Staying On-Property at WDW

We've done WDW both ways.  We've stayed on-property and we've stayed off-property.  If you're considering a trip to the most magical place on earth, but don't know which direction to go accommodations-wise, we hope this article can help.  This post is about the on-property resorts, but come back soon for a post about staying off-property.

WDW has over 30 official on-property resorts to choose from.  Extra Magic Hours (EMH) are only available for on-property guests.  EMH is one park each day opening an hour early, or staying open three hours late.  All property hotels have free Disney transportation to anywhere else on property, though you may have to make a transfer at the Transportation and Ticket Center.  Other perks to staying on-property include transportation to and from the Orlando airport, souvenir delivery & pick-up from the parks, and free Wi-fi.  And, of course, the obvious benefit of never having to leave the magic!  Property resorts are divided into 3 main categories: Value, moderate, and deluxe resorts.

Value resorts are the cheapest, but they're infamous for having small rooms.  A few of them have family suites, which are bigger, sleeping 6.  Four members of your family will be on "convertible" beds (a sofa and chairs that convert into beds).  The suites have 2 full bathrooms.  For our large family of 8, we have to get 2 standard connecting rooms.  Value resorts have food courts, pools, and in-your-face decor (which we love).

Moderate resorts are the next level up, raising the price and service.  The decor and theme is more sophisticated.  Like value resorts, they have pools and food courts.  If you have kids, the pools are way cooler with slides and fountains.  Some have themed rooms available, but you have to request them when you make your reservation.  We personally enjoyed our ship beds and barrel mini-fridges in our pirate-themed Caribbean Beach Resort room.

Deluxe resorts are next.  But for our family, they're out of the question.  Since we already have to get two rooms, the price just isn't worth it for us.  The Magic Kingdom area Deluxe resorts are on the monorail track.  They each have sit down restaurants available, some have child care areas, too.  The style is sophisticated, and the service is top-notch.

Fort Wilderness campground also should be considered when staying on-property.  Since it's a campground, it doesn't really fit in any of the above categories.  Tent and RV sites are the cheapest way to stay on-property.  However, being a campsite, restrooms can be a good walk.  The cabins are very nice (considered a moderate level) and they sleep 6. The pools are fine, but plain. For kids (or kids at heart), Fort Wilderness has a Chip n' Dale sing-a-long and campfire most nights and afterward, an outdoor Disney movie plays, as well as other amenities.  Our family has taken our pop-up camper, and we have stayed in the cabins.  Both were great experiences.

Disney property resorts are also divided by location.  Below we listed all the resorts (except Disney Vacation Club) by location.

Magic Kingdom Area
Deluxe-       Polynesian Resort
                   Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
                   Wilderness Lodge
                   Contemporary Resort (shown below)

Epcot Area
Deluxe-       Beach Club Resort
                   Yacht Club Resort
                   BoardWalk Inn
Moderate-  Caribbean Beach

Animal Kingdom Area
Deluxe-       Animal Kingdom Lodge
Moderate-  Coronado Springs
Value-        All-Star Movies
                  All-Star Sports
                  All-Star Music

ESPN Wide World of Sports Area
Value-        Pop Century Resort
                  Art of Animation Resort (new)

Downtown Disney Area
Moderate-  Port Orleans Resort - Riverside
                  Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter

We love the perks of staying on-property,but staying elsewhere can have its perks too.  "See ya real soon" with a post about staying off-property.

Photo from Disney PhotoPass+ Gallery Disc

The Fab Five Trivia Quiz

Disney's "Fab Five" consists of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, & Pluto.  Test your knowledge on these classic characters with the eight quiz questions below.

1. Donald Duck made his debut in 1934 in which of the following shorts?
a. Donald Duck and the Gorilla
b. The Silly Symphony The Wise Little Hen
c. Self Control
d. The Silly Symphony Quacking Park Rangers

2. From 1937 to 1951, Pluto had how many of his own cartoons?
a. 27
b. 48
c. 63
d. 15

3. What was Goofy's original name?
a. Silly Dog
b. Max
c. Dippy Dawg
d. Goofimus the Great

4. Walt Disney originally provided Mickey's voice, but in 1946, the job was given to whom?
a. Bret Iwan
b. Wayne Allwine
c. Ronald Miller
d. Jim Macdonald

5. What is Donald's middle name?
a. Fauntleroy
b. Lawrence
c. David
d. Napoleon

6. What are Minnie's nieces' names?
a. Chelsea & Chandra
b. May & June
c. Millie & Melody
d. Minnie doesn't have any nieces.

7. Which Fab Five member has the highest total, 128, of his/her own shorts?
a. Mickey Mouse
b. Minnie Mouse
c. Donald Duck
d. Goofy

8. What were Mickey's first words (from the short, The Karnival Kid, 1929)?
a. Hot Dog!
b. C'mon Minnie!
c. Hi ya pal!
d. See ya real soon!

Are you ready?

Here are the answers!

1. b. The Silly Symphony The Wise Little Hen. Donald Duck and the Gorilla was released in 1944, Self Control in 1938, and Quacking Park Rangers does not exist.

2. b. 48

3. c. Dippy Dawg

4. d. Jim Macdonald. About 30 years later Jim retired and the job was given to Wayne Allwine and then Bret Iwan.  Ronald Miller is a Disney Legend, but he never voiced Mickey.

5. a. Fauntleroy

6. c. Millie and Melody.  They appeared once in a 1962 comic. May & June (along with April) are Daisy's nieces.

7. c. Donald Duck. Mickey had 120.  Minnie never had her own shorts, though she was in 73 of Mickey's. Goofy had 49.

8. a. Hot Dog!

How'd you score?  We hope you enjoyed this quiz and maybe even learned a thing or two. Now you can stump YOUR friends!

WDW Cast Member Poll Video

On our last trip to the most magical place on earth, we interviewed cast members from all four theme parks asking them this one question: What is your favorite Magic Kingdom mountain?  Here is the link to the video which reveals how we did it and the results: Walt Disney World Cast Member Poll

Epic Mickey, Part 1: Overview

"Epic" truly describes this Wii game.  Coming out in 2010, the game now runs for about $19.99 at most retailers.  Also available are Epic Mickey 2: the Power of Two and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (for 3DS only), however, this article will only concentrate on the original.

The story goes that the wizard Yen Sid has created a land for old and forgotten Disney characters such as Horace Horsecollar, Big Bad Pete, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  Mickey travels through a "looking-glass" (like in Lewis Carroll's novel) and discovers Yen Sid's work.  Like in the Sorcerer's Apprentice scene from Fantasia, Mickey tries to take things into his own hands when Yen Sid isn't looking.  In doing so, Mickey creates "the Blot", who goes into Wasteland.  Trying to avoid being caught by Yen Sid, Mickey leaves back through the mirror and into his own world again.  Time passes, and Mickey becomes a superstar, the world's most well-known cartoon character of all time.  However, also during this time, the Blot grows.  Eventually the Blot grows big enough to travel out of Wasteland for a moment to capture its creator and takes him back to Wasteland.

That's the journey:  Mickey escaping Wasteland.  But there's so much more to the journey that you'll have to find out on your own.  Would the Pixie Dust Posse recommend this game?  Short answer: Yes.  Longer answer: This game, despite starring a cartoon character, is not for young children.  Many scenes may appear scary, especially when you're playing in it! The controls can be complicated for those new at playing Wii. The game is not only the simple jump and fight bad guys to win.  There are different puzzles to solve and riddles to understand. We recommend it for ages 10+ or possibly younger, if you know they're mature enough for it.

The game is only single-player.   It also requires a nunchuck.  Make sure you're okay with this before purchasing.  The story in itself is highly entertaining and sometimes astonishing all on its own, but what makes this game unique is the fact that YOU choose parts of the story.  Your choices with thinner and paint, the way you interact with other characters, and finding hidden objects changes your outcome along the way.  When we first played, a couple of us sold a "pin" to a gremlin and ended up having to fight many splatters as a result (or you could say as "punishment").  That's only one example of the many mistakes we made!  Since the game can change depending on what you choose, Epic Mickey does have some replay value.

We hope this article helps you judge whether or not this game is a good fit for your family.  Stay tuned for more articles regarding the Epic Mickey games!

Concept Art unlocked during gameplay

Miniature Golf at WDW

Miniature Golf courses from mediocre to extreme are found all over the Orlando tourist area.  So of course Disney has a couple courses of their own.  With Disney's fantastic storytelling, they're fun for the whole family! At the time of the writing of this article, the prices are $12 for kids ages 3-9 and $14 for adults 10+.

Winter Summerland is located near the Coronado Springs Resort and is right next to Blizzard Beach.  Actually, Blizzard Beach and Winter Summerland share the parking lot.  The story goes, Santa flew over Florida one Christmas Eve, and to his surprise, found snow!  So he and the elves made it their getaway vacation destination.  The only thing it lacked was a golf course.  The elves made two courses: One with snow to remind them of their home in the North Pole, and one with sand for their beautiful home-away-from-home.  Yes, Winter Summerland is actually two courses.  It's fun seeing the work of the "elves" from hole to hole, but that being said, it's all Christmas-themed.  Great for Christmastime, but not our favorite for the other 11 months of the year.

Fantasia Gardens and Fairways is the first Disney miniature golf course and our personal favorite. Though themed after the classic 1940's movie, it's not necessary to have seen the movie to enjoy the course.  It's located next to the Boardwalk and Swan & Dolphin resorts.  It has a whimsical, magical feel to it throughout each hole.

Have fun at your next Disney miniature golf experience!

Frozen/Tangled cross-over

Anyone else see this Frozen (2013) and Tangled (2010) cross-over?

Both our princesses think their cool or filled with "sophisticated grace", and then proceed to smack themselves in the face.  We think we can all relate to this one. :)

Frozen Birthday Party

We love doing parties.  We love Disney.  So naturally, we love doing Disney parties!  One of us recently turned eight years old, invited a few friends over, and had a Frozen party!  This is what we did, and we hope you can benefit from reading our ideas!

At the time of our party, most major retail stores were out of or did not carry many Frozen-themed party items. At all.  Rather than pitying ourselves, we went more homemade.  Thankfully, we found that Anna (the other side has Elsa) balloon and paper plates at Party City.  We used sky-blue table cloth, ribbon, and balloons.  We had a white table cloth going across the table to add variety.

Here you can see closer-up what we found to use.  You may notice we used Cinderella-themed confetti. Since the package comes with three different bags, we were able to use the simpler bag with plainer confetti but the exact colors we wanted.

To add some more wintry-themed decoration, we made white paper chains to hang on the wall.  We also used white coffee filters to make snowflakes, as you can see in the picture.

As an activity AND snack for the young guests, we turned this...

...Into this!  A cool and delicious take-home treat!

For food, we served baby carrots, Craisins (raisins are healthier, but who needs healthy at a birthday party?), pretzel sticks, and mini marshmallows.  We also found some cookie-n-creme flavored Hershey Kisses that happened to have light blue wrapping.  The guests loved it!

We drew an Olaf onto a white piece of poster board and cut carrot shapes out of orange construction paper to make a "pin-the-nose-on-Olaf"game!  We wrote the guests' names on the carrots as to not lose track of who's is who's.

As a craft, we cut out Elsa crowns with light blue card-stock using this template from My Sister's Suitcase blog: Elsa Crown Template We let the guests color and place stickers on the crown to personalize it and make it their own.  While they waited for us to fix their crown to fit their head, we let them choose between an Anna or Elsa coloring sheet.  Here are the ones we like best:

We didn't just want to fill our guest's "treat-bags" with junk candy their parents would have to say "no" to.  However, the lack of Frozen-themed items made this more difficult to do.  As you can see in the picture, we mostly went with blue items.  We gave each bag a marshmallow Rice Krispies Treat, a mini composition notebook, a Chapstick, an 8-pack of all blue-ish crayons (we love you, Crayola), and two cookie-n-creme Hershey Kisses.

We hope you're able to glean a bit from our ideas.  Have a great time at your Frozen event, because we sure had a blast at ours!