ … Continue reading →

Benefits Cut for Disney World Premium Annual Passes

The lobby of the Grand Floridian, one of Disney World’s most exclusive hotels Walt Disney World continues to aggravate its most loyal fans, as it announced in December that discounts for premium annual pass members will be cut.  The Orlando Sentinel has all the details. Since 2010 Disney World’s been pulling back a lot on the discounts it offers various pass holders.  This time, the target is premium annual passes, which already cost around $750 (Florida residents get a discount at around $600).  Now the shopping discounts premium annual pass holders receive have been cut in half. Let’s take a … Continue reading →

Disney Park Apps for Smartphones

I got a smart phone for my birthday, when all I asked for is an mp3 player. Don’t get me wrong: it’s an awesome present, but sometimes I don’t know what to do with it. I disabled data, because I spend enough time online as it is. Although I downloaded one or two, I’m wary of most apps: I don’t want them cluttering up my phone. If you have smart phone, however, and you’re planning a Disney vacation, there are a few apps you should look into getting. Most of them are free, which is just icing on the cake. … Continue reading →

Disney Park Secrets: Working the Front Gate

Any Disney fan has wondered this at some point in his or her life: what would it be like to work at Disney? Be it for the movie division, at the parks, as an Imagineer, or even just in a Disney store, surrounded by the characters we grew up with, we’ve probably all thought about it at some point. So it’s fun to hear about what it could be like to work at the Happiest Place on Earth (or its East Coast sibling). Internet news/interest site Reddit has a feature called “Ask Me Anything,” wherein people, anyone from “Avengers” director … Continue reading →

Fantasyland Expansion Opening Dates

It’s 2012: where’s the new Fantasyland? Three years ago when I first read about all of Disney World’s planned expansions for the Magic Kingdom, I was so excited that for a moment I could close my eyes and almost imagine being there. That is the Disney World I always imagined as a child, and I only have to wait for three years, and there it’ll be. Well, we’re halfway through 2012 now, but it seems like little has happened. The biggest expansion-related news to come out of a Disney Park has been about “Cars Land” out in Anaheim. We all … Continue reading →

Disney Parks Raising Ticket Prices

It might really be time to take advantage of those cheaper flights to Orlando, because Disney World’s just raised its ticket costs. The Orlando Business Journal reports that over the first weekend of June, Disney World bumped its one-day, single-park ticket to $89, when previously it cost $85. This might have been in response to Disney World’s biggest competitor, Universal Studios Orlando, raising its one-day single-park ticket price to $88. I think not, because the prices on many types of park tickets are going up this summer. Four-, five- and seven-day tickets to Disney World now cost $256, $268, and … Continue reading →

Disneyland: The Most Sued Place on Earth

I made a strange assertion in my article about the girl kicked out of Disney World for wearing a Tinker Bell outfit: that a lot of people like to sue Disney. It’s something I said because, following Disney news professionally for the past 3 years, I’ve noticed a few lawsuits brought against the parks for one reason or another. Apparently I’m not the only one to notice the trend; The Orange County Register recently published an article focusing on how two southern California amusement parks, Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland, are frequently the targets of lawsuits. The most recent involved … Continue reading →

Girl Removed from Disney World for Dressing as Tinker Bell

Disney loves to encourage devotion or obsession among its fans. That makes it mind-boggling, then, that last week a girl was kicked out of Disney World for wearing a Tinker Bell costume. The justification park execs gave? Her costume was too good. Tampa Bay Online has the details. Fifteen-year-old April Spielman worked and saved for over a year in order to afford tickets herself to Disney World. She also put a lot of dedication into creating her own rather realistic Tinker Bell costume. The plan was for her and her boyfriend to go to Disney World on their own money … Continue reading →

New FastPass Technology Tested at Disney World

Disney World’s always trying to improve, and one of the big complaints many guests have, at least at certain times of year, is the long lines for rides. That’s why the FastPass system exists: it allows Disney World to offer interested guests shorter wait times while making money off the idea. As part of their constant quest for improvement Disney World is trying to upgrade their FastPass system, according to The Disney Blog. They’re currently testing the next generation of the queue-jumping arrangement in the Magic Kingdom, and it involves RFID. RFID stands for radio-frequency identification, the process of using … Continue reading →