Dumbo with Donald

My family and I recently took a 10-day trip to Walt Disney World in the Orlando, Florida area. Two things:

1. It was hot.
2. It was humid.

It was also a lot of fun. We took naps and hit the late hours (Extra Magic Hours) that the parks schedule for guests staying on property at a Disney World resort. By late I mean LATE. For example, about 1a.m. my son had the rare opportunity to ride Dumbo with one Donald Duck. Yes, the real Donald Duck.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a memory that will last forever.

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Photo by Whit Honea

Sometime 'round midnight...

A trip to a Disney park can be a frantic affair or an affair to remember. There are crying kids, screaming parents and unbearable heat, but there are also quiet moments tucked among the chaos if you keep your chin up and wander off of the beaten path.

This photo of Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is just one of the many places to stop, relax and catch the magic at its best. Crying kids are optional.

This photo is a Wordless Wednesday entry with words added for effect.

Photo by Whit Honea

The classic pencil-thin mustache is a pirate must-have this season.

Is your crew tired of the same old land-lovin’ ho-hum of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom?  Do they thirst to pillage and plunder, rifle and loot? Well, they’re in luck.  Disney is offering all beggars, blighters and ne’er do-well cads the chance to turn the ho-hum into the yo ho.  Yes, it’s a pirate’s life and it can be yours.

For the record, that part about being bored at WDW was just a joke. Let’s hope childhood (and the child in all of us, ahhh) never comes to that.

So what, you ask, is Walt Disney World doing?  Two words: Pirate League.  Read More »

Are preschoolers the target audience for Disney World?

Popular thinking is that a Disney vacation is perfect for families with kids, right?

Well, kind of.  Disney World is perfect for school aged kids, but there is that delicate age between three and five when your children will be thrilled at the idea of Disney, and absolutely terrified (or too small) for many of the attractions.

Take, for example, Snow White’s Scary Adventures.  While the Disney website lists this slow trek through dark corridors as “Fun For Little Ones” and appropriate for “Pre-schoolers”, almost every parent I know who has tried to coax a three year old onto this ride will tell you stories of wailing and crying and gnashing of teeth and leaving through the emergency exit.  It’s dark.  And scary.  And has lightening and cackling witches.  My three year old promptly declared that she “HATED MICKEY MOUSE’S HOUSE!” after her first run in with this ride.

If you have a preschooler who is afraid of the dark and too short for dang near everything else, allow me to point out to you all of the tried and true and actually appropriate for real preschoolers attractions at Disney World.  I’ve broken the parks and all the preschool activities up into a four part blog series.

We’ll start with the most preschool friendly of Walt Disney World’s parks, Magic Kingdom.

Read More »