Every Kingdom has its crown jewels, and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort is no different. But don't expect rubies or spires of gold: The jewels here -- those famous Mouse Ear hats -- come with a little extra "character."

Guests can find a customized way to enjoy the already blossoming array of Ear hats offered at Florida's Vacation Kingdom. Exclusively at The Chapeau on Main Street U.S.A. in Magic Kingdom, guests can visit the Build Your Own Ears Hat boutique and fashion a set of ears that represents their individual personality.

"Guests can take our traditional, iconic Mickey Mouse Ears -- made famous in the 1950s with the Mickey Mouse Club -- and customize them," said Dara Trujillo, merchandise manager at Walt Disney World Resort. "Not only is this a unique product offering, but every set will be different, just like our guests."

Here's how it works:

• Guests start by choosing one of 19 bases in colors and materials such as purple satin, pink fur, blue velvet or green glow-in-the-dark.
• Next, guests choose two snap-on ears from an assortment such as metallic, rhinestone and holographic -- either two ears of the same variety or two different options for a really distinctive look.
• If they wish, guests can adorn their hat using peel-and-stick patches representing favorite Disney characters, Disney princesses and Disney Channel shows. Custom embroidery and stick-on letters are also available.

With thousands of combinations possible, it's easy for guests to create an Ear hat that is uniquely "them." And once the creation is complete, there's no fewer than seven mirrors stationed around the shop in which to admire the one-of-a-kind work of art.

"Guests take pride in showing off their creative talents," said Trujillo. "It's their way of saying, 'These were made just for me.' "

I just got word of the newest discount that Disney is offering!  Stay 4 nights and get 3 nights free! or Stay 5 nights get 2 nights free!

Here are the details:

• Book a stay at any of the Disney Value Resorts for 5 nights with a 6-Day Park Pass (minimum ticket) and get 2 nights FREE!
• Book a stay at any of the Disney Moderate or Deluxe Resorts for 4 nights with a 6-Day Park Pass (minimum ticket) and get 3 nights FREE!  

This promotion is good for travel dates of:  November 1-December 24,2009  and January 3-March 27,2010.

Book now through Oct 31st and mention Facebook or Twitter and you will receive an additional $25 discount on these packages!! Plus, you'll receive these added services when you book with us:                      

• Continual tracking of your reservation to ensure that any and all discounts are applied to your package!
• Advanced dining reservations made for you at Disney restaurants!
• Tips and tricks to make your trip extra special!
• A packing list and more!
  

   

Celebrity chef Cat Cora poses Sept. 17, 2009 with Chef Mickey Mouse during the grand opening of her first signature restaurant, "Kouzzina by Cat Cora," located at Disney's BoardWalk at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Cora, the first and only female Iron Chef on the Food Network series "Iron Chef America," officially opened the Greek-inspired, 200-seat restaurant Sept. 17, 2009 with a traditional Greek toast. "Kouzzina" is Greek for "kitchen." (Gene Duncan, photographer)



Chef Cat Cora and Disney have debuted an exciting new family-dining restaurant with the opening of Kouzzina by Cat Cora at Disney’s BoardWalk at Walt Disney World Resort.

This is the first table-service restaurant for the celebrity chef, featuring a menu of Mediterranean-style cuisine that pays tribute to the Cora family’s Greek roots.

Owned and operated by Disney and open daily for breakfast and dinner with seating for about 200 guests, the new restaurant features “time-honored recipes passed down from my ancestors, as well as my favorite Greek and Mediterranean dishes that my family loves,” Cora says.

As a Mississippi native born to a family of Greek restaurateurs, Cora grew up immersed in two different and flavorful cultures, and has taken from that unique background the kitchen “know-how” handed down through generations.  The cuisine at Kouzzina (Greek for “kitchen” and pronounced “koo-zee-nah”) showcases Mediterranean cuisine and Chef Cora’s philosophy to create simple yet sensational meals.

The restaurant’s spacious interior features an open kitchen, wooden tables and chairs and a walk-up pizza window for casual dining at outdoor tables on the boardwalk.  Breakfast specialties include Kouzzina’s signature blend of press-pot coffee and an icy Greek frappé with coffee, milk and natural sugar.  Sweet choices include steel-cut cinnamon oatmeal, blueberry orange granola pancakes and Greek-style yogurt with fresh fruit and house-made granola.  Savory breakfast creations include turkey-sweet potato hash with two eggs and arugula salad; the stacked Kouzzina breakfast with two poached eggs, kalamata olive toast, artichoke spread, sweet potato hash and bacon or chicken sausage; and spinach-tomato-feta scrambled eggs.

For dinner, Cora’s hand-selected beverage menu includes “Cat’s Ouzo-tini,” Mediterranean sangria and her own wine label, Coranation, featuring California wines.  Starters include crisp calamari, goat cheese-stuffed grape leaves, spinach pie and Spiro’s Greek Salad.  Entrées range from cinnamon stewed chicken to traditional whole fish and a char-grilled lamb burger, with sides such as chilled salt-roasted beets, smashed garlic-fried potatoes, sautéed brussel sprouts and herbed orzo with Greek olive oil and Kasseri cheese. A traditional baklava and dense, rich, chocolate budino are dessert favorites.

Cora began working with Disney in 2008 by creating a Disney Video on Demand series to showcase ways to help families develop more healthy eating habits.  The first and only female Iron Chef on Food Network’s hit show “Iron Chef America,” Cora is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York.  She also is executive chef for Bon Appétit magazine.  In addition to hosting the instructional cooking demonstrations for Disney Video on Demand, Cora has been a featured chef at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival and at Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort.

The Disney Wonder® Cruise Ship is sailing to Alaska for a four-month season of 7-night cruises in 2011. Departing out of Vancouver, B.C., the ship will call on popular ports such as Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway.

The first Alaskan cruise sets sail on May 3, 2011, with the last cruise of the season scheduled for Aug. 30, 2011.

Bookings open to the general public on Sept. 28, 2009.  If you are a Castaway Club member and completed five or more sailings with Disney Cruise Line, then you can book as early as Sept. 21, 2009.



Other 2011 Disney Cruise Itineraries are:

Ending the 2011 summer season in Alaska, the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship will sail 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises from the Port of Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.

Mediterranean Cruises
In response to guest demand, the Disney Magic® Cruise Ship will once again return to the Mediterranean in 2011 with 10- and 11-night cruises sailing out of Barcelona, Spain.

You can explore the culture and beauty of Italy, France and Spain, with a family-friendly experience only Disney can deliver. This itinerary also includes visits to Tunis in Northern Africa; the island nation of Malta; and Ajaccio, Corsica.

Repositioning Cruises
Disney Cruise Line will offer a number of repositioning cruises and special sailings in 2011, including a 15-night Panama Canal crossing; two 14-night transatlantic voyages; a 6-night cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver, B.C.; a 5-night cruise from Vancouver, B.C., to Los Angeles; and 10- and 11-night holiday sailings to the Mexican Riviera and the eastern Caribbean.

To find out more on these exciting 2011 Disney Cruises, click here or call us at  281-380-3437.

Uniquely Disney - The Disney ships are painted in Mickey Mouse-inspired colors – black hull, white superstructure, yellow trim and two giant red funnels, each with the Disney Cruise Line Mickey Mouse logo.

- Disney Cruise Line was the first cruise line to have yellow lifeboats, instead of the traditional regulation orange. Disney was granted special permission from the U.S. Coast Guard to paint the lifeboats yellow, to keep with the special color theming of the ship.

- The Disney Magic was built in two halves… one hundred miles apart! Part of the ship was constructed in Ancona, Italy then towed 100 miles to meet the stern in Marghera (just outside Venice) to be perfectly joined and welded together.

- Disney Cruise Line ships use the iconic first seven notes of the “When You Wish Upon a Star” song melody as their horn signals.

- Disney ships are the only cruise ships to have four captains – the ship’s captain, Captain Mickey, Captain Hook and Captain Jack Sparrow.

- Measuring 964 feet in length, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are each longer than Main Street U.S.A at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

- The anchor on the Disney Magic weighs 28,200 pounds – about the same as three full-grown elephants. Each ship weighs 90 million pounds.

- Taking place every cruise onboard the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, the “Pirates IN the Caribbean” deck party features the only fireworks display at sea.

Guest Experience
- Seventy-five percent of staterooms on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are outside, ocean view cabins. Of those, nearly half offer a private verandah.

- In a cruise industry first, most staterooms on Disney Cruise Line ships feature a split “bath-and-a-half” design, providing families the added convenience of a sink and tub/shower in one room and a sink and toilet in a separate room.

- Onboard each Disney Cruise Line ship, there are about 950 crew members representing more than 60 different nationalities. That is approximately one crew member for every three guests.

- Disney Cruise Line was named the top large cruise ship experience by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine in the ninth annual "Reader's Cruise Poll." In fact, Disney Cruise Line has won more than 50 different awards and accolades since launching in 1998.

Dining
- On an average seven-night Disney Cruise Line voyage, the following food items are consumed:
• Beef – 5,000 pounds
• Chicken – 10,000 pounds
• Salmon – 1,200 pounds
• Shrimp – 1,300 pounds
• Lobster Tail – 1,000 pounds
• Melon – 12,800 pounds
• Pineapple – 3,300 pounds
• Individual Eggs – 71,500
• Coffee – 57,820 cups
• Soda – 3,125 gallons
• Beer – 12,385 bottles/cans
• Wine and Champagne – 2,700 bottles

- In a single day, each Disney Cruise Line ship uses:
• 10,000 forks
• 5,000 cloth napkins
• 800 tablecloths

- Disney Cruise Line dining room Cast members represent, on average, 60 different nationalities.

- The décor and food of the Palo restaurant are inspired by Italy, the birthplace of both the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder.

- Palo takes its name from the poles that line the canals of Venice. Palo’s extensive reserve wine list features selections that hail from some of the most mature vineyards in the world and highlight some of the greatest Super Tuscans like Sassicaia, Ornellaia and Tignanello.

Onboard Features
- The Disney Magic interior is in the art deco style, characterized by geometric designs and bold, solid colors. The interior on the Disney Wonder is in the art nouveau style, which is characterized by organic influences and curved patterns.

- A bronze statue of Helmsman Mickey adorns the lobby of the Disney Magic and was inspired by the famous “Man at the Wheel” statue in Gloucester, Mass. On the Disney Wonder, a bronze statue of Ariel from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” graces the lobby.

- The main atrium chandeliers on both the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are each one-of-a-kind commissioned pieces created by celebrated glass artist Dale Chihuly. To meet cruise line safety standards, Chihuly worked within a new medium and fashioned the vibrant chandeliers out of acrylic plastic.

- The décor of the Buena Vista Theatre on both the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder was designed to emulate the elegant movie houses of the 1920s and 1930s, the period when Walt Disney was producing the first Mickey Mouse animated films.

- The main showplace for entertainment onboard Disney Cruise Line ships, the Walt Disney Theatre spans three decks and can seat 977 guests.

- A leader in family entertainment, Disney is the only cruise line to feature first run films from the Walt Disney Pictures film banners, with movies premiering exclusively at sea on the same day that they are released in US theaters. Disney Cruise Line is also the industry leader in onboard enhanced digital entertainment with advanced Disney Digital 3-D technology in all shipboard theaters.

- With ships purpose built for family cruising, both the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder boast nearly an entire deck of space dedicated to age-specific children's activities.

- Don’t worry about getting a chill! The swimming pools on Disney ships are heated when the water temperature drops below 75 degrees.

- A room with a view! 73% of staterooms onboard Disney ships have ocean views. Of those outside facing rooms, 60% boast private verandahs.

- Stay connected, even at sea! Disney ships feature Wi-Fi service in staterooms and public spaces, allowing guests to surf the web at sea from their wireless-ready personal laptop computers.

Castaway Cay
- Castaway Cay is the only private island in the cruise industry where the ship docks alongside so guests do not have to tender to land.

- Visitors to Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, can catch a glimpse of the ghost ship Flying Dutchman – the actual, full-size studio prop from the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest moored in the waters just offshore.

- Guests can mail a special souvenir message to family and friends back home by using the Castaway Cay Post Office. All postcards, letters and packages shipped from the island display an exclusive Castaway Cay postmark.

- Water is procured in Port Canaveral and delivered to Castaway Cay by the ships to an 80,000 gallon fresh water storage tank on the island.

- Feels like home? Approximately 60 Disney Cruise Line crew members live and work full-time on Castaway Cay.

Environmental Programs
- Each Disney ship has an onboard Environmental Officer dedicated to overseeing all environmental systems and procedures, along with shipboard recycling, waste minimization and water reclamation efforts.

- While cruising, Disney ships can convert sea water to fresh water for use onboard. An onboard desalinization plant produces nearly 500,000 gallons of fresh water every day.

- Disney Cruise Line made history by being the first cruise line to utilize an innovative hull coating that is both 100 percent non-toxic and effective in increasing fuel efficiency. The coating helps reduce the ships’ surface resistance in the water, decreasing the need for propulsion power as the ship glides through the sea.

- On Castaway Cay, an innovative recycling program repurposes used cooking oil from the ships’ galleys and combines it with diesel fuel to power machinery on the island. The program reduces waste and carbon dioxide emissions, saving up to 8,000 gallons of traditional fuel each year.

- Shipboard recycling systems help divert more than 405 tons of aluminum, plastics, paper and non-traditional recyclables from conventional waste streams each year. That's the equivalent of over 27 school buses or 12 humpback whales.

- Researchers at Castaway Cay are helping to restore the health of coral reefs through a unique research project transplanting native sea urchins in The Bahamas. The urchins help to control harmful algae levels that can choke out corals, and the project is providing vital research for rebuilding coral reef systems that serve as homes for tropical fish and marine life.

And right now, Disney is offering Kids Sail Free in Jan. 2010-Apr 2010!  Book now and save.  Click here for more information or call us at 281-380-3437!