Category — s. FAQ and Glossary

DISNEY WORLD’S HIDDEN MICKEYS

First-time visitors to Walt Disney World are almost universally delighted, and often stunned, by the overall effect created by Disney World’s “theming”–the design, architecture,  objects and other crafted works that add up to the overall visual environment.

Disney knows how to set a stage.

Beyond this overall effect, there are additional multiple levels of interest for the curious.

These range from the arts used to subtly reinforce the main themed effects (ranging from forced perspective to sidewalk textures to background music), to arts used to hide what would spoil the illusion. (For example, when you leave the Haunted Mansion, or Rock N’ Roller Coaster, try to figure out where the actual rides are located!)

One of the more fun layers of additional detail at Walt Disney World is “Hidden Mickeys.”

WHAT’S A HIDDEN MICKEY?

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THE MYTHS AND FACTS OF POP WARNER WEEK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Like Jersey Week, Pop Warner week is more of a mythological problem than a real one.

Pop Warner week is the period–for the last fifteen years, the first full week of December–when Disney hosts Pop Warner football and cheer and dance championships at its ESPN complex.

In 2018, it will be from December 1st through December 8th.

As a result

• Larger numbers than usual of loosely supervised adolescents loudly populate several of the resorts–typically the All-Star resorts, but also a moderate or two.
• Evening crowds in the theme parks are a tad higher than they otherwise would be (the kids and their families compete during the day)

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THE WALT DISNEY WORLD VALUE SEASON

The only prices at Disney World that change a lot over the course of the year are Disney resort hotel prices.

Theme park admission ticket prices are the same all seasons of the year–although they often have an annual increase in the summer.  Dining prices go up in the peak spring break, summer, and Christmas seasons, but only a little–a few dollars per person per night.

Hotel prices, however, are all over the map–sometimes changing three times in a month–and can vary as much as 95% for the exact same room depending on when you go to Walt Disney World.

Disney has names for these seasons: value, regular, summer, peak, fall, pre-holiday, holiday, mile long, thumper, etc.

However, most people can’t remember any of the names of these seasons except for the value season and the peak season, so this site’s material on Disney World resort price seasons mostly just ignores these names and presents the numbers and the dates.

TYPICAL DATES FOR THE DISNEY VALUE SEASON

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DISNEY WORLD FAQ

Brought together below are links to material that answers the most frequently asked questions about Walt Disney World.

Note: these are not FAQ about this site itself.  See How to Use this Site for…how to use this site!

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RIDES CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE AND REHAB AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Walt Disney World rides and attractions can be closed for maintenance, rehab, or replacement at any time.

The way I keep up with this is to check the “Refurbishments and Attraction Closures” part of the weekly Walt Disney World Resort Update section of MousePlanet.com.

That said, the most common time for attraction closures is January and early February.  For this reason, this site suggests that first time visitors who are unsure whether or not they will ever return should avoid this period.

Why go during a period when some of the best of Walt Disney World may not be available?

For the currently known 2016 winter closures at Disney World, see this.

However, I’ve seen some claims that “only Splash Mountain is closed” during this period, so I went back and analyzed ride closures over the last five years to double check the facts.

The results of this analysis are presented below. [Read more →]

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THE TICKETLESS, PRE-SCHEDULED FASTPASS

I expect that the core of NextGen will be

• Addition of many more rides to the “FASTPASS“–that is, pre-scheduling–concept
• Pre-scheduling of ride visits months in advance for Walt Disney World hotel guests–just like a restaurant reservation
• Different levels of access to this pre-scheduling, depending on the price of one’s hotel room
• Increases in Walt Disney World resort hotel prices, as the way of capturing the value of these new options
• The use of a Disney-provided mobile device to that will enable Disney resort hotel guests to prove their ride reservations, get offers– including offers of additional FASTPASSES–and get hints on where to go next, in real time

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