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..