Category — p. News and Changes

DISNEY CROWD CALENDAR UPDATE

I’ve updated my Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar to reflect recently-released September 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 added a feature to their suggestions for which parks are best to visit which days.

They will now alert you if their park recommendations change, or if their own crowd calendar shows a material change.

You can read about this on their blog here.

These services are unnecessary for first time visitors following one of this site’s Disney World itineraries.

However, they are very handy for repeat visitors trying to put together a plan of for which days at which park at Walt Disney World, especially if they aren’t tied down by in-park dining reservations.

For the first page of this material on 2012 at Disney World, click here.

BEST WEEKS TO VISIT DISNEY WORLD IN 2012

I’ve provided my view of the best times to visit Disney World in 2012 in 2012 weeks to visit Walt Disney World, ranked in order.

For personalizing your dates, see the 2012 Disney World week picker.

CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD IN 2012

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2012 AT DISNEY WORLD

Below, I comment on the main topics for Walt Disney World in 2012.

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MULTIPLE UPCOMING 8A MAGIC KINGDOM OPENING TIMES

Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Calendar is showing multiple 8a openings in later February 2011 and all of March, and more may be added.

Moreover, depending on crowds, other parks—most likely the Animal Kingdom—may have 8a openings added as well.

Most typically the 8a openings at the Magic Kingdom are Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, although the park’s calendar currently also shows 8a openings the entire week of March 12th—which I expect to be the busiest Disney Spring Break week other than those surrounding Easter itself.

Since most itineraries suggest arriving at the parks before they open, this is a big deal, as you may need to get up an hour earlier!

If you will be at Disney World this period, check the opening hours frequently—either at your resort, on Disney World’s online calendars, or here.

Disney’s April Magic Kingdom operating hours currently show 8a opening the first Friday and Saturday, and the weeks before and after Easter. I expect the April calendar to be updated, and to perhaps show more 8a openings as well.

DISNEY WORLD ITINERARY HELP

I get lots of helpful comments and mail—for example see this.

Rarely, however, does a user of the site submit a detailed critique.

David G recently provided one.

Stuff like what David wrote is incredibly helpful in improving this site, so thanks!

David used the Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary.

His thoughts on it are below; my responses are inset in parentheses and italics.

DAVID’S EMAIL ABOUT THE DISNEY WORLD AUTUMN WINTER SPRING ITINERARY

Firstly, thank you for a great website which really helped in making a fantastic holiday.

(You are welcome! And thank you for the detailed comments, which are incredibly helpful in improving the site!!)

The best part of your advice for me was ensuring that we planned and booked well in advance and highlighting what to see/where to eat etc. Disney World is very complicated for the first time visitor and therefore it is very helpful to have someone steer you through it all. We used your itinerary to direct where we went every day but used the Unofficial Guide Touring Plans to work out how we moved around the parks when we got in. The combination of the two worked very well.

(While I’m satisfied with the day by day plans in my itineraries, TouringPlans.com‘s park itineraries are the best in the business. The key difference is that mine are integrated over an entire 8 night trip, whereas theirs mostly relate to single parks.)

A few specific comments I would make are as follows: [Read more →]

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

CAN YOU FIT A STANDARD CARRY-ON BAG INTO A LOCKER AT DISNEY WORLD’S THEME PARKS?

My itineraries note the option of renting lockers at the Walt Disney World theme parks at several points—e.g. for stuff you mean to carry on to your flight on the last day of trip, and for dry clothes if you are planning to ride Kali River Rapids.

I had an email about whether these lockers are big enough for standard-sized carry on rolling bags.

The answer is a firm maybe. Some lockers will fit a standard bag…but they might be sold out.

LOCKERS AROUND THE WORLD [Read more →]