WDWSpring13 Trip Report

The second official trip of the Disney2013 season wrapped up yesterday and the TSC is hailing it as a wild success. The trip was attended by representatives from The TSC LIC, Astoria, Brooklyn, and Houston offices and was an opportunity for the TSC to get one last look at the first ever Epcot International Flower and Garden festival to combine Food and Wine. 

Accommodations once again were at the TSC's preferred set of hotels, The Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin complex with rooms this time at the Dolphin. Naturally, the TSC was upgraded to a King Suite with adjoining room and conference table (for conducting official TSC business such as sending fake faxes and eating pizza for breakfast we forgot we had ordered). 

EPCOT's Norway Pavilion Celebrates Constitution DayDay 1 began with a stop at EPCOT to take advantage of a few food & wine booths as a light lunch, the obligatory stop at La Cava Del Tequila, a ride on Maelstrom (Happy Consitution Day, Norway), and a chance for funnelcakelouis to swap out her paper annual pass at the odyssey. 

Next it was on to the Magic Kingdom...errr...'Ohana for Lapu Lapus, and THEN the Magic Kingdom. Crowds were light at MK (likely due to the draw of Stars Wars Weekend happening over at stanksville). Members enjoyed the new Little Mermaid attraction in Fantasyland, Philharmagic, Big Thunder (new interactive queue is great), and the Jungle Cruise before voting to get the hell out.

Day 2 was the Total EPCOT day (every trip needs one). We started by picking up some Soarin Fastpasses and then a gentle ride on Living With The Land (arguably the ride that exemplifies EPCOT's original message most). Then we skulked around some more, did a little lurking followed by some drinking and some eating.

Then we showed up to our lunch reservations at EPCOT's venerable Le Cellier Steakhouse in the Canada pavilion. The service was superb and the steak we shared was cooked perfectly. The scallop appetizer (order 2 for 4 people at least) was a big winner but the Lobster Mac & Cheese, while good, didn't live up to expectations. The meal was also accompanied by various pieces of information from the server of where the food originates and how it represents various regions of Canada - a nice touch that only EPCOT could do.

The festival was great. The lines we experienced on both of the TSC's spring trips this year were nothing compared to the waits one can encounter during the fall Food & Wine festival and both of our trips were on weekends. The TSC voted that the best bite of the festival goes to Mexico for its Tacos de Carnitas. Honorable mention goes to the Shrimp with Grits from Florida Fresh and the Asparagi con Aragosta all'Ortolana (asparagus with lobster) from Italy. It should also be mentioned that our TSC New Jersey Prez housed the Frushi in about 2 seconds flat without coming up for air last month...so ya know. Important to note, each participating member of the TSC completed his or her passport for the Food & Wine & Flower & Garden festival. 

EPCOT O'ClockFinally our evening was capped off by what we all agreed to be the best view of IllumiNations we have ever had. We stood just to the west of Mexico in front of the bridge that takes you to the Odyssey. To be fair we held that spot down for a solid 90 minutes prior to the start of IllumiNations which was necessary as before too long we were starting to get invaders. After that it was some time in MouseGear before heading back to the Atlantic Dance Hall at Disney's Boardwalk hotel for some LI Iced teas and the Electric Slide. By 4am we were all tanked and separated and Louis was getting rides in a wheelchair from three strangers down the ramp outside of the Dolphin.

Another successful trip.

This trip marks the end of the first half of this year's Disney trips as with the onset of the summer months the TSC goes into its annual Disney summer blackout period. The next scheduled official TSC trip is to our first ever runDisneyland trip to participate in the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend events over Labor Day and marking the beginning of our fall trip schedule. There were, however, rumors that the TSC is planning an unprecented summer weekend trip called Evenings at EPCOT whereby the TSC can still visit the resort this summer but only during the cool evening hours after a day of poolside bloody marys. However, nothing has been confirmed at this time.

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TSC Announces Additional Mid-May WDW Trip

The TSC BQA (Brooklyn and Queens Alliance) held an impromptu summit Sunday afternoon in order to discuss throwing together a last minute trip to WDW during the Month of may in order to get in a little extra magic before the summer season begins. The summer season is traditionally the TSCs off-season for visiting Disney parks because who the hell wants to deal with the crowds and the heat? "After that July 4th distaster of 2005 we haven't been back during the high summer season since" stated Jerome of the TSC LIC office.

It is uncertain what prompted the last minute trip but an anonymous source that happens to be a doll inside the TSC indicated that members got drunk Saturday night and really wanted to go so it's happening. They met over bloody marys and The Hills reruns on Sunday afternoon to cement plans and book flights for the trip.

This newest addition to the 2013 lineup means that the TSC will attend Disney parks this year at least 6 times. That will be a new record for TSC attendance and is certain to raise eyebrows among many TSC observers. 

The TSC has not released an offical lineup for the new trip but it is likely one will be released within days. 

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Magic Kingdom's New Parade to Arrive 2014

Today Disney announced that in spring 2014 the Magic Kingdom will be receiving a new daytime parade to celebrate the long-awaited completion of the new Fantasyland. "Festival of Fantasy" will feature all new parade units and an original parade theme song. It will focus on many of the attractions and stories being told in the new Fantasyland. 

This parade will replace the current daytime parade Celebrate a Dream Come True (CDCT) which has been lulling guests to sleep since 2009. The dream come true is that this parade is finally being tossed onto the ash heap of history. CDCT is a giant, slow-moving snooze fest that pales in comparison to the spectacular daytime parades that currently roll through Disneyland in California and Hong Kong Disneyland (Soundsational and Flights of Fantasy). 

This mirrored float pictured in 1986 still rolls down Main St, USAWe are hoping that Festival of Fantasy, unlike all of its predecessors, will not recycle that rickety, mirrored junker that has been wobbling down main street parades since at least 1986 when it was a part of the Disney World 15th anniversary parade. 

2013 Disney Update: April Kickoff Trip Takes Shape

This year the TSC’s campaign, Disney 2013: Coast to Coast, is off to an ambitious start. It’s safe to say that 2013 is the TSC’s most robust lineup to date with trips slated for April, September, and the fall that include not only Walt Disney World, but the TSC’s first ever trips to Disneyland in California and Disneyland Paris in France as well as the second anniversary of the TSC’s Epcot Center New York City Bar Crawl.

The TSC is cementing plans for the 2013 kickoff trip to WDW in April that is sure to set the stage for a year of firsts. The TSC LIC and Jersey offices released a joint statement this morning announcing bookings for the Polynesian Luau as well as Dinner reservations for Teppan Edo in Epcot’s Japan pavilion. 

Libby of the TSC NJ office was quoted saying “i’m shaking! Can we take naps at the swan?”

At the time of this writing it was still uncertain whether or not Funnel Cake Louis would be in attendance at the trip as the Houston office is still laying out its April travel schedule which includes a visit to the TSC northeast corridor for high level meetings with TSC senior leadership.

While the TSC has been clear about its intentions to attend Disneyland and the Food and Wine festival this fall, news about their Disneyland Paris trip has been slow to arrive and it is believed the TSC Jersey and LIC offices are keeping plans under tight wraps until more definitive plans can be released. When pressed for comment Jerome was tightlipped except to say, “Look, one thing the TSC is good at is planning trips. However, Paris presents several new hurdles we have less experience in planning such as how do we offend Parisians with our drunken antics? And how will our hangovers be affected by the lack of sulfites in the wine there? Will we drink alcohol in the Disneyland Park? All of these questions will be answered in due time.”

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Disney Parks Blog Drops Ball on IllumiNations Anniversary

In case you missed it, yesterday, January 30th, marked 25 years since the original version of IllumiNations debuted at EPCOT Center. It was exciting to see, at first, that Disney Parks Blog (DPB) had an entry about this special occasion. The excitement was short-lived as in typical Disney style the DPB totally phoned it in with this sorry excuse for a blog entry.

First they entice you to "click here" to view a gallery of photos of IllumiNations. I now wish I saved the valuable calories i spent using my index finger to click on that gallery. They showed six stock photos of the current show that hardly even show anything interesting. Two of the six photos are of a couple posed gazing lovingly at the show. Really? Where are the backstage photos of the equipment in storage or the pictures of the designers or concept art for some of the various versions of the show? I could open my iPhone right now and find 10 pics of IllumiNations more worthy of a blog post than their pathetic gallery. To be fair there is one picture of what could be Original IllumiNations but is almost certainly Laserphonic Fantasy.

Next they devote about half of a paragraph to telling the history of the show through the years. Here they completely left out, or forgot, that there was a version of IllumiNations after IllumiNations 25 but before Reflections of Earth called IllumiNations 98 when the show took a turn back to a classical music score synched to all new visuals. 

A quick search of many of the Disney fan sites out there will give you a much fuller and accurate description of this show through the years such as WDWMagic.com and Intercot.com. Even our own WTSC Radio played a 2 hour special last night called History of IllumiNations to mark the occasion. Shouldn't we expect more from Disney?