October 27, 2008 Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
November 28, 2008 - January 4, 2009
Mickey’s Jingle Jungle is a colorful and lively parade that takes place in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and other friends go for a great jungle adventure while fun performances take place and magnificent holiday music plays. The cheerful and exotic Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade is known for its outstanding abstract animal images, amazing designs made with natural materials and fabrics, and unique holiday decorations.
Posted in Orlando Tagged: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Donald Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade, Minnie Mouse      
Downtown Disney Area
November 28 - December 24, 2008
Festival of the Seasons at Downtown Disney Area provides a spectacular holiday shopping experience. All the Disney stores are decorated for the holidays and feature a great variety of holiday merchandise. Live entertainment, wonderful light consistent displays, Santa’s presence, magnificent music and friendly performers make the holiday shopping experience enjoyable and fun. Some of the stores at Downtown Disney Area are Once Upon A Toy, Virgin Megastore, LEGO Imagination Center and Disney’s Days of Christmas.
Posted in Orlando Tagged: Disney Christmas, Downtown Disney, Festival of the Seasons, LEGO, Santa, Virgin Megastore      
October 26, 2008 Downtown Disney is Disney’s shopping and entertainment district which is great because you don’t need a ticket.
- Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. This ice cream parlor doesn’t serve any “real” food but who needs it?!? The Sundaes, cones, Ice Cream, Floats, Banana Splits, cocoa, coffee, and more will certainly satisfy your sweet tooth. Indulge in some family stickiness with the Earthquake Sundae which has 8 scoops of ice cream, 8 toppings, sliced bananas, whipped cream, chopped almonds, and cherries ($29.95).
- House of Blues. Cajun inspired cuisine and funky décor make this a fun place to dine. Night owls can enjoy live Blues music on Thursday, Friday, & Saturday nights after 11:00 PM. Check their website to be sure there isn’t a special event that requires a ticket the night of your planned visit.
- Planet Hollywood. The food and service are only so-so on a good night but the movie memorabilia and building are worth a stop at least once in your life. Very noisy restaurant. If you booked a “Magic Your Way” package, you’ll have a voucher with a $15 meal voucher.
- Raglan Road. We love this restaurant! Irish Pub décor with live music after 9:00 PM. The music will generally include Irish folk songs as well as Celtic infused interpretations of American 80’s & 90’s cover songs. Once the music starts, it is a loud Pub atmosphere. Guests from the United Kingdom either love it or hate it.
- Rainforest Café ~ Neat restaurant with a giant fish tank, waterfalls, jungle ambiance and the occasional “thunderstorm”. Food and service are average but the well-themed restaurant is a fun spot to eat.
- T-Rex ~ Truthfully, we haven’t been to this restaurant yet because it just opened. It is designed by the same folks who brought us the Rainforest Café so we suspect that the restaurant décor will be very impressive. This restaurant might be worth a try - I’d love to hear from anyone who has been there.
- While not elaborately themed, Bongos Cuban Café, Wolf Gang Puck Express, and Earl of Sandwich all have food that generally appeals to older kids and teens.
Our next post will be the last in this series - it’ll also be our biggest because we’ll be looking at restaurants in the Walt Disney World Resort hotels.
     
[blogger note: I meant to post this a week ago, but an unexpected throwdown with some heavy wood furniture left my dominant hand wrapped up and me unable to type well. So please pardon the lateness - I hope you still enjoy the post. :) ]
As you know, we blogged before about the massive Create Chaos web/graphic design conference and I actually attended the Wednesday panels, as well as poked around the expo hall. Beyond journalistic curiosity, I freelance in web design, so I was interested in hearing from people who do it full-time as a career. I figured I could pick up a lot of information and pointers - much as I did at other recent local tech events.
Unfortunately, my experience was rather mixed.
I started the morning with the Freshbooks panel, “Marketing for Creative Professionals,” which was so packed that I actually found myself sitting outside the room watching the presentation. Also enjoyed their next presentation, “How to Make Love to Your Customers! ” - there’s a real truth to exceeding expectations and thinking outside the box. I then poked my head into a few other panels, but nothing was really of interest to me so I went to check out the expo hall. Found a few interesting services to check out…and the Izea peeps (Ashley, I SWEAR I am NOT stalking you. LOL ), but was surprised there weren’t more exhibitors. I then hopped between two panels, one of which was titled “Designing Websites That Don’t Look Like Websites” when it should’ve been named “how to lead a panel that people walk out of.” Seriously folks, don’t spend the first 25 min of a panel showing pictures of your office and talking about your resume when people are there to learn. That’s all I’m saying.
Wrapped up my day at Create Chaos by taking in the intimate FreshBooks panel on what their company is all about. It’s an online invoicing and time tracking service that actually accomplishes more than that and it impressed me enough to give it a try, I think. Not just because it’s relevant to my work, but because I liked how informative their staff were at the earlier panels with ideas on building your business and customer service seems to be definite priority to them. It does have a free version if you want to give it a look over (if any of you run home businesses or are self-employed).
I would’ve taken photos but Create Chaos wasn’t allowing audio or cameras of any kind. Boo on them - especially at the prices they were charging. They did post photos of their own at Flickr, though.
Wandered around a bit in the conference center after everything wrapped for the day because running simultaneously at the Marriott with Create Chaos was the “industry only” ShowEast, a trade show for theater owners to see what films are coming out in the next six months and decide which ones to book, as well as see what items are available to enhance their theaters and attract customers. I couldn’t get into the actual panels, but the lobby was free to walk through and all the major studios had huge standees and posters up touting upcoming releases. Of course I took a few photos:
  
Nobody at ShowEast seemed to mind my cellphone camera going off, and given a chance I would have gladly walked off with the huge multi-panel standee for Baz Luhrman’s upcoming epic, Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Couldn’t figure out a way to fit it in my car, though. Tried to take a photo of it, but was thwarted there, too, since it always seemed to have a group standing in front of it.
If any of you were at Create Chaos, would love to hear your feedback. Heck, drop us a line if you just want to talk upcoming films, too. :)
October 24, 2008
October 23, 2008
October 22, 2008  Disney’s Magic Kingdom is an amazing theme park but the food is somewhat less amazing for teens, especially since three (soon to be two) of the restaurants feature character meals. There are only a few restaurants on our list for today but don’t panic - you might find some good options in the Disney Resorts Restaurants information we’ll post soon.
Character meals ~ Don’t be too quick to completely rule out character meals. Kids can sometimes be surprisingly sentimental and nostalgic about favorite characters. My own teens are always willing to give Winnie-the-Pooh a hug for old time’s sake so a Character meal at the Crystal Palace is an option for our family of sophisticated young adults.
Note: Beginning January 5th, 2009; dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern will no longer be a character meal although it will continue to serve both dinner and lunch. The food is hearty and good and is served family style.
Cinderella’s Royal Table / Dinner Only ~ This restaurant features princesses at all three meals but dinner is handled differently because this is still a restaurant where people get engaged or enjoy special anniversaries. At dinner, most of the characters are available for photos in the foyer and Fairy Godmother presides over the meal but doesn’t come to the tables. The setting is beautiful and the view of the evening Wishes Fireworks is really neat because some of the fireworks are launched quite close to the restaurant. This is a fairly expensive restaurant - $42.99 Ages 10 & Up / $26.99 Ages 3 - 9 but you will receive some photos of your group with the characters. At some point in his teens, my son decided that the princesses are “hot” and he no longer minded going to princess meals with his younger sisters.
Plaza Restaurant ~ Charming little restaurant that serves soup, sandwiches, burgers, and salads. The hand-dipped sundaes, soda, floats, & milkshakes are the highlight and this is a nice spot for a break from the crowds.
Now I know that, in an earlier post, I said that we wouldn’t cover counter-service options in this series but it would be almost tragic if you went to the Magic Kingdom and didn’t get a Dole Whip from Aloha Isle in Adventure Land. Dole Whips are pineapple soft-serve icecream and they are so, so very good on a hot Florida day. The “Sprinkles vs. No-Sprinkles” debate in our family makes this year’s presidential election seem mild. This is an excellent use of one of those Disney Dining Plan snack credits!
Check back soon for Downtown Disney restaurant recommendations.
     
With all the stresses in life, sometimes it is smart to simple take a break from it all. Often during times such as these individuals plan an Orlando vacation and stay at hotel nearby Disney or the other major theme parks. Life is full of items that can bring a person down and sometimes a little trip away from home is all that is needed to make someone feel better about themselves and their family.
Families and individuals may convince themselves that now is not the right time for an Orlando vacation and sometimes this is the case. However more often than not, people endlessly put aside a trip because “now is not the right time”. This post is to remind people to relax, breathe, and enjoy themselves. Our staff will not take it personally if you decide to travel to someplace besides Orlando. We still suggest taking a breather and going on a vacation.
Vacations often help people feel better and assist individuals in remembering there is more to life than just work and the day to day routine tasks that encompass an average day. There are countless stresses in life and one could write an entirely different article on this topic alone. However the point of this post is not to remind you of these. Everyone here at Orlando Vacation Hotels feels that everybody deserves a break at some point in time and we only wanted to write a reminder.
Do yourself a giant favor! Take a little time off and take a break. Whether it results in travelling someplace or decide just to take a little time away from the office, you will likely be glad you did. Live long, enjoy life, and maybe even take a trip!
October 21, 2008
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Here’s the rundown of all injuries-that required a stay of at least 24 hours in a hospital-that happened at Walt Disney World:
A central Florida woman is suing Disney after they said she could ride the Tower of Terror no more . She currently holds the record for the most rides of single riders, 56 times, after she got a prescription for her chronic pain that included riding the Tower of Terror. She and her doctor say the G-forces and up and down movement of this ride really help, forcing her to only get one surgery a year instead of several.
