Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

I have been making weekly trips to the Caribbean Beach Resort to check on the progress of the new pool. Finally, there is water in the spas, pirate ship children's play area and the main pool. I hear that Disney is going to try and open the pool to guests on Labor Day Weekend, if all goes well with the testing. Of course, Tropical Storm Fay may have thrown them a curve ball when it comes to that schedule. Knowing Disney as I do, probably not.
For previous blogs on the 9 month pool project:

August Blog

December 2007 to May 2008 Blog

Next time I take photos here they should have people in them.

The All Ears Dole Whip Meet was a hugh success. I would like to thank everyone who took the time stop by and chat with us last Friday at Magic Kingdom. By my count, I would guess All Ears team members Mike Scopa, Michelle Scriber-MacLean, Steve Barrett and myself were joined by 35 All Ears® readers and fans.

I know I can speak for all us when I tell you what a wonderful time we had meeting everyone. Thanks to Deb Wills for posting the first group of photos while we were having fun at the Dole Whip Meet. Dole Whip Meet and Greet Photos, Part I

So as I wait from Tropical Storm Fay to make its way to Orlando I thought I would finish posting the photos from this past weekend. Who knows at this time tomorrow I may not have any power. The skies are already starting to change as the storm appoaches. Enough about the storm. Sorry, I went off track.

My favorite part of meeting everyone was hearing the stories about why they were visiting Walt Disney World and how they used the All Ears to help with the planning.

Bob was traveling with his parents who had not visited the parks in over 30 years and they left all the planning to him. Shannon and her daughter, Steffanie from Texas, are new Disney Vacation Club members and were using their points for the very first time. You get the idea.

I think everyone had a fantastic time. I did forget to do one thing, I never had a Dole Whip.

Mike Scopa speaking to All Ears Readers

Steve Barrett visits with Jim and his family from New York

Here's a lucky group as you can tell from their "ears". Iliana and her family from Miami

Michelle hands out All Ears buttons to Sherri and her children.

These guys made sure they didn't miss a chance to have a Dole Whip

All Ears readers from left to right. Richard, Yi-Fang (1st Time Visitor), Carol, Bob, Cindy and Cole

Michelle's husband Andrew entertains the children

Michelle with Steffani and Shannon from Texas

Thank you again to everyone who came out to visit with us at the All Ears Dole Whip Meet.

Linda Mac, Michelle Scribner-Maclean, Mike Scopa and special mystery guest Steve Barrett were in the Magic Kingdom today to meet with fellow Disney fans.

LindaMac sends these photos from her Iphone:

More Photos Later.......

The construction of the main pool at Caribbean Beach is progressing nicely.

Here's a photo taken today:

It has been just over a week since Magic Meets took place and I'm still amazed the event raised $20,000.00 for charity. MouseFanTravel donated $2,500.00 to the cause. WOW!

Before I get into this blog, I want to share something that happened during Saturday's main event. Deb Wills did a very special thing. Everyone attending Magic Meets, even the sponsors and team members, were assigned a raffle number that was printed on our name badges. During the course of the day there were many raffle drawings.

During the final drawings, Beci Mahnken, of MouseFanTravel, surprised the crowd by donating a 2009 MouseFest cruise to the raffle prizes. Low and behold Deb WIlls' number was called first. She quietly passed so that all the other guests could have a chance for the cruise. With no apparent winner, Fred drew a second number. Again, no one claimed the prize. Then Fred called Deb up to stage to pick the next number -- that is when she finally admitted to the crowd what she had done. The family who finally won the cruise was beside themselves by her generosity. My eyes are watering up again just writing about it. Way to go Deb! You Rock!

I will pick up my continuing Magic Meets blogs with some photos from Sunday's events.

Sunday morning started out with a nice buffet breakfast at 7 am. After breakfast there were two breakout sessions including Deb Wills and Beci Mahnken giving an informative talk about Adventures By Disney. I really wished I could have attended it since I did the Southwest Adventure trip last year with both of these terrific ladies. The 2nd talk, by Mike Scopa, was about the special hard ticketed "Party" events held at Walt Disney World (like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party).

Breakfast tables with Winnie The Pooh cookie jars.

Magic Meets guests enjoying the buffet

AllEars Team Members Mike Scopa and Michelle with Mike's lovely wife Carol in the middle

Fred Block, the big cheese of Magic Meets with attendees

A few early rising vacation planners from MouseFanTravel. From left to right, Debra Gordon, Sara Varney, Michelle Cunningham, Brenda Verrico, Coleen Bolton and Sandy Myers.

Ann, George and Deb

Mary Lee and Fred Block drawing raffle winners

The other big event for Sunday was a trip to Hershey Park that included a special early entry to ride Fahrenheit, the newest attraction which opened on Memorial Day.

I hitched a ride with AllEars Team Member Michelle and Shirley, her GPS gadget. After a few re-calculations and a few wrong turns we made it there with about a minute to spare. Unlike Disney, in order to participate in a special event early entry we had to be at the gate at one of two designated times. One of the main reasons we were late was because it was hard to leave old friends and new ones at the breakfast event. Lucky for us, we were able to park close to the entrance and made a run for the gates.

With all my huffing and puffing and Michelle's pouty face, a kind security guard took pity on us and let in even though we just missed the group. I would love to share some photos of the Hershey Park's characters including the Hershey Kiss, Hershey Bar and the Reese's Cup who were greeting guests but we had to continue our run to catch up with the group. Oh, well maybe next year.

Anyone who knows the area or the directions from the hotel might wonder about the side of the sign this photo was taken from -- in our hurry to get to the park we drove right by the entrance. In our defense, we were told not to park in the Chocolate World parking lot and that's what we first thought this entrance was.

The Main Entrance to the park

Fahrenheit --our challenge for the morning. "97 degrees and Falling Fast" is the coaster's theme. I wasn't sure I about riding Fahrenheit after seeing photos on the Hershey Park website. I thought it was perhaps a similar coaster to the one I had seen at Knott's Berry Farm in California. The Knotts Berry Xcelerator has a launch speed that reaches speeds of 82 MPH and looks to be about twice as tall as Fahrenheit. Funny but after seeing the taller Knott's Berry Farm coaster it made Fahrenheit look like a junior or Goofy's Barnstormer version, but trust me it wasn't!

The Magic Meets Group

Michelle takes a second ride on Fahrenheit with Gary Cruise. I passed on doing it a second time.

There is much more to Fahrenheit then the first drop. Here the list in the order they take place: 90 degree ascent (121 feet), 97 degree drop, inverted loop (107 feet), inverted corkscrew roll, cobra element, airborne inverted S roll, inverted corkscrew roll, Airtime Hill and high-speed bank curve. See why I only went on it once? By the way, this is Hershey's 11th coaster.

AllEars Team Members Michelle, Linda Mac and Scott weren't sure what to make of this strange map. "Which way to Frontierland?"

Carol and Gary Cruise

Next up for Michelle and myself is The Wild Cat, front row of course.

The Wild Cat

One of the unique things about Hershey Park, at least to me, is that it has a small water park "inside" the theme park. The water park opened last year.

The Nathan's stand brought back childhood memories of many summers spent at the Jersey Shore.

Time for the Magic Meets Lunch with Fahrenheit in the background.

Hello Cindy. A big thank you to Cindy for all her hard work, not only putting the lunch together, but for organizing the entire Hershey Park Meet.

More to come.....

The day has been so incredibly full of Magic and Fun!!!!! Here are some more photos

Will post more photos when I can!

Time sure flies when you are having fun and here at Magic Meets we are having a blast. People were rushing about to get everything ready for 9 am opening. But we did find a little time for group photos and fun. Deb Wills and Mike Scopa will be blogging in more detail as time permits so I thought I would share a few photos from this morning to give you a little preview.

The morning started with Mike having a Magical Moment with Hannah Montana.

Hello from the AllEars Team

And the MouseFanTravel.com Team

Mike Scopa led the opening ceremonies with a surprise telephone interview with Stacey Aswad, who you may know as the 7 Must Sees at Walt Disney World Girl.

Stacey Aswad via the telephone introduced Fred Block to the crowd. Mike and Fred had some fun on stage since Mike is a Pats Fan and Fred is a diehard NY Giants Fan. Mike apparently lost a Super Bowl bet and it was time to pay up by wearing a NY Giants Super Bowl t-shirt for a full hour during Magic Meets.

Let the fun begin!

Dave Anderson presented Walt Disney: A Mentor in Perseverance for the morning session of Magic Meets

Dave Anderson being interviewed by Mike Scopa for WDWToday Podcast.

Matt Hochberg, Mike Newell, Len Testa from WDWToday Podcast and Annette Owens from MouseFanTravel broadcasting live from Magic Meets.

More blogs and photos coming soon.

The Magic of Disney Animation located in Disney's Hollywood Studios has a new photo opportunity with Wall-E.

While this is not a live meet and greet, you can still get your family photographs with Wall-E. This updated Wall-E "photo studio" replaces the kitchen scene from Ratatouille. Also, because this is not a live meet and greet, there are no times listed in the Park Times Guide. Just wander back to the Magic of Disney Animation attraction.

A new addition to the photo op are two video screens that show clips and information about the new film and the characters in it. The brief tutorial about the different characters peaked my interested in seeing Wall-E in the theater instead of waiting for the DVD to come out.

The AllEars Amazon.com Store is featuring Wall-E merchandise right now.

Welcome to Part 2 of the official opening ceremony of Journey Into Narnia - Prince Caspian at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The event took place on Thursday, June 26.

The new exhibit/attraction takes guests through the "Narnia" portal for behind-the scenes-footage and features authentic costumes and props from the film.

Note: I have visited the attraction several times since opening day.

We will pick up the story as we enter the stone carved archway -- the portal into the newly redesigned attraction. As we enter the underground vault of Aslan's How, a dark, misty cave-like place, we see five projection screens that circle the room. Four of the screens will the show the film and one (shown below with Aslan and the stone table) will feature a short visit from the White Witch. Unlike the previous version, there are no live characters in this updated version.

Actor Warwick Davis who portrays the evil dwarf Nikabrik in the film "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" was on hand to speak about his experiences making the film and to serve as master of ceremonies for the opening of "Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian."

Prince Caspian and a young guest joined Warwick Davis on stage. The young lady had the honor of blowing the horn used in the movie to summon "kings and queens of old" and to get the film started.

The photo below shows what looks like a stone castle carved into the wall, but it is actually one of the four movie screens. The movie begins after a few words from Aslan. Like the real movie, this story has a beginning, middle and end.

The film is incredibly clear as you can see from my photo of Aslan. A special thank you goes out to AllEars.Net reader Eric for his help with this photo.

White Witch makes a center screen appearance during the film but is sent back to the netherworld.

This film ends with Prince Caspian being crowned the 10th King of Narnia.

The walls (movie screens) turn back to stone with King Caspian covering them at the conclusion of the film.

As you exit the attraction, you will have the chance to view some of the props from the movie.

I have one last tidbit to share with everyone.

After the show the Prince came back into the theater, I went over to talk to him. He looked at my shirt (a pink AllEars.Net polo) and put out his gloved hand and gestured in a very noble way and said " I know of your place". How cool! I was all weak at the knees after that.

BONUS PHOTOS: Note that the final photos at the bottom of this page show the attraction with the lights on.

Jason from the Disney Marketing Department and Dave Hoffman, Art Designer and Imagineer. Special thanks go out to Jason, Geoffrey (not pictured) and Dave Hoffman.

Dave Hoffman next to Aslan's Table

I had the honor of being invited to the official opening of Disney's Hollywood Studios' newest attraction, Journey Into Narnia - Prince Caspian, on Thursday, June 26.

The handsome and regal Prince Caspian made a grand entrance, arriving on horseback while waving to the crowds. The ceremony took place inside the newly designed theater.

I had a chance to speak to Dave Hoffman, art director for Walt Disney Imagineering, who led the Imagineering team for this project. When I asked what we could expect, here is how he described what we were about to experience:

"Guests will be immersed in an extension of the film. Unlike the previous version, which was more a movie trailer, this attraction is a unique way of putting guests into the film." For this reason, he added, they didn't feel it was necessary to open the attraction to coincide with the movie's opening.

Journey Into Narnia - Prince Caspian is located on Soundstage 4, in between the new Toy Story Midway Mania and Walt Disney: One Man's Dream.

This is the current but temporary meet and greet location that has existed since the movie opened in May.

The queue has changed, and now has two lines -- one for the attraction only and the other for people who want to meet Prince Caspian and then experience the attraction. The structure on the right side will become the home for the Prince Caspian meet and greets. The TV monitors offer trivia questions.

As we enter, the previous attraction's wardrobe has been replaced by a stone entrance to Aslan's How. We are entertained by a brief film clip in which director Andrew Adamson discusses the film's worldwide locations and the long hours it took to create the make-up for many of the characters.

Next we enter Aslan's How. As a special guest for this opening event, the gentleman in the photo, whose name is Simon Needham (I think) introduced actor Warwick Davis, who was in the Studios to host Star Wars Weekends. The lights were on in the background, which is Aslan's How, but this will not be the case when the general public enters.

Tomorrow I will take you inside Aslan's How and more...