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INTERCOT Insider
December
2004
- Edition One |
Brought to you by
INTERCOT's network of sites:
INTERCOT - Walt Disney World
Inside & Out
INTERCOT West - Disneyland Inside
& Out
INTERCOT's WebDisney - Guide to
Disney on the Internet
INTERCOT's MousehutMail - Free Web
Based Email
INTERCOT's Thrillride
Experience - Thrill Ride Parks & Attractions
This newsletter and other past issues can also be read online at;
http://www.intercot.com/interactive/insider/archive
<< Introduction >>
Happy Holidays
from the INTERCOT family to you and yours! This holiday edition of the
Insider has something for everyone. Exciting new things are happening at
Walt Disney World and Casey tells us all about it. Carol will inform us
about the numerous new additions to Info Central on INTERCOT, and Ray tells
us how to find all the info you may have missed in past Insider editions.
Heard about the Family Magic Tour at Disney's Magic Kingdom? Carol will tell
us her experience on the tour in this edition’s “Member Memoir”. A lot of
great information awaits. Sit back and enjoy!
<< Disney World Events with DisneyWizard >>
December is a great month for Walt Disney World, and the news and events
prove it. Besides the Holiday festivities, this December and January will
bring a whirlwind of new things to look forward to.
- Extra Magic Hours change –
Beginning January 2nd, Disney will offer different Extra Magic Hours. Each
day a different park will be open early in the morning, and/or up to three
hours later for resort guests. All part of the “Magic Your Way” plan, this
system was tested out this past May to varying success.
“…keeping [Magic Kingdom] open an extra 3 hours is obviously a big win for
everyone.” –TracyL
“If I had to choose between a mix of mornings and evenings, or just
mornings, I'd prefer mornings. I like to beat the crowds.” –Marisa luvs
Mickey
“Magic Your Way should be re-named ‘Lots of options, but really no better
than what we had last year...just a new name.’” –DisneyRN
“Now I will want to specifically avoid each park with an evening [Extra
Magic Hour] altogether, as attendance is guaranteed to be considerably
higher that day.” –Spaceship Tigger
Extra
Magic Hour Schedule
- New Year’s Events in the World –
This New Year’s Eve will feature a variety of events for everyone from
families to party-animals. Epcot and Magic Kingdom will be offering earlier
fireworks (in addition to the countdown fireworks) for those that want to
make it an early night, presenting Illuminations and Wishes at 7:30pm and
8:30pm respectively. For those who want to be a little more rowdy Downtown
Disney will feature performances by Cheap Trick, Tone Loc, Kurtis Blow, and
Kim Waters. The main attraction with this event is of course the champagne
and dessert.
New Year’s Eve Details
- Castle Getting Temporary Enhancement –
Throughout the upcoming celebration, “The Happiest Celebration on Earth,”
the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom will undergo cosmetic changes.
Beginning in May of 2005 golden figures of Disney characters and imagery
will be placed all along the Castle include Peter Pan and friends flying
atop the spire. In the center of it all will be a portion of stained glass
displaying each Disney castle from around the world.
“I hope I get the chance to see it in person!” –mickeymousemom
“Judging by the job they did on the DL castle for the 50th I'm not worried
about this being another cake disaster.” –mjstaceyuofm
“I think it looks so elegant and beautiful.” –buzznwoodysmom
Photos and More
Information
- Figment has a Meet and Greet –
Epcot has unveiled Figment’s Place - a Meet and Greet area with none other
than Figment. Guests can now take photos (unfortunately word has it that he
cannot sign autographs) with their favorite purple dragon at the Imagination
Pavilion inside of Epcot.
“…it's great to see Figment as a character outside of the attraction…” –TiggerRPh
“I wish I could’ve met him.” –sagitarius
“Adding a Figment meet and greet is cool. I think he deserves one.” –SpecJoe
Magic
Click For photos
<< Carol's Communicore >>
Happy
December, Everyone.
What's New?
- Magic Your Way Debuts In 2005 -
Beginning January 2, 2005, the Walt Disney World Resort will offer
tickets to the various theme parks, attractions and other entertainment
offerings that are tailored to the length of a guest's vacation and - and
allow them to save more per day based on their length of stay.
New packages are also being introduced at the same time highlighting
affordability and flexibility. Guests can now select from a more convenient
array of package options to design a vacation that best fits their specific
needs and budgets.
Discussion
Ticket
Details
Package
Information
Dining Plan Participating Restaurants
Speaking of budgets, a new page pertaining to Historic Walt Disney
World Discounts is now available in Info Central. The page tracks discounts
previously offered to give guests an idea of what may happen with discounts
in the future.
Historic Walt Disney World Discounts
- Disney PhotoPass Debuts -
Instead of having to wait in line at a Photo Center for your vacation
photos, guests may now view, share and order their photos online at
DisneyPhotoPass.com. Guests will still be able to view and purchase
their vacation photos at Disney Photo Centers located throughout property.
However, if they want to wait until they arrive home they'll have that
option.
More
Details
Park Hours
and Events are currently posted through February. Visit Info Central to
fine-tune your vacation plans.
Park Hours &
Events
Happy
Planning! See you all next year!
<< Bytes & Pieces with
TiggerRPh >>
The INTERCOT Insider is our twice-monthly newsletter detailing the latest
happenings at the Walt Disney World Resort and here at INTERCOT. What do we
do with all those old newsletters? Well, like any good source for
information, we archive them for you.
Whether you’re a new reader of the newsletter and want to catch up on
information or an INTERCOT veteran trying to look something up, we’ve saved
it for you. In our Insider archives you may find a restaurant or resort
review that might help you plan for an upcoming trip to Walt Disney World.
Or maybe you’ll find some trivia information from WDWDriver.
I’ve peaked your interest now, right? Now, I bet you’re asking, “Ray…where
do I find these old issues? I don’t see a link to them.” Ah, but we do. In
the upper right hand corner of the site, next to “INTERCOT Shop” and “Info
Central” tabs, is a tab labeled “Interactive.” Click this tab. The fifth
link down on this page is “INTERCOT Insider Archives.” You’ve reached your
destination. Now that wasn’t so hard was it? Actually though, we’re not
quite there. Click on this link and now you’re there. Listed here are all
the INTERCOT Insiders that we have done.
You need to remember that this archive is a work in progress. Right now, we
have archived all the issues of the Insider back to May of this year. Our
wonderful Insider staff is busy working on archiving the remaining issues of
2004 and coming soon issues from 2003.
Insider Archives
<< Family Magic Tour -
Members Memoirs >>
Carol took her
son on the Family Magic Tour offered at Magic Kingdom on a recent vacation
and had a blast. Below is a segment from her “Halloween Hoopla” trip
reports;
” I was told to check-in for the tour 30 minutes early. When we met up with
our group we received a bottle of water and a sticker to wear. (Everyone had
a different symbol drawn on their Peter Pan stickers with their names. We
were the “tick-tocks”. There were a total of 16 of us in attendance.)
Let me preface this by saying experiences for this tour will vary greatly. A
lot depends on your guide and group. We so happened to have an excellent
guide, Cory, and a fantastic group of children and adults eager to
participate.
We gathered around Cory to find out what our mission was. He was quite sad
actually. He had just found out from Mickey Mouse that Captain Hook’s
favorite hook was stolen. If Cory did not have it back by noon Captain Hook
was going to turn the Magic Kingdom over to the pirates. Arg! (Now this was
very comical since Shayne was sporting 2 Stitch tattoos. Cory was not sure
Shayne could be trusted – since pirates have tattoos. )
Nevertheless, we were allowed to stay despite the tattoos. We introduced
ourselves and had to tell everyone who our favorite Disney character was.
(More on that later.) We were given Mickey dust to toss up into the air for
good luck. At this time Cory presented the scroll of clues. There were 9 in
total. We’d have to solve each of the clues to receive the next – with the
end result the hook.
I don’t want to give away the clues. However, I will tell you we ended up
pretty much in all of the lands. At one point we had to cross the bridge to
Tomorrowland acting like “our favorite characters”. This was SO funny. I
imagine if there are party-poopers in the touring party it would definitely
deflate the fun. Not our group. We acted out great!
We also had to sneak through Cosmic Ray’s crawling on our hands and knees.
You should have seen the patrons looking at us. When we arrived at the exit
Cory felt no one noticed us. LOL! Also at the exit the flood gates opened.
It was POURING! Cory dismissed us for our break. We all grabbed drinks and
hoped the rain would stop before our 15 minutes were up. It did lighten to a
drizzle. Thankfully.
Our next journey involved making wishes with pennies in the fountain,
walking backwards, doing pirouettes, hopping, skipping, jumping, taking
giant steps … etc. It was so much fun!
Those last 15 giant steps took us to Liberty Square. We were searching for
Tink’s “prison”. Once found - the last clue took us to a glade. Upon
approaching - out jumps Peter Pan and Wendy. (I have to tell you – they were
unbelievable. So much so I wrote Disney a letter. Both were so into their
character!) At this point Peter fesses up to stealing the hook. He ducked
behind some trees and brought it out. Lots of cheers erupted. We had saved
the Magic Kingdom from the pirates! Arg!
At this time we took family photos, received autographed declarations and
were invited to go see Mickey’s PhilharMagic with Peter and Wendy. Shayne
was asked to hold onto the hook for safe keeping. Cory would make sure it
got back to the Captain thereafter. Peter was very naughty along the way. He
jumped in puddles and rang the Liberty bell – to name a few. When we arrived
at the attraction we were escorted into a private waiting area. The children
played duck-duck-goose with Peter and Wendy. They played for about 15
minutes. We were taken into the theater. Peter was not thrilled about having
to go all the way down to the end of an aisle. He pouted. (They let us bend
the rules and had a special spot just for the tour folk.)
Peter sat next to Shayne and had us laughing through the entire viewing. He
stood up and yelled when his segment of the show came on screen. He even
asked Shayne if he thought Ariel was a true redhead.
After the show Peter and Wendy shook our hands and thanked us. I cannot tell
you how much fun we had. Shayne is still talking about it. Peter Pan jumped
right to the top of his “favorites”. The tour was only $25 each. We got a
discount for being Vacation Club members and paid $20. It was worth that and
a whole lot more. Shayne was the perfect age. He was young enough to not
worry about being silly – and old enough to know where the clues lead.
Great – great fun!!!”
Tour
Information
<< Off Topic with ChipDale >>
Lucky Jane is
enjoying some well deserved time at Disneyland. She’ll be back later in the
month to update us on the November Water Cooler happenings.
<< Conclusion >>
Hope you have
enjoyed this issue of the Insider, and as always, we welcome any
suggestions, comments or vacation memoirs to be sent to
[email protected]. With
2004 coming to an end, here’s wishing you all a joyous and safe holiday
season! We hope you continue to join us at INTERCOT to plan those 2005 Walt
Disney World vacations! Happy New Year!
<< INTERCOT Would Like To Thank>>
The INTERCOT Insider and INTERCOT.com
are supported by the following sponsors who in turn, help us bring the Magic
to you!
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