Disneyzone News - September 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.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Site or Off? By Denise K I visit many different sites on a regular basis and one of the most common threads on message boards is about whether to stay onsite or off. It is a valid question because there are benefits to both sides. As a seasoned Disney visitor I will give my opinions on both sides. Some background on us: We are a family or 4, Myself, my husband, both in our early 40s, son 11, and daughter 8. We have been to Disney World 5 times. First 2 trips offsite and the last 3 onsite. Cost versus location is the biggest thing to think about. The offsite hotels are cheaper, readily available too. Some are very close to the theme parks, but are not considered Disney properties. There are a few off site locations that are given some of the Disney resort perks. They are near Downtown Disney, we have not stayed at any of them. You can easily get a room in an offsite hotel for $40 a night. Its not going to be a Hyatt but it will have beds, bathroom, and those things. Problem is that you will have to rely on your own car, or the hotel shuttle, or an expensive taxi service in able to get to the parks. Depending on where you stay it could add an hours travel time! They say they are 4 miles from Disney, but it will take you at least a half hour to go those 4 miles! Then you have to park, and walk up to the gate, and you have lost some major park time! First trip we stayed in Kissimmee and it took forever to get to the parks. The hotel was substandard and it was really a mistake! Second trip we stayed at All Stars Resorts. They were very nice. The kids loved all the huge ‘décor’ going on. We loved the Disney atmosphere, and the whole feeling of the resort. We used the disney buses for everything! We were quite cramped in the room, however, so for the next trip we decided we needed more space. Like many people we rented a Kid Suites which give you a kitchen. They are nice, and can be located in a good spot. We did it once, stayed at the Holiday Inn Family Suites. It was very nice having the ktichen, and the second bedroom area but we missed the convenience of being on site. The place itself was very nice, and the price was fair. We had a 2 bedroom Kid Suite for $119 a night. They advertise that its 1 mile from Disney but it took us easily 15-20 minutes to get to the parks. It was great having the space to spread out, and the resort had pools, arcade, all sorts of nice things, but we missed the Disney feel that was at the All Stars. We also were unable to use the Early Entry which saved us tons of time in line. So we decided it was On-site for us from now on. Next 2 trips we stayed at the Old Dixie Landings, now called Port Orleans Riverside. It’s a great moderately priced resort. Rooms are clean and the resort is impeccably clean and very pretty. The Disney feel was definitely there! We were glad to be able to visit the early entry parks to ride rides with little to no wait. We also took advantage of the boat to Downtown Disney, and E Ticket Night! On site, for our family, is the way to go! But if staying off site is the only way you can do it, then do it! A horrible hotel at Disney is better than No Disney at all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Birthday Celebrations at Disney World Birthdays at Disney World can be great! If you have someone in your group who is going to have a birthday during your trip, here are some great tips that won’t cost you an arm and a leg! Visit Magic Kingdom City Hall Bldg. Right near the entrance to Main Street and get a “ Birthday Button”. They are free! People wearing the button are made to feel special by many CMs at the parks! Imagine people you don’t know saying Happy Birthday at various times during the day? What a great feeling! When you make priority reservations, mention the birthday person, and that they are celebrating their birthday at that restaurant. Sometimes a special dessert will come there way, maybe a birthday card signed by characters, or balloons, or all of these things and more! You just never know what special magic a CM will perform to make the birthday special! One DZ visitor had a birthday t-shirt printed up for her son to wear on his birthday. As they went through the parks, he had the characters sign his shirt. Her son now has this shirt framed and up on the wall in his room! What a great idea! One mom said she gave her child several small envelopes during the day with Disney Dollars in them. This was his birthday present. He was able to spend his Disney Dollars throughout the day, as he wished! Many resorts can arrange to have cakes/balloons/gifts sent to your room, while you are in the parks. What a great surprise for anyone! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. If you are pregnant don’t avoid going. My time being pregnant was one of the best. I was forced to take it slow, and forced to relax a bit. I was about 7 months pregnant so my ody wasn’t going to allow any different. My husband took the 2 other children around to the rides. They were small so he concentrated on Fantasyland the most. I sat in the shade and watched the run from ride to ride. I really enjoyed sitting and people watching and seeing the magic in all their faces! Because I was pregnant we had no fights from the kids about naptime, they knew mommy needed her rest and they were happy to rest with me. I have also been with my baby very young. That was relaxing also. I had the baby in the stroller with me and we sat in the shade. Tips for tiny babies: bring your own stroller and plenty of ’supplies’. I put nice soft blankets in the stroller to add some comfort for the baby. They sell diapers and wipes and things at Disney but its expensive, so bring The Baby Care centers are actually very nice. They are air conditioned with areas to sit and nurse if you need to. They have lots of ‘supplies’ you can purchase and even a microwave to heat your babies bottle. I spent a bit of time in there during the trip with the tiny one! Invest in a shade screen of some sort for the baby’s stroller. Some areas it was hard to find shade. We were happy we had the shade screen. They sell them at Right Start. Speaking of Right Start, another great thing they have is fold up toddler toilet seats. They go right on top of the toilet seat, but makes it smaller for smaller bottoms. It folds up flat and takes virtually no room. I think the biggest tip is to take it slow and don’t worry about missing things. Make sure to keep naptime at a normal time, let the kids have time to normalize. Disney can be overwhelming on everyone. Give the kids time away from the parks. Also take lots of photos, the kids grow so quickly sometimes its hard to remember how they looked and how tiny they were! Don’t avoid Disney with tiny kids, it’s the most relaxing time to experience it. Once they are bigger you no longer get naps! More tips next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Restaurant Review Chef Mickeys By E & R Scott We went to Chef Mickeys and we loved it. We had heard so many things about this restaurant that we went ahead and tried it. We went for an early dinner so it wouldn’t be too crowded. We have twin boys who are 6 who just loved it too. We had to wait quite a while even though we had priority reservations. We stood out in the area in front of the restaurant and let the kids watch the monorail go by. We also got our photo taken with Chef Mickey. The boys would not cooperate so the photo didn’t come out too good though. We didn’t buy it. They seat you and then that’s pretty much the last you see of them. We did have a hard time getting drinks from our waiter. That was really the only problem. We ran over to get our food. The boys were thrilled that they offered mini hot dogs and pizza. They each ate quite a bit of that. We forced them to have some fruit too. My wife loved the selection of foods. I wasn’t as impressed but enjoyed it just the same. My wife ate a whole plate of mashed potatoes which I thought was funny. During dinner they did the napkin dance. This was hilarious. The characters come out and they all hold up napkins over their heads and swing them. You are encourage to join in. My one son had a bunch of food in his napkin and swung it and the food went flying. It was really funny. Wife didn’t think so, but I sure did. They have a great dessert area where you can fill up on all sorts of sweets. The kids went over with Goofy and made cupcakes. Neither one wanted to eat them because they thought they were suppose to keep them. Not sure why, but we let them take them back to our room. They ate them later that night. It was a fun dinner and I think you should try it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Park Hours, E-Ticket and Early Entry Days Chart will not be shown in this text-only version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kids’ Views By Corey I want to tell you what rides are the best at disneyworld. I have been there lots of tims already and I know what I am talking bout. So here is my list. Best rides according to me Tower of Terror Rocking roller coster Space mountain Thunder mountain Haunted mansion Allien encounter Splash mountain I think you should ride all of these rides if you like to go fast or like to get a little scared. Note from Corey’s mom. Corey is almost 10 and has his own AP and his nickname is Mr Disney. He loves going to the parks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Travel Polls There is a Poll on the DZ Resort Biographies Page on the site. In August it asked which souvenir you like to buy at Disney Here are the results : T-shirts and hats : 46% Disney pins: 16% Water globes : 17% Jewelry: 7% Stuffed animals: 14% We’ll have a new Poll for September! 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Something New... Next month the DZ Classifieds will debut! There are a few companies already on board to advertise! The following page has a sample of what to expect! The ads on that page are completely FAKE! But next month ads will be real! If you are interested in advertising, or would like to comment regarding this issue, please email me at: kimmi@disneyzone.net NOTE: In this text only version, the ads will not look anything like they do in the .pdf version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy Birthday to: Joey, Angela, Trevor, 8, Micah, 4, Annie, Kate . . . and every other DZ’er that has a birthday in SEPTEMBER! If you would like a birthday announced in the DZ News, send name, and birthday (and age if you want that in, too) kim@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 Fake ads will not be listed here. When we get the new ads, next month, they will be listed.