Q.
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Jennifer Writes:
My husband and I will be in Disney 12/9-15. I have decided
to stay OFF site for a couple of reasons one being if we stay
ON Disney (All Star Resort is the most affordable @$59/night)
we have to EAT on Disney and I know this will add up $$$$.
I have the Ramada Plaza booked which
is giving us a free buffet breakfast every a.m. for $59/night.
I read the review from Brian who said the hotel wasn't great.
- no balcony, no hot tub...
Do you know any OTHER hotels - in this
price range that will include a breakfast buffet like this??
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A.
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Jennifer,
The best suggestion I can make is to go back to MousePlanet
and do a search for "free breakfast buffet." You'll
find that several reader reviews mention that perk. Of course,
I'd follow up with the hotel to confirm.
Also there are many hotel/motels in the area that have inexpensive
(less than $6.00/person) breakfast buffets.
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Q.
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Jan asks: Dear Brian,
I sure enjoy your trip reports. I was gone from October 20 through
the 25th and I would like a list of the trip reports published
those days so I could print them out to read. The only thing
I could find was the whole archive and it was quite lengthy.
If you could give me the way to do this with these dates I would
really appreciate it. Thank you very much for all of your
help. Keep up the good work. I have the articles you have
printed for those days, I downloaded them, but not the ones
written by other travelers. |
A.
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Jan,
Go to http://www.mouseplanet.com/wdwupdate/
there, you'll find a day by day list of all updates on MousePlanet's
WDW information.
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Q.
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Bill writes: Brian,
My family is going to WDW on November 4. Do you think the current
hours of operation for the parks will be the same when we are
there ? I've e-mailed the WDW website, but they haven't responded.
Also, do you know the hours for Downtown Disney/Disney Marketplace
stores ? Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
P.S. My Latin is a bit rusty. What
is the meaning of "Caveat Emptor" ?
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A.
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Bill,
I'll cover the easiest thing first. "Caveat Emptor"
is Latin for, "let the buyer beware." By using that
term, I'm simply reminding folks that are going forward with
their trip plans to WDW to be aware of the lower quality and
services that they'll receive. As long as they are aware,
it's up to them to decide if the value they'll receive is
sufficient.
I think it's almost a certainty that the park hours will
remain very short until the holiday season brings in higher
crowd levels.
The hours for Downtown Disney is typically 9:30am to 11:00pm
(11:30pm on Friday and Saturday) in the Marketplace and 10:30am
to 11:00pm (11:30pm on Friday and Saturday) in the West Side.
Pleasure Island has shopping hours from 10:30am to 2:00am
with dinner and entertainment hours starting at 7:00pm (when
the separate admission is required).
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Q.
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Doug writes: Hi,
Brian! First of all, thanks so much for all the work you put
into this column. MousePlanet is one of the few web sites I
visit every day.
I do have a questions for you about
Disney World around Christmas. Normally, I would never
consider visiting between Christmas and New Year's, but my
wife and I just started new jobs and we both have that week
off. So (1) do you think the crowds will be more manageable
this year, due to the generally lower attendance, and (2)
are you aware of any good deals during this week? Many of
the great resort rates (e.g. $50 at the All-Stars) seem to
expire on 12/25.
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A.
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Doug,
I think the crowds will be less busy than they are traditionally
at Christmas time due to some folks that just will cancel
their plans even if they really don't have to. However, I
don't think that the crowd levels will be reduced (from normal
Christmas levels) so much so that Disney offers great discounts.
We'll know more after Thanksgiving and how things go over
that weekend.
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Q.
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Curtis shares this information: Brian:
I came across the question from Rick regarding DisneyQuest and
felt like I wanted to voice a few things. Your answer was pretty
much right on, but there are/were other factors involved. I
do not know if you knew that the Chicago DisneyQuest has now
closed. Lack of attendance did it in... Could it have done better?
Probably so, but I believe that management issues at Disney
Regional Entertainment (D.R.E.) and a lack of having a champion
to really push hard for continued investment/advertisement and
business strategy adjustment played a major factor in its demise.
It is no coincidence that as D.R.E. pulled out of DisneyQuest-Orlando
and had W.D.W. Attractions take over, that attendance (read
that revenue) picked up substantially.
Anyway, I just wanted to chime in on
the subject. Oh, by the way, I worked on the DisneyQuest project
for 4 years, and was involved in the installation of both
sites, and would have been involved in Philly, had the general
contractor not gotten into financial problems. There are/were
a number of us on the technical/engineering team that really
put in the "blood, sweat and tears" on the DQ project
and have been sorely disappointed by the lack of leadership
shown both here in California and in Chicago.
Lastly, the GM that Rick refers to
in his question is a great person. I know her personally and
truly felt that she was hamstrung by D.R.E.
Take care!
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A.
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Thanks so much for your note, Curtis. I'll include
it in a future "Notes" feature. |
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Q.
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Kelly asks: I was
wondering if there was a place to find the unofficial directions
from WDW resorts to the 4 main parks. I know guest services
will give them to you but I have heard there are easier ways
then the way guest services tells you. I am specifically looking
for directions from Fort Wilderness. |
A.
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Let's see what I can come up with... and maybe,
after I post your note on the site, we'll get some other ideas.
From Fort Wilderness to Magic Kingdom:
- Drive a personal or rental vehicle to the Transportation
and Ticket Center parking lot, then take the monorail or
ferry to the park.
- Take the boat from the marina to the park.
- Take the bus to the Transportation and Ticket Center,
then take the monorail or ferry to the park.
From Fort Wilderness to Epcot:
- Drive a personal or rental vehicle to the park.
- Take the bus to the Transportation and Ticket Center,
then take the monorail to the park.
From Fort Wilderness to the Studios:
- Drive a personal or rental vehicle to the park.
- Take the bus to the park.
From Fort Wilderness to Animal Kingdom:
- Drive a personal or rental vehicle to the park.
- Take the bus to the park.
Those are the most obvious answers.
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Q.
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Jim asks: Hi Brian,
Do you think in light of the slump in filling the rooms at the
resorts that Disney will ever offer rooms where you can have
you pet with you? I know Fort Wilderness offers campsites I
have used these many times. Seems like they are missing the
market with the resort rooms. |
A.
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Jim,
I seriously doubt that Disney will change their no pets policy
in the resorts. The case for no pets is a strong one (hygiene,
appearance, etc.) and I don't think there's a big advantage
to WDW to change that. Of course, I may be barking up the
wrong tree here. ;)
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Q.
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Alan writes: You
can book the Fantasmic! dinner package as soon as you arrive
on site. At dinner, you will given a coupon for a special seating
area at Fantasmic! (the two sections on the right) and will
be told to arrive no later than 7:00 PM (1/2 hour before the
show) to get your seats.
We arrived at 6:30 and were able to
sit in the section closest the center (one from the end).
The seats were fine, even if they were not dead center.
We went on 10/18 so rules are probably
the same.
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A.
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Thanks Alan. Your experience and mine (in late
September) match up exactly. |
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Q.
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Charlotte asks: Hi,
I'm doing the research for a family trip in July of 2002 and
have a few more questions.
- What is the current ticket price
for Pleasure Island?
- How is the wheelchair access at
the Magic Kingdom?
- Does the Rose and Crown take reservations?
- Does Citywalk\Universal still have
the Party Pass?
Thanks!
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A.
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Charlotte,
See this
page for prices for tickets. There are several different
types of admission media available for Pleasure Island, so
I'll let you look over the options directly.
Wheelchair access at the park is pretty good. You may want
to read this
page for more information on accessibility.
The Rose & Crown does, indeed take priority seating (not
true reservations). Look over this
page for more details:
I'm pretty ignorant on Universal admission media, so I'm
afraid I can't help you much there.
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Q.
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Chuck asks: My wife
has a custom mixed perfume that we got from 'Walt Disney World
Perfumery'. I haven't been able to find an address or phone
number for this shop on any Disney web site. Do you know what
has happened to the store? |
A.
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Chuck,
The Perfumery used to be located in the shop adjacent to
"Johnny Tremain's Silver Shoppe" in Liberty Square.
The section of the shop, where various perfume oils could
be mixed by guests to create their own personal fragrance
was eliminated several years ago.
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