Nighttime is a special time at Magic Kingdom® Park. From the colorful spires of Cinderella Castle to the twinkling lights of Storybook Circus in Fantasyland, the park comes alive in a very unique way. And now, there’s a whole new way for you to experience nighttime at Magic Kingdom Park with “Disney After Hours.” This special, ticketed event, offered on select nights, allows you to enjoy exclusive time in the park with quicker than typical access to popular attractions like Space Mountain and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, as well as character greetings at Town Square and Princess Fairytale Hall. Ice cream novelties and bottled beverages will be available for Guests during the three-hour event.

Disney Resort Guests will continue to enjoy Extra Magic Hours as this new event takes place on different nights.

“Disney After Hours” takes place April 14, 21, 28 and May 5, 8, 12 and 19, 2016 at Magic Kingdom Park. A separate event ticket is required. Guests can check-in starting at 7 p.m. each night, with the event hours from 11 p.m.-2 a.m. Pricing is $149 plus tax for adults and children (ages 3-9). Admission is limited, so hurry and book today.

Mom Maven’s Thoughts on Disney After Hours

This new hard ticketed event may appeal to some people who have excessive disposable income. Let’s do the math…a 1 day ticket to the Magic Kingdom during the “regular season” costs $110 + tax. On April 14th, the first day of the Disney After Hours event, the park is open 9am-11pm=14 hours. That breaks down to $7.86 + tax an hour for a day of Disney magic. It is regular season so crowds should be manageable and with proper planning and help from your travel agent, you should have a lovely day. Now if you decide to go to Disney After Hours you pay $149 + tax and are able to enter the park at 7pm with the event starting at 11pm and going to 2am. You now have 7 hours of park time, 4 of which include the day guests for $21.29 per hour-roughly 3x the hourly rate for shorter lines. If you only come for the 3 hours with no day guests you are up to almost $50 + tax per hour or 7x more money for shorter lines. Granted my calculations are based on the fact that you bought a 1-day Magic Kingdom ticket. Most people will have a multi-day ticket and the per day rate will be less, making the per hour rate less and the Disney After Hours rate even more absurd.

Yes, there will be people willing to shell out the money for shorter lines but according to the initial social media reaction, they aren’t the die hard Disney fans. We want value for our Disney dollars and late night shorter lines aren’t worth that kind of money. If I had an extra $149 per person to spend at Walt Disney World, I would do a behind the scenes tour or special event like Club Villain, maybe that is just me. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

photo courtesy of Disney

Disney Early Morning Magic

On March 23rd something called Disney Early Morning Magic started popping up on the dining page of the Disney website. It wasn’t there long but Kenny the Pirate captured all the info before it disappeared. There were no dates associated with the original information. Basically for $69 + tax for adults and $49 + tax for children PLUS park admission guests get in to Fantasyland at 7:45am only the 3 most popular Fantasyland attractions will be open The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan’s Flight and The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. In addition to the rides, guests will get breakfast at Pinocchio’s Village Haus from 8:30-10am. Tickets will be limited and this event is on select days. The park will open to day guests at 9am.

Is it worth 75 minutes of park time and breakfast for $69 + tax? That decision is up to you. Our family has never even done a breakfast character dining because we can’t justify paying $25+ for breakfast! I will say that Disney Early Morning Magic might be worth it for families with young children who are saving a lot of money by staying off property. You could take some of the money you saved and splurge on this, get three must-do rides and breakfast taken care of and use your Fastpass+ selections elsewhere.

I would love your thoughts on both of these new offerings. Am I wrong? Are you willing to pay the extra money for shorter lines? Disney has said both of these new offerings will not interfere with Extra Magic Hours that are currently available to guests staying on Disney property, let’s hope that is the case.

If you are ready to book your Walt Disney World vacation please Email Me , I’d love to be your Disney Vacation Planner.

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The Festival of Fantasy Parade debuted on March 9, 2014. As much as I wanted to drive right over to see the parade, I waited patiently knowing I would see the parade while I was at Walt Disney World for the Type-A WDW Conference at the end of the month. I couldn’t help but see pictures of the beautiful floats in my social media streams before I saw the parade in person but I refrained from watching videos of the parade because I wanted to experience it for myself first. I am so glad I waited! We were able to catch the parade twice while we were at the parks surrounding the conference. This parade is magnificent, beautiful, magical and whimsical. I can’t wait to see it again.

About the Festival of Fantasy Parade

Disney Festival of Fantasy parade is the first of a new generation of parades for Disney Parks featuring never-before-used technology on eye-popping floats adorned with Disney characters from more than a dozen fairytales. Set to an all-new musical score, the dazzling parade floats will soar up to three stories tall with spirited performers donning dramatic costumes crafted at ten different design houses across the country.

“The parade celebrates and pays homage to what the Magic Kingdom is all about,” said Randy Wojcik, senior show director Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Creative Entertainment. “It has the most beautiful floats, enchanting characters, vibrant costumes that come to life; and the choreography is just glorious. Yet, it is also very kinetic, relevant and powerful on a scale never seen before at Walt Disney World.”

Seven unique units comprised of nine spectacular floats march down Main Street, U.S.A to the beat of an original soundtrack inspired by favorite Disney films, composed by Mark Hammond, known for his work on World of Color at Disney California Adventure and the Flights of Fantasy parade at Hong Kong Disneyland. The parade has its own voice with a theme song customized for each float followed by a medley of songs woven throughout the cavalcade.

The Floats of the Festival of Fantasy Parade

The Princess Garden

This pageantry of princesses celebrates Disney royalty. Cinderella, Tiana and Belle accompanied by their respective princes, ride in a garden of topiaries with woodland creatures, birds and more. Cinderella’s dress playfully twirls like a turntable, while Swan Court couples lead the 50-foot-long majestic float, capped off with a special appearance by Anna and Elsa from Disney’s hit animated feature, “Frozen.”

Tangled

A massive long ship on the high seas showcases Flynn Rider and Rapunzel in search of adventure and another Best. Day. Ever! Rapunzel’s iconic tresses weave throughout this 36-foot-long float decked out with swaying pendulums carrying dastardly thugs.

The Little Mermaid

Ariel and her friends sit atop a colorfully kinetic seashell music box that boasts an enchanting musical jubilee. There’s no shortage of whimsy on this Under the Sea float with conga dancing fish kicking up their fins and bubbles galore. Shimmering fabrics and intricately designed costumes for the Lion Fish, Coral Fish, Seashell and Sea Horse performers are runway-inspired.

Peter Pan

Straight from Never Land come Peter Pan and Wendy soaring high aboard the famous Jolly Roger pirate ship complete with smoke effects and special surprises. A rainbow arch shines over Skull Rock and Tinker Bell nestled among giant flowers, while Captain Hook takes center stage on a swinging anchor. “Newsies-inspired” Lost Boys kick up their heels to high-energy choreography.

Brave

Celtic couples and a vessel shaped like an enormous bagpipe announce the arrival of Merida perched high on her majestic crown. Scottish dancers step to melodies of the Great Highlands in celebration of the popular Disney*Pixar film, “Brave.”

Sleeping Beauty

The heroic Prince Phillip battles a Steampunk-inspired Dragon as the wicked Maleficent. This float stretches 53 feet in length and 26 feet tall with a prickly spinning wheel dead center of the float. With fiery eyes and glowing effects the spectacular dragon was built on an articulating chassis allowing the float to bend and flex as it moves along the parade route – a first for Disney parades. This float was designed in a partnership with Tony Award-winner Michael Curry. There’s Prince Phillip, thorn-inspired stilt performers, dramatic raven dancers, plus the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather glide along the parade route.

Finale

The parade culminates with a 90-foot-long magical caravan of characters featuring Pinocchio, Dumbo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Mad Hatter, Pluto and more in a splashy carnival of color. There’s Pegasus horses, dancing hippos and sassy Bubble Girls with cotton-candy-like hair celebrating Storybook Circus in New Fantasyland. Sporting zany new costumes Mickey and Minnie Mouse sit sky high in Mickey’s Airship — a giant hot air balloon that rounds out Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade.

The Mom Maven’s Thoughts

If you are planning a Walt Disney World vacation, plan to see this parade more than once! The first time you watch it don’t use your phone or camera, just enjoy the parade. Let the music wash over you as the joy of the parade envelopes you. The second time you watch it, go ahead and take photos and capture the memories, not just of the beautiful parade but of the smiles on your kids’ faces as they watch the parade.

If you don’t have a vacation planned in the next few years, or if you just aren’t patient enough to wait, here is a compilation video by my friend John at BigFatPanda.com. He took videos of the parade on 3 different days from 3 different vantage points and compiled them into one awesome video. Enjoy!

What are your thoughts on the Festival of Fantasy Parade? Have you seen it in person? Did you watch the video or did you just look at the pictures? Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.

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Princess Fairytale Hall is now THE place to meet your favorite Disney Princesses. During the preview we were asked if we wanted to meet Cinderella or Rapunzel…we chose Rapunzel. Most of the media chose Rapunzel too! We had to wait about a half hour to see Rapunzel while the Cinderella line was much shorter.

The attention to detail is amazing, as always. The building is an addition to the castle where Cinderella can visit with the other princesses and receive guests throughout the day. The windows, light fixtures and wall hangings are all very regal yet not over done. In the last section of the queue the wall are adorned with beautiful portraits of some of the Disney Princesses.

Just before you enter the meet and greet area, beautifully displayed, is Cinderella’s glass slipper!

We were excited when we entered the meet and greet space and found Snow White waiting to meet us also!

My friend John from BigFatPanda.com shot this video of his visit to Princess Fairytale Hall and I thought you might like to see it.

I think Princess Fairytale Hall is a great addition to Fantasyland. It will be a very popular spot so I do suggest adding it to your Fastpass+ while planning your visit to the Magic Kingdom.

Join Mouse House Memories

1. Write a post about Disney and add it to the Linky. Make sure you link to the actual post and not to your home page. Links that go to a home page will be deleted. Linky will be open Monday-Sunday of each week.
2. In your post mention that you are linking up to Mouse House Memories at TheMomMaven.com.
3. Optional but appreciated. Use the “Mouse House Memories Badge” at the top of this post  in your post, sidebar or blogroll and link back to the main Mouse House Memories post http://themommaven.com/2013/01/mouse-house-memories-2013/.

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Located just past the Liberty Square entrance to Fantasyland, the Tangled Rest Area is a highly themed area that includes bathrooms, tables, seats and…charging stations! I am so excited about the charging station because back in October while I was at the New Fantasyland Blogger Event, Tom Skaggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and resorts asked us what they had missed in New Fantasyland. At first we couldn’t think of anything and then several of us said, charging stations. Everyone has smartphones now a days and most of us use them to take pictures of our kids and instantly share them on social media. Unfortunately, our batteries don’t survive a long day in the park, and charging stations would not only help parents but in the end, it would be good PR for Disney because more people will be able to share their pictures from Disney World-showing their friends how much fun they are having. He asked how to hide the charging stations into the theming and we said, “in trees”. This is exactly how they did it in the Tangled Rest Area! I am excited to think that we not only got to make history in the Magic Kingdom that weekend but we also influenced theme park design going into the future.

Charging Stations

The Tangled themed rest rooms are large and dare I say, beautiful inside and out.

Tangled Restrooms

You and your children can even search for Pascal and his friends along the creek bank.

Next time you are at the Magic Kingdom, stop by and take a rest in the Tangled Rest Area, I hear it is even more beautiful at night!

Join Mouse House Memories

1. Write a post about Disney and add it to the Linky. Make sure you link to the actual post and not to your home page. Links that go to a home page will be deleted. Linky will be open Monday-Sunday of each week.
2. In your post mention that you are linking up to Mouse House Memories at TheMomMaven.com.
3. Optional but appreciated. Use the “Mouse House Memories Badge” at the top of this post  in your post, sidebar or blogroll and link back to the main Mouse House Memories post http://themommaven.com/2013/01/mouse-house-memories-2013/.

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When we left new Fantasyland we headed over to Storybook Circus to look at the new Dumbo ride and the refurbished Barnstormer and Fantasyland Train Station. This area has been open to the public for about a month and our family had visited it the day before so again, nothing new here. The mood in the van on the way back to the Yacht Club wasn’t nearly as upbeat as on our ride over. Honestly, this was the one time all weekend we were a bit disappointed…and I bought new shoes!

Once we returned to the Yacht Club we hurried to the ballroom where the conference would take place all day. I had a great seat in the front of the room with some great friends. The tables were decorated with wreaths surrounding a circle of electrical plugs sponsored by Rayovac so everyone could plug in their laptop or tablet during the conference. Mary  Ellen Hooper, comedienne, served as host and MC for the day and she kept us laughing all day long!

Meg Crofton, President Walt Disney World

We were greeted by Meg Crofton who thanked us for our love and loyalty of the Disney brand. She let us know how important we are as brand ambassadors for Disney and even though she was speaking to all 200 of us in the room, I truly felt appreciated by one of my favorite brands. Next up was Amy Jo Martin of Digital Royalty. Amy Jo spoke about the power of our brand and my favorite quote from her is, “Where skill, passion and purpose collide-that is where bliss is found.”

Next up was the powerhouse speaker of the day Ramon DeLeon. Ramon owns 6 Domino’s Pizza franchises in Chicago.

@Ramone_DeLeon

Ramon is the king of using social media for customer service. Just go to Twitter and search the hashtag #RamonWOW and read the stories. He told us that if we give people “WOW!” to share they will. He challenged us to create our own “WOW!” and see what happens.

Wacky Gary aka Gary Buchanan from Disney’s Social Media Department shared with us about all of the excitement that happens during Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. He was even joined on stage by Darth Vader himself! Then Amy Foster, Director of Consumer Insights for Disney Destinations talked to us about the value of a family vacation. She used the concept that we have but 18 summers with our kids, and that hit home to a lot of fellow bloggers. It didn’t hit me the same way though, I’m in my 19th summer and I envision us taking vacations with our kid’s families in the future just as we do now with my parents and my husband’s parents. I mentioned this concept to my kids later that night and they had the same mindset I did-we will ALWAYS have family Disney vacations for generations to come, and that made this mom very happy

Peter Shankman was the speaker I was most interested in hearing from. I have followed him for years on Twitter and Facebook and he has inspired me through those outlets so i couldn’t wait to hear him in person. Peter encouraged us to be weeds! Why weeds? Weeds are different. Weeds stick around and have the ability to survive no matter what happens around them. My favorite quote from his session was, “Nothing exciting ever happens in your comfort zone.”

Lisa Druxman of StrollerStrides.com encouraged us to get out of our own way. Take that first step towards something we want to accomplish and give ourselves rewards for reaching each small goal. The last speaker of the day was Chris Brogan. The main thing I learned from Chris this year was to get my mobile site in gear…and that is what I am working on.

Throughout the day there was plenty of pixie dust sprinkled in the form of giveaways including a night in Cinderella Castle, a yacht cruise, boxed sets of books by Ridley Pearson and more. I am happy for my friends who won the extra magic…really, I am

As it is at any conference some speakers speak to you more than others and I am always thankful for the great mix of speakers at Disney Social Media Moms, there is truly something for everyone.

Disclosure: I paid to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. In exchange for my registration fee, I received deeply discounted rates on hotel, park tickets, free events, meals, and swag. I am not required nor was I asked to write about the events by Disney or any other brands, celebrities, or speakers affiliated with the event. All opinions are my own.

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What are your thoughts? Are you excited about what is on the horizon for Fantasyland? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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On my trip to Disney World last week for the Princess Tiana event, we listened to the Audio Guide to Main Street USA during our 1.5 hour drive. Lou, a talented wordsmith, takes his listeners on a very detailed, educational and entertaining trip down Main Street. Many people don’t know or understand why each window and store on Main Street USA have names of companies and their proprietors etched on them. Walt Disney used these windows as the credits of the “show” that is the Magic Kingdom. In these windows are the names of people who are important to the Disney family, the history of Disney animation and Walt Disney World itself. Lou explains every window and door on Main Street USA.  He explains the history of the different stores and buildings as well as the vehicles that travel up and down the street.

If you are a huge Disney fan, a history buff, or even someone who may be visually impaired-you want to own these audio guides. I pride myself in knowing a lot about Walt Disney World and every time I listen to Lou’s audio guides I learn something new. Here is a preview of the Main Street USA Audio Guide.

If you would like to purchase your own set of all 3 audio guides you can do so on the WDW Radio site.

Even though I would like to keep them for my collection, I have decided to give away the Audio Guide to Fantasyland and the Audio Guide to Adventureland to one lucky reader of The Mom Maven.
Mandatory 1st Entry visit Lou’s website, click on podcasts and take a look through the topics of his podcasts. Come back here and leave me the date of the podcast and what topic interested you.

Bonus Entries may be completed after the mandatory 1st entry

*Tweet This up to 1x per day leave the tweet URL in your comment: You can win @LouMongello ‘s Audio Guides to WDW from @MomMaven http://bit.ly/2yAX4N #giveaway

*Subscribers get 1 entry

*Followers get 1 entry

*Follow Lou on Twitter

*Become a fan of WDW Radio on Facebook

The winner will be chosen on 11/12/09 at 10:00pm ET by Random.org. US residents only please leave a valid e-mail or Twitter handle with your entries.

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