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January 2013

Disney Dining Plan: Top Ten Tips for Getting the Most Value

Using the Disney dining plan isn’t as straight-forward as simply walking into a restaurant and handing over your Key to the World Card: While all credits are created equal, not everything you buy will be. While it’s obvious that missing meals is essentially throwing money away, so is using a snack credit for a soda. Fortunately, using the plan effectively is actually quite easy. Here are the top ten tricks that will help you get the most out of the plan:

10. Use your dining plan for character meals and other more expensive dining locations. Look at it this way: For guests 10-years old and up, the dining plan costs $56 per person per night: This gives you a table service, meal, a quick service meal, a snack, and a refillable mug. If you estimate $4 for a snack, and $14 for a quick-service meal, you still need to “spend” $38 on your table-service meal that day. That’s not difficult to do if you’re eating dinner at location like Boma or Ohana, but if you’re eating at Via Napoli or 50s Prime Time Café, your tab is going to come in at around $30 per person. Not only did you not break even that day, you actually lost money.

9. Pay out of pocket for less expensive meals and you avoid the scenario above. This only works if you plan on eating more table-service meals than you’re actually allotted on the plan.

8. Avoid using your snack credits for drinks. As noted above, the dining plan works best when you save your credits for more expensive items, so save your credits for items cupcakes or ice cream (both $4 or more) and pay out of pocket for your drinks (usually under $3).Read More »Disney Dining Plan: Top Ten Tips for Getting the Most Value

Restaurant Review: T-REX at Downtown Disney

While in Downtown Disney Orlando this past summer we could not resist the urge to pay a visit to the T-REX Restaurant and Shop. As we walked in we were greeted by the coolness in the air which we welcomed since it was so very hot outside. The first thing we noticed was this enormous and almost life like T-Rex towering over us. To the right a place to shop for all your Prehistoric needs and to the left was the restaurant a.k.a archaeological dig site filled with small, large and extra large animatronic and audio-animatronic creatures.

We were seated right away and attended to almost instantly. Trying to take in our surroundings time seemed to just escape us. We looked over the menus and although there were plenty of choices I was not overwhelmed by them. There is something in the menu for everybody from Spare ribs, Chicken and Pasta to Burgers and Seafood. For the future little paleontologist in your group there is a kids menu of course, it includes various choices like Pizza, Pasta, Sliders, Popcorn shrimp and even Dinosaur shaped chicken.Read More »Restaurant Review: T-REX at Downtown Disney

New Taylor Swift Annie Leibovitz Photo for Disney Parks

Disney Parks has been working with world renown photographer Annie Leibovitz on a Dream Portrait series since January 2007. Along the way she’s managed to make new magic by placing celebrities into famous Disney scenes. Today’s new photo is no exception. Leibovitz inserts Taylor Swift… Read More »New Taylor Swift Annie Leibovitz Photo for Disney Parks

The Taste Debuts on ABC

Last night ABC premiered its entry into the the cooking wars reality TV show genre. The Taste is a combination of Chopped, The Voice, and Master Chef. The Voice you say? Yep, because it’s a blind taste test. Just like the coaches on The Voice… Read More »The Taste Debuts on ABC

Disney’s Aladdin, A New Broadway Musical, Heading to Toronto for Previews

Good things come to those who wait. Disney Theatrical Productions has officially announced that Aladdin, a new musical based on the Academy Award winning animated film, will play its pre-Broadway engagement at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre (formerly the Canon) November 13, 2013 to January 12, 2014 and will open at Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre in 2014. The show will feature music by Alan Menken; lyrics by the late Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin with a book by Beguelin. Casey Nicholaw will direct and choreograph.

Mary Poppins currently is installed at the New Amsterdam. It will close on March 3, 2013 and the theatre will get a much needed refurbishment.

Casting, Broadway dates and ticket information for both Toronto and Broadway will be announced at a later date. To receive news about Aladdin in the coming months, please sign-up for email alerts at www.aladdinbroadway.com.Read More »Disney’s Aladdin, A New Broadway Musical, Heading to Toronto for Previews

Castle 5-12: Death Gone Crazy

You know, when I saw the premise for this episode, I was actually surprised. This is something that is just screaming for a Castle mystery, so I’m a little surprised it hasn’t been done already. But yeah, better late than never, right?Read More »Castle 5-12: Death Gone Crazy

Peter and the Starcatcher ends Broadway Run

Disney Theatrical’s production of Peter and the Starcatcher ended its run on Broadway yesterday. It will move off-Broadway in the spring and start a tour of the production. The Peter and the Starcatcher Novel is a prequel to the Peter Pan story and was written… Read More »Peter and the Starcatcher ends Broadway Run

The State of Disney Animation

In case you’ve been asleep for the last 20 years, David Crow at Den of Geek has a nice retrospective on the state of Disney Animation focusing on what he calls the renaissance period. Crow starts with the dark years of the 1980s and then… Read More »The State of Disney Animation