Rainbow Loom Mickey Mouse

If your house is like mine, Rainbow Loom has taken over. For the uninitiated, Rainbow Loom is a
(relatively) inexpensive craft involving tiny rubber bands...you know....the kind your orthodontist used to give you.

I think Rainbow Loom is great for hand to eye coordination and figuring out spatial relationships. I am sure it is somehow enhancing the math faculties in my kid's brain.  I not sure, however if my vacuum cleaner is ever going to recover from this trend.

My oldest has become quite the Rainbow Loom whiz and has created a fantastic Mickey Mouse pattern.  I am not sure exactly how she figured it out, but in terms of leaving rubber bands everywhere this craft, I think she is darn near a genius.

I hope you enjoy the video, in two parts.




 

Free Dining Alert! Room Discount Alert!!

Attention Disney Visa holders!  Ready...Set...Go!  Some great new discounts have officially been announced.  Look for FREE DINING if you for check in dates from September 2-25.  Look for a ROOM DISCOUNT from August 15 - September 28.   

Attention everyone else!  Ready....Set....and get ready to go later this week when we expect the same announcement for the general public!

Free Dining

It looks very similar to other free dining promotions.  A free quick service dining plan will be available for guest staying in Value resorts.  You can upgrade to the regular dining plan for just the cost difference between the two plans. 

Guest staying in a moderate or deluxe will get the regular (plus) dining plan free.

The Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, the campsites at Ft Wilderness, and the 3 bedroom villas are excluded from this offer.

Room Discount

5% off – all Deluxe suites, All-Star Movies, Animal Kingdom Lodge (Savannah view and Club Level), Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas, Bay Lake Tower, Contemporary (theme park view & Club Level), Port Orleans-French Quarter

15% off - Art of Animation (family suites)

20% off – All-Star Music, All-Star Sports, Contemporary (standard rooms), Grand Floridian, Pop Century, Polynesian

25% off - Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans-Riverside, Ft. Wilderness Cabins

30% off – Animal Kingdom Lodge (standard/pool view rooms) Beach Club, Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Inn, Boardwalk Villas, Old Key West, Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Saratoga Springs, Wilderness Lodge, Yacht Club

The Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, the campsites at Ft Wilderness, and the 3 bedroom villas are excluded from this offer.

Reminders

Only one discount per room, so let us crunch the numbers to figure out which discounts are best for you!

 

Not all room types are available for any given set of dates.

 

There are a limited inventory of rooms available for the discounts! The sooner you book, the better chances of finding what you are looking for!

And as always...

Please let me know if I can help you plan your vacation!  We have the same prices that you find on Disneyworld.com with no extra charges or fees.  In addition to our free planning services, we also offer free gifts as a thank you for booking with us!  I would love to help!  ginger@tmctravelonline.com
 

Details for Fast Pass +? It is in the fine print!

The internet rumor mill has been all aflutter for MONTHS concerning the so called "Next Gen" project, subsequently referred to as X Pass, then FastPass +, and now officially My Magic + .  There as been much speculation about how FastPass+ is going to work, and I think I have some pretty good scoop on the subject, but first...

My Magic+ consists of three enhancements:

• My Disney Experience - My Disney Experience is the collective name for the revamped internet presence.  You can view this new site via the same old website that has been updated with a nice new look and feel as well as a Smartphone app.   Both have a new modern look and feel and appear that they will offer a more customizable approach to planning and tracking your vacation details.  I will warn you, as with all new technology, there are still a few kinks that need to be worked out, but the site as a whole seems to be geared toward getting guests information they need when they need it.  All parks now have free Wi-Fi access making it much easier to get online.
• The Magic Band - We have heard rumors of "the bracelet" for some time and it appears that it is coming to fruition soon.  The bracelet will be worn for the duration of your stay and will replace your park tickets. You will get a bracelet as part of your ticket purchase, but it appears that you can "upgrade" your boring bracelet to a fancier version with your favorite character.  Well played, Disney.  So what will the Magic Band actually mean?  A simple wave of your wrist and you can:
• Open the door to your resort
• Make a retail purchase
• Enter a theme park
• Store your photopass photos
• Obtain a FastPass
• Store your FastPass + selection
• FastPass+ - Disney has done a fair amount of testing of the FastPass Plus system, but there has been very little information about how it is going to actually work. We've known that you are going to be able to schedule your FastPasses, but not much else.Well, you know that fine print that pops up when you sign up for an account on a website?  I am the nerd that actually reads it (well, sometimes).  When I signed up for a new My Disney Experince account, I did read the find pring and found some really interesting information.
• ONLY ONE FASTPASS+ PER RIDE PER DAY AND ONLY ONE PARK PER DAY  - "You may make FastPass+ selections for one park per day. You may only select and redeem aFastPass+ selection for a particular attraction, entertainment or restaurant experience once per day."  EDITED: This is not one pass per day, but one pass per attraction per day.  This will actually make things more inflexible for guests that know how to effectively use FastPasses.
• Free for RESORT GUESTS ONLY? - "A confirmed FastPass+ selection is not valid for admission to any theme or water park and valid park admission is required to make a selection and redeem a FastPass+ selection. To make aFastPass+ selection for you or your Friends, you must retrieve a Resort package reservation including valid park admission through your account or associate valid park admission to your account. "
• A PAID ADD ON FOR OFF PROPERTY GUESTS? - "Ticket holders holding passes or tickets with block-out dates may not make FastPass+ selections for any block-out date without the purchase of separate valid park admission and assigning that admission entitlement to your account. "  I am not sure exactly what that means!
• AVAILABLE AT SOME QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS - "A FastPass+ selection for dining at a FastPass+ designated table service or quick service location secures your arrival window and allows you to order meal prior to your arrival window. Each guest who has ordered ahead must have a FastPass+ selection for the same arrival time and location confirmed by the Site/App."  I am not sure that I would bother using  my sole FastPass+ for the day on a quick service meal, but maybe it is worth it to some.
• THE SUPER FINE PRINT - You can start booking 60 days prior, the number of Fastpasses is limited and subject to availability, FastPass+ times will continue to be strictly enforced, can be used for shows, special viewing areas for fireworks, attractions and dining, times or attractions may be changed due to operational issues related to a particular attraction.

So what you you think?  I think I am on board with FastPass+, I think it will be a nice enhancement without feeling you have to schedule every second of your vacation.  I like the Magic Band idea, but I am not sure how much I would enjoy a semi permanent plastic bracelet on my wrist in the heat of summer.  I think it is going to take a while for me to warm up to the My Disney Experience website.  While it is pretty, the glitches are driving me a bit crazy.  I am hopeful that they will be resolved sooner rather than later.  It is a little more cumbersome to set up but gives a nice reward for the effort..  The "vacationer" in me will ultimately enjoy it.  I am not sure the "travel agent" in me will ever love it in it's current format.  "A little more cumbersome" times many, many families really adds up.  That said, I am looking forward to taking it for a spin for my family's vacation this spring!