Disney’s Magic Kingdom reveals new, nightly projection show

Hey Thrill Seekers,

With a Bibbidy, bobbidy, boo, Disney brings you…. a new, nightly projection show at the Magic Kingdom and guess what, its debut is in just 3 days time.

Once Upon a Time will begin on November 4th, the show will be presented at 9:45 pm and last for around 14 magical minutes. Performance times will vary based on park closing times so do check times before you go as this is not something you are going to want to miss.

DSC_3958

The show will involve Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast telling bedtime stories to her son Chip (and of course all watching). The stories will take the form of projections on Cinderella’s Castle and will include characters from many of our favorite Disney movies including Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

I find the projection shows amazing so I am super excited they are adding a new one to the mix, its safe to say that I will be starting my saving immediatelty so I can get out there to watch it.

If you’re lucky enough to be there now, or heading there shortly go and check it out. Its suitable for all ages, so the little ones can enjoy the magic too.

Smiles Included

Kelly

banner-oat-new (00000002)

Disney updating front gate technology

Hi Thrill Seekers,

It seems that while other parks are investing in entertainment, Disney on the other hand are investing in technology. Over the last few months we have heard lots of reports about their eventual roll out of the MyMagic+ wrist band tickets (read our blog about it here). However, before we get to the wrist band style ticket Disney introduced a plastic credit card sized ticket – which is currently in operation. More recently we have heard reports that Disney are now starting to remove the old bar code reader ticket gates and have started replacing them with the new RFID enabled gates.

 

disney price increase

 

Ahh, thats all very interesting I hear you say…but what does that mean to me??? Well…what this means to the average Joe is that if you currently have a card board style ticket you will probably have to exchange it at guest services for a new plastic style ticket in order to get into the park.

Unfortunately Disney don’t actually give us any ‘exact’ information on when they will make changes – but the general idea is that the ticket media at Disney is in an ongoing state of change – we will of course update you as and when we receive info.
As always #SmilesIncluded
Karl

 

 oat-banner (2)

 

Disney reports profits rise at the parks!

Although its clear to see that other areas of Disney are clearly making huge leaps profit wise it is also pretty cool to see that they are still on form when it comes to the theme park and resorts side of their operation. Earnings for Disney’s parks and resorts rose to $630 million from $519 million according to Disney’s latest Quarter earning report.

“We had a phenomenal third quarter,” Disney President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said during a conference call with analysts.

Operating profit at Disney’s global theme-park division surged 21 percent to $630 million on sales that rose 9 percent to $3.4 billion. That growth was driven by the late March launch of the Disney Fantasy cruise ship; the mid-June opening of a “Cars”-themed attraction in Southern California; and a rebound at Tokyo Disney, which was forced to close for a time last year following a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Company executives were especially upbeat about the early success of “Cars Land,” the final piece of a billion-dollar rebuild ofDisneyland’sDisney California Adventure theme park.

Iger said the addition generated record attendance at the two-park resort in Anaheim, Calif., and that the perennially weak California Adventure had become “the perfect neighbor” to the original Disneyland park, drawing nearly 50 percent of the resort’s total attendance — up from as little as 25 percent in previous years.

But while crowds descended on Disneyland, attendance appeared to slip at Disney World during the quarter. Although Disney did not report figures just for its Orlando resort, it said combined U.S. theme-park attendance inched up just 1 percent for the quarter — despite the record growth in California.

Now as interesting as you all found that financial report I am sure you’d rather check out something a little more exciting… like the latest deals and special offers on Disney’s Ultimate Park tickets from Orlando Attraction Tickets. At the moment you can get a 14 Day Ultimate Disney Ticket for the price of 7 days!

Cheers

Karl

OrlandoAttractionTickets.co.uk

 

How Disney Plan To Reduce Theme Park Queuing Times

Disney handles over 30 million visitors per year! Top of everyone’s pet hate list is queuing… so what are Disney doing about this?

According to the New York Times Disney have been busy in 2010 equipping an underground nerve centre to tackle our favourite pet peeve.

In one corner, employees watch flat-screen televisions that depict various attractions in green, yellow and red outlines, with the colors representing wait-time gradations.

An example of how this would work is given as…

If Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that sends people on a spirited voyage through the Spanish Main, suddenly blinks from green to yellow, the center might respond by alerting managers to launch more boats.

Another idea which is not exactly scientific is…

Another option involves dispatching Captain Jack Sparrow or Goofy or one of their pals to the queue to entertain people as they wait. “It’s about being nimble and quickly noticing that, ‘Hey, let’s make sure there is some relief out there for those people,’ ” said Phil Holmes, vice president of the Magic Kingdom, the flagship Disney World park.

What if…

What if Fantasyland is swamped with people but adjacent Tomorrowland has plenty of elbow room? The operations center can route a miniparade called “Move it! Shake it! Celebrate It!” into the less-populated pocket to siphon guests in that direction. Other technicians in the command center monitor restaurants, perhaps spotting that additional registers need to be opened or dispatching greeters to hand out menus to people waiting to order.

Disney Launch New Check In Facility With Gowalla

Today Disney have launched a new way to explore and enjoyDisneyland Florida, teaming up with Gowalla a place sharing website, Disney are encouraging visitors to “check in” at their favourite Disney locations to make their visit even more magical.

Disney wrote on their blog

The fun starts with our new digital Passport Stamps. Hundreds of locations within Disney Parks will feature these exclusive Stamps created by Gowalla – it’s the largest number of custom Stamps ever developed for a brand. The Stamps can be collected and kept as a virtual scrapbook by using Gowalla and checking-in around the parks. Take a look at some of my favorites.

You’ll also be able to view what’s happening at the park with custom Disney Passport pages that include maps featuring a check-in stream, a list of popular places and Trips.

You can start your Disney Parks adventure now by going to Gowalla.com/WaltDisneyWorld orGowalla.com/Disneyland. You’ll need to join Gowalla via the web or download the free application onto your smartphone

Disney also want to know which are your favourite check in stamps, so why not tell them on their blog

Pirates Of The Caribbean At Walt Disney World Resort

Pirates of the Caribbean can be found at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Adventureland and is the inspiration for the set of films of the same name starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly.

This attraction was the last project Walt Disney himself  helped design.

The attraction itself is an indoor water ride, guests float through an immersive, larger-than-life pirate adventure featuring gunshots, cannon blasts, burning buildings, and carousing and pillaging pirates, all accompanied by the rollicking theme song, “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” written by George Bruns and Xavier Atencio.

The highlight is the 14 foot plunge over a waterfall in to the pirates cave.

Height to ride – Any height

Ride Duration – 8:30

Attraction Tickets Review – A great ride for atmosphere, you can literally smell the salty water.

Haunted Mansion At Walt Disney World Resort

 
Haunted Mansion can be found at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Liberty Square,  and is a spooky tour around a haunted mansion. 

Your are shipped around the mansion in doom buggies that take you from room to room, where you may see or experience the supernatural.

Height to ride – Any height

Top Speed – Slow…

Attraction Tickets Review – Had to put my “this is for kids” hat on, because this really isn’t scary…. but kids love it.

Space Mountain At Walt Disney World Resort

Space Mountain can be found at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland and is an indoor out of space roller coaster and features 2 spaceship shaped vehicles consisting of 3 seats that launch from 2 different tracks.

The left side track is called the Alpha; the right side track is called the Omega. Both tracks are nearly identical and mirror each other in twists and drops.

The rockets that race through space achieve a maximum speed of 28 miles per hour.

Height to ride – 44″

Vehicle Capacity – 3

Top Speed – 28 mph

Ride Duration – 2.50

Attraction Tickets Review – I love theme park rides in the dark! 28 mph doesn’t sound much but in the dark it feels more like 78 mph!!

Splash Mountain At Walt Disney World Resort

Splash Mountain can  be found at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Frontierland and is log flume ride based on the characters, stories and songs from the 1946 Disney film Song of the South.

The ride has 3 drops before culminating with a 52.5 foot, 5 story drop. If being soaked is your goal, request a seat in the front or sit on the right side of the hollowed-out log.

Height to ride – 40″

Vehicle Capacity – 8

Top Speed – 40 mph

Attraction Tickets Review – A legendary ride that must be ticked off your to do list. Prepare to get wet, because you will.