If you click on the following link and go to photo # 6, you will see a photo of the Castle Suite's bedroom: click here. On the chest sitting in front of the bed on the left, is a tray of "suite treats." I can make out chocolate truffles, cookies, and what appears to be a chocolate painting sitting on a chocolate easel. I cannot, however, make out the image on that chocolate painting. My guess is that it is of the castle or maybe even Fantasyland.
-
Controversial Topics
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Information about the Cinderella Castle Suite...
- Thread starter Janet2k
- Start date
beattyfamily
DIS Cast Member
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2000
Thanks so much for all the links to info and photos about the Castle Suite. I, for one, am totally enjoying seeing the photos and reading the information about the suite.
Those who get to stay there are SO very lucky.
Those who get to stay there are SO very lucky.
Beattyfamily and Labdogs42, the other day I was gathering together a bunch of Cinderella Castle Suite information for some friends of mine who are heading to Walt Disney World soon. I wanted them to get excited about the possibility of winning a night in the suite.
After I had gathered together a little information, I decided to share it here on the Dis, too. I had never been on the Year Of A Million Dreams board before, but it seemed like the most appropriate place for this information. Sadly, I dont think this board gets a lot of traffic, so some folks will never learn of the special portion of each Castle Suite stay that includes time alone, after-hours, inside the theme park with a VIP Guest Relations Cast Member:
- - - - - - -
For up to two hours after the scheduled close of the park, the family will have access to Magic Kingdom with a VIP Guest Relations cast member. This will allow them to enjoy the atmosphere of the park before they retire for the evening. Suggested after-hours tours will be available which include modified versions of "Art of the Theme Show" and "Keys to the Kingdom," which are tours that explore the history and creativity behind Magic Kingdom. This special "after hours" opportunity gives these guests an amazing opportunity to see Magic Kingdom in a way that few guests have experienced.
- - - - - - -
When I read about that in the press release, you should have heard me ~sigh.~ I have been fortunate to have been in most of the theme parks either before park hours or after park hours. There is something ~magical~ about walking through an empty theme park and yet the lights are on and the soundtrack is playing as if the park were still open. It is a very surreal experience, and I am so glad that Disney has added that experience to the Cinderella Castle Suite stay.
I should note the flip side of that experience. When the park is closed, that is when an awful lot of behind-the-scenes work happens. The street cleaning equipment comes out, the power washing equipment comes out, the maintenance team comes out, and so on. The Cinderella Castle Suite winners will, no doubt, run into a little of that, but I think the VIP Guest Relations Cast Members will try to steer them clear of as much of that as possible.
After I had gathered together a little information, I decided to share it here on the Dis, too. I had never been on the Year Of A Million Dreams board before, but it seemed like the most appropriate place for this information. Sadly, I dont think this board gets a lot of traffic, so some folks will never learn of the special portion of each Castle Suite stay that includes time alone, after-hours, inside the theme park with a VIP Guest Relations Cast Member:
- - - - - - -
For up to two hours after the scheduled close of the park, the family will have access to Magic Kingdom with a VIP Guest Relations cast member. This will allow them to enjoy the atmosphere of the park before they retire for the evening. Suggested after-hours tours will be available which include modified versions of "Art of the Theme Show" and "Keys to the Kingdom," which are tours that explore the history and creativity behind Magic Kingdom. This special "after hours" opportunity gives these guests an amazing opportunity to see Magic Kingdom in a way that few guests have experienced.
- - - - - - -
When I read about that in the press release, you should have heard me ~sigh.~ I have been fortunate to have been in most of the theme parks either before park hours or after park hours. There is something ~magical~ about walking through an empty theme park and yet the lights are on and the soundtrack is playing as if the park were still open. It is a very surreal experience, and I am so glad that Disney has added that experience to the Cinderella Castle Suite stay.
I should note the flip side of that experience. When the park is closed, that is when an awful lot of behind-the-scenes work happens. The street cleaning equipment comes out, the power washing equipment comes out, the maintenance team comes out, and so on. The Cinderella Castle Suite winners will, no doubt, run into a little of that, but I think the VIP Guest Relations Cast Members will try to steer them clear of as much of that as possible.
It's not a Castle Suite photo, but it is a series of photos, two of which show the castle in the background: click here.
Those photos were taken for Disney by Annie Leibovitz as part of the "Where Dreams Come True" campaign. Be sure to click on the images on that webpage in order to see them in a larger size.
Those photos were taken for Disney by Annie Leibovitz as part of the "Where Dreams Come True" campaign. Be sure to click on the images on that webpage in order to see them in a larger size.
I'm not sure if every winner of a Cinderella Castle Suite stay will be measured for royal sleepwear, but it was something that the first winner experienced. Read on.
- - - - - - -
DeWitt family wins stay at Cinderella's Castle
By Mike Hughes, Lansing State Journal
Published January 26, 2007
On a cold and rainy morning Thursday, a DeWitt family accidentally became famous.
At random, the Fouches were chosen as the first people to spend the night in Cinderella's Castle, in the heart of Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla.
"I was really stunned," Lisa Fouch said by phone Thursday. "Except for little drawings, I'd never won anything."
Then they won big. "It probably took 15 or 20 minutes for everything to sink in," Jim Fouch said.
The Fouches (rhymes with "couches") have a DeWitt mailing address and live in the Bath School District. Jim, 49, works for IBM; Lisa, 40, is a preschool teacher.
Brad is 16, a Bath High sophomore. Hannah turned 8 on Monday - the first day of the Disney World vacation - and loves the castle. "I think it's beautiful," she said.
This is the third time the Fouches have been to Disney World and a lot of happenstance was involved.
"It was kind of cold and rainy," Jim said. "We stayed in the car for a while, hoping it would let up."
It didn't, so they reluctantly stepped into the MGM Studios portion of the park. "We all got our ponchos on," Jim said. "We looked like a bunch of wet ducks."
That's where they caught the "Star Tours" ride, Brad's choice. "I'm a big 'Star Wars' fan," he said.
Hannah was hesitant. "I didn't want to go on the ride," she said. She did and the Fouches promptly scored in Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.
First, it was announced that everyone on the ride had won a "fastpass," allowing shortcuts to other rides. Then the Fouches started to exit the ride.
"As soon as we got out, there were lights and cameras," Jim said. "We didn't know what it was."
A computer, at random, had chosen Brad's seat on the ride as the first winner of the daily contest. That meant by the end of Thursday they would be:
Grand marshals at the Disney World parade.
Honored at a dinner in the Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant.
Measured for royal sleepwear.
The first people to stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite.
The suite was originally empty space, about four stories above the park. The plan was to have living quarters for the Disney family.
That never happened, though; then this promotion began. The suite was fixed up with a marble foyer and a bedchamber, bathroom and salon, all suitable for royalty - and for the Fouch family.
- - - - - - -
The Fouches were measured for royal sleepwear. Wow! Disney certainly thought of everything.
- - - - - - -
DeWitt family wins stay at Cinderella's Castle
By Mike Hughes, Lansing State Journal
Published January 26, 2007
On a cold and rainy morning Thursday, a DeWitt family accidentally became famous.
At random, the Fouches were chosen as the first people to spend the night in Cinderella's Castle, in the heart of Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla.
"I was really stunned," Lisa Fouch said by phone Thursday. "Except for little drawings, I'd never won anything."
Then they won big. "It probably took 15 or 20 minutes for everything to sink in," Jim Fouch said.
The Fouches (rhymes with "couches") have a DeWitt mailing address and live in the Bath School District. Jim, 49, works for IBM; Lisa, 40, is a preschool teacher.
Brad is 16, a Bath High sophomore. Hannah turned 8 on Monday - the first day of the Disney World vacation - and loves the castle. "I think it's beautiful," she said.
This is the third time the Fouches have been to Disney World and a lot of happenstance was involved.
"It was kind of cold and rainy," Jim said. "We stayed in the car for a while, hoping it would let up."
It didn't, so they reluctantly stepped into the MGM Studios portion of the park. "We all got our ponchos on," Jim said. "We looked like a bunch of wet ducks."
That's where they caught the "Star Tours" ride, Brad's choice. "I'm a big 'Star Wars' fan," he said.
Hannah was hesitant. "I didn't want to go on the ride," she said. She did and the Fouches promptly scored in Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.
First, it was announced that everyone on the ride had won a "fastpass," allowing shortcuts to other rides. Then the Fouches started to exit the ride.
"As soon as we got out, there were lights and cameras," Jim said. "We didn't know what it was."
A computer, at random, had chosen Brad's seat on the ride as the first winner of the daily contest. That meant by the end of Thursday they would be:
Grand marshals at the Disney World parade.
Honored at a dinner in the Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant.
Measured for royal sleepwear.
The first people to stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite.
The suite was originally empty space, about four stories above the park. The plan was to have living quarters for the Disney family.
That never happened, though; then this promotion began. The suite was fixed up with a marble foyer and a bedchamber, bathroom and salon, all suitable for royalty - and for the Fouch family.
- - - - - - -
The Fouches were measured for royal sleepwear. Wow! Disney certainly thought of everything.
roseprincess
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=blue>
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2004
That would be so awesome for the Make-A-Wish kids and families!
I'm not sure if every winner of a Cinderella Castle Suite stay will be driven down Main Street in Cinderella's Carriage, but it was something that the first winner experienced. Read on.
- - - - - - -
No pumpkins at midnight for Mich. family in Cinderella's Castle
Santiago Esparza And Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
Friday, January 26, 2007
Brad Fouch of DeWitt thought he got a bum seat at the very end of a simulator at Disney World, but it turned out to be a ticket to the grand prize. His family won the right to spend the night in Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom, becoming the first people to sleep overnight in the luxurious suite.
Brad, 16, was sitting in seat eight in the second row of Simulator 4 in the Disney-MGM Studios Star Tours Florida attraction about 9:50 a.m. Thursday when he won the prize. His selection was at random, Disney officials said.
He, his parents and 8-year-old sister Hannah got the star treatment when they stayed the night in the castle suite, once planned to be onsite living quarters for members of the Disney family.
"This is a dream come true," Hannah said in a press release after her big brother won.
Hannah has been having a dream week. Monday was her birthday and before the family came to the amusement park, she had watched a commercial about the Cinderella Castle suite.
"That's what I want to do," her mother, Lisa, recalls Hannah saying, according to the press release.
The lavishly decorated suite features a foyer floor made of marble, a salon and a bedchamber with bathroom.
In addition to the night's stay, the family was given a ride in Cinderella's carriage, met a character dressed as Cinderella and won passes that allowed them to avoid lines for rides.
The family is expected to leave Disney World today, a spokesman said.
- - - - - - -
The family was given a ride in Cinderella's Carriage. Wow! Again, Disney has thought of everything.
- - - - - - -
No pumpkins at midnight for Mich. family in Cinderella's Castle
Santiago Esparza And Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
Friday, January 26, 2007
Brad Fouch of DeWitt thought he got a bum seat at the very end of a simulator at Disney World, but it turned out to be a ticket to the grand prize. His family won the right to spend the night in Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom, becoming the first people to sleep overnight in the luxurious suite.
Brad, 16, was sitting in seat eight in the second row of Simulator 4 in the Disney-MGM Studios Star Tours Florida attraction about 9:50 a.m. Thursday when he won the prize. His selection was at random, Disney officials said.
He, his parents and 8-year-old sister Hannah got the star treatment when they stayed the night in the castle suite, once planned to be onsite living quarters for members of the Disney family.
"This is a dream come true," Hannah said in a press release after her big brother won.
Hannah has been having a dream week. Monday was her birthday and before the family came to the amusement park, she had watched a commercial about the Cinderella Castle suite.
"That's what I want to do," her mother, Lisa, recalls Hannah saying, according to the press release.
The lavishly decorated suite features a foyer floor made of marble, a salon and a bedchamber with bathroom.
In addition to the night's stay, the family was given a ride in Cinderella's carriage, met a character dressed as Cinderella and won passes that allowed them to avoid lines for rides.
The family is expected to leave Disney World today, a spokesman said.
- - - - - - -
The family was given a ride in Cinderella's Carriage. Wow! Again, Disney has thought of everything.
triplefigs
<marquee><font color=009933>Triple Chick</marquee>
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2004
We met the winners of the 2nd night at the Castle Suite during the P&P last night (Jan 26). They were so cute and excited! I got a picture of them with Mickey. I'll try to post it later. BTW, they were chosen at the Land at Epcot yesterday morning.
How exciting -- you got to rub elbows with royalty! I can't wait to see your photo of the family.
I found a few more links to Annie Leibovitzs photos, so I thought I would share them here. I'll probably post these links in the other thread, too.
Cinderella Photo
Prince Phillip Photo
Alice in Wonderland Photo
And here is a video clip: click here.
Cinderella Photo
Prince Phillip Photo
Alice in Wonderland Photo
And here is a video clip: click here.
Walt Disney World Resort: Plugged In released a video podcast of the Cinderella Castle Suite the other day. I just downloaded it to my video iPod and played it. The footage of the suite is very nice and shows details of the foyer, bedroom, parlor, and bathroom. The video podcast also contains short interviews with both Ms. Cathy Carver (Lead Designer) and Mr. Stephen Silvestri (Art Director / Producer).
Click here to go to the podcast webpage and download the podcast entitled, Walt Disney World Resort: Sneak of Peek of the Cinderella Castle Suite!
Enjoy!
Click here to go to the podcast webpage and download the podcast entitled, Walt Disney World Resort: Sneak of Peek of the Cinderella Castle Suite!
Enjoy!
janine
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2005
I agree with Janet. After my wedding reception at the American Adventure at Epcot, we were allowed to have extra photos taken outside. It was so strange not to have people walking around, and to hear the background music playing.
It was a memory I shall never forget.
Janet I love to read your posts, you are so lucky to have such an insight into the 'wonderful world of Disney'.
Janine, that's a beautiful photo in your signature, ~sigh.~ And thanks for sharing just how ~magical~ a theme park is after hours.
Someone has posted a trip report of their recent Cinderella Castle Suite stay: click here. At the bottom of their first post is a link to their photos.
It sounds like they had a ~magical~ stay in the castle.
It sounds like they had a ~magical~ stay in the castle.
What follows is an article that was written by an Associated Press reporter who spent the night in the Cinderella Castle Suite (article link). I enjoyed his take on things. It was interesting to read something that was written from a single person’s perspective. But please note that the reporter did invite a family with two small children to join him in the suite, which I thought was a lovely gesture (my guess is that they were either family or family friends). It shed his article in a different light than if he had spent the night in the suite alone.
- - - - - - -
Guy with no kids spends a night in Cinderella's Suite
The Associated Press
February 17, 2007, 11:20 AM EST
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- I am in hundreds of strangers' vacation pictures -- the bewildered guy in the sputtering truck at the front of the Walt Disney World parade. I'm sitting next to Daisy Duck and wearing mouse ears embroidered with my name, waving like an idiot and smiling like I just won a toaster.
That's the first place they put you when you've won an overnight stay in the three-room suite inside the Cinderella Castle. It's the crown jewel in Walt Disney Co.'s ``Year of a Million Dreams'' sweepstakes, the squeal-inducing fantasy of millions of little girls -- and my home for the next 17 hours.
Disney typically awards one random family a day with a free night in its new Cinderella Suite, but I am among a small cadre of journalists invited to stay there (The AP paid the estimated $587 value). That means I'm also grand marshal of the parade, the honorary guest in Fairy Godmother's dinner theater and the front-of-the-line guy at anything I want to ride.
I am a tattooed 27-year-old guy with Buddy Holly glasses and no children. But I'm just not that into princesses. So to enhance my appreciation, I've adopted a family with two little girls (ages 5 and 2) to stay with me.
I am tired of smiling and waving when the parade ends, and I wonder how the full-grown adults dressed up like Goofy and Minnie do it every single day. Besides that, what will become of all those pictures when they make it back to Iowa or Idaho or Kalamazoo?
The Magic Kingdom is designed so you can see the castle from just about anywhere, and the walk to our suite seems longer than it should. We are led up a far pathway, past a side door and into a small room with stone walls.
Our guide, dressed as a 17th century castle guy, swipes a card to call our elevator and takes us four stories up. The suite is brand new. The elevator is not, and moves eerily a few inches up and down when it's boarded or stopping.
Each of us is given a swipe key with our name and ``Cinderella Suite'' written on it, and before long there are bite marks all over 2-year-old Emily's. Her sister Hannah has the honor of opening our door the first time.
There are golden flecks in the floor and ornate squares on the ceiling, making the whole room feel gilded. The desk in the corner is a 17th century Dutch antique with velvet-lined shelves that Disney has retrofitted with a high-speed Internet hookup. There are two queen beds under headboard with a canopy and a fireplace that can't burn anything, but holds a fiberoptic display of flame and pixie dust.
The television in the sitting room is a mirror that converts at the touch of a button, while the ``royal bedchamber'' TV changes from a framed electronic portrait of Cinderella. There is television with at least five channels in foreign languages, an array of DVDs (all Disney, of course) and free calls to anywhere on an antique-looking phone.
I get wild ideas about that last part until I remember I don't know anyone in Paris or Tokyo anyway.
Perhaps most impressive is the bathroom, which features a 4-foot square Jacuzzi jet tub with a waterfall faucet, a separate shower that could comfortably fit three and a square toilet. Over the tub are three sparkling mosaics made of hand-cut Italian glass.
All of these things I like -- especially the mirror that turns into a TV. But I am disappointed in the minibar. It has juice boxes but no Jack Daniels.
Much of the royal family's day -- like the parade and dinner reservations -- is preset, so there isn't a lot of time for rides. Emily isn't tall enough for the roller coasters, which basically leaves the other category -- the ones where you sit in a car, ride along a track and watch animatronic pirates or fish or jungle people sing and dance.
But because we're staying inside the park and Disney provides us a front-of-the-line escort, we've got to ride something. We end up on Peter Pan's Flight and then the ride whose name Disney refuses to capitalize, it's a small world. When it's over, the girls' father and I are yawning. It's only 5:30 p.m. but we've been on the go nonstop since the parade at 2 p.m.
We have dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table, a place where the Fairy Godmother and other Disney characters weave between diners performing songs. It is expensive, but we aren't paying because it's included in our stay.
Before dinner we finally meet Cinderella. In blond wig, powdered cheeks and lilting voice, she is convincing, and poses for pictures with us. She embraces my arm; I do not tell her I will later be naked in her bathtub.
The restaurant serves everything from hot dogs to prime rib, but they also do not have booze. I found out the hard way after asking for a Sam Adams when I thought our waiter said they have ``great beer.'' Root beer, it turns out, but there is no alcohol at the Magic Kingdom.
I guess that explains our minibar.
Godmother identifies our table as the lucky suite winners during dinner, and the rest of the restaurant offers rousing applause. Later, a woman stops by to ask us where we were when we found out when we won. I feel like a jerk telling her we didn't win anything, it's just that I'm a reporter.
Our Disney escort is waiting sharply when we're done with dinner, which is starting to become a pattern. It almost feels like we're being watched. The pretty girl dressed like a stewardess who guides us around reports into a hand radio whenever ``The Royal Family'' is on the move. Who is she talking to? I have no idea but it's kind of creepy.
Disney has left princess wands, crowns and Minnie Mouse dolls for the girls back at the suite. They have also turned back the covers on our beds, put out a tray of cookies and traded our barely used bathroom soap for an unopened bar. All of those are hotel luxuries I have never before experienced.
We watch the fireworks show that closes the park through the suite's stained-glass windows, and everyone tries out the Jacuzzi. Separately.
I haven't taken a bath since my mother was holding the wash rag, but I can't resist this thing. I turn on the jets for 20 minutes, thinking there's no way I'll be there longer than 10. They have all kinds of fancy soaps lining the side, and I use some shampoo that smells like weird plants and expensive salons. I finally pry myself out after 16 minutes, feeling like I'm hogging the bathroom.
At about 9:30 p.m. I press 0 for the concierge and ask for an after-hours look outside the castle. You can't really leave the suite without asking, but it somehow doesn't feel like you're trapped. Someone is posted round-the-clock just to handle our requests.
I do literally have the park to myself, but there's not much to do in it because the rides are closed. Everything remains lit up as if it were packed, and piped-in Disney music fills the air. Most striking is the number of trash cans I see -- dozens within a few feet of one another -- that I never recognized before. They blend in seamlessly when the whole place is cluttered with people.
Back at the suite, Hannah has fallen asleep clutching her Minnie doll but little Emily somehow outlasts her usual 8 p.m. bedtime. She's wearing her tiara upside-down, spinning and banging her wand on the ground in between pleas for more cookies.
She finally crashes at 10:30 in her parents' bed, and the grown-ups follow shortly thereafter. The bed and comforter are soft and thick, and I don't stay up long.
I awaken with a 7:35 a.m. call I didn't ask for, to prepare for 9 a.m. breakfast reservations Disney made for us. I spend the next hour trying futilely to go back to sleep as dad plays with the girls in the sitting room. They don't want to leave the suite, and frankly neither do I.
It's foggy outside when we emerge from the castle, and the park is already full of families just starting their day. I feel strangely like I don't belong -- like I've stayed out all night and am watching people go to work the next morning.
I already dread the lines I'll be waiting in. The mouse ears I can do without.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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- - - - - - -
Guy with no kids spends a night in Cinderella's Suite
The Associated Press
February 17, 2007, 11:20 AM EST
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- I am in hundreds of strangers' vacation pictures -- the bewildered guy in the sputtering truck at the front of the Walt Disney World parade. I'm sitting next to Daisy Duck and wearing mouse ears embroidered with my name, waving like an idiot and smiling like I just won a toaster.
That's the first place they put you when you've won an overnight stay in the three-room suite inside the Cinderella Castle. It's the crown jewel in Walt Disney Co.'s ``Year of a Million Dreams'' sweepstakes, the squeal-inducing fantasy of millions of little girls -- and my home for the next 17 hours.
Disney typically awards one random family a day with a free night in its new Cinderella Suite, but I am among a small cadre of journalists invited to stay there (The AP paid the estimated $587 value). That means I'm also grand marshal of the parade, the honorary guest in Fairy Godmother's dinner theater and the front-of-the-line guy at anything I want to ride.
I am a tattooed 27-year-old guy with Buddy Holly glasses and no children. But I'm just not that into princesses. So to enhance my appreciation, I've adopted a family with two little girls (ages 5 and 2) to stay with me.
I am tired of smiling and waving when the parade ends, and I wonder how the full-grown adults dressed up like Goofy and Minnie do it every single day. Besides that, what will become of all those pictures when they make it back to Iowa or Idaho or Kalamazoo?
The Magic Kingdom is designed so you can see the castle from just about anywhere, and the walk to our suite seems longer than it should. We are led up a far pathway, past a side door and into a small room with stone walls.
Our guide, dressed as a 17th century castle guy, swipes a card to call our elevator and takes us four stories up. The suite is brand new. The elevator is not, and moves eerily a few inches up and down when it's boarded or stopping.
Each of us is given a swipe key with our name and ``Cinderella Suite'' written on it, and before long there are bite marks all over 2-year-old Emily's. Her sister Hannah has the honor of opening our door the first time.
There are golden flecks in the floor and ornate squares on the ceiling, making the whole room feel gilded. The desk in the corner is a 17th century Dutch antique with velvet-lined shelves that Disney has retrofitted with a high-speed Internet hookup. There are two queen beds under headboard with a canopy and a fireplace that can't burn anything, but holds a fiberoptic display of flame and pixie dust.
The television in the sitting room is a mirror that converts at the touch of a button, while the ``royal bedchamber'' TV changes from a framed electronic portrait of Cinderella. There is television with at least five channels in foreign languages, an array of DVDs (all Disney, of course) and free calls to anywhere on an antique-looking phone.
I get wild ideas about that last part until I remember I don't know anyone in Paris or Tokyo anyway.
Perhaps most impressive is the bathroom, which features a 4-foot square Jacuzzi jet tub with a waterfall faucet, a separate shower that could comfortably fit three and a square toilet. Over the tub are three sparkling mosaics made of hand-cut Italian glass.
All of these things I like -- especially the mirror that turns into a TV. But I am disappointed in the minibar. It has juice boxes but no Jack Daniels.
Much of the royal family's day -- like the parade and dinner reservations -- is preset, so there isn't a lot of time for rides. Emily isn't tall enough for the roller coasters, which basically leaves the other category -- the ones where you sit in a car, ride along a track and watch animatronic pirates or fish or jungle people sing and dance.
But because we're staying inside the park and Disney provides us a front-of-the-line escort, we've got to ride something. We end up on Peter Pan's Flight and then the ride whose name Disney refuses to capitalize, it's a small world. When it's over, the girls' father and I are yawning. It's only 5:30 p.m. but we've been on the go nonstop since the parade at 2 p.m.
We have dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table, a place where the Fairy Godmother and other Disney characters weave between diners performing songs. It is expensive, but we aren't paying because it's included in our stay.
Before dinner we finally meet Cinderella. In blond wig, powdered cheeks and lilting voice, she is convincing, and poses for pictures with us. She embraces my arm; I do not tell her I will later be naked in her bathtub.
The restaurant serves everything from hot dogs to prime rib, but they also do not have booze. I found out the hard way after asking for a Sam Adams when I thought our waiter said they have ``great beer.'' Root beer, it turns out, but there is no alcohol at the Magic Kingdom.
I guess that explains our minibar.
Godmother identifies our table as the lucky suite winners during dinner, and the rest of the restaurant offers rousing applause. Later, a woman stops by to ask us where we were when we found out when we won. I feel like a jerk telling her we didn't win anything, it's just that I'm a reporter.
Our Disney escort is waiting sharply when we're done with dinner, which is starting to become a pattern. It almost feels like we're being watched. The pretty girl dressed like a stewardess who guides us around reports into a hand radio whenever ``The Royal Family'' is on the move. Who is she talking to? I have no idea but it's kind of creepy.
Disney has left princess wands, crowns and Minnie Mouse dolls for the girls back at the suite. They have also turned back the covers on our beds, put out a tray of cookies and traded our barely used bathroom soap for an unopened bar. All of those are hotel luxuries I have never before experienced.
We watch the fireworks show that closes the park through the suite's stained-glass windows, and everyone tries out the Jacuzzi. Separately.
I haven't taken a bath since my mother was holding the wash rag, but I can't resist this thing. I turn on the jets for 20 minutes, thinking there's no way I'll be there longer than 10. They have all kinds of fancy soaps lining the side, and I use some shampoo that smells like weird plants and expensive salons. I finally pry myself out after 16 minutes, feeling like I'm hogging the bathroom.
At about 9:30 p.m. I press 0 for the concierge and ask for an after-hours look outside the castle. You can't really leave the suite without asking, but it somehow doesn't feel like you're trapped. Someone is posted round-the-clock just to handle our requests.
I do literally have the park to myself, but there's not much to do in it because the rides are closed. Everything remains lit up as if it were packed, and piped-in Disney music fills the air. Most striking is the number of trash cans I see -- dozens within a few feet of one another -- that I never recognized before. They blend in seamlessly when the whole place is cluttered with people.
Back at the suite, Hannah has fallen asleep clutching her Minnie doll but little Emily somehow outlasts her usual 8 p.m. bedtime. She's wearing her tiara upside-down, spinning and banging her wand on the ground in between pleas for more cookies.
She finally crashes at 10:30 in her parents' bed, and the grown-ups follow shortly thereafter. The bed and comforter are soft and thick, and I don't stay up long.
I awaken with a 7:35 a.m. call I didn't ask for, to prepare for 9 a.m. breakfast reservations Disney made for us. I spend the next hour trying futilely to go back to sleep as dad plays with the girls in the sitting room. They don't want to leave the suite, and frankly neither do I.
It's foggy outside when we emerge from the castle, and the park is already full of families just starting their day. I feel strangely like I don't belong -- like I've stayed out all night and am watching people go to work the next morning.
I already dread the lines I'll be waiting in. The mouse ears I can do without.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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SRUAlmn
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2004
A DISer has actually won 
Here is a link to the thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1353437
Here is a link to the thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1353437
Mickey1122
<font color=deeppink>Walt Disney World Fan<br><fon
- Joined
- May 14, 2006
This thread is wonderful-the suite is a dream beyond my wildest dreams. I think it's a shame that the press can buy their way in though-they should have the same chance as everyone else, and quite frankly, I would rather read the happy report of a winner than the cynical musings of some reporter.
I hope that after the Year of a Million Dreams they open it up as a mini attraction so that you can walk through. The winners will still be winners, but everyone else will be able to experience a piece of it.
I really would love to stay there. 
I hope that after the Year of a Million Dreams they open it up as a mini attraction so that you can walk through. The winners will still be winners, but everyone else will be able to experience a piece of it.
I really would love to stay there. Share this page
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