Tag: cinderella

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT?

What actually happens at the magic kingdom when the lights go out? No, not on one of the magic hours evenings, or during one of the special parade nights. On a regular night. After the evening parade and fireworks. Midnight on a regular day. Some might say that all the statues come alive. They start to move. This is the moment when they get to try the rides. They finally get to enjoy the “Magic”.

Each of the 44 presidents in the Hall of Presidents get to mingle, they take a presidential march down main street, and then trot when they see the two lanters lit up in Liberty Square to indicate that the British are coming by sea – (yes, even the new one) click here.

One statue in particular, the Cinderella Statue, close to the carousel, is often spotted climbing the 189 foot structure in order to get into her VIP suite. Why try and get into her own kingdom that way? Who knows. What I have heard is that the lavish VIP suite inside the castle can’t even be toured because it was originally intended for Walt and his family. It is only available to VIPs like Suri Cruise. Cinderella herself can’t even officially try the luxurious bedding in the finest suite in the castle. So she climbs in at night.

The five grooms in the wedding portraits in the Haunted Mansion start a game of poker. The winner gets the bride. (Did you know that the same bride is in ever portrait? You will figure it out when she comes after you with her hatchet!)

Suddenly Goofy appears – he got up from his bench in front of Tony’s restaurant because he wanted to try and pull the sword from the stone. Even though the statues have mostly come alive, the magic of the sword comes alive and only a true king can pull out Excalibur. So Goofy is out of luck. Click here for more info on the sword and the stone.

Goofy doesn’t like walking around the old and empty kingdom by himself. He’s looking to hold one of the hidden Mickey’s hands. Although approximately 1,000 Hidden Mickeys have been recorded throughout Disney, there has never been a list made up. The most common Hidden mickey is a formation of three circles that may be perceived as the silhouette of the head and ears of Mickey Mouse, the “Classic Mickey”. Mickeys can be painted, made up of objects, or even references such as a character wearing mouse ears. They don’t all have hands, though.

Finally, Goofy finds the partners statue, and gets to hold Walt’s hand personally, with Mickey still on the other side.

If you are ever lucky enough to be “stuck” at Disney when all this magic is going on, where would you eventually lay your head?

My first choice might be The Beast’s Castle. But this choice is only for the brave, given all the enchantment that takes place in the castle even in the daylight.

Just imagine the nighttime enchantment. I personally love the idea of experiencing all seasons at once: The forest in the fall, the snow. But I would never sleep in the West Wing.

Having trouble imagining all this? Having trouble listening to all I’ve said? Don’t worry, your mind is NOT playing tricks on you. Or is it.

This really happens.

CHARACTER DINING, DINING, DISNEY RESORTS September 28, 2017September 28, 2017

Steppin it up with the ugly stepsisters at 1900 Park Fare — not sure we want to get up close and personal with these two

Did you know that the ugly stepsisters were originally played by men? To make them more ugly? Those familiar with Cinderella’s Drizella and Anastasia know that what really makes the ugly sisters ugly is the personality associated with the characters. They’re mean. They rip up Cinderella’s dress. They make fun of her.

So what would you expect when meeting the stepsisters at 1900 Park Fare’s Cinderella Happily Ever After dinner? I expected to meet the mean girls and experience their brutality. Instead, they danced for us (pretty terrible dancing), and kept us company for a while. There was nothing really mean about them. Maybe they thought we couldn’t take it, I don’t know.

You would think that the stepsisters would live their roles to the fullest, given that they aren’t featured in many character events (they can also often be found by the carousel area in the Magic Kingdom). They didn’t get their prince, but they did get a 1900 Park Fare character meal – they should be the lives of the party!

Food at Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner was your average buffet, with the addition of 1900 Park Fare’s signature gummies: link to menu here.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Both sisters made it clear that everything was still a competition with them, from their twirls in the middle of the restaurant to their stepmother’s affection. Although we did not see the prince himself (he sometimes makes an appearance), the sisters were understandably overshadowed by their mother and Cinderella. Have a request for them? Ask them to sing for you. They’ll sing about a sweet nightingale. Unfortunately for them, although they try to take over the Happily Ever After Dinner, they will never actually live Happily Every After. So try and pretend you enjoy their company, for their own sake. Give them a chance to be superstars.

Curious to learn more about the origins of the ugly stepsisters? Find Rhodopis, the Egyptian Cinderella tale. Then look for the earliest Cinderella story to appear in print, Pentamerone (1634), a collection of old folk tales compiled by a Neapolitan soldier named Giambattista Basile. In the folk tales, Cinderella was named “Cenerentola”. She was then transformed by Charles Perrault, then the Brothers Grimm, and even Roald Dahl.

CHARACTER DINING, DINING September 19, 2017September 19, 2017

Cinderella’s Royal Table: food fit for a Queen… and an experience fit for a really patient Diva

Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world.. other families try like crazy to get a reservation at Cinderella’s castle before they finally get one. What did we do with our lives? We landed a spot at an odd time for lunch, 2:55 – but grabbed it. While the food was absolutely delicious, the entire experience took a lot of patience.

For those of you that don’t know, the entrance to Cinderella’s Royal Table is located in the famous castle, the first thing you see when you get to the Magic Kingdom. The entrance is almost directly across from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. So with two very popular places, the area is almost just as crowded as Penn Station in NYC at rush hour.

Disney does not make waiting for your table very easy. When you go to check in with the hostess, you will be told that you have to wait until your reservation time to approach the desk – they will not take your name any sooner. Each guest has a reservation at 5 minute intervals. There is only one bench. So on a rainy day like ours, you will be confronted with crowds packed together uncertainly having no idea where to go.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We wanted to be the ones to walk in the sun.. but we were stuck. Just waiting for our exact time to be shouted out into the crowd.

Finally, 2:55pm rolled around. We were given a small receipt to hold and brought into a beautiful waiting room where Cinderella was waiting for us. By that time, our children were so hungry they had no interest whatsoever in meeting her. But we couldn’t sit at our table.. yet. We were forced to wait and watch Cinderella meet her fans while a cast member hit a gong every few seconds to announce the next person to be lucky enough to get a table.

Not to worry. Although this picture didn’t work out I think Cinderella may very well be the easiest princess to find at Disney. More on that later.

The gong finally rings, possibly by this time it’s the middle of the night. Trust me. You will have to wait. We were finally seated for our 2:55pm reservation at 4.

Our server was wonderful. We received wands and swords in exchange for our long wait. We had a delicious meal – check out the menu here. And there were other princesses to meet! There is some sort of wishing song that is sung but we couldn’t hear anything. The acoustics were horrible.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The restaurant is expensive($$$) (2 dining points for those on the plan). The experience takes lots of patience. But, the working day was done. We were on vacation. Both our girls definitely had fun, which is all that matters.