What’s New?

Thursday, February 11 was a special day at Walt Disney World and we were there to celebrate it. The media (that’s me!) were invited to attend a very special press conference at Epcot, where a mammoth sculpture of canned goods, containing approximately 44 tons of food was unveiled. Tens of thousands of cans were stacked in the shapes of Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Pluto’s heads. Once the event was over, the cans were delivered to local food banks. This structure broke the previous Guinness Book of World Records for “Largest Canned Food Structure” ever created, and was built to celebrate a major milestone at Disney, the “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day Program”.
Here’s how it works: volunteer one day in your community and get a free one-day admission to a Walt Disney Theme Park. The program was designed to help inspire families to perform volunteer service in their community. Anyone wishing to get involved has to pre-register, must be at least 6 years old, and can sign up for eligible volunteer opportunities at www.disneyparks.ca. We celebrated this initiative, along with hundreds of volunteer families and Disney Channel celebrities by taking part in a volunteer tree planting initiative.

While on our Walt Disney Resort Showcase trip, we learned about a few additional Disney surprises for 2010. The first of these was an introduction to a large expansion at Magic Kingdom, called Fantasyland. Many of the favourite Disney princesses will have their own village, with new restaurants, and interactive play areas to enjoy while waiting in line. Next, we learned about a new addition to the Disney Cruise Line fleet, called The Disney Dream. Wait until you meet the Aqua Duck, an absolutely awesome waterslide that runs along the side of the ship and juts out over the side to give you a full view of the ocean below. Lastly, we were invited to be part of the re-opening and re-branding of the new ESPN Sports Complex, a multi-sport facility that is home to 60 different sports. The kids had an opportunity to play on the sports fields, meet up with Mickey and the gang, eat as much ball-park food as they could, and finally dance the night away. Do you think they enjoyed that a little bit?

As for me, it’s back to work and reality this week but the boys and I will never forget our unforgettable week at Walt Disney World.