Blog Posts - Mouse O'Clock Travel

How to get on Rise of Resistance

6/16/2021

Rise of the Resistance is an amazing ride In Hollywood Studios at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. But getting on the ride is a very different experience than any other. Experiencing the whole ride takes roughly 20 minutes, so it's impossible for Disney to accommodate everyone who enters the park. To get on Rise you need to get a Virtual Boarding Pass and you will be fighting with everyone else for these coveted spots!

Our tips will help give you that fighting chance to get on this fantastic ride! There is some advanced preparation that can help you avoid missing out. The most critical tool is the Walt Disney World App! This is where you need to be, ready and logged in with your My Disney Experience account. Make sure all the members of your group are connected in your travel group. If possible also remove anyone else who is not part of this trip. Now set your alarm for your Hollywood Studios day, you must have tickets and park reservations to make this happen!

The Virtual Queue opens at 7am and 1pm each day. You'll want to be logged in and ready a few minutes before. Anyone in your group is who has the app and an account is able to try for the Queue and I recommend you get all hands on deck. The more the merrier! It doesn't have to be just one person.

You can have someone watching the Naval Master Clock or a Universal Clock like https://time.is/New_York. This will give you precise timing that will help. What you are really looking for is the two seconds before Queue time.

You'll want to be on the Virtual Queue screen ready to swipe and refresh at the right time.

This is the screen you want! Make sure you are not connected to Disney's Wifi and that you have a strong Cell Signal. Disney's Wifi is too slow for a good shot at a Boarding Pass.

At 6:59:58, two seconds before boarding time at 7, you want to swipe down to refresh and click on Join Boarding Group. It will ask you to include all members in your party, I recommend you just click through these as quickly as possible till you see your Boarding Group Number. Every second counts!

If you get an error message, try again quickly and cross your fingers! Otherwise you will have to try again at 1pm in the park.

If in the parks, again I recommend not being on the Wifi and finding a quiet place with a strong cell signal. Get yourself set up again before 12:58 and watch the clock for 12:59:58 to try again.

We wish you the best of luck and May the Force be with you!

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Flowery Fun in Epcot!

6/9/2021

We got to visit Epcot during the International Flower and Garden Festival this year. This lovely festival is going on through July 15, so there is still time to check it out. We were excited to try out all the many yummy foods that we saw on the menu for this years festival, so much so, that we thought it could give the Food and Wine Festival a run for its money.

My family loves Epcot, so a festival just gives us more to do and look at! So follow along on our Green adventure here at Epcot.

There were a lot of topiaries to be seen while visiting this festival. Think of them as green garden statues! They can be found all over the park and just add that green touch of whimsy to everywhere you look. You can spot the gardeners coming in to tend to these living statues. They are, after all, made from growing flowers and plants.

But there is so much more to the Flower and Garden Festival than just flowers and plants. What keeps us coming back for the festivals? The food of course! We love to walk around the world and taste food from all over the world. The food stands during the festivals give you more of an opportunity to savor all these flavors.

You really have to pick and choose what you'll want to savor from each stand. The best recommendation is to share these with your friends and family so that you have room to taste everything you'd like.

We almost never make a dinner reservation at Epcot during a festival because we know there will be so many good foods to sample. We'd rather not have a heavy meal when there are so many small plates to sample from.

There are so many tasty meals and drink options that it easy to fill up while visiting Epcot. We loved the food from the Honey Bee-stro.

Most stands also have wine, beer, and/or cocktails for you to partake as well!

This year's festival brought us to the Goodness Garden Butterfly House. Where you get the opportunity to see and learn all about these delicate creatures.

You get to see the kaleidoscope of butterfly colors close up. Learn about their life cycle and if you're lucky you can even see some come out of their chrysalis.

And of course with each festival we have a fun little scavenger hunt for the kids. This festival we got to look out for Spike the Bee in his Pollen Nation Exploration. Spike was hiding out in some of the garden displays and the kids always have to scout each area thoroughly so we don't miss him. The kids got some pretty cool cups as their rewards for find Spike all over the park.

Epcot festivals are always and great way to learn and be entertained at the same time. The kids enjoyed seeing and learning about all the different plants.

There's always performers and shows in Epcot. With the International Flower and Garden Festival we get to listen to the Jammin' Gardeners. You'll mostly find these performers on the stage over at the America Pavilion.

We know Epcot may not be everyone's favorite park, but we just love it. I love to try all these amazing meals and the festivals just make it that much better. We hope you give Epcot a try, especially when the festivals are here. We thoroughly enjoyed the International Flower and Garden Festival. Check out the photo slideshow below for more pics from our visit.

As always, Mouse O'Clock is here for you!

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You got a friend in me!!!

5/5/2021

I can't help but feel like a kid when I walk into Toy Story Land in Hollywood Studios. For a movie franchise going back to 1995, it's got a long history of making kids smile. Toy Story Land may not be a huge area in Hollywood Studios, but it makes up for its size with a lot of heart!

Designed to make you feel like you've been shrunk down to the size of a toy, Toy Story Land is filled with toys and blocks that really sell the experience. It's also home to 3 very kid friendly rides that are still enjoyable for us kids at heart. Let me walk you through this great area of Hollywood Studios.

Slink Dog Dash roller coaster is a fantastic kid friendly coaster! The cue is filled with bits of toys and crafting materials because it's meant to be designed like a kid jammed some of his favorite toys onto his toy roller coaster set.

It's a very smooth ride and only has a height requirement of 38 inches. This whole area was designed with kids in mind, so it is not a scary coaster at all. The line for this coaster is usually long, so we recommend getting on it early or wait for a lull in wait times. My kids just loved this coaster and wanted to go again.

You've got to smile when Wheezy breaks into "You've Got a Friend in Me" at the end of the ride.

Next up is Toy Story Mania! This a great cart riding shooting game. You ride through different screens showing animated Midway Fair games and shoot at the screens for points. Your gun is an old fashioned pull string cannon, my wrist got a nice workout pulling that string rapid fire!

I loved the animatronic Mr. Potato Head in the cue. He throws out snarky comments to the crowd as you go by. He can even pull off his own ear if you ask him the right way.

The last ride is really for the kids. The Alien Swirling Saucers was one I always stayed clear of in the past. I always equated it with the tea cups so I never really gave it a chance till our last visit. It's just a really cute twirly ride that had no effect on my motion sickness. Niko had a lot of fun on this one and there is almost never a long line for it.

The decor in Toy Story Land is just phenomenal. I love looking around and see what toys I could spot all around.

Everything is made of toys, game pieces, and anything you could find in a little kids room.

I really wasn't expecting much food in Toy Story Land, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food was at Woody's Lunchbox. This Quick-Service location lives up to its name as it is built out of a literal giant lunchbox. It even has chairs that have been made out of giant baby-bell cheeses.

We ordered our breakfast here after riding Slinky Dog Dash. The breakfast bowl was a fantastic little dish of eggs gravy and tater tots. The Totchos have always been on my radar as a Chili cheese served on more tots. We also couldn't pass up their signature Toaster Pastries. The flavor of the day was lemon blueberry and it was really good.

I can't wait for them to finally open the Roundup Rodeo BBQ here. It was originally scheduled to open up last year, but COVID delays have pushed it back to a future date. It looks to be another fun place to eat when visiting Toy Story Land.

I've never really been disappointed with any of the BBQ offerings at Disney World, so I look forward to this one.

There's a lot more to Hollywood Studios than Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. I love Star Wars, but Toy Story is just another great reason to just LOVE Hollywood Studios.

There's good reason why Hollywood Studios is always booked up. If you want to get your chance to visit this great park you have to make sure to look ahead on that reservation calendar to find some open dates. It fills up fast!

We'd love to help you plan out that dream Disney vacation! We take care of most of the legwork for you.

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Ultimate Animal Experience!

4/21/2021

Sea World San Antonio is great little weekend destination. It's a fun place for roller coasters, cute animal shows, and a nice water park. We had lots of fun when we went back in October. We took a long weekend to enjoy our Sea World visit.
We took one day just to watch all the shows and ride the roller coasters. We took a second day for the water park. Our 3rd day was just for our special your! While there are some great rides and shows to enjoy when visiting Sea World, what really made this a MEMORABLE experience was the Ultimate Animal Experience. This is a separate tour that can be booked regardless of whether the park is open or not. It's on the pricey side, but it's a unique experience worth looking into.

We entered the park through the employee entrance and hopped into a van. There are a surprising number of back roads that wind throughout the park and that's how our backstage tour really gets around. Our guide tried to plan our tour for the best parts of the day, but feeding schedules and show times can shift your tour around a little bit. We were in the park before it was officially open and got to interact with some very lively sea lions.
We were the only ones there, so the kids got to go around the entire area and look at these beautiful creatures. All the while our tour guide gave us more details on the shows and other things the park had to offer. That's when the real magic begins.

We got to have our own personal sea lion show. Yes there is a sea lion show at the parks, but this one was just for us!
Our sea lion did some great acrobatics for us and then we got our own time to meet and greet him. We each had our turns taking pictures with him and getting to pet him. He felt almost rubbery in texture.

It's hard to argue with that smile! The amount of interactions we got with just the sea lions was fantastic! Our sea lion was quite the ham and gave us quite the vocal display.
Next we rode over to check out the Beluga Whales. I wasn't ready for this next part. Thankfully Niko was the minimum 48in for the experience.

We went to change into our wet suits before we could enter the beluga tank. It's odd squeezing into one of these suits, but necessary. Belugas like their water VERY cold! A few belugas did flips and jumps for us. And then we got to take turns petting and getting a high five from our friendly beluga. Their fluid filled heads felt odd and squishy. The kids loved it, though they did complain a little about how very cold the water was.

After a quick shower and change we drove over to the penguin enclosure. If you've ever been to a zoo with penguins, it's a similar feel of seeing them behind glass swimming around. But when we walked out our guide walked us to the back of the building into a small side room. We were very surprised to be greeted by a rockhopper penguin.

Niko's favorite animal is the penguin so he was over the moon to get to meet and pet one! We thought that was the end of the tour, but then another employee grabbed us and took us to the back of the enclosure where the king penguins just walked up to us to say hi. It was pretty amazing how comfortable the penguins are around people.

So COOL!

We got to stop and have our complimentary lunch that comes with our tour before we headed off to meet our next set of animals. We didn't get to get in the tanks with the bottlenose dolphins, but they were very playful.

The flipped and jumped, showed us just how awesome they are in the water. The splashed us and then even sprayed us with water.

It's hard not to be cheerful about dolphins. They are just a fun animal to play around with. The kids just loved it!

Back in our van our guide drove us back over to go and meet an Orca! The Killer Whales are what Sea World is famous for, so it was good to get to interact with these majestic sea creatures. We got to toss him some fish and give him some commands. He waved at us with his tail fin and waggled his huge tongue at us. It was a fun little interaction, though this one was shared with other groups so it did feel a little rushed by comparison to the other animal experiences.

Our last stop before our tour was over was the Shark Tanks. I didn't know what to expect but we got to see the Sharks pretty close in their tanks and got to pet a small shark in a separate tank up above the tanks.

The sharks weren't the most exciting encounter, but it was still pretty cool to touch one. We drove back to the employee entrance to end our day at the park.

After meeting with all those animals the kids had to have some souvenirs from their experience. Each one insisted on having a stuffed sea lion to take home with them. These were some amazing experiences! I know my kids will never forget getting to touch and play with all these awesome sea creatures! It was so worth the experience!

Let us know if you have any questions about the Ultimate Animal Encounter Tour or want any more information on Sea World! We'll be glad to help you plan your next vacation. We can book almost any kind of travel, not just DIsney!

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What souvenirs are worth getting?

4/14/2021

I hear people asking how much to budget for souvenirs when they visit Disney and that's an almost impossible question to answer. Some people WANT IT ALL and other people buy maybe one item as a keepsake of their trip. We typically fall into the first category, but we can tell you what things are more hassle than they are worth. Luggage space is limited, so it's hard to bring it all back with you.

DON'T First of all, Balloons! They'll either fly away or become deflated before your trip is over. Starting at $13 a balloon, they are SUPER cute but we all know balloons don't last. If you have to have one, I get it, but I'd spend that money elsewhere.

DO Angie and I are collectors, bordering on hoarders. We each have those thing that we love. And some of them are closer to investments. Loungefly Bags and Minnie Ears come out all the time, and some of the exclusive or limited release versions can actually increase in value. It's hard to know which ones will be a good investment, but I'm of the opinion that if you LOVE that backpack or pair of ears then it's value is up to you. Angie wears her ears every trip and she loves to alternate what bag she is using all the time.

DON'T Bubble Blowers and Light up toys. I know the kids instantly fall in love with these, but hear me out. Bubble wands and blowers are immensely annoying to pack. They run out of bubbles quickly, are expensive to buy and refill, and you never can tell how dry they are inside before you pack. The light up wands wow the kids while they are in the park but then are forgotten about in the back of their closet once you get back home.

For these two I recommend finding a more affordable version before you go. Throw them in your bag and give them to your child at the appropriate time. The kids often won't even notice the difference.

DO Refillable Popcorn buckets! If you love popcorn and easy snacking these are for you. It's only $2.00 for the refill and it'll keep the hunger sated till your next meal. Plus many of the refillable buckets just look cool.
The holiday buckets can be set out as decorations. We set out our Halloween buckets in September and replace them with Christmas ones in November. The refills are even given to you in a separate package so you don't even have to get them dirty.

DON'T Sipper cups. These may look cool, but they are horribly impractical. They barely hold a can of soda worth of beverage and are nearly impossible to clean.
They will inevitably take up space in the back of your cupboards. They can make cute decorations, but are terrible for drinking out of. And they are definitely not dishwasher safe.

DO Instead consider buying some of their special drinking cups. They are all solidly built, most of them look really good, and some are even made by brands like Tervis who are know for their quality Tumblers.
Not all of them a dishwasher safe, but their normal shape makes them a LOT easier to clean than the oddly shaped sipper cups.
I drink my daily water out of these two.

MAYBE When the heat is absolutely killing you, it may be worth buying one of these misting fans. In the Florida humidity though you'll often just feel uncomfortably damp. Plus if the kids get a hold of them, you've now just armed them with a squirt gun.

I recommend buying a battery powered personal fan before your trip. These little guys usually clip on to your shirt or hang around your neck. They do an adequate job of keeping you cool for less money.

DO Exclusive clothing choices. Some shirts and clothing items you will only find at the parks or Disney cruises. You can always find time wear a shirt or a hoodie, so it won't go to waste.
And many of these are never sold online, so if you don't buy it while you are there you will have a heck of a time trying to find later on. There's a plethora of cute designs for everybody.

You are welcome to spend your money how you see fit. These are our experiences with souvenirs and your mileage may vary. I've probably bought way too much Star Wars merchandise at Galaxy's Edge, but that won't stop me from looking around for more.

There are so many fun things to buy and collect. From cute little picture holders to full on art prints. Even your magic bands can make a great souvenir. I know I'll never forget my lightsaber building experience. Souvenirs are just keepsakes of your memorable trip.

We help you plan it out and make these memories magical. Ask us for a quote, any time!
When it's time to plan for Disney: It's Mouse O'Clock!

Festive Artistry at Epcot!!!

3/3/2021

We got a chance to enjoy the International Festival of the Arts at Epcot! The IFARTS, for short, runs through January and February in Epcot. It's a great chance to check out lots of food and art all with that touch of DIsney magic.

Epcot has various festivals that take place during the year and they are great excuse to visit Epcot. The extra touches and food that the festivals bring to this park really make Epcot worth the trip. Let me walk you through some of the sights and experiences we had this year at IFARTS.

FOOD!!!

Every festival has unique and interesting menu options. Epcot is known for it's World Showcase, it's where people go to eat and drink around the world. It's great to get to sample food and drink from all over, but during the festivals it can be hard to pick and choose what to eat unless you can grow an extra stomach.

You kind of have to pace yourself and decide which food or drink you really want. Rookies will often be loopy before they've made it halfway around the world.

I recommend sharing with friends and the family so you can spread out the eating. We made the mistake the first time and were overly full earlier than I would have liked. The spicy shrimp in China was really good but I couldn't decide on a drink so ended up ordering two different cocktails. The bacon and onion grilled cheese was simply delicious and paired with a nice tomato soup. The marzipan cake (pictured above) was a surprise of flavors with it's slightly fruity colored parts and it's outer chocolate covering.

Figment Scavenger Hunt

The kids loved the Olaf Scavenger Hunt during the Holiday Festival so they were really excited to find out that there was a Figment Scavenger Hunt this time. Figment, the lovable imaginary purple dragon, could be found hidden in many countries in the World Showcase. You buy the map with it's accompanying stickers and off you go. Figment was hiding in classic pieces of art in most of the major countries. Once completed the kids turned their map in for a Disney 3D puzzle. It was pretty neat how they incorporated figment into these classic paintings.

More Art than you can shake a stick at!

When Disney does an Art Festival they really want you to get INTO the arts! There were so many unique and fun interactions that you really put you IN the art. Zoey just loved taking pics with all of the wing pieces around the park.

The chalk art was just cool. Some pieces, like this Coco one, are designed perspective pieces that you can stand in for the picture. You get the chance to see many different pieces by many talented artists along your way through the park.

We got to participate in creating a giant mural. We each got to paint 7 squares in this huge art piece. We really got to make a piece of art!

One of the coolest parts of IFARTS, I still giggle every time I write that, was the chance to be in SO MANY PAINTINGS. We just had to jump in to every one we ran across. Some of these shots are pretty hilarious.

And of course Disney has to give you the opportunity to buy some of this great art to bring home. The longest wait was at the Star Wars Art booth, because of course everyone loves Star Wars! I picked up two Star Wars prints and had them shipped home, I didn't want them to get damaged.

We had an awesome time at the International Festival of the Arts (IFARTS.) It was a great experience for us all.

Let us know how we can help you make some magical experiences of your own by contacting us for a no obligation quote.

When it's time to plan for DIsney: it's Mouse O'Clock!

January 22nd, 2021

1/22/2021

Some of you may still be asking, what is rope drop? The Disney theme park cast members would literally hold up a rope and lead guests into the park. It was an interesting way to control the influx of guests and keep them from LITERALLY running into the park.

I haven't seen this done since before COVID, but the phrase rope drop has come to mean "the first thing you do in the park at open."

Guests will typically go to their favorite or busiest rides first thing. This is a good way to get a jump on the crowds and avoid long wait times. Without Fast Passes now you have to find the best time to ride each ride, as wait times can build up. Granted wait times since COVID have been fairly short, you still don't want to lose over an hour waiting for one ride.

Magic Kingdom

YOUR favorite ride may not be the best choice to rope drop. Some rides will have a long wait the entire day, others will go up and down throughout the day.

In Magic Kingdom the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has consistently long wait times. Even at the beginning of the day usually won't be less than an hour. We recommend going their first or watching the app for a miraculous lull during the day.

Most other rides at Magic Kingdom will ebb and flow, so it's easy to watch for a good time to ride. Each of the "mountains" can have a long wait, but their times will still get you in at under an hour (during COVID).

Hollywood Studios

This is one of the more difficult parks to rope drop because there are some really good rides that have a long wait. The newest ride is usually the ride that will hold the longest consistent wait.

Since it's opening Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway has held wait times of over an hour pretty constantly. We highly recommend you rope drop this guy!

Excluding Rise of the Resistance because of it's virtual cue, there are two other REALLY GOOD rides that can have a substantial wait time. You'll want to keep an eye on wait times for The Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run and for the Slinky Dog Dash Roller Coaster. Both are great rides that can have a long wait, but they can go up and down a little bit.

Epcot

Epcot has the fewest rides to concern yourself with. I know I'm usually more concerned with where the next yummy food/drink is located, but there are two rides to keep in mind throughout your day. Both Test Track and Frozen Ever After can have longer wait times. My recommendation is Test Track for your first ride. The ride itself is fun, but with COVID there isn't much to experience before going on the ride.

Frozen Ever After will have a longer wait time, but their is more to look at while you wait in line. You are walking through the streets of Arrendale and passing through Wandering Oaken's shop. Even if you have a little princess who loves Elsa, she'll be more entertained in that line than waiting for Test Track.

Animal Kingdom

There is only one SOLID answer to what ride to rope drop at Animal Kingdom: Flight of Passage. I'm not even that big of an Avatar fan, but it is a cool ride that will regularly have a LONG wait.

We recommend spending some time in Pandora land before you run off to the rest of the park. Though I suggest you return to Pandora once it gets dark, as it's very pretty all lit up by its bio-luminescence.

You will still want to make your way over to the Kilimanjaro Safari before it gets too hot. The animals are more active during the early hours before the heat sets in for the day.

When Fast Passes return your plans will have to adapt based on what you are able to get a Fast Pass for, but most of these recommendations will still be pretty useful till the next batch of new rides open up. I'm sure Remy's Ratatouille ride will be a long wait once that opens up in Epcot!

We'd love to help you plan out your next Disney Dream vacation! Ask us for more tips and tricks!

When it's time to plan for Disney: It's Mouse O'Clock!

This isn't the kingdom of Corona...

11/11/2020

Many of us have the same questions about Disney today. What is it like now during Coronavirus? What precautions are Disney taking? Is it still worth it to go?

I'm here to answer as many of these as I can. We went down at the end of September and still managed to have a blast while being careful. Disney is taking lots of extra precautions to keep their guests and employees safe during this strange times. We even had our temperature checked before entering the parks.

Obviously, like everywhere else right now, you have to wear your mask. Disney does not play around with their mask rules. You have to keep them over your mouth and nose at all

times that you are not actively eating. You can only eat if you are stopping and stepping to the side. Disney has even stated that you cannot eat in line. Are masks annoying? Most of the time yes, they are annoying but we are usually too distracted to notice them. They are worse to wear in the heat and humidity, so cooler times will be easier on having to wear a mask.

Disney has never been a slouch when it comes to cleanliness. The floors are always clean and they've kicked things up even further during Corona. All busy areas and points of contact are cleaned regularly and rides are stopped periodically to be sprayed and wiped down.

On all rides each party is either given their own cart or there are empty rows between each party. Keeping you distanced on each ride for your safety. We brought extra disposable masks for some rides.

Every line has spaces marked along its path to separate guests. Every line has spots marked for guests to wait from park entry, lines at eateries, and rides. The ferry boats and buses all had systems in place to keep parties separate and safe.

Extra steps have been taken to try and keep us all safe. Most locations are operating cashless, so expect to pay with a card or your Magicband. Many eateries were setup for mobile ordering and all tables were either spaced apart or tables in between were marked as closed to keep parties apart.

There are a few limitations that had to happen. Parades are shutdown for now but there are periodic character cavalcades that run through the park. They aren't on a set schedule to prevent people from crowding around.

Character interactions are severely limited. No more pictures or hugs from your friendly character performers. They are still around the park, but you can only see them at a distance. We were able to see the Beast while we dined at Be Our Guest. I also ran across the ugly stepsisters while we stopped for a snack. People were calling out to them across the barrier while the sisters joked and messed with the audience.

Sadly the activities in the ride lines are closed for safety. Shows, performances, and the firework shows are currently closed. You have to reserve which park you are going to go to each day, so you can't even park hop. Some of the shops and events aren't open all the time.

But is it worth it to go?

If you love Disney and can't wait to get back, then of course. If you've never been and are saving up for the only trip you will ever make to Disney? Then I'd probably wait for things to return to closer to normal. There is some of the magic missing from Disney right now with the limitations and closings.

But if you want to go on all the rides and enjoy the treats and sights of Disney., then there is no better time to go than now. With park capacities limited to (we're guessing) about 30% it's easy to get around the park and hit all of the rides. Posted ride times are usually less than an hour even for the best rides. Even the posted ride times aren't very accurate, they are currently 20 minutes faster than posted. Many rides are walk-on most of the day. It's usually difficult to go on the premium rides more than once in a day, but currently it's doable.

We love Disney so much, Angie has already planned a short trip to see the parks in their Christmas decorations. You can't see our smiles, but you know they are there!

If you can't wait to go back to Disney, contact us to see how we can make your wishes come true.

Making Memories

2/19/2020

Disney has a great system for getting photos: Memory Maker.

We all have cameras on our phones, we can all take pictures or even have strangers help us get the whole group in the photo. But many times it's hard to get that perfect shot. That's where Memory Maker comes into play. Their cameras are better than your phone and some of their pictures can be out of this world.

There are some shots you can't take on your own. I've always loved the looks we make when screaming down a roller coaster! The look on my kids faces is just priceless.

Each character experience also has a photographer, so it makes it much easier for everyone to join in. Disney's cast members are happy to use your camera to make sure the whole family is in the shot, but the quality of the photos isn't always the same.

Disney has many ways to add a magical touch to your pictures. Make sure and ask your photographer about Magic Shots. Many of the photographers can have you pose and add a little touch of Disney magic to your photo. You don't know exactly what you'll get, but that can be a part of the fun!

Do you really need the Memory Maker? No, but if you like to have a lot of family photos from your trip, it could be worth your while. At Disney World you can buy Memory Maker ahead of time for $169. This will cover your whole trip. Every time you get your picture taken, just scan your magicband or ticket to have it uploaded to your account. In Disneyland you get the Photopass added for free when you upgrade to MaxPass. Besides getting to do your fastpasses from your phone, you get all your photos for free along with it. Upgrading does cost $20 a day per person, but is totally worth it for the ease of getting FastPasses plus the photos.

Let us know how we can help make your trip just a little more magical.

Villains Unite the Night!

1/22/2020

Disney is offering Disney Villain After Hours again! These are special event tickets that grant you access to the park from 7pm to 1am. The park normally closes at 10pm, but with these tickets you get to stay an extra 3 hours in the park. Now why would you want to do that?

Most people see the ticket costs and immediately think it's not worth it. It costs as much as going into the park for the whole day. But! There are so many benefits to this one particular event.

Let me breakdown what makes this worth your while!

The biggest draw to this event is the lack of crowds. Could you imagine walking around Magic Kingdom when it is mostly empty. You have plenty of room to breathe while walking around and looking at the cool Villain decorations. These tickets are limited in number each night, so once 10pm hits, everyone without an event wristband is asked to leave the park. You can enter for the event at 7pm and can stay in till 1am. 3 extra hours doesn't sound like a lot of time but with the severely reduced crowds. Ride times are nothing, you can walk on and board most rides. Even coveted ride like the Seven Dwarves Mine Train have a 15-20 minutes wait time.
You get access to all the rides with minimal wait times!

Villain themed treats and Merch!

There are lots of good decorations to take pictures with, including some huge posters of your favorite villain. Unfortunately there aren't any opportunities to meet the Villains.

You get a few good opportunities to see the Villains throughout the night. The Villain parade is amazing. Seeing Maleficent's dragon parade float light up the night with bursts of flames is something you won't want to miss.

During After Hours events popcorn, sodas, and ice cream bars are complimentary. Believe me, the sugar and caffeine helped get everybody through the long haul! There are plenty of other treats to look into while at this Villain themed party.

Look out for Cupcakes, Ice Creams, and Drinks all themed after out favorite bad guys!

There is also EXCLUSIVE Villain Night Merchandise that can only be bought if you are there for the event. We got a couple of T-shirts and a really nice Tervis Insulated Cup.

The Villain night gets wrapped up with a great show hosted by Hades himself. The Villains come out and take over Cinderella's Castle. Each one of them vies for control of the Castle to take control of the kingdom. The lighting effects and acting are phenomenal. You really want to stick around to see this show. We also get an additional fireworks finale!

If you can squeeze this event around a rest day at the resorts, it can be a great use of your time. Magic Kingdom often takes two days to fully explore, but the after hours events lets you enjoy all the rides without the wait times. It could even save you a day at the parks. You could do Epcot or Animal Kingdom till 6pm and then make your way to Villain Night. All without having to have park hopper tickets or use an additional day at the parks.

My family loved this experience and I think yours will too! We did every single ride and even got to ride some of our favorite rides 3 times that night.

Contact us here at Mouse O'Clock Travel for more information.

Author

Angie & Gabe Garcia-Lavin make up the Mouse O'Clock Travel team. Married for more than a decade, they share a love of each other and a love of Disney that runs deep.

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