Disneyzone Newsletter December 1, 2000 - Text version This version of the newsletter will not include any photos, or special graphs, calendars, etc. This is going to be purely text-only! Many Disneyzone visitors have contributed to this newsletter, and we hope you enjoy 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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Holidays from Disneyzone! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Goodbye Magic Kingdom Club The Magic Kingdom Club was a great thing, but now its gone. According to Disney Central Reservations, they will continue honoring the resort discounts and related benefits until Dec. 31, 2000 Disney has decided to start a new Club, that will offer similar things, but will work differently. The new program is already starting, and it is called the Disney Club. The membership fee will be $39.95 a year, with renewals at $29.95 a year. The Disney Club Information, that came with my membership card says that Club Members will be entitled to: o Savings on selected Disneyland and Disney World vacations, and resort accommodations o Reduced prices on multi-day Disneyland and Walt Disney World Theme Park tickets and passes, with different options to choose from o 10% Discounts on selected Disney merchandise at the Disney Store, Disney Catalog and Disney Store.com o Savings on selected Videos, CD's, DVD's and so much more! o A collectible membership card o A subscription to Disney Magazine with news about everything that is happening at Disney. o Enrollment in the Entertainment Hotel Discount Program. Info and listings of participating hotels are listed on the members only disneyclub.com website! o A members' only website, monthly mailings and toll-free number. This members' only website will give you special savings all through the year. You'll receive discounts on purchases of Disney Home Videos and DVDs, merchandise, books, music, games, vacations, and more o New coupons and offers by mail each month o Plus, you'll have access to unique merchandise and special offers. If you currently are a Magic Kingdom Card Gold Member, the new cards were supposedly to be mailed out in October. If you have not received one, and would like to find out what is going on, please call the number below! To toll-free number to call for more information, or to sign up is: 1 (800) 654-6347 You may also visit the Disney Club website to sign up, and to get brief information: http:www.disneyclub.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Traveling Twosome Tips from Grandma Jeannie and her six-year-old Grandson Lars Traveling Twosome Tips from Lars and Grandma Jeannie This is the third article in a series about traveling alone with a small child. I took my grandson, Lars, to Disney World in August to celebrate his sixth birthday. What a grand time we had! Even though I have been to Disney World 14 times including a visit in 1971 two weeks before the official opening with my two children, this trip equaled that first experience. There is nothing like seeing Disney World through a child's eyes. This article focuses on the hotel. Between Lars and me we give the Grand Floridian four thumbs up for service, children's activities, proximity to the parks, and ambience. Even with scaffolding then that has continued into November, we give it the highest marks. Actually the work on the roof has prevented hotel staff from having total occupancy of the hotel creating a nice atmosphere of fewer people at the pool and at the restaurants. No crowded feeling here. We would return to the Boca Chica section, garden view rooms. Lars like this name because he has a book called, "Chica Chica Boom Boom". We did a lot of rhythm sounds and rhyming with the name as we approached our room several times a day. The garden rooms mean a walk to the Monorail through and up into the main building, but it is good exercise and Lars always enjoyed pushing the buttons in the elevator. Once on the Monorail, we were a whoosh away from the Magic Kingdom, hardly long enough to take some deep breaths, but long enough to enjoy the spectacular view of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Being out in a garden room meant close proximity to the pool and being just steps away from the launch that took us directly to the Magic Kingdom and the Polynesian or Contemporary. The theme of the Grand Floridian is subtle, a turn of the century luxury beach hotel. No Mickey soap here but Victorian style wallpaper, muted, large flower patterns on the bedspreads and distinctive features such as a tin box with sewing needs and a jar of moisturizing lotion. In the afternoon and evenings in the center of the main building, someone is often playing delightful piano music. The pool had lots of shallow end space and wide, spacious steps for little ones to play on. We took it easy our last day and just lolled by the pool for four hours, even eating lunch in our suits poolside. We played with tub floats and Lars learned to float on his back for the first time. We were both just delighted with the pool. Palm trees provided nice shade before the sun came directly overhead. In the afternoon about 1:30 and again later a Cast Member came by to do activities. One day it was throwing pennies in the pool to be retrieved. Lars knew not to swim out to dive under and she sprinkled plenty on the steps. He got a fist full and his smile showed how proud he was. After the pennies were all collected, she started this activity all over again. Another activity on another day was making a frog puppet out of a waxy green sandwich bag by gluing circles for eyes and a long red tongue onto it. They were adorable. I would have signed up Lars for the Pirate's Cruise (for children only) if it wasn't in the middle of the Magic Kingdom Early Entry Day at 10:30 on Monday. I would like to see more of these cruises scheduled. I think they are quite popular. The Grand Floridian also offers a Children's Cooking Class a couple of days a week, a Children's Tea Party, Fishing Trips, and a Lady Bug Release Program. So there are plenty of fun, educational and alternative programs to going to the parks. Next Month, the article will be about the theme parks we visited! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Restaurant Review By Bob and Sarah We love eating at Liberty Tree Tavern each trip. We go early November each year so it is like having an early Thanksgiving meal. Liberty Tree Tavern is located in the Magic Kingdom, in Liberty Square. This restaurant is decorated in colonial style, and done quite well. Each room is decorated differently. Liberty Tree Tavern offers an all-you-can-eat character meal. They serve meats such as ham, beef and turkey, delicious salad, bread, cooked vegetables, wonderful mashed potatoes, stuffing, macaroni and cheese and your choice of drinks (sodas, coffee, tea and milk). Desserts are not included, but you need to save room for some! At this meal, they bring the food out to you on platters, so you don't have to get up to go to a buffet. They will refill anything you would like more of, and you can and relax while they get it. The food is fresh and very good. The service has always been wonderful, too. They are very attentive and make sure you have enough of everything. This is a character meal and the characters have always been great. They come around often and stay for a while, which is unlike many other character meals. The characters here typically are Mickey and Minnie, goofy, chip and dale. The price for each adult is $19.95 and kids, ages 3-11 are $9.95. Under 3 are free. Priority reservations are a good idea. Call 407-WDW-DINE By the way, a great spot to watch the parade is right outside Liberty Tree Tavern! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disneyzone Guests are the Best-Come meet others who enjoy DZ in one of our moderated chats Try it, you'll like it! http://www.disneyzone.net/chat.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Travel Survey There is a Poll on the DZ Resort Biographies Page on the site. In November the poll asked when the best time to take a Disney World vacation: Here are the results : Winter: 29% Fall: 21% Spring: 16% Summer: 9% Any Time: 25% We'll have a new Poll for December! Why not submit your vote! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kids Views By Courtney I went to disney world last october the one that just passed. We had the very most best time. We stayed at a hotel called the Dolphin and it had huge dolphins on the top of the building. We liked staying there because we could take the slow boat to epcot and to mgm and even to the boardwalk places. My favorite things of our trip were the Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror and Space Mountain and Splash Mountain and Test Track because I like thrill rides. The best places we ate at were Cinderellas Royal Castle and Rainforest café. My mom had to get up at 4 in the morning to get the appointment for Cinderellas Royal Castle. We loved eating there so it was worth it. We flew five hours to get to Disney world and it was a long trip but I would do it again in a second. Please put this in the newsletter. By Patrick I am 4 and my mom is helping me with this. I loved Disney World because we ate breakfast with Mickey and we got to drive cars. We had our room near a lake with some ducks but it was yucky water. I got to stay up really late, and got to swim in the dark, too. Grandma bought me a lot of toys. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kids? Would you like to have your short article in the newsletter-send the article to us via e-mail to: dznews@disneyzone.net We can publish up to 2 articles a month, so get yours in soon to get a spot! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey Kids… Complete this sentence: My favorite Disney character is ….. Send your replies to us, and some of them will be included in the next, and future newsletters! Include first name and age! Send your replies via e-mail to kids@disneyzone.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DZ Contests! The current contest is another easy one. You must submit a Disney-related New Years Resolution! Some very creative ones have come in so far! This contest goes until the end of December, so why not give it a try!? You might win! The lucky winner will get a Millenium Celebration Screen Savers Program! Contest Page: www.disneyzone.net -click on the contest link! Please Don't miss out on winning a great prize! Come play today! All prizes for the contests are donated. A sincere Thank You to the generous contest sponsors. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Newsletter and content Copyright © 1999 & 2000 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 the article's author..