Hello Everyone!

Well, our Disney vacation countdown chain is rapidly diminishing in size – seemingly directly proportional to the amount of stuff I need to get done!!

On the news front I kind of thought October was a slow month for Disney-related items, however I did manage to find a couple of stories to share with you all.

But before getting to those items, here is a little monthly update on the Disney planning spreadsheet files. Since posting the files in a new location on an external web host, they have now been downloaded over 3000 times! Maybe next month I’ll see someone in Disney World with the spreadsheet that I created!?

As always, if you have any feedback or questions, please send me a note.

Fairy fans can now meet Tinker Bell and her friends live and in person! The tiny sprite and four of her fairy friends are featured in a brand new meet-and-greet experience at Mickey’s Toontown Fair in the Magic Kingdom.

You are all probably familiar with Tinker Bell from Peter Pan, but you may not know the other fairies. They are: Fawn - an animal fairy; Iridessa - a light fairy; Rosetta - a garden fairy; and Silvermist - a water fairy.

The new meet-and-greet area is called “Pixie Hollow,” which is described as a special place deep in the heart of Never Land. Of course, the new attraction will be accompanied by lots of themed merchandise available for purchase.

The opening of this new attraction coincides with the release of the new Tinker Bell DVD. I’m sure this will be a hot item for the Christmas season.

In addition to meeting the Fairies at Magic Kingdom, guests can learn more about the Disney Fairies at disneyfairies.com or pixiehollow.com.

T-Rex Restaurant Now Open

The long-awaited T-Rex restaurant opened its doors on October 14th. This restaurant is located at Downtown Disney and features a prehistoric dinosaur theme.

The restaurant is owned and operated by Landry’s, the same company who runs the Rainforest Café.

Fittingly, T-Rex is a really huge restaurant. In addition to the many life size audio-animatronic dinosaurs, the 30,000 square foot facility can seat over 620 guests.

The dinosaur theme is well done and carried out in many fine details. There is a children’s fossil-digging pit, prehistoric-themed light shows, and of course the huge robotic dinosaurs. There are even fossils encased in the bathroom walls! The dining areas are themed as well. The Geo-tech room has awesome flaming walls while the Ice Cave room has ice-like walls. I personally think the Ice Cave looks the neatest!

The menu consists of American Cuisine with appropriately named dishes. For example – how about a Bronto Burger, Mega Mes-O-Bones ribs, or a Triceratops Filet! Entrées range in price from $11.95 to $29.95.

Again, as always there is a gift shop loaded with prehistoric gifts and souvenirs as well as a Build-A-Dino store run by the Build-A-Bear Workshop.

Super Soap Weekend

The 13th Annual ABC Super Soap Weekend will be held at Disney Hollywood Studios on November 15th and 16th, 2008. If you are a big Daytime television fan, this is your opportunity to meet and mingle with some of the biggest names in the business. If you are not interested in this event, I suggest avoiding the Studios that weekend.

Some of the stars who will be there are Rebecca Budig (All My Children), Kelly Monaco (General Hospital), and possibly Susan Lucci (depending on her status on Dancing with the Stars). The event is hosted by Bob Guiney.

This will be the last year that the Super Soap Weekend will be held at Disney World. In 2009 there will be a nationwide city tour called the 2009 Soap Nation Tour.

If you have further questions about this event, you can contact the Super Soap Weekend Hotline at 407-397-6808.

Please visit the Plan a Magical Vacation Amazon Store

Be sure to check out the Gifts and Shopping section of the website for all of your Disney guide books, music, and more. You can now use all of the Amazon.com features like Search, Checkout, and read product and customer reviews right from within the Plan a Magical Vacation website.

In case you are wondering, yes the website does earn a commission when you shop through the links on our site. Thanks to all of you who show support in this way!

Find the Cheapest Airfare

If you are looking to find the best price you have got to check out Kayak.com. If you have ever booked your own airfare, you know what a pain it is to manually check all the different airlines for the best deal. Kayak is a travel tool that searches 140+ travel sites all at once and finds the cheapest fares for you – for flights, hotels, and even rental cars. After you get all of the results for your desired travel dates, you can then compare the results from all of the sites together – and there are many ways to filter and sort the results – all done instantly! Hotels searches are also offered, so check it out if you are planning to stay offsite in an Orlando area hotel. You can even buy direct from the airlines or agencies - Kayak is not a travel agent. And of course, Kayak is free!

Room Only Discounts for the rest of 2008

• Good for travel dates 11/1/08 to 11/22/08, 11/29/08-12/6/08, 12/14/08-12/23/08
  
• Must book by December 7, 2008.
  
• Use code DMK when booking.
  

FREE Dining Discount for Disney VISA Cardholders

• Good for travel dates 11/9/08-11/22/08 to 12/14/08-12/23/08
  
• Use code QXZ when booking.