The MousePlanet Mailbag is a regular compilation of some of our reader feedback and writer responses that may be of interest to our readers. We encourage you to drop your questions, opinions, or comments to us in care of our mailbag.
Mailbag editor Stephanie Wien answers the first set of letters sent in by readers on a variety of Disney-related topics. Ichha K. writes:
I am a big fan of your Web site. I am a frequent visitor to Disneyland and your Web site helps keep in touch with the little secrets that make the parks that much more fun. I just read the Disneyland park update and read that there was going to be a renovation and expansion to Disney’s California Adventure park. Would you know when this renovation would start? I am going to Disneyland in August 2007 from the 6th to the 18th and I would hate to miss out on that park. The Mickey Mouse roller coaster and Maliboomer are some of my favorites! Keep up the great work!
The renovation of DCA will not happen soon. The news of the funding has just broken and is still just a rumor until officially announced; no plans have been formalized. Your trip in August is not at risk. You can check out the weekly MousePlanet Disneyland Park Update for information on ride closures. The only scheduled closures in DCA are the midway games due to the ongoing construction of Toy Story Mania.
John writes:
I’ve been trying to make initial plans for a trip to Walt Disney World in February or March 2008 and I’ve discovered that the Walt Disney World Web site won’t allow me to book anything beyond 2007. This seems unusual, as in the past I’ve used the Web site to book more than a year in advance. Do you know of any changes to the site that are preventing this, or is it some sort of strategy on Disney’s behalf to force me to call and talk to a live operator to get a sales pitch?
Disney has not released the rates for 2008 yet. You won’t be able to book into 2008 until they are released, which is expected in late July or early August. Keep an eye on the MousePlanet Walt Disney World Park Update for information on the opening of reservations for 2008.
Melissa R-P. writes:
I read Mike’s list with some interest, and want to thank him for his accolades for the American Adventure (AA). I was the Senior Research Analyst that vetted the props and storylines when AA was being designed. I thought your readers might enjoy a story about an AA presentation to American Express when it was still a maquette vision in the warehouse.
American Express was the opening day sponsor of AA, and a presentation of the show in model form was scheduled for a visiting American Express dignitary. For some reason, it was to take place on Halloween. This being Imagineering (or WED, as it was then) you can imagine the scope for creative costuming. We met the American Express guy (dressed exec New York in a full suit, tie, briefcase etc) at the WED entrance. It was a full “dog and pony show” from Ron Miller down to little me. None of us (of course) could match the AE exec for full, sartorial splendor, but he was going to be seriously one-upped in the short walk from entry to warehouse.
Trailing along behind, I was in a good position to watch the exec’s face as a Cylon (old style) walked by, then a woman dressed entirely in safety pins, and then the entire Interiors Department—as the Seven Dwarfs sang “Hi-Ho.” As the Disney escort continued conversing with magnificent disregard, the guy from New York was looking more and more mystified. We finally reached the warehouse, only to encounter the glorious figure of a talented (male) vocalist from the model shop. He was dressed as Barbara Streisand, crooning “People” into a cordless mike, and gliding on roller skates round and round the warehouse. The guy from New York dropped his briefcase.
Nothing was ever said (in my hearing anyway) and the presentation went on, but I have always wondered what stories the man from American Express had to tell when he returned to New York.
PS: The statues in the AA theater were modeled by Blaine Gibson using those of us that worked on the show. The Indian woman up front—that’s me!
Thank you for writing in with that wonderful behind the scenes look at the development of American Adventure. That’s one of my all-time favorite Disney attractions. One of these days I’m going to take the tour where you get to see how all the mechanics work under there (I’m an engineer, so these kind of things fascinate me!)
Next time I go to Epcot, I’ll be sure to look for “you.” Thanks for your support of MousePlanet!
A cast member writes:
I’m a cast member at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and lately there have been several credit card scams that not enough people know about, and, inadvertently, keep falling for.
On two occasions that I know of, someone has called a guest room claiming to be from either the front desk or the concierge desk and offered very, very inexpensive tickets to the Hoop-De-Do Musical Review. By “inexpensive,” I mean they are $15 for category one seating. Normally, category one is around $60 for adults.
All the guest needs to do is provide all their credit card information and their address and then they can head down to the concierge desk and pick up their ticket! Needless to say, there will be no ticket. The person who came to me looking for his ticket eventually had over $2000 spent on that particular credit card before we figured out what had happened.
The folks coming to Disney need to know that even though we love taking as much money as we can from you, we will never, ever, call your room looking for a credit card. In most cases, there’s already a credit card on the guest’s reservation. Also, if they are staying in our hotel, we will have their address already, so it would be unlikely to be asked for it over the phone.
If there was an actual problem with a reservation, like a credit card is declined or we need more personal information, the guest is called in their room, but then asked to make their way down to the front desk to clear it all up in person. That, of course, is our way of trying to avoid scams like the above.
Even with the “Year of a Million Dreams” going on, if the deal sounds too good to be true, it is. If it is part of the YOAMD, then it will be on Disney’s tab, not yours.
Be safe out there. Not everyone is as magical as you’d like them to be.
Thanks for writing in and letting us know about this scam. It’s sad to hear that identity thieves are taking advantage of people at Walt Disney World.
Michelle B. writes:
We are traveling to Walt Disney World the weekend of the Triathlon. Will this impact the Magic Kingdom or the Magic Kingdom resort area?
The competition is centered on the Fort Wilderness and Epcot area, but the bike portion occurs on the roads in the surrounding area. If you are driving, you may see riders and experience some delays due to race traffic.
You might want to take some time to stop and cheer on the participants. As a marathon finisher, I appreciated the cheers of the spectators.
Speaking of Disney endurance events, staff writer Lani Teshima answers some letters regarding the Walt Disney World marathon to wrap up this week’s mailbag. Jerry K. writes:
Thanks for the super article on WDW Marathon. It was very helpful.
I heard about something called the Goofy Challenge, part of the marathon, but see through the online system that it is now already sold out. Do you happen to know when the online system will begin accepting marathon reservations for the 1/2009 marathon? I wanted to sign up early for the Goofy Challenge since I missed it this time.
Any help on this would be appreciated.
Disney is quite restricted in the number of people they allow to register for the Goofy Challenge. I believe for the January 2008 it was limited to something like 2,000 or 3,000 entrants, and registration filled up within the first month or two that they made it available.
Traditionally registration is available the day after the WDW Marathon for the year. So hopefully you can register for the 2009 version in January 2008. Good luck!
David K. writes:
I noticed Disney changed the date for the Marathon weekend in 2008 to one week later (Presidents Day weekend). Do you have any idea whether this will be the new annual date or is it a one-year only change? I’m trying to do some future planning for 2009.
I’m not sure what calendar you are using, but the one that I have says President’s Day in 2008 is on February 18. The 2008 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend is scheduled for January 12-13.
Disney does not use a set date for its marathon schedule, although it is always in the first half of January and usually on the second weekend of the month. It looks like the schedule also gets adjusted based on what day of the week January 1 falls on.
I don’t know of the exact formula they use, but chances are that the marathon weekend will rarely fall on the same weekend as the Martin Luther King holiday (which is perhaps the one you were thinking of, rather than President’s Day?), because I suspect Disney would like to avoid any other scheduling conflicts with potential crowds. A Monday holiday is sure to draw extra crowds to the parks, so they would probably not want to schedule their marathon for such a weekend.
