Disney’s All Star Movies: Lights, Camera, Action!

Debbie Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning, Saving Money at Disney World, Saving Money on Accommodations , , , , , 2 Comments

Traveling down West Buena Vista Drive, past the giant basketball hoops and the larger than life musical instruments, you will find a collection of favorite Disney film icons at the All-Star Movies.  Typical of the other All-Star hotels there are five sets of buildings; 101 Dalmatians, Mighty Ducks, Fantasia, Love Bug and Toy Story.  Each building has 2-story, larger than imaginable, characters that distinguish the theme of the building.   The four 101 Dalmatian and Toy Story buildings are in prime proximity to the main building and the bus stops.

As with all the All-Star hotels, the bus stops are in front of the main building. This tends to be the most common issue with the All-Stars, but I have not had too many delays in getting a bus to our destination.  Anytime the line has seemed impossibly long, along comes another bus.  I know some people will differ with me, but I guess luck has been on my side.

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Thrifty Thursday: Cast Your Vote at the American Idol Experience

Brenda Thrifty Thursday, What to Do at Disney World , , , , 0 Comment

As avid followers of the ABC talent show, American Idol, my family has really enjoyed participating in The American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We have had lots of fun being part of the audience and have been lucky enough to see some very talented contestants as well. We love having the opportunity to vote for that talented someone who could actually end up with a dream ticket to try out at a real American Idol audition.

The show is put together just like a real American Idol taping. While you are waiting in line, they fire up the audience and do some preliminary taping of the crowd. Once the doors open, you enter the auditorium and take your seat in the audience. Since this is an indoor attraction, it is especially appealing during the hottest part of a Summer day or on the coldest Winter day.

During the 25-minute show, three park guests who have auditioned for judges earlier in the day, take to the stage and sing their hearts out. Then, you vote for your favorite and once the audience scores are tallied, they announce the winner for that show.

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Wordless Wednesday: Looking Up at Disney World

Nancy Wordless Wednesday , , , 1 Comment

One of the things that I learned on our recent trip to Walt Disney World was to always remember to “look down and look up”….because you will see the most interesting things that you never knew were there when you do! Wandering around World Showcase, I remembered to do this…and discovered a lovely orange tree in Morocco…with oranges! What a fun surprise. 🙂

Tuesday Disney Tips: Voluntouring on Your Next Disney World Vacation

Brenda Tuesday Disney Tips, What to Do at Disney World , , , , 0 Comment

My children have grown up Disney and it has been a wonderful ride. Now that they are grown, I am sometimes slammed with the reality of how my life has changed. As you might guess, there have been many adjustments made when planning our annual trips to Walt Disney World as they have continued to get older. I sometimes get a little melancholy when I think of all the things we used to look forward to that they won’t do again for a while, such as my youngest son’s previous obsession with Tomorrowland Speedway. Somehow when you start driving, the novelty wears off – go figure! There are a lot of things that have changed in the way we visit “The World.”

When I plan our trips now, I look for things to incorporate that we weren’t able to do when they were small. This year I happened upon a gem! One of the things we enjoy doing as a family is volunteering. Volunteering while you are on vacation is called voluntourism. Some people refer to it as “vacationing with a purpose.” Did you know that there are great opportunities for voluntourism while on vacation in Central Florida? Well, there are, and one such opportunity is at Give Kids The World.

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Disney World Free Fun: Saving the World with Kim Possible

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, What to Do at Disney World , , , , 1 Comment
Photo courtesy of www.savekimpossible.com

One of the things we especially enjoyed on our recent Disney World vacation, was the chance to experience food, resorts, and attractions that were new to us. It may seem odd to say, but one of the benefits of visiting Disney during the busy Christmas/New Years week, is that it is the perfect time to discover things that you are usually too busy to see or do.

And that is precisely how we discovered, on New Years Eve afternoon, the Kim Possible Adventure in Epcot’s World Showcase, and learned how we could “save the world”. It’s free fun, and educational too (but don’t tell your kids that). In fact, on an afternoon when the wait for many attractions numbered in the hours, we found that spending the time with Kim Possible was the perfect way to enjoy the day in a way that we had never tried before. Very cool stuff, this saving the world thing….who knew?

So if you too would like to save the world (or at least a small portion of it), here is what you need to know.

Start off by registering with a Kim Possible agent at one of the designated locations in World Showcase. There, they will scan your park ticket and give you a special Fast Pass to report to a specific location at a specific time. When you are there, you will receive your mission….and your “Kimmunicator” which is a GPS cell phone you use to receive your instructions throughout the mission.

It was my daughter, at age 20, who decided to give this a try and we went along with her for “fun”. And fun it was! The area we had to report to was Germany, so we followed the instructions given on the Kimmunicator to start at a certain spot and listen for what to do next. Throughout the mission then, we were given more clues and instructions, about looking for different objects, going to specific locations, and figuring out information that was needed to move forward to the next stop…so that we could thwart those nasty evil-doers from achieving their dastardly plans.

And this is, in my opinion, the true beauty of this experience. You are LEARNING things as you go along! You have to actually read some of the signs, and look for the details that are all over World Showcase that nobody ever stops to see because everyone is so busy trying to get on Soarin’. Here we stopped, we read, we did what Kim Possible told us to do, and we were rewarded with some cool special effects (not giving them away though, you’ll have to find out yourself!), and a lot of fun. And yup, we learned a few things along the way. 🙂

Oh, and did I mention that it’s FREE?? 🙂

Now the thing is, many probably think this is an activity for little kids, but honestly, we were 3 adults and we had a blast. In fact, it is probably most suited to older kids who have the patience to go through all the clues and get to the end. And it would be fun for groups or individuals to do.

Once you finish (it takes about 30-40 minutes), if you liked saving the world once, you can do it again….in fact, 7 different countries in World Showcase offer this activity, and each one is different. Our daughter saved the world 4 times that day. 🙂

Want more information? Check out the Kim Possible Adventure page on Disneyworld.com. And then be sure to see if you can save the world on your next Disney World vacation!