August 18th marked the 1st birthday for the Only WDWorld blog, so it was fitting that it was spent at the Walt Disney World Resort for a vacation / research trip.


What Will You Celebrate?
Disney World certainly embraced 2009's theme "What Will You Celebrate?". Colorful "Celebrate Today!" banners were seen everywhere throughout the parks, resorts, and Downtown Disney.

I really liked how they turned the park icons into balloons for the banners. It was a very creative way to re-invent the same old image of the 4 icons. It had the familiar images (Cinderella's Castle representing the Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth representing Epcot, Sorcerer Mickey's Hat for Hollywood Studios, & the Tree of Life for Animal Kingdom), but by making them appear to be balloons they fit into the new "What Will You Celebrate?" promotion. Brilliant!





















Highlights of this trip included:

• Enjoying the Disney Dining Plan.
• Seeing the New Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Villas.
• Checking out Pixie Hollow at the Magic Kingdom.
• Seeing the redone Hall of Presidents attraction.
• Trying Tonga Toast for the 1st time at Captain Cook's in Disney's Polynesian Resort.

You will hear about these during the next several days.

During the trip over 2,000 pictures were taken during the week. From the obvious to the obscure many will appear in this blog over the next several weeks in a variety of articles. The evolution of the digital camera makes it possible to take that many pictures since I never seem to have the shot of what I am looking for when I am writing an article.

Hungry Crowds

The crowds were slightly larger than expected even though it was the first week of the FREE Dining Promotion. You could see the additional temporary Table Service Dining locations that were set up to accommodate the extra dining needs.

Even so, most signs at the parks showed dining opportunities were extremely limited for those who had not made prior reservations.

We were very pleased that our waits were very minimal for the restaurants that we made reservations for (Chefs de France, Le Cellier, Tony's Town Square, Coral Reef, & 'Ohana).

If you are travelling during the free dining season between now and the end of the year, please take the time to make your Table Service dining reservations ahead of time.

Also don't forget that many of the moderate and deluxe resorts have very goods table service restaurants.

Looking Forward To The Next Year

During this trip I was quickly reminded of all of the details and stories of the Walt Disney World Resort that have not been mentioned during the 1st year of blogging about Only WDWorld.

This upcoming year promises to continue to bring information about the latest Disney World discounts, tips for using the Disney Dining Plan, more Kid's Eye View articles, and more pictures and information about Disney World and what makes it so magical to so many people.

Disney World is certainly my favorite place to celebrate, no matter what the occasion!