Of Mice and Moments

Sure, Valentine’s Day is more about romance of the couples variety — and it’s on a Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the excuse of a candy-filled holiday to take a mini-vacation. Am I right?

Personally, I’m a fan of the family theme park outing. Disneyland and Walt Disney World (dinner at Victoria and Albert’s, anyone?) always have something up their, um, glove(?) for Valentine’s Day, which means fun for the whole family. What? Disney is totally romantic. Read More »

We talk a lot about the Disney theme parks on here — hey, they’re the ultimate family vacations destination, we couldn’t avoid them if we wanted to. Luckily, we don’t want to.

There is a lot happening in the Disney parks right now, and to make sure you’re in the loop I’ve compiled a list of interesting items that you might find magical. I’m good like that.

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Fantasyland is getting a makeover in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, respectively. The above photo is of a model of what the Magic Kingdom will look like when it’s all complete. Except the park will be bigger. The picture was taken at the D23 Expo.

Among the new experiences at Walt Disney World will be a new Snow White roller coaster, a second Dumbo ride with an interactive queue between the two, and a couple nods to Beauty and the Beast. Goofy’s coaster is also getting a makeover. The Magic Kingdom Fantasyland will also get a version of the new Little Mermaid ride that opened this summer in Disney’s California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort.

Magic never rests, folks.

This post is part of UpTake’s Friday Family Series.

Photo: W. Honea

The recent post on surviving Disneyland triggered an onslaught of emails and tweets (where an onslaught equals three) wanting to know more about Disney’s Fastpass system. Here you go!

The Fastpass (not to be confused with Disney’s PhotoPass) works like this: Certain rides/shows at the Disney parks (list below) offer a Fastpass option that allots a window of time for guests to return to said attraction and bypass the longer stand-by line.

If an attraction offers Fastpass there will be an area somewhere in the vicinity of the entrance or exit (some are harder to find than others) where guests can insert their admission ticket FOR THAT DAY into a machine (each person in a party needs their own pass) and it will return the admission ticket with an additional ticket that is the Fastpass.

Depending on the ride, time of day and crowd levels, the return time (an hour window issued in five minute increments) may be close to the issue time or hours later. With the exception of the World of Color show in Disney’s California Adventure, guests will not be able to get another Fastpass in the Disneyland Resort for at least two hours. Walt Disney World parks will have different rules and exceptions.

Return to the attraction during the time printed on the Fastpass and enter the Fastpass line. A Disney Cast Member (CM) will grant guests access to the line after confirming that their time is correct. (Please note, hold onto the Fastpass as they will be collected by another CM later in the queue). Fastpass holders seldom walk right onto the ride, but the wait time will be considerably less than that of guests in the stand-by line.

Here are the Disneyland Resort rides that offer Fastpass: Read More »