The Mickey Moms Show

On this weeks show we are talking all about the top 5 movies to watch before your first Disney trip. While there are definitely lots more you could watch, these are the ones we feel are the best for limited time.

Also Disney dropped a ton of news after we recorded.
1. Packages for 2024 open May 31.
2. The dining plan is coming back! January 9
3. Park pass are going away January 9, for ties holders, not AP
4. Genie+ is changing!
5. Early entry and late nights for deluxe are staying!

Anna

• Avatar for Pandora world of avatar in animal kingdom
•  Star Wars: Rogue 1 and #7 The Force Awakens
• Guardians of the galaxy #1
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Princess movies, once Tiana’s Bayou adventure opens definitely Princess and the Frog, Emory says Cinderella and Snow White, and when Moana Journey of water opens I would watch Moana. 
• Honorable mention : Ben said lion king 

Leah

• Lion King
• Toy Story 1-3
• Mickey Shorts
• Ratatouille 
• Cinderella and Tinkerbelle
• Honorable mention: Up

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

We are back...again...On this weeks show Leah tells us about her one big day at Disney. Grand Floridian Resort Studio, Guardians of the Galaxy, Round Up Rodeo BBQ, Happily Ever After, and Tron!

Halfway to Halloween

Happy Birthday Animal Kingdom

Mary Poppins Themed DVC Resort Studio

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

On this show we talk about all the character meet and greets returning, our thoughts on the 50th anniversary celebrations the last 18 months, and finally all about Anna's Tron preview.

• Dessert parties for happily ever after open for booking thursday march 23.
• Akershus is going to open for breakfast and lunch May 14
• Tiara topped water tower is coming to World this summer
• Moana will start meeting in AK on earth day
• EPCOT will be the host of the 100th anniversary in Walt Disney World. With a new nighttime spectacular coming this fall. Do you think it will be ready for October 1?
• Figment meet and greet is coming late summer in the imagination pavilion. Have you seen the concept art? It looks like it’s going to get a makeover.
• This fall Mirabel is replacing Merida in Magic Kingdom. 
• The 50th will be over before we record our next episode

Tron - Starting, March 20, Tron is having a soft opening until April 2, and then it opens April 4.. You can get a virtual queue at 7am and 1pm and buy an ILL. I have been hearing you must be on time for your virtual queue which has not been the case previously. I wonder if they will continue that after it officially opens? Because at night it is really cool and when most people will probably want to ride.

It is such a cool area. It’s just electric in there and the lights and bikes are going by. You didn't realize Tomorrowland needed this ride until it’s here.

There is a place to try out the bikes while you are in line. This should be closer to the entrance because where it is just makes for a lot of confusion and wasted time. We really needed to see if Ben would fit, he’s 6’6” and 280 lbs. He did fit! While I did see quite a few people with larger thighs not get it to close I do think most will be able to fit. Ben said if he had been 1” taller he would not have fit due to the length of his leg.

So the queue is really cool and dark and blue. The lockers are pretty easy to deal with, I would say walk towards the lockers in the back, most people stop at the first ones. We kept our phones out and took a picture of our locker number. They are double sided like velocicoaster and easily fit my loungefly. We could have probably put my loungefly, Ben's fancy pack, and Mollie's small bag in 1 locker.

Tip of the week: Don't believe the posted wait times at the end of the night. Slinky Dog was posted 60 minutes at 9pm (park closed at 9:30pm) and we only waited 10 minutes.

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

On this show we talk all about Genie+ and our honest thoughts about our love/hate relationship with it.
Genie

So let’s go over the definitions:

Genie - The free service in your my disney experience app that is worthless

Genie +- The purchased line skipping tool in my disney experience. Think of it as fastpass that you are paying for. Now called lightening lanes.

Individual Lightening Lane or ILL - In each park there is one ride you cannot book using genie+ it has to be purchased separately. Thus Individual lightening lane. You can purchase 2 of these a day.

Lightning Lane - The name of the ride booked and is the entrance for genie+ and ILLs. Again think of the old fastpass entrance.

Virtual queue - A lottery system used to get on a new ride that is not offering standby. 

Modifying - Where you make a genie+ reservation and can change the time or ride in the same park if there is availability.

Stacking - The process where you are putting genie+ rides at the end of the day so you can do multiple rides within a short period of time. Thus allowing you to “sleep in” or have a pool day or not have to be in the park riding all day.

*For the purpose of this show we are pretending the Genie part of my disney experience doesn’t exist and when we refer to Genie we mean the paid genie+.

How do I find where to buy or make my selections? Genie+ will sell out at busy times so you need to purchase it before 7am. You find it to purchase on the home screen of the my disney experience app. The tip board where you book the lightning lanes, and to get to that you click the 3 lines at the bottom right of the app.

At 7am you can make your first genie+ selection, ILL, or virtual queue if you have a park pass for a park that is offering a ride with a virtual queue.

Your genie+ selection you will not be able to see return times until you get the selection.

ILLs you can pick the time you want to return. If you are trying to get an early morning return time just know it may give you a later time. I always recommend trying for a later morning or late in the day ILL.

Always try for the virtual queue at 7am first before doing anything else.

So at 7am your booking order is 

Virtual queue

ILL

Genie+

You can make your next genie+ selection either after you use your first one or 2 hours after park open whichever is first. Now park open is actual park open, not early entry.

Example: 7am you book Jungle cruise and get a return time for 10am. The park opens at 9am. You go to jungle cruise at 10 and once you tap into the ride you can book your next genie+. 

Example2 - 7am you book Jungle cruise and get a return time for 12pm.. The park opens at 9am. At 11am you can book your next genie+ even though you have not used your first selection yet.

One good change is the app will tell you when you are allowed to make your next selection if you are using the 2 hour rule. So if you are confused just check the app.

Ok now that we got all that out of the way let’s talk about how we used gen

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

On this show we talk about Anna and Ben's adults only trip that takes some fun twists and turns with Leah and John! Here is what we covered:

• Jambo House Value 1 Bedroom
• Boma
• New dish at Satuli' Canteen
• Hollywood Brown Derby
• Saratoga Springs Studio
• Festival of the Arts
• Behind the Seeds Tour
• More Festival of the Arts
• Top of the World Lounge
• Moonlight Magic
• And more!

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

What a week for news! We usually don't do news shows or much news at all in our shows, but this week was too much to ignore.

Happily Ever After comes back April 3!

EPCOT Forever comes back the same day. The other shows end April 2. The barges are being dismantled and then we get a new show for EPCOT that is based around Disney 100. 

Tron is opening on April 4, 2023

3 Big  Disney World Parks News breakdown

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2023/01/3-changes-walt-disney-world-is-making-to-bring-more-value-and-flexibility-to-your-visits/

Disneyland 
- Get to park hop at 11. 
- Tiana’s Palace opening in New Orleans Square in Land

Back to World 
- Henna is back at Morocco pavilion 

Characters Coming Back

• Pete’s silly sideshow returns Jan15. 
• Enchanted tales with belle and Ariel’s grotto opening Feb 19 and Jan 22nd respectively 

Random Excitement

• Phineas and Ferb is coming back for 2 seasons consisting of 40 episodes total!
• Daily housekeeping has returned to deluxe resorts as of January 15. Moderate and value revive it every other day. DVC stays the same as it always has been. 

Universal Studios 

- trying not to be outdone universal announced a new children’s theme park in Texas and a year round Halloween Horror nights in Las Vegas at Area 15.

The park in Texas will be 97 acres which is 10 acres smaller than Magic Kingdom and include a hotel, parking lot, and room for expansion so it’s really not that big. Maybe the size of fantasyland which is 21 acres. A 1-2 day destination that they put it in Texas kinda near Dallas in the north in Frisco. 

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

Fest of the Arts Menus https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2023/01/disney-eats-foodie-guide-to-the-2023-epcot-international-festival-of-the-arts-presented-by-att/

Here are the different types of packages

1. Room and tickets separate, you would only need this is you have an annual pass or maybe are a florida resident using a florida resident ticket
2. Room and ticket together. This is a great option because it’s only a $200 deposit with the balance due 30 days out from your trip. And if you have a Disney Visa card this package is 0% interest for 6 months.

Here are the questions you need to ask yourself when thinking about your trip.

1. General budget, Disney is expensive, so what is your vacation budget that you are willing to spend?
2. How many days do you want to go?
3. Is a better room or more park days more important?
4. Do you need a down day?
5. Do you want to be able to visit more than one park a day? If you are going August through late December having a park hopper is a must.
6. What are your non-negotiables?

Based on touring plans research people who spend up to stay in a nicer room tend to have better overall experiences.

Let’s now talk about the current deals released January 5.

Room discounts most nights.

March 1-31, up to 20 % off

April 1-July 10, up to 25%

Stay, play, and enjoy a disney dining promo card

Why didn't they just call it stay,play, and dine like they used to?

June 25- Sept 14, 2023

Depending on your dates depends on how much you get per night on your dining card.

DISNEY DINING GIFT CARD VALUES

Arrivals 7/1 – 7/10 & 8/1 – 9/14:

• Value Resorts: $50 per night
• Moderate Resorts: $100 per night
• Deluxe Resorts: $150 per night
• Deluxe Villa Resorts: $150 per night

Arrivals 6/25 – 6/30 & 7/11 – 7/31:

• Value Resorts: $35 per night
• Moderate Resorts: $75 per night
• Deluxe Resorts: $125 per night
• Deluxe Villa Resorts: $125 per night

While the wording makes it seem like it is only for the 5 nights, you actually get the value of all nights you book. Stay 8 nights at a deluxe with checkin 7/6 you get 8x150=$1200. The value of your gift card is based on checkin day. So if you cross 2 promotional dates you get the one based on checkin day. So be smart about your dates.

Here’s the fun part. How you use this dining card. It is emailed to you after checkin, and you might have to check your spam folder to find it. You can load it on your apple wallet or google wallet. It is only redeemable at select locations, usually meaning Disney owned restaurants or restaurants Disney negotiates with. 

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

Let's have a little year end review plus a little bonus of what we are looking forward to in 2023.
In this show we talk about the top 5 things that happened in 2022, be it to use or just the Disney company as whole. What were some of your top memories for 2022?

Anna

1. Let’s get the easy one out of the way, Bob Iger is back
2. Taking the old people for a 3 generation trip
3. As a travel agent Disney taking away the ability for me to sell genie+, but I still have to explain it to people
4. Moonlight Magic
5. Guardians of the Galaxy preview

Leah

1. Christmas party
2. Fantasmic
3. Train
4. Guardians
5. Hugging characters

Looking ahead Anna is feeling positive for what the new leadership will bring, and Leah is excited to take friends who have never been and see Disney through their eyes for the first time!

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

On this show Leah tells us all about her whirlwind trip to Orlando for the Orlando Informer Meetup at Universal Orlando, her not so great room at Cabana Bay, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party,  Fantasmic, and more!
Wow that is a lot!

Orlando Informer Meetups

Christmas at Disney

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow

On this show, like everyone else we are taking about the shake up at the top with Bob Chapek being ousted and Bob Iger returning. 

What are your thoughts on this change, and what do you hope to realistically see happen in the parks?

Also ticket prices go up December 8, so make those reservations for 2023 now!

Find us at themickeymomsshow.com
Thank you to our sponsors:
Sunburst Trout Farm. This 3rd generation trout farm located in picturesque Haywood County NC grows and processes rainbow trout fillets, caviar, smoked trout, and more! Find them at sunbursttrout.com

If you need help planning a Disney or Universal vacation you can reach out to, Anna Eason, and she would love to help plan a magical vacation: [email protected].

Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @themickeymomsshow