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As you probably heard, Merida from Disney/Pixar’s movie Brave was recently inducted as an official Disney Princess. This “event” got me thinking about Disney’s Princesses as a whole and how I feel about them.

Most of my life I was a typical, self-centered, middle class American. I have never been prone to idol worship: sure I had Michael Jordan posters on my wall as a teen, but despite the advertising I never really wanted to be like Mike, just play basketball like him (yeah, that didn’t work either).  Even as an adult, I never really thought about celebrity role models or their effects. Then I had kids.

Having kids changes a lot, but mostly what it changed for me was that I suddenly had to try to guide another human and prepare them to make future important life choices. That’s pretty heavy. While I still believe parents play the most crucial role in a child’s development, it would feel foolish for me to think that popular culture does not have any influence.

As the Disney fans that we are, my 4 year old daughter is heavily invested in the Disney Princesses. We have seen all of their movies, met them all at the parks, and have a bedroom dedicated to them (my daughter’s…not mine…really). She has even become interested in the mediocre Sofia the First Disney Junior television series.

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The funny thing about this episode is that we didn’t plan it.  I’d called Jim to record the Tokyo Disneyland show and we were just catching up on what we saw in WDW on our latest trips.  Luckily, I possess a Nixonian habit of recording everything Jim and I discuss.  You know, for posterity (read: “Grand Jury indictment.”  As David Lee Roth once said, “You know you’ve made it when you can spell ‘subpoena’ without a dictionary.” ).

We ended up talking for almost an hour about Limited Time Magic and Disney’s Next Gen project.  Hope you enjoy the show.

Here’s the link to listen in iTunes. Here’s the direct MP3 file.

Please rate us on iTunes and let us know what you’d like to hear next.

You’re going to Disneyland!! And unlike the latest Super Bowl MVP, you probably have more than one evening to plan. So what should you do to get ready? Disneyland isn’t really a show-up-with-no-plan kind of a place. You certainly can do that, and I know people who have, but trust me, it’s better to have some idea of what you’re getting into. Let’s adopt the Boy Scout motto! Be prepared! Prepared is good!

1. Get Your Unofficial Guide – The absolute first thing you need to do is to get a copy of the Unofficial Guide! There’s a reason the series has sold millions of books. It is the perfect planning guide for Disneyland. It’s not a sugar coated view of Disney. It will help you appreciate the highs, and avoid the lows. Do you want to know which rides are going to scare the pants off your kids? The Unofficial Guide will tell you. Do you want to know the best restaurants? The best hotels? Or, more importantly maybe, the worst hotels? Again – the Unofficial Guide. And get it quick! Have you seen them recently? They’re behemoths! Not a quick read! A great read, maybe even an essential one for planning, but not a quick one.

2. Exercise – My husband may or may not have just busted his gut laughing when he saw that I was recommending exercise, but it’s (sadly) true. The amount of walking you do at a Disney park is not for the faint of heart. You can easily walk more than 10 miles in one day. Yep. 10 miles. If exercise is a dirty word to you, that number may scare you a little. It does me! But it doesn’t have to. We’re not talking about running a half marathon here. We’re talking about walking. Walking a lot! But walking. You don’t have to go into serious training. A few weeks of some evening walks with the family will help immensely! Oh yeah, and wear comfortable, worn-in shoes! There’s nothing worse at Disney than realizing your shoes are burning blisters into your feet.

3. Order the Vacation Planning DVD – This one is mostly for fun if you’re a frequent visitor, but if you’re a newbie, the DVD can give you a good overview of Disneyland and what it has to offer. Your kids will probably love it by the way!

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Good news! We’ll be changing our architecture late on April 12 to greatly increase current speeds and future scalability. We expect to be able to provide faster load times all around as a result of this massive change.

To do this, the website, blog, and Lines mobile app will be offline from 11:00 PM Eastern on Friday, April 12, to 6:00 AM Eastern on Saturday, April 13.

Thanks everyone for your understanding as we continue to improve TouringPlans!

Are you at Walt Disney World during this busy Spring Break week?

From now until April 6, guests over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be able to enjoy the Spring Break in the City Dance Party on the Streets of America. Here guests will have the opportunity to get down with a DJ playing great music and activities for the whole family.

The “Party” starts at 12:30 pm each afternoon and lasts through the evening.

Lillian Macko, a Touring Plans researcher, is a retiree from Vermont who moved to Orlando with her husband, Richard, in 2003.   Some months later, she fell in with the wrong crowd – us – never guessing  the variety of work that was to come.  Lillian has inspected hotel rooms and tested touring plans, rode buses for hours, measured ride wait times at the parks, and  assisted with resort photos.  She’s also reviewed spa treatments at WDW and Orlando-area spas.

I had my first “journey” this month at the newly renovated spa at the Grand Floridian Resort. The spa is now called “Senses” and I call it a “journey” since that is what they have named their customized treatments: Relax, Renew or Imagine “journeys.” I wanted to have a facial, manicure and pedicure and certainly wanted to relax so that’s the journey I chose.

Beginning with my appointment phone call to the end of my journey, the Disney staff was extremely friendly, professional, competent and kind. Disney did an excellent job with their renovations maintaining some of the Victorian feel of the resort plus updating treatment rooms, showers and lounges to be very modern yet comfortable. The mosaic work in the Wet Room is amazing.

An added touch at this spa is the offering of a small glass of a fruity elixir. Each journey has its own flavored drink and this flavor carries through to the end of your journey when you receive a very small gel that contains the same flavors.

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This post was written by Joe Bouchard, a long time Disney fan who has visited Walt Disney World over 30 times. He and his wife (also a Disney lover) do a weekly YouTube show called See Ya Reel Soon.

One of the largest expenses when it comes to planning our Walt Disney World vacations has always been food. The cost for a family to eat at The World for a week can easily reach into the thousands of dollars. The sticker shock at each meal can even be an unpleasant experience to many guests. Balancing the cost with the enjoyment that dining out while on vacation can bring is often a challenge.

In 2005 Walt Disney World introduced its Dining Plan, an option that allowed guests to prepay a set amount in exchange for “credits” to be used at dining establishments throughout Walt Disney World property. The Disney Dining Plans have undergone many changes throughout the years and as the costs continue to rise many people, myself included, have started to question if it is the best option for them.

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Unofficial Guide readers will recall the review of Snow White’s Scary Adventures, where we mentioned Ben, an autistic boy whose love of the attraction led him to ride thousands of times. Equally amazing were Ben’s parents, who not only had unlimited patience and love for Ben, but unlimited tolerance for Snow White. Ben’s dad, Ron Miles, said that they coped by re-imagining Disney’s rides with different effects. Their idea for a Stitch-based Tiki room is still the best I’ve heard for that attraction.

Ben’s story is now out in book form. 3500: An Autistic Boy’s Ten-Year Romance with Snow White, written by Ron, tells the story of raising a child with autism, finding Walt Disney World, and the amazing Cast Members who helped make Ben’s childhood a little bit better. It’s funny. It’s emotional. It reminds you that there are patient, good people all around the world (especially The World). Mostly, it reminded me of how lucky I am as a parent. Worth the price of the book alone is the story of Ben getting to be the last person ever to ride Snow White’s Scary Adventures, before it closed for the Fantasyland expansion. Get it today.

One question I get asked a lot is – “What’s a good way to celebrate a special occasion at Disney?” In my opinion, there aren’t many better PLACES to celebrate a special occasion, so there have to be some good WAYS to celebrate there, right? Well there are! And here are 10 of them.

1. Birthday or Celebration Button – My first way to celebrate is absolutely free! Do I get bonus points for that? I cannot stress enough how important it is to get a button for your celebration. There are birthday buttons, anniversary buttons, just married buttons, family reunion buttons, even first visit buttons! If any of these apply to your reason for being at Disneyland – get one. You’ll be amazed at how much attention one little button can bring. Cast members and guests alike will wish you happy birthday when they see the button. Occasionally, you’ll even have a cast member go out of their way to bring some extra magic to your trip when they see these buttons. So unless the thought of being spoken (maybe sang?) to freaks you out, get a button.

2. My Disneyland Birthday Party – Disneyland has a party with characters just for birthday celebrations every day at the Plaza Inn! For $16.99 each guest will receive party hats, a souvenir cup, a mini birthday cake to decorate and icing and cake toppings to eat or decorate with. Mickey and Minnie themselves even pop in to join the celebration! The party lasts about an hour and reservations are recommended.

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The oft maligned Nescafe Coffee will soon be leaving Disney Parks.  Disney has entered into a long-term agreement with Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Co to provide the standard coffee at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Vacation Club properties.  In addition, Joffrey’s will develop special blends exclusive to Disney and resort hotel rooms will all have a catalog where guests can purchase Joffrey’s products to take home.  These changes will be complete within the next few months.

What do you think about these changes? Excited? Will you miss the Nescafe? Let us know!