My latest Disney seminar re-cap

I just finished a travel agent webinar with Jennifer Raymond from Disney Parks. Much of the information presented was familiar to me, though some was new. I'm posting the highlights here, so that you can continue to be informed of what you may expect from Disney in the upcoming weeks and months...

First - the winter offer - the one that we have known about for quite a while... here's the reminder - free ticket upgrades are available from the Magic-Your-Way base ticket to go up to a Premium ticket, along with a discount on the room rates. The booking window is up to Dec 15th and the travel window is Jan 1st - March 8th, (though I know that most of the rooms are already gone for the beginning of Jan...)

I got to see the new designs for the Magic Your Way tickets - rather groovy actually...

More details on the "Year of a Million Dreams" - it was described as like entering a sweepstake, just by walking into the parks! Dream surprises - random acts of magic... examples: free Mickey Mouse ice-cream, a Dream FastPass - bypass all the lines for all rides all day, the royal chamber inside Cinderella's castle (which was originally planned to be an apartment for Walt Disney, but was never completed) is being offered to a family per night, to dine and stay there, hosted by Cinderella herself...
The presenter pointed out that most of Disney's special celebrations have been based on their own dates - 50 years after opening of Disneyland etc. - for this one, they have turned it around and put the focus on you and your dreams!!

Find out more at www.disneyparks.com

There are lots of new immersive entertainment experiences - which can happen in the parks randomly at any given moment... for example you might find yourself in the middle of a pep rally with characters fom "High School Musical", or a rodeo with Woody and friends. Or Captain Jack Sparrow's pirate tutorial - again, at random somewhere in the parks - teaching everyone how to be a "proper pirate" or Woody's cowboy camp.

New attractions:
Epcot:

Walt Disney World has updated their Living Seas attraction - now "The Sea with Nemo and Friends" - a really cool ride with animated Nemo, Dory etc actually swimming with the real fishes...

Animal Kingdom:

Finding Nemo the Musical - opening late November - with singing fish (operated by onstage puppeteers) - looks as though it will be really cool!

Magic Kingdom:

New "Laugh Floor - Comedy Club" with Mike Wiskowski and Sully from Monsters Inc.

Also, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride has been totally updated, includng animatronic versions of Captain Jack (and other characters from the recent movies). I have actually done this ride... it is definitely "improved" over the old version, but I should warn you that because it is more realistic, and more dramatic, it is significantly scarier than before. I wish that I had not taken my small kids on this ride as my wife was not particularly impressed by the fact that I had told her "It's not scary..." as we held our hands over their eyes and ears..

Disney World documents - stuck at the border??

It seems that the US-Canada border is getting tough to cross, even for documents! Our agency has 16 separate files with Walt Disney Travel company departing between now and Jan 5th 2007. All documents have been issued. None have arrived!

Apparently Canada Post, or Canada Customs are delaying certain Disney travel documents, and we are not the only travel agency affected... (It's weird that we receive Magical Express transfer documents, by next-day courier...)

To be fair, the docs that Disney send are not really necessary, and duplicate copies will be sent to the resort. But it is hard for us to have to explain to our clients why they have no documents for their (often multi-thousand dollar) Disney vacations... someone needs to smarten up!

Just for your info, over the years we have had a number of clients traveling to Disney sans documents. Everyone got what they paid for - no exceptions. So, if you are affected, and have no Disney documents, please accept our apologies - on behalf of Disney/Canada Post/Canada Customs/US department of Homeland Security etc. etc. - and assurances that even if you don't have our package in advance, it will be safely waiting for you on when you arrive.


Update - 24th November - One arrived today after all, in good time to give to the guest - so hopefully we will be receiving the rest in time too, if a bit late.... Still, better late than never...

Year of a Million Dreams - what's that all about?

Disney Parks (notice the new branding?) have adopted a new worldwide tag-line "Where Dreams Come True". Complementing this new re-branding is the latest celebration as all Disney parks worldwide. While, of course, Disney need to continually re-think themselves and re-position their product and have to keep coming up with new ideas to get people to visit and re-visit their parks, this celebration has some really nice, unique features which are pretty eye-catching...

During this "year" of a million dreams - it already started in October 2006 and goes through the end of 2007 - a million dreams will be given out at Disney parks worldwide. The majority of these "dreams" are being handed out at Walt Disney World in Florida (as it is so much larger than the other parks) but all parks (Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney, Hong Kong Disneyland) are participating.

Disney park staff - they call them "cast members" - will randomly select people and give them stuff. Some of this stuff is small and fun, other dreams are pretty amazing. Some examples:

a dream FastPass enabling you to jump the lines for a whole day

a night in Cinderella's castle (yes, there is now a luxury suite inside the castle, and every night one lucky family will get this rather special room upgrade...)

there is a grand prize of visits to ALL of the Disney Parks worldwide

While you are not going to go to Disney World just to hope that you will get one of these special dreams, just imagine how you would feel if you got a tap on the shoulder and were offered a whole day Fastpass, or even the whole theme park all to yourself! That happened to one family - link to article

Link to the Year of a Million Dreams.

WestJet Vacations - new to the Disney mix...

A couple of months back WestJet (the airline) announced that they were getting into the package vacation business. They have done quite a bit of advertsing in Ottawa lately and a number of you have been asking me about them, particularly for their well-priced Disney vacations. I have a few thoughts...

The way that our agency chooses to book your Disney vacation offers a number of significant advantages (see below), and is usually also the cheapest way to book. However, recently, WestJet Vacations have challenged this, and there are occasions where you can save quite a lot with their packages.

They are new to the market - and are trying to get some "market share" so a lot of their packages are really, really agressively priced. This is good for the client. (I have booked one package where the package including flights, accommodation and Disney passes cost less than the VERY SAME flights, purchased alone).

However, there are some significant down-sides to their packages over the regular way that we book Disney. While these are not going to be important for all people, for others these will be significant. They are:
1. WestJet Vacations only offer the Disney value resorts. (Which is fine for some people but not for others.)
2. They have very limited availabilty and some weird short durations. (The same package that I mentioned above was for 4 nights only, and there was no way to add additional days to this.)
3. You cannot get the Disney Dining plan. (There is no way to "upgrade" their package directly with Disney either. I know. I tried!)
4. Like other package vacations (sun destinations etc.) we cannot "hold" anything for you. It is instant purchase, and price and availability can change by the minute.
5. The full price is required up front, you are immediately subject to penalties, and the entire package is 100% non-refundable within 21 days of travel. (So you would lose more money in the event of a cancellation and/or your insurance premiums will be higher.)

In short, you CAN get some good deals, but you need to be prepared to buy exactly and only what they offer you, and you can't change it after the fact (if a "special comes along later").

The way that our agency chooses to book your Disney vacation offers many advantages:
1. we can "hold" the Disney booking, and often the air space, to give you time to get the time off work and/or coordinate everything properly
2. we can offer any duration of stay (subject to normal availability constraints)
3. you can get any type of Disney package that you like (including the very popular Dining plan)
4. you can get any Disney resort that is available.
4. if a "special" comes along later, we can get it for you (always as long as it is available, of course) - with no penalty .
5. and usually, it is still cheaper to get us to "make" a package for you anyway, especially when you consider that you are actually getting what you want...

In summary...
We like WestJet, and see no reason not to like WestJet Vacations either. As far as making Disney bookings are concerned we will happily book them for you if they offer what you want, and will happily book you in a different way if they don't!

Easy!

WestJet seat sale to Orlando still on

I just booked a client on the direct flights to Orlando from Ottawa for the 20th-27th of DECEMBER, for $344.25 CAD TAX-IN!!

With a on-site package - their family of 4 paid around $4400 CAD total including passes and dining plan at an All-Star resort.

Almost unbelievable for that time of year to still have space - and at such a great price.

Just wanted you to know - Disney at Christmas - still possible...


Seat sale good until 15th Nov for some destinations and til Nov 30th for others. Obviously, space is very limited, (and non-existant for lots of dates).

Disney World Canadian Ticket upgrade special

Hello, Disney Fans,

As a Disney Specialist travel agent, booking Disney vacations daily, I often find that I don't have time to post these specials in a timely manner on our regular site - I am hoping this blog will help... as you can see I am still busy enough BOOKING the packages that I haven't had a chance to PLUG the specials all that much. Bear with me, though, I intend to make the blog a really handy resource...

Disney World Canadian Resident Ticket upgrade special

This particular special may not be news to some of you - after all it was announced a few weeks ago now - but it is still valid and we have another few weeks to make use of it.

The particular offer gives your the "Park Hopping", and the "Water Park Fun and More" tickets for the price of Disney's most basic "Magic Your Way Base Ticket". It is available only as part of a package (including Disney on-site accommodation) and must be booked by Dec 15th... Travel dates are "most dates" from Jan 1st to March 8th 2007, depending on availability. By no means all rooms at all resorts are available on this speical - so it is still sensible to book as early as possible...

This free upgrade is worth approx $90 USD per person, which is pretty significant for a family.

It is also available including the Disney Dining Plan...

My Disney Cruise Blog - updated for easy reading...

For any of you that were following my Disney Cruise vacation blog, you can now read the complete blog in a more logical and user-friendly format.

For those of you that missed it while "live" - Sept 30th-Oct 17th 2006 - I invite you to check it out. While describing and illustrating my experiences while on the cruise with my young family, it also gives lots of extra insights on the Disney Cruise experience which would be of interest to anyone considering a Disney cruise for their next family vacation...

The link is http://lttkdisneycruise.blogspot.com

It is now displayed in chronological order with extra linking included.

Please check it out!!!