Disney's Coolest New Vacations

Disney's Coolest New Vacations

Disney debuted its Alaskan cruises out of Vancouver in summer 2011, but this summers sailings will depart from Seattle. Expect exclusive-to-Disney excursions, such as panning for gold in Skagway alongside Donald Duck. The Juneau-based Enchanted Taku Glacier Lodge excursion begins and ends with a spectacular 30-minute flight over glaciers in a turbine-powered seaplane.



Got more than two kids? Your new favourite Disney hotel will be the Art of Animation Resort, a value-category property opening near Orlando’s Hollywood Studios in May 2012. The hotel is themed around the movies Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. You get oodles of space in suites that accommodate up to six people, with three sleeping areas and two bathrooms. Outside, it is decisions, decisions: swim with Nemo, Ariel or the gang from Cars?



A pack of Disney villains wants to take over Orlando, Floridas Magic Kingdom theme park, and it is up to you to stop them. Imagineers perfected this role-playing interactive scavenger hunt, which pairs the allure of collectible trading cards with more than 95 minutes of original Disney animation. Armed with a map of the kingdom and cards featuring different Disney characters, players use spells to unlock clues to the evildoers whereabouts and save the day.



While the Richard Petty Driving Experience has been a fixture for years, this new rarefied Exotic version just opened in Orlando in January 2012. Heres your chance to get behind the wheel of a supercar ” Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi or Porsche ” in a racing environment. A valid drivers license gets you six laps around the one-mile circuit, which combines an oval backstretch with street course elements like switchbacks, S-curves and hairpins.



The first Disney-built hotel not connected to an amusement park had a soft launch in August 2011 and will be fully open by summer 2012. Aulani is an impeccably manicured paradise of carved woods and batik fabrics, with nary a plastic lei in sight. The spectacular volcano-themed pool area features a lazy river, a zero-entry pool with a tunnel body slide, hot tubs and a private, man-made snorkelling lagoon.