Disney Princesses - Make Disney Princess Greetings Extra Magical

Do you have a young Disney Princess (or multiple Disney Princesses) in your household? I do -- I have two, so I feel your pain...

Our closet... Full of Disney Princess dresses...

From Disney Princess tea party sets and dolls to bed sheets and dresses, our house is littered with Disney Princess merchandise. And it doesn't matter if it's Princess Aurora or Cinderella, Rapunzel or Snow White, it doesn't bother me one bit. You know why -- because my little Disney Princesses believe the Disney Princesses they see and meet are real, and are worth looking up to, and the Disney Princesses at Walt Disney World have lived up to that expectation.

But, I'm not going to write a blog about whether Princess Aurora is a good or bad role model for a young woman, that's up to each parent to decide.

For those that do believe in the magic though, I know that nothing makes your Walt Disney World vacation more magical then watching your children interact with Rapunzel, Princess Aurora, and all the Disney characters they know and love.

Therefore, I'm excited to share three tips I learned to make your Disney Princess meeting at Walt Disney World, extra magical :

1. Princess Jasmine -- If your princess favors Jasmine, you'll find her in Agrabah (in Adventureland) at the Magic Kingdom. But, if you want to make that visit extra special, here's something we learned on our last trip. If you are the first person in line to meet Jasmine that day, she'll offer to take you to the front of the line and ride the Aladdin ride together. How much more magical could it be -- riding on a magic carpet with Princess Jasmine at Walt Disney World! So, what's the best way to do this? First, I recommend looking at the park schedule to understand exactly when the Magic Kingdom opens (make sure there are no magic hours or anything). Then, be at the front gates about 45 - 60 minutes before the park opens (I know that sucks, but it'll be worth it). If you can be one of the first through the gates, sprint to Adventureland and locate the shop right next to the Aladdin ride. The greeting area for Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are just to the side of the shop (look for the ropes). Simply get in line and wait for them to arrive (generally they start visiting at 9 am). The host should ask if you want to ride with her, but if they don't, be sure to ask -- your princess will love it.



A magical visit with Princess Tiana

2. Princess Tiana -- This one isn't as big a secret as the others (IMO), but Princess Tiana doesn't draw the same crowds as Princess Jasmine / Cinderella / Belle / etc., so while the Disney website shows her as being available almost all day, it seems like she isn't out there quite as much. That said, she's one of our favorite Disney Princesses to meet because she generally takes time to genuinely talk with the kids more so than some of the others. You'll find her near Liberty Square in the gazebo. If you can make your way to being one of her last visitors of the session, you'll get even more time to talk gumbo with her. Again, not as much of a secret, but definitely a great experience for all the little Princess Tiana fans out there.
3. Princess Belle -- Even if your Disney Princess is a tad scared of Beast, she'll definitely enjoy meeting Princess Belle on the "Enchanted Tales with Belle" attraction at the Magic Kingdom. And while this interactive experience allows all the kids (that want to) to interact directly with Belle, there is a way to take the magic up a notch. For those not familiar, the Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction allows guests to help re-tell the story of how Belle and Beast met, with the children acting out all the parts (except Belle). Of course, the most desirable role is that of Beast, since he interacts the most with Belle. So, how does your Disney Princess get to be Beast? It's actually pretty easy. The last staging area before you begin is where the Cast Member hands out parts for the reenactment. One of the first parts offered up (usually) is that of Beast, so if your child can find themselves a spot in the front near the middle, when the Cast Member says "We need someone who can roar", make sure your little one roars the loudest and you're in. Even if you don't get the Beast part, there's not a "bad" part in the attraction, but as you can see from the video below, it is pretty magical for a young Princess to dance with Belle.

Video from my view as one of Belle's guards

So there you have it, three extra magical experiences with some of our favorite Disney Princesses. But what about Princess Aurora, Rapunzel, and the others? Well, I could say that Princess Aurora is sleeping or Rapunzel is locked in her tower, but fortunately, you just need to stroll over to Princess Fairytale Hall to find them (and maybe Fastpass em!).

And as for your Disney Princess, remember that she'll have a great time whether you're able to make this extra magic come through or not.

Like all of my Disney World blogs, I hope that this has been helpful. If you have a Disney question, I’m happy to help. Feel free to shoot me your question on Twitter (I’m @jonmkee) or via email (jonmkee at gmail dot com). Have a magical day!

Disney World Secrets -- The Best Ways to Meet Disney Characters

One of the best decisions you can make when visiting Walt Disney World is to meet the Disney characters. From Mickey and Minnie to Cinderella, Belle and even the newly crowned Queen Elsa and her sister Princess Anna, they're all there to make your dreams come true. And you don't have to know any inside Disney World secrets to find them -- the new My Disney Experience App tells you where and when to find who you want to meet.

But going back to one of my earlier Disney posts, it's important to remember that time is the most valuable commodity on your Walt Disney World vacation, so seeing as many Disney characters in as little time as possible is the ideal combination. And how you choose to do that is up to you.

Here are a few Disney tips to maximize your Disney character meetings:

Disney Character Dining

Walt Disney World character dining is a great way to see a handful of characters at one time while also getting a decent meal. It can be a little expensive, but if you have multiple, young kids, they're pretty cool about letting them share meals to help make the cost more reasonable. Plus, breakfast and lunch tends to be a bit more cost effective too, so if you're not dead set on dinner at Cinderella's Castle at 7 pm, an alternate character meal time may save you a few bucks.

Some of the Disney character dining experiences we've enjoyed include:

It's always fun to meet the main mouse.

• Cinderella's Royal Table -- Dining at the Castle includes a photo package with Cinderella, a few small princess items (a wand, a wishing star, etc.) and an opportunity to get autographs and photos with several princesses (generally Snow White, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and one other in addition to Cinderella). One of my favorite Disney World secrets is that it's always fun to eat in Cinderella's Castle, but if your princess is celebrating her birthday, there are few places better to be, so spend her birthday in the Castle.
• Chef Mickey's -- One of the best Disney World secrets is that meeting all the originals at once can be a huge time saver and Chef Mickey's is just that. Served buffet style, we've done the breakfast and enjoyed it (there is a ton to choose from). Plus, it's at the Contemporary (a neat resort in its own right), so depending on where you're staying, you might be able to enhance your experience by taking the monorail there, which is always fun.
• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall (in Norway at Epcot)-- This is one of those Disney World secrets that I just learned about... We ate here for the first time this year and it provided a refreshing break from the standard fare that you find throughout the resorts. For lunch, we had access to a nice salad and seafood bar and the portions were more than fair. It also included a photo package with a Princess (this time it was Belle) and like Cinderella's Royal Table, the ability to meet multiple visiting princesses during the meal (Ariel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White).
• Be Our Guest Restaurant -- This isn't as much of a character meal as the others as the only character we met was the Beast, but it's Walt Disney World's newest dining venture and is a sight to see. Plus, it's the only place to get a beer at the Magic Kingdom. Plan to book six months in advance -- though if you're not successful at first keep trying as we were able to get a reservation about a month out when someone else cancelled.
• Ohana -- This is one we'll definitely do again. We had breakfast, which included meet and greets with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. The food was served family style and included everything you could want in a big breakfast (including Mickey shaped waffles). Located at the Polynesian Resort, it was definitely an experience that we'll repeat.

Again, these are just ones that we've experienced first hand, but there are meals with just about every Disney character you could imagine, so check out the Disney Dining section for more details.

Meeting Disney Characters at the Parks

If you don't want to spend a good chunk of your Walt Disney World vacation budget on meals, you can of course, find the characters throughout the different parks. And one of the nice newer features is that you can even Fastpass many of the character meetings, so if your little princess has to meet Rapunzel, it might be worth burning one of your Fastpasses on it (especially with the new ability to book more than three Fastpass+ attractions).

I try to weave a few Disney tips into these posts and here is a great one -- did you know that Disney characters will sign just about anything?

Many visitors walk into the park and their first stop is the stand to buy an autograph book for $13. It's not a bad thing because if nothing else, it gives the kids something to doodle on while you're walking around or waiting in line. But, we learned this year that Disney characters are willing to sign other souvenirs too.

We all got pixie dusted, not just the girls.

Therefore, after our kids got their princess on at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, we went to visit Cinderella and Rapunzel since that's who they were made up to look like. And instead of getting their autograph books signed, we had them sign the pink sash they got from visiting the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

Instead of being put into a drawer or jammed into an overstuffed bookshelf like the autograph books are, their sash (signed by Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel) is now proudly on display in each of the bedrooms. I saw others that had gotten stuffed animals signed too, so if there's space for a name, ask them to sign it -- it'll be a much better keepsake that way.

The only other Disney tip I'd add here is that we didn't bring a sharpie (and they don't sell them anywhere at Walt Disney World), so definitely bring one with you so that the signatures don't bleed...

Have fun meeting all of your favorite Disney characters and be sure to say hi to Mickey for me!

Like all of my Disney World blogs, I hope that this has been helpful. If you have a Disney question, I’m happy to help. Feel free to shoot me your question on Twitter (I’m @jonmkee) or via email (jonmkee at gmail dot com). Have a magical day!

Walt Disney World Tips: Memory Maker - Worth the Money?

Have you ever dreamed of having a photographer follow you around on your Walt Disney World vacation to take photos of you and your family so that everyone can be a part of your magical memories? Well, the Disney Memory Maker package isn't quite that -- but it's pretty close.

What is Disney Memory Maker?
If you've been to Walt Disney World, you have probably seen the photographers for Disney PhotoPass around the parks. Disney PhotoPass is a free service where photographers are there to take pictures for you (using both their camera and yours) at the most popular locations throughout the parks and resorts. Once you are done posing and getting the perfect shot, they simply scan your pictures to a Disney PhotoPass card that you can then use to view and purchase the photos via the My Disney Experience website. 

How did the good fairy get in this magic photo?

The Disney PhotoPass team uses high quality equipment, knows all the best angles, and can even take "magic photos" (photos that magically add Tinkerbell, Stitch, and other characters to your photos as shown to the right) to enhance your visit. Plus, it saves you from lugging a camera around all day and can even be tied to your Disney MagicBand. Disney PhotoPass is a great service, but anyone that's used it in the past knows that it can be a bit pricey (about $15 per photo).
Therefore, Disney has introduced a new offering, the Memory Maker package. The Memory Maker package allows you to get digital copies of any Disney PhotoPass photo as well as all photos taken on the various attractions that sell ride photos, for one price. And if you buy in advance, there's a pretty good discount (sometimes it's even included in your vacation package), but you can also buy it while at the parks too.

Does Disney Memory Maker Make Sense?
To me, it was a no brainer. When we go to Walt Disney World, I want to capture all of our magical memories, but when either my wife or I are not in almost every photo, it takes away a little bit of the magic. Plus, while we have a decent camera, it's far from top-of-the-line, so knowing that a professional photographer using professional equipment is taking the picture, adds a lot of value.

It also makes sense if you're the kind of Walt Disney World visitor that likes to buy a lot of the ride photos on Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the other big attractions. Because those are included in the Disney Memory Maker product, we ended up coming home with copies of multiple pictures from each of the rides. And because it was was the first time on some of the bigger rides for our youngest, knowing that we could print out those photos for her without paying $25 - $50 each was well worth it.

But for me, I've saved the best part for last. Nothing makes your magical memories better than enhancing your photos with Disney graphics, borders, and more. It really does make your magical memories, even more magical!

It doesn't get much more magical than this.

After each of our Walt Disney World visits, I like to make each child their own photo book so that they can remember all of the magical memories from their visit. And it's worked -- because of the photo books, my children remember things they did there when they were two or three years old. But my point is that being able to add some extra magic to the photos is certain to make this year's edition the best yet.

If you're not the kind of person that's going to take a bunch of pictures, Disney Memory Maker probably isn't for you. But for our visit, we had about 175 pictures taken, which works out to less than $1 per photo, so I'm pretty good with that. And because we bought it in advance, we found ourselves wanting to take more pictures, which can't be a bad thing.

I think Disney got this one right and I'm confident you won't regret buying the Memory Maker package on your next visit to the Walt Disney World resort.

I hope that this has been helpful. If you have a Disney question, I’m happy to help. Feel free to shoot me your question on Twitter (I’m @jonmkee) or via email (jonmkee at gmail dot com). Have a magical day!

Your Disney World Vacation -- To Stay On or Off Disney Property

One of the most important decisions you’re faced with when planning your Walt Disney World vacation is to decide whether to stay on or off Disney property. Having done both over the years, we’ve uncovered some Disney World tips that can help you decide which is right for you. 

Your Disney World Vacation -- Staying Off Disney Property

Orlando is such a popular tourist destination that you can find everything from basic hotel rooms to villas, suites and full houses for rent, helping to ensure that you can easily find something that's perfect for your stay. The sheer quantity of available options alone makes staying off property attractive, but some of the other advantages include:

• Lower costs.
• More room / space.
• Less of a “commitment to Disney” (many people I’ve talked to feel like if they stay on property, that’s all they should do – but with Universal Studios, Sea World and a bevy of other attractions in Orlando, staying off property allows you to feel less inclined to commit only to “the Mouse”).

On the flip side, you lose a lot of the perks that make staying on property worthwhile (noted below). In addition, you end up having to deal with things like:

• Additional costs for rental car / parking / etc…
• Dealing with the hassle of getting into and out of the parks each day.
• Not being able to setup your Disney Fastpass+ ahead of time.
• More time spent traveling -- time is your most precious resource on vacation, treasure it.

People often forget about these other costs associated with staying off property, so one of my favorite Disney World tips is to calculate whether these costs make up the delta between what staying on property would cost. Obviously this varies with each scenario, but is an important consideration to keep in mind.

Your Disney World Vacation -- Staying On Disney Property

The past few years, we’ve opted to stay exclusively on property. In fact, this year, we spent our entire Disney World vacation on property (in years past, we've taken a few days to venture off property, but my kids just love the Magic Kingdom so much, we ended up there most days*). With young children, not having to deal with rental cars and being able to come and go as we please to allow for naps and other breaks proved to be a big selling point for us. But beyond that, there are a ton of advantages to staying on Disney property, including:

• Free transportation and luggage service (including in-room luggage delivery) to and from the airport via Disney’s Magical Express (if you’re traveling with kids, the value of this service can’t be understated).
• Access to Disney’s Extra Magic Hours, hours that the parks are only open for guests staying on property (another of our Disney World tips is this: while it tends to be super crowded because most people on the property feel the need to take advantage of it, the lines are still shorter than during normal hours).
• No driving / parking / etc., it’s all handled via the Disney Transportation System (DTS).
• The ability to configure FastPass+ attractions in advance (it helps guarantee you can ride the rides you want, when you want to, and don’t have to spend the first chunk of your day setting up your FastPasses).
• The ability to stay at some of the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) properties, which are generally very nice.
• More of an “all-inclusive” feel, even though it’s not technically “all-inclusive”.

If you’re looking to remove some of the stress from your Disney World vacation (and who isn’t, really), staying on property helps with that quite a bit too. Plus, it’s more affordable than you think. Sure, if you want to stay at the higher end resorts and villas near Epcot and Magic Kingdom, you’re going to pay for that, but if you can get by with a standard hotel room, you can stay on property for about $100 a night – that’s not bad. As for the downsides:

• Generally, you are paying a premium for these benefits and depending on where you stay, those premiums will be higher or lower.
• Like everything else in the world of real estate, it’s all about location. We prefer to stay near
  
  the Magic Kingdom, but my brother prefers to stay near Epcot. Knowing which hotels best meet your needs and how to get from one to the next will save you a lot of time.
• While the Magic Hours and Transportation System are benefits, if you’re not going to use them, or find them cumbersome to use (DTS works better for certain properties), the additional cost might not make sense (another of our Disney World tips: If you can stay on the monorail, you'll have a better chance of staying on whatever schedule you've planned -- they run on a much tighter schedule that the bus system).

So, which do you prefer? I don’t think you can go wrong either way, and while we prefer to stay on property now, that might change when our kids get older (their favorite park is the Magic Kingdom, but they might like the bigger rides at Hollywood Studios as they get older). I hope that this has been helpful. If you have a Disney question, I’m happy to help. Feel free to shoot me your question on Twitter (I’m @jonmkee) or via email (jonmkee at gmail dot com). Have a magical day!

 * - One of my favorite Disney World Tips for those with young kids is to visit one park in the morning, go back to the hotel for naps/rest during the afternoon when the parks are most crowded, then head back later. Kids don't need to ride every ride a dozen times to have a magical experience.

Disney World Tips: 5 Tips for Your Trip to Disney World in 2014

Those that know me know that I’m a bit of a Disney nut, but never was this made more clear than on our recent trip to Disney World this April. And while I thought I knew quite a bit about how to maximize the Disney World experience, I also learned a few things. 

So, here are some Disney World tips I picked up to help you get the most of out of your visit to Disney World in 2014:

1. Master Fastpass+ – If you’ve done any research on Disney lately, you’re certainly familiar with the Fastpass+ technology. And while the technology continues to evolve (which will render much of what’s written here outdated soon enough), understanding which rides have the longest wait times and when, will allow you to get the most out of your visit. Rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain are generally the longest waits from about 10 am to 7 pm, so if you want to hit those rides, you should fastpass those during the busy times. Other popular rides like Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean offer wait times of less than 15 minutes early and late in the day, so hit them then, and save your fast passes for the big rides. Another of my favorite Disney World tips is to keep track of the various parade times because they are popular, and even sought after rides like Splash Mountain will see wait times drop significantly during those times.
2. Plan your days efficiently – One thing that stuck out to me on our most recent trip is that being at the park between 1 pm and 5 pm is not very efficient. It’s obviously the most popular time of the day, so all of the ride times are inflated, but it’s also generally pretty hot, so you end up spending more time waiting in line and more money on water/snacks/etc… What we found was taking advantage of Disney’s transportation system, we could head back to the hotel and swim (or just relax), then head back to the parks at night when the lines were shorter (and the weather was more pleasant). For those with little ones like us, it served as a great way to keep them fresh.
3. Take time to experience the “other” attractions – Of course the big rides are a primary reason to visit WDW, but this is maybe the favorite of my recent Disney World tips in that we really tried to focus on some of the other experiences during this visit. Take time to stroll through the World Showcase and Innoventions at Epcot, or take in some of the stunt shows at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – you never know how much you’re going to enjoy them until you try em. In fact, three of our kids favorite rides from this visit were the Carousel of Progress, Spaceship Earth, and the Hall of Presidents – who
   
   knew!
4. Meet the characters – Being the father of two young girls, meeting the characters (especially the Princesses) is a must, but there various ways to do this. If you can afford it, the best way is to do one of the many character meals that allows you to meet several characters at one time (all while getting a decent meal!). Though it’s a bit pricey, it does allow you to save a lot of time (which is really your most valuable commodity on vacation) versus waiting to meet each one individually, and really has an impact on the overall experience. Disney has done a great job of minimizing character wait times by allowing you to use Fastpass+ to see the more popular characters too, so even if you don't dine with them, don’t miss out on seeing Mickey, Cinderella and all the rest during your next visit.
5. The fireworks are great, but what comes first is better – Disney World’s fireworks are among the best in the world, but for me, the Celebrate the Magic show that precedes them is even better. Leveraging some pretty sophisticated projection technologies, imagineers turn Cinderella’s Castle into the movie screen and project popular movie scenes onto it. Combined with the songs your kids know and love, it’s a great way to prepare for the fireworks and has something for everyone. You can see fireworks anywhere, but this is something uniquely Disney.

So hopefully these Disney World tips help you get more out of your vacation and I’m working on upcoming posts about how to make your visit even more magical, whether it makes sense to say on or off property, and more.

If you have a Disney question, I’m happy to help. Feel free to shoot me your question on Twitter (I’m @jonmkee) or via email (jonmkee at gmail dot com). Have a magical day!