Category Archives: Walt Disney World information

Disney is one of the main reasons tourists visit Orlando Florida on their vacation. To keep up to date on the main things Disney are doing, here are a group of posts to let you know what to do and what to look out for in the various Walt Disney World theme parks of Orlando

Disney Springs renovation of Downtown Disney

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Transformation of Downtown Disney already begun

Disney Springs

Downtown Disney morphs into Disney Springs

Disney are well into the work that brings about the transformation of Downtown Disney into Disney Springs, an exciting development that guarantees to bring added fun and excitement to anybody’s vacation in Florida.

Disney Springs official blog entry here

Downtown Disney has been in existence for more than 30 years, so it’s probably about time for a revamp.  The Walt Disney Resort promises more than 150 shops, dining and various entertainment venues.  We can’t wait!

Aside from the end result and how it will improve and attract new visitors, the work will help boost Florida’s economy with over 1200 new construction jobs and 4000 roles in total.

Disney Springs – what is it?

The new site for Disney Springs will contain four main areas:

  • The Town Centre promenade for shopping and relaxing
  • The Landing commercial district on the waterfront
  • The Marketplace is a family-friendly area for all ages
  • The West Side for loads of entertainment venues

All in all, due to complete in 2016.

Florida theme park news

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Attractions coming in 2014

Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney’s Lego Sculpture

As if visiting Florida wasn’t already awesome, here are some new Florida theme park attractions coming or rumoured in 2014.

Magic Kingdom

  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Spring)
  • Festival of Fantasy Parade (Spring)

Disney

  • Brand-New Festival of the Lion King Theatre (actually 2013);
  • Additions to Downtown Disney / Disney Springs

Universal Studios and Resort

  • London and Diagon Alley (spring)
  • Cabana Bay Beach Resort (soon)
  • New restaurants and shops coming to CityWalk

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens and Aquatica

  • A Sea of Surprises (special year-long event starting from January 2014 at SeaWorld Orlando);
  • Falcon’s Fury (next spring/summer at Busch)
  • I-Drive Live (2014 / 2015)
  • A new slide for Aquatica – SeaWorld’s Water Park (Spring);

LegoLand

  • A new themed area at Florida LEGOLAND

 

Celebration Disney – what’s all the fuss about?

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Celebration Disney is one of the nicest places to visit in the Disney area of Orlando Florida. If there’s one place that you plan to visit, make it this one.

So, what’s all the fuss about? It’s just another town with neon signs, right?

celebration disney lake

celebration disney lake

Wrong. After travelling through mile after mile of badly designed neon signs, probably along the 192, you will no doubt be tired of the same old advertising and street layout in Florida. You’ll be eager to get to the theme parks, and probably avoiding any sort of sightseeing after a week or so. Make a detour to Celebration and you won’t regret it.  As you drift into the town you will soon see why it’s out of the ordinary, taking you back into an old style of the USA, with wonderful architecture and a welcoming feeling to every building in sight.

celebration disney architecture

celebration disney architecture

The first residents of Disney Celebration settled in 1996.  There are now over 4,000 buildings in the town and 9,000 residents.  The town enjoys a great downtown section, with boutique shops and an open area to walk in – no cars jostling past you with beeping horns.  Everyone just generally slows down and relaxes when they get to the town, and it’s a welcome break from the fast paced theme park attitude.

Be sure to take in the walking tour of Celebration, more information can be found here: Celebration Walking Tour.  The tour starts near the Preview Center (Charles Moore) on the corner of Celebration Avenue and Market Street near the beautiful fountain.   It’s a huge tower designed to show off the presence of the town.  As you progress through the tour you will see:

  • Celebration K-8 School
  • Stetson University building
  • Bohemian (Graham Gund)
  • The lakefront
  • The Celebration movie theater (Cesar Pelli)
  • The lake and the interactive fountain
  • Lakeside Promenade Fountain
  • Celebration Avenue
  • SunTrust Bank (Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown)
  • Welcome Center (Philip Johnson)
  • Post Office (Michael Graves)
  • Market Street
celebration disney lakefront seat

celebration disney lakefront seat

Venture further out by car and enjoy the wonderful architecture and resident’s houses.  Walk down by the lake and along the boardwalk to other smaller lakes.  Take it all in and enjoy the slow and friendly pace!

As of 2013, these retail shops live in the town:

    • Carpet One
    • Casa di Bella Bridal Boutique
    • Celebration Hardware Company
    • Celebration Nutritio
    • Confetti of Celebration
    • Downeast
    • Evolve Bicycles
    • H.H. Fine Jewelry
    • Jewel Box
    • Market Street Gallery
    • Publix
    • Sanrio Surprises
    • Soft As A Grape
    • The Celebration Store
    • Unique Boutique
    • Water Tower Shoppes
    • Woof Gang Bakery

 

…and these restaurants:

    • Bohemian Hotel Celebration
    • Cafe D’Antonio
    • Celebration Town Tavern
    • Chick’fil’A
    • Cold Stone Creamery
    • Columbia Restaurant
    • High Octane Cafe
    • Imperium Wine Room
    • Joe’s Crab Shack
    • Kilwin’s Confectionary
    • Le China
    • Market Street Cafe
    • Melia Orlando Suite Hotel
    • Mulligan’s Pub
    • Pandaisia
    • Quiznos
    • Seito Sushi
    • Shannon’s of CelebrationStarbucks
    • Sweet Escape
    • Thai Thani
    • The Windmill Restaurant
    • Upper Crust Pizza

 

Disney’s MyMagic+ MagicBands RFID wristbands will transform your next theme park experience

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Disney claim it’s a whole new way to plan and share your Walt Disney World vacation.  They’re right.

Disney’s MyMagic+ MagicBands RFID wristbands will transform your next theme park experience.  These are just one part of the 3 part MyMagic+ system. More on that later – the best part of technology is the RFID wristband.

Walt Disney Theme Parks and also their resorts plan to advance theme park technology and are taking the Disney guest experience to the next level, but is this another case of big brother and big data being used in conjunction with your privacy being the biggest loser – one doesn’t seem to exist without the other and as the saying goes – nothing is free nowadays, especially not your whereabouts.

Disney are dangling the carrot of convenience and harnessing a huge amount of data for potential marketing avenues and commercial advantages. So:

  • No more paper tickets.
  • No more credit card.
  • No more fast pass.
  • No more hotel room key.
  • No more photopass.

This is all handled by the MagicBand and optionally the smartphone apps too, and it all makes up the My Disney Experience:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/

Disney’s MagicBand RFID technology (radio frequency identification) is incorporated into stylish wristbands. On their own they are useless, but dotted throughout the parks are special sensors that will interact with sensors throughout the theme parks.

How much information do you want to give away? Once again this is a catch-22. More information equals a better experience, but also how much do you value your privacy? Favourite Disney characters, fair enough, and names. The Disney characters can then access the child’s MagicBand information and could greet the child by name, if the parents allow, of course.

disney wristband

Disney MyMagic+ RFID wristband

MyMagic+ is needed in order to use fastpass, so it’s not exactly a complete opt out system without any negatives – you lose fastpass.

MyMagic+ comprises two other components: The My Disney Experience website with smartphone app, and FASTPASS+.

FASTPASS+ will also allow guests to reserve spots for the fireworks and parades before they even enter Disney theme parks, so it’s not just the traditional fastpass system.

So on to the smartphone app: Disney has released its guide app that covers all four theme parks and its other tourist areas that make up Disney World. The app features detailed maps, complete with markers of interest, and GPS tracking to help you find your way around (and them to find you).

Itune app: https://itunes.apple.com/app/my-disney-experience-walt/id547436543

Amazon app: http://www.amazon.com/Disney-My-Experience-WDW/dp/B0096CDHIK

Some of the features available are approximate times for Disney character appearances,  wait times (hooray!), FASTPASS return times, book dining reservations, nearby Disney Characters, attractions, entertainment, park hours, schedules.

Other facts:

  • For purchases of $50 or more Disney will require the user to enter a PIN as a safety precaution
  • Bands can be disabled and replaced to avoid misuse
  • MyMagic+ is rolling out in this spring and should be available to all guests by the end of 2013
  • 47 million visitors visited Disney in 2012
  • Data can be tracked minute by minute, raising interesting discussions on Big Data. This needs a new order of magnitude of processing and data power to harness and make use of
  • The Disney My Experience smartphone app is a free download
  • Walt Disney World is a site of over 30,000 acres in size
  • You can even make a reservation at one of the restaurants without getting off your phone app

 

Walt Disney World Speedway NASCAR driving experience

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I learnt that there is a Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando today. As a car fan and petrolhead this is hard to ignore, especially since our private villa accommodation is so close to Disney itself. What a great addition to the list of things to do during your Orlando vacation or Florida escape to the sun.

So what does the Walt Disney World Speedway offer the Disney fan or Cars Petrolhead?

First of all, an adult can either drive or ride shotgun in a NASCAR race car around the mile long race track. 600hp to play with, and up to 140mph of fun. Slightly more than the Interstate-4 speed limit I believe. Even faster than the theme park rides at Universal Studios (think HULK) and Magic Kingdom. More exclusive too – how many people have driven a NASCAR?

For the younger person on holiday, they can join in the fun with a ride along in the NASCAR, so no one feels left out. These are available for children between the ages of 6 and 13 years old and at least 48 inches tall.

Walt Disney World Speedway is located in Orlando Florida and is a 1 mile “tri-oval” circuit. Built in 1995 for IndyCar but now the home to the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Link is below.

Walt Disney World Speedway

Make this part of your vacation when you next visit our Orlando Disney Villa! Or how about a day away from the Orlando Golf courses instead? You only live once!