Mouse Travel Tips

Today was a milestone day for me.  I celebrated my 23 year anniversary with my company (yikes – have I really been out of college that long??).  My son turned 13 weeks old today – he’s such a cutie.  And diehard Pooh fans around the world celebrated the birthday of English Author A.A. Milne – creator of the Winnie the Pooh series of children’s books – who was born on the 18^th of January, 1882.

In honor of A. A. Milne’s birthday, I wanted to highlight the many attractions of Winnie the Pooh that you can find at Walt Disney World in Florida.  These include character meals, character greetings, and of course the children’s ride in Fantasyland.

Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger Too!) can be found along with other Hundred Acre Woods friends at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom, for a wonderful and tasty character meal.  Whether you choose the breakfast, lunch, or dinner buffet, you are guaranteed to meet Pooh Bear, along with his pals Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet.  They come by your table, pose for pictures, sign autographs, and have fun with the little ones before moving on in their dining room rotation.  Less frequently, you can also meet Pooh and select pals at the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast in the 1900 Park Fare dining room of the Grand Floridian hotel.  Most of the characters at this buffet meal are from English stories and movies, but the roster can vary day to day.  So your best bet for sharing a honey pot with Winnie the Pooh is at the Crystal Palace.

Our favorite spot to meet Winnie the Pooh is over at the Toy Soldier store in the UK Pavilion at Epcot.  The store itself has a very English feel to it (OK – no big surprise since you are in the United Kingdom Pavilion).  There are lots of sweet toys to choose from – most unlike American toy stores with their Transformers, Star Wars action figures, and more.  The Toy Soldier is home to Paddington Bear, knights and castles, and so forth – mostly made in England.  The Kidcot Fun Stop is located here – along with the character greeting spot to meet English friends, like Winnie the Pooh.  Photopass photographers are often on hand to capture the moment, or you can use your own camera to snap a shot of the famous bear and his comrades in stuffed and fluffy arms.

Finally, there’s no place like Fantasyland to enjoy the adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  Especially now that Disney has opened the new interactive queue and play area near the attraction (since Pooh’s Playful Spot got demolished as part of the ongoing expansion of Fantasyland).  In the Interactive queue, guests can wind their way through the hundred acre wood, including Rabbit’s farm, where the interactive portion of the queue comes to life.  Kids of all ages can spin sunflowers and pound melon drums.  If they step on the animal tracks on the ground, gophers pop up to greet them.  Or they can wipe away the hunny flowing from the walls to reveal hidden pictures underneath (very cool!).  This interactive queue is the perfect way to keep little ones from being bored in what can often be a long wait for the Adventures ride.

What is your favorite way to meet Winnie the Pooh on your trips to Disney?

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Click to listen or right click to download. Episode 30: Epcot Food and Wine Festival, United Kingdom Pavilion, and Rose and Crown

Mouse Travel Tips episode 30 starts off with Epcot annual Food and Wine Festival.  We take a look at the different activities that you are able to take part in the festival.  We also give some tips on how to maximize the trip to Food and Wine Festival.  While at Epcot we stop off in the United Kingdom Pavilion and look at the different shops in UK and then we stop for a bit to eat in the Rose and Crown pub.

Thank you very much for listening to Mouse Travel Tips. We appreciate the time you take to listen to us. If you enjoy the podcast we welcome feedback our website www.mousetraveltips.com or you may contact us via E-mail or voicemail. We also ask you if you enjoy the show to leave a review on iTunes or Zune.

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Episode 18 continues with the discussion on tickets to Walt Disney World.  We focus on the Annual Pass and how to determine if that is right for you.  We do the math and compare between several options to help you determine what you need.  We then also continue our tour of EPCOT’s World Showcase of the China Pavilion.  We stop to wath the Reflections of China, take a look at the Tomb Warrior exhibit and then take a bit in the counter and table service restaurants at the China Pavilion.

Thank you very much for listening to Mouse Travel Tips.  We appreciate the time you take to listen to us.  If you enjoy the podcast we welcome feedback our website www.mousetraveltips.com or you may contact us via E-mial or voicemail.  We also ask you if you enjoy the show to leave a review on iTunes or Zune.

Contact:

• Twitter: RayMTT
• Facebook: Mouse Travel Tips
• Voicemail:1-641-715-3900, extension 601469#.
• Email: mousetraveltips@yahoo.com

Links:

• EPCOT China Pavilion
• WDWAutism section on Reflections of China

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In 1984 Louisiana hosted the World’s Fair in New Orleans.  At the time we lived in Lafayette, which was a couple of hours away. Being so close we could not miss the opportunity to go, so we loaded up the station wagon and headed off to New Orleans. It was nice to get a chance to go and see the different exhibits from the various countries.  The one that I remembered the most was the China exhibit.  However, I also remember that all of the exhibits were in former warehouse buildings that had been redone for the fair.

Now it just so happened that the previous year we also had a chance to visit EPCOT and to go to their World Showcase.  It was a stark contrast to the World’s Fair in New Orleans.  At World Showcase, they also had many different countries, but instead of warehouses you walked into living replicas of those countries.  I thought it was the neatest thing to walk into a Mayan pyramid and be at small market in Mexico.  I enjoyed walking through the fairy tale Germany Pavilion and buying candy from Germany in the stores.

Since that time additional counties have been added to the Showcase.  When EPCOT was constructed there were mixed opinions on what it was meant to be. Some wanted a place that showed the future of tomorrow, while there were those that wanted to show the many different cultures of the world.  They eventually combined them both and came up with EPCOT.

World Showcase offers many guests a chance to experience a foreign culture without having to leave the United States.  During my lifetime, I have had an opportunity to visit other countries.  However, I am sure that as much as I would like to, I will not be able to visit China.  It’s not very likely that I will be able eat in a Norwegian bakery or get a chance to shop in a Japanese retail store.  How often do we even get a chance to talk to someone that lives in those countries and to hear their native language?

From our visits to EPCOT we have come to the realization that to really experience the World Showcase you cannot do it all in one day.  You really need to take your time and look around.  You will not realize what they have to offer if you run from country to country. China has a great exhibit on the Terra Cotta Warriors and I know I will not have an opportunity to see them in person. It is fun to be able to watch the street performers from Italy, France, and many other countries.  You have a chance to watch Miyuki (the Candy Lady) in the Japanese Pavilion create candy sculptures of animals – a dying art in her native Japan.  There are so many hidden treasures in EPCOT that you cannot see them all in one day.

Some of our best tips are first explore the pavilions and see what they offer.  Some have historical exhibits while some focus more on their culture.  There are also the stores and while one country may not have what you like there is sure to be one that does.  Our second tip is to talk to the Cast Members from each country.  It is always nice to talk to them about their country and their experiences here in the United States.  If you have children in your party take them to the KidCot Fun stations in the pavilions.  There they will have an opportunity to speak to a cast member and also have something from that native language written on their keepsake mask.

World Showcase may not offer thrill rides, but it does have many hidden treasures and opportunities that cannot be found in the other parks.  Become the international world traveler just by spending time in this small span of World Showcase lagoon.

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Episode 16 focus on visiting the Disney Parks while being pregnant.  We share aspects one needs to be concerned about while visiting the parks being pregnant.  We give some experiences and tips to help.  We continue our tour of EPCOT World Showcase with a stop in the France Pavilion.  We take a look at the different activities that you can do there including the film Impressions de France.  We also look at the many different restaurants in the France Pavilion and stop to take in dinner at Les Chefs de France. We like to hear your thoughts or tips on visiting the park while being pregnant or on the France Pavilion.

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Contact Info:

• Twitter: RayMTT
• Facebook: Mouse Travel Tips
• Voicemail:1-641-715-3900, extension 601469#.
• Email: mousetraveltips@yahoo.com

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