The movie Wreck-It Ralph opens with Ralph telling his back story to a group of arcade villains at a Bad-Anon meeting. Bad-Anon is a support group for the bad guys found in the arcade games. Ralph doesn’t want to be a bad guy anymore, but he is told by Street Fighter’s Zangief, “just because you…
Author: Bryan Engel
Bryan lives in Pittsburgh, but thinks of Disney as his second home. His daughter loves going to Walt Disney World and his son will be making his first trip soon. Bryan's wife prefers the Disney Cruise (more specifically the spa) to the fast rides at the parks, but they love each other anyway.
The Thrill of Star Wars Weekends
“Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.” Those words were running through my mind just as we pulled in front of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It was the start of Star Wars Weekends and adventure and excitement were exactly what I was craving! The day would be filled with characters from my favorite…
Frozen Over
Like a wintery mix of snow and ice covering the fjords of Arendelle, Frozen-mania has almost completely covered Walt Disney World. During my most recent trip to WDW, I witnessed first hand the number of people swept up in Frozen-mania. Almost every park has something related the movie. I overheard one person call it…
FastPass+ (The Rest of the World)
When planning out your Disney vacation, it’s best to plan your meals and your rides as soon as possible. Disney recently unveiled its new FastPass+ system which allows you to make ride reservations before you ever set foot in the park. To help you out with your planning, Disney sends you a booklet with helpful…
FastPass+ (Magic Kingdom)
When Disney first announced FastPass+, I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical. My biggest complaint with the system was that originally, you could only pick three rides per day. Really!?!? As a long time Disney vacationer, I had prided myself on being good at getting FastPass tickets. Over the years, I learned a system…
Dining with a View
When you think of a Disney vacation, you think of being active. It seems like you are always running from one attraction to the next. There are children running everywhere. Adults running after them. It’s hard sometimes just to stop and take it all in. But, if you can slow down, you may be amazed…
Growing Up Disney (p.3)
Last summer, my daughter was 9 years old when we went Disney World. She had been to Disney World five or six times by now. I remember wondering if she would still like going. What more could we do that we haven’t done already. Turns out, quite a bit … Her favorite ride in Magic…
Growing Up Disney (pt. 2)
When I was younger (my college years), I remember thinking that you would have to be crazy to bring young kids to an amusement park. But, once I had children, it was only a matter of time before we went to Disney World. My parents took me to Disney World when I was a kid,…
Growing Up Disney
Before I had kids, I went to Disney. To me, it was and will always be a place of magic and great memories. My parents took me there. My grandparents took me there. I recently asked my dad why they decided to take my brother and me to Disney World. His answer was, “I thought…
The Scariest of Them All
As parents, it’s our job to keep the monsters out of our children’s lives. But, if you let your children watch Disney movies, for every hero or princess that is introduced, you have to also let the villains in as well. As an adult, I have to admit that I like some of the villains…
The Whispering Canyon Cafe
Disney’s dining website promotes The Whispering Canyon Cafe as “a rowdy, rootin’ tootin’ good time, round up for the whole family for hearty western fare and antics aplenty.” I’ll be honest, after an entire day in the Magic Kingdom, I wasn’t sure I was ready for “rowdy or rootin’ tootin’.” But, I was ready for…
A Rain Event
The weirdest thing happened during my family’s last trip to Disney World. It rained! In fact, it rained five days out of the seven days we were in Florida. Not constantly, but enough to make the crowd run for the Disney transportation back to their resorts for coffee and towels. Here are some ways to…