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.
In the first mailbag letter this week, Roger L. writes in response to the report on a MousePlanet staff member who was stopped by security for having a HAM radio, which ran in a recent MousePlanet Disneyland Update (link):
I think some more clarification needs to be made regarding this topic. You only mentioned Amateur Radio gear. What about the FRS and GRMS (ex: Motorola TalkAbouts) that I see a lot of families using while in the park?
MousePlanet CEO Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix responds:
I have never heard of or witnessed Disney denying entry to someone carrying FRS radios, and Disney actually sold the Disney character-theme sets within the park. My perception is that these radios don’t cause concern because they don’t look like “official” Disney radios. Ham radios don’t look like toys, and most people don’t know what they are.
When Kevin Krock was stopped, the cast members asked him repeatedly if his was a “2-way” radio. When he replied to one cast member that he could talk to people using the radio and that people could talk to him, her reply was “so it’s a more than two-way radio…” (I’m not sure what she thought the extra “way” could do, but it was enough to make her call a manager).
Remember, bag checks are performed by main gate cast members, not trained security staff, and most have no idea what a ham radio is or how it differs from an FRS radio. They see cute Disney Princess FRS radios and see a toy; they see a black ham radio “brick” with a bunch of knobs and 6″ antenna and they see “security threat.” To be fair, this was an unusual situation—many of the MousePlanet staff members are “hams,” and we’ve all brought radios into the park at one time or another for years. If we’ve been stopped (and several of us have), a simple “it’s a ham radio, I have a license to use it” is sufficient. Unfortunately this is just one of those situations where someone didn’t know how to respond; in the absence of an official policy several CMs decided to make one up on the spot; and the whole thing got a little out of hand.
Even security CMs don’t necessarily know anything about radio equipment. The first security CM who responded in Kevin’s situation wanted to know if his radio could “listen in” on Disney frequencies. Let’s be realistic—anyone wishing to scan Disney’s radio system could easily do so from the parking lot of the McDonald’s across the street—it is not necessary to be on Disney property at all. Moreover, Disney is required to hold an FCC license to use commercial radio frequencies, and the FCC Web site lists over 70 frequencies registered to the Disneyland Resort.
In the days after this happened I made it a point to ask any bag check or security CM I encountered if ham radios could be brought into Disneyland, and the responses varied from “of course,” to “no, we’ve never allowed them,” to “not if they look like ours,” to “only if it doesn’t have a scanner,” to “What?!?” Someone told me, “We don’t have a policy about laser printers either, but we wouldn’t let someone bring one into Disneyland unless they had a legitimate reason to have it.” I’m guessing that person could not imagine why anyone would have a “legitimate” reason to have a ham radio, but wouldn’t look twice at a cell phone.
MousePlanet staff writers answer our next series of letters, which deal with Disney travel topics for the holidays, from Halloween to New Year’s Eve. Vanessa writes:
I have a trip to Disneyland planned for Oct 19-21. I know that Mickey’s Halloween Treat is going on at night. Do they close the park down early for this event or if you have a regular ticket can you stay until regular park closing hours? I have never been at Halloween time so I have no idea.
On nights when Mickey’s Halloween Treat is offered, Disney’s California Adventure will close early, but Disneyland will remain open until its normal closing time. Check the park hours available on MousePlanet’s weekly Disneyland Resort Update (link) for the current schedule. Thanks for writing and have a great trip!
Annie P. writes:
Can you please tell me about New Years Eve at Disneyland? My kids and I will be arriving from Australia on December 26th to spend seven days at Disneyland. We would love to celebrate the New Year in Disneyland but I am not sure if it is open as normal or is it a special ticket event? Please could you let me know so that I can plan accordingly?
New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at the Disneyland Resort. There is no special ticket required for admission on that day, however it is one of the few days where admission to the park has been restricted or completely closed due to the park reaching capacity. If you plan to stay until the midnight festivities, it’s a good idea to plan to enter as early as possible, and not leave Disneyland. If you leave, there is no guarantee of reentry later. You might want to bring in some snacks and water, as food lines can get long. Patience is the best thing you can bring with you that day.
I would recommend joining our MousePad message board community. There’s a wealth of information there regarding New Year’s Eve tips and strategies. Here’s a roll call thread for people who will be there on New Year’s Eve (link). Here’s a thread from last year discussing NYE (link).
You might also enjoy this Christmas Holiday Photo Tour (link) to give you a preview of the kind of things you’ll see when you arrive. Have a great trip and thanks for writing to MousePlanet!
Jeff writes:
I just wanted to point out that the Christmas parade always opens a week after Small World Holiday and everything else, which puts it typically at the Friday before Thanksgiving week comes around. It doesn’t have anything to do with HalloweenTime at all… they do it on purpose because November 9th seems a little too early to have Santa rolling down the street.
Thanks for the information; we’ll make the correction to the Disneyland Resort update column.
Ron P. writes:
We are planning on a trip to Disneyland during January and wondered when the Haunted House and Small World will close to remove the holiday overlay? I noticed Small World will close at the end of January for quite a while, and wondered if a date had been chosen yet? We will be taking some “first timers” to any Disney parks and would like these two attractions to be open. Do you know of any other attractions that will be closed during some part of January or the first part of February? Thanks for your help and keep up the good work.
We don’t have the official dates from Disney yet; the refurbishment calendar on Disneyland.com currently stops at the end of December. However, applying last year’s dates to this year’s calendar, we can guess that the Haunted Mansion will close January 7th and reopen January 17th. “it’s a small world” would then close January 21st, and if the report of the nine-month refurbishment project is accurate it will not re-open until October. However, these are only guesses based on how Disney has scheduled these closures in past years.
Finally, Mouse Tales author and MousePlanet staff writer David Koenig responds to some reader questions. Mark L. writes:
I read the article in USA Today last week about your book Realityland, and got really excited about it. That night I ordered it online, and today I received it. However, I don’t know if I can bring myself to read it.
I love everything there is about Walt Disney World, and I was very excited about finding out things about the resort I never knew. But looking through the book, I saw that you did something that as a Disney purist, I don’t think I can get past: you almost always refer to Walt Disney World as simply Disney World. This annoys me so much, I don’t think I can get through your book.
It’s true that when Walt was planning this park, it was simply called Disney World. However, when the park was opened after Walt died, Roy O. Disney made sure the name was changed to Walt Disney World so everyone would know who’s dream the park was. It’s an honor to Walt, and when people call the resort simply Disney World, that honor is taken away.
When I read articles about the resort, the first reference is Walt Disney World, but the rest of the article would simply be Disney World. I even thought in my head before getting this book that knowing it was written by someone who knows Disney inside and out, certainly he would make the proper reference throughout the book. I am surprised and disappointed I was wrong.
Not only is referencing the name of the resort Disney World incorrect, but it removes the maker of all things Disney from the name, placed there by his brother in his honor. I just don’t understand why people don’t get it.
Thanks for the note and for purchasing a copy of “Realityland.” I hope you can bring yourself to read it.
Roy lengthened the resort’s name to Walt Disney World as a tribute, not as some test to separate the Disney purists from the unknowing general public. No, referencing WDW as simply Disney World is not incorrect, no more than is referring to “Six Flags Magic Mountain” simply as “Magic Mountain.” Disney World has always been and continues to be a universally accepted nickname. In fact, vastly more people know and refer to the resort as just plain Disney World. I have about 100 books on my shelf that reference WDW and every single one that I thumbed through refers to the resort on one page or another as simply “Disney World.” Many, in fact, including “Disney War,” “Married to the Mouse,” and “Walt Disney and the Quest for Community,” even list the resort as “Disney World” in the index!
Disney itself even built its most successful ad campaign (“I’m going to Disneyland/I’m going to Disney World”) using the nickname.
Books (including my own), newspapers and people around the world refer to the resort as Disney World not as a slight to its creator, but as an abbreviation, to save space and time. Honestly, if Walt and Roy were still around, what do you think they’d call the resort in their everyday conservations? A better way to honor Walt’s memory would be to continue to visit and celebrate his creations, such as I tried to do in my book.
I’d love to hear what you decide.
Mark replies:
Thank you very much for your e-mail. I never considered “Disney World” as an abbreviation of the resort, but more of laziness, so you made me look at it differently. But I did wonder, in the print media, if it was done more to save space and time, and you answered that question.
I supposed I’m in the minority because I always say and write “Walt Disney World” and never abbreviate it. I like saying and writing Walt’s name when referencing the park. I guess that’s just me.
I’m sure I will read your book! Thank you for writing it. Writing a book on Walt Disney World as always been a dream of mine, so I envy you very much.
While I suspect there are some people who abbreviate “Christmas” as “Xmas” to intentionally leave the Christ out of Christmas, I don’t think people who refer to WDW as Disney World mean to disparage Walt. It’s just colloquial.
Good luck on your WDW book. I hope to read it one day!
Toni H. writes:
I need help finding a cast member… A close friend was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer with lymph node involvement last year. She is a single mom of 3 beautiful children, who survived her treatments and is on her way to recovering. She has a trip planned for the middle of October to Disney World with her family to celebrate her journey and I would LOVE for her to be granted a wonderful “dream” or wish.
Toni – Unfortunately the dreams involved in the Year of a Million Dreams promotion are awarded completely at random. Cast members are barred from choosing any recipients, despite how deserving. Cast members are instructed exactly which random person is to be awarded each prize (such the second person from the left sitting on a certain bench at an exact moment).
I’m sure your family will have a great time. You don’t need special prizes to make dreams come true when you’re at Disney World!
