The Gac Card is going away at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, The Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom is giving up the ghost, Starbucks opens today on Main Street and Bob Gurr talks futuristic cars.  Those are just some of the  interesting topics being discussed in this week’s Disney News Round up.  What is the most romantic way to propose at Disneyland?  Will you be at Disneyland to meet Thor on November 1st?  Will MyMagic+ be coming to Tokyo Disneyland?  All is revealed below.We also want to welcome the newest member to the MicePod Family, Mousetalgia!  This wonderfully insightful rumination on all things Disney is a great listen.  This week they discuss the Limited Time Magic offerings on Friday the 13th.  Were they good, bad, or unlucky?

Get Mouseaddict for free HERE

Top Stories

MiceChat Newsletter

MiceAge Disneyland Update: Parties,
Parking, and Planned Projects

The post-summer off season of low crowds at Disneyland Resort lasted only two weeks, and after the crazy Friday the 13th Villains event Disneyland has crashed into its wildly popular HalloweenTime season before it shifts almost immediately into Christmas mode in early November. While Team Disney Anaheim keeps their cards close to their vest on Burbank’s orders regarding big new rides about to begin construction in DCA and Tomorrowland, there are still some big changes coming to the parks in the next month. In this update we’ll fill you in on what’s ahead this fall, why there are only three more weeks to use a Guest Assistance Card (GAC) in the American parks, and why TDA is suddenly fine tuning their Resort parking strategy.

Declining by Degrees: Magic Kingdom
Not So Magical Halloween Party

The 2013 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom is unfortunately the weakest yet. The party is slowly being watered down, with cutbacks over the years from the slight to the not-so-slight. It’s a process I’ve long called Declining by Degrees.

DESIGN: Those Were The Times –
No.18 1946 Futuristic Cars Arrive

Bob Gurr was hired by Walt Disney to design the Autopia. It remains a Disney classic to this very day. We have a special treat today as Disney Legend, Bob Gurr, shares the story of his love for automobiles.

NewOffer

Tip of the Week

Meet Chris Wakefield – The man behind the popular Wakefield Report is visiting Southern California and will be joining the MiceChat noon meet at Disneyland this Sunday the 29th. Stop by the Walt and Mickey statue in Disneyland’s central hub. We’ll meet and chat from noon until about 12:30, then we’ll head off for lunch at Riverbelle Terrace followed by a couple rides and a visit to see Disney artist Dave Avanzino at Disneyana! It promises to be another fun day in the park with friends old and new.

Disney Parks News and Reports

This week we have news about the new process disabled guests will use at the Disney parks beginning next month.  The long awaited news for the next major attractions to be added to Disneyland Anaheim are also on the horizon!  Then we learn where Thor will be landing in the park. ~ Aladdin

MiceChat Newsletter

Disneyland Sept 2013 Trip Report with surprise proposal!

zeitezeuge spent a few days in Disneyland with his partner. The vacation began with a big surprise . . . Here’s his complete report!

Club 33, 1901, and Dapper Day – Sept 5th & 6th

KellyMcG86 has added several more photos to her trip report, including photo’s from Club 33 and the infamous Trophy Room, and photos from inside Club 1901 in DCA!

Al Report: Friday the 13th, DAS Update,
Parking Situation Update, Monstroplis, and TL

Lots of news to discuss, from expanded parking for the Disneyland Resort, major changes to the Guest Assistance Card for guests with special needs, and news of when we may get an announcement about a new Tomorrowland or a Monstropolis for DCA!

MiceChat Newsletter

Disneyland Hotel Lifeguards Early 70’s

oldhotelguy takes us back to the 50’s and 70’s in his latest historical Disneyland Hotel photo report. Lifeguards and canoe boat races? Yes, just look here!

Meet Thor On November 1st

More Science Fiction is entering the void that is called Innoventions. This time the Bifrost, a cosmic bridge will transport you across the universe to visit Thor, himself. Details are here! This is Marvel’s second attempt to breathe life into this stagnant building!

21 Types of DL Guests. Find your style here,
they are talking about us

SwampyMarsh found this article that tells us about 21 different kind of people you might see in Disneyland. Which of these groups do you fit into, or do you have a group that is not listed?

Divider

This week we have Tokyo Disneyland as the source of rumors.~ Trekkie Dad

My magic+ coming to TDR?

Will Disney World’s My Magic+ be implemented at Tokyo Disneyland? disfan10 has some evidence that this may happen sometime in the future.

GOODBYE CARSLAND Hello FANTASYLAND FOREST?

It appears that plans to clone Carsland at Tokyo Disneyland have been scrapped; TDL execs are considering expanding Fantasyland instead.

Where could TDR build a THIRD PARK?

With the Olympics returning to Tokyo in 2020, CaliforniaAdventurer wonders if there are any suggestions for a third park and where could it go?

Divider

This week closes out September with a question about the most anticipated WDW event – the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. In addition, we have a look at the replacement GAC, a lengthy refurb for Splash Mountain (again!) & a look at some trip reports. A lot to take a gander at this week, so let’s get to it! ~ YoYoFlamingo

MiceChat Newsletter

Short Trip Report

maddogjoe shares some of his pictures from his recent Walt Disney World trip, with plenty of dining pictures to prepare our thoughts for Food and Wine. Take a look here!

Splash now closing in January for 2.5 months refurb

While Splash Mountain usually closes for a month in January, this year they again are closing it longer than usual, until March. We are applauding the beginnings of increased upkeep. What needs to be fixed?

Disney World Disables A Policy

MiceAge already reported on the story, but in case you missed it, the current GAC is being replaced by a new system in just a few weeks. Find out what it’s all about here.

Joshrzmeup’s Trip Report!

We don’t see many lengthy trip reports around these parts these days, so they’re always a welcome sight when they appear. Join Joshrzmeup on her journey through Port Orleans Riverside.

‘Taste of the Senses’ – EPCOT Food and Wine festival

aashee has a question about the hype of the Taste of the Senses event at the Food and Wine Festival – is it worth the price? Share your thoughts here. Just thinking about the Festival is making me hungry!

Divider

The oversea waves are on the ups and downs with news around Disneyland Paris and new ideas coming out of Tokyo. ~ DLandFansAZ

Reasons to be Cheerful

With the bad vibes circulating around Disneyland Paris, soundtracker wants to quit looking for bad and find the good things coming up.

Ratatouille: The Totally Crazy Adventure of Remy

Hathaway Browne brings us the first visual for ‘Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy’

New Merchandise Updates

Looking for new merchandise at the Tokyo Resort? Danimated has started a place to see all the new stuff.

AV Room

Please help us welcome the newest podcast to the MicePod, Mousetalgia!!!

Mousetalgia Episode 257: Halloween Time, Anaheim Halloween Parade 

Halloween Time has come to Disneyland, and Team Mousetalgia reports on the arrival of this popular villainous season. But first, we welcome Kevin Kidney back to the show to give some history of the upcoming Anaheim Halloween Parade, and explain what guests can expect at this year’s event and the intriguing Disney ties to this special hometown celebration. Next, Dave and Becky review Disneyland’s “Unleash the Villains” Limited-Time Magic event on Friday, Sept. 13th, and describe the good, the bad, and the ugly. Dancing with DJs in Disneyland – is it a trend that’s here to stay, or a fad that never quite catches the public’s imagination? Then, we preview Disneyland’s annual Halloween Time celebration, and offer some special food reviews, a description of some of the special seasonal overlays and features, and offer our advice on enjoying the spooky season at the park. Finally, we offer our penultimate Club 33 review of the original club, with more food reviews and a brief discussion of the future of the storied restaurant. Plus – coast-to-coast Marty Sklar book signings, including a Walt Disney Family Museum event; Pixar’s La Luna story app; and surviving Disneyland in the heat of SoCal’s Indian Summer. 

Direct Download

MiceChatter with Sarah Snitch

Sarah returns with a look at Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort. What’s your favorite part of the holiday?

Communicore Weekly

This week, we talk about If You Had Wings, Small World, Iron Man 3, and Banjo Lessons! DISNEY HISTORY! — Can you fly? Well, Eastern Airlines thinks you can! And that’s why If You Had Wings is this weeks Disney History! BOOK OF THE WEEK! — George travels back in time to the Worlds Fair to read the its a small world book for his Book of the Week! 60 SECOND REVIEW! — Living up to its name yet again, Jeff and George look at the Iron Man 3 Blu Ray in the 60 Second Review! FIVE LEGGED GOAT! — And finally, Banjo Lessons are this weeks Five Legged Goat!

7 Second Review!

Here is 7 second reviews of every house at Universal Halloween Horror Nights 23!

Divider

Wakefield Report, covers the latest in theme park news! find full notes on this podcast at WakefieldReport.com.

Direct Link | iTunes Link

Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast, is giving you the run down on Lee and Tracey’s trip to Orlando in August. They are joined by Darren and Eric to discuss their opinions of all the new experiences and all the classic favourites that Universal Orlando has to offer. Included in the report, we have some “live” reports from the parks too!

Direct Link | iTunes Link

The Season Pass takes a deeper look into the TEA’s SATE Conference in Savannah Georgia on October 3-4.  Doug Barnes speaks with the chairs of the event: Adam Bezark (The Bezark Company), MK Haley (Disney Research), & Al Cross (PGAV).  Plus, this episode is co-presented with the Co-Chair of SATE, Stefan Lawrence.

iTunes Link

MiceChat Podcast – Did you hear the Disney angels singing hallelujah? For a long weekend in August, all the Disney stars aligned during Disney’s big Comic-Con like event, the D23 Expo. Of course, MiceChat was there. We set up a huge booth and offered three days of Disney Celebrity meet and greets, giveaways, podcasts and more. But the big fish was Disney itself, who set up massive pavilions for Imagineering, Archives, Legends and more. In this show, we tie ropes around our waists and jump head first into the cave of Disney wonders. We make it back with quite a few gems to share.

Direct Link | iTunes Link

Unofficial SeaWorld Podcast, In this episode we will bring you news from all 3 SeaWorld Parks, SeaWorld Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego, along with an incredible interview with Catherine Brown a Sea Lion trainer at SeaWorld San Antonio, talk to Super Fan Becca, and Super Fan Erin who just came back from Career Camp at SeaWorld Orlando. We also have an animal spotlight on Harbor Seals, some inspiring Sea Rescue stories and more!

Direct Link | iTunes Link

A Window to the Magic

This is Part 2 of our WindowtotheMagic Podcast introduction for MiceChat MicePod Listeners! On this show, we introduce you to our Background Music Loop shows, with our most popular loop show ever, the <strong>Disneyland Main Street USA 2012 Loop</strong>! Paul took a day off work on March 9, 2012 to record the very first looping of the newly rerecorded and updated background music loop at Disneyland. It is a wonderful loop and you will enjoy it!

Direct Download

Catch The Code and win dining cards, hotel stays and more with V24 Radio!

CONTEST RUNS: Weekdays from September 30-October 28, 2013 between 9am-5pm Eastern

Here’s what you have to do:

Listen to V24 Radio as 4 times per day you’ll hear a voice say “CATCH THE CODE”. This will be followed by a code word. For example, you may hear “CATCH THE CODE! The Code Word is Splash Mountain“.

You’ll then be prompted to e-mail us the Code Word via our Contact Page at V24Radio.com. There will be four different Code Words every day…so you can enter up to 4 times daily…which works out to 20 times per week!

Now the good stuff: What’s in it for you? Weekly draws will be held on our live-hosted show, A Disney Roundtable, 7pm Eastern on Tuesday evenings. We’ll be giving away prizes including Downtown Disney dining cards, Disney Park merchandise, and a stay at one of the Downtown Disney Resort Area Hotels. You’ll never know which weekly prize we’re giving away, so you’ll want to make sure to enter as much as you can!

Also, if you become a V24 Insider prior to September 30, you automatically get an extra entry into the contest each week!

This all starts September 30 – so make sure you tune us in to Catch The Code! Stream us any time at V24Radio.com!

 

Other Theme Parks

‘Tis the season… just not that season. It’s the Halloween season and this year’s reviews for the different offerings are starting to crawl in. ~ DLandFansAZ

V24 Disney Radio

Knott’s Halloween decorations

Knott’s Berry Farm is all Halloweened up and SpacemanSpiff has brought us a wonderful photo tour of the decorations

DTH stars as The Boogeyman in: HHN Opening Night Review (9/20)

dth316 give us a very intense and thorough review of opening night at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights.

The first review of this year’s HHN

And coming in from the east coast, Bill provides us with a great review of Universal Studio Florida’s HHN.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure 2013 Audio

KingEric brings us the audio from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure and it is EPIC, but you can listen yourself. .

V24 Disney Radio

2013 ‘Scare School’ Preview of Black Magic/Houdini Walkthrough

RegionsBeyond shares with us the 2013 ‘Scare School’ preview of Knott’s Black Magic/Houdini walkthrough.

Other Theme Parks

Sip-and-Nibble-Logo-2013Join us for MiceChat.com’s Sip & Nibble Around Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival on October 18, 2013. Get full event details HERE.

Disney Cruise

We invite you to join us on a very special MiceChat voyage to the Eastern Caribbean on the newest ship of the Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Fantasy.

Join us for a free Eye Spy game at DCA on Sunday October 6th at 2pm. It’s a short and sweet event (just over one hour in length) and fun for all ages. Best of all, there will be fun prizes. Sign up for FREE – HERE

Untitled-1Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights Event on October 17th. Join MiceChat for a night of fun at Universal Orlando as we survive the zombies in our own rag tag group. You’ll need to purchase Halloween Horror Night tickets with Express access (it will be too crowded to see all the houses without it). For more details please email [email protected]
Featured Columns
MiceChat Newsletter

Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2013 Review

Universal Studios Hollywood kicked off the 2013 Halloween season in a fantastic way this weekend.

Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights 23 Review

The spooky season is upon us and we’ve got an update and review of Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights 23.

Halloween Time scares up fun treats at Disneyland as Thor moves into Tomorrowland

Thor is joining Tony Stark in Tomorrowland as a new meet-and-greet and movie prop exhibit moves into an underutilized portion of the huge Innoventions building. The meet-and-greet will open in November.

1970s Walt Disney World Resort Treasures

After my article last week requesting research help, I received a lot of great comments and emails offering anecdotes, images and original source material.

MiceChat Sip and Nibble: The best way to experience Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival

I can’t believe it has been six years since we dreamed up the concept of “Sip and Nibble” as we strolled around Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival.

Street Drum Corps Presents Blood Drums

With the opening of Knott’s Scary Farm upon us it seems appropriate to cover one of HAUNT’s most exciting offerings; Blood Drums, presented by Street Drum Corps.

Disneyland Paris Spruces Up Before Winter Arrives

The management of Disneyland Paris is taking advantage of smaller crowds and temperate weather to attend to a number of small projects throughout the park.

Iron Man 3 on Blu-ray Review

George: So, the Marvel films (television shows, video games, etc) are huge in my household. My nine year-old is a superhero junkie and has seen all of the Marvel franchise films in the theater.

Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast #65 – The EPIC Trip Report

Hello Micechatters and UUOP listeners, welcome to episode 65 of the Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast.

MiceChat Newsletter

In The Parks: Pumpkins, Bumpkins, and a Little Starbucks Somthin’

It’s Halloweentime at the Disneyland resort and the season is just about ready to kick into high gear.

Knotts Scary Farm Exclusive Preview of the Gunslinger’s Grave

The idea of a western-themed maze for Halloween Haunt is a no-brainer for the theme park that built its reputation on a western ghost town aesthetic.

DCA Then & Now, Part 2: Around Condor Flats

In the second of a series of Disney California Adventure “then and now” comparisons, Yesterland looks at Condor Flats, “a high-desert airfield dedicated to the wonder and ingenuity that helped spawn California’s legendary aviation industry.

Ten Things to Pack in Your Disney Carry On

Whether you’re headed East and using Disney’s Magical Express (and won’t see your checked bags until a few hours after you arrive) or you’re going out West.

SeaWorld Exclusive: Killer Whale Treadmill and Jungle Jack Hanna

It’s an interesting update for you today from SeaWorld Orlando, which is testing out some new technology to keep their whales happy and healthy.

Divider
The MiceEars Crew and MiceChat Disney News Club put a lot of time and effort into making these Round-Ups happen. Here are the members:Your Editor: CakvalaSC and the MiceEars Crew: Demigod, Aladdin, elly, Yoyoflamingo, Trekkie Dad, DLandFansAZ, RegionsBeyond, Disney Wrassler, Fishbulb & Dustysage.

We hope to see you online again soon, Dusty and the amazing MiceChat crew!

The MiceEars Crew can be e-mailed at: [email protected] if you have questions for Anthony our Editor he can be e-mailed at: [email protected]

Divider

CakvalaSC
MiceChat.com's webmaster and occasional writer. Cakvala is senior graphic designer and photographer. Admirer of all things Disney and theme-parks !