In early January I visited Walt Disney World with my family.  We had a great time (of course), and despite the big crowds, the longest line we waited in was under five minutes. The trip was a huge success.

It was also our first chance to visit the brand new Fantasyland expansion myself.  What follows are my opinions, as well as my grades for each new attraction.

Overall look and "feel" of new Fantasyland
Grade: A

Disney absolutely nailed it on the overall look and feel of new Fantasyland.  There are two separate sections - the Storybook Circus area (which has been open for a while and I visited in October), and the Fantasyland Forest area.  Let's look at each of them:

Storybook Circus: There aren't any new attractions here - there are essentially just re-themed attractions (Dumbo, the Barnstormer, the train station, aa water play area, and a "meet 'n greet" with characters. But they made the place look great.  It truly does evoke a circus of yesteryear.  And Dumbo at night, with fountains and impressive lighting, looks gorgeous.

Fantasyland Forest: This consists of the Beauty and the Beast area (Beast's castle, and Belle's town), and the Little Mermaid area.  It's gorgeous, with waterfalls, mountains, elevation changes, excellent detail in the buildings, and just a terrific feel.

Finally, the new castle walls (which separate "old" Fantasyland with the forest area) even improve the feel of old Fantasyland - the generic look without trees or landscaping fits better, as it's supposed to be inside the main castle walls.

So overall, Disney hit a home run in the look of the area.  The only major quibble in the look is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train construction area - a huge construction site in the middle of the Forest takes away from the theming and the magic.  However, this is a temporary situation - once the train is finished I am confident the area will look terrific.

Attractions, shops, and the like:
So let's look at the individual attractions in new Fantasyland. I'll start with the Storybook Circus area:

Dumbo:
Grade: A (for what it is)
As anyone who has ever visited a Disney park can tell you, Dumbo is a simple spinning ride where you can control how high your elephant goes.  Nothing too extravagant.  However, Disney has turned this simple carnival ride into the best possible experience by making the ride and its surrounding gorgeous.

First off, if there's a wait (there wasn't when we visited), they have an indoor, air-conditioned, circus-themed waiting area.  You get a pager (like at a restaurant), and your kids can run around in this play area while you wait.  Brilliant idea for an attraction that often has long waits.

Speaking of long waits, the second brilliant thing Disney did was add a second Dumbo ride.  So capacity has been doubled!  Great news.

Third, Disney has made the attraction much prettier.  Rather than flying over a concrete pit, Dumbo now flies over a fountain.  At night, it's particularly stunning with the great color effects on the water.

None of this makes Dumbo a "must-do" for all people.  If you have a couple of teenagers, it's completely skippable.  But for kids (and kids at heart) ages 2-92, it's a real winner!

The Barnstormer:
Grade: B-
The Barnstormer is the same thing it has always been - a simple, extremely short kiddie coaster.  It's been gussied up a little bit to fit the circus theme, but it's still a super-short coaster.  It's worth doing in the morning before the line builds up if you have kids that are big enough to ride but not ready for the "bigger" coasters, but it's nothing too special.  It is a great "tester" coaster though, because if your child doesn't like it, it'll be over in 15 seconds anyway!

I think when the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster opens, and takes the role of "first coaster", the Barnstormer will be pretty much obsolete.

Pete's Silly Sideshow
Grade: B
This is simply a character meeting area.  Several of the "classic" Disney characters (Donald, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy) are there.  It's nicely themed to the circus surroundings, but other than that, it's just another way to meet the characters.  If you have kids who are huge fans of the "classic" Disney characters it's worth a look.

Big Top Souvenirs
Grade: B
I don't usually review shops at the Magic Kingdom, but I thought I'd make an exception here.  The new Big Top Souvenirs is a nice shopping area - the highlight is the candy shop in the middle (with some high-quality chocolates and caramel apples, which were a hit with the family).  

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid:
Grade: A-
I had been hearing mixed reviews on this attraction. Some people think it's not complete or has lulls in it.

I disagree.  I think the attraction, when compared to other "dark rides" like Winnie the Pooh, is an excellent effort.  The queue is beautiful, going by a waterfall and through gorgeous rockwork.  And the ride is a fun ride through the Little Mermaid story.  Is it groundbreaking?  No, it isn't.  But neither is Peter Pan, and that ride is still beloved.  It's a great addition to the park.

That being said, the wait times of 60+ minutes have been ridiculous. With the right strategies, though, you won't wait for Little Mermaid (our waits for every Fantasyland attraction we visited were under a minute each, on a busy day!)  Note that Fastpasses are currently available near Philharmagic (nowhere near the ride itself) - the unusual location of the Fastpass machines means that fewer people are getting Fastpasses, so it's often a good option.

Enchanted Tales with Belle
Grade: Incomplete

This elaborate "meet Belle and act in a mini-play with her" attraction has been a big hit, with extremely long lines (partly due to the low capacity of the attraction).  It's aimed towards younger kids.

Unfortunately, I couldn't convince my older kids (ages 8-14 and not into princesses) to go anywhere near this attraction, so I didn't get to visit it.

That being said, from what I hear, kids who love princesses love this attraction.  However, it has extremely long lines, unless you visit it first thing when the park opens.  However, since the attraction lasts 20 minutes, this strategy leads to long waits for the rest of Fantasyland.

So what to do?  The solution is actually pretty simple for most people.  If you have kids young enough to be interested in this attraction, you really should plan on two mornings at the Magic Kingdom anyway.  If you have two mornings, then it's easy - skip this attraction morning one and do the rest of Fantasyland (then head to the rest of the park).  On morning two, make a beeline to Enchanted Tales with Belle and visit it first.  The 20 minutes spent is no big deal on morning two, because you've already visited Peter Pan and the other "big line" Fantasyland attractions morning one.

I hope to visit this attraction at a later date to give my own review.

Ariel's Grotto
Grade: B
This is a slightly more elaborate meet-up with Ariel from the Little Mermaid.  Is it worth the wait?  If your kids are huge Ariel fans, then yes.  Otherwise, no.

Gaston
Grade: A
This isn't really an attraction, per se, but Gaston from Beauty and the Beast has been meeting guests in Belle's Village, near the fountain.  And let me tell you, he's hilarious.  Just an absolute riot.  Definitely go say hello to him!

Gaston's Tavern
Grade: B
Gaston's Tavern is fun to look at - he uses "antlers in all of his decorating" and the themeing is hilarious.

As for the food - it's simple fare, and I can't comment - we didn't eat here, because we had reservations at Be Our Guest restaurant

Be Our Guest Restaurant
Grade: C+ (but could improve)

The new Be Our Guest Restaurant is in some ways considered the crown jewel of New Fantasyland.  Themed to look like the interior of the Beast's Castle, with the ballroom and the west wing featured as places to eat.  This is a quick-service restaurant during the day, and transforms into a sit-down restaurant for dinner.  We had a reservation for dinner.  What follows is a full review of our dinner experience, which, unfortunately, wasn't all we were expecting.

The wait
We had a 7:20 pm reservation.  When we arrived, to our dismay, we saw a lot of people milling about in front of the restaurant (on the bridge to the Beast's castle).  We spoke to a host, and got a pager.  Then we proceeded to wait.  And wait.  And wait.

In all, we waited over FORTY minutes beyond our reservation time.  Outside.  With no place to sit. That's right - they had us standing on the bridge, waiting outside.  And we got lucky - there were thunderstorms in the area, but they (barely) missed the Magic Kingdom - I don't know what they would have done with the 50+ people waiting in an uncovered area if it started to pour.

This, simply enough, is unacceptable.  I understand that "things happen" and you may have a short wait after your reservation time.  But FORTY minutes waiting in a place with no cover and no place to sit is ridiculous.

I understand that Disney miscalculated the number of people it could serve per hour, so this is a regular occurrence until they burn through their current reservation list and can cut down the number of people they serve per night.  It's a major, major problem.

The setting
We finally were called for our table and were seated in the ballroom.  The ballroom is beautiful - it looks very much like the ballroom in the movie.  And there is "snow" falling outside a large window that overlooks the French countryside.  It looks very nice.

The attention to detail, too, is very nice.  Stained glass windows that tell the story of Beauty and the Beast.  Gorgeous chandeliers overhead.

However, there was a major problem - it is NOISY.  With all the tables, and lots of hard spaces (no sound muffling), it didn't feel "romantic" at all.  I'm not sure how they can address this problem, to tell the truth.

In all, however, even with the noise, the look of the room was magnificent, and I give Disney high marks on it.

The food
I applaud Disney for what they're trying to do here - they've tried to make a "fine dining" meal for a reasonable (for Disney) price.  And the kid's meals are much more interesting than the usual burgers and chicken nuggets.  So they get an A for effort.

However, Disney is trying to serve a "fine dining" meal to a lot of people at once.  And it's trying to get them in and out quickly.  What this meant is the food was, in the words of my wife Susan, "banquet food."  Think of the last time you went to a wedding where 200 people were served steak, chicken, or a vegetarian meal at once.  The food is often "fancy" but not great.  That's how I would describe the food at Be Our Guest.  There is so much potential here, but the quality and care just isn't there.

One last thing - Disney is offering wine and beer with dinner - first time alcohol has been served in the Magic Kingdom.  I had a beer, so that was unique!

Tips if you decide to eat at Be Our Guest:
I think Be Our Guest is worth trying in the right circumstances.  It's definitely better food than most offerings at the Magic Kingdom (but worse than most other "nice" restaurants at Disney World).  The setting is quite nice.  But if you're going to go, I suggest one of two strategies:

• Go for lunch: Lunch is "quick service" and cheaper, and "banquet" food for a quick service lunch isn't as much of an issue. You'll wait in line a bit (less if you go around 11:00am), but since you're waiting for dinner anyway with the reservation fiasco, it's not like you're saving a wait with dinner, so just go for lunch.
• Make an early dinner reservation: If you're going for dinner, make a reservation for as early in the night as possible.  Also, keep in mind you need to make your reservations exactly 180 days in advance - this restaurant is popular!

Overall, the expanded Fantasyland is a big improvement for the Magic Kingdom.  The attention to detail really adds a lot to the park - it feels fully immersive, and is very enjoyable.  The one issue is the incomplete Seven Dwarfs Coaster construction area in the middle of Fantasyland, but once that's done, it'll look incredible, I'm sure.

In addition, the attractions are a nice compilation of C-Ticket and D-Ticket - level attractions (in other words, not super-duper big "must-see" attractions, but well done smaller attractions).

The one big miss for us was the Be Our Guest restaurant.  But even that can (and I suspect will) be improved.  Now that the restaurant has been open for a while, I am sure that Disney has cut down on future reservations so they better match the capacity of the restaurant - that should minimize or eliminate the absurd 40 minute wait beyond our reservation time.  And I can only hope they make the waiting area more comfortable (benches alone would help).  And as the restaurant gets its legs I would expect the food to improve a bit as well.

Overall, however, Fantasyland has gone from the least-themed land in the Magic Kingdom to the most-themed land, and that's awesome.  Once the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is open in 2014, giving the area an "E-Ticket" and removing the construction walls, Fantasyland will be the most visually attractive area of the Magic Kingdom, and arguably of any theme park anywhere!

In my previous post, I discussed the already-in-place additions and changes to Walt Disney World from the newly announced MyMagic+ plan.  Today, I'm going to discuss what's coming up.

Keep in mind that everything is subject to change - things may be added or subtracted as Disney fine-tunes everything.

The "MagicBand"
Disney is going to roll out what they call the "MagicBand" - it's essentially a bracelet with an RFID chip embedded in it.  This bracelet is the key to many of the MyMagic+ features.  Some of the minor things this bracelet will allow you to do include:

• Enter the park without going through a turnstile (much like the RFID-enabled tickets Disney resort guests can now have)
• Purchase items by a tap of the wrist
• Use it as a room key for your Disney hotel room.

These are all fine and good, but they're basically the equivalent of having your theme park ticket and hotel key on your wrist. Convenient, possibly, but not exactly revolutionary.

However, the band will be used in conjunction with a couple of other technologies in a way that changes your vacation more.

Fastpass+ scheduling

It appears from some sources that up to three Fastpass times will be able to be scheduled in advance, either at home, or using a smart phone (or kiosk in the park) on-the-fly.  These Fastpasses will essentially be in your MagicBand - you can just tap your MagicBand at the Fastpass entrance.

I have mixed feelings about this addition, but they are partially due to mixed messages from Disney.  If these three Fastpasses are in addition to "regular" Fastpasses, they are a huge boon, particularly for Optimal Magic customers.  We can get additional Fastpasses, and schedule them at times that the "regular" Fastpasses would be less convenient.  And Disney is planning to have "special" Fastpass+ opportunities like a special fireworks viewing location - these could be GREAT additions to a trip, and I'm excited to build them into my customers plans.

While this sounds great, I'm a bit concerned that some sources indicate that you will not be able to use regular Fastpasses if you have Fastpass+.  If this is true, (and that you can only get three Fastpass+'s for the day), it's going to make planning more challenging.  After all, many people use far more than three Fastpasses over the course of a day!

Adding on top of that the need to plan your Fastpass+ times in advance (Disney says you can change them on the fly, but really, what are the odds of there being availability of prime Fastpasses at the last second), and I'm worried Disney is making the whole Fastpass experience more difficult and less "magical" than the current syst

Regardless of what happens, rest assured that Optimal Magic will be on top of it, and will make sure on your vacation you'll visit all the attractions you want, and avoid all the lines.

Personalized Experiences
One last addition from the new MyMagic technology is that Disney says it will allow for personalized experiences.  Meet up with Ariel, and she'll know your name and say "Hello Julia."  Ride an attraction, and your name could pop up somewhere in it.

Some people may find this magical, and some may find it "Big Brother-esque" - I fall somewhere in the middle.

Conclusion
Despite all the marketing-speak, most of the MyMagic changes are relatively minor for the end consumer - conveniences like "tap your wrist to buy an item or enter the park" are nice (and may cut down on some lines at shops), but they're not really revolutionary.

The one revolutionary change will be that of Fastpass to Fastpass+.  This year will be an interesting one with the rollout - I suspect things will be added and subtracted as Disney tweaks things.  The great news about that is whenever Disney is tweaking and changing things, there are ways to take advantage of it for the smart visitor (which, if you're an Optimal Magic customer, is you)!

Regardless, be sure to keep checking this space to see what happens as different aspects of MyMagic are rolled out at Walt Disney World!

In my previous post, I discussed how Disney has announced "MyMagic+" - a new all-encompassing service that is supposed to use various technologies to improve the entire Disney guest experience.  MyMagic+ is being slowly rolled out - some aspects of MyMagic+ are already available, and some will be introduced as the year goes on.  This blog post will examine what's already here - in later posts I will discuss the new additions.

RFID-enabled keys/park tickets
If you're staying at a Disney hotel, you may well have a new hotel key/park ticket with an RFID chip in it.  As of now, RFID is being used for just two things - park entry and room entry at some hotels. Here are some details on both:

At the parks, there is a separate entrance area for those with RFID tickets - instead of turnstiles, there are poles that look like this:

So instead of putting your card in a turnstile machine and walking through a turnstile, you just put it against a pole.

In addition, Disney is installing RFID readers on hotel room doors - not all hotels are yet complete.  You can use your RFID-enabled card to enter your room as well.

As of now, this is just not a big deal. In fact, when I was at the parks earlier this week, it appeared the entry line at the RFID poles was a bit larger than at the "regular" turnstile! (Something I'd imagine Disney will address asap). 

While it isn't a big deal now, it WILL be a big deal in the future - RFID will be enabled for many more aspects of your trip. (This will be a topic of a future blog post)

"My Disney Experience" app for smartphones

Now THIS I love.  Disney has created an app called "My Disney Experience" for Walt Disney World.  This app has many aspects - it has maps, it can pull up all your restaurant and event reservations, and you can make dining reservations on it as well.  All fine and dandy, but not exactly revolutionary.

However, there is one aspect that is terrific - the app has real-time wait and FastPass return times!  This is absolutely terrific news if you're a "serial planner."  For example, say Space Mountain is down and you don't know when it'll be back up.  Rather than heading back to Space Mountain every 20 minutes to check or finding the Disney wait time tip board (what a pain), just check your smart phone!

Or, suppose you have a 6:00 dinner reservation, and want to check the Space Mountain Fastpass return times before getting a Fastpass (to see if they aren't over your dinner time).  Once again, use the app rather than walking around the park!

The app is still a bit buggy and can crash, but when it's working, it's a nice addition to make the day go easier for "serial planners."

Tests for "Fastpass+"
Disney has conducted tests for the new Fastpass+ system - it's not quite ready to go live yet, but some guests of Disney hotels have been asked to partake in tests.  If you're asked to participate, answer yes!  Ultimately, it means you'll be able to schedule a few more Fastpasses, but it does not (yet) affect the number of regular Fastpasses you can get.  That means more Fastpasses, and less waiting.

If you are an Optimal Magic customer and get asked to partake in a Fastpass+ test, please let me know asap -there are several factors that need to be juggled, and I'll help you use it in the absolute best way possible.

Conclusion
The currently aspects of MyMagic+ are relatively minor - RFID entry to the park (big deal), a nifty Disney app for your phone, and some testing of future services.  The big changes will be rolled out over the next year or so.  In the next blog post, I'll talk more about the bigger changes, and how you can optimally use it to have a better trip and avoid the lines!

And, as always, let me remind you that if you're not the type who wants to worry about this stuff, just drop me a note - the whole point of Optimal Magic is to help people have a stress-free, fun trip, and if you don't want to do any of the planning, I'll do it for you!

Happy New Year! Today is just a brief note to let you know that in the next week or two, I will be discussing several major new developments at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, most importantly, the just-announced "MyMagic+" at Walt Disney World.

Disney is pushing forward on what they're calling MyMagic+ - which Walt Disney Parks chairman Tom Staggs is calling a way to "give guests more opportunities to personalize and customize their entire visit." For details on MyMagic+ straight from Disney, check out their blog here.

As for my thoughts on MyMagic+ - I think it has some potential, but it also could make itMUCH more difficult to do everything you want without copious amounts of (pretty ridiculous) pre-planning. Already it is difficult to get reservations for dinner times at popular Disney restaurants if you don't reserve two, three, or even six months in advance.  If Disney follows through on their plans, it's potentially going to be difficult to even get a ride on Peter Pan's flight without similar advance planning, which is outright ridiculous.

In the next few weeks, I'll talk a bit more about what we know and don't know about MyMagic+, and how Optimal Magic will be able to help you avoid the pitfalls, and still get on Peter Pan, Space Mountain, or whatever attractions you want, with no wait - and I'll do the planning for you to ensure everything works out optimally!