Disneyzone News - November 2001 Issue - TEXT VERSION This is the text-only version of the DZ News. This version will not include any photographs, special charts, calendars, or graphs. Please note that Disneyzone is not affiliated with Disney in any way. We are a group of Disney World enthusiasts who want to assist you in making the most of your next Disney World vacation Newsletter and content Copyright © 2000 & 2001 Disneyzone - Please do not alter or copy any or all of this material, or use it on a website, or printed media without prior written permission, from Disneyzone or from the individual article's author.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes are not always Bad... Surely you have heard of the various changes Disney has made in the past few weeks. It is sad that some of the perks had to be cut, but from the various reports I have heard from people returning from Disney World in the last couple weeks, none of the Disney magic has been lost. List of some of the ‘temporary’ cuts: • No more Early Entry Mornings, instead a Character Caravan will go out to visit each of the Disney Resorts. • No more E-ticket Nights • Port Orleans French Quarter closed • Delay of opening of the new Pop Century Resort • Hours cut at the theme parks • Some attractions closed at the theme parks • Some job cuts Disney has managed to keep the Magic flowing, despite the hard times it is experiencing. Here are a few emails I have received from people who have just returned. Dear Disneyzone My family just returned from a 7 day stay at Disney World. We almost cancelled our trip several times because of all the cutbacks Disney was doing. I am sure glad we didn’t cancel. This was our 3rd trip and it was just as magical as any other, maybe more. People in general, seemed much more friendly, the CMs really went out of their way for us, service everywhere was perfect. We only had crowds on the weekend, perhaps locals coming out. During the week we could have the majority of rides on our list completed by lunch time. Many rides had no line at all. We went to a few character meals and we received plenty of attention. I hope anyone with a trip planned goes ahead and goes! Benji, Erin, Kyle and Sarah To DZ, On the message boards on your site people are overly concerned about the cuts that Disney World has been making. We just came back last night and our trip was fantastic. If I had not know about cutbacks I would have never guessed they cut back on anything. Our kids had the time of their lives. And despite the added security (which we didn’t mind at all) and little longer waits for busses, our vacation was ideal. -Ron To DZ staff Rest assured there is no need to be concerned about the many cuts at disney. We live in Florida and have been down twice in the past 3 weeks. There are no crowds during the week and the parks are wonderful. Patriotism is everywhere and people are much less rude than before. The resorts are not packed so its easy to hop a bus and go visit them for a meal. -Debra So, there ya go . . . right from the mouths of those who have visited Disney World since the cuts began! Disney is still a very wonderful, magical place to vacation! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit the Message Boards! One of the most popular sections on DZ just happens to be the Message Boards! You can post questions/answers/advice or just hang around and read what others say! We have a very friendly, helpful group on the boards! Give it a try www.disneyzone.net click on the FORUMS link! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Park Hours Theme Park Hours will be omitted from the DZ News for the next few months, or until Disney goes back to a regular schedule. Park hours are being released about a week ahead of time. I suggest calling (407) WDISNEY the day before you leave to get current hours for the parks! You can also check their site: www.disneyworld.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tips for Families with Young Kids More Tips from Allison I have been to Disney World 4 times in the past 3 years with my family. We have small children and I have been there pregnant, too. So I have a lot of tips to share. This month I want to discuss weather issues. We have been during summer, spring and winter. Here are some ideas to help make the trip more enjoyable with regards to being prepared for weather. Winter: A tough time for tiny ones to be outside. Even though its florida, you still might encounter some really cold days and nights. Layer your children. Start off in the morning all warm and cozy with several layers of clothes. If the day warms up, start removing layers. Mittens and hats are a great idea for night time adventures. Remember that it gets dark early in winter. Bring flashlights for the kids. It is fun for them to have, and it will make their walking a little safer. Some areas of the parks and resorts are not well lit. Another tip don’t change your babies diaper out in the cold air! I cant believe people do that, but they do. There are plenty of restrooms with changing areas that would be so much better. Spring: Great time to go weatherwise. You wont have the extreme heat usually and its rarely cold. Same precautions for tiny ones. Keep them cool and In as much shade as possible. Have them drink lots of water, too. Remember that sometimes its cool inside restaurants or shows. Have a blanket or warmer clothes to put on the kids. It could be dangerous to have them get a chill. It may or may not be warm enough to swim, but if it is, remember that babies skin is very sensitive to both chlorine and the sun! If you bring the baby in the pool, be sure to give them a bath when you get back to your room. If it is a real warm day, you may want to invest in one of the small folding nylon cooler/lunchbox containers. Freeze one of the small ice things that people put in lunches and use that to keep bottles cool, or juiceboxes or water cool. Summer: It is very warm and humid most days during the summer. Babies are more vulnerable to the heat than adults or older kids. Ask your peditrician about sunscreen for tiny ones and coat it on everyone else! We dress the little ones in cotton clothing, loose, and light colored. For small babies, invest in the shade screen for the stroller and buy a misty mate or a battery operated fan. Offer your children water MANY times during the day as they can dehydrate easily. I was once told that you should monitor their urine. It must stay very light yellow, almost clear. If it gets dark then your child has not had enough water. Juice is not a good hydrater, give them water. Go slow, and find shady areas to relax. Skip the midday heat and use that time for naps in the room. Remember sunscreen on feet if your baby is barefoot in the stroller or is wearing sandals. Most of all, use common sense. Don’t let your child play in a fountain if its 40 degrees outside. Also don’t let your child sit in the bright sun for 2 hours waiting for a parade (find shade or let a parent sit and wait). Kids will appreciate all you do to keep them comfortable! Even if they cant say so! More tips next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DZ Friends Photos and Bios New Area of the Site, Coming this week! After numerous requests, we have decided to have an area of the site dedicated to the DZ users photos and bios. Anyone who wants their photo and/or bio (short list of info) on the site may submit their information to us, and it will be added. It is fun putting a face to the name, especially for those that frequent the message boards. It is also fun reading where people live, what they do for a living, and things like that. Please visit www.disneyzone.net/friends.htm starting November 3. All info will be optional, so you can give as much, or as little info as you wish See YOU THERE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Restaurant Review By Pamela Our favorite restaurant is the Flying Fish Café on the Boardwalk. This is not just a fish place, they offer meat too. It is one of those places that word of mouth has made popular. Its not a well-known restaurant. Not sure why not because the food is delicious. They have creative ways of making many dishes and the service cant be beat. Make sure you save room for dessert because it is almost the best part of the meal. Don’t worry about eating tons of calories because you can walk it off or dance it off there on the Boardwalk area. My favorite meal at Flying Fish is the Oak grilled Salmon. It melts in your mouth, I am totally serious. My husband likes the Pork Tenderloins. He eats every single crumb. We also love their crab cakes there, very tasty. For dessert you must try the Banana Neopoleon. It is thin crispy crust with vanilla brulee and caramel and bananas on top! Warm and ooh soo good. Get reservations for this restaurant for your next trip. You wont be sorry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is DVC for You?? By Ellen Joy A Disney time share? We had been to a time share presentation before. We knew all about the hard sell, the pressure to buy, the stress. This experience was not something we looked forward to doing any time soon. A Disney version sounded tempting, however. We had heard online that the DVC salespeople were low key and that we really should look into it during our upcoming trip to Disney World. In spring of 2001 we took our first tour of the DVC. Wilderness Lodge Villas is where we explored! I must say that we were very impressed. The grounds were beautiful, the resort is spectacular and the villas were spacious and nicely decorated. We were also impressed our DVC guide, Charles. No hard sell techniques at all. He offered us basic information, answered all our questions, and then we were on our way to view the units. We looked and discussed, and then looked some more. We decided we would see how to get funding for this. We were going to try to sell some stock to cover a big down payment to keep our monthly payments small. It worked, we got the money and signed on the dotted line. A great purchase! The DVC uses a point system. You buy a certain amount of points, you get that same amount of points each year, to use however you wish. You can reserve your home resort, or at any of the other DVC resorts (based on availability). You can You can also bank points from one year to the next, or borrow points from the coming year to use in a current year. Unlike typical time shares, you are not buying a specific week or a specific unit type. With DVC you can use your points any time of the year in any size unit. Different room types and times of the year are assigned a point value. Summer weekends in a 2 bedroom unit will cost you many more points than a weekday in a studio during January. The whole process is tricky, and we don’t completely understand it all. But supposedly the reservationists are quite helpful. We have our first vacation next month so I am anxious to see how we enjoy being DVC members and guests at the Wilderness Lodge Villas. DVC contains several resorts that you can choose to use your points on. Old Key West is charming, we have visited that resort. Boardwalk Villas is on the Disney Boardwalk and a great location. They are building units at the Beach Club which is what we were going to try to hold out for, but just couldn’t wait. They also have resorts at Vero Beach and on Hilton Head Island. You can use your points to stay at any of these resorts, and also towards stays at many of the Disney resort hotels, including the Disneyland Hotel! Not exactly sure if you also have to pay cash along with points for those. We have yet to actually enjoy our purchase, but we are extremely happy with it. We now own a small part of Disney, a place to vacation that we can pass along to our kids. We know that we will always have a place to stay during our Disney vacations, and that some of our trip will already be paid for. We are a Disney-loving family and this purchase will be enjoyed for years to come. To learn more about the Disney Vacation Club, you can call them at this number: 1-800-800-9100 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kids Views By Jordan and her mom Jordan just returned from her first visit to Disneyworld. She celebrated her 3rd birthday on our vacation. We had breakfast at Cinderellas Castle which Jordan thought was the best! Since it was her birthday they made a huge deal out of it and she just was in heaven. She looked adorable in her Cinderella dress! She talks about it daily. She enjoyed the Pooh ride quite a bit and we rode that several times. She loved the geckos that crawl around in the flowerbeds. We are going to get her one as a pet soon. I am glad we waited until she was 3 to take her, she was old enough to really experience things. We want to go again in 3 or 4 years so she will be big enough to ride all the rides. Thank you to DZ for all the helpful tips. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Travel Polls There is a Poll on the DZ Resort Biographies Page on the site. In October we asked if you would cancel your vacation because of the Terrorist Attacks. Here are the results : YES : 9% Maybe: 16% Probably Not : 17% No Way!!!: 55% Not Sure: 3% We’ll have a new Poll for November! The more people who participate, the more accurate the poll will be—so visit the link below TODAY and submit your vote! www.disneyzone.net/resortbios.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy Birthday to: Pauline, Steven, Chris, DJ, 5, Courtney, 2, Cameron, Alexander, 7, Ryan, 1, Justin, Randy, 30 . . . and every other DZ’er that has a birthday in November! If you would like a birthday announced in the DZ News, send name, and birthday (and age if you want that in, too) kimmi@disneyzone.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANKS to all the Disneyzone visitors for their help with the newsletter and the site!!! Tell your friends about Disneyzone! They can get their own copy of the Disneyzone News emailed to them each month, all they have to do is go to the site and register. They will automatically be put on the list. If you would rather, you may print it out or forward it. Newsletter and content Copyright © 2000 & 2001 Disneyzone - Please do not alter or copy any or all of this material, or use it on a website, or printed media without prior written permission, from Disneyzone or from the individual article's author.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLASSIFIEDS DZ now has a DZ Classifieds section! Please visit our advertisers, and tell them that you saw their ad in the DZ News :) If you are interested in advertising, or would like to comment regarding this issue, please email me at: kimmi@disneyzone.net Articles, restaurant reviews, kids articles always needed for the newsletter! E-mail if you would like to contribute! ***********TRAVEL AGENTS AND COMPANIES ******** Magical Journeys invites Disney Zone Readers to join our Disney Cruise June 16-20, 2002. Group Rates start at $804 pp./dbl. Price includes: Cruise Only All onboard meals and activities All taxes/fees Special Amenities. Don't Delay, Only 6 Cabins left. http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com MouseEarVacations.com Unparalleled attention from Disney Experts will make your vacation extra magical! Best Prices plus: Insider tips- Suggested daily itineraries - Disney gifts Visit www.MouseEarVacations.com A division of Cruising Co Etc Look at our customers' comments - see why they come back to us for every Disney vacation! Disney World - Disney Cruise - Disneyland Free online quotes or call toll free: 800-886-8601 to request that a Disney specialist contact you. **********GIFT IDEAS*********************** Disney Character Watches. Mickey, Minnie, Daffy, Donald, Pluto, Movie Themes and More. Wholesale prices available to dealers. Individual watch sales to collectors and retail customers. Visit our site and order on-line. www.watchcloseouts.com **************RADIO STATIONS****************** KMIN980 is an oldies radio station that broadcasts live on the internet. Not the same old songs over and over. Come listen to our Sound Souvenirs while you are surfing on DZ ! www.kmin980.com *********DISASTER SERVICES/CHARITIES ************ RED CROSS The Red Cross will continue to need blood and monetary donations as the weeks go by. However small your donation, it all adds up! Please visit their website at www.redcross.org to see how to help! A memorial fund has been created to help provide for the families of police, fire and emergency workers who were killed during rescue efforts. The Twin Towers Fund General Post Office P.O. Box 26999 New York, NY 10087-6999 HELPING.ORG is a website dedicated entirely to helping the victims of the Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks. Relief organizations tell us that they most need cash donations to fund special resources and personnel. To make a donation or learn more about these different organizations visit www.helping.org ********************************************* Put your ad in the DZ News and reach Disney fans! Email us for info! 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