He may not be running the family store, but Roy E. Disney isn’t slowing down. He’s just announced that he will return to competitive sailing for the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race.

From the Transpacific Yacht Race web site:

Roy E. Disney announced his retirement from sailboat racing at the awards dinner for the 2005 Transpacific Yacht Race a year ago, and now he has another bit of news: his comeback starts with the next Transpac in 2007.

With selection of the crew for his Morning Light documentary film project complete, Disney has confirmed rumors by declaring himself as the first unofficial entry for what will be his 16th Transpac. Now the youngest crew ever to sail the race will have as a counterpoint a 77-year-old skipper.

Disney will charter Pyewacket back from the Orange Coast College of Sailing & Seamanship. He donated the three-year-old maxZ86 to OCC after last year’s race when Pyewacket finished 2 1/2 hours behind Hasso Plattner’s maxZ86, Morning Glory, whose elapsed time of 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds broke Disney’s record of 7:11:41:27 set in 1999 on an earlier Pyewacket.

"The biggest thing is that I really got deeply involved in Transpac again because of the Morning Light project," Disney said, "and the more I was around it the more nostalgic I got about me in the race, and all of sudden I found myself saying, ‘We could probably rent that big boat back and do it again.’ "

And maybe reclaim the record?"

"If the wind blows this time there’s a really good chance we’ll break that record," Disney said.

The Transpacific Yacht Race is an offshore yacht race starting off Point Fermin near Los Angeles and ending off Diamond Head in Honolulu, a distance of around 2,225 nautical miles (4121 km). Started in 1906, it is one of yachting’s premier offshore races and attracts entrants from all over the world.

The Pyewacket is a Max Z 86 Yacht. Considered large, it is just 86 feet long, and 16 feet wide.

From history, Pyewacket was one of the familiar spirits of a witch detected by the "witchfinder general" Matthew Hopkins in March 1644 in the town of Maningtree, Essex, UK. Hopkins claimed he spied on the witches as they held their meeting close by his house, and heard them mention the name of a local woman. She was arrested and deprived of sleep for four nights, at the end of which she confessed and called out the names of her familiars, describing the forms in which they should appear. They were:

• Holt "who came in like a white kittling"
• Farmara "who came in like a fat spaniel without any legs at all"
• Vinegar Tom "who was like a long-legg’d Greyhound, with an head like an Ox"
• Sacke and Sugar "like a black Rabbet"
• Newes "like a Polecat"
• Ilemauzer, Pyewacket, Pecke in the Crowne and Griezzel Greedigutt, described as imps
  

I personally would have named my yacht "Vinegar Tom" or "Griezzel Greedigutt", but I’m sure Pyewacket is a fine name…

He may not be running the family store, but Roy E. Disney isn’t slowing down. He’s just announced that he will return to competitive sailing for the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race.

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Hello, I’m Leonard Nimoy.  The right pool can be an extremely important part of your day at Walt Disney World.  It can serve as your afternoon or evening relaxation or a way for the kids to burn off some energy.   So today we are in search of……(cue the creepy music)….the best pool at Walt Disney World. 

Okay, I’m not really Leonard Nimoy.  And if you’re following my stream of consciousness, I’m so sorry you’ve crossed over to the Goofy side.  Now back to our topic.  A great pool can keep your kids happy throughout your trip.  Now you may say to me "But Joanne, we’re heading into fall and winter now *gulp*.  Can we even still swim in the pool during our vacation?"  Rest assured there are plenty of hot and warm days left!  Keep in mind that the pools are heated, so your little one’s teeth won’t be chattering away through a huge smile as he asks for "just five more minutes"!  So off I went to search for the best pool in the World.  I’m not sure that I came to any conclusive answer but I certainly have some personal favs.

I really like the All Stars/Pop Century themed pools.  The shapes (guitar, piano, baseball diamond, for example) are fun!  The best thing about these pools is the bright colors of the huge icons that surround you at these resorts.  The kids seem to love it here!

When you start looking at the moderate resorts, there are multiple pools, just like the value resorts.  But you get a little extra, such as slides at some and white sand beaches (Caribbean Beach!) at others.   You’ll find the theming here is just as prevelant as at the value resorts.  The Doubloon Lagoon pool, for example at Port Orleans French Quarter features a waterslide with Triton riding a sea creature.  The sea creature’s tongue is the water slide! 

Then, as you look at the deluxe resorts, the amenities are added for mom and dad too!  Think zero depth entry and multiple whirpools….ah yes!!!  At the Beach Club for example, there is a three acre aquatic playground with a sand-bottomed pool (cool!!) and seven, count ‘em, seven whirlpools AND a sand volleyball court.  You would…..I mean, the kids would just LOVE that!  (I will not hesitate to mention that Beaches & Cream Soda Shop is right there too!)

Disney’s Boardwalk features the two-hundred foot "Keister Coaster" water slide that drops you into the pool out of the clown’s mouth.  (The clown is not trying to eat me!   The clown IS NOT trying to eat me!)

Disney’s Polynesian’s pool is just as you would expect, Polynesian themed!  The Nanea Volcano pool features a grotto slide that is a wonderful way to splash your cares away in the Florida sun.

Okay, so I did come to a conclusion.  I have to go with the Beach Club’s aquatic playground, Stormalong Bay for the best pool (and so much more) at the World.  Keep in mind that the Beach Club does share this pool with the Yacht Club.   Grab your big Mickey beach towel, your flip flops and sun screen (watch for the pop tops) and enjoy the water.  For Mouse Fan Travel, I’m Joanne.  Live long and prosper.

Joanne Cascone - Joanne@MouseFanTravel.com

Hello, I’m Leonard Nimoy.  The right pool can be an extremely important part of your day at Walt Disney World.  It can serve as your afternoon or evening relaxation or a way for the kids to burn off some energy.   So today we are in search of……(cue the creepy music)….the best pool at Walt Disney World. < more... >

On our last Walt Disney World trip, we had 2 families with a total of 4 kids ranging in age from 2-10. We did a lot of child swapping using Fast Passes and learned a lot in the process.  Many people have asked me exactly how it works so I’ll help clarify that for anybody who hasn’t done it.  Also, we discovered good waiting spots that might be helpful for others who are swapping as much as we did.

How to Child Swap
The quickest way to Child Swap is to obtain Fast Passes for part of your group ahead of time. The first part of the group that goes can report to the Fast Pass line area and ask the Cast Member there for a Child Swap ticket. That ticket entitles you to hand it off to the second part of your group and up to 4 people can use that ticket. Some members of your party can ride more than once so that members aren’t riding alone (older kids who love bigger rides will especially love this perk!). Mostly the bigger rides with height requirements will allow Child Swapping and every ride seems to have slightly different rules. Some Cast Members want to see the smaller children that won’t be riding, for example.

Using this combination of Fast Passes and Child Swap tickets drastically speeds up the riding process but you still will be spending a lot of time waiting.  We discovered some good areas to wait with the smaller children.  Here are some ideas:

Magic Kingdom
While waiting on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain, you can ride the train.  Under the train at Splash Mountain, the play structure is supposed to be fun too.  While waiting for Space Mountain, you can ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

Epcot
While waiting for Test Track, you can wait in Innoventions East and have the kids make a robot and explore the other areas here.  While waiting for Mission: Space, kids have a play structure at the exit of the ride that they can climb on and other various activities here to explore. While waiting for Soarin’, you can wait by riding Living with the Land in the same building.  Circle of Life is also a possibility.

Animal Kingdom
While waiting for Dinosaur, you can wait with the kids at The Boneyard and maybe even catch Lucky the Dinosaur on the way.

Other Ideas

• We bought several frozen lemonades at different times and found a shady spot while waiting many times as well. The kids all seemed to really love these and it pacified them as they passed the time away.
• We used little bottles of bubbles to entertain the kids throughout our trip, including while waiting for swapping. So simple, so cheap and other children enjoy chasing after the bubbles too!
• Both parties should definitely have a cell phone or 2 way radio so you can easily locate each other.
• Every Cast Member is different and some required us to show the child in order to get the child swap pass so keep the child(ren) in the same basic area in case this happens!

Happy Child Swapping!
Shannon Albert
shannon@MEI-Travel.com

On our last Walt Disney World trip, we had 2 families with a total of 4 kids ranging in age from 2-10. We did a lot of child swapping using Fast Passes and learned a lot in the process.  Many people have asked me exactly how it works so I’ll help clarify that for anybody who hasn’t done it.  Also, we discovered good waiting spots that might be helpful for others who are swapping as much as we did. < more... >

As some of you may know, I make computer games for a living. So it’s always cool to see my job (aka Dr. Egon Spengler) and my passion for Disney (aka Dr. Peter Venkman) cross streams.

Dr. Egon Spengler: There’s something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don’t cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad?"
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That’s bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.

So today it was cool to see that the gamers at Disney & Buena Vist Games have put together a fan fest for players of Toontown Online. More below the fold.

North Hollywood, Calif. - August 11, 2006 – Kids and adults alike are gathering their gags, gassing up their Toon’s go-karts, and preparing their character costumes for ToonFest 2006, the first official fan fest dedicated to Disney Online’s family-friendly game, Disney’s Toontown Online. Thousands of fans, along with Kyle Massey of That’s So Raven and the upcoming Disney Channel Original Series Cory in the House, will gather at an already sold-out event at the Walt Disney Studios on Saturday, August 26, 2006, to play Disney’s Toontown Online and take part in a host of themed activities and competitions.

“We have a truly dedicated group of kids and families that play Toontown together online on a regular basis and ToonFest will give these players the chance to show off their characters and prove they’re Toon enough,” said Steve Parkis, vice president of Premium Products for Disney Online. “ToonFest is a great way for us to celebrate the more than 15 million Toon characters that have been created since the game launched three years ago.”

Designed specifically for kids and families, Disney’s Toontown Online is an award-winning massively multiplayer online game filled with nonstop play, ever-changing adventure and irreverent fun. It is a vast online world where you live life as a cartoon character. Players can create their own Toon, furnish an estate, customize a race kart, train a pet Doodle, and team up with friends to defeat the invading robot Cogs. With an arsenal of gags to add to the fun, the Toontown experience is always growing, always changing, and as wild as the imagination.

At ToonFest 2006, fans will take part in Toontastic activities and competitions throughout the day including an in-game scavenger hunt, fun carnival games such as “Pin the Tail on the Doodle,” a costume parade and contest, Q&A panels with the game’s developers, and a sneak peek at future game expansions and features. Fans at home will be able to participate in the in-game scavenger hunt, as well.

Disney’s Toontown Online is available for download at http://www.Toontown.com for $9.95 per month, with longer membership packages available at reduced rates. Each membership includes six separate “Toons” so that individual family members may play as their own character. A free 3-day trial and additional information is available on the site.

As some of you may know, I make computer games for a living. So it’s always cool to see my job (aka Dr. Egon Spengler) and my passion for Disney (aka Dr. Peter Venkman) cross streams.

Dr. Egon Spengler: There’s something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don’t cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad?"
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That’s bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.

So today it was cool to see that the gamers at Disney & Buena Vist Games have put together a fan fest for players of Toontown Online. More below the fold.

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The Orlando Centinal’s blog reports: 

The Wiggles and Disney. Can’t get more kid-friendly than that. The ever-popular Wiggles are among the performers who will be at the "seven-week theatrical and musical extravaganza" at Disney-MGM Studios. The Wiggles will perform Aug. 29-Sept. 1.

Starting things off this week will be the Imagination Movers, a pretty cool and wholesome kids rap group.

The Orlando Centinal’s blog reports: 

The Wiggles and Disney. Can’t get more kid-friendly than that. < more... >

Last night I rushed to finish packing my bags. Normally I’m fairly organized about packing. I make a list, I gather all my like items in the order I want them to go into my bag, carefully pack them in, check "socks" off my list and then move on to the next item. For some reason last night was different. I had no list. No list for Walt’s sake! I was flying blind. I wasn’t even positive about the number of days we would be gone, but I was relaxed about the whole thing, because we would be in London, and then Paris on one of the new Adventures by Disney tours. I could buy whatever I forgot. It wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe I would get to try some strange French tooth paste made from Sunflowers and a lovely soft cheese. Maybe not.

Part way thru my packing I noticed something disturbing on the TV. M.I.5 and Scotland Yard had just arrested 21 terrorists who had been planning to blow up some planes going from London to the US. Hurray for Scotland Yard, boo for the terrorists. This did not bode well. Not so much for me, as I operate under the general assumption that I am both the luckiest and the most loved person in the universe, so I simply don’t have to worry about this sort of thing, but Beci has yet to buy into either half of my belief system, and people with bombs generally tend to bother her.

The obvious solution to this situation is to simply not tell Beci that there is any hint of a problem in London. I mean, that’s the logical thing to do, right?

Obviously.

And my plan went well until bed time when she decided that a bit of TV would help her drift off. My suggestion that the Simpsons would be the perfect sleep draught was met with bad news: "I think CNN would be better". And there, splashed all over CNN were very smart looking bobbies mixed in with the more serious anti-terror guys pouring over various buildings, tons of smashing British accents, and the news that I had wisely hidden from Beci for most of the night. So much for my twisted logic. I left everything to the hands of fate and went to sleep at midnight, just 5 hours before we needed to leave for the airport.

At 1:30 AM I woke up to the local side of a phone conversation:

"Did you know that Heathrow is mostly shut down? …. Well it is. … Only if you absolutely have to travel … CNN says they may completely halt all air traffic … Thank you."

I must have looked confused.

"That was Disney. I was just telling them about the arrests in London. They’re looking into it".

I know exactly what you’re thinking. I thought the same thing. Just how powerful is this wife of mine that she can get Disney to investigate complex political events in other countries for her. My second thought was how on earth did she get in touch with anybody at Disney at 1:30 AM!

It turns out that the cool little Adventures by Disney ticket booklet that they gave us had an emergency contact number in the back. Beci called, and they answered. And they did start to investigate what was happening in London. Several conversations and several different and very helpful people later we were informed that the tour was at the very least going to be compressed by one day and most likely canceled entirely as it didn’t look like anybody would be able to get from the US to London. They would know more in two hours Two hours was an hour too long for us, as we would be well into the boarding process by the time they had an answer for us.

"Not a problem", we were told. "Under the circumstances we will happily allow you to reschedule."

Mind you, this is early morning on our day of departure.

At 6:00, as promised, Disney called us back yet again to let us know that the tour would continue, but with the first day trimmed back (not a serious loss, as check-in and the welcome dinner are the only things scheduled for the first day). But for us, and anybody else on the west coast, it probably wouldn’t be possible to make the connections on the east coast and get to London in anything short of two days, so we would be rescheduling. They told us what they had available, we picked a date, and that was it. They were outstanding. Disney is usually pretty good at this sort of thing, but even compared to their best, this was some remarkable customer service.

Now, to top it all off, we had DVC reservations at the Hotel New York at Disneyland Paris for the two days following our tour. Anybody with DVC knows that flexibility is not part of their mantra. We needed to change our DVC booking just 9 days before we were due to arrive. My expectations were low when I called in and pressed ‘3′ about 17 times to get thru their automated menu system.

The agent who answered calmly listened to my long and winding explanation of why I needed to move my reservation. There was a moment of silence on the other end as she likely weighed the odds that this was all a bad joke being played on her by her supervisor. My low expectations dropped even lower (DVC Reservations are the only place where I’m not the luckiest and most well loved person in the world).

"May I have your member number and the name of the person you’ve been working with over at Adventures, please?"

And then I was put on hold for about 10 minutes before she came back and asked me for a number where she could call me back as this was taking longer than she had expected. 30 minutes later she called me back, thanked me for my patience, and said "You’re all set. We’ll send you a new confirmation letter. Have fun in Paris".

What could have been a total disaster, fixing different reservations with different groups in the Disney travel empire, turned out to be one of the easiest fixes you could imagine.

And then I got in my car and drove to work.

Beci and I will let you know how Adventures by Disney rolls in a few weeks.

Last night I rushed to finish packing my bags. Normally I’m fairly organized about packing. I make a list, I gather all my like items in the order I want them to go into my bag, carefully pack them in, check "socks" off my list and then move on to the next item. For some reason last night was different. I had no list. No list for Walt’s sake! I was flying blind. I wasn’t even positive about the number of days we would be gone, but I was relaxed about the whole thing, because we would be in London, and then Paris on one of the new Adventures by Disney tours. I could buy whatever I forgot. It wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe I would get to try some strange French tooth paste made from Sunflowers and a lovely soft cheese. Maybe not.

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Call me crazy but I just love a road trip!  My family thinks I am nuts when I say it’s only about a 15 hour drive.  I think it goes back to my childhood when we would pack up the family van each spring and hit I-95 headed to Florida. Ok so my Jetta is nothing like our old van but it is still a fun drive. Now that I live down in Florida my road trip starts out going the opposite direction but the return trip always reminds of that drive from my childhood. I am always looking for those South of the Border billboards that seemed to perk up the middle of the drive. For some reason they don’t seem as cool as they did when I was a kid though.  Two nice things I noticed on my most recent drive were that gas prices went down as we went south and there didn’t seem to be as much construction as there used to be.   For those of you that are thinking about taking a road trip here are some things I have learned over the years. 

First always have your car serviced before any road trip.  Then go online and map your route and while you are at it look for anything that would make an interesting stop.  Now on to packing the car.  Be sure any little ones have enough space.  I only have one child so he gets the whole back seat to himself, but I do remember all the too close for comfort times with my brother and sister when we were kids.  A little extra room can go a long way on a raod trip.  Be sure to pack plenty of activities to keep the kids busy - DVD players and hand held games are tops on our list.  Try to have a few surprises that you can pull at crucial times during the trip.  A new toy or book or even a favorite treat can work wonders.  My best tip is to start the drive at night.   Sleeping through half the drive will always make the trip seem shorter (of course that doesn’t count for the driver) 

You are going to need to make pit stops and take it from me the rest areas you come across on I 95 are usually your best bet for bathrooms.  I have tried gas station and fast food rest rooms before and they can be pretty bad.  The rest areas (especially in the south) also have nice pinic areas that make great places to take a break from the drive, enjoy the freah air, and stretch your legs.  If you happen to have packed a picnic even better!  If your furry four legged friend is traveling with you, like ours did a few times, these areas also have a spot just for furry friends to stretch thier legs and take care of business.    Food is the other thing you just can’t do without.  Fast food seems to go with a road trip but my favorite road trip food stop isn’t a drive through it is Cracker Barrell.   To me there is one way to descride the food - comfort food!  There are plenty of Crackel Barrells along 95 just look for the tall sign and a place with lots of rocking chairs out front. 

My last tip is to just have fun and enjoy the road - you are on vacation so don’t stress about traffic or getting soemwhere by a certian time - just turn up the radio, sing along, and remember Life is a Highway!

Coleen

coleen@MEI-Travel.com

Call me crazy but I just love a road trip!  My family thinks I am nuts when I say it’s only about a 15 hour drive.  I think it goes back to my childhood when we would pack up the family van each spring and hit I-95 headed to Florida. < more... >