MyMagic+

Do you look forward to more of Disney’s next generation advances like “MyMagic+”?

Tom Staggs, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman, wrote about MyMagic+ today on the Disney Parks blog:

“A major component of MyMagic+ is the new My Disney Experience website and mobile app, which gives guests planning their trip the latest information on all Walt Disney World Resort has to offer. We know that some people like to plan every aspect of their Disney vacation in advance while others like to plan very little, letting their day unfold spontaneously.”

“No matter where guests fall in that spectrum, My Disney Experience gives them the flexibility to plan as much or as little as they’d like to create the exact Disney experience they want. They can book dining and other experiences and reserve times for their favorite attractions, shows and more through an enhanced FastPass system, FastPass+. Once they arrive, they can use their smart phones to spontaneously change their plans in the moment, exploring our parks at their own pace and getting the most out of their visit.”

Articles:

“Disney unveils ‘MyMagic+,’ the centerpiece of its sweeping NextGen technology project” – Orlando Sentinel

“At Disney Parks, a Bracelet Meant to Build Loyalty (and Sales)” – New York Times

One bracelet to rule them all! ^_^ My preciousssss…

If you’ve ever read “Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom”, it seems we’re on our way to what Cory Doctorow wrote as science fiction years ago.

Here’s a thought: Guys! Guys! MyMagic+ can be abbreviated to MM+! (MickeyMouse) (MinnieMouse)

What are your thoughts on NextGen and MyMagic+ — leave a reply below or follow me (DisneyEcho) on Twitter and leave a comment there!

The Land of Disney

This is a parody of adventure movie trailers. It was shot on iPhone at Disneyland in Anaheim, California and edited in iMovie. Enjoy it on YouTube or in higher quality on Vimeo.

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New Official Disney Parks iPhone App Features Augmented Reality And Official Wait Times

Disney’s first official iPhone park app is available now for free in the Apple App Store. It looks great, is easy to navigate, and is the first Disney parks app to show official wait times for attractions and — get this — augmented reality using geolocation and your iPhone camera (more on that later).

The only trouble with the app is . . .

Would you pay $4.99 for a cupcake at Disney?

Yummmmm! Designer cupcakes now coming to a store in Downtown Disney at Anaheim CA (The Disneyland Downtown Disney, not the WDW Downtown Disney.)

At $4.95 each cupcake, Orange Co. CA Register says that price point is $1.50 higher than formerly most expensive in Orange county, CA.

Your thoughts? Check the link then reply!

The Cupcake Store kiosk is located in front of the AMC Theatres and Compass Books and Cafe, not far from the Disneyland Hotel.

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You Make A Story: Virtual Disney Travel

Sometimes, life being what it is, you just can’t take a Disney vacation as often as you’d like. That doesn’t stop you from dreaming and imagining what your next trip will be. Your imagination can bring you to far off magical lands even quicker than the fastest jet plane!

Here on the Disney Echo Eyes and EchoEars Travel Blog you can take a virtual Disney vacation by reading the trip reports as well as taking part in the Disney Echo’s ongoing interactive story-creation game, “You Make A Story.”

See background information about what “You Make A Story” is all about by clicking here or jump right into Chapter 3 – Part 1 – “Movin’ Right Along” by clicking here.

You can participate by leaving comments or by becoming a Disney EchoEar and actively adding to the ongoing story!

Either way, we hope you enjoy the story and have a great time as we do some virtual Disney travel.

Being All Alone in the Crowd at Disneyland

My wife Carol has a great writing style which makes you think of a deeper meaning than the obvious, and she has just updated her blog entry here, ‘Believe fireworks from Main Street USA in Town Square – Alone at Disneyland, Tuesday Night” to include her thoughts on what it was like to be on her own in the Happiest Place on Earth after dark when Michael and I had gone back to the Disneyland Hotel to rest. Check it out!

Disneyland, One Last Time

After our sightseeing in Los Angeles which included seeing WALL•E at the El Capitan Theatre then seeing our engraved paving stone in front of Ollie Johnston’s train station near the Disney Tunnel in Griffith Park, we got back to our room at the Disneyland Hotel as the sun was starting to set. Here’s the view from our room of that:

The construction crane (in the above picture on the right and the picture below in the center) is being used in the expansion of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. If the hotel wasn’t there, we’d also have a great view of Disney’s California Adventure.

After freshening up, we headed out through Downtown Disney to spend one last time that trip in Disneyland.

If  you count us going to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on the previous day, we actually did take time to see a movie on this Disney vacation… we just didn’t do it in this very conveniently-located AMC Theater in Downtown Disney.

We were in luck! Monorail Red came into the Downtown Disney monorail station after a short wait and we were able to take it into Tomorrowland at Disneyland.

Gates keep new passengers behind a  half-fence until all the passengers get off of the monorail.

Here we are, inside the monorail, looking through the open door and a partially-open window. That’s the maximum amount the windows will open — designed to prevent Guests from jumping out (amazing that one has to do things to stop stupid people from doing things like that). However, it was quickly learned that the interior of the monorail would get way too hot in the California sun, so these windows will be redesigned/replaced with ones that slide down, like the older monorails’ windows.

A big tip of the mouse-eared hat to the designer of the backlit Disneyland Monorail logo!

How would Guests get out through these windows in an emergency?

There’s the Main Street Train Station as we speed along towards Tomorrowland’s monorail station.

We hadn’t seen Mickey’s Toontown at night, so we walked there first. Sadly, Roger Rabbit’s CarToon Spin was already closed for the night.

His wacky fountain was still lit up and running!

One last look over our shoulder at the ToonTown hills and Mickey’s ToonTown itself.

Approaching the Matterhorn, with Michael shooting a video of it.

It is great to see that they still draw portraits of Guests in a courtyard at New Orleans Square…

…and how faithful Walt Disney was in recreating a bit of the French Quarter at Disneyland.

This is near the back of New Orleans Square, with the restrooms down the alley on the right and the Frontierland/New Orleans Square train station behind us.

Gotta go on one last ride at Pirates of the Caribbean!

“We wants the redhead!”

“Quiet, ya scums!”

Main Street USA is ablaze with the new-fangled turn-of-the-century invention, the incandescent lightbulb.

Any Hidden Mickey’s in the arrangement of flowers there in Town Square?

One last look at floral Mickey and the Main Street Train Station, with Tinker Bell aglow…

…as she gives us a “goodnight kiss” of pixie dust. A farewell Disneyland memory of this trip.

The picture above and the two below combine to make a panoramic last look at the entrance to Disney’s California Adventure.

There are plans to change this entry way so this might be the last time we see it with our own eyes this way.

And now, one last walk through the exit of the plaza between DCA and Disneyland…

As we enter Downtown Disney for the last time this trip…

…we see a poignant message from three of our favorite Disney Characters…

We hope to seeya real soon, too, guys!

Each entrance to the giant World of Disney store is decorated differently.

It was hard to resist going in one last time, but we had an early plane to catch the next morning — and packing to do before then.

Bye-bye, World of Disney!

One last walk through Downtown Disney.

And then, all too soon, a last nighttime view of the Disneyland Hotel.

I can see our room from here!

Tired, but happy after a wonderful vacation that ended all too soon, before sunrise on Saturday morning I drove our rented SUV to in front of the Disneyland Hotel lobby where we had just checked out.

Goodbye, Disneyland Hotel! You’re… the best! 8=o)

Goodbye, California! We’ll be back… sometime!

Disney Tunnel at Griffith Park

We were last at Walt’s Barn in Griffith Park on our Easter trip. We went back to take a look at the paving stone we donated to the landscaping project around Ollie Johnston’s train station there. We not only found that but also found the Walt Disney Tunnel there at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California.

Want to see it? I’ll have more about it, including a picture down below in this blog entry. I had a feeling that title and opening sentence would get your attention!

The Carolwood Pacific Historical Society offers regular tours of Walt Disney’s barn on the third Sunday of each month — in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. See the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society for more details.

That’s Walt’s Barn and Walt adjusting his Lilly Belle locomotive in the backyard of his house, in this photo on display inside Walt’s Barn. Take a look at our earlier trip report about our other visit to Walt’s Barn during Easter week. After clicking here, go to each of the following pages of that trip report where it says “Walt’s barn >>” in the upper right of the blog entry’s column.

During this visit, Carol helped the Carolwood society out by folding t-shirts in Walt’s barn. Michael and I voluntEARed but there wasn’t much for us to do, other than sweep the walkway near Ollie Johnston’s train station and remove pine straw from its roof. We were glad to help in any way we could!

Ollie Johnston’s train station has had landscaping and paving stones added around it since our last visit.

And a windowbox has been added inside the front window as well, including an electric lamp in the window.

In the picture above and below you can see the paving stones and concrete which have been added since the last time we were last there. Starting closest to the station’s door, the paver is inscribed “Ollie & Marie Johnston” and below that one is an engraved marker showing “Frank & Jeanette Thomas.”

The one on the lower left as you’re facing the train station is ours!

It is engraved with the words

RICH KOSTER

CAROL KOSTER

MICHAEL KOSTER

We never got ourselves a paving stone at Walt Disney World or Disneyland when there was an opportunity to do that, but I like the setting of this one even better.

Ours is placed alongside Disney notables and fellow members of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society who donated to this project. From left to right, below the two markers for Ollie & Marie Johnston and Frank & Jeanette Thomas, are these:

Tom Shafer, Jr. // Oscar Urrutia // Les & Judy Smout Foundation // Rich & Teya Johnston // Ken & Carolyn Johnston // Ward & Betty Kimball // John Lasseter // Michael & Sharon Broggie // Roger Broggie // Herbert A. & Kathryn Dymond

Jim & Nancy Cotterman // Ella M. Witter, Marc George Witter, Matthew R. Witter // Bob Gurr // Walt Disney Family // Tony Baxter // Bob Lemberger // Michael Campbell & Family // Fred S. Lack, III // Peter & Patti Finie //

Rich Koster, Carol Koster, Michael Koster // James P. Klitch & Family // Gary Oakland // Austin Meyers // William D. Barbe // David Krebs // Blake & Sherolyn Thomas // Carl & Lois Lehman // Robert & Rita, Robert A. & Daniel Cisneros // Steve Waller

Over in a little-seen portion of the track system in Griffith Park is a hidden-away tunnel…

…marked with a plaque above it.

The Disney Tunnel is near the “Disney Loop” at Griffith Park and is curved like Walt’s own backyard tunnel was — but not as much. Walt’s Carolwood Pacific railroad at his Holmby Hills estate was designed with a curve that made it impossible to see light at the opposite end of the tunnel.

Update to add more information that Bill Barbe sent to me today: “The Disney loop was the original inner loop that is just inside the main part of the facility.  When the club expanded west they put in the three tunnels. The Disney Loop is the most inner loop in the club.  It goes around the infield area around the barn and inside between the storage building and the passenger cars.”

And additional information from Fred S. Lack III: “Walt Disney donated his track in 1964 and it was put in place in 1966. Walt was invited to the ceremony in September of 1966 but declined because he was too busy. (Walt died 3 months later) The Disney Loop starts at New Sherwood Station and goes around behind the car barns and down around the Disney Barn. The track was made out of aluminum and wore out and was replaced with the current steel track.”

Bill believes “they named it Disney Tunnel because it came off the Disney loop and Disney was a Charter Member of the club.”

Fred adds: “The city donated more land to Los Angeles Live Steamers in the early 1980′s. To reach this land, Los Angeles Live Steamers had to tunnel under the horse trail that still exists today. The tunnels, named for early members of the Los Angeles Live Steamers, were built out of old culvert pipes. They were not meant to be the shape of Walt’s tunnel. Since the west end is connected with the Disney Loop, I presume it was named for Walt. The tunnels were built about 1984.” 

I big tip of the mouse-eared hat to both Bill and Fred! 8=o)

Michael Broggie wrote to add: “Yes, when Walt was a member of the LA Live Steamers he donated the funds to create the tunnel and donated the track from his Carolwood Pacific RR.”

A tip of the mouse-eared hat to you, too, Michael! 8=o)

Something used by Walt on his original home layout remains in the Griffith Park layout to this day… but I’ve been sworn to secrecy not to tell what that is, for security reasons (so it won’t be stolen and sold on eBay). Join the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society and you might find out what it is!

We enjoyed our second visit to see Walt’s Barn and Ollie Johnston’s train station — and were glad to see how well the paving stones around it turned out (including the great honor of having ours among Disney luminaries as well).

A last look at Griffith Park before we headed back to the Disneyland Hotel.

You’ll find out about that and our last visit to the parks in the next entry to this travel blog.

Lunch at Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Store

After enjoying the WALL•E movie and the Disney stage show at the El Capitan Theatre, we entered directly into Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Store. This was the second time we had been there this year — and we love it!

Hidden Mickey (okay, maybe not so hidden) in the section of the store with Hollywood-themed Disney items. See how many “Hidden” Mickey’s you can spot in the picture below!

A large portion of the Studio Store area of the Soda Fountain shop was devoted to WALL•E merchandise.

I bought one of those BnL (Buy n Large) coffee mug (lower right of the picture) and they really are large! Carol got a large souvenEAR Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Shop coffee mug.

Lunch was great! Good thing we didn’t overdo it on the popcorn during the movie.

Check out the mouse-eared bread bowl of New England Clam Chowder that Michael ate out of!

You’re guaranteed to be seeing Hollywood starts in Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Store!

Did you see Goofy up there?

The WALL•E  Sundae looked real cute, but we were already stuffed. We didn’t want to look even more like the humans in the movie!

If we had ordered that, we would have needed BnL hoverchairs to get us out of there! 8=o)

Next, we drove to see Walt’s Barn again in Griffith Park. And we discovered something else there as well… Take a look in the next entry on this travel blog!