From the Authors: New Edition of Disney Cruise Line Guide

Spring Feature: Blooming To Life At The Flower & Garden Festival

Disney World Feature:  The Best Advice 

Updates: What's New and Changed

Tips: Refill Rescue, Parent "Pin"-pointer, Pixie Power

Q&A: Verandah Staterooms and Kids
 

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Updates:
What's New and Changed

Here's a few of the new developments at Disney·

Starting June 10, 2005, Cinderella's Royal Table will be hosting a character lunch featuring your favorite princesses! The cost for adults (12 and up) will be $23.99 and $12.99 for children (3 - 11). This includes a salad and dessert served family-style and your choice of five entrees and a non-alcoholic, non-specialty beverage. Due to anticipated demand, a deposit of $10/adult and $5/child will be required when you make your Priority Seating. 

Beginning in April, "Sunshine Seasons" in The Land pavilion will showcase a new food court featuring five food stations and one central cashier, similar in style to the Pepper Market at Coronado Springs. Look for a wood-fired grill, an Asian Wok Shop and a Soup & Salad station among others. Vegetarian and kid's selections will also be available at each station. 

The "Night of Joy" concert series will take place on September 9 & 10, 2005 in the Magic Kingdom. Christian music performers such as Stephen Curtis Chapman, Mercy Me, and CeCe Winans will perform on stages throughout the park on these evenings. Single night tickets are $37.95 plus tax in advance and $42.95 plus tax at the gate. 

The Disney Magic ship gets a new stage show on May 25, 2005 -- "Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story" replaces "Hercules - The Muse-ical." The new stage show picks up the story where the classic Cinderella tale leaves off. The show features six original songs and two classic songs from the film. "Hercules" will continue playing on the Disney Wonder for the time being.

You can view our page-by-page list of updates and corrections for the new PassPorter Walt Disney World 2005 Edition at http://www.passporter.com/
customs/bookupdates.htm.

>Things To Do: Hear some news? Send it to us at
news@passporter.com

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Disney Tips:
From Fellow Readers

Our readers are a wealth of information! Here are the winners in this month's tip contest:

REFILL RESCUE
"Bring dish soap in a small bottle to clean the refill cups that you will buy from the resorts. The refill cups will save you money and your soft drink will not taste like coffee!"
-- contributed by Dina 

PARENT "PIN"-POINTER
"I make laminated business cards for my children. The cards have a picture of their favorite Disney character, plus Mom and Dad's cell phone numbers. I push a pin on their pin collector's lanyards through the card, so it is only visible from the rear. They feel more secure knowing that they can show their card to a cast member and get help in case they are separated from us."
-- contributed by Nancy Hogan 

PIXIE POWER
"Purchase the Mickey Mouse-shaped confetti or bring regular glitter and use it as 'Pixie Dust' from Tinker Bell. You can secretly sprinkle it in strollers while children are on rides. My daughter was lucky enough to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy on our last trip to Disney World. Ariel told her that Tinker Bell helps the Tooth Fairy, so there was Pixie Dust sprinkled from the hotel window to her pillow."
-- contributed by Elaine B. ( ...)

>Notes: Send us your tips ! You may see them in this newsletter and win a copy of PassPorter! 

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Q & A:
With Jennifer and Dave

lisam asks: "Can anyone recommend a stateroom on the Disney Cruise Line? We are looking at a verandah but are terrified because we have a very active 4 year old boy. We just returned from Wilderness Lodge, 6th floor, and had to bring in the furniture every night. Would we enjoy the verandah, how many locks, where's the plexiglass? HELP!"

Dave answers: "The verandah doors are very heavy and difficult to open. The door handle is the lock, but it has to be rotated upwards to unlock - not easy for an adult to figure out, no less a four year-old. I'd go out on a limb and say the only way a child that age can get out onto the verandah is if an adult opens the door. Once on the verandah, you'll find that there is no gap in the railing that a child could get through, and there's no way to climb up its side. My only concern would be the deck furniture -- if your child tried to stand on a chair or the little cocktail table it would probably tip over. The railings are still four feet high, so I can't imagine a child that size going over the railing, but in a small, enclosed space with lots of hard surfaces.... there'd be a lot of crying. If you think your child might climb the furniture, you can ask to have the furniture removed.

With supervision, I don't see a real problem, but I can't say a verandah is so enjoyable that it's worth worrying about your child's safety for the entire trip. A deluxe outside stateroom on Deck 2 or higher has a really big picture window - the view will be delightful, and you may have more peace of mind. If you can't relax on vacation, what's the point?"

Have a question? Post it at http://www.passporterboards.com -- and if you're lucky, you may find that folks have already asked and answered the same question that's on your mind!

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Future Newsletters:
Want To Get Published?

We're on the lookout for guest columnists to contribute articles to this newsletter. Not only is this a great way to give something back to the PassPorter community, but you get to see your name in "print" and receive a $25 gift certificate. For details and our article guidelines, please e-mail news@passporter.com. Articles about Disney and general travel are welcomed!

The new third edition of PassPorter's Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line and its Ports of Call is now available for pre-order.

Everyone gets a 15% discount and if you've already got a copy of PassPorter, you can register it to get a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of any PassPorter guidebook.

Order your copy today at:
http://www.passporterstore.com/store/dcl2005.aspx

Blooming To Life At The Flower & Garden Festival 
By Cheryl Pendry, Guest Columnist and PassPorter Message Board Guide

Every spring, Walt Disney World blossoms into life - and nowhere can that be seen more vividly than at Epcot. It is home to the Flower and Garden Festival, now into its twelfth year, and, as Cheryl Pendry reports, it's an event with something for everyone.

Disney in the spring was a new concept to me until last year. Usually we visit Walt Disney World in the wintertime, particularly at Christmas, when all the decorations are on show and additional festive events make visiting extra special. 

Having gotten used to enjoying all those additional Christmas events during our previous stays, I was keen to continue to get something more for our Disney admission price, so I started to look at what other events take place throughout the year. The Flower and Garden Festival, which this year runs from April 15 - June 5, immediately caught my attention. 

Centered around Epcot, our favorite park, I was instantly transfixed by the photos I found online of the flower beds in Future World and the various topiaries throughout the entire park. Never before had I seen such a stunning floral display - and my parents are exceptionally keen gardeners. I grew up surrounded by a garden, which was home to 2,000 flowers in bloom every summer and which used to stun and amaze everyone who visited us. 

But would the reality of the Festival live up to the hype? When we first set foot in Epcot on a fairly busy Saturday morning in early May, I will admit that I had my doubts. The photos had sent my expectations soaring sky high, but despite this, everything we saw was exactly how I'd pictured it. 

Topiaries welcome you first in front of Spaceship Earth and are scattered throughout the park. Some are old favorites and have been featuring in the Festival for many years, such as the trolls in Norway and the pandas playing in China, while others change each year. In 2004, guests were greeted by Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy together, highlighting the Magical Gatherings celebrations, while a new topiary of Tinker Bell took pride of place just in front of Spaceship Earth. This year, the word is that the main entrance topiaries will be a salute to the Happiest Celebration on Earth, which gets underway in the middle of the Flower and Garden Festival. Old favorites, such as the Beauty and the Beast and Lion King topiaries will be making a welcome return once again, but the Festival is about so much more than just topiaries. 

Flowers are scattered everywhere throughout the park, but for me, the highlights from last year were the amazing flower beds between Future World and World Showcase. A riot of color, featuring Mickey and flower shapes, these are planted out overnight, in just an eight-hour period. The turf is cut beforehand in preparation and the planting schedule is computer generated, so that the Disney gardeners know exactly where every flower needs to be planting. 

These were just some of the fascinating facts that we discovered on our backstage tour, exploring the work that goes into the Flower and Garden Festival. As this was to be our first visit to the Festival, we booked ourselves on to the Garden Discovery Tour. This three-hour tour is essentially a special Festival version of the Gardens of the World tour, which runs year round at Epcot. Costing $58, there are discounts available for both Annual Pass holders and Disney Vacation Club members, although it is worth bearing in mind that the tour name varies from year to year. This year, it is called Epcot Garden Discoveries. 

The tour guides are Disney gardeners, who can go into as much detail as you want about the various plants and flowers used in the displays and how each is created. Some of the topiary are temporary and are destroyed just weeks after the Festival ends. Even the permanent topiaries only have a lifetime of seven years and once the frames can no longer be used, they are melted down. 

The tour is unusual in that it's one of the few events during the Festival that has an additional charge. Another is the annual Mother's Day brunch, held in the World Showplace Pavilion between the United Kingdom and Canada. Anyone who visited Epcot during the Millennium Celebration will remember this as the site of the Millennium Village. Tickets for the meal, which takes place between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, and between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday May 8, cost $22.99 for adults, $12.99 for children aged 3 - 11, and tax and gratuity are included. Call 407-WDW-DINE to make your reservation. (Editor's note: this year the Brunch will be a Hero-themed character meal featuring Disney Characters such as Mickey, Aladdin, and Hercules.)

If you're not at Disney World over Mother's Day weekend, don't despair. There is plenty going on throughout the six weeks of the Festival. Everywhere you look in Epcot, there are things to see and do. The fragrance garden in France will astound you when you find out what actually goes into some of your favorite perfumes, while Farmer Mickey's Maze on the Imagination Walkway (replacing the DogGone Maze of the past couple of years) is aimed at children between the ages of two and five, but the topiaries within it can be admired by all ages. 

Other new additions this year include Minnie's Magnificent Butterfly Garden, home to hundreds of free-flying butterflies and the addition of 50 Hidden Mickey's, as part of the celebration of Disneyland's 50th anniversary.

If all this fires your imagination and you want to return home to create water features and topiaries in your own garden, then help is on hand from Great American Gardeners. On certain days throughout the Festival, you can enjoy interactive demonstrations at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Festival Center at Innoventions West. 

But the Festival isn't all about Flowers and Gardens, despite its name. It also features a liberal dose of "Flower Power," with concerts every night at the America Gardens Theater taking you back in time to the 1960s and 1970s. With three shows nightly at 5.45 p.m., 7.00 p.m. and 8.15 p.m., this year's line-up includes Davy Jones, the Turtles, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Nelsons and Orleans. 

Then there are the theme weekends, including "I Dig Bugs" April 22 - 24, allowing you to get a close-up look at unusual critters. There's an opportunity to think about "Art in the Garden" the following weekend. Other weekend highlights include expert tips on photography May 13 - 15 and then from May 20 - 22, Disney is promising more characters than ever before springing up all over the park. 

The Festival showcases Epcot at its brightest and best. It's fun and full of activities, with lots of extras to see and do. For full details of the events being planned for the 12th annual Flower and Garden Festival, which this year runs from April 15 - June 5, visit the special events section of the Walt Disney World website.

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Did you enjoy this article? Have questions? E-mail us at news@passporter.com or visit http://www.passporterboards.com to discuss your travel plans.

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The Best Advice 
by Christy J. Putnam, Guest Columnist 

After almost a year of planning, this past December we finally took our First Trip to Walt Disney World - and what a wonderful trip it was! I feel as though I've learned so much even as a first-time traveler. Before our trip, I read many guidebooks, spoke with friends and family who were Disney regulars, frequented websites and message boards, and planned accordingly. If you ask my family, they'd tell you I was obsessed with the planning - I'd call it a passion, but that's another story.

My husband and I had always planned on taking our first trip when our daughters were five and eight years old. So when the ball dropped and 2004 began, we decided to finally schedule our first trip to Walt Disney World. My husband had never been, and the last time I visited was during Walt Disney World's tenth anniversary (Epcot was not yet open), so we knew we'd need some help with planning. A friend of mine had just taken her first family trip to Walt Disney World, and recommended PassPorter. We decided to make the trip a surprise for our daughters, so I bought PassPorter when the girls were in school, and secretly began to plan. 

Each month brought more planning and brought us closer to the big day. I checked our countdown clock on a regular basis as I made lists, searched for discount codes and waited for the appropriate dates to make priority seatings. I dreamed of how we would surprise our daughters with the big news!

When all was said and done, we had a fantastic trip! My daughters were totally surprised, we loved our hotel choice, had wonderful weather and the parks did not feel crowded. I now think that I am VERY ready to plan our next trip based on the advice I'm glad I took, and the advice I wish I had taken. I've included examples of both to help my fellow planners:

Advice I'm Glad I Took:

Book your room early - I found that our hotel of choice (The Wilderness Lodge) was very popular and room availability was scarce.
Watch for discounts - I checked www.mousesavers.com, as well as the Walt Disney World Resorts posting boards on www.wdwinfo.com, on a daily basis. I was able to book a woods view room at the Wilderness Lodge for a great discount because of tips I received from these web sites.
Use a car service - We had a driver waiting for us at the airport when we went to pick up our luggage. He stopped at a grocery store so we could pick up a few items for the week, then brought us directly to the hotel. We didn't have to navigate directions or make stops at other hotels.
Buy the unlimited refill mugs at the hotel - We bought our travel mug the second day we were there, and I don't know why we waited until then! We regularly enjoyed soda, coffee, iced tea, and hot chocolate.
Buy Animal Kingdom meal deals - We thought the price was right, and it was nice to have vouchers for the drink and treat later in the day.
Schedule when you will visit each park ahead of time - There's really something to be said for planning ahead. I reviewed early entry days, projected daily attendance rates, scheduled events, such as Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom, park hours, our priority seatings (especially Cinderella's breakfast since it was difficult to obtain) as I made our schedule for the week.
Plan some down time - Because this was our first trip, I wanted to plan as much as I could, but we were buying five-day Pass Hopper tickets and we were staying for eight nights. We had tickets for some of the night time extras, such as Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and Cirque du Soleil, so we used those days to relax by the pool. I also scheduled character breakfasts on our "down days." 
Tell everyone about a birthday and/or anniversary - This trip was full of celebrations. Both my daughter's and my husband's birthdays (which happen to fall on the same day) were while we were at Disney World. My husband and I were also celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary (which had occurred the week before we left). When I made our priority seatings, I told them about the birthdays, and we were pleasantly surprised. My daughter has a keepsake place mat, and enjoyed a cupcake for breakfast. Cast members constantly wished my daughter and husband a happy birthday, and one cast member in England even called Mickey Mouse to have him personally wish them a happy birthday. My husband and I also shared a delicious dessert to celebrate our anniversary that was delivered by Cinderella herself.

Advice I Wish I Had Taken:

Don't plan more than two or three character meals for a week-long trip - I wanted my girls to experience as much as possible, so I scheduled a character meal for almost every day. By about the second day, we realized it was too much. It's fun to see the characters and get autographs, but it definitely takes time away from the parks. Next time, I'll schedule two character meals.
Follow the touring plans in the guide books - Each night, my husband and I planned our first few rides based on our guide books. We followed the plans for two or three rides, but then would somehow get sidetracked. Had we followed the plans for the majority of the day, we would have experienced more rides and attractions.
When "down time" is scheduled, let it be actual down time - On days which we had designated as "down time," I still planned character meals that involved going to other resorts. One of our down days seemed more hectic than our days when we went to a park! Next time, we'll stay put at our resort to enjoy the pools, restaurants, and even a nap!
Take the "classic" family photos - Everyone said, "Take lots of pictures," and we did, but we didn't take many of the "classics." I'm talking about pictures often seen in Walt Disney World advertising - smiling families in front of Cinderella's castle, Mickey's Sorcerer's Hat, and Spaceship Earth. We were often in such a rush to go to our first ride when we entered each park that we didn't want to take any pictures then. We figured we would take "the picture" later. Later, we would be tired and have cranky girls who didn't want their picture taken. We took several pictures of the various parades and of all the animals we saw in Animal Kingdom, but we neglected to take many pictures of ourselves. For many families, including ours, this type of a trip may only happen a few times in a lifetime - don't miss out on taking the pictures! 

Now I'm ready for next time!!

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Did you enjoy this article? Have questions? E-mail us at news@passporter.com or visit http://www.passporterboards.com to discuss planning your Disney vacation.