Mousekingdom Blog

Waking up to the sound of the ocean, there is nothing better than that. (to be honest, we do have to step out of the room to hear it… but still). I had to have a swim in the sea (even if there is a shark warning), so I made sure I could scrap that of my “things to do at Disney’s Vero Beach” list. It wasn’t the warmest of days, but that didn’t stop me. Nice waves and great fun to jump into them. You can feel the strong current pulling at you, but that’s part of the fun.

After the cold sea it was time for the warmer pool. Sure felt a whole lot of different, even if the pool isn’t that hot. We did catch a little sun before we went over to the mall at Vero Beach.

The mall was nothing special and not worth a visit, however I did find a great book at the book store. It was the “Comic-Con: Episode IV: a Fans Hope” book. I am a big comic fan (always loved the fact that Disney bought Marvel) and have been at this con so it was nice to see some of it back in this book. All pictures of fans at the con with some pictures of celebrities and panels. Fun book! We didn’t stay to long, it was going to be party time later on.

We had a nice home-made dinner in the room (as in sandwiches), before going to the party at the poolside. They played your average party music that most people know and sing along to. Nothing special. The fun part was at midnight though. Just before the New Year the DJ send everybody to pool side. 95% of the people had their regular clothing on, but they all knew what was coming. Then, 10 seconds before New Year the countdown started. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-JUMP… Everybody jumped in the pool to celebrate the New Year. This was so much fun. Such a simple idea, but I and my son loved it.

It was also a very clever way to celebrate as many people now had to go to their room to change. The party was pretty much over after that as most people left. Didn’t really matter as it was a perfect way to get into the New Year. My son said “I jumped up in 2011 and landed in 2012”…

Disney has released some of their future ideas regarding guests planning their stay at Walt Disney World. New technology will allow travelers to plans almost everything in advance from their home computer. This new project is known as “Next Generation Experience” or “NextGen”. Disney has been working on this project for a good year with a budget said to be $1 billion.

And once this new “tool” is in place, what will guest be able to do and plan in advance. Pretty much everything there is to do in WDW. Guest will be able to make and create their own “FastPass” ticket for the whole of their stay. Plan and book show seats in advance, plan your attraction tickets in advance and pre-book other Disney experiences for your trip. It will all be possible from your home computer. There is no date set yet when this will start, but Disney is very serious about these new planning experience and has applied for patents related to the NextGen tool and has signed a confidentiality agreement with a company that makes radio-frequency identification, or RFID, microchips that can be used in tickets or wristbands. (more…)

Disney has revealed 4 new images of the new Art of Animation Resort. The resort opens in 2012 and will have 1120 family suites in the Lion King, Cars and Finding Nemo wings and another 864 themed rooms in the Little Mermaid wing.

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Disney has release some new artwork related to the Art of Animation Resort. On the artwork you’ll see some of the characters from the Finding Nemo movie in a water feature area. The resort will be inspired by 3 more Disney classics beside Finding Nemo. They are The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and one more Pixar movie, Cars.

The resort will open in Summer 2012 and will have 864 rooms for the Little Mermaid building and 1120 family rooms, that will accommodate up to six people, in the Cars, Finding Nemo and The Lion King buildings.

Picture copyrights Disney

According to a rumor on Screamscape Disney might be looking at leveling the former River Country to make room for a new Disney Resort Hotel. This is the first rumor we hear about it. With the current situation and the recession I wonder if Disney would set this step at this time. On the other hand Disney isn’t doing to bad in these times and a new hotel on this wonderful location could well be a great addition.

Personally I would rather see River Country being brought back to live. I never had the chance to see it. It looks like it was a real nice place to relax. Check out these nice pictures and stories about the water park here!

There is the book, there is the movie, and now there is the room! De Alice Suite straight from the fairy tale. The room is not Disney related, however when visiting Disneyland Resort Paris you could still hop over to the capitol city itself for an extra night in the suite. The suite will set you back a hefty 440 Euro per night and might not be to everybody’s liking. Especially the double toilet does sound a little weird. The rest of the room does look wonderful and fabulous though.

“Suite Alice” design by LES AILES DU DESIGN
This is the world of Alice in Wonderland, subtly recreated, with many a nod to Carroll’s fairy tale. Funny clocks, tiles that turn bright and make films appear like magic, strange objects, large stuffed animal, a bathroom with shower and tub, and a curiously kinky toilet for 2 with a chess game in between the seats! The Suite Alice is also equipped with a top quality king-size bed, a TV screen diffusing four different mood fragrances, air conditioning, a large desk, mini-bar, electronic safe and bathrobes. (Seven Hotel Paris)

While it isn’t a direct link to Disney I thought it was fun to share and show that’s not only the good people at Disney that come up with some wonderful (and strange) ideas that work.

You can find the room in the Seven Hotel in the heart of Paris. Other rooms include a 007 Suite and the Marie Antoinette Suite

Disney has announced their new concept for their Disneyland Hotel makeover at the Disneyland Resort. The redesigned pool area will get 2 slides that will have the Monorail fans very exited. The guest will start their journey down sliding through a replica of the Monorail cars. Looks like real fun and might convince those monorail fans to at least book one night at the hotel so they’ll be able to try it out.

For more pictures and info on the pool area visit the Disneyparks Blog

Picture copyrights: Disney

The volcanic ash that has been blown from Iceland across the northern half of Europe since the middle of last week has caused serious interruptions not only to the air traffic in Europe, but also to the holidays of thousands of vacationers across the globe. While many may end up missing their vacations somewhere in Europe due to the cancellation of their outbound flights at the start of the vacation (which most probably will also hurt Disneyland Paris in a year that is shaping up to be far from stellar so far) there are also thousands of Europeans stuck at their vacation destinations long past their original return date.

Being forced to extend their vacation indefinitely (as even once international flights to Europe will resume it will take up to a week according to current estimates till the regular flight schedule can be reestablished and most probably even longer till everyone has been moved back to their original destination) not only brings up the question what to do with the extra time to keep the mind of the problems caused (e.g. missed work etc.) and relieve the stress, but also the question how to finance the extra time away from home. The Orlando Tourism Bureau and its members have reacted to this by offering services and experiences to guests affected by the European air service interruptions for free or at greatly reduced rates. (more…)

Disney has a great Walt Disney World Interactive maps page where you can visit the parks but also Downtown Disney and the Wide World of Sports complex. A fun interactive page to visit when you’re planning your next trip.

The Walt Disney Company has bought a 15 acre plot at Prince George’s County’s National Harbor. Disney plans to build a 500 room hotel resort on their newly acquired land. Although there is no indication in the news item, it could be a new Disney Vacation Club property to add to their list, including the Adventures by Disney offerings of guided tours. What you will not see is a theme park attached to the hotel resort, nor will one even be build.

“The National Harbor resort is a completely different kind of project,” Rasulo said. “It’s specifically zoned for hotel, residential and other commercial development. This project is a hotel resort. It is not by any stretch of the imagination a theme-park project and never will be. We have no intention of building a large-scale theme park in the Washington area.” (Washington Post)

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If you like some Walt Disney World history how about a quick visit over to the PicParade. Here you can see a collection of 1971 pre-opening pictures including one of Frontierland under construction. Other interesting pictures include some of Cinderella’s Castle, Mainstreet U.S.A. and the Haunted Mansion. There are also two pictures of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea construction, a very interesting sight of an attraction that is no more. You can also see a picture of the tipi’s near the Rivers of America.

Before the park opened Disney used two Keelboats as form of transportation on the 7 seas lagoon. There are two pictures of one of the boats that got stuck on a sandbank.

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I can’t explain why I feel like it was, but it felt that this trip was the best so far… I just loved every minute of it. Could have been the great weather (finally after this terrible and could winter), could have been the company (well, that’s a given as I was their with my family) or was their another reason. I might not know why I felt like that on this trip, all I now is that it was great.

It started out fantastic with a super deal we found on Expedia.com (sounds a bit like an advertisement now) for the Marriott. I never expected to ever stay their but the deal was to sweet to let it pass. Now I am happy we did. The accommodations are great, big spacious rooms, 2 bathrooms, big living room and a kitchen with everything you need (if you wanted to cook for yourself). We loved and if another deal like that would pop up we would go again. However, even if we thought it was a great place, it is advised to visit this only when you have your own form of transportation. There is a shuttle bus but on the low season day it was packed to full capacity and I have heard from people staying their you can sometimes wait for 1 hour before you can catch another one. It is said the shuttle only goes out every 40 minutes, but in high season that might just not be enough.

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Walt Disney World is more then 4 theme parks and 2 water parks (although some even forget about the amazing water parks). But there is so much more to do and explore. Just have a look at some of the awesome hotels and what they have to offer. You don’t have to stay at the hotel to enjoy their beauty or magic. All you need to do is take a bus or even a stroll and you can have some extra fun so many people don’t even know or forget about.

With the parks always busy, visiting some of the hotels during your Walt Disney World stay could be a nice and relaxing experience. Here are some tips on visiting some of the hotels and what you could do there.

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Disney presented their plans to the media regarding their Hawaii Theme resort. The resort was announced about 1 year ago and will start to greet their first guest somewhere in 2011. There will be 350 hotel rooms and 480 Disney Vacation Club timeshare units. The Honolulu Advertiser has a great news video where you can gaze upon a nice model of the hotel and the waterpark that flows between it.

Picture via The Honolulu Advertiser.

On the Hong Kong Disneyland website you can find a video about their upcoming Halloween event. The video is fun and even a little (for the smaller once) scary. It gives you a nice idea what to expect and is fun to watch. Even if you would not make it to that park (I guess I am not the only one living a little far away from Hong Kong to just go over there and pop in), make sure to watch the Hong Kong Disneyland site and watch this video.

Things that really caught my eye on the video (for me at least) is the “Adventure Haunted Trail” where zombies and pumpkin men will be waiting for you (I wonder how scary they are going to make this) and “Demon Jungle”. “Demon Jungle” is another scary looking theme where you’ll meet… well… demons. Sounds scary for a Disney park, but to me it sounds like great fun…

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