Disney Cruise Line opened up booking today for their summer 2008 sailings that are again heading west through Panama, doing some Mexican Riviera, and then back east through the canal again.  The first time Disney did this in 2005 it was a big success and I can say from experience that the Panama Canal is amazing!  So lots of people were eagerly awaiting the rates and hoping to grab a room today.  As a dedicated (and slightly nuts) agent I was determined to do my best  for every request I received.   It was a heck of a day and now that it is almost at an end I can sit back and laugh a little.  I even thought of a little diddy to sum it up.  I think the other agent will appreciate this. 

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
a tale of a crazy day
It started out at 3 AM
with no rates in sight!

The dates were for 2008
the itineraries good for sure
5 minutes before 7 that day
started my 3 hour hold, a 3 hour hold

The website started crashing down
and my desk was getting tossed
if not for the IM of our fearless team
my mind would be lost, my mind would be lost!

Coleen
Coleen@MouseFanTravel.com

Disney Cruise Line opened up booking today for their summer 2008 sailings that are again heading west through Panama, doing some Mexican Riviera, and then back east through the canal again.  The first time Disney did this in 2005 it was a big success and I can say from experience that the Panama Canal is amazing! < more... >

For everybody else, Day 8 was their travel day. To the airport, a long flight, and a welcome bed many miles and many hours to the west. For Beci and me, it was also a travel day, but we were met by a driver and his swank new Renault Espace mini-van. After battling his way out of the city, we hit the expressway and as it turns out, the Espace is plenty fast, and we made up for lost time at 150 kph (just over 90mph). And while that seems perhaps ridiculously fast for a mini-van, we were actually just keeping up with traffic, and the Renault was smooth as a whistle.

For everybody else, Day 8 was their travel day. To the airport, a long flight, and a welcome bed many miles and many hours to the west. For Beci and me, it was also a travel day, but we were met by a driver and his swank new Renault Espace mini-van. After battling his way out of the city, we hit the expressway and as it turns out, the Espace is plenty fast, and we made up for lost time at 150 kph (just over 90mph). And while that seems perhaps ridiculously fast for a mini-van, we were actually just keeping up with traffic, and the Renault was smooth as a whistle.

Everywhere you turn in Disney World it seems you are bombarded by either pirates or princesses. When Disney first announced the Pirate and Princess Parties I thought it sounded interesting. I guess I may have been expecting too much because I was a little let down by the party. It pretty much seemed just like a Halloween party, but in January. There just wasn’t that WOW thing that would make you say I am so glad I shelled out the extra money for this.

There were plenty of places around the park to collect "loot" which was in form of beads and chocolate (mostly Hershey’s which was nice). Felt like we were trick or treating though.

Crowds were light (much lighter than Disney expected I bet). It was rather chilly which may have made some people rethink buying a ticket if they hadn’t already. What Disney did expect for January nights?

There was a special parade (short as it was) and it was cool to see Tink in a parade! There was also special fireworks - which were good but also seemed to be missing something.

Kids could join a dance party in either Fantasyland or Tomorrowland - both of which looked like fun. There was also the Pirate tutorial (which seemed the same as we have seen before) and a princess protector demo in Adventureland. There were a few carnival type games tucked away in he back corner of Toontown. There were also some cute photo ops around the park, but maybe it was bad timing on my part but it seemed as though the photopass people were missing.  We did find a photopass person on Main St and got our picture taken but were very disappointed when we went to check out our picture and it was all dark behind, no sign of the castle or any of those cute digital effects we are used to.

There just seemed to be a lot of things missing - such as some kind of special "freebie" perks for party goers like maybe a photo or even hot chocolate would have been nice. I also did not see any special exclusive merchandise other than the really large balloons, which seemed odd. It also was not easy to find something to eat or drink since most of the carts around the park were closed.

All and all it was an enjoyable evening (made me wish Halloween could have small crowds like that again) but if you have already shelled out a lot of money for your Disney vacation you may want to save the money, skip the party, and just enjoy the Extra Magic Hours which are free. Without any big bang or holiday to draw you to this party I can’t see paying all of that money just for small crowds and some candy - but that is just my 2 cents.

Coleen

Coleen@MouseFanTravel.com

Everywhere you turn in Disney World it seems you are bombarded by either pirates or princesses. When Disney first announced the Pirate and Princess Parties I thought it sounded interesting. I guess I may have been expecting too much because I was a little let down by the party. It pretty much seemed just like a Halloween party, but in January. < more... >

Day breaks early in France. Right at the beginning of the morning, just as it starts to get light. So early that it’s still yesterday at home in Seattle. And so with the breaking of dawn (who fixes that every day?) we got up, drank our world’s best fresh orange juice, and went down to the lobby to meet with the rest of the group. Today we were also asked to bring our pin lanyards.

What? I haven’t talked about the pin lanyards yet? Well I’m still not going to. You need to wait for lunch. And it’s still just after breakfast.
Out front of the hotel our motor coach was triple parked and waiting for us in the center of the street. We all piled in (since we only take up about half the coach it’s not much of a pile) and headed off for Versailles. On the way there we ran into another special Parisian traffic situation where a construction team had parked their truck on the non-parking side of the street and started to unload into the sidewalk, totally blocking our progress about 500 meters down a very long one way street. There was some brief polite negotiation, some slightly louder and (I’m guessing) less polite negotiation, a short bit of shouting, and then to everybody’s surprise on the bus the construction guys moved their truck out of the way. My guess is that they were hourly workers, and figured that the act of moving the truck would take longer than the act of arguing until we backed up, so they opted for profit instead of victory, and moved. But I’m a cynic.

Back on our way, it wasn’t long until we were on the French version of a highway and started seeing signs for Versailles. It’s not just a gigantic palace. It’s a lovely little town on the outskirts of Paris; only about 25 kilometers drive from the center of the city. It has lovely tree lined streets and the sort of buildings you would expect extremely rich hangers-on would build as close to the royal palace as possible.

As you pull into the City of Versailles you drive down an easy hill on Avenue de Paris. About two kilometers from the Palace you make a gentle right turn and there, in the distance is a gigantic palace sitting in front of you. Only at this point you can still only see just the smallest portion of the original center palace.

When we pulled up to the street that crosses in front of the palace (the interestingly named Avenue de Rockefeller – apparently they’ve always been that rich) our bus stopped a bit early and let us out before it crossed the street and went into the car-park.

Instead of going with the bus, we stayed on our side of the street and went up to one of two gigantic buildings across the street (and let me point out that “Across the street” is still between 300 and 400 meters away). This, we were told, is a special treat; we will be going in to a dressage academe. Indeed, the gigantic building in whose courtyard we were standing was the royal stables. The identical building on the other side of the street was the petite stable. They are identical except for name.

Inside we were able to watch three extremely fit young equestrians training their horses to do things that horses don’t normally do, like walk sideways, prance, and high-step like a running back about to win the big game.

You can get a nice top view of the stables, the car park, and perhaps the palace off to the left, from Google maps here.

Once we had done with the King’s stables we proceeded across the street during which crossing I learned that traffic in Versailles is similar to that of Paris, except here they can get up a much better head of steam before they chase you off your sidewalk.

The inside of the Palace is lovely. Unfortunately they’re not wild about flash photography, and while everybody else seemed to be flashing away, our group was nice and took non-flash photos only, so our pictures are a bit on the dark side. The furniture - or what there is of it in the palace - is all recreations. During the revolution everything that wasn’t firmly attached was stolen, sold, or destroyed. Most of the palace was shut up for years, and only the very center portion has been restored. Our tour took us thru the King’s quarters, the central palace where official functions and parties would be held, and the Queen’s quarters. Finally we made it to what most people had been looking forward to, the hall of mirrors.

Down one side of La Galerie des Glaces are 17 magnificent arched windows that look out onto the Parterre d’Eau. Literally the “Water Floor”, it’s actually some of the most intricate fountain and garden work on the grounds. Across from each of the 17 windows are 17 identically sized mirrors that were made by a factory created in Paris to do just this job. At that time, silver nitrate and ammonia mirrors would have been fairly new technology, and evenly heating glass and spreading silver nitrate on it smoothly to create a perfect mirror would have been amazingly expensive, and astonishingly difficult. The effect of the hall on foreign dignitaries must have been spectacular.

The Hall of Mirrors ended our tour of the Palace, but not the grounds. We proceeded outside (“into the back yard”, one of our group quipped) for lunch, and a tour of gardens. We walked thru the Petit Parc (only one kilometer – hardly worth calling a parc at all!) to the edge of the Grand Parc to a wonderful little restaurant where we had lunch and were given our final pin.

This is where we show you the pins. Our lanyard started with one pin already on it, and we were given one pin each day, depicting the theme of the day:

1. Cheerio
   
   
2. The Royal Treatment
   
3. Jolly Holiday
   
4. Crumpets to Croissants
   
5. Drawn to Bohemia
   
6. Parisian Palette
   
7. High Society
   
   

Once lunch was finished, we were given free reign to tour the Parc. We could walk, or we could take bikes. Nearly everybody opted for the bikes. I was quite surprised at how much fun we had blasting around Louis the XVs gardens on a mountain bike. Beci and I had more fun than we ever expected. If you go, don’t pass up the bikes.

Being contrarians, we headed North, away from the lake, and toward the private domain of Marie Antoinette – Le Petit Trianon and Le Petit Hameau, or the little hamlet (sometimes called Le Hameau de la Reine). Originally built by Louis XV, his son gave it to Marie Antoinette for a refuge from the pressure of court, and nobody, not even the king, was allowed to visit without an invitation. It is said that Marie liked to play at collecting eggs from the chickens and performing other mundane tasks in her little hamlet, and so every morning her staff would go out to the coops of le hameau and collect all the eggs, clean them all, and replace them in the nests, so that Marie would be able to collect fresh clean eggs when she arose in the late morning.

Note that there is an additional entry fee for Le Petit Trianon of about 12 Euro.

Once we finished with Marie’s little playground, we rode past Le Grand Trianon and down to the lake. Short on time we sped around lake and handed our bikes back in. We had no worry about missing our bus though, as we had one of our tour guides with us. Beci is always thinking, she is.

The bus back to the hotel was relaxed, and we spent some time wandering around before we got back onto the bus and drove across the river into the Latin Quarter for our final dinner together. We had another fantastic private meal, this time in the premises of a chocolatier.

After dinner while we were all trading email addresses our Disney guides surprised us with a slide show of our trip. They had been taking pictures on their nifty little Kodak digital cameras the entire time, but I had no idea that they had put together a spiffy slide show for us that afternoon after we returned Versailles. Just one more bit of white glove treatment by two of the most wonderful guides that we have ever had the pleasure of traveling with.

And so our trip came to an end. Or the official part at least, because the next morning we are heading 45 kilometers east, to Disneyland Paris. I mean really, what else would we do?

Day breaks early in France. Right at the beginning of the morning, just as it starts to get light. So early that it’s still yesterday at home in Seattle. And so with the breaking of dawn (who fixes that every day?) we got up, drank our world’s best fresh orange juice, and went down to the lobby to meet with the rest of the group. < more... >

I have made a lifetime of great memories at Walt Disney World in the twenty-two years I’ve been going there.  I remember I was sitting at Chef Mickey’s, back when it was at the Village (now the Marketplace).  Mickey was going table to table greeting his guests.  When suddenly an adorable little blonde-haired girl, maybe about five years old, ran up to him.  She threw her arms around him him and shouted loud enough for the whole room to hear, "Mickey Mouse, I love you!"  That was one of those magical moments that I will never forget.  It was almost like Walt himself had orchestrated it, just to spread the magic. 

But silly moments are the best.  My favorites are the ones my family and I always talk about.  Year in and year out these stories keep getting told to anyone who will listen.  My family has a casual reunion each year at Walt Disney World.  There’s always an open invitation for anyone who wants to go.  And the group always seems to be different.

One year, there were about three or four families in our group.  My uncle, Bill, who is a pilot, flew into MCO to meet up with us as we were beginning a trip.  He, however, had to work the rest of the day.  Bill and his family live in Texas and it is rare that we see him.  We had hugs all around and then headed for the luggage carousels and then to our bus to take us to our rental car company.  (I’m not sure why we used to do that when we could rent at the airport…but I digress…)  We were so excited to start our trip that we jumped on the bus and left Bill on the curb with a pouty lip.  Later, a few in our group claimed that they thought he was going with us.  But to this day, we laugh about how we were more excited to go and see Mickey than stop at the airport and have dinner with him.

On another occasion, we all stopped at Auntie Gravity’s at the Magic Kingdom for ice cream.  While we were stopped, we decided it was a fine time for a photo of the group.  My Uncle Joe, sat on a retaining wall to relax and finish his ice cream.  My Aunt Sue, ice cream in hand, stood up behind him to pose for the picture.  He looked up at her as only a brother could and said, "Don’t drop that on me!"  He turned his head forward to say cheese and PLOP, SNAP.  The melted mess ended up on his head and shoulders as the photo was snapped.  Poor Sue still gets in trouble until this day for that one!

Then, there is the ketchup and mustard story.  This one was so silly that we immortalized it on a scrap page for my uncle’s 50th trip to Walt Disney World.  My mom, her brother Joe and I were hanging around at the Magic Kingdom on this day.  We were a bit tired from the sun and dare I say, very punchy!!  We took a break at Pecos Bill’s for lunch when Joe decided to challenge Mom.  "Name the countries in the World Showcase at Epcot going clockwise from Mexico."  Now, we had been playing this game on and off all trip long and for some reason, my mom just couldn’t get them in order.  That’s when Joe ripped open the ketchup and mustard packets and drew a map.  Blops of ketchup and mustard morphed into our beloved World Showcase before our eyes and we broke out into a severe case of the giggles.

Okay, so maybe you had to be there.   If you’re not rolling your eyes at me by this time, I do have a point.  These stories are examples of how very adult and often serious people become little kids at Walt Disney World.  It is freeing and fun and magical.   Walt Disney World is the kind of place that draws out your silly side and opens you up to the kind of memories that I really don’t think you could have elsewhere.  So if you’ve read between the lines, you’ll know that magic of a Disney vacation doesn’t happen just when you’re on the attractions or at the shows.  Sometimes the magic happens inbetween the lines.   Anytime life gets a little too serious for me, I pull out these memories from the back of my brain and laugh.  And I remember the phrase on that tee shirt that I bought all those years ago at my favorite vacation spot in the world…."I’m never growing up". 

Joanne
Joanne@MouseFanTravel.com

I have made a lifetime of great memories at Walt Disney World in the twenty-two years I’ve been going there.  I remember I was sitting at Chef Mickey’s, back when it was at the Village (now the Marketplace).  Mickey was going table to table greeting his guests. < more... >

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Happily-ever-after evenings are in store for lucky Walt Disney World guests, as Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom has been transformed to include an enchanting royal chamber fit for a princess during "The Year of a Million Dreams."

Beginning Jan. 24, eligible guests will be selected as part of the Disney Dreams Giveaway, which began Oct. 1, 2006. For the castle stay, a Walt Disney World guest at a Disney park or Downtown Disney will be selected randomly by early in the afternoon most days. The guest and up to five members of their party will begin their dream-come-true night that evening at Cinderella’s Royal Table, the popular restaurant located in Cinderella Castle. (Because the castle stay requires same-day use, mail-in winners will be awarded a prize of comparable value.)

After the rest of the park guests have departed Magic Kingdom, these special guests can enjoy the amenities of their dream suite — a salon, bedchamber and bathroom off of a private marble-floored lobby some four stories above the surrounding Magic Kingdom, replete with rich details befitting the 17th century fairytale and the French chateaus that inspired the design of Cinderella Castle.

The wheelchair-accessible suite is decked with 21st century comforts including an elevator to the suite, flat-panel television, fireplace, tub and shower.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Happily-ever-after evenings are in store for lucky Walt Disney World guests, as Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom has been transformed to include an enchanting royal chamber fit for a princess during "The Year of a Million Dreams."

Beginning Jan. < more... >

I am sure I am not the only person in the country wondering if this is really January.  Here in Florida we are in the middle of a heat wave!  It has been in the mid 80s the past few days.  This is my 3rd year living in Florida and I know no other Januarys were this warm.  I never thought I would be riding Kali River Rapids in January but I did yesterday and with a 40 minute wait time I was not the only one!  That was actually one of the shorter waits too, which again made me think is it really January?  The first week in January used to be a pretty slow time, but not this year.  Waits for the big e ticket rides were pretty much 70 minutes.  I was really surprised by the crowds.  It really seems that there just isn’t a slow time down here anymore.   We thought we would hop over to MGM to catch the last weekend of the Osborne Lights and maybe that would help us remember what time of year it is.  This was my first time checking out the lights after the holidays and while the lights are still just as nice the feeling just isn’t the same.  The crowds were still the same though which again made me wonder what is today’s date? I am guessing that the marathon runners were pretty happy to find warmer temperatures than last year.  That crack of dawn start time has to be easier when you are not freezing waiting for the sun to come up. 

Sunday High: 84° F Low: 68° F

I have decided since it feels like summer why not head to the beach!  So Daytona here I come!!

Enjoy your day wherever you are!

Coleen

coleen@mousefantravel.com

I am sure I am not the only person in the country wondering if this is really January.  Here in Florida we are in the middle of a heat wave!  It has been in the mid 80s the past few days.  This is my 3rd year living in Florida and I know no other Januarys were this warm. < more... >

Better late than never, eh?  Well, now that the craziness of the holidays are behind us, I have a few moments to share some photos I took at MouseFest.  But before I do, let me say, that I wish all of you a happy, healthy and magical 2007!

Here was our first meet of MouseFest on land, Mike Scopa’s Dole Whip Meet.  Here Chris, Beci, Annette and Vickie wait for MouseFest attendees.

Now, I have no idea who was wearing this shirt, but I thought it was fun!

Steve Barrett, the author of Hidden Mickeys leads us through Mickey’s Toontown Fair to search for Hidden Mickeys.  Somehow I don’t think the one behind his head counts!

My fellow MouseFesters head into Minnie’s house to look for the much sought after "Concealed Big Cheese"! 

Deb Wills of AllEarsNet.com gives away fun stuff at the Tonga Toast Meet at the Polynesian!  Also standing are Steve Barrett, Beci Mahnken (Mouse Fan Travel) and sitting in front of Beci is Mike Scopa (MousePlanet.com).

Then Vickie called over to Steve Barrett to ask if he would verify this hidden Mickey created by her Tonga Toast.  I say YES!!

Finally, Amy and "her boys" look very happy after finishing their Tonga Toast.  Hey, who wouldn’t?  I was channeling Homer all morning.  Mmmmm….Tonga Toast!

Well, those are a few of the highlights I have on my memory card.  Hope you all enjoyed MouseFest!  If you’ve never been and are thinking, "wow, that looks like fun" check out www.MouseFest.org and contact your Mouse Fan Travel vacation planner for more details!

Joanne
Joanne@MouseFanTravel.com

Better late than never, eh?  Well, now that the craziness of the holidays are behind us, I have a few moments to share some photos I took at MouseFest.  But before I do, let me say, that I wish all of you a happy, healthy and magical 2007! < more... >

Many of us have our favorite place to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks but in the end, sometimes it’s just simply difficult to find that GREAT spot. Here’s a little clue to one of the best places to stand as well as videotape WISHES.

As the crowd is gathering for the fireworks show, position yourself in the area near Casey’s.  Hang out there until you see people begin to find their "watching spot" and enter the Main Street pavement between Casey’s and the Plaza restaurant.  Eventually you see cast members mulling about as they get ready to tape off a line that will be the throughway for guests during the fireworks show. This area really doesn’t get much use as everyone is watching the show. Your job is to get your toes right on that tape, in the center of the street, as the CM’s block off the crossway.  At this point you will not have anyone standing in front of you and you’ll have a very good view of the castle and the show.

Although my wife and I rent a car on trips to WDW, the Magic Kingdom is the only park we use Disney bus transportation, to simply avoid the trip to the parking lot at the end of the day. Although we’ve had to stand a few times on the bus, we’ve found avoiding the ferry and tram line has saved us time and been a wise choice.
 

Bruce


 

Many of us have our favorite place to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks but in the end, sometimes it’s just simply difficult to find that GREAT spot. Here’s a little clue to one of the best places to stand as well as videotape WISHES. < more... >