Having just been in Disney I’m having such a hard time deciding what to write, besides having the post-Disney blues. After warring with myself for quite awhile I figured I would share some information I attained while on vacation. In the past I have written about conversing with the Cast Members, it never disappoints. Between kind-hearted teasing about someone’s “First Visit Again” pin to their knowledge of the parks and what is going on, I made conversation with several Cast Members while waiting in lines and learned some fun new things.
While I was at Epcot for extra magic hours on Wednesday night my Mom and I went to go visit Figment. The Cast Member at the entrance was holding a new sign, Mickey’s Key to The World. It was to prompt guests to show their room keys for extra magic hours. I had commented on what a great idea it was to have the prompt, having worked in Fantasyland we had to tell everyone to pull out a room key. The Cast Member said he did like the prompt and felt that it did work a lot better. We then continued talking about new things coming to Disney, specifically the new Fast Pass System. He explained how people planning a visit will be able to choose different sections of the parks where they want to have Fast Passes. Instead of getting a Fast Pass for a specific ride you would get one for an entire section of a park for a time of your choosing. You would use the same Fast Pass for all the rides you wanted to that used Fast Pass until the time ran out. His understanding is that you would just need to purchase your park tickets ahead of time. But you could choose the times you wanted these Fast Passes for without even setting foot in the park. We then changed topic to the New Fantasyland time line, and although he had not seen it yet he did see how Test Track was coming along. Test Track was scheduled to reopen with it’s new sponsor in November. The Cast Member says that he walks past it everyday and they are still gutting the ride out. He says that the ride will not likely open until December.
My boyfriend and I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Having visited Magic Kingdom earlier in the week with my Mom and finding the New Fantasyland closed to everyone I had gotten a tip that they may have soft openings during the Halloween parties. That was another benefit of chatting with Cast Members. So my boyfriend and I stopped by when we were in Magic Kingdom. I’ll go into more detail another time, but we got a sneak peak of the New Fantasyland. I also got to talk to even more Cast Members. They said that the New Fantasyland would not be completely finished until 2014 that’s including the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Car Coaster. Unfortunately I was unable to get much more information from the Cast Member because Ariel was ready to see us then! I was able to learn some fun acts about the Be Our Guest Dining area as well. When we got to take a sneak peak in there a Cast Member gave a great insight. In the West Wing there will be the Magic Rose, of course because what is Beauty and The Beast without the rose? What’s special about this rose is that the rose will lose it’s petals just like in the movie. Once all the petals have fallen there will be some kind of Magical Moment. The Cast Member didn’t provide any more information than that but I’ll be sure to stick around when I see there is just one petal remaining on the rose.
Another great tip was provided by a Character Attendant Cast Member. We were walking through Adventureland right by the bridge back to Main Street. I saw that the line for my absolute favorite character was nonexistent. I dragged my boyfriend in with me and met up with the character attendant. He said that during these Halloween parties people bypass the characters in set places for those characters waiting out in the open. This includes the characters like Mickey and the Princesses that are near city hall and my favorite Tinkerbell who is currently at home at Pixie Hollow in Adventureland by the Dole Whip window. This was a great tip because it allowed me to spend more time with Tinkerbell!
The Cast Members have a lot to share when you’re waiting in line. It’s just a matter of asking questions and being genuinely interested. Of course you can’t get mad at the Cast Members when they don’t seem to have much to share. There are some things that they just cannot share, and other things that they may just not know. But I have found that when I ask they will share at least a little taste of what they know, if not more. They love to see the joy on the guests faces when they see their genuine excitement in something new that’s going on. So although I’ve only shared a taste of what I got to experience be sure that there is much more to come. So until then have faith, and trust, and Tinkerbell and her friends will always provide the pixie dust!
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Jess was born and raised on Long Island, New York but once college began so did her adventures. She’s lived in Florida, Wisconsin, and now South Carolina. Her family is part of the Disney Vacation Club and has been visiting since she was a little girl, and continuously goes every year. Besides being a big Disney fan she has also been a Disney Cast Member working in Magic Kingdom, and she counts it as one of the most magical experiences. She worked with everyone’s favorite elephant Dumbo, Cinderella’s Carousel, and Mickey’s Philharmagic. Jess has also visited Disneyland, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, and gone on two Disney Cruises. She has so many great memories from Disney besides running half marathons and 5ks, birthday parties, and family reunions. If asked where she would want to go it is almost always Disney, and when asked why, it is almost always because she can eat awesome gluten free food! And it doesn’t hurt that there is always faith, trust, and pixie dust with magic in the air!
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