Disney News

As a parent of two young children under the age of five, I know how difficult it is to make sure your children eat a healthy, well balanced meal at home. It can be mind numbing at times. You certainly have to be creative to find all of the major food groups on a four year old’s plate.

Now you may think a plate of bacon, sour cream dip, chips and a slice of bread may be pushing it. I say nay. Protein? Bacon! Vegetable? Uh, Potato Chips! Grain? Bread of course. Dairy? Sour cream dip! That plate was just another well balanced meal. Yes, there is truth to this little illustration, no, we do not let him eat like this every day!

Thankfully, our friends at Walt Disney World® Resort and Disneyland® Park have helped us to make nutritional dining for the boys on vacation a little easier with the Mickey Check. The Mickey Check is a new initiative that will help you identify nutritious choices for your children while you are on vacation!

In order for a meal to receive the Mickey Check, the meal has to live up to Disney Nutrition Guidelines, which align to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The meals encourage portion control (and calorie intake) while limiting sodium, sugar, saturated fat and trans fat.

Meals adorning the Mickey Check must include at least three of the four major food groups: fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy; whole grains; or lean protein, beans, eggs and nuts. You can rest assured they aren’t pressing the limits and passing off potato chips as vegetables! To meet Disney Nutrition Guidelines, meals have to be ordered without any substitutions!

No longer will you have to worry about your child’s nutrition while visiting Walt Disney World® Resort or Disneyland® Park, because Disney is already worried about it for you! The Mickey Check debuted at Be Our Guest Restaurant earlier this month and is slated to appear on other table-service menus the first of the year!

Be sure to browse all of the dining options available at Walt Disney World® Resort on our website! When you plan your next vacation with Off to Neverland® Travel, our Magic Makers® will take you through the dining experience, and even eliminate the wait by making reservations for you…all at no additional cost!

Back in April, Disney Parks announced plans for the addition of a Starbucks® location to each of their six U.S. Theme Parks inside the Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida and the Disneyland® Resort in California. The first of these locations opened as the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café this past June inside Disney California Adventure® Park.

Next year, locations will open at the Magic Kingdom® Park and Epcot® in Florida. The Main Street Bakery will close inside the Magic Kingdom® Park in January 2013 and will reopen after refurbishment in the early summer. While the location will reopen as a Starbucks® location, it will keep the name and theming that we have all known and loved over the past 41 years. In addition to Starbucks® signature beverages, many guest’s favorites will still be available inside the bakery. In Epcot®, the current Fountain View Ice Cream location in Future World will close in March 2013 and reopen midsummer as a futuristically-themed Starbucks® location.

Friday night, the Magic Kingdom® Park in the Walt Disney World® Resort held their first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party for the year. Guests who attend this year’s special-ticketed event are able to receive an exclusive holiday Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card.

The card features Prep and Landing’s Wayne and Lanny. The Ornament Barrage card can be obtained by guests attending the party by showing their party ticket and wristband at the Main Street Firehouse. It is the second of a series of special Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Party cards, with the first being “Chip ‘N’ Dale’s Bag of Tricks” from the 2012 Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

The Walt Disney World® Resort will host the 37th Festival of the Masters this weekend in the Downtown Disney® Area. Sponsored by Michaels, the open-air arts festival presents guests with the works of over 100 award winning artists – including photography, jewelry, sidewalk chalk art, and much more.

Events planned for this weekend include:

• Various hands-on activities for Guests of all ages and interests – including “Make It Take It” crafts, a do-it-yourself fashion show, and the “Michaels Master Mural” where guests can help in creating a mosaic-like mural and an 8-foot tall LEGO Hulk figure
• Artist appearances
• Live musical performances at various venues including House of Blues®, Bongos Cuban Café® and Raglan Road™ Irish Pub and Restaurant
• Live performances from La Nouba™ by Cirque du Soleil®
• Unique shopping opportunities—from fine art to Disney collectibles

The Festival of the Masters runs Fri (11/9) and Sat (11/10) from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Sun (11/11) 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The event and parking are complimentary.

This Friday, the holiday season will officially start at Disney’s Hollywood Studios® when The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is lit for the first time this season! Included with standard admission to the park, the show has become a holiday tradition since 1995. The simply breathtaking seasonal display is made up of more than 5 million glittering LED Christmas lights that Disney Imagineers have perfectly synchronized to holiday music.

The Walt Disney World® Resort has announced that this year, Santa Goofy will join the fun inside his very own Winter Wonderland. This area will serve as a meet and greet area during The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Also added this year is an eighth song for the lights to sync to, a special arrangement of “Winter Wonderland” by Creative Entertainment Music Director Dan Stamper.

If you’ve never seen The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, it is something that you must do! Pictures are not able to truly capture just how amazing it is. It will run Nov. 9 through Jan. 6.

This offer is no longer valid. Click here to explore all current specials.

As the holidays quickly approach, we start to feel a real “crunch” in our wallets. But Disney Cruise Line® has released a promotion that will allow you to plan your upcoming vacation at sea right now without tying up too much of your holiday funds.