Category — p. News and Changes

There’s an unusual number of 8a openings in May at Walt Disney World.

So far, these apply only to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but this may change.

At the Magic Kingdom, every Saturday is showing an 8a opening–and Friday May 6th is as well.

At the Hollywood Studios, because of the re-opening of Star Tours, 8a openings are currently showing for May 20, 21, and 22.

The Animal Kingdom is currently showing an 8a opening on May 22.

These changes (and other differences from the usual Disney World patterns) require changes to the Autumn-Winter-Spring itinerary for these weeks.  Click here for details of these changes.

The best way to keep up with these changes is to check Disney’s park calendars.

DISNEY WORLD DEAL NEEDS TO BE BOOKED BY APRIL 30

One of Disney World’s current discount packages, which covers dates through May 28 2011, needs to be booked by April 30 2011.

For more on the specifics of this deal, click here.

RUMORS OF BRAZIL COMING TO EPCOT

The second half of last week was abuzz with rumors of discussions between Disney and the Brazilian government regarding a Brazil Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase.

I first noticed it here, which referenced this, which in turn cited this.

This is just a rumor right now—and for almost 25 years, every single rumor about a new country coming to Epcot has been false. Based on that, you should probably stop reading this now.

(If you are in the mood for unfounded rumors that are more fun, check out this instead.)

On the other hand…

MAYBE BRAZIL REALLY IS COMING TO EPCOT

[Read more →]

DISNEY ARMED FORCES SALUTE EXTENDED TO SEPTEMBER 2012

Update May 24: key details for this Disney military deal are now out!! Click here for more.

Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com is reporting here that Disney has extended its Disney Military Salute until September 2012.

As of now, details are sketchy, Disney’s web page has not been updated to show the new dates, and Disney reservationists cannot book beyond the current deal’s expiration.

As specifics emerge and the reservation system gets updated, I’ll post more about this.

LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

• Military Families at Walt Disney World
• Deals and Discounts
  • Military Discounts and Deals
  • Other Walt Disney World Discounts and Deals
• Shades of Green
  • Review of Shades of Green
  • Splitting Your Stay Between Shades of Green and Another Resort
  • Overflow Rates at Shades of Green
  • Shades of Green website
• Other Resources for Military Families
  • DisneyMilitarySales.com
  • Disneyworld.com/military
  • MilitaryDisneyTips.com

DISNEY CROWD CALENDAR UPDATE

I’ve updated my Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar to reflect recently-released October 2011 Disney World operating hours.

You can find the updated crowd calendar here.

On a related note, I always recommend checking another crowd calendar–preferably that at TouringPlans.com–before committing to a specific time to go to Walt Disney World.

The folks at TouringPlans.com have recently added forecasts of operating hours going out twelve months.

You can read about this on Henry Work’s blog post here.

NEW DISNEY WORLD DEAL, BUT ONLY FOR FORT WILDERNESS CAMPSITES, DELUXE RESORTS, AND DVC VILLAS

Disney World has announced a new discount deal covering dates through August 14, 2011.

The deal applies only to the Campsites at Fort Wilderness, Disney’s deluxe resorts and Disney Vacation Club resorts.

It’s broken into two parts:

• For travel dates “most nights” between 4/22/2011 and 6/14/2011,
• For travel dates “most nights” between 6/15/2011 and 8/13/2011,

There’s two different “book by” dates, which don’t exactly correspond to the deal dates–travel from 4/22 to 5/28 needs to be booked by April 30, 2011; travel from May 29 through August 13 needs to be booked by May 28.

THE NEW DISNEY WORLD DEAL FOR LATE APRIL THROUGH MID JUNE 2011

The first part of the deal, covering “most nights” between 4/22/2011 and 6/14/2011, needs to be booked by April 30 2011 for travel dates through 5/28/2011, and by May 28 for travel dates after 5/29.

This deal includes discounts of

• 10% at the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
• 20% at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Polynesian
• 25% at the other Deluxe resorts
• 30% at the Disney Vacation Club resorts

The value and moderate resorts are excluded from this deal, as are suites and “three bedrooms.”  This last clearly applies to Grand Villas; I’m not sure if it applies to the Treehouses…if you know, let me know using the comment form below!

THE NEW DISNEY WORLD DEAL FOR MID JUNE THROUGH MID AUGUST 2011

The second part of the deal, covering “most nights” between 6/15/2011 and 8/14/2011, needs to be booked by 5/28/2011.

This deal includes discounts of

• 10% at the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
• 25% at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness Lodge, and the Polynesian Resort
• 30% at the other Deluxe resorts and the Disney Vacation Club resorts

As in the first part of the deal, the value and moderate resorts are excluded, as are suites and “three bedrooms.”  

This is a particularly good deal after July 16.  Deluxe resort prices drop to near their lowest level of the year on July 17, 2011.  Another 30% off of this is pretty nice!

For more on this deal, see the Walt Disney World website here.