In 2016 Walt Disney College Program is celebrating 35 years of Magic. I had the opportunity to return to “the most magical place on earth” to celebrate and reminisce with old friends. My college program was 18 years ago however it had only been three years since I visited Walt Disney World. I was very excited to try out many new experiences. My first experience was getting my magic band in the mail 2 weeks prior to my vacation with my name and color I had chosen on mydisneyexperience.com. My Disney experience is where you go once your Disney Vacation is booked to order your magic bands, make advanced restaurant reservations(180 days prior to arrival) fast pass reservations(60 days prior if you are staying on property and 30 days prior if you are not staying on property.
As soon as I landed Disney had text me my room number at Disney’s All Star Movies (which is a value property located right on Disney property) and I could go straight to my room. Okay I thought that’s cool but but how does my
“magic band” know that already, well it did, my door opened right away!!! Your Magic band is the new key to the kingdom. It is your room key, your theme park tickets, your dining plan and you can even charge to your room on
it. No reason to carry a wallet anymore.
Another experience that I was looking forward to is trying two restaurants that I have never eaten at before. The first one I was lucky enough to try was the Plaza restaurant in Magic Kingdom. The Plaza serves meatloaf, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches to name a few. I chose one of their specialties, the grilled reuben it was amazing and don’t forget to save some room for Plaza’s famous ice cream! The second restaurant I chose was Be Our Guest restaurant in Magic Kingdom. I enjoyed my breakfast there which I also pre-ordered my meal on My Disney Experience. For breakfast and lunch Be Our Guest is a quick service restaurant and for dinner it is a table service restaurant. For breakfast and lunch they truly know now to create magic. Don’t want to give away to much.
My first morning in the parks I was ready to try out the my Disney experience app out on my phone. The app is available on Apple and android systems. All I can say about the app is WOW! I loved it! The app gives you everything you need to make your Disney vacation seamless from wait times for rides, restroom locations, dining, characters(where they will be and what time), guest services,shopping to name a few. Also the itinerary that you made on the Disney experience website will automatically download to the app. No printing needed!
Disney went all out for their returning alumni. We had a formal dinner and dance with Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, and of course Mickey and Minnie. We also had Animal Kingdom Park all to ourselves from 8pm to 12am which
included a private showing of The Festival of the Lion King which is an amazing and must see show, a dinner and dance party and more characters! We alumni love our characters!!!
There is always something magical happening at Disney Parks! A lot of enhancements are happening as well, Star Wars land in Hollywood Studios and Avatar land at Animal Kingdom.
One saying that was repeated over and over during my reunion was, “You never lose the Magic.”
So come in or call Bethany Travel and let one of our agents show you how we can make your Disney Vacation magical with as always a little of our own “pixie dust.”
Becky Freer
bfreer@dreamvacationinc.com