Come On, Disney - You're Killing Me!!!...

I love Disney, no doubt about it.

But, that doesn't mean Disney can do no wrong.

So here goes:   Disney - what are you doing?????

I'm currently getting ready for an upcoming trip with extended family - including my niece and nephew who have never been to Walt Disney World before.  I want to make sure these children have a wonderful time and get to enjoy the magic and all that Disney has to offer as much as possible.

I will tell you this - I have NEVER put so much work and effort into a Disney trip!

Why you ask?  The answer is simple:  FastPass+ (FP+).

Never before have I used FastPass (FP).  Ever.  We've always walked freely around the parks, getting into whatever standby lines we wanted to whenever we felt like it.  We came and went as we pleased, never having to be at any particular ride or attraction at a set time.  This approach worked wonderfully for us.

Last August, we easily got into all of the rides and attractions we wanted.  The only rides we had long waits for were Peter Pan's Flight and Toy Story Midway Mania, which we expected and were okay with.

And then came the Magic Bands and FastPass+....

Now, one year later, everything is in chaos.

Sixty days prior to travel, I dutifully waited until midnight hoping to grab my FastPasses (FPs) online on My Disney Experience (MDE) - especially for the Anna & Elsa Meet & Greet at the Magic Kingdom. After having been on MDE all day, when midnight arrived, I couldn't log in. Ughhhh!!!!!  All of a sudden, it no longer recognized my log-in information.  

So, in other words, when midnight came, and I could finally set up my FPs, I didn't even stand a chance to get a FP for Anna & Elsa which means either the kids won't get a chance to meet them, or we might have to wait in line for hours - literally.  To say I was furious was an understatement.  

Thankfully, my awesome travel agent, Dina, was diligently working on her end until past 1:00 a.m. to grab a few FastPasses for us - fortunately, one was for Toy Story Midway Mania. Why is that fortunate? Because Disney keeps testing FP+ on a weekly basis.  Just this past week, if you didn't have a FP, you couldn't get on that ride - they did away with the standby line for the duration of the week.  Not good for all of those guests without a FastPass who had no idea what Disney was going to do.  I would have hated to be a parent trying to explain to my child why he or she couldn't ride.  Not good! 

Did those guests not pay top dollar to be at Disney???  To just pull the rug out from under them like that was just plain WRONG!!!  
Why the big deal? Because Toy Story Midway Mania is one of the most popular rides at Hollywood Studios, and people can literally wait for a very, very long time on line to get in.  Last August, my husband and daughter waited well over one hour to go on it.  

But, it doesn't stop there.  

Now, Disney has gone further.  The next target is Be Our Guest Restaurant (BOG) which is extremely popular and very difficult to get into.  

I will just mention here that last August, I not only easily got a dinner reservation at BOG 180 days prior to our trip - that's when resort guests can start making their advanced dining reservations (ADRs) - but I was also able to get into BOG for lunch after about a 10-15 minute wait on the standby line.  In essence, we bookended that trip with BOG dining - we had a wonderful dinner there on our first night, and we ended our trip with a wonderful lunch there on our last day.  

Well, unfortunately, this year I'm finding it extremely difficult to even get one meal there.  I was unable to get a dinner reservation, although I'm still going on MDE at random times to see if anything opens up.  At this point, I'm hanging my hat on the hope that I'll get an email invitation from Disney to get a FP for lunch there.  

On the other hand, this is what I'm hearing with respect to that:  After calling Disney, they tell me that all resort guests will receive a FP invitation up to 30 days prior to travel.  Unfortunately, what I'm hearing and reading from other sources state that, although you will get a FP invitation, there are no FPs actually being given out.  On top of that, I'm now reading that, if you don't have a FP, you won't be able to dine there at all because Disney has currently done away with the standby line. 

And... here we go again!  

Come on, Disney!  You're killing me!...   

I'm the type of Disney goer that is very methodical in preparing for our trips.  

First, I pick our travel dates, flights, and resort.  

Then, I find out which parks are having extra magic hours (EMHs) on which days which, for us, determines what days we'll be in which parks.  
Once that's set, I pick which restaurants we'll be dining at.  

When I have all of that worked out, I make up our itinerary.  Yes, I have an actual itinerary - a chart reflecting which park we're at for each day and all of our ADRs.  I do that every time, and it helps to keep me organized.  

However, not anywhere on that itinerary do I ever put down specific times when I have to show up to ride an attraction.  

Can you sense where I'm going with this?  I'll make it clear:  

I HATE FP+!!!!!!  Yes, I do!

For the first time ever, I'm actually dreading a trip to Disney and having to deal with all of this.  Take a moment to let that sink in... When a person with a Disney addiction, not to mention a blog, Facebook page, and Disney website, says she's actually dreading an upcoming trip to Disney, that says A LOT... 

For the first time in forever (did you catch the Frozen reference?), I'm actually dreading reading anything further on the latest Disney news or listening to a podcast for fear of hearing what Disney is up to next.  

Not to mention that Disney has now closed down, just in the last couple of weeks, quite a few rides and attractions, including Maelstrom, which our family will miss, to make room for a Frozen attraction (which really shouldn't be in EPCOT, in my opinion - but more on that in a later blog), and The Backlot Tour, which I haven't yet had a chance to experience.  Guess that one's off the list...

So, once again, I have to ask:  Disney - what are you doing?????

Please, please, please stop this FP+ craziness!  

So, Disney, here are my suggestions, and I'm sure many fans would agree, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to propose the following:

I know you've invested $1 billion on the Magic Bands and obviously you're not going to let that investment go to waste.  I completely understand.  

So, why not use the Magic Bands for everything they do now - entry into the parks, unlocking guests' resort room doors, etc. - and forget about FP+?  Why not return to the legacy FPs (the paper ones traditionally used in the parks prior to FP+)?  

Many have suggested that Disney uses FP+ for marketing purposes such as observing what guests purchase, what attractions they ride, where they eat - basically, knowing everything a guest does and everywhere a guest goes.  They obviously have the technology - that was demonstrated during our lunch at BOG last year.  We ordered our lunch, they handed us a plastic rose, we sat wherever we wanted, and our lunch was delivered right to us.  

So, if Disney takes that one step further, wouldn't it be terrific to use all of that technology and have, for example, the face characters at the meet and greets call your child by their name?  I'm sure little girls (and boys) would just love for Anna & Elsa, for example, to greet them by their names - they would make their trip! 

In my opinion, this would be a much better use of the Magic Bands.

I hope you take this in, Disney, and give it some thought.

And please, please, please, get things back to normal before our trip!

How does everyone else feel about FP+?  Make sure to check out my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/The Mouse In Our House Blog and share your experiences with us so that everyone can participate in a discussion about this.

Until next time, please remember to keep the Mouse in your house!

Monica 




  

They've Done It Again - Fast Passes Only for Lunch at Be Our Guest...

And here they go again...

This week, rumors began that Disney is now only allowing guests who have a FastPass+ reservation to Be Our Guest Restaurant to dine there for lunch.

So, for now, you can no longer stand in line and wait to get into BOG for lunch.

And the only way to get a FastPass for BOG is to receive one via email invitation about 30 days prior to your travel date if you're staying on property at one of the Disney resorts.

This is not good news for a lot of people, as I'm hearing that, once you try to schedule your FastPass per your invitation, no FastPasses are available.  Go figure!

Again... Not good, Disney.  Not good at all!...

Monica 

Toy Story Midway Mania - Only Accessible by FastPass This Week

It seems that Toy Story Midway Mania is the latest victim of Disney's FastPass+ testing. This week, guests will not be allowed to use the standby queue or use the Disability Access Service (DAS) to ride this attraction.  To add insult to injury, Guest Relations cast members aren't even being allowed to pacify any unhappy guests during this time.

Apparently, the logic behind this is to see if they can successfully eliminate long lines by making the attractions accessible only to guests with FastPass+ reservations.  In other words, if you don't have a FastPass, you don't get on.

Tests similar to this have been taking place over the last several months at several attractions, but never before has an attraction been completely off limits to anyone without a FastPass.

Not good, Disney!...

The Start of My Disney Addiction

In my first post, I mentioned how I became really passionate about Walt Disney World in 2010, when we took our daughter on her very first trip.  But, my love affair with the World started long before then...

It was a summer in the early 80s - 1983 or 1984 - and I was probably between 10 or 11 years old.  My dad packed up the family - my mom, two younger sisters, and me - into the green Chevy Impala, and off we went on a road trip down to Florida.  

A few things stand out in my mind about that never-ending drive down:  The incessant billboards featuring Pedro and his quest to get you to visit the South of The Border amusement park (he was successful - we stayed overnight); stopping at Denny's for every meal (it was awesome - my first real foray into restaurant dining!) and living on their meatballs and spaghetti; and wondering where we were going and why it was taking so long to get there.

I don't think I really knew what Walt Disney World was, but I do know that, whatever it was, it sure was taking an incredibly long time to get there!  It didn't help that my sisters kept up a constant chorus of "Are we there yet?".  

We finally arrived.  We didn't stay on property, but, then again, I knew nothing about such things at the time.  We stayed for two days, then headed off to other parts of Florida.  Two days were enough back in those days, since there were only two parks - The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.

I don't have a lot of memories about the parks, but what I do remember is very vivid in my mind.  

Our first day was spent at The Magic Kingdom.  I remember walking onto Main Street and just taking it in.  To this day, a trip to Walt Disney World doesn't begin for me until that first step onto Main Street. The shops, the windows above the shops, Town Square, and the view of Cinderella's Castle - I'm always in awe of it.

Cinderella's Castle was amazing!  I specifically remember walking through it and really taking in the murals on the walls depicting the story of Cinderella and her Prince Charming.

To this day, I still laugh whenever I come across the picture of my younger sisters with the three little pigs, which are now considered "long lost friends".  I won't post it here, since my sisters will kill me if I do!  

The Pirates of the Caribbean quickly became my favorite ride (until I finally rode the Haunted Mansion in 2010!), and I explicitly recall getting very dizzy on the Mad Tea Party.  

Other favorites were It's a Small World, Mickey's Toontown Fair (which was taken out last year to make room for the new Fantasyland Expansion), and Carousel of Progress.  

The second day was spent at EPCOT, and I loved it.  My favorite part was the World Showcase.    

I remember particularly enjoying the Mexico pavilion with its indoor marketplace and the Rio Del Tiempo ride.  It was a family favorite.

All of the countries were beautiful, and I felt like I was touring the world.  

And, of course, who could ever forget Spaceship Earth?  

I've always looked back fondly on that first introduction to Walt Disney World.

Since then, I had the opportunity to travel back to the World twice in the 90s, and the love affair continued.  It captivated me more and more each time I was there. When I visited in 1993, MGM Studios had since opened, but I have to admit I wasn't in love with it, although I like it better today in its present form.

Once our daughter was born, I couldn't wait to take her to Disney, but it turned out to be so much more than I expected.  

So much had changed at the World, and everything was continuing to evolve.  I was thrilled that I was able to take our daughter to visit Mickey's Toontown Fair before they tore it down a few weeks later.  

Getting the opportunity to watch our daughter interact with the characters and excitedly ask for their autographs was an amazing feeling - I was truly living those moments through her eyes.  

And that's the magic of Disney.

So, now, the love affair not only continues, it's grown into passion and addiction.  

And it all began with a drive down to Florida in a green Chevy Impala.  

I hope you get the chance to begin your own love affair with Disney very soon.  

Until next time, I hope you remember to keep the Mouse in your house.

Monica

 

  

   

Upcoming Events...

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is fast approaching!

The dates for this year are as follows:

November 7, 10, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21, 30, 2014

December 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12 14, 16, 18, 19, 2014

Event Time:  7:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

Parade:  8:15 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Fireworks:  9:30 p.m.

Ongoing Events...

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween is currently going on down at the World!

I’m told this is the best Walt Disney World event.  I can't wait to experience this someday!

The dates for this year are as follows:

September 1, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 2014

October 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 2014

Hours: 7:00 pm – 12:00 a.m. 

Parade:  8:15 pm and 10:30 pm 

Fireworks:  9:30 pm

I Love Those Disney Podcasts!

One way I keep the Disney magic going between trips is by listening to podcasts.  

You may be asking yourself what is a podcast?  Think of it as a radio show on the internet that can address any number of topics - the ones I enjoy are all about Disney.  Of course!  

I just download them onto my cell phone using the Podcast Republic app, plug in my earphones, and off I go into the world of Disney.

About a year and a half ago, I found my first podcast - Resort Loop - and I instantly became a huge fan and part of "Looper Nation".  Resort Loop Tim and Resort Loop Bob are incredibly likable and down to earth, with a terrific banter and a great sense of humor.  

They engage their audience by soliciting their thoughts on various topics, encouraging you to participate, and later sharing your answers with the Looper Nation on their podcast.  And their "Super Loopers" get in on the act as well. From their "Boots on the Ground", Sean Woosley, in Walt Disney World, to their "Sandals on the Ground", Dave Tupper, at the Aulani Resort in Hawaii, to the adorable "Bing Bong" Ben and Ava, and other Looper show opener contributors (that's right - you can call and leave them a message which they might then use as their show opener), they keep the shows fresh and entertaining.  I enjoy their views and opinions, their trip reports, getting to know their families and other guests, and their "regular guy" approach to all things Disney.  From Resort Loop Tim's wrong answer buzzer to Resort Loop Bob's cheapness, and their love of Joffrey's coffee, they keep me laughing along. They put out a twice-weekly show on Tuesdays and Fridays, and those days just aren't the same for me if I don't get a chance to listen in.  The Resort Loop podcast can be found at www.resortloop.com, on iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, and as they say, the Stitcher.  

Once I started listening to the Resort Loop, I had to go back and listen to all of the previous episodes I had missed.  And then I listened again, after which I decided it was time to add to my podcast treasure chest.  After all, as Resort Loop Bob says, "There's plenty of room in the pool".

And that's when I found the 3 Moms And The Mouse podcast, which, as they will tell you, is "everything Disney from a mom's point of view", or, in this case, those of moms Lisa, Mindy, and Dina.  These three travel agent moms, brought together by their love of Disney,  are delightful and fun as they bring their audience their seemingly unending knowledge of all things Disney.  

From Lisa's trip packing habits and park sherpa status, to Mindy's moment of silence for the chicken no longer served at O'hana's in the Polynesian Resort, to the 22 minutes of Dina's life she can never get back as a result of the Great Movie Ride in Hollywood Studios, these moms will keep you informed on all of the latest Disney news and give you great tips and information for your next trip.  These ladies are so warm, funny, and engaging, that I feel like I’m one of the girls when I’m listening.  In fact, Dina has now become my official Disney travel agent, and she is just as warm in person as she is on the podcast.  The moms put out a weekly show on Thursdays, and I just can’t miss an episode.  They can be found at www.3momsandthemouse.com, on iTunes, and Facebook. 

Once I had caught up with all of their podcast episodes, I again decided to add to my podcast treasure chest and found the Mousechat podcast. 

Mousechat is fearlessly led by the Griswolds – Steve and Lisa – and their cohort of travel agents, Lauren, Chris, and Sharpie, and the now much missed Bob.  From Steve’s infamous finger roll, to Lisa’s diplomacy, Lauren’s hunt for alcohol at the World, Chris’ hilarious sarcastic humor and love of shoes, to Sharpie’s puns and jokes, this podcast makes me laugh out loud.  Unfortunately, Bob is no longer with them – nothing beats his theory that he was abducted by aliens in his younger years.  This podcast is very funny and informative.  Mousechat puts out a weekly show on Mondays and can be found at www.mousechat.net, on iTunes, and Facebook.

I recently discovered another favorite podcast, 2 Men And The Mouse.  Kevin and Peter are two guys who truly love all things Disney.  From Kevin’s Doofenshmirtz (of Phineas and Ferb) impressions and love of the Muppets to Peter surprising his kids during the podcast with the news that they’re going to Walt Disney World, this podcast is fun, informative, and educational – I now know why there’s a brown line running down the middle of the street in Liberty Square.  You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out why!  Kevin and Peter put out a weekly podcast on Tuesdays and can be found at www.2menandthemouse.com, on iTunes, and Facebook.

These are just my top four podcasts, but there are many more out there. 

I’ve gotten a great deal of wonderful information from these podcasts and encourage all Disney fans to take a listen, especially if they’re planning a trip to the World.  

Until next time, I hope you remember to keep the Mouse in your house.

Monica