By Tink's Agent, Kristen. WEB SLINGERS - WOW!!! This Adrenaline pumping ride inside Disney's California Adventure Park is one not to miss! This ride experience has recently changed from a virtual queue to a standby line. When I was there, the Lightening Lane signs were up for WEB SLINGERS. Could this mean Genie+ is coming to Disneyland soon? I first walked into WEB SLINGERS and was greeted by Peter Parker and his Spider-Bots. The Spider-Bots go haywire and replicate EVERYWHERE! Spiderman is called in and we are sent on a mission with Spiderman to stop the wild robots from creating chaos across Avengers Campus. Each WEB SLINGER vehicle seats four guests and you wear 3-D glasses for this ride experience. The best part about this ride is that there are no height restrictions. Once seated inside the vehicle you are transported inside a virtual Avengers Campus and instructed to reach your arms out in front of you to swing webs onto these crazy Spider-Bots. As you catch the Bots with your webs you are racking up points inside your WEB vehicle. This ride really gets your adrenaline pumping and it’s also a bit of an arm workout. Families with little kids would love this ride. I can just picture my kids as babies trying to mimic my arm motions to throw webs onto the Spider-Bots. Be sure to SWING by this action packed experience. Contact Tink's Magical Vacations if you would like us to book a vacation to Disneyland! By Tink's Agent, Kristen S. I had the incredible opportunity to stay at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at the Disneyland® Resort. This resort allows you to escape from reality and enjoy convenience, impressive dining experiences and to recharge at their spa. As soon as you walk into this hotel you are welcomed by a beautiful lobby. This lobby reminds me of the lobby at the Wilderness Lodge at the Walt Disney World® Resort, and I learned that the architect for both of these resorts was the same person. During the day there is a gentleman who plays a grand piano and sings Disney songs to welcome guests. There is a cozy area with rocking chairs in front of a fireplace to relax before or after a day in the parks. The cast members were so friendly and welcoming to all of my needs during my stay. I stayed in a Standard View room that included two queen beds as well as one twin sleeper bed. I enjoyed the attention to detail in my room that displayed Chip and Dale, orange blossom trees as well as other woodland creatures. In addition to standard rooms with a variety of views, this hotel also offers Club Level service as well as Suites. While staying at this hotel you can experience three luxurious pools. One of the pools, the Mariposa Pool, includes private cabanas that you can rent for an additional fee. Due to my jet lag coming from the East Coast, I was up bright and early one morning checking out all of the hotel sites and I was able to visit the Eureka fitness center. It is a very modern fitness center with a variety of machines and free weights. I was surprised to see the number of people up early at the fitness center before their theme park day. The Tenaya Stone Spa has recently been refurbished and includes an array of treatments as well as salon services. I personally did not have any services while I was visiting. I did pop in for a quick peek and it is so welcoming and would be a perfect place to relax and de-stress. The Grand Californian Hotel & Spa offers award-winning dining experiences such as Napa Rose, Storyteller's Cafe, Hearthstone Lounge and Craftsman’s Bar & Grill. I enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner at Storyteller’s Cafe one evening. As a vegetarian I found a variety of delicious dining options that I was able to indulge in. Of course the desserts were my favorite part of the meal! My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE part of staying at the Grand Californian is the easy access to Disney’s California Adventure® Park. One evening I timed my walk back from the park to my room and it took less than four minutes. This hotel is also in close proximity to Disneyland® Park as well as the Downtown Disney District®. Before my flight back home, I was able to take a quick walk over to Disneyland® and hit the park for two hours. I quickly walked back to my hotel in less than seven minutes and grabbed my bags for the airport. I am embarrassed to share this story but one day during my stay, I sat in the front row of Splash Mountain in my cute work dress and was completely soaked. I was grateful to be able to walk back to my resort and quickly change within five minutes and re-join my group. In addition to being close to both parks this hotel also has a private back entrance into Disney’s California Adventure® Park. It was so lovely to just walk out of our hotel in the morning and right into the park and not have to wait in line with other guests heading into the parks for the day. I was able to go through security and have my tickets scanned very quickly in minutes. Contact Tink's if you'd like our assistance booking a vacation where you can walk in Walt's footsteps -- Disneyland! Written by Anna, daughter of Tink's Agent, Pauline. At Space 220, the newest restaurant in EPCOT, your magical experience begins right when you walk in. When you check in, a cast member gives you a boarding pass in order to board the space station. Then you will start your journey to space in the Stellarvator that speeds at 10,000 miles per hour fulfilling the magical, futuristic experience of space. By Tink's planner, Kathy F. I recently returned from the first sailing on the Disney Wonder since the industry shut down in March of 2020. My cruise was a four night sailing out of San Diego with two sea days and one stop in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. My traveling party was just my 5 year old daughter and I and we had an amazing time. By Tink's Planners, Meghan, Lynn and Mindy Several Tink’s agents were recently invited on a Disney Cruise on board the Disney Fantasy to experience first hand the many NEW safety protocols put in place in September of 2021 so that cruising can resume on all ships safely! We share our Disney Cruise Line transportation and pre-boarding testing experience here for you! To read more about on board experiences be sure to read this! By Tink's Planner, Dana. My family joined other Tinksters on the second sailing (August 13, 2021) on the Disney Dream. The Dream had not set sail since March of 2020, so being on the ship felt extra special. Here are some things that had changed since our last time onboard a Disney ship. By Tink's Planner, Missy. I was lucky enough to go on the first two Disney Cruise Line® sailings on the Disney Dream after they started sailing again in early August. By Tink's Owner, Kristin. On August 13th my family of four along with some other agents and their families embarked on a three night sailing on the beautiful Disney Dream. We were very excited to get back to sailing with Disney Cruise Line®! By Tink's Planner, Pollyanna. Disney characters have always been a staple to a wonderful vacation at the Walt Disney World Resort®. Even though the characters necessarily interact with us differently because of the pandemic, they are still around and certainly not to be missed! There are plenty of places where you can still interact and enjoy character interactions. Many of the characters are in places that you would expect such as the Cavalcades (characters on vehicles that pass by), the entrance to the parks, and even where characters live. However you should always keep your eyes open for surprise character meetings as well! Here are just a few of the Disney characters I was able to encounter during my recent Walt Disney World® Vacation:
By Tink's Planner, Kathy F. This summer my family and I took a vacation to Florida and one of our favorite stops was Disney’s Vero Beach Resort®. This very special Disney beach destination is only 2 hours away from Walt Disney World® and is a perfect place to take a few days to relax. The resort sits right on the Atlantic treasure coast and shares space with nesting grounds of Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Accommodations include standard hotel rooms, studio villas, one and two bedroom villas and three bedroom beach front cottages. My family stayed in a two bedroom villa which had amazing views of the ocean from the balcony. We really loved the space that our room offered which included a full kitchen, a dining area, living room, two bathrooms, two bedrooms and a washer and dryer. We had four adults and three kids in our traveling party and this was plenty of room for all of us. During my family’s trip we enjoyed playing on the beach, swimming and playing miniature golf. Beach chairs, umbrellas, cabanas and boogie boards are available to rent at the beach. We rented a cabana and a boogie board for a day and were given sand toys to borrow for the kids. The swimming pool area has a large water slide, hot tub and kids pirate ship splash area. The pool is very close to the beach so it is fast and easy to go between the beach and swimming pool. The miniature golf area is also right by the pool area which we played several times during our time there. The resort offers table service and quick service dining options. We only tried the quick service option on this trip and were very satisfied with the options. One of our favorite snacks was the Dole whip ice cream and Mickey pretzels. There are plenty of restaurants nearby as well for a variety of dining options. We also enjoyed watching a movie under the stars one night and checking out the gift shop in the main lobby. Other activities that we noticed but did not try out were bike rentals, nature hikes, arts and crafts projects for kids and a spa for adults. I felt like there were plenty of activities at this resort to satisfy everyone’s interests. Disney’s Vero Beach Resort® is a perfect getaway when traveling to Florida especially after a stay at Walt Disney World® to take a few days to unwind and relax before heading home. Tink’s Magical Vacations can help you plan a magical vacation to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. Contact us today for more information! By Senior Travel Planner – Mindy S Located inside Disney's Contemporary Resort, Chef Mickey’s has been closed since Walt Disney World® reopened in July 2020. This week marked the grand reopening. We were there to experience Dinner. While it’s not the buffet you remember, the food is served family style and you can get all that you want of each course that is served. We were there at 8 pm on a Tuesday evening. The tables are very spaced out and explains why it’s so hard to get a reservation as there looked to be 3 or 4 sections with 10-12 tables around the edges of the room so the characters had room to come out and socially distance. We started with some of the signature cocktails and specialty nonalcoholic drinks. While those were being served, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald came out and danced and waved to us. They would stop at each table for socially distanced pictures and brought the same magic they always do to Chef Mickey’s even from afar. First, we were served a basket of really yummy rolls with three kinds of salad to share. The salads were a plant-based salad that had sweet potatoes and fancy lettuce, Chef Mickey’s Caesar and Citrus poached baby shrimp with lime broccoli slaw greens and avocados. The salads were really tasty. Next, you’re served a big skillet (similar to the serving stye at Liberty Tree Tavern) of prime rib, turkey slices, carrots, succotash, asparagus, and pearl onions. Then, they separately serve salmon, Potato Gnocchi in a mushroom cream sauce, Potato au Gratin, Farro and Farro Wheat Fried Rice. The turkey was very good, as was the salmon (my daughter ate three pieces). The boys liked the prime rib. While the food was tasty, if you’re not a fan of mushrooms, you will not be happy. They were in absolutely everything. It wasn’t a problem for me, but my daughter and son had an issue with it. For kids, servers will bring a plate with macaroni and cheese, chicken tenders and broccoli. They are happy to refill anything, if requested. For dessert, our server brought a plate that had mickey chocolate mousse domes on oreos, a rather tasty strawberry cake, an apple tartlet and chocolate chip cookies. While the food was tasty, there weren’t a lot of choices like there used to be, now that it’s a family style experience. The price was $55 per adult and $36 for children. A bit pricey for what it was but you’re not just paying for the food, you’re paying for the experience. Where else can you see the Fab 5 up close??? Chef Mickey's will, in my opinion, still remain a favorite. By Tink's Agent, Kathy F. After being closed for over a year, the Disneyland® Resort opened its gates for California residents at limited capacity once again on April 30,2021. My family and I were lucky enough to get park tickets for the opening weekend and return to the magic. The two theme parks were scheduled to be open 9 AM-7 PM during our stay. We arrived at the front entrance on the Harbor Boulevard side on Saturday at 7 AM and were directed to stand in a physically distanced queue line. Once the line started moving we went through a temperature and security check and then were directed to stand in another queue line with the guests arriving from the parking lot. We were in Disneyland® Park at 8:45 AM and walked down Main Street U.S.A. to be greeted by cast members lined up on both sides welcoming us back. We immediately headed for some rides and were able to get on many of them without any wait at all. We found that the queue lines had markers to keep guests six feet apart and they were spacing guests out on rides in every other row or just one family per ride vehicle on some rides. We enjoyed rides such as Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run with just our family. We had a boarding pass for Rise of the Resistance in the morning and were able to walk straight on to the ride with no wait, but they did not have us go through the first two pre-show rooms. Luckily we had already been on the ride previously so didn’t mind missing some of it but this might be disappointing for someone who has not been on it before. We had park hopper passes which meant we could visit Disney California Adventure® Park starting at 1 PM. When we headed over to the California Adventure® Park in the afternoon we found that the queue lines for the rides were very short there as well. Disney characters were plentiful at both theme parks and we enjoyed the meet and greets. These were set up so guests could interact and take photos with the characters at a distance. There was never a wait to see the characters and oftentimes my family hung out with a character for a good five or more minutes before other guests showed up. At Disneyland® Park, we met princesses at the Royal Hall, Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh characters in front of It’s a Small World, Chewbacca at Galaxy’s Edge, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale at the train station on Main Street, U.S.A. At Disney California Adventure® Park we met Marvel characters in Hollywood Land, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto on Buena Vista Street, Pixar characters at Pixar Pier and Judy Hopps and the Country Bears by the Little Mermaid ride. Dining was mostly done by mobile order and the menus were limited to only a few options at each restaurant. Most of the snack carts were open as well. We quickly learned that all food and drinks must be consumed while sitting in a designated dining area. These areas were benches and tables that were clearly labeled. There were a few table service restaurants open as well and reservations needed to be made ahead of time. My family and I had a reservation for River Belle Terrace for lunch. The seating was all outdoors and the service was excellent. We are vegetarians and had a barbecue tofu dish with a side of mushrooms and vegetables. We enjoyed taking a break from the day and relaxing as we ate our lunch. The servers were very happy to welcome guests back and were very attentive to our needs. Face coverings needed to be worn at all times by all guests 2 years old and up except for when eating or drinking in a designated dining area. Unlike at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida, at the Disneyland® Resort theme parks, face masks had to stay on for outdoor photos. There were no fireworks or parades with the initial reopening of the Disneyland® Resort but I did not feel like we missed out on any of the magic. FastPass and MaxPass were also not available yet. Rider Switch service was available and I did utilize this on the rides my daughter could not ride. With Rider Switch one adult can wait with a child as the other adult rides then they simply switch and the 2nd adult can go through the FastPass queue to get straight on the ride. I enjoyed every part of my weekend at the Disneyland® Resort for the reopening weekend and the only thing I wished for was longer hours but it looks like that will be coming in the near future. I am looking forward to experiencing it again as they continue to reopen restaurants, attractions and special experiences such as Avengers Campus, an all new land at California Adventure® Park. This new land will be opening on June 4, 2021 and feature a new Spider-Man ride, Pym Test Kitchen- a Ant-Man and Wasp themed restaurant and many more exciting surprises! By Tink's Vacation Planner, Missy. In the beginning of April I was lucky enough to go on a Disney trip with 2 of my sisters. We all live in different states and they had not been to Disney in over 10 years. I was super excited to plan this trip for us! It was kind of last minute and we only had two days to hit the Disney parks. We decided to go with the 2-day Park Hopper tickets. I made Park Reservations us beforehand -- we decided on Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. On our Magic Kingdom day we had planned to head to Epcot for the evening. We headed back to our resort around 3pm. We went to the pool and then got ready to go. Right before we were going to leave I called the Park Hopper Hotline. It was simple. They told me Epcot was not at capacity. We headed to Epcot and had an amazing time! Due to pandemic capacity restrictions, park hopping is allowed to start for guests after 2pm, and the theme park you hope to hop over to can't be at capacity. Once you've hopped to your second park, you can hop again to another park if you so desire, so long as that park hasn't reached capacity yet either. By Tink's Vacation Planner, Kathy F. Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure Park are set to reopen on April 30, 2021 after being closed for over a year! Things will be a little different once they reopen such as enhanced health and safety measures like requiring face coverings for all guests ages two and over and temperature screenings to enter some locations. Disneyland will be limiting reservations to California residents only and no groups larger than three households until further notice. Capacity to the theme parks will be significantly limited to comply with governmental requirements and promote physical distancing so attendance will be managed by a reservation system. To enter one of the parks, each guest age three and over will be required to have a theme park reservation and a valid ticket for the same park on the same date. A reservation availability calendar is available to view online before guests purchase tickets HERE. There is a separate calendar for 1 day park tickets and park hopper tickets. Theme park reservations can be made up to 60 days in advance. It is recommended that guests check the availability calendar prior to purchasing tickets to make sure their desired dates are available. After purchasing tickets a reservation must be made HERE. Guests with park hopper tickets must reserve the first theme park they will visit each day and must enter that first park before visiting the other park. They can visit the other theme park after 1 PM however the ability to visit the other park is subject to that park’s capacity limitations. Once a theme park reservation has successfully been made, an email with a QR code will be sent to the guest which will be scanned when entering the park. Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa will be scheduled to reopen on April 29, 2021 and will be the only Disneyland hotel available for guests in the first phase of reopening. The Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel will open at a later date. Booking a stay at a Disney hotel will not guarantee entrance to the theme parks and a reservation will still need to be made. Downloading the official Disneyland app is highly recommended. Guests will be able to use many features such as: mobile order service for dining, food and merchandise guide, making dining reservations, checking in for dining reservations, joining a mobile walk up dining list, details about operating hours, schedules, maps and checking in at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. Upon reopening many dining experiences may be modified or unavailable. Dining reservations for table service restaurants can be made starting on April 22, 2022. A mobile dining walk up list will be available on the Disneyland app for those guests who were not able to get a dining reservation ahead of time. Mobile order service will also be available on the Disneyland app to order food at quick service restaurants. Character dining and dining packages will not be offered upon reopening. Some popular experiences will not be available upon reopening such as Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, parades, fireworks and character meet and greets. The following experiences will be available: Savi’s workshop hand-built lightsabers (reservations will be needed and availability will open on April 22, 2022), Droid Depot (no reservation needed) and VIP tours (reservations will be needed). Most of the rides are expected to be reopened on April 30, 2022 however FastPass and MaxPass service will not be available. With all the changes coming to the reopening of Disneyland it is now more important than ever to use a travel agency to help plan your magical vacation. Tink’s Magical Vacations travel planners are ready to help you plan all the details to make your trip as seamless as possible. We will work with you to custom tailor a vacation to meet your family’s unique needs and budget. Contact us today for details! By Tink's Chief Creative Officer, Beth and Tink's Owner, Kristin. What do Mouse Ears and anchors have in common? Answer: Disney Cruise Line! For those of us who are wistful for a way to recapture that Disney Cruise Line feeling until its ships start sailing again, well Tink's has GREAT NEWS! A popup shop full of a lot of Disney Cruise Line merchandise, including Mouse Ears with anchors, is available for a limited time at the Marketplace in Disney Springs! Now through early September, the Marketplace Co-Op has an exclusive area where you can purchase a wide assortment of Disney Cruise Line items that you normally would have purchased while onboard one of the four ships in the Disney fleet. There is also a selection of items from Disney Cruise Line's private island in The Bahamas, called Castaway Cay. Once you are done shopping (or before you go works too!), stop by Dockside Margaritas where adults can enjoy a Pina Colada or a Strawberry Daiquiri in a plastic Disney Cruise Line embarkation glass. As you sip your drink, think about a future sail away party onboard one of the Disney ships and be comforted that we will be walking the decks again when Disney Cruise Line gives us all the "all clear." Who else is missing hearing the Disney Cruise Line ship horn? Those of us at Tink's certainly are missing hearing that horn, the sail away party music, and all the other fun to be had while onboard and during port adventures! Check out the gallery below for some of the awesome Disney Cruise Line items that the whole family can enjoy at Disney Springs! While the merchandise doesn't completely fill the hole in our hearts for Disney Cruise Line sailings, it certainly helps while we wait for them to begin again! Disney Cruise Line currently is booking through the end of Summer 2022 -- and we hope the Disney Wish will come online soon for booking. Contact Tink's Magical Vacations to book your next Disney Cruise Line vacation. We love to help our cruise clients find the right sailing and stateroom to fit their family's needs. Anchors Away! |
Our vacation planners their children and yes, even some of our Tink’s clients, have written about their experiences in the Neverland Blog. The magic of Disney comes alive in an immediate way when our children visit the Land of Mickey and Minnie.
Archives
July 2023
Categories
All
|