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Disney Vacation (6 Viewers)

Deranged Hermit said:
CB is great, a definite upgrade over ASM. Never done the skyliner, but the resort is top notch.
Funny. Out of all the places on site we have stayed, CB was by far the absolute worst in our opinion. 

 
Funny. Out of all the places on site we have stayed, CB was by far the absolute worst in our opinion. 
When they were doing construction a few years ago, you're right, it was terrible. We had such a  bad experience with construction right outside our rooms that they comped us free nights at a later date. Otherwise,  we really like it. We stay there and Coronado the most out of all the hotels on property. 

 
WDW's New AP program has just been announced. 

they are offering a few tiers, starting at $399 and up to $1299. It looks like the 1st 2 tiers are for Florida resident only ($399 and $699). DVC owners can buy the 2nd highest tier ($899), and anyone can buy the highest. 

The different tiers are mainly based on a mix of blackout dates/no blackouts and number of days In a row you can reserve a park for (3 days, 4, 5, and 5 days respectively), however resort guests with an AP can reserve for the length of their stay. 

Photo pass and water parks can be added to any AP fro $99 each  

Passes go on sale on Sept 8th

See the link for full details. 

 

 
WDW's New AP program has just been announced. 

they are offering a few tiers, starting at $399 and up to $1299. It looks like the 1st 2 tiers are for Florida resident only ($399 and $699). DVC owners can buy the 2nd highest tier ($899), and anyone can buy the highest. 

The different tiers are mainly based on a mix of blackout dates/no blackouts and number of days In a row you can reserve a park for (3 days, 4, 5, and 5 days respectively), however resort guests with an AP can reserve for the length of their stay. 

Photo pass and water parks can be added to any AP fro $99 each  

Passes go on sale on Sept 8th

See the link for full details. 

 
Was coming to post this blurb about them:

https://wdwnt.com/2021/08/breaking-4-new-walt-disney-world-annual-pass-tiers-announced-with-pricing-available-next-month/

On this link it says all but the incredi-pass are only for Florida residents and DVC members, but that doesn't make much sense.

 
When they were doing construction a few years ago, you're right, it was terrible. We had such a  bad experience with construction right outside our rooms that they comped us free nights at a later date. Otherwise,  we really like it. We stay there and Coronado the most out of all the hotels on property. 


We stayed there 2-3 years back during the construction too.  We had two rooms due to the size of our group and they were offering 75$ gift cards per day of your stay.  I got $150 in GCs for the 6-7 days we stayed.  Essentially paid for all of our food for the week which was nice and honestly we didn't feel like it made that much of a difference in our stay.

 
Just saw this tweeted...seems crazy to me.  

https://twitter.com/GoAwayGreen/status/1432429898770096136

Crazy: The last time Magic Kingdom added a new ride to increase capacity was The Barnstormer in October 1996. The next one will be Tron: Power Run in 2022. Every other ride has replaced capacity lost when a ride was closed, although it's likely Mermaid was an increase over 20K.

 
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Just saw this tweeted...seems crazy to me.  

https://twitter.com/GoAwayGreen/status/1432429898770096136

Crazy: The last time Magic Kingdom added a new ride to increase capacity was The Barnstormer in October 1996. The next one will be Tron: Power Run in 2022. Every other ride has replaced capacity lost when a ride was closed, although it's likely Mermaid was an increase over 20K.
What did the Dwarf Mine Train replace?  They may be playing fast and loose with that language.  My recollection was it only took out that Pooh’s kids play area but I acknowledge I didn’t look it up and going from memory and my memory sucks.

 
What did the Dwarf Mine Train replace?  They may be playing fast and loose with that language.  My recollection was it only took out that Pooh’s kids play area but I acknowledge I didn’t look it up and going from memory and my memory sucks.
20,000 leagues under the sea.  

Someone did correct that guy though...Magic Carpets were installed in 2001

 
Thirty-nine months, 3 1/4 years… That's the amount of time that will have passed from when Walt Disney Parks & Resorts first announced that it would be adding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland area to when the very first WDW visitors will actually get the chance to ride this family-friendly coaster.

Mind you, that's nothing in comparison to the nearly two decades that it took the Imagineers to finally convince Mouse House managers to fund the construction of a new attraction for this part of that theme park. Something that would then fill that long-vacant spot on the Magic Kingdom's map where "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas" once stood.

Yeah, ask any long term WDW visitor about "20,000 Leagues" and they can then fill you in on what this Fantasyland attraction was like. How you'd first board a replica of the Nautilus and then cruise past recreations of memorable moments from that Academy Award-winning 1954 Walt Disney Production.

Of course, were you to ask members of Walt Disney World's maintenance staff, you'd find that these folks would have some very different memories of "20K" to share. They'd tell you about how the water from Fantasyland Lagoon kept leaking down into the Magic Kingdom's Utilidors system. They'd also probably reveal that the diesel engines that powered this fleet of subs were prone to breakdown. Given that these heavily themed ride vehicles weighed 40 tons apiece, each Nautilus was extremely difficult to drag back into port.

So given all of the maintenance problems associated with Disney World's "20,000 Leagues" ride, the Magic Kingdom decided to shut down the subs on September 5, 1994. However, fearing how the public would react when it came to the closure of this opening day, Disney World officials didn't actually admit that "20K" was kaput until October of 1996, which is when they opened the Ariel's Grotto meet-n-greet area right next to the now-empty Fantasyland Lagoon.

But given that -- when you factored in the size of Fantasyland Lagoon as well as that massive behind-the-scenes show building which most of "20,000 Leagues" show scenes were housed in -- Walt Disney World now had this 10 acre-wide hole right in the middle of the most popular land at its most popular theme park, which is why the Imagineers then began pitching all sort of ideas for possible "20K" replacements. Among the concepts that were proposed during this period were a Disney Villains Village (where the centerpiece attraction was to have been a flume ride where WDW visitors -- having narrowly escape being squished between the massive hands of Chernabog (Fantasia) -- were to have then splashed down to safety in the old "20,000 Leagues" lagoon) as well as a Little Mermaid's Lagoon (which -- to avoid dealing with Central Florida's often-brutal summer temperatures and afternoon thunderstorms -- was to have been built mostly indoors).

One of the other attractions proposed for this now-vacant spot on the Magic Kingdom's map was a family-friendly coaster themed around the "Heigh-Ho" number from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." But after preliminary development of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was completed in the late 1990s / early 2000s, word came down from high at Disney that Imagineers were to concentrate their efforts on rides, shows and attractions which were based on the Company's newer franchises, rather than a at-that-time nearly 70 year-old animated film

That is why -- when Walt Disney Parks & Resorts officially announced the New Fantasyland project back in September of 2009 -- the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was nowhere to be seen. In its place on the original site plan for this then-$350-million project was a massive Disney Princess meet-n-greet. Where -- on one side -- you could enter a full-sized recreation of Lady Tremaine's chateau and then watch as the Fairy Godmother conjured up Cinderella's gown for the ball. And on the other side of this highly themed show building, you could visit the humble cottage where the Three Good Fairies had hidden Princess Aurora away from Maleficent. 

Meanwhile, right next door to the old "20K" show building, Mickey's Toontown Fair was supposed to be flattened to make room for Pixie Hollow, which was this brand-new "land" for the Magic Kingdom that was supposed to built around the Disney Fairies franchise.

So what happened with Cinderella's chateau, Princess Aurora's cottage and Pixie Hollow? Why did Disney decide to drop these three original elements of the New Fantasyland plan in favor of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Storybook Circus? What changed is that -- in January of 2011 -- Jay Rasulo, the Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, swapped jobs with Tom Staggs, the then-Chief Financial Officer of The Walt Disney Company.

And the big difference between Tom & Jay is ... Well, Staggs has three sons. Who -- at the time he took over Disney Parks & Resorts -- were ages 4 to 11. And as the story goes, when Tom reportedly showed his boys the plans for New Fantasyland, they supposedly told their Dad that the Imagineers' plans for this part of that theme park were far too girly.

So even though work was already well underway on this expansion of the Magic Kingdom (In April of 2010, Disney brought a 70-ton crane into the Magic Kingdom. Where -- after all the Guests went home for the night -- they then hoisted the 120-ton tree that served as the center of Pooh's Playful Spot up out of the ground and then moved it to over by the entrance to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Where that tree now serves as the marquee for this Fantasyland dark ride), Staggs ordered the Imagineers to revisit their plans for New Fantasyland with the emphasis then being placed on adding more attractions to WDW's premiere park which would appeal to young men.

This brings us back to why it's taken so long for the Imagineers to complete construction of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Given the initial construction fence for New Fantasyland went up in February of 2010 and it wasn't until January of 2011 Tom Staggs officially revealed that the original plans for this project had radically been revised, that's why work on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train began so much later than every other aspect of this Magic Kingdom expansion.

 
Just saw this tweeted...seems crazy to me.  

https://twitter.com/GoAwayGreen/status/1432429898770096136

Crazy: The last time Magic Kingdom added a new ride to increase capacity was The Barnstormer in October 1996. The next one will be Tron: Power Run in 2022. Every other ride has replaced capacity lost when a ride was closed, although it's likely Mermaid was an increase over 20K.
That guy is a co host of a great podcast called Retro WDW. They have a crazy wealth of classic Disney knowledge and produce a solid podcast. They just wrapped up a 2 or 3 part piece on Pleasure Island. 

 
We stayed there 2-3 years back during the construction too.  We had two rooms due to the size of our group and they were offering 75$ gift cards per day of your stay.  I got $150 in GCs for the 6-7 days we stayed.  Essentially paid for all of our food for the week which was nice and honestly we didn't feel like it made that much of a difference in our stay.
I'm not sure why we didn't get the gift cards. Maybe it was because my complaint came after the fact via email. 

We were in the same boat as you though: we had a large group,  three rooms for 11 people. They ended up giving us 3 or 4 nights free for each room.

 
Going through old paperwork at my parent's house yesterday and found the receipt for our family trip to WDW in 1991, via AAA travel. 2 adults, 2 kids  (16yo, 10yo), 5 nights off-property, with rental car, park tickets and round trip flights out of Philly: $1,646. 

 
Going through old paperwork at my parent's house yesterday and found the receipt for our family trip to WDW in 1991, via AAA travel. 2 adults, 2 kids  (16yo, 10yo), 5 nights off-property, with rental car, park tickets and round trip flights out of Philly: $1,646. 
That's 3 days in the park now.  Assuming you just want to wait in lines.  

 
RIP Spirit of Aloha show at the Polynesian. Apparently they are closing the show for good stating that the profit margin was not that positive. 

 
Beverly...we missed you dearly!!

Epcot and Coca Cola's "Club Cool" will be reopening on Sept 15th along with the Creation's Shop (formerly Mouse Gear) attached to it. 

 
That guy is a co host of a great podcast called Retro WDW. They have a crazy wealth of classic Disney knowledge and produce a solid podcast. They just wrapped up a 2 or 3 part piece on Pleasure Island. 
What's the podcast called?

 
Going through old paperwork at my parent's house yesterday and found the receipt for our family trip to WDW in 1991, via AAA travel. 2 adults, 2 kids  (16yo, 10yo), 5 nights off-property, with rental car, park tickets and round trip flights out of Philly: $1,646. 
I paid over 10k to take my wife and two kids for seven days in 2012.  Granted, we had a Magic Kingdom fireworks view from our room,at the Polynesian, but still.  It was April vacation and the flights were like 6k for us.  

 
Is this the final nail in the coffin that is Rock N Roller Coaster? 

Aerosmith hands over their entire catalog to Universal Music

The Disney/Aerosmith deal is up for renewal in 2022. With Universal now in charge of their whole catalog, they are going to want a king's ransom to license their songs. Is this the breaking point where Disney cut's bait and rethemes the ride? 
They 100% will re-theme it IMO. Right now it has zero connection to anything actual Disney. They’ll re-theme it to an IP they already own.

 
Could make some minor branding changes and go The Rock. and roller coaster.

"Welcome to The Rock and roller coaster. We hope you enj..."

"It doesn't matter what you think of this roller coaster!!!"

 
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Gotta say that if you can’t reserve the dining reservation you want, using a reservation finder seems to work well. Wanted a dining reservation for Sci-Fi on November 3rd but when I tried to book 60+ days in advance as soon as reservations opened up for me that morning there were no available spots at all (in fact, reservations throughout all of Disney were extremely limited which seemed crazy).

Anyway, I have an account at touringplans.com so I setup a request in their reservation finder. Sure enough, got a text today about 2 open reservations for the date I wanted and was able to snag one of them a couple of minutes after getting the text.

So if you are looking for a specific reservation and having no luck, seems like a service could be the way to go (at least the one I used anyway).

 
This may seem minor, but it makes me very happy. 

YeHaa Bob and his awesome piano show will return to Port Orleans on October 14th. 
 

 
Our family and in-laws are going mid-October to the Caribbean Beach Resort for a week. Was back and forth regarding cancelling this, but we decided to go ahead with it.

Our kids are super picky (especially my 5 year old) so we plan on packing lunches with us, and eating breakfast most days in the room. Who do you like for grocery delivery services? I know there are quite a few available... just wondering if there are better choices than others.

@glvsav37 @AcerFC and others

 
Our family and in-laws are going mid-October to the Caribbean Beach Resort for a week. Was back and forth regarding cancelling this, but we decided to go ahead with it.

Our kids are super picky (especially my 5 year old) so we plan on packing lunches with us, and eating breakfast most days in the room. Who do you like for grocery delivery services? I know there are quite a few available... just wondering if there are better choices than others.

@glvsav37 @AcerFC and others
I’ll leave it to others who have done it more. We did it once and IIRC, we used Amazon. However, I remember the Disney people who held the stuff for us saying they weren’t going to be offering that service much longer. Not sure if that happened or not. But Amazon was great. I’ll double check with my wife. 

 
@SayChowda

cool, enjoy the trip. 

I know things have changed a bunch in the last year with covid and such. Back in the day, you could order groceries and the bell stand would hold it for you (even refrigerated stuff) and then deliver it to your room oncer you checked in. I'm pretty sure that not the case any more. I'm pretty sure that you have to meet the driver at the resort entrance now. Its best to call the resort and see what their policy is. 

The one we used most was Garden Grocer. You'll pay a bit of an upcharge but if you dont have a car, its less then buying everything at WDW. They offer you opportunity to select you delivery time, so it makes the new changes somewhat bearable. 

Amazon was good as well, but my problem was that (for the grocery at least) the delivery items as inconsistent. We scheduled it to arrive on our 1st day but it didnt get there until the 3rd day (when we were checking out and moving to a different resort). Plus I find Amazon Pantry prices a bit high esp on heavy things like bottled drinks that we would want for the parks. 

Another option would be to order at the closest Walmart for pick up and then grab an uber over once its ready. 

hope that helps

 
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@SayChowda

cool, enjoy the trip. 

I know things have changed a bunch in the last year with covid and such. Back in the day, you could order groceries and the bell stand would hold it for you (even refrigerated stuff) and then deliver it to your room oncer you checked in. I'm pretty sure that not the case any more. I'm pretty sure that you have to meet the driver at the resort entrance now. Its best to call the resort and see what their policy is. 

The one we used most was Garden Grocer. You'll pay a bit of an upcharge but if you dont have a car, its less then buying everything at WDW. They offer you opportunity to select you delivery time, so it makes the new changes somewhat bearable. 

Amazon was good as well, but my problem was that (for the grocery at least) the delivery items as inconsistent. We scheduled it to arrive on our 1st day but it didnt get there until the 3rd day (when we were checking out and moving to a different resort). Plus I find Amazon Pantry prices a bit high esp on heavy things like bottled drinks that we would want for the parks. 

Another option would be to order at the closest Walmart for pick up and then grab an uber over once its ready. 

hope that helps
Awesome, thanks for the info. Garden Grocer does seem to be recommended a lot. The knock of them is just the aren't as modern as things like Prime and Instacart from one of the local grocery stores. 

I should probably just call over to the Caribbean before I make any decisions. 

 
Awesome, thanks for the info. Garden Grocer does seem to be recommended a lot. The knock of them is just the aren't as modern as things like Prime and Instacart from one of the local grocery stores. 

I should probably just call over to the Caribbean before I make any decisions. 
NP. 👍

curious what the knock is about being "modern" and why its an issue? GG is a small business where they have an actual person going to the store and picking up your food then also delivering it personally. 

I get that for major or frequent shopping trips (where you would want to save items in favorites, loyalty discounts, etc) that you would want the most modern and convenient ways. But really how any times are you going to use GG? 1x every few years? 

Plus, while I am a Prime whore for most products I buy at home, I dont mind supporting a small business when I can. 

My 1 experience with ordering food with prime was a few years ago (so they may have gotten better), and it was late to the resort by a few days. As with anything Amazon, once it's in transit no one has any control over it. At least with a local company or a local store shopping service, you can usually get someone on the phone if needed. Remember, you're on vacation and every second you spend waiting for a late or delayed food delivery is time you are not taking full advantage of your vacation. 

Either way, you have a few solid options for food. Enjoy the trip!!! 
 

 
Seeing a report that the Finding Nemo Musical show at Animal kingdom has permanently closed. Not only are they not bringing back the performers, but rumor has it that they have already started dismantling the stage and most props may have already been destroyed. 

sad, we really enjoyed the show. Yes it was long, but on a hot summer day, it was a great opportunity to rest and reset. Plus the actors were phenomenal 

 
Seeing a report that the Finding Nemo Musical show at Animal kingdom has permanently closed. Not only are they not bringing back the performers, but rumor has it that they have already started dismantling the stage and most props may have already been destroyed. 

sad, we really enjoyed the show. Yes it was long, but on a hot summer day, it was a great opportunity to rest and reset. Plus the actors were phenomenal 
Well it looks like the OLD Nemo Show is permanently closed, but the good news is that they are actually working on a new Nemo show to replace it. 

From Disney parks blog

“Finding Nemo — The Musical” has been delighting our guests since 2007, and I’m excited to tell you a reimagined show, based on the same beloved characters, will debut in 2022. 

Although our Disney Live Entertainment team is still in the early stages of development for the show, the musical retelling of this underwater tale of family, friendship and kindness will feature new story material, as well as fan favorite songs such as “In the Big Blue World” and “Go with the Flow.”

 
NP. 👍

curious what the knock is about being "modern" and why its an issue? GG is a small business where they have an actual person going to the store and picking up your food then also delivering it personally. 

I get that for major or frequent shopping trips (where you would want to save items in favorites, loyalty discounts, etc) that you would want the most modern and convenient ways. But really how any times are you going to use GG? 1x every few years? 

Plus, while I am a Prime whore for most products I buy at home, I dont mind supporting a small business when I can. 

My 1 experience with ordering food with prime was a few years ago (so they may have gotten better), and it was late to the resort by a few days. As with anything Amazon, once it's in transit no one has any control over it. At least with a local company or a local store shopping service, you can usually get someone on the phone if needed. Remember, you're on vacation and every second you spend waiting for a late or delayed food delivery is time you are not taking full advantage of your vacation. 

Either way, you have a few solid options for food. Enjoy the trip!!! 
 


Yeah when I was researching via Google it seemed like not everyone liked Garden Grocer anymore compared to some of the newer services. Couldn't find anything specific though. It might have just been people's familiarity with Prime and Instacart. 

Either way I still need to just call over to the Caribbean to see if they have a preference. 

Not relevant but for the one night my in laws are watching the kids we have reservations in Disney Springs at the Art Smith restaurant. Looking forward to that. 

 
I was wondering when this was going to happen. It was only a matter of time.

My family is good, but I'd imagine there will be a lot of backlash over it.
again, trying to keep this non-political, but California and Florida are 2 very different states. It seems this was not a theme park management decision and more of a state decision. So I would bet that these rules are not coming to WDW/UO and the other Orlando theme parks, but you never know. 

 
glvsav37 said:
(Please do not make this Political, there are other threads for that) 

According to an LA-based reporter, Theme parks in California will begin requiring vaccine or negative Covid test to enter starting Oct 7th

https://twitter.com/ReporterClaudia/status/1438220990929010689?s=20

 


This is a Los Angeles County Health order not State of California. So it wont be relevant to Disneyland but will cover Universal Studios and Magic Mountain.

It could lead the way for the state to pass a similar order but who knows.

 
glvsav37 said:
again, trying to keep this non-political, but California and Florida are 2 very different states. It seems this was not a theme park management decision and more of a state decision. So I would bet that these rules are not coming to WDW/UO and the other Orlando theme parks, but you never know. 
My wife's college roommate is on the team at WDW trying to figure this all out (part of internal operations group).  There is a TON of internal discussion here at WDW regarding vaccines and how to handle.  They'd like to do it here too, but they won't get the cover from the state that California is providing them.  They're trying to figure out what to do.  In this state, they could get fined for requiring vaccines and it is allegedly "per person".  It's a mess.

ETA:  No idea about Universal, but we've been twice in the last couple months and it's been a ghost town.  People here simply aren't out and about and it doesn't appear people are all that eager to come here from out of state at the moment.

 
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This is a Los Angeles County Health order not State of California. So it wont be relevant to Disneyland but will cover Universal Studios and Magic Mountain.

It could lead the way for the state to pass a similar order but who knows.
thanks for clarifying. I know DL os in Anaheim, but I'm not totally up on locations in CA.

 

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