President Obama Visits Walt Disney World
President Obama took to the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World to tackle some of the changes that American tourism is facing. In the speech he encourages people to visit places such as Disney World as they are all part of what has become an American Institution!
See below for the video of his speech where I am sure you will agree on some of the things he is saying about tourism, specifically in Walt Disney World.
3 Of The Top Baked Goods From The Main Street Bakery
The Main Street Bakery is a place that I often visit first thing in the morning or some point during the afternoon after the parade has finished it’s run (partly because these are the points where I am in Main Street). I still speak to a lot of people that have been to Disney World several times and never visited the bakery, reasons for this include not knowing it was there, having too many other places to go and (my personal favourite) “oh it’s just a bakery”. The Main Street Bakery is far more than a simple bakery and with this in mind, here are the three favourite items on sale in the bakery!
Cookie and Ice-Cream Sandwich
Ice-Cream Sandwich
When the girlfriend and I were getting a bit peckish around mid-afternoon earlier this year we thought a trip to the bakery was in order, what I didn’t realise is that we would be eating an item that would have us full long into the night.
This amazing product is essentially two massive fresh baked cookies with a centre of ice cold vanilla ice-cream. The mistake might have been that we had one each but hey, you are in Disney right?
Gourmet Sandwiches
There aren’t many locations in Disney World (certainly within the Magic Kingdom) where you can sit down and not find a burger on the menu. The bakery may have some pretty big cakes and treats but they also offer out some wonderfully put together sandwiches with all kinds of fillings. In typical Disney fashion they are big sandwiches but they would certainly cover off dinner for most people on a vacation that are not used to big food all of the time!
Cinnamon Roll
Baring in mind that all baked goods are made freshly onsite, it is safe to say that anyone that enjoys a classic cinnamon whirl in the UK will be surprised on just how much better these are. Sure you are going to find it packed with a lot more sugar and cinnamon but you will also find it to be soft, warm and drizzling with cinnamon goodness!
Disney Plan On Trial Run Of Fastpasses For Parades!
This might come as a bit of a surprise but Disney have announced plans to trial the famous Fastpass system for the Magic Kingdom parade, Celebrate A Dream Come True. What does this mean for the people wanting to view the parade and will it really work?
The Idea Behind The Parade FastPass
the system will work in a very similar way to the current system for attractions (including visiting Mickey Mouse) but in this case park guests will get fastpasses in order to get into reserved viewing areas along the parade route. The viewpoint itself has been confirmed for right in front of the castle, a point where people will usually wait for hours just to be in a good viewpoint. The trial started this week and should be running until the middle of November.
Will It Work?
Personally I think that all this is going to do is help the people that usually wait hours just to see the parade. It will be the same kind of people that end up picking up the fastpass tickets and it actually means that they can spend some more time in the parks rather than waiting at least an hour for the parade to begin!
It remains to be seen on whether this will work or not, whilst I was sceptical about the fastpass for Mickey Mouse, I actually hope that this idea works!
Attractions And Other Things That People Often Miss Out On At The Main Street U.S.A
Part of another new set of posts I want to start here on the blog is talking about some of the attractions that people forget about on their first time round or ignore if they know that time is short at the parks. The key thing to remember at Disney World, Universal and all of the other parks in Florida is that there aren’t any attractions, restaurants, things to do out there that aren’t at least trying out once! The fact is that you will have your favourites and you will have attractions that you will never go on again but don’t say no to something without even giving it a go!
I feel there are a lot of attractions out there that people forget even within lands at the parks which is why I have taken the route of talking through each land rather than the parks. Also bear in mind that these posts may include places to eat and drink too but will not include shows as I will do a review of these individually.
Here are some of the attractions people often miss in Main Street U.S.A. (Most of these are places to eat as there are not any “real” attractions down Main Street).
Main Street Vehicles
If you ask people what Main Street Vehicles are you will find that a lot of them have no idea what they are and to be honest, this is understandable. I have seen them come out a lot less often than they used to back 5+ years ago.
Basically the Main Street Vehicles consist of several old fashioned means of transport that will take guests from the front of the park to just outside of Cinderella’s Castle and back (if they don’t want to get off). The collection of vehicles consist of old fashioned motorcars and even carriages that are pulled by horses!
The best time of the day to catch a ride on one of these is right when the Magic Kingdom opens as they are usually always out. Make sure you get to the front of the line if you want to stand a chance of riding on the horse drawn trolleys as these are by far the most popular of the vehicles.
Main Street Bakery
Although you might think that not heading into a bakery is something to worry about but don’t forget where you are! This bakery has some superb products on offer and is well worth a look into. The reason it is often missed out on is because people will enter the park in the morning and not fancy something from the bakery then they might not return to that end of the park until the evening on the way out, again not fancying something from the store. Although people do miss it this bakery is still very busy and is perhaps because of the warm smells coming from the door.
Products on sale here include, Cheese Danish, Apple Turnover, Chocolate Muffins, Crumb Cake, Warm Cinnamon Roll (my personal favourite), chocolate croissants and so much more! You can also grab a smoothie, Frozen Latte and sandwiches here.
Plaza Ice Cream Parlor
Again you might not think that missing out on an Ice-Cream is something to worry over but this Parlor has some of the best Ice-Cream I have ever tasted and flavours include Strawberry, Dulce de leche, Rainbow Sherbet, Mint Chocolate Chip, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Cookie Swirl. You can also choose from the two no added sugar flavours that are Butter Pecan and Chocolate/Vanilla Swirl.
Of course there would be no traditional American Ice-Cream Parlor without offering out a hot chocolate fudge sundae and you can get your fudge fix here! The Parlor also does Ice-Creams for the little ones and sticks two Mickey Mouse ears on each cone!
Other locations in Main Street that are worth visiting include Crystal Palace and of course the Walt Disney World Railroad Main Street Station.
If you are thinking about dining at the Crystal Palace I will say that the best meal of the day personally was Breakfast but be warned that this is a relatively expensive place to eat, worth going to if you are on the dining plan!
Mickey FastPass: A Good Idea?
Most of you will know that recently ToonTown has closed for good at the Disney World Magic Kingdom and this means that people will be wondering where they are going to be able to meet the best loved Disney Character, Mickey Mouse! Well although we might have thought that Disney didn’t know what they were doing it would seem they have had the alternative planned for some time now and guests will now be able to meet the Big Cheese (like what I did there?) in Main Street. However it would seem that with this comes an all new experience that guests have never seen before and it takes a whole new look at the FastPass system.
Trouble Meeting Mickey
Meeting Mickey, getting his autograph and picture is something that has always been a bit of a difficult process at Disney World. Before this new idea you could meet him in the judges tent along with some of the other Disney pals but the wait was anything from 30 minutes up to 2 ½ hours! Now we are all going to miss the two houses but something you might not have to put up with again are the long waits to see Mickey. Let me explain this in a bit more detail.
Mickey FastPass
Starting in Spring in the Exposition Hall area in Main Street USA, Mickey fans will be able to see the mouse in his new permanent home but with a slight new take on things. Main Street is arguably one of the busiest sections of the park with people coming in and out all day long so it makes no sense to put Mickey right at the front where queues are going to be hours long, but Disney have thought of a way around this. According to Disney, users will be able to get a Fastpass, in the same way they can do for many popular rides now, to visit Mickey which means all you have to do is return at a specific time to skip the normal line. Whilst I think if this works out well it will be fantastic I do have a couple of points to make that are slightly negative.
Squeezing Mickey In
Is it just me that thinks that Disney are almost phasing Mickey out of the parks? Sure you can still meet him but closing the houses and now putting him in a place that really doesn’t make any sense, seems a bit odd to me and I think it has the potential to upset a lot of guests. On the other hand the imaginers have promised interactive queuing areas and a brand new experience which does put emphasis back on Mickey again.
Planning Everything
Visitors of the park already have to plan their days months before they arrive at the parks, don’t believe me? But what happens if you want to eat in a specific restaurant or attend a certain show? You have to plan your days very carefully at the parks and now Disney are adding further to this which can add a lot of stress to the trip as you have to time everything perfectly.
The Verdict
This is likely to go one of two ways, either it works really well or guests are going to hate it and demand change. The good thing is that Disney listen to their guests and will change things round if need be, my personal hopes are that this works well but I really do hope Disney remember that without Mickey they wouldn’t have much at all. After all we must not forget, “it was all started by a mouse”!
Why Does The Magic Kingdom Always Put A Smile On Newcomers Faces?
Well for starters I say newcomers faces, this is far from true, I know for a fact that every single time I enter the main gates I am lit up by everything that is going on around me.
So what is it that makes the place just fill you with joy as soon as you step out into the start of Main Street U.S.A.
A Lot Going On
One of the things that certainly impresses people when they are walking into the park is the amount of things that are happening all over the place. At any one time down Main Street you can have marching bands, singing quartets, Disney characters walking around, horse drawn carriages and even balloon salesmen dressed like they were back in the day. It is truly amazing to see it when it is like this.
Cinderella’s Castle
The very first thing you see when you walk down Main Street USA is Cinderella Castle and this lights up not only children’s faces but everyone else that grew up loving Disney movies. It makes you feel that anything is possible, after all that is a castle looking exactly like it does from the movies.
The People
Something else that people really like when they are walking into the park is that everyone else around them is smiling too,it is hard not to be happy when this is the case. You will very really see anyone sad in a Disney park and although a lot of people moan at Disney for being too corporate I feel as long as they are doing this job, they are doing their job well.
It is all these reasons and many more that make Main Street USA one of the happiest places in Disney World, the street itself is colourful and magical on top of all of these other reasons. It is these reasons why I would always recommend going to Magic Kingdom first when it comes to Disney World stops.
