See below for my thoughts on rides, hotels, crowds and such at Disney World in 2016.
NEW RIDES AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2016
The opening of the redo of Epcot’s Maelstrom as a Frozen ride is targeted for early 2016.
Maelstrom is a tight fit to its show building and there doesn’t look to be a lot of scope within this building to expand capacity—or even add much in the way of vistas of Arandelle.
Maelstrom had a pretty good hourly capacity, but without capacity expansion, waits for the Frozen ride will be spectacular.
Rivers of Light—the new evening spectacular at the Animal Kingdom along Discovery River between the Tree of Life and Expedition Everest—is in construction, and is expected to open in 2016.
“Avatar Land” at the Animal Kingdom is in construction in the former Camp Minnie Mickey, and currently has an opening target of early 2017
An announcement about more Star Wars and Toy Story in Disney’s Hollywood Studios came out in August. Although the release date for Star Wars Episode VII is December 2015, it’s hard to imagine we’ll see much of this in 2016–or even 2017, for that matter.
DISNEY SPRINGS AND THE DISNEY RESORTS IN 2016
Most of the Disney Springs reconstruction of Downtown Disney will be complete in 2016.
I’m not seeing much profound change on the resort front for 2016.
DISNEY WORLD CROWDS IN 2016
Presidents Day, February 15 in 2016, is as early as it can be, meaning fewer good January and early February dates, and more good late February dates. Crowds for this week actually begin the Thursday before, and in 2016 Mardi Gras–which some southern school districts have off as a single or multi-day holiday–is Tuesday the week before. The combination makes me see the week beginning 2/6 as worse than this part of February usually is.
Easter in 2016 is early, on March 27. As a result of the overlap between March breaks and Easter breaks, March other than the first week will be even more of a zoo than usual, but most of April—after the 3rd—will be great.
Summer crowds will continue to be rough, as more and more South Americans take advantage of their winter breaks to come to Disney World and join the hordes of US families on summer breaks.
Thanksgiving, November 24, is earlier in 2016 than it has been recently, giving more good late November dates but fewer good early November ones.
Christmas is on a Sunday in 2016.
- Many, many school districts that take long holiday breaks will begin their breaks on Monday December 19, so holiday crowds at Disney World will begin to roll in on December 16th—a few days earlier than we’ve seen the last couple of years with mid-week Christmases.
- Districts that take shorter breaks will be off something like Friday the 23rd through Monday the 2nd. This means that the week between Christmas and New Years—always the worst of the year at Walt Disney World—will be an especially crazy mess in 2016.
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78 Comments on "Walt Disney World in 2016"
Hi Dave
We are thinking about planning another trip in 2017… And I was wondering when you will have the info for that year? Also what are your thoughts on the annual pass that’s good at both Disneyland resort and Disney World. (We live in so cal and have passes already) We have gone for the Halloween party the last two times and been able to do the Food and Wine festival but I was wondering what u thought of the other special events? Love all your advice so thank you in advance for any help!!!
Charlotte, there is no guarantee there will be free dining then, and if there is, no guarantee that you will be able to change your reservation to it. It does not harm your chances to book the rooms now, but it also doesn’t harm you to wait a bit. I would not wait until the expected 2016 free dining announcement, which would be about a year from now…
Cathy, for recommended dates in 2016 see this. Disney rents scooters and wheel chairs, but only in the parks. To use one e.g. in your hotel as well, third-party vendors will rent them for your entire trip.
Hi Dave
We are planning a family trip for Dec 14-20 2016 and will be staying at the wilderness lodge courtyard view. We will be booking 5 rooms and the reps at Disney suggested booking the rooms this summer to ensure they aren’t all booked up and then add on our meAl and ticket packages when free dining is announced but this recommendation seems too good to be true. Any thoughts?
Thank you
My husband and I are talking about a WDW trip in either Feb or Apr 2016, Feb 15 is his b-day and Apr 28 is our ann, so it’ll be around one of those dates…which do you recommend? Also, my husband is handicapped and can’t walk a great distance…does WDW offer scooters or electric wheelchairs for rent?