Disney World And Beyond

Sleigh bells ring, are ya’ listenin’...to this week’s show, all about the most magical time to visit the Magic Kingdom and the rest of the Disney theme parks! But first, travel news, including a backyard matterhorn, Cripple Creek’s Christmas Casino, where to park your flying car in Orlando, and why Sweden likes to ring in Christmas with an ill tempered mallard! Jingle them bells and poor me some eggnog, it’s time to hit the trail with the gold key adventurers society!

Links:

• Man recreates Disneyland’s Matterhorn roller coaster in his backyard
  https://bit.ly/BackyardMatterhorn
• Cripple Creek, Colorado Christmas Casino
  https://bit.ly/ChristmasCasinoInn
• Orlando developing landing hub for flying cars
  https://bit.ly/OrlandoFlyingCars
• No Christmas in Sweden without Donald Duck, courtesy of Atlas Obscura
  https://bit.ly/DonaldDuckSwedishXMas
  

As always, a huge thank you to our sponsor, Key to the World Travel. For all your travel needs, Key to the World's expert travel advisors are standing by. Make sure you tell them the Gold Key Adventurers sent you!

Thanks to Outer Vibe for the use of their song Hoka Hey off of the album Hoka Hey as the intro and outro of our show. For tour dates, merch, music and more, check them out at www.outervibe.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show to make sure you don't miss a single week of adventure. While you're at it, how about leaving us a rating and review?

Word of mouth is the best way for us to grow our society of intrepid adventurers-if you have a friend or two who might enjoy our particular brand of adventure and silliness, send them our way.

The Gold Key Adventurers Society is always looking for new members! Find all our episodes, links and info at https://www.goldkeyadventurers.com

Show The Gold Key Adventurers some love by buying the hosts a coffee (or two or ten?) at https://bit.ly/KofiDonateToGKAS

Remember, life is short and the world is wide. So go have an adventure!

As travel planners, we spend a lot of time helping guests plan out their perfect way to tour the theme parks of Walt Disney World. This week, we’re taking a look at the personal Disney World touring plans of Gold Key Adventurers Society members, to get a feel for how they like to experience the parks as seasoned veterans.

Don’t forget, we’re trying something new this summer, and releasing our news segment and theme park segment as two individual episodes. This helps spread all the great content we cover out over the week so you don’t miss us as much in between episodes, and also makes it easier to listen back to episodes in the future, without dated and irrelevant news stories. We hope. Make sure you’re subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher app, and that our show is set to automatically download. And let us know what you think about our new format!

As always, a huge thank you to our sponsor, Key to the World Travel. For all your travel needs, Key to the World's expert travel advisors are standing by. Make sure you tell them the Gold Key Adventurers sent you!

Proud to be a Feedspot Top 100 Disney Podcast! https://bit.ly/GKASFeedSpotDisney

Thanks to Outer Vibe for the use of their song Hoka Hey off of the album Hoka Hey as the intro and outro of our show. For tour dates, merch, music and more, check them out at www.outervibe.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show to make sure you don't miss a single week of adventure. While you're at it, how about leaving us a rating and review?

Word of mouth is the best way for us to grow our society of intrepid adventurers-if you have a friend or two who might enjoy our particular brand of adventure and silliness, send them our way.

The Gold Key Adventurers Society is always looking for new members! Find all our episodes, links and info at https://www.goldkeyadventurers.com. Make sure you follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldKeyAdventurersSociety, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/gkaspodcast, and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GKASPodcast.

Show The Gold Key Adventurers some love by buying the hosts a coffee (or two or ten?) at https://bit.ly/KofiDonateToGKAS

Better yet, try one of Expedition Roasters’ delicious theme park and pop culture inspired flavored coffees! Using our affiliate link will help keep the Gold Key Adventurers caffeinated and making great content for you! https://bit.ly/ExpeditionRoastersGKAS

Remember, life is short and the world is wide. So go have an adventure!

I’m dreaming of adventure and travel...and I bet you are too! This week we’re talking about all the places we want to visit and the things we want to do once the world starts returning to something close to normalcy! But first, travel news, including how to work from a vegas hotel room, the magic kingdom is officially awesome, and the week in theme park history. Cross your fingers and update your vision board, it’s time to hit the trail with the Gold Key Adventurers Society!

Links:

• Magic Kingdom named #1 Theme Park by Trip Advisor, courtesy of Theme Park Professor
  https://bit.ly/MKTopThemeParkTPP
• Walt Disney World Resort Hotel Restaurant Temperature Screenings, courtesy of Theme Park Professor
  https://bit.ly/WDWResortTempScreeningTPP
• Work From Home From Las Vegas Hotels
  https://bit.ly/WorkFromHomeFromVegas
• Jet Blue Deploys Airplane Cleaning Robot
  https://bit.ly/PlaneCleaningRobot
• YouTube Video on the history of Santa’s Village Amusement Parks
  https://bit.ly/YouTubeSantasVillage

We’ll be celebrating one year of The Gold Key Adventurers Society podcast on Tuesday, August 18, and we need your help! We’d like to hear from our fans and fellow adventurers, so we’re going to talk about...whatever you want to talk about- time for a GKAS Ask Me Anything. Want to know Jess’s favorite ghost out of the 999 happy haunts at the Haunted Mansion? Dan’s favorite weird roadside attraction? Heather’s favorite place for fancy cheese and wine in France, or how Jeff captures amazing pictures of just about anything? Maybe you need some ideas for planning an amazing trip to a theme park or want to share your own awesome travel tips. We’ve got about a million ways that you can contact us, so it’s super easy to submit your questions. You can send contact us via our social media, email to [email protected], send a voicemail to (616)378-6149, or use the contact form on our website, www.goldkeyadventurers.com. Get your submissions in by August 14-we can’t wait to chat with you on our anniversary show!

As always, a huge thank you to our sponsor, Key to the World Travel. For all your travel needs, Key to the World's expert travel advisors are standing by. Make sure you tell them the Gold Key Adventurers sent you!

Thanks to Outer Vibe for the use of their song Hoka Hey off of the album Hoka Hey as the intro and outro of our show. For tour dates, merch, music and more, check them out at www.outervibe.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show to make sure you don't miss a single week of adventure. While you're at it, how about leaving us a rating and review?

Word of mouth is the best way for us to grow our society of intrepid adventurers-if you have a friend or two who might enjoy our particular brand of adventure and silliness, send them our way.

The Gold Key Adventurers Society is always looking for new members! Find all our episodes, links and info at https://www.goldkeyadventurers.com

Show The Gold Key Adventurers some love by buying the hosts a coffee (or two or ten?) at https://bit.ly/KofiDonateToGKAS

Remember, life is short and the world is wide. So go have an adventure!

The rest of the gang went and left me to my own devices, so I’m going to take you on a whirlwind tour of the week’s travel news, including big changes at Walt Disney World,Paris plans to become even more beautiful, and China becomes the land of Ice And snow for a big winter festival. Get ready for the news and bring your own punchlines,it’s time to hit the trail with the Gold Key Adventurers Society!

News:

1. Disney’s Magical Express and Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World Resort to be retired
   http://bit.ly/EMHRetired
   http://bit.ly/DMERetire2022
2. Paris to become even more beautiful with Champs Elysees refurb
   http://bit.ly/ChampsElyseesRefurb
3. Harbin, China Ice and Snow Festival
   http://bit.ly/HarbinSnowFestChina
4. Great Boston Molasses Flood, Courtesy of Atlas Obscura
   http://bit.ly/MolassesAO
5. Coober Pedy, Australia’s underground opal mining town, courtesy of Atlas Obscura
   http://bit.ly/CooberPedyAO
6. That’s right Dan. Courtesy of ThemeParkProfessor.com, first we have a report that Disney’s Magical Express shuttle service will be retired starting January 1, 2022. Here’s Disney’s official statement:
   ““Vacationers have more options to choose from than ever for transportation, including ride-share services that save time and offer more flexibility to go where they want, when they want. In light of this shift, when Disney Resort hotel bookings open for stays in 2022, we will no longer offer Disney’s Magical Express service for airport transportation, starting with arrivals Jan. 1, 2022. We will continue to operate the service for new and existing reservations made at Disney Resort hotels for arrivals throughout 2021. Additionally, complimentary transportation options – such as buses, monorails and Disney Skyliner – will continue to be available within Walt Disney World Resort for Disney Resort hotel guests, including to and from all four theme parks.”- Disney Parks”

Roger Chapin, a spokesperson for Mears transportation, the company that provides the buses for Disney’s Magical Express told Orlando’s Spectrum News that ““Walt Disney made us aware of their decision. While we are disappointed Disney will no longer offer this service, we intend to continue offering transportation services between the airport and all area theme parks and hotels to meet the demand of our visitors now and in the future.”

In other Walt Disney World news, Extra Magic Hours have officially been retired at the Florida theme parks. In a statement, Disney reps said “Disney Resort hotel guests and guests of other select hotels will be able to enjoy more fun with 30-minute early entry to ANY theme park, EVERY day. It’ll be a great way to get a jump start on your Disney day, no matter the day! he new early theme park entry benefit helps us better spread visitation across all four theme parks, while providing added flexibility by giving guests extra early park time on each day of their vacation and in the park of their choosing. Please note that guests need valid admission and a park reservation made via the Disney Park Pass system to enter a theme park.”

While it sounds like these are monumental losses to the Disney experience, it’s really not all that bad, and there’s still a world of reasons why staying on site at a Disney resort hotel is a great value. There’s a lot to be said for staying inside the “Disney bubble”, where you don’t have to leave the magic when you’re done playing in the parks. Transportation between hotels and the theme parks is much more convenient with Disney’s complimentary internal transportation system, and makes it easy to take a mid day break when the sun is hottest and the parks are most crowded. The resort hotels themselves have a ton of great options for dining and activities to keep you busy and entertained, including biking,fishing,great pools, kids activities,painting and craft opportunities,tours,movies under the stars and in the pools,world class food and beverage options, you get the point.

While Disney’s Magical Express will be missed for its value and convenience, there’s still great options for getting to your hotel if you don’t want to rent a car. While there’s not a lot of details yet, as I mentioned Mears appears to be planning some sort of shuttle service to the resorts. You can also get a lyft or uber from the airport for a reasonable rate. The Brightline Rail system connecting Orlando International Airport to Disney Springs is still slated to open in 2023. Better yet, you can let someone else worry about transportation for you- your friendly travel planner at Key to the World Travel can help book a car service to and from...

Order Up! We're still hungry, so we're tackling all the very best places to grab a bite at Walt Disney World's theme parks! But first, great news from Disney Parks, the TSA is causing America's coin shortage,camping on (and off of) cliffs, and the most Alaska place in Alaska. Take a cow for a walk in the garden and pin a rose on it, it's time to hit the trail with the Gold Key Adventurers Society!

Week in Disney history:

-August 26,1806, Henry Dircks, inventor of the Pepper’s Ghost illusion, is born in Liverpool England
-8/26/1948, Walt and animator Ward Kimball wrap up their trip east to visit the Chicago Railway Fair and Henry Ford’s Greenfield village, both major inspirations for the design of Disneyland
-8/26/2009, keel laying ceremony for the Disney Dream is held in Papenburg Germany
-8/28/1989 Jim Henson and Kermit The Frog leave the handprints and signatures outside the Chinese Theater at MGM Studios
-8/28/2019, dedication of Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios
-8/29/1955, the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship restaurant opens in Disneyland (where dumbos are now)

-8/29/2011, Aulani welcomes its first guests
-8/31/2009, Disney announces purchase of Marvel entertainment

As always, a huge thank you to our sponsor, Key to the World Travel. For all your travel needs, Key to the World's expert travel advisors are standing by. Make sure you tell them the Gold Key Adventurers sent you!

Thanks to Outer Vibe for the use of their song Hoka Hey off of the album Hoka Hey as the intro and outro of our show. For tour dates, merch, music and more, check them out at www.outervibe.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show to make sure you don't miss a single week of adventure. While you're at it, how about leaving us a rating and review?

Word of mouth is the best way for us to grow our society of intrepid adventurers-if you have a friend or two who might enjoy our particular brand of adventure and silliness, send them our way.

The Gold Key Adventurers Society is always looking for new members! Find all our episodes, links and info at https://www.goldkeyadventurers.com

Show The Gold Key Adventurers some love by buying the hosts a coffee (or two or ten?) at https://bit.ly/KofiDonateToGKAS

Remember, life is short and the world is wide. So go have an adventure!