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Adventures By Disney: Bringing Disney Magic Around The World

The Walt Disney Company has always been trying to expand the Disney brand experience outside of their theme parks. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Disney unsuccessfully tried to build different types of theme parks with the unrealized Disney’s America concept and the Port Disney project, which eventually morphed into Tokyo DisneySea. After these missteps and the eventual failure of the DisneyQuest concept, (which eventually lead to the closing of the final location at Walt Disney World), the company smartly changed course. Instead of trying to build Disney around the world, why not take people around the world “the Disney Way?”

The first step of this initiative was Disney’s launch into the cruise business in 1998, with Disney Cruise Line. The executives noticed the success of the cruise division and looked for a way to replicate the model, but somewhere they didn’t have to build multi-million dollar cruise ships. There are iconic places around the world that people want to visit, why can’t Disney take them there. IRL.

That’s how I imagine Adventures By Disney was born. Continue reading “Adventures By Disney: Bringing Disney Magic Around The World”

COOL EVENT ALERT! Our Dinner At The Pan Am Experience

I had written a while back that we had gotten tickets for the Pan Am Experience, an event where you relive the magic of flying onboard a luxurious Pan Am 747, complete with full meal service. We had made the reservation back in May (it’s very limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis. I’m usually really good at snagging those) and, truth be told, part of our vacation to the southwest was planned around attending the event. Well, that and seeing Hamilton (for the 5th time. Don’t hate me). It was a LONG 6 months, but October 21 finally rolled around and we were on our way!

Continue reading “COOL EVENT ALERT! Our Dinner At The Pan Am Experience”

The Airport Restaurant Designed By Walt Disney Imagineers

Sometimes you’re in an airport and wonder, “What the hell is something like THAT doing in an airport?” The iconic 1962 TWA Flight Center at J.F.K. Airport is a great example, especially now that Eero Saarinen’s landmark building is in the midst of being reimagined as a world class hotel.

L.A.X. has another such structure – the Theme Building. Designed in 1959, it was completed and dedicated in 1961. After receiving landmark status in 1993, the building that looks like a giant flying saucer got a $4 million renovation in the mid-1990s, with retro-futuristic interior and electric lighting designed by Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), in preparation for it to open as a restaurant called Encounter in 1997.

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Updates for JetBlue, Update on Real ID, Combating Resort Fees & More…

Hey y’all! Here are the articles we’ve recently seen, written by other travel bloggers and article writers, that we learned from, made us think or maybe made us chuckle a little bit. We hope you enjoy them!

Sharon and I both sing in choirs so seeing this video of the Kentucky All-State Choir sing the Star Spangled Banner on all 18 floors of the atrium hit a special spot. Imagine waking up in the morning and hearing this outside your hotel room.
I’ve written about the difference between the seats on JetBlue’s A320 and A321 aircraft. It looks like the retrofit to install the new seats on all of JetBlue’s planes is underway.
Hopefully I’ll live long enough to travel into space. Until then I’ll just have to settle for the video of Starman driving a Tesla Roadster away from Earth.
While the TSA has extended the deadline requiring everyone to have Real ID compliant identification, Californians are FINALLY able to get a compliant drivers license.
Using a combination of feigned ignorance and the $20 trick, Jon from No Mas Coach was able to get a junior suite in Caesars Palace. This would fall just outside my comfort range and I preferred just to ask for an upgrade when we stayed in Vegas.
It’s now easier for American citizens to visit Brazil. You can now apply for a e-visa online for $40 instead of the previously costly $160 fee and time consuming process required.
You’re seated on the aisle in a row of three seats with someone in the middle seat. The plane finishes loading and no one sits at the window. SCORE! But what if the person in the middle seat doesn’t move? Awkward!!!!
Resort Fees (or Urban Destination Fees) are becoming more and more common. We’ve written about how to find out which hotels charge them (and the list keeps growing). I don’t know if Doctor of Credit’s solution of boycotting hotels that charge them will ever work but I do like the other suggestion that he has to help combat them.
While I may have learned to love staying at timeshare resorts, I’m not ready to sit through a presentation like Stephen and Shae from Frequent Miler did. But at least they were ready!
Orlando airport is looking at replacing TSA screeners with a private company. While the airport authority already does this at the “other” Orlando airport in Sanford, I’m not sure if I like the idea of even more confusion if the changes happen.

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AMEX/Google Express Offers, Toy Story Hotel, A Hack For Black Friday Sales & More…

From hotel promotions to American Airlines’ listeria problem to Starbucks’ upcoming co-branded credit card, here are some stories we saw this week that we thought were interesting. We hope you will, too:

Continue reading “AMEX/Google Express Offers, Toy Story Hotel, A Hack For Black Friday Sales & More…”