Category — i. Itineraries for Walt Disney World

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 15 TO FEBRUARY 23, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on February 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 8 TO FEBRUARY 16, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on February 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 1 TO FEBRUARY 9, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on February 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

[Read more →]

One of the frustrations expressed with Disney World’s new FastPass+ program is that unlike in “legacy” Fastpass program–which is now gone–guests are limited to three FastPass+ per day.

Moreover, at two of Disney’s parks–Hollywood Studios and Epcot–FastPass+ are “tiered.”

For example, you can have only one of Soarin and Test Track among your three Epcot FastPass+, and only one of Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania at the Studios.

In fact, getting around these FastPass+ limits is quite easy.  Just throw money at the problem.

GETTING MORE THAN THREE FASTPASS+ AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The key is to realize that the limit is not three FastPass+ per person. Rather, it’s three FastPass+ per active ticket.

The basics are simple: buy two tickets per person, enter the park twice, using each ticket once, and you can book six FastPass+ per person.

For example, on Friday I entered the Magic Kingdom at about 3p using my four day hopper and booked at a FastPass+ kiosk the rides shown above.

Then I got on my phone, and using my annual pass–which is linked to my MagicBand–I booked the same three rides (because I was also testing using this technique to ride the same ride more than once in a day using FastPass+) another 3 times. Then I exited the park, and re-entered using my MagicBand/Annual Pass combo.

And there you have it–six FastPass+ in a day.

Then I rode them all–I just needed to keep track of which FastPass+ was on my ticket and which on my MagicBand!

(Well, actually, I used both my FastPass+ for Space Mountain, but only one each for the Jungle Cruise and Enchanted Tales with Belle–I’d seen each recently enough to not need to do them twice within an hour…hey, this was a test, not a human sacrifice!)

I did the same thing Saturday at the Studios.  First, about noon, I booked the above on my hopper.

Then I booked three more on my MagicBand/Annual Pass combo. This time I was testing the ability to get more than one Tier One, and I wanted to ride Tower of Terror twice.

So I ended up on Saturday with two FastPass+ for Tower of Terror, and one each for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. 

Now this is an expensive solution to a problem most people won’t have.  Families following one of this site’s itineraries and going one of its recommended weeks simply don’t need to do this.

But other families–those on very short trips, those going during one of the four or five most crowded weeks of the year, those who want to sleep in and arrive at the park after noon, but still see all the best rides–may find this approach worth thinking about.

Disney World is already remarkably expensive, and adding just another two-day ticket for a typical family of four will cost more than $750…or a little more than $30 per “extra” FastPass+.  

For many,  there’s no way the extra FastPass+ will be even remotely worth this extra cost–and for others value for money won’t matter, as the extra money just won’t be there.

But for others, depending on the circumstances noted above, and willingness to pay, the chance to ride Space Mountain again–or even at all–without waiting in the stand-by line will be worth it!

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 25 TO FEBRUARY 2, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on January 2014, see this.

[Read more →]

With the parks tearing out their old “legacy” Fastpass machines and converting entirely to FastPass+ by January 23…well, I’ve had to adapt and change my Disney World  itineraries!

I’ve now got you covered until the end of August—and likely, I think, through Thanksgiving week, though I won’t know that for sure until the September, October, etc. calendars come out.

But just as in the rest of the year, there’s always the possibility that in a given week you’ll need to swap things around in response to operating pattern changes that week.

My basic approach has been to keep park days the same for dates up to 180 days ahead (as of the time I started publishing these new itineraries, in November), so that dining recommendations remain valid, but take this opportunity to completely re-do itineraries for dates that were beyond 180 days. Since I started this in November, that means all-new itineraries beginning for arrival dates May 31, 2014 and later.

So here’s the details—but double check here for suggested or required changes

• Most arrival dates between now and the week before the week before Easter: Supplement the Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary with this
• The two weeks before and after Easter: Supplement the Summer Itinerary (not a typo!) with this
• The weeks from the week after the week after Easter through Memorial Day Week: Supplement the Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary with this
• The weeks from May 31 through mid-August: Use the new FastPass+ Itinerary for High Crowd Weeks
• The second half of August: use the new FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks

As Disney’s operating calendar continues to roll forward every month (it publishes about six and a half months ahead), you’ll be able to find recommended itineraries for the upcoming months after August here.

There’s also multiple seven night variants (all the above are the recommended eight nights)—these are all either supplemented or newly created too:

• Autumn-Winter-Spring Seven Night Variant, Saturday AND Sunday Arrivals —supplement with this.
• Seven Night FastPass+ Itinerary for High Crowd Weeks
• Seven Night FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks, Saturday Arrival
• Seven Night FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks, Sunday Arrival

I still need to do the “daily details” and finalize the To-Do Lists for the brand-new itineraries—these will come out well before the 60 day FastPass+ mark for them. Sixty days before the earliest new itinerary arrival date is early April—I’ll be done with these daily details by then, and likely by the end of February.

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