There is a Storm coming..... why are you standing there!

One thing I try to cover with all my Clients before they arrive in Central Florida is the weather they may encounter. July 3rd and 4th brought some typical weather situations for the Wet Summer Season  in Central Florida... Daily Severe Thunderstorms.  The skies darkened and was filled with lightning. Tourist and Locals stood in front of Cinderella's Castle Hub and snapped photos of the castle being struck by lightning.  While it may have gained some their 15 minutes of fame on the internet, it sure wasn't the brightest move. That picture or even staying in that spot to get the "best" view for fireworks sure isn't worth your life.
 
Florida is the Lightning Strike Capitol of the United States. While the number fluctuate every year, the numbers are the usually the highest in Florida for people struck by lighting. On our 2011 trip in August, we were across the street at SeaWorld when 8 people were injured at Discovery Cove by a Lightning strike. These people were "lucky" they weren't killed, but less than a month later at Adventure Island in Tampa, an employee evacuating a slide was killed by a lightning strike. Lightning is not something to mess with, so take cover when lightning is in the area.

Here are some really good tips about what to do during the storms that hit the parks and this applies to all parks.
1) Don't stand out in the open! Get indoors!!!!
2) Don't Rush for the exit.
3) Head into a shop and let the storm pass
4) Go to an indoor ride that has an indoor queue
5)Check out an indoor show
6) Don't wait at an entrance to be first in line for a ride to reopen.
7) Don't get on a boat
8) Don't take shelter under a tree
9) Get out of and away from pools
10) Don't hang out on your balcony

You are not Doc Brown trying to send Marty McFly Back to the Future. You aren't going to save the day with that awesome picture. When you get hit by lighting, your vacations is over, you won't get to see that amazing fireworks display or selfie with Mickey.  Be Smart and stay alive!

Staying On-Site at Disney World: A little known but important benefit

There are many benefits that Disney publicly advertises to entice guest to stay in the on-site resorts, but there are some benefits Disney doesn't advertise. One of these unadvertised benefits is a great perk that gives on-site guest an advantage they may not even know they are receiving. That benefit kicks in when the parks reach capacity.

How does it work?
When a park reaches capacity, Disney goes into what as know as Phase Closures. There are 4 Phases of closures that have been determined to try to maintain guest satisfaction. Notice I mentioned the word try because when a park gets to these levels, there will be dissatisfaction resulting from the waits for rides,food, restrooms, and attractions. Some people have been able to get their hands on the actual policy Disney has and implements when capacity is reached and phase closures kick in. Others, like myself, have learned from experience what is part of a phase closure and who will benefit and who will be denied entry.On-Site Guest will be some of the last people affected by the Phase of Closures.

Why is this important?
Well we are quickly approaching the Holiday season and the Grand Opening of the New FantasyLand. During the Holiday season (especially New Year's Eve) the parks are sure to reach capacity. These next few months is also the time of year several families book their Spring Vacations. The Spring break time is another time when parks tend to reach capacity. It is important to note that phase closures also apply to the Water Parks and the Water Parks generally reach capacity much quicker than the 4 major parks!(It is no fun at all to be in the water parks when they are at capacity, if there is a phase closure, hit the hotel pool instead.)

Below is a breakdown of what happens for each Phase of Closure based on experience and what has filtered out to travel agents by those that have seen the actual policy.

Phase 1
Guest will be turned away at the Parking Lot Toll Plaza if they have:
A 1-Day 1-Park Ticket
No admission ticket
Cast Members using Main Gate &Silver Passes
YES DISNEY WILL TURN YOU AWAY!!!

Guest that can enter during Phase 1 are:
Those with multi-day or multi-park tickets
Those staying at a Disney Resort(including the Walt Disney World Swan and
Dolphin, and guests arriving by bus from the Hotel Plaza Boulevard
hotels)
Annual Passholders and Premium Annual Passholders
Those re-entering the park that day.
Those "hopping" from another park.
Those with in-park reservations or reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or
The Pirates League.
Those arriving via Disney transportation

Phase 2
Guest that will be allowed to enter a park include:
Disney Resort Guests (including the Walt Disney World Swan and
Dolphin, and guests arriving by bus from the Hotel Plaza Boulevard
hotels)
Guests with dining reservations
Magic Kingdom Guests with reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or
The Pirates League
Guests using Walt Disney World Resort Transportation will be admitted.
Annual and Premium Annual Passholders

Phase 3
Admission is limited to:
Disney Resort Guests (including the Walt Disney World Swan and
Dolphin, and guests arriving by bus from the Hotel Plaza Boulevard
hotels)
Premium Annual Passholders
Guests with dining reservations
Magic Kingdom Guests with reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or
The Pirates League

Phase 4
Closed to all guests.
Aspect of these closures can be changed at anytime by Disney.

What is important to note is, if you are traveling to see all that Disney has to offer and can't pass up that great deal to stay at an off-site location; the only thing you might see is the toll plaza and cast member telling Sorry Folks We're Closed. Please don't go Clark Griswald on that poor Cast Member! So if you are planning to head to a Disney Park during the busy season, plan on experiencing crowds and rest assured it is a very wise choice to stay at an on-site resort.

Sorry Folks We're Closed

Have you ever been at a Disney Park when it was in a Phase Closure? Tell us your experience.

EPCOT...30 Years of Memories

EPCOT has evolved from Walt Disney's first vision of the Experimental Community of Tomorrow. EPCOT today is much different than it was on the day it opened October 1st, 1982.  Have you seen this timeline when you were are at EPCOT?

Click on Image for larger view.

What are your memories of EPCOT? 

What do you look forward to in the next 30 years at EPCOT? 

What do you miss from EPCOT?

EPCOT's 30th Anniversary October 1st,2012

We are back from our Fall trip and had a BLAST, especially at EPCOT's 30th celebration. 

On October 1st, we took our time to wander EPCOT from the park's opening ceremony to the park's Fantastic 30th Anniversary Illumination closing celebration. We listened to a few speeches in the afternoon, sipped on some Margaritas listening to 90's Pop group Sugar Ray, purchased some limited edition 30th Anniversary merchandise, then staked out our spot between Mexico and Norway to watch the night go out with a bang.  Take a look at some of our pictures and video of the 30th Anniversary tag to Illuminations.

This is just a sampling of the fun we had, stay tuned there is so much more to come!

Each guest through the turnstile got one of these

Crowds gathered early to mark this celebration.

The crowd sang One Little Spark before rope drop

The new test track car prototype, Opening soon.

Extra barges and fireworks were being added all day to Illuminations

It was a beautiful day

Three sets performed by Sugar Ray made the evening enjoyable

Click on a the Video below to see Sugar Ray in action

The 30th Anniversary Tag to Illumination was amazing. Here is our recording of the Tag.  There was so much going on around the lagoon, I choose to focus on the  higher fireworks.It is not the best video because of the camera trying to continually focus but the grand finale comes through just fine.

Good Bye EPCOT, thanks for the party see in Spring of 2013!

Now that we are home, we have well over 1200 pictures to sort through. So stay tuned for Photo tours of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, Twilight Zone of Terror 5k Haunted Trail Run, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios,  and sooooo much more.

Make sure you like our Facebook page and you can always email me at Matt@firehousefamilyvacations.com for free, no obligation quotes for DisneyWorld, DisneyLand, Disney Cruises, Carnival Cruises, and many other destinations!

On our way to Celebrate EPCOT's 30th and some Halloween Fun!

Hey everyone! Our Fall Trip has arrived. This will be the first time in 17 years I will be In Orlando without children! It will be bittersweet but the wife and I are going to make it up to kids this Spring with a Spring Break Trip. That way they can experience the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. While we plan on having a blast down there, we are also going to take care of some business. We will be taking tons of pictures to share you and current/future clients!

We will be staying at the Pop Century Resort for our first time ever and be taking advantage of the FREE Dining plan(we upgraded from the quick-service to the standard dining plan).  While there we will  be sure to take the  jog across the lake to check out the new Arts of Animation Resort and see all that it has to offer!  If there is something you want to see or know about, let us know and we will try to get first hand info for you. Our schedule is not very tight but we do have some things planned and are more than willing to find out the best and most accurate information to share with you!

Here is what our Schedule looks like:

Day 1: We leave bright and early Wednesday Morning to hopefully be on the ground at Orlando International to hop the Disney's Magic Express by Noon. 

After we  hit the online check in counter, we plan on exploring the Pop Century Resort to get the lay of the land pick up our items we had the Disney World Personal Shopper grab for us.  From there hop a bus to spend the rest of the day at The Hollywood Studios and take in Fantasmic!

Day 2: Thursday will be a extremely fun long day. After an early morning Rental Car pick up. We are going to head over to Universal Orlando. We are going to spend a majority of the day at Island of Adventure, riding the newly re digitized Spiderman , filling up on ButterBeer, riding Dudley Do-Right Falls( one my favorite water rides), and going haywire buying souvenirs for the kiddos.  Then we are going to hop over to the Studios to take in a few rides and become Minions on Despicable Me before we take on Halloween Horror Nights. I am especially looking forward to the Walking Dead Maze and Penn&Teller's Las Vegas!

I am going to ride this over and over and over......

Day3: Friday we are going to be up bright and early  to take in a Character Breakfast at the Magic Kingdom 's Crystal Palace then spend of the rest of morning hours hitting up our favorite attractions and playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.   Midday we are going head over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports to check out the Health and Fitness expo and to get our stuff for the Happy Haunted  5k Trail Run. We will cruise back to the hotel for some pool time and rest before heading back the Magic Kingdom to enjoy Mickey' Not So Scary Halloween Party!!!! I really am looking forward to seeing HallowWishes.

Day 4: Saturday's plan is to get up early and arrive at ESPN for the 5k. We are in corral A with bibs #2224 and #2230, if your in the area be sure to stop on out cheer us on! After the race and we have picked up our medal  the rest of the night is up in the air, we are still debating about going to the Twilight 10 Miler party at the Hollywood Studios, we shall see how we feel. 

Days 5 :  Sunday will be fairly loose go with the flow day. We will be sure to hit the Animal Kingdom, partake in the EPCOT Wine &Harvest fest, and enjoy dinner at Fulton's Crab House in Downtown Disney!

Day 6: Monday will be a day entirely devoted to EPCOT to celebrate the 30th Anniversary. We will kick of the day grabbing fast passes for Soarin and trying to grab some of the special merchandise. Then take part in some of the scheduled events Closing the night out with a concert by the 90's group Sugar Ray and Illuminations with the 30th Anniversary tag!

Day 7: Tueday morning will be spent shipping various souvenirs home, packing, and maybe a quick whirl on the monorails before we hop the Magic Express back to Orlando International.

Be sure to watch our facebook page for updates about our trip! Stay tuned for exciting announcements and giveaways also upon our return.
Thank you all for Supporting Matt's Firehouse Family Vacations. Exciting things are just around the corner!!!!!

How to choose your tickets at DisneyWorld. It can be confusing

********* A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE WHEN CHOOSING TICKETS: If you are looking to experience to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™, This is at Universal Orlando's Island of Adventure and NOT at Walt Disney World. Many people have mistakenly thought this is at Disney's Hollywood Studios(we encountered several people asking cast members at Disney's Hollywood Studios where it was in that park)and end up angry when they find out that it is not there.********

Choosing how you want to enjoy the magic at DisneyWorld includes determining what type of ticket is the best value for your family. Disney gives you plenty of options when it comes choosing tickets, but some people unknowingly purchase something they don't want, need, or don't get the right ticket for what they want to do.  Choosing the wrong ticket easily raises the cost of your vacation and can even put it out of your budget; it may even leave you feeling disgruntled during your stay at Disney World. Here I will try to explain the current(2012/2013) theme park, add ons, and annual passes that can be purchased without going into pricing just to give a general overview.  This broad overview will serve as a guide to help you understand the options you can choose, so you can experience most of what Disney has to offer based on specific ticket types.(There are other admissions, special tours, experiences, shows, events, and programs that are offered that are not part of  normally purchased tickets or vacation packages.)

The tickets have evolved and changed over the years, but make great souvenirs after your visit.

Theme Park Tickets

For 2012/2013  Tickets for Walt DisneyWorld are being called Magic Your Way Tickets.

Basic Ticket

The most basic form of these tickets are called the Magic Your Way Base Ticket.

Disney tickets use to be paper like this one.

Each Magic Your Way Base Tickets gives one person entry to one Theme Park per day for each day you have purchased for your ticket. Once you enter that park, your "stuck" in that park. You can enter and leave that same park as many times as you like during the regular operational hours of that park. This is a ticket that I would only recommend to someone that has no problem staying in one park for each day their ticket is valid. It is important to note the more days on a ticket you buy, the cost per day goes down.

Park Hopper Option 

The Park Hopper option is an up charge add on to your Magic Your Way Base Ticket. With this add on you are not stuck in the same park each day  your ticket is valid.  You have the flexibility to enter and leave  the Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom on the same day for the entire length of your ticket. The Magic Your Way Base Ticket with Park Hopper is the ticket I recommend to everyone. It opens Walt Disney World up in so many ways allowing freedom to choose where you want to go based on crowds and where you would like to dine. Even with the best touring plans and itineraries, you may feel the need to deviate from the plan and just go where you feel like going. This ticket gives you that option.

Water Park Fun & More Option

This use to be the Water Park Fun& More option and had less restrictions

This up charge to the base ticket can be a great value or a tremendous waste of money; plus there is a lot of small print with this up charge. One would really have to consider how often they would like to visit the water parks or other offerings that this up charge offers.  It may prove cheaper to just purchase tickets individually to each offering than to add this up charge to your entire ticket, it just really all depends on your length of stay and an important side note to this up charge is  the Number of visits depends on number of days purchased on a Magic Your Way Ticket. This is where a travel agent like myself really comes in handy to help with the price break down and comparisons. This option includes includes entrance to Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park ,Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park, Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course or Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course. All of these extras for this up charge do have a significant amount of fine print and restrictions.

No Expiration Option

If this ticket had not expired. Disney would have had to honor it.
This ticket is from 2003 and no longer offered.

In theory, if you purchase this option, your unused Theme Park days that you have purchased and Water Park Fun & More option that have been added on to those days never expire. Your Magic Your Way Tickets will expire 14 days after first use otherwise. As I said in theory because Disney can change their policies at anytime and laugh all the way to the bank with your money in hand. Back in the day, when a park ticket was bought, the ticket never expired. Someone decided along the way that this notion was a bad idea. So now Disney makes you pay to have that option. Honestly, unless under special circumstances, this option is a waste of money.  Why? Well when you book a package or buy your tickets you can choose the number of days you have on the ticket, so in theory you only pay for the days you are going to use in the theme parks, there is no need to buy more days than that. Unless you intend to spend single days at different times of the year at the park, even then if you go more than 10 days a year, it maybe worth purchasing an annual pass...See below. This is another place where a Travel agent, such as myself, comes in handy to help you figure this out.

******Warning Scam Alert***** Some agents may suggest you buy the no expiration option on your ticket and suggest you sell your remaining days on your ticket to a business that re-sells tickets or is a discount ticket seller. DO NOT DO THIS YOU WILL END UP IN JAIL AND FINED HEAVILY. If you buy a ticket from one these sellers, Disney will not honor it. You are out the money, you may even end up in jail for purchasing these tickets and fined also. ONLY BUY TICKETS FROM A DISNEY AUTHORIZED TICKET AGENT.
 

Let The Memories Begin tickets

Annual Passes

Basic Annual Pass

For really Lengthy stays, if you make several trips a year, or are a local(ish) type person; a Basic Annual Pass may be the best deal for you. The Basic Annual Pass provides a full year access to Disney World theme park with park hopping, "free" theme park parking, discounts on Resort Hotels, dining, and merchandise. Also occasionally there will be exclusive Passholder special events and privileges.
In the past there have been blackout dates with this Basic Annual Pass when you wouldn't be able to enter the parks. Currently there are no blackout dates listed but as always the fine print says "Pass types, entitlements and prices subject to change without notice." So yea Disney covers their butt on that one if they should again decide to implement black out dates.

Premium Annual Passes

The Premium Annual Pass is a great option if you plan on spending great lengths of time not only at the theme parks but at the water parks and golf courses etc.  What you get with this besides a large price tag is 365 days of access to all of the Disney World theme parks on the same day,"free" theme park parking, Access to Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park, Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course, and ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. You also get discounts on Resort Hotels, dining, and merchandise. Also occasionally there will be exclusive Passholder special events and privileges. Again though, there is the nice small print "Pass types, entitlements and prices subject to change without notice."  Greens fees for one round of golf; tee times are required and are subject to availability and some events require an additional admission charge."



There are other tickets  like the Water Park Single Day Tickets and DisneyQuest Single Day Tickets, both of these tickets have there pluses and minus, but then again it all depends on what your looking for out of your vacation.

When it comes to Universal Orlando ticket options, it becomes a whole different ball game. So stay tuned as we explore those options in a future blog posting.

 How many of you save your Tickets as a Souvenir from your trips?