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Travel Planning

American Idol Experience Audition Contestant Preview

There are a couple websites out there talking about what the guest experience will be like for those in the audience at the American Idol Experience, which is currently in soft-opening phase (which means not guaranteed to be open on any particular day and no golden tickets awarded) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. But I’ve been given a few details from a couple first hand accounts of what the audition and show performance is like from those guests lucky(?) enough to pass the muster.

So if you’re considering auditioning. Heads up. Here’s your first look at what you’ll need to be prepared for.

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Quick Disney World Update

A couple quick bits of news from Walt Disney World: Kim Possible officially opens Jan. 28 at Epcot American Idol will debut Feb. 14 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (Although Annual  Passholders can sign up for a preview) DisneyWorld.com has received a fresh paint job with… Read More »Quick Disney World Update

Disney Lodge Themed Hotel Architect Dies

Architect Peter H. Dominick Jr’s designs impressed Michael Eisner at the time when Eisner was looking to make The Walt Disney Company a leader in architectural design for its hotels and buildings. His initial presentation to Eisner made a deep impression. “Michael Eisner leapt up… Read More »Disney Lodge Themed Hotel Architect Dies

Disney World Moms Panel, The Next Generation

Big happenings at the Disney World Moms Panel today. The next crew of family travel experts have been given the keys to the question and answer site. They’ve already started answering questions too. Head on over and read the new bios. Then on the video… Read More »Disney World Moms Panel, The Next Generation

Lou’s 100th Show – WDW Radio

A huge congratulations to Lou Mongello on publishing the 100th episode of The WDW Radio Show. I’ve only had time to listen to the first part of it and already I’m ready to rank it up there with the best of his podcast. Here’s what… Read More »Lou’s 100th Show – WDW Radio

Magic Kingdom Update

As I twittered, I hit the Magic Kingdom on Saturday to see what changes the new year had brought. As it turns out, not much. I guess it takes a big place like Walt Disney World a few weeks to fully switch over from one promotion to another. That makes sense.

I did see a few small signs of the 2009 “What Will You Celebrate?” promotion. For instance, a couple booths at the Ticket and Transportation Center had some decorations indicating this is where you go to get your Free Admission or Birthday Fun Card.

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Additionally, in the parks any location that is listed as fastpass, but was not offering fastpass for the day had a special sign up and one open terminal for those who choose the fastpass+ option for their birthday gift.

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Once in the park, things were nice. The park was busier than usual in the morning, but real crowds didn’t materialize until early afternoon. By then we were wrapping up our day. We had a nice ride on the ponies.

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Then went over to ToonTown Fair to have another visit with the fairies in Pixie Hollow. We entered the queue 20 minutes before the fairies were scheduled to open up their land to guests and there were already a number of families in front of us. By the time we left, the queue had grown very long. It’s a very slow moving queue too, so those families were in for quite a wait.

[ lots more including a new Hidden Mickey on the otherside of the cut ]

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Celebrating A Birthday at Disneyland

Ron is an Annual Passholder to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. His birthday was Friday the 2nd and he decided to spend it at Disneyland and take advantage of the special offer that’s part of the new “What Will You Celebrate?” promotion.

I’ve asked Ron to provide us with some details of how the day went. Considering it was the second day of the promotion, it sounds like everything went swell.

Got in late from a great day at Disneyland so this is the first chance I’ve had to send you an update from our birthday experience. Either good or bad, there isn’t a whole lot to tell about the birthday promotion but I’ll do my best to provide as much detail as possible.

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SeaWorld Sale Unlikely Soon

There’s at least one nice thing to say about the bad economy, it makes getting credit difficult. For fans of the SeaWorld/Busch Parks (recently rebranded “Worlds of Discovery”) that’s good news as it means AB-InBev will have a hard time finding a buyer should they… Read More »SeaWorld Sale Unlikely Soon