The Beastly Kingdom
MAY 7 Amanda continues her write up about Animal Kingdom and how beasts and dragons are such an integral part of the park.
About the Author
Growing up in a family crazy about Disney makes it hard to end up any different. Born and raised in Georgia, Amanda Acree visited Disney every opportunity that she had the chance and when she had the option to she relocated to Florida because she knew that’s where her heart belonged. Having been to Disney over 100 times in her life she considers herself and expect and will tell anyone who will listen what she has learned in her time there. When she is not at Disney she spends her time wrapped up in a book or playing with her beloved dogs. Throughout her blogs she hopes to share the overlooked and hidden gems Disney has to offer.
Disney Dispatch Columns
Because I Stinkin' Love Disney World
Disney Travel Tips from Mouseketrips
Classic Disney Dispatch Content
Review: A Walk in the Park with Rolly Crump
Disney Dreadful: The Bus Beast
Subscribe to Disney Dispatch Digest
And receive a daily email summary of new stuff on the site.
Disney DIZcovery
by Amanda AcreeAmanda is a rabid Disney World fan. I mean RABID! And in her many, many visits to the park, she's noticed some things that other visitors might have overlooked or just taken for granted. She's agreed to come on board with us here and share some of her experiences and observations. We're lucky to have her point of view. Be sure to comment.
The Mysterious Dragon Part 1
APR 20 I'd like to welcome Amanda Acree to our family here at Disney Dispatch. She brings a vibrant and exciting point of view about things that she's noticed at Walt Disney World that you might have missed. This is part 1 of her dragon discovery at Disney's newest theme park, Animal Kingdom. Welcome Amanda!
Drinking at Disney
The definitive site for theme park alcoholics
MAR 3 Why do you go to Disney? To spend time with your family? To meet the characters? To relive your childhood? Those are all good reasons. But they're not good enough for Dean Hamilton. He goes to Disney to drink. And he's got the site to prove it: Drinking at Disney. In no-nonsense terms, Dean spells out... MORE
Magic Kingdom Utilidors
A Perfect Page from Disney-O-Rama
MAR 2 A Daily DIZcovery doesn't always have to be a site. Sometimes, it can be a page, a 'perfect' page, about a Disney topic. Today, we have our first perfect page: it's all about the Magic Kingdom utilidors. Back in June 2009, David Wallace of Disney-O-Rama wrote the definitive article about the Utilidors, complete with... MORE
Judy's Disney Blog
Not John's, Not Joan's, JUDY'S Disney Blog
MAR 1 I purposely went looking for a new Disney blog last night. Here's how I did it: in Google, I typed 'Disney World blog', clicked Search, and then randomly went to page 6 of the results. At the very bottom, I found Judy's Disney Blog. I went there. And even though it lacked a proper header or logo or even a... MORE
Disney Fountain of Youth
Former boxing judge dons not gloves but ears!
FEB 28 Disney and the world of professional boxing do not often meet. Their goals are entirely different: at Disney, you want to experience the magic; in boxing, you want to see someone's teeth knocked out. Dan Sisneros, the 'Boxing Guru', hopes to bridge that gap. Just last month, he started a new blog: the Disney... MORE
Ears & Cheers
The island of dead Disney sites
FEB 27 You can call this an anti-DIZcovery. For every active Disney blog or site, there are dozens of inactive Disney blogs or sites. It's instructive - for site owners, anyway - to analyze why so many Disney sites have shut down despite promising starts. The primary reason, of course, is that the owner has lost his... MORE
Disneyland Maps
A useful site badly in need of new cartography
FEB 26 I love a good map. In most situations, I need a good map. Without one, I get lost easily, and of course my rugged, manly nature prevents me from asking others for directions. Even at Disney World, where I've walked every patch of asphalt numerous times, I can get discombobulated. In Tomorrowland,... MORE
Claude Coats
The official site for this Disney Legend, Imagineer, and Artist
FEB 25 Claude Coats is not a house-hold name, probably not even for Disney fans, unless they're the kind of mouse-breathing, Walt-worshipping fanatics who can recite the length of every screw used to build Space Mountain. Welcome, fanatics! It's nice to see more of the old-guard Imagineers honored with new... MORE
Disney Top Ten Lists
On a top ten list of Disney top ten lists, this is #1
FEB 24 I'm a sucker for top ten lists. In yesterday's Good Night, Mouse, I featured four Disney top ten lists from sites as diverse as MSNBC and Hollywood Reporter. But it's not always that I get so lucky finding Disney top ten lists in mainstream media. For those dry times, there's Disney Top Ten Lists, a site with... MORE
The Mouse Record
An old-fashioned Disney blog, well-written and up-to-date
FEB 23 After yesterday's divergence into social and political commentary with A Magical Year Without Disney, let's return to our roots with an old-fashioned Disney blog. Mary Connoll's The Mouse Record is just that: a Disney blog. Mary's articles run the Disney gamut from the parks to the ports, including a very well-written... MORE
A Magical Year Without Disney
Lisa Rays says nay to the Mouse in all its guises
FEB 22 Last year, when Disney Dispatch was a dinky little personal blog, I ran some commentary on Lisa Ray's resolve to abstain from everything Disney for a year. Neither her nor her family are allowed to watch Disney movies, watch Disney TV shows, buy or play with Disney toys, read Marvel comic books, consume... MORE
MousePortal
One portal to find them all, one portal to link them
FEB 21 Wouldn't it be nice if there were one site with links to every Disney site on the web? Actually, no, that wouldn't be nice because there are too many Disney sites on the web, many of them dormant for months or years, and many others with little to interest the typical Disney fan. What would be nice is... MORE
The Disneyland Scoop
Travel agent serves fresh scoops of park news
FEB 20 Kevin Johnston wants to give it to you. The scoop, that is. The Disneyland Scoop. Kevin owns Wish Upon a Star Travel, putting him in competition with other Disney travel agents, and so one day Kevin apparently said to himself: how can I set myself apart? The answer came in a flash. Why not give 'em the... MORE
Mousemag
A new magazine 'by Disney fans, for Disney fans'
FEB 19 In 1983, right out of high school, I published my first print magazine. It was called Gaming Universal, and it dealt with play-by-mail games - which later morphed into online multi-player games such as World of Warcraft, Runescape, and others. But back then, to publish a print magazine, you went to a printer and... MORE
Photos Magiques
In French, that means 'magical photos' - and they are!
FEB 18 I've neve been to Disneyland Paris. Given my aversion to planes, the chances of me getting there are slim. So it's nice to see what I'm missing. Photos Magiques has photos from every nook and cranny of Disneyland Paris, and they're organized so well that even I can immediately find what I want to see. In... MORE
Think Disney
This blog tells you what to think!
FEB 17 What have we all in common? We think Disney. I'm thinking Disney right now. (I'm typing it, too.) I also think Disney when I'm driving, when I'm walking, when I'm standing in line at the grocery store, and whenever I'm not thinking about myself. Andy (last name not supplied) thinks Disney, too. He... MORE
The Disney Chick
This chick pulls no punches and takes no prisoners
FEB 16 At first glance, The Disney Chick's blog looks like any ol' Disney blog: content down the left, links and other stuff down the right, and a generic Disney picture pasted at the top. Well, sure, it looks that way: but it reads like something else entirely! I'm a sucker for quirky Disney content. And I'm... MORE
Theme Park Audio Archives
Close your ears, hear the magic, anytime...
FEB 15 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an audio file is worth a thousand pictures. But let's not get bogged down in arithmetic. I've come across quite a few sites that offer audio files of rides, attractions, and events from the Disney theme parks. Not to mention the many, many videos on... MORE
Crystal & Brian's Disney Blog
The pictures make this Disney blog a Disney delight
FEB 14 I'm all for those fancy-pants Disney blogs. You know the ones: things flash, other things rotate, ads clutter up the joint, and the blogger thinks that in another life he was an Imagineer. But down deep, I'm perfectly happy with an old-fashioned Disney blog written by regular folks who just like... MORE
Five Minute Magic
What can you do in five minutes that's magical?
FEB 13 What can you do in five minutes? What can you do that's magical, I mean? I can think of a few things, but none of them have anything to do with Disney, so it's better I don't bring them up here. Emily, Melissa, and Scott know how to make magic in five minutes. Their site, Five Minute Magic, features... MORE
Eating (and Drinking) Around the World
He eats, he drinks, he cooks - and he blogs, too
FEB 12 Few things are as pleasurable as eating and drinking, and when done at Walt Disney World, they can approach ecstasy. Well, sometimes. And more often the drinking than the eating. Andy Jackson seems to feel the same way. His blog, Eating (and Drinking) Around the World, is all about, well, that. I am... MORE
Themagical
Disney thrill rides - without the lines!
FEB 11 Themagical is run by Martijn Leseman in the Netherlands. It has no articles, no trip reports, no database of Disney data. It doesn't need them. Because what it does have is simulations of Disney thrill rides. Each of the several simulations on Themagical were programmed in Flash and allow users to experience... MORE
World Famous Jungle Cruise
Skipper Brodie takes you on the ultimate Jungle Cruise
FEB 10 The Jungle Cruise is old-school Disney. It's one of the few Disney attractions that depends upon a talented Cast Member to make it special. The Cast Member, of course, is cast in the role of skipper, and it's the skipper's duty not only to steer you safely past angry natives, raging rhinos, and hissing snakes, but to... MORE