Photo Flashback! Mission: SPACE Passholder Preview

In 2003, Ridge and I took a brother/sister trip to Walt Disney World for the Annual Passholder Preview of Mission: SPACE.  We rode it over and over.  Ridge survived more trips to Mars than I did.  After about three in a row, I was off looking for some Sprite while he took another trip.  We met a young teen in line who was pretty much spending his whole vacation there trying to see how many times he could ride this attraction.  I really enjoy Mission: SPACE but with pregnancy and then trips with babies, I haven't been able to ride it in years.

Here we are playing with one of those disposable wide shot cameras.

What do you think about Mission: SPACE? Are you Team Orange or Team Green?  Or Team Walk-On-By?

He's Everyone's Favorite Guy....Gaston! (A Look at Gaston's Tavern)

And yes, he uses antlers in all of his decorating.

On our most recent Walt Disney World vacation, the Growing Up Disney family, or most of it, attended the Annual Passholder Preview of New Fantasyland.  It was a treat to see the attractions early and with so little crowd.  My husband, Tink, Ridge, and myself went back for more fun during a dress rehearsal the following day.  This is a collection of photos of Gaston's Tavern from the many cameras we haul around on vacation.

Took this during the AP preview.  Knew I'd never see it so open again.

Nicely done exterior courtyard of Gaston's Tavern

Sure to be a popular photo spot

I didn't realize he was a fan.

And if you line up the shot just right....

What a generous gift!

Chris says I totally walked past Gaston without seeing him but you might catch him outside the tavern.  Be more observant than me and say hello.

And on to the food.  Chris tried the pork shank and said it was delicious.  I am the proud owner of one of each of the souvenir cups.  Pricey but cute.  Wish they were dishwasher safe.

The rest of the offerings.  The LeFou's Brew is VERY sweet. I'd  suggest the hummus and pita chips to balance it.  Overall a good selection of quick pick-me-ups and treats.  We also grabbed some ice cream from the cart right outside and brought it in for the girls.

Tink liked the LeFou's Brew, basically fancy frozen apple juice.

A closer look at the souvenir mugs. 

Antlers being used in the smaller seating area.  Occupancy 24 according to the sign on the wall.  The seating in here is just long tables and short stools.

There are darts all over the place.  LeFou must be really bad at this game.  The fact that it's way too high on the wall for him couldn't help.

This is the larger of the two seating areas.  This one holds 50-60 people.

Gaston's huge and hairy chair

A painting about as big as Gaston's ego

The artificial fireplace was a nice touch.

Loved the antler chandelier.

Looked hidden Mickey-ish to me.

Gaston's chair scared the fool out of my girls.  We tried taking pictures of Tink and a friend the next day and she still would only stand beside the chair.  The other preschooler didn't mind the chair at all.

DisneyDad enjoying Gaston's chair.

"Best Of" Week: How Do You Do It?

I received an email from a reader today questioning how we go to Walt Disney World so often.  He also inquired as to the careers of our team.  First, thank you, Jerry, for the kind email.  Second, I am a stay-at-home mom but the men in the family work in engineering, computers and insurance.  They all make a good living but nothing outrageous.  So...how do we do it?

As you mentioned, we are a Disney Vacation Club family.  That has made all the difference.  My parents bought in 1993 and while it is still a good program, it was a better value back then.  Without that decision, this blog and most of its stories would not exist.  DVC members are eligible for reduced price annual passes and some discounts around property.  We also take advantage of the discounts offered to annual passholders and Disney Visa cardholders.  Speaking of Disney Visa, we get credits back on our purchases and we use that toward vacation.  My husband and I run everything we can through that card and pay it off every month.  This allows mundane purchases like groceries to add more magic to our trips.  I've given my brother a Disney gift card and my dad Tables in Wonderland for birthday gifts in the past. 

We all live within 575-650 miles of Walt Disney World which allows us to save money on transportation by driving.  My brother tends to travel solo but he watches Southwest and has been able to fly on some very low fares.  And now that we don't all live nearby each other, WDW gives us a chance to visit each other and catch up a bit.

Back to Tables in Wonderland, that is a discount plan available to annual passholders, Florida residents and DVC members.  For $75-100 per year, you get 20% off of table service meals plus a few other perks.  When we are going more than once in a year and/or traveling in a group, it can pay for itself quickly.

As far as the blog goes, DisneyDad has been going to WDW for 40 years so that's a lot of stories, plus when you add in the lovely friends who write along with us, it does look like someone is always traveling.

And I guess the biggest thing is that this is our main hobby.  Some people buy boats; we go to Walt Disney World.

This post originally appeared on Growing Up Disney on May 22, 2012.  

Stars Fell on Disney Fans from Alabama, Ridge Edition

Yesterday, Chris was featured on A Disney Mom's Thoughts as a part of the Stars Fell on Disney Fans from Alabama series.  Read why he loves his location in Alabama and the benefits of a premium annual pass.  Please visit Beth's terrific blog and let her know we sent you.  
I am proud to have shared an article with Beth as well.  Click here for my post in this series. --Amy 

On the DL with Chad: Why the History of DisneyLAND Means the World to Me

"To all who come to this happy place, welcome.  Disneyland is your land... with the hope that it will be a source of joy, and inspiration, to all the world" 
- Walt Disney, 1955

Disneyland - 1955

The beginning, and the end, of Walt Disney's 1955 Disneyland dedication speech is something that still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, which is probably one of the main reasons I have it committed to memory.  Not a time goes by when I enter the gates that I don't hear those word ringing in the back of my mind, and they're just as important to Disneyland today as they were the day he spoke them 56 years ago.

Allow me to set up today's article for you.  I'm a "Lander".  I'm not sure if it's a term I coined myself or not (I'd not heard anyone else use it before I started to) but for me the land of Disney fans can be broken down into two primary categories above all others (excluding the foreign Parks):  "Landers" (those who claim Disneyland as their "home" Park) and "Worlders" (those who claim Walt Disney World as their "home" Park).  I assure you, nothing derogatory is meant by either.  It's just something I started saying a while back.  I know that there can sometimes be a little "push and pull" where the two Parks are concerned, but for me, both have always been something special and they each mean something to loads of people, so I have a healthy respect for that other Park in Orlando, and can't wait to get back there someday!

Other than the fact that I only live about 45 minutes from the Disneyland Resort, I want to explain why Disneyland is now (and would be if I moved closer to the east coast) so important to me.  Why is Disneyland so important?  Is it too cliche to say that it really boils down to Walt?  I'm going to say it anyway; it really boils down to Walt. 

Disneyland was Walt's Park.  Because he passed away before he was able to see Walt Disney World come to fruition, Walt is inexorably tied to Disneyland in a way that no other Disney Park can ever have.  And that's one of the things that makes it so special to me and to so many others.

One of my favorite views in the entire world

No matter how many times I go into The Park, I'm consistently taken aback by the magnitude of the history, Walt's history, that I'm taking part in.  From the moment I walk inside the Main Gates and glance up at The Disneyland Limited ("now leaving for a grand circle tour"...), especially if the Lilly Belle (which Walt himself and his wife once rode in) is on track, I'm powerfully reminded of just who has come before me, looking and seeing the exact same things I find myself looking at decades later. 

Walt's Apartment (and candle) are still above the Disneyland Fire Dept.

You can't go two steps without looking and seeing something that Walt himself had a personal hand in:  his apartment over the Disneyland Fire Dept., the Opera House which houses Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln,  the very bench Walt himself used to sit on while at Griffith Park in Los Angeles dreaming of Disneyland, the back row of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room in which I never fail to see in my mind's eye the picture of Walt with his animatronic birds, and both It's A Small World and King Arthur Carousel, which Walt had shipped and moved, piece by piece, from their original locations on the East Coast because he loved them so much and wanted to share them with the rest of the world.  The list could just go on and on.

It reads: "The actual park bench from the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round in Los Angeles, where Walt Disney first dreamed of Disneyland"

Perhaps the greatest reminder of all, though, is walking through the arch of Sleeping Beauty Castle between Fantasyland and Main Street, U.S.A.  Maybe nowhere in the entire Park is the thought "I'm literally walking where Walt himself once walked" quite so powerful.  Our castle might be smaller than Cinderella's, but ours is the one where Walt once walked.  Sometimes walking through, I just have to stop and take a look around, and if I'm in an imaginative mood, I can picture myself in perhaps the exact same spot that Walt once stood, looking around and surveying his Kingdom himself.  That alone is worth the price of admission.

One of my favorite pictures on the entire planet

There's an entire litany of things I enjoy doing in The Park.  I have my favorite attractions, favorite restaurants, favorite stores, and even my favorite restrooms.  But at the heart of the matter, Disneyland Park is so important to me because of Walt.

My family and I plan on taking a trip to Walt Disney World again someday, and there is no doubt in my mind that it will go down in the annals of Elliott Family Vacations as one of the greatest ever.  We literally cannot wait to get there and spend our seven days running around like complete fools, enamored with everything we see.

But it's safe to say that when I do return home after, and walk through the Main Gates of my favorite Park again, the first words out of my mouth will most likely be, "Welcome Home, Chad.  Welcome Home."

Walt, Mickey, and a Beauty

---

For those days when I can't go

Contributed by Chad E of Rancho Cucamonga, CA. I'm a married dad with three little boys doing the stay-at-home-dad/youth ministry/seminary student/card carrying Disneyland Annual Passholder (Premium!) thang! And when I have the time, I also like to blog and podcast about The Disneyland Resort and am the co-creator of both Days in the Park and the Days in the Parkcast podcast.

A Walk Around The World With Ridge--Annual Passes

When I am telling people the joys of taking a trip to Disney, tickets are always a huge topic because as we all know they aren’t cheap and they have lots of options to choose from and in that add to the expense. There comes a breakeven point where it becomes just as cost effective to purchase an annual pass but that depends greatly on the amount of time you’re going to spend in and around the parks throughout the year. Also there are passholder perks available like dining and merchandise discounts, special events, and Tables in Wonderland.

There are a couple of different types of annual passes, Florida resident, everyone else, and then you can make them premium passes for a little extra money. If you live in Florida and you’re reading this, there is a great chance you either already know about or have a Florida AP so I am going to cover the “everyone else." It should also be noted that if you are a DVC member there is a discount available for the purchase of your AP. It’s almost 100 dollars off so it’s worth having an AP for the additional 10% discount on things that the DVC member discount doesn’t cover or a 20% discount for the premium AP.

OK so you just made your decision to go ahead and purchase your AP, you’ve decided that this year will be the year of multiple trips and it will just make sense to do it. Do you get just the regular pass or the premium pass? There is about 100 dollars difference in the cost from regular to premium but the step up in perks in very nice IF you will take advantage of them. Both passes entitle you to unlimited admission into the theme parks, free parking and a subscription to the Mickey Monitor, a quarterly publication with news and highlights from the parks. If you take the premium pass, you also get unlimited admission to the water parks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, Disney Quest at Downtown Disney and ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Also there is a passholder discount at 10% for regular and 20% for premium APs at some dining and merchandise locations. Not to forget that there are special AP holder only events that you can participate in. I got to ride Mission Space on AP weekend when it first opened. That was a blast. I think I rode it 20 times before even I felt like it was time to do something else.



Now if you do like I did and upgrade your pass after you already purchased you regular AP, be warned that it will still cost you the same price if you upgrade 1 day after or 6 months after you buy your initial pass. As far as I know there isn’t a prorated fee. Lucky for me I upgraded on my second trip of the year only 2 months after my first trip so I didn’t feel like I was getting a raw deal and I had it for the second part of my Star Wars Weekends trip. Hello 20% discount. It really came in handy for the last day of my trip when I picked up a Dooney & Bourke bag for my sister. That one purchase saved me half the cost of the upgrade in the AP. So over all I got my money’s worth out of the additional discount it provided and discounts are available almost everywhere. Never and I mean never be afraid to ask. When I hit a register I always ask “any AP, DVC or Tables in Wonderland discount available?” Never miss an opportunity to save a little money.