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Greetings From Walt Disney World!!!

30 Nov

#reunion2012

Good Morning,

Finally after getting over my jet lag yesterday and having a busy schedule yesterday which included lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant in the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, thanks Len, I was able to get some observations done on a couple of changes made to some of the attractions to help accommodate guests with wheelchairs and scooters.  

The one that actually made the most sense to me was the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland.  Disney has done away with the separate queue line for the wheelchairs and scooters from the main queue.  Over the years I have seen Disney redo their queue lines to make this happen on many of their attractions to, in my opinion, discourage people from getting wheelchairs to just get front of the line access.  A number of attractions like the Laugh floor had the separate line for the guests to go through with wheelchairs and I have heard other guests comment that the disabled guests are getting special privileges and getting front of the line access.  By experience this is definitely not the case, and looks like Disney has started to work on increasing the experience received by the guest in wheelchairs so that they can actually see the well themed queue lines.

Well I’m off to Hollywood Studios today and I’ll get back to  y’all with changes I see there and some tips by tomorrow.  Till Then. 

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2012 in Guide Post

 

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New Attractions Opening For the First Week of December

22 Nov

Good Morning Readers,

Walt Disney World Resort has announced this week the opening date for the new Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow attraction in Disney’s Hollywood Studios on December 6th, 2012.  This is coinciding with the grand opening of the New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom and the Refurbished Test Track in Epcot.

I have been wondering what Disney was going to do with the area that once housed the Journey to Narnia attraction that had closed last year.  I imagine that during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and the days leading up to the official grand opening, there will be previews and limited operations to make sure that all is ready for general run.

I look forward to seeing the new attraction while I am down at the Disney World Resort at the beginning of December to cover the grand opening of Fantasyland and other events.

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2012 in Disney News

 

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Disney Buys Lucas Films

31 Oct

In a Investor Conference call yesterday, Disney and Lucasfilms announced that Disney will be purchasing Lucasfilms from George Lucas for a combination stock and cash transaction purchase worth over $4 billion dollars.  As with the acquisitions of Marvel and Pixar, the staff of Lucasfilm Ltd will remain separated at the different facilities.  Also announced in this conference was the next Star Wars Episode number 7 that will come out in 2015.  

I think that this will be another boom for the Disney company in its film division.  It’s surprising that the rumors did not start flying on this sale sooner.  From the looks of it, this has been in the works for a while and a lot of the approvals have already been made for the purchase.  

What will this mean for the Star Tours rides in the parks and the presence of the Star Wars characters like Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers around the Star Tours Attractions and during Star Wars Weekends in May and June.  Only time will tell and I will look forward to seeing what comes from the new acquisition.  

 
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Posted by on October 31, 2012 in Disney News

 

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Disney and Guests with Disabilities

18 Oct

Hello readers,

I thought that I would start my non-news articles with my view on how Disney handles and accommodates Guests with disabilities and how it there have been improvements for the better.  

In the last twenty-one some odd years that I have been going to the Disney parks as an adult, I have noticed that Disney has made great strides in making so that Guests in wheelchairs and electric scooters are able to get around their parks with a lot of ease.  

Evan as far back as 1992, Disney parks rented out electric scooters, or as Disney calls them Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECVs), for guests to use in the parks.  I can honestly say that Disney probably was not the first to do so but they were one of the first to encourage guests to use them to help provide an enjoyable vacation.  

With the increase in the use of the ECVs in the parks, disney finally realized that they would need to increase the width of their queue lines at their attractions to help accommodate the ECVs easily.  I believe that the reasoning behind this was because guests complained that they were not able to enjoy the well themed queue lines that Disney had designed for the parks.  The other side of the coin came from guests that watched guests with the scooters in their opinion get front of the line access to the rides while they had to wait in long lines to ride the same rides.  

Now days, the only reason why guests with ECVs or wheelchairs bypass a portion of the queues if not all of it is because there are stairs that need to be climbed.  Disney has published Guides for Guests with Disabilities with updated information regarding their attractions and what guests should encounter when they try and ride them.  For first time guests to the parks I strongly recommend that guests get the guides and read them over.  There are versions available on the Disney web sites at the following addresses:

These links go to websites that Disney has setup to give guests planning information before they come to the resorts.  Disney also provides information for all types of disabilities including guests with vision and hearing issues.  

Again I really can’t emphasize strongly enough how useful planning ahead of time before going on vacation to the Disney parks will reduce the amount of stress you will have when you come down.  

 
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Posted by on October 18, 2012 in Guide Post

 

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Walt Disney World Resort Selects Ambassador’s for the 2013/2014 Term

16 Oct

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October 12, 2012 — Walt Disney World Resort — Walt Disney World Resort announced today in a ceremony held at Epcot the new Ambassador’s for the next term starting January 1st, 2013 and ending December 31st, 2014 for the Walt Disney World Resort.  This announcement is in keeping with a tradition started by Walt Disney himself 47 years ago at the Disneyland Resort.  The two new Ambassadors are Rich Tamayo of Queens, NY and Tye Arnold of Northeast Arkansas.  Congratulations to bot Rich and Tye in their selection.

(edited 10/16/2012  for formatting issues)

 
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Posted by on October 16, 2012 in Disney News

 

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Correction to article of 10/11/2012

12 Oct

Good Afternoon Readers,

I want to make a correction to the article I posted yesterday in regards to the Grand Opening Announcement for Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom.  In the description about the Gaston’s Tavern  will be serving alcoholic drinks on their menu.  This information is incorrect, the Be Our Guest Restaurant will be the one serving alcoholic drinks.  I will be posting further information as to when it will be served during the day.  

In my opinion, these kind of refreshments are best served during the dinner time where the consumption of said drinks are done in the restaurant.  This is the first restaurant in the 41 years of operations of the Magic Kingdom to serve alcoholic drinks to regular guests during meals.

Disney has expressed to guests that the introduction of alcohol is in keeping with the theme of the restaurant and area of the park.  There have been many discussions about this in the Disney Fan communities on both sides of the debate.  I honestly can say I am going to wait and see what will happen over the next couple of months.

Update:  The official opening of the Be Our Guest restaurant is November 19th, 2012.  

 
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Posted by on October 12, 2012 in Disney News

 

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Grand Opening of Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom set for December 6th.

11 Oct

Walt Disney World Resort has officially set the Grand Opening date for Fantasyland as December 6th, 2012.  They have also announced that previews will begin as early as November 19th.  The following areas are expected to debut during the Grand Opening:

  • Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid, a duplicate of the new adventure that opened in Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California last year.  This is a dark-ride that will take guests through the underworld life of the characters of the Disney Classic Film, “The Little Mermaid”, which debuted in movie theaters in 1989.  This attraction will come out into the Character Meet and Greet area known as “Ariel’s Grotto“, where guests will be able to meet Ariel herself.
  • Be Our Guest Restaurant, is slated to debut officially on this day.  There will be multiple themed dining rooms ranging from the grand ball room to the mysterious “West Wing”.  This is going to be a duel serving type of restaurant depending on the time of day.  During Lunch, the restaurant will serve meals as a quick-service restaurant where guests will walk up to counters and order their meals before sitting down.  During the dinner meals, the restaurant will be a full service dining experience.  This will unfortunately not be a character meal location.  
  • Gaston’s Tavern and Bonjour! Village Gifts, will open in the nearby village allowing guests to do some shopping and to wet their palate.  Early menu’s for the Gaston’s Tavern shows that there will be some nonalcoholic and alcoholic drinks available for sale there.  
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle will open in Belle’s cottage just outside of town.  This will be a interactive re-telling of the, as Disney puts it, “tale as old as time.”  This will allow guests of all ages to take part in story time.  Guests will also be able to explore Maurice’s (Belle’s Father) workshop.  The actual tales take place in the library of the Beast castle where guests will be magically transported to.  Belle and Lumiere are the characters slated to be a part of this experience.

Disney has also tentatively set the openings of Princess Fairytale Hall and The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train starting in 2013 and as late as 2014.  I will definitely keep you all informed of future announcements from Disney regarding the official dates for these attractions.

(Note:  Source for this article is:  http://wdwnews.com/releases/2012/08/07/fantasyland/)

 
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Posted by on October 11, 2012 in Disney News

 

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Disney Celebrates 30 Years of Magic at Epcot®

06 Oct

October 1st, 2012 — Disney Parks celebrated Epcot®’s 30th Anniversary yesterday with a number of different events both available for the public and only available to D23 members that were lucky enough to get the tickets for. Disney started the day with a presentation at the America Gardens Theatre. Meg Crofton, President Walt Disney Parks and Resort Operations for North America and Europe joins other Disney Executives and Epcot cast members and guests in the celebrations. According to Disney the on-stage performances included performances from iconic Epcot musical groups and colorful burst of confetti. Throughout the day, Disney had treated guests to limited-edition anniversary buttons, souvenir map, and specially-themed merchandise. At the end of the day there was a special ending to the Illuminations: Reflections of Earth Display to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Epcot.

This alone makes me want to try and be there for Animal Kingdoms 15th anniversary next year. For those of you that were able to attend the event, I would love to hear back from you with your comments on how things went.

 
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Posted by on October 6, 2012 in Disney News

 

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Hello Readers!!

14 Sep

Welcome to the first post of my blog guide for those of us that have challenges getting around while on vacation to Disney Theme Parks.  Over the years that I have had my disabilities I have found some limited resources giving any substantial details for us.  

I have been a frequent vacationer (guest) of the domestic Disney Parks since 1981 and for the last 6 years gone to either Disneyland Resort© or the Walt Disney World Theme Parks© a total of 9 times.  All those times I was unfortunately already having challenges getting around the parks without assistance.  For the first few times it was a learning experience.

I now realize that there are a number of people that are afraid to go to the Disney parks on vacation because they can not get around easily and do not want to burden their family with the need to push them around in wheel chairs.  

While the focus of this blog will be a guide to getting around the parks with disabilities, I will from time to time release relevant news stories to keep everyone updated with the happenings of the parks so that they can make informed decisions about their vacations.  

I welcome any comments or suggestions from my readers about some of the information i print and from time to time will welcome anyone giving some of their experiences in the parks.  

My first blog should be up within the next couple of weeks after i get some details worked out on my end and revamp my homepage design.  

Thank you for your patience.

Sikandar Durrani 

 
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Posted by on September 14, 2012 in Uncategorized

 
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