Reunion 2010

We're ready to peel back the curtains just a little bit today with a new event at Reunion 2010. This will be the first of a few surprises up our sleeves (we love to sprinkle some magic here and there) and it's something we've never done before. In fact, it's something you probably haven't done before (of course many of you are way cooler than us, so that isn't saying much).

On December 3rd, you are invited to join us for a private lunch inside the Wonders of Life pavilion with the Mouse Fan Travel staff and the WDW Today cast! You will be escorted through the now closed Wonders of Life pavilion ("Boooo!" - Matt Hochberg 3:16) and up to the private lounge area for the "Meet, Greet and Eat!" event.

This will be a fun opportunity to mingle with your fellow Reunioneers and Matt, Mike, Mike, Len, Annette, Beci and others who will be there. And since no Reunion meet is complete without something to eat (it may have been over an hour since our last snack!), there will be a lunch provided as well!

This fun opportunity will be limited to 75 people and tickets will go on sale in mid-September so if you're interested in attending, you're going to have to act fast. Stay tuned to the Reunion Twitter account and this site for updates and of course, for more information on some other treats we have lined up!

We are now well over 150 people registered to be a part of Reunion 2010 and the list continues to grow. It's pretty exciting planning events for everyone who will be a part of the fun and with Reunion, we wanted to ensure that we have fun without having to "burn the candle at both ends". If you've been to previous fan events like this, you may recall waking up early and going all day and night and repeating and we wanted to ensure that you could enjoy our events without feeling like a zombie at some point. We've received lots of great ideas for meets and we'd love to do many of them, but we purposefully kept the schedule light so we don't burn out everyone after a day or two.

Speaking of meets, there's been some questions about how the meets work and attendance. Looking at the schedule, there are a lot of different meets to choose from. You should feel free to attend as many or as little as you want. Many people will attend most meets but if you can only make one or two meets, that's okay too. By coming to Reunion, you don't have to do everything but I think after one or two meets, you may find yourself deciding to do more meets than you had thought. We'd love to see you at each meet we have planned!

The biggest question we've received since Reunion 2010 has been announced was how does Len get his hair to curl so nicely. The next biggest question we've received is what will the schedule of meets look like for Sunday? We can't answer the first question (the man simply never reveals his secrets!) but we now have a schedule of events for Sunday and you're invited to be a part of it.

We will kick things off on Sunday by saying goodbye. There's a lot of people who will be flying or driving back home Sunday so they can get back to work/digging ditches/school and may not want to use a park day on their ticket to come to the park. So our first meet will be at the Boardwalk Bakery, where no park admission is required, to say goodbye to everyone if this is indeed your last opportunity. It will be sad to say goodbye, but the good news is many of you will be staying on for our next meet.

Animal Kingdom is the official park for Sunday and we're going to hold a meet that we've never done before but think will be a lot of fun. We call it the "Great Hidden Mickey Hunt". Now, anyone can look up the hidden mickeys in Animal Kingdom and recite them, but this is a competition of skill. Teams will have just one hour to take photos of all the hidden mickeys they can find in that one hour. So you will need to prioritize your time to see how many you can get. To make things a little more interesting, we've given hidden mickeys on attractions triple point value, since you will have to devote more time to an attraction than if you were to simply walk around the park to search for them. So search, search, hurry up and search your way through Animal Kingdom to see which team will reign supreme! Oh and did we mention there will be prizes for the winning team? Yea, it's on like Donkey Kong!

There's even more good news as we are still planning even more fun for Reunion. We're not ready to announce those events quite yet but rest assured this will be a fun filled weekend that you are definitely going to want to be a part of!

We're still six months from the beginning of Reunion 2010 and we've already had over 100 people register that they are going to be in attendance! Wow, that is just so cool! Everyone involved in the Reunion 2010 planning is pretty excited to know that we've already got a great group of people already signed up to be a part of the fun. Let me also add that we're honored that so many of you have already answered the call to join us and we know even more people will be joining us in the coming weeks and months leading up to Reunion 2010 commencing.

In honor of this milestone, we'd like to give you a quick update as to where things are right now. We're working on a few more meets to add to the schedule, specifically on December 5 and while Animal Kingdom is the official park for that day, we're also working in some out of the park experiences to ensure that if Sunday is your day to go home and you don't want to use a park ticket for just a few hours that day, there will be other stuff to do outside the park.

That's it for now, but stay tuned for more updates as we move closer to the beginning of Reunion 2010. Can't wait to see who else will be joining us!

We're still working on some new meets to add to the Reunion schedule but in the meantime, I'm sure you've already taken a look at the meet schedule and figured which ones you can't wait for, but considering most of the people at the meet are strangers to you and you haven't exactly been spending weekends with Len, there may be a question as to how these meets work.

The conventional meet, are the meets found on the schedule page. These are meets we've set up in advance to occur and you're invited to join. Most meets are free of charge, although you will of course need park admission, and you do not need to RSVP for them. You simply show up a few minutes or so before the meet time and you will spot a group of fans huddled around the meet spot and you can simply walk up, say hello and join the fun!

During Reunion 2009, a new kind of meet emerged as well, and these are the impromptu meets. The schedule of events is purposefully light, in that there are usually only a few meets per day. That's good for those who may want to do some things on their own but we love to spend time with everyone in attendance at Reunion and even though there may be a few hours between meets, we often will keep the fun going by holding meets on the fly. These are impromptu meets where some of us decide to go ride something, see something or eat somewhere. These sort of meets just happen and like the pre-arranged meets, you're more than welcome to join.

So how do you know about when and where impromptu meets will occur? Well, if you're with the group when they are "planned" (planned = "Hey, who wants to go ride the TTA?"), then you can just tag along. But if you aren't, we try our best to tweet out these meets on the Reunion Twitter account. If you have access to twitter on your phone or other internet enabled device, you can follow that for indications of what else is going on. Of course, these sort of impromptu meets may not even involve any of the WDW Today guys and many of those in attendance will have their own impromptu meets with their friends and this part of what makes Reunion so much fun for everyone. Regardless of who you are, where you are or where you're from, the fun at Reunion 2010 will extend beyond a printed schedule and the beauty of it all is you can pick and choose to attend whatever you're comfortable with*.

Regardless of which type of meet is being held, you should feel free to be a part of the meet. Just come on up to a meet and introduce yourself and before long, you're going to be part of the group. It's okay if you aren't the life of the party or the most talkative person in the bunch. Hang out and enjoy the meet and more than likely, you'll feel comfortable, get to know some names and maybe even end up as part of a story in an upcoming WDW Today podcast episode.

* Mike Newell has no choice in what he's comfortable with and must ride the Tower of Terror

Let's face it... your friends or family might not "get" the whole going to Walt Disney World a lot thing, and then when you try to talk them into a trip involving meeting people from the Internet, well, it's just not gonna fly with them. The good news is that you can still attend Reunion 2010 if you'd have to go solo and you can have a great time! In Episode 726 of WDW Today, Kim Knight was in the same exact situation some of you may find yourself in of wanting to attend Reunion 2010, but you'd have to come solo and that is a little intimidating for you. Take a listen to the episode for some tips by Kim and the others on the show.

For those who are considering a solo trip for Reunion or have already booked their solo trip, here are some more tips to help you ensure your solo trip is a big success.

• Check out who is following the Reunion Twitter account and start clicking names and seeing what people are writing. Follow a few that look to be of interest and start talking with folks. It doesn't matter that you don't know each other, everyone loves to talk on Twitter!
• If you're a member of another Disney site and there is a message board, look for others who you may know from there that are attending Reunion. As a note of courtesy, please do not spam other sites with Reunion stuff. Follow the rules of the site and try to be subtle as not to cause a ruckus.
• For the meets you'd like to attend, be sure to sign up for Plancast (it's free) and join the meets you're planning on attending. Plancast is a great way to let others know you'll be at a meet and for you to see who else will be there and start a conversation!
• Once you're at Walt Disney World for Reunion 2010, don't be shy! Feel free to walk right up to someone and introduce yourself. I think you'll find most people really accommodating and friendly and before long, you'll have your own "crew" of friends that you'll be hanging out with for the weekend

A new meet this year is the Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Arcade Meet. We thought it would be fun to celebrate this often overlooked attraction where for $1, you can pick up a rifle and fire off some shots to hit targets. That in itself would be fun to do as a group, but what if we made things a little more "interesting"?

Imagine this, everyone lined up with their rifles in hand and someone like Mike Scopa pointing out a target down range and one by one we, take shots at it. Everyone gets one shot and if you miss, you're out of the competition until we get down to just one lone gunman who we crown the Reunion crackshot. Think you can handle this challenge to prove your worth as a marksman, lil' pilgrim? It should be a really fun opportunity for us all to have a little fun and spend some time at this Frontierland favorite.

Meet Details
When: December 2, 4-5pm
Where: Frontierland Shooting Arcade
Prerequisites: $1 per person for "ammo".

We're now at (or over, depending on when you read this) 50 registered attendees for Reunion 2010 and off to a great start for Reunion 2010. It's flattering that so many of you more than six months in advance have already told us that you'll be part of the fun that will be coming to Walt Disney World in December. It certainly means a lot to us that you're taking time out of your vacations to come hang out with us!

As you may have heard and/or noticed, the preliminary schedule of meets is now online as well for you to start perusing. These meets are just the beginning and we're actively working on some more meets and coming up with some ideas that we think you're going to really enjoy. Every meet we plan, we want to be something that as many people as possible can participate in and share the experience together. Take a look over what we have now and be prepared for even more "meety goodness" to come!

Registration for Reunion 2010 is now open and many of you have already registered to let us know you'll be part of Reunion. Still, some of you may be wondering why you should register at all, considering registration is optional and you can still participate in events without registering.

The main reason you should register is to let everyone know you're going to be a part of Reunion 2010 and by doing so, it makes you part of the Reunion group. First and foremost, everyone will see your name on the See who's coming page and you can see everyone else's name. In addition, we've enabled everyone this year to add their Twitter name so you can start to communicate with those who will be attending before we ever set foot in Walt Disney World. Maybe you'll notice someone staying at the same resort as you or maybe you recognize a name from a WDW Today live show or other event and want to get to know them a little better. And maybe you just want to sit back and observe others and enjoy the experience in a more passive means. All of this is possible now and regardless of what your motivation may be, registering for Reunion helps create a more cohesive experience both online and at Walt Disney World.

Think about it, how cool will it be when you get to Walt Disney World and you meet someone and exchange your names and someone responds "Wow, you're ? I've been following you on Twitter!" or "I recognize your name, it's so great to finally be able to meet you!". Believe it or not, this happens at Reunion so make sure you're part of the experience by registering today.

With much anticipation, the WDW Today podcast along with MEI-Mouse Fan Travel look forward to jump-starting the planning and preparation for Reunion 2010!

What is Reunion? Well, it's a fan gathering at Walt Disney World for those who "get it" and love the Disney "magic" and certainly enjoy the company of other Disney fans while at Walt Disney World. The goal of this event is to organize a number of events for everyone and anyone to attend so we can share in the fun that is spending time at Walt Disney World. And guess what? You're invited!

On this site, you will find a schedule of events and all the information you will need to participate in the festivities. It will also be a means of communication back to us so you can get answers to any questions you have.

It is with great anticipation and high hopes that we begin getting ready for the Reunion!