Category — n. Approaching Dates at Disney World

OVERVIEW: OCTOBER 2013 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews October 2013 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

[Read more →]

Disney World has released its calendars for the end of September and the month of October.

Based on these, I’ve updated the forecasts of when Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (“MNSSHP”) will occur.

You can find the updated Halloween Party forecasts here.

The weeks before and after Easter are two of the most wildly crowded weeks at Walt Disney World.

The common-sense approach to handling them is to run, screaming, back home.

But if that’s not an option for you, here’s some more common sense that might help.

HANDLING YOUR DAYS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD DURING EASTER WEEK

You need a good plan for each day.  I’ve already covered this here, but the basics are

• Arrive at the turnstiles well before the park is scheduled to open
• See the rides that build long lines quickly first
• Use Disney’s free FASTPASSES to manage the rest of the long-line rides, until they run out
• Consider buying your way out of the problem of all FASTPASSES being taken early

PICKING WHICH PARK TO VISIT WHICH DAY

Don’t let me mislead you–from March 23, 2013 through April 6, 2013 every day is gonna be just rotten.  But some days are better than others.

The trick to finding the best days to visit the parks is to figure out what everyone else will do, and do the opposite.  This is the “judo” of Walt Disney World.

I’ve done this for the two weeks around Easter, where days with more color, and especially more darker colors, are worse.  See the chart–click it to enlarge it.

The best days at a given park will have three characteristics:

1. They’ll have no color at all
2. Other parks will have lots of color
3. The day will be right after, right before, or ideally, sandwiched between, days at the same park with lots of color

Epcot on March 27 is a perfect example of this.

BUILDING THE DAILY CROWD FORECASTS

The chart is built on the five common sense items that drive crowds at Walt Disney World:

1. The basic patterning of visits: The most common full day is Sunday, and people tend to see the Magic Kingdom and Epcot the first few days of their trip, and Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom after
2. The effect of Extra Magic Hours: Extra Magic Hours draw people staying in the ~30,000 Disney World hotel rooms, and those without hoppers then stay all day. So crowds are higher than on on-EMH days.  Note that the Magic Kingdom has Extra Magic Hours every single day, which makes things rough for those staying off site.  I’ve given the Magic Kingdom the darkest color here only on days with both morning and evening Extra Magic Hours
3. The extra attractiveness  of days with longer operating hours–a big issue at some times of the year, not much of a factor these weeks, because operating hours and evening shows are pretty consistent.
4. The holiday effect–people are drawn to the Magic Kingdom in particular, and also to Epcot, on major family holidays
5. The weekend effect: both longer and shorter visits tend to include weekends, so Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are particularly crowded days.

Combine all these drivers, and you can see how some days will be worse, and some better.  The weeks overall will be horrible–but having a plan will help a lot, and picking your days carefully will help some too!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

THE FOURTH OF JULY 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Disney World celebrates the 4th of July at several parks–and on July 3rd as well!

On Wednesday, July 3, 2013, the Magic Kingdom has a special fireworks show “Celebrate America” at 9p.

On Thursday, July 4, 2013

• The Magic Kingdom has the same show at the same time–“Celebrate America” at 9p
• Epcot’s Illuminations has a special holiday ending added, and is shifted from its normal 9p time to 10p, and
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios will have a special 4th of July fireworks presentation at 10.15p

Other Fourth Fireworks

• The Magic Kingdom will be offering the same show–instead of Wishes–at 10p July 1, 2 and July 5-7

Those following this site’s summer itinerary for Walt Disney World will be in Downtown Disney for Cirque du Soleil July 3rd, and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on July 4.

Sensible people might swap all this around, and see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom on the 3rd, and do what the itinerary has written for the 3rd on the 4th…

FOURTH OF JULY CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

July is the most consistently crowded month at Disney World, and in the month, the week that includes the 4th of July is the most crowded week.

July is the most crowded month because every US schoolkid on a typical (that is, not year-round) calendar has the entire month off.  This is not true of either June or August.

Within July, many parents gravitate towards the week of the 4th for their vacations, because since the 4th is a holiday, they need to take one fewer vacation day to get a week off.

And people want to see fireworks on the 4th…so the Disney World parks offering fireworks on the 4th of July will be packed!

For more on July 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

OVERVIEW: SEPTEMBER 2013 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews September 2013 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD’S SPECIAL HALLOWEEN PARTY

While Halloween itself is October 31st of course, Walt Disney World provides a special Halloween celebration at the Magic Kingdom many evenings in September, October, and even November 2013.

This celebration is called “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party,” or “MNSSHP” for short.

At the party, many of the Magic Kingdom’s rides are open, and trick or treating, special events, and different parades and fireworks are offered.

The official Disney World page for this event can be found here. Click the image for the 2013 map and offerings. And you can find a review of the 2013 MNSSHP party here.

MORE ON MICKEY’S NOT-SO-SCARY HALLOWEEN PARTY in 2013

[Read more →]