Details Released For “Family Fun Weekends”

WDWNT on January 12, 2011

From the Disney Parks Blog:

Do you like fiestas, hoedowns, Mardi Gras, Lunar New Year and Disney Characters? Then you won’t want to miss the next eight weekends at Disneyland park. We’re calling them “Family Fun Weekends” and they run Jan. 14 through March 6.

Families know they can find magic and excitement whenever they visit Disneyland Resort, and the next eight weekends will offer a special reason to play at Disneyland park.

“Family Fun Weekends” are themed events that invite guests to enjoy music, dancing, and special food and merchandise, along with a chance to meet and take photos with some Disney characters in specially themed attire. This weekend, for example, Fiesta Mickey and Minnie Mouse will greet you at Festival Arena in colorful, folklorico attire.

Family Fun Weekends at the Disneyland Resort

These events take place weekend days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first five weekends will be held at Festival Arena (at the back of Frontierland), and the final three weekends will move to New Orleans Square.

Here’s a brief description of the fun, and we’ll tell you more in the coming weeks.

Fiesta Disneyland – Jan. 14-16: The first weekend celebrates the Hispanic culture and experience in a colorful, lively event, featuring performance groups such as award-winning Mariachi Divas.

The Mariachi Divas

Disney’s Kickin’ Country Weekend – Jan. 21-23: This weekend will feature live music – including band Forth Worth West – and a Disney hoedown with Cowboy Mickey and Cowgirl Minnie Mouse.

Cowboy Mickey

Character Fan Days – Jan. 28-30: This is your chance to meet and take photos with some rarely seen characters. Think of this as the ultimate Disney character reunion – featuring the characters that you told us you would most like to meet. (We’ll announce the results of our Character Facebook poll later this week on the Disney Parks Blog.)

Lunar New Year Festival – Feb. 4-6 and Feb. 11-13: Two weekends will be devoted to Lunar New Year, when time-honored traditions and family celebrations are observed within the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures as the sun and moon begin their journeys for another year.

Mardi Gras – Feb. 18-20, Feb. 25-27 and March 4-6: Three weekends will be devoted to a lively, New Orleans-style Mardi Gras event, with vibrant excitement, jazzy music and sensational food of New Orleans. Where else? At New Orleans Square. Princess Tiana, along with a cavalcade of some Disney characters in their Mardi Gras finery, will appear at a photo location in the Court of Angels, staffed by Disney PhotoPass photographers.

Check back on the Disney Parks Blog each week, for more details on the weekend events.

Which of the “Family Fun Weekends” are you looking forward to most?

Disney Announces “Family Fun Weekends” at The Disneyland Resort

WDWNT on January 7, 2011

From the Disney Parks Blog:

UPDATE: Congratulations to the winners of our ‘2-Day Ticket for $99′ Contest! For the complete list of winners, click here.

Contest open to US residents 18 and over. Void where prohibited by law. Ends 1/5/11.

So Cal Residents: Want to have a little fun with us today? Play along in our game and think about all the fun things you like to do at the Parks (we highlight 99 of them in today’s video). You could have a chance to win a pair of the newest tickets at Disneyland Resort – the 2-Day-for-$99 Tickets. These tickets are valid for 1 park per day through May 14, 2011.

As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, we’ll be adding some family entertainment on weekends between January 14 and March 6. We’re officially announcing the five, fun new experiences for “Family Fun Weekends” in today’s video that shows 99 exciting moments at the Parks (Hint: Look for Mickey!). Be one of the first 99 to correctly identify, in order, the five new experiences in the video, and follow the rules – listed at this link and summarized below – and you and your guest could enjoy all the fun the Disneyland Resort has to offer.

Here’s how you can enter if you’re 18 or older:

  • Watch the video and e-mail the following information to contests@disney.go.com.
    • Your first and last name in the body of the email.
    • Your mailing address (no P.O. Boxes).
    • The official names of the new entertainment, listed in order, as they appear in the video.

Please follow the instructions carefully. Entries that do not follow these directions will be disqualified.

We’ll send notifications to the winners via e-mail by 5 p.m. on Thursday, and we’ll post a link to the list of winners at the top of the post. To read all the contest rules and eligibility requirements, click here.

If you win, we will mail the tickets to the mailing address provided.

While you have to be a So Cal resident to win a pair of “2-Day-for-$99 Tickets,” you can still join in the fun if you don’t live in Southern California. If you’re not a So Cal resident, you are eligible to participate and win a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket.

Good luck!

P.S. Please don’t spoil it for others by posting guesses or answers in the comments.