Category — p. News and Changes

NOVEMBER 2017 REFURB NEWS

While at Disney World earlier this week, I had the chance to check on the refurb status at Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, and Coronado Springs—and also stayed in a refurbed room at the Yacht Club. Here’s the scoop on each.

THE REFURB AT DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

Rooms at Pop Century are being transformed, with a queen and a queenly fold-down replacing the old full bed layout. Moreover, these rooms have joined the 1990s in adding coffeemakers! A photo tour of a refurbed room is here.

Of the ten buildings at Pop, four are done and two thirds of a fifth are being worked on. Specifically, Buildings 10, 9, 8, and 7 are done (this is all of the 90s and 80s sections, and half of the 70s section).

Building 6—the other half of the seventies section–was two thirds under refurb at my visit. In Building 6, the stem of the T, and the half of the top of the T closer to the food court is being refurbed…

…and the half of the top of the T closer to the 80s section was still accepting guests into not-yet-refurbed rooms.

I don’t expect another building to be added to the “under-refurb” list before January, as the combination of high demand and high prices in Thanksgiving week and especially later December makes rentable rooms very valuable to Disney World…

Elsewhere at Pop, there’s work being done in and along the side of Hourglass Lake as part of the Pop/Art of Animation stop for Disney’s new gondola system, expected to open in 2019. This matters little other than looking ugly–the walkway between Art of Animation and Pop remains open.

THE REFURB AT DISNEY’S CORONADO SPRINGS RESORT

Coronado Springs now has 12 accommodations buildings, of various sizes.

The former 13th building, Cabanas 9B, was demolished, and is being replaced with a high rise expected to open in 2019.

Fully refurbed so far are Casitas 1, Rancho 7a and Cabana 8a. Half of Casitas 3 is under refurb.

Something I’d not noted in my last visit in late September is that the old walkways between El Centro and the former 9B, and between 9B and the bridge by the dig site pool, are now closed.

A new bridge now goes from just beyond the bike barn to the Dig Site bridge. What this means is that getting from El Centro to 9A in particular, but also 8B, is a longer walk, as these are now at the end of a dead-end trail that goes to almost the Dig Site and then around the small cove.

See the image, where the closed paths are marked with red Xs and the new bridge by a red dashed line.

Curiously, the resort maps displayed here and there around Coronado Springs have not been updated, so perhaps this is a temporary closure while certain construction work related to the new tower is being done.

THE REFURB AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

There’s construction at the ends of Caribbean Beach for a gondola stop (south of Jamaica) and a new DVC building north of Martinique and Aruba.

More materially, the old food options, bar, shopping, etc. have been closed and replaced by weak temporary facilities.

One of my commenters  was recently told that “construction would be done by the end of 2017.” Well, the steel framing for at least some of the added dining is still pretty bare, so unless a lot of progress is being made inside the old building (which I can’t see, of course) that seems quite unlikely.

Both Caribbean Beach 2018 pricing and reports on discussion boards about material being provided to UK folk who are booking Caribbean Beach makes August 2018 much more likely.

On a side note, the framing in front of the old building is up, and it sure looks to me like a porte cochere. This is important, as it implies what I’ve hoped for–that the check-in area will be moved here and away from the old Custom House, which will make Caribbean Beach much more workable as a resort.

THE REFURB AT DISNEY’S YACHT CLUB RESORT

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort completed a much-need room refurb a month or so ago, and I had the chance to stay in one of these refurbed rooms on this visit.

I’ll do a complete update of my Yacht Club review in December, but here’s some observations—and some other thoughts about other new stuff, not really refurb-related but worth noting before I get that re-done review out.

So maybe I’m getting too used to the austere and low-themed style of the newly-refurbed Disney World rooms, but I liked the Yacht Club room refurb more than I’d expected to.

It includes most of the features you’ve seen in Disney’s most recent work—a wooden floor, furniture storage under the beds, a barn door closing the sink area, a pocket door separating the sink area from the tub, a nicer and more flexible shower head, more structured storage, a much bigger (54”) TV, and about ten million charging points.

Disney theming is slender—but I’ll say more about that in my updated review, also to come later.

Other points of interest at the Yacht Club—

The updated gift shop, the Market at the Ale and Compass, now has new options for both breakfast and dinner as of about a week ago.

At breakfast, you can now get a made-to-order omelet…

…and at dinner, there’s now a carving station with a couple of sides.

These are both thin offerings, but compared to what was available here before they began being offered, it’s a sound step forward.

I don’t know if these are permanent adds (there was, by the way, an interesting interaction between the breakfast chefs and an electrician about the amperage of the outlet they’d plugged their induction fryers into) or just stop-gaps until the old Captain’s Grille re-opens as The Ale and Compass late this month…but I hope it sticks around.

The Yacht Club was also recently named to a small group of resorts that are now (in a test) dog-friendly. I saw somewhere between two and five dogs (they all looked alike to me, so there may have been duplicates) but heard no barking.

I also saw this unsupervised cat stalking the new dog relief area!

OK that’s it on the refurb news! Put any comments or questions in the comment form below. Moreover, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, Kelly B., can help you book one of these hotels, or avoid them and book you into another! Contact her at KellyB@DestinationsInFlorida.com or 980-429-4499.

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I thought, as we come up on six months after Pandora: World of Avatar opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, that it would be fun to take a step back and revisit the slew of changes at the Disney’s Animal Kingdom over the past few years.

The total transformation at the park has been remarkable. At the cost of the former Pocahontas meet and greet, we got among other things the best theme park fine dining restaurant in Orlando with Tiffins, the most completely-imagined themed area in the world in Pandora, and the best theme park ride in the U.S. in Flight of Passage.

Add to this Sunset Safaris in Africa, Tree of Life Awakenings, the evening show Rivers of Light, the single big miss of Na’vi River Journey, and the fact that broad swathes of the park can now be enjoyed after dark (most notably Expedition Everest, but don’t forget Chester and Hester’s Dinorama, which has always been its best after dark), and it’s hard not to be impressed.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened with a focus on animals. Most major additions after it opened did not—with the signature addition being the roller coaster Expedition Everest about a decade ago. While in its early years the park did have after-dark opportunities, in this decade they were narrowed to just evening Extra Magic Hours and late closes during the holiday season—and in the last few years the evening Extra Magic Hours went away, largely leaving Animal Kingdom at night only to those who visited in the holiday season.

The transformation was meant to broaden the appeal of the park, widen the parts of the day during which it could be enjoyed, anchor it in some well-known intellectual property (the worlds of James Cameron’s Pandora from Avatar, whose sequels are expected well before the Second Coming), and—frankly—to show Universal Orlando that Disney was willing to compete at the high level of theming and ride quality that it showed in its Harry Potter offerings.

The re-imagining began with the closure of the old Camp Minnie Mickey area, and the rebuilding of a new home for Festival of the Lion King in Africa, where it had always belonged anyway.

Next—and as significant to me personally as anything other than Flight of Passage—was the opening of Harambe Market, a new quick service venue in Africa, my go-to place for what I think of as an Indian-inspired corn dog but which Disney insists on calling a “beef and pork sausage” on its menu.

Then April 22, 2016 came and went, noted principally by those who booked vacations on Disney’s promise that this was the date that the new evening show River of Light would open. In the biggest schedule miss in recent memory, it didn’t open then, not debuting until almost a year later, but lovely wife Amy Girl and I still had fun during our visit that weekend, including walking behind Joe Rhode’s earring down one of the long hallways of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.

In May 2016 the other parts of Disney’s evening program at Animal Kingdom opened, as did Tiffins—the best theme park fine dining restaurant in Orlando, accompanied by a great bar, and probably the most likely place after Raglan Road (and the drunk tank) to find Disney World bloggers and guidebook writers.

The new evening program included the short-lived and best-forgotten Jungle Book show in the Rivers of Light area, and the still-extant Tree of Life Awakenings—likely the most charming minor entertainment in any Disney Park, which I view as a don’t miss—and the Sunset Safari at Kilimanjaro Safaris.

It’s best to think of Sunset Safari as two additional offerings, on around sunset and one after dark. The one around sunset is a terrific supplement to or replacement of a daylight visit to Kilimanjaro Safaris, as certain animals–especially the cats—are much more active at this time of day. The after-dark version is different, worth doing, but much less compelling than a daytime or sunset visit, and should be viewed as an addition to one of those visits, and not be your sole visit to Kilimanjaro Safaris.

The sunset safaris also expended the vocabulary of most of us, adding “crepuscular,” “civil twilight,” “nautical twilight,” and “astronomical twilight” as we tried to advise people on what to see when, and why, while acting like we knew these words all along.

In February 2017 the evening show Rivers of Light finally opened. While diminished compared to its aspirations (this mismatch, and trying to resolve it, was the main reason it took so long to go live), and the only evening show at Disney World that is hardly anyone’s favorite, it has great charm, musicality, and visual delight, and I view it as a four-star don’t miss.

Then in May 2017 Pandora: World of Avatar opened in the old Camp Minnie Mickey area, bringing two new rides, Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey, dining in Satu’li Canteen and shopping at the Windtraders gift shop.

Pandora is the most completely realized themed area ever built, with remnants of the Resources Development Administration base from the first Avatar movie underpinning a stunning depiction of the shapes, colors and life of the moon Pandora.

The land is set ~20 years after the first movie, which both frees it from that specific movie and any sequels that come out while taking advantage of the astonishing visually lush setting. James Cameron is at his best in visualizing worlds (and worst in creating plots).

You don’t need to have seen the movie to enjoy the land, but it helps—particularly helping with the lesser of the two rides here, Na’vi River Journey, a gentle homage to the animals and plants of Pandora, and the religion of the Na’vi, which frankly needs all the help it can get.

If you do watch Avatar again (or for the first time), be patient. The beginning is dull, the avatar science makes no sense, and the middle, with its long stretches of workout routines and self-regard, is hard to be captivated by. The story (whose borrowings are much debated—I see it as a mix of The Dragonriders of Pern, Pocahontas, Jurassic Park, and a Jane Fonda workout video) really works only from beginning to end (and, far, far better on a 3D big screen than at home), so you need to begin at the beginning on the biggest TV you own, and give it time to unfold. (As an aside, I’ve always thought it too bad that the two movies Cameron is most famous for—Titanic and Avatar—are among his worst. Much better are Terminator 2, Aliens, True Lies, and The Abyss, which is particularly under-appreciated.)

Flight of Passage (the full name, that no one uses, is Avatar Flight of Passage) is the headliner, and the best theme park ride to come out in years—and the best at Disney World. You will see folk comparing it to Soarin’ Around the World at Epcot—a comparison that is not false, but adds as much value to understanding Flight of Passage as the claim that hamburger and Kobe beef are based on the same cow system adds to dining.

Flight of Passage simulates riding the back of a flying banshee through sublime, beautiful, gentle, tumultuous and dramatic scenes from Pandora. It is the culmination of a lengthy queue that begins outdoors among the flying mountains of the Valley of Mo’ara (actually, all too commonly it begins way back on the bridge between Discovery Island and Pandora…) then makes its way inside through scenes from abandoned industrial facilities and an active scientific research lab, culminating in a couple of pre-shows.

You will see some advocate skipping even trying for FastPass+ in order to see all the details of the Flight of Passage queue. For big fans of abandoned industrial buildings and biology labs, good advice. Everyone else should try for a FastPass+, although the mismatch between ride capacity and demand for it means that FastPass+ for Flight of Passage is quite hard to get, even for those booking right at 60 days.

Na’vi River Journey is much the lesser ride and easier to get as a FastPass+. So if you can’t get a FastPass+ for Flight of Passage, get one for Na’vi and show up at Animal Kingdom at least 75 minutes prior to the official opening, and once you are in, head straight for the Flight of Passage queue. After this morning visit, you should return to Pandora in one of the later sunset periods—perhaps at civil twilight?—to see the delicacy with which the bioluminescent plants in Pandora shift from day to night.

Speaking of queues, Flight of Passage has at least one too many pre-shows. Having gone through them multiple times since its May opening (although not remotely as many as Tom Corless has…), I kinda miss the days when Disney would build rides like Space Mountain where you went straight from the line to deepest space without any intervening explanation whatsoever.

I’d noted earlier in this post that

The transformation was meant to broaden the appeal of the park, widen the parts of the day during which it could be enjoyed, anchor it in some well-known intellectual property (the worlds of James Cameron’s Pandora from Avatar, whose sequels are expected well before the Second Coming), and—frankly—to show Universal Orlando that Disney was willing to compete at the high level of theming and ride quality that it showed in its Harry Potter offerings.

In my judgement, even though Rivers of Light and Na’vi River Journey each could have been better, overall the transformation has spectacularly succeeded on all these fronts.

Think of what you can now do in an evening at Animal Kingdom

• Ride late in the afternoon via FastPass+ the best ride at Disney World, Flight of Passage
• Have dinner at Tiffin’s, the best theme park restaurant in Orlando, towards the end of daylight
• Ride Kilimanjaro Safaris at the beginning of sunset
• Return to Pandora to see Pandora shift to its night colors
• See a scene or two from Tree of Life Awakenings on the way to Rivers of Light
• See Rivers of Light
• Ride Expedition Everest after dark
• See more from Tree of Life Awakenings on your way out of the park

A transformation, indeed.

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WHEN TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD IN 2019

Over the past month or so, I’ve published draft versions of all my basic tools for planning a Walt Disney World visit in 2019. Included in these are

• A broad overview of Disney World in 2019. I’ll add to and revise this as new stuff happens and things I speculate about either become confirmed or disappear as possibilities.  It’s here.
• A forecast of Disney World crowds in 2019. I’ll update this in the summer of 2018, once the full set of 2018-2019 school year vacation schedules comes out (I track all breaks longer than a three day weekend for more than 15 million US schoolkids, and you might be surprised at how many don’t publish their upcoming year calendars until May or June…) It’s here.
• A forecast of Disney World resort hotel price seasons in 2019. The actual prices for 2019 should come out in the summer of 2018, so I’ll update this when those prices come out. (For 2018 pricing, Disney World stopped using its former price season language, but I am sticking with this language for clarity and comparability as long as I can.) It’s here.

Based on the crowd forecasts, price forecasts, and some other factors all discussed here, a draft version of my “Weeks to Visit Ranked in Order” for 2019:

I’ll revise this in the summer of 2018, after I finalize my crowd forecasts and have in hand the actual 2019 price seasons. These week rankings, by the way, are meant for first time visitors who may not ever be able to return. Those who know they can return, and returning visitors themselves, have many more good weeks, all marked in green at the right side of the listing. It’s here.

By the way, Disney World rooms are already bookable into 2019–you can book 499 days ahead. If you want a head start on your 2019 Disney World vacation, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, Kelly B., can help you–contact her at at KellyB@DestinationsInFlorida.com or 980-429-4499.

For more on when to go to Disney World, see this. And if you have any questions, let me know using the comment form below!

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Late last week Walt Disney World announced a pilot program in which The Cabins at Fort Wilderness, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, and Disney’s Yacht Club Resort would join the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort (which has long allowed dogs) in being dog friendly.

Among the rules and regulations of this pilot program,

• Pet-friendly rooms in the four pilot resorts will cost an additional $75 (Yacht Club) to $50 (the other three) per night
• At most, you can have two dogs per room
• Disney World will also “designate certain floors or sections of a hotel as dog-friendly, while the majority of areas will remain canine-free to accommodate Guests with allergies or other concerns.”

Here’s more Disney World guidance on the issue (click it, then click it again, to enlarge it):

There’s a number of other features of this pilot in a disboards post by the usually reliable rteetz here, and more in this Touringplans.com post.

The backlash from those with allergies and/or fear of dogs has been quite understandable, especially with the short notice and two of the pilot resorts being among Disney World’s most popular.

Beyond this, the Disney community is enraged by only two things—

• Things Disney does
• Things Disney doesn’t do

And so of course there’s been even wider dismay beyond those whom it most materially affects.

Much of this backlash seems to be from people who don’t understand that Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort has been pet friendly for years without much in the way of issues; that the Universal resorts have been pet friendly for decades, and that this has caused so many problems that they’ve had to double the number of their pet-friendly hotels; and that the Four Seasons at Disney World is also pet-friendly—though perhaps it has a less demanding clientele than Port Orleans Riverside.

All of which is not to entirely diminish the concerns of those without allergies or phobias who still hate this pilot, but rather to note to those rabidly opposed to it that dogs in destination resorts, in Disney World resorts, and even in Disney World owned-and-operated resorts is hardly a new thing, and that tested practices for handling them have existed for decades.

Beyond this, there has been reasonable skepticism about the effectiveness of Disney World’s post-pet room cleaning, and real concern that in fact “the majority of areas will remain canine-free,” given the number of likely over-booking situations by lawyers bearing pugs. Moreover, ADA will continue to mean that service dogs can be in any room anywhere that is needed to accommodate their owners–as these dogs have for years now.

Given this reasonable skepticism and concern, those who judge their allergy or phobia issues to be material probably will want to change their resorts until there’s more experience–especially with room cleaning–to report on. The new pilot is already in effect—although very few will be in a position to take advantage of it immediately, so I don’t expect to see much in the way of added pups for a month or so.

• The best alternatives to Art of Animation are, for Little Mermaid rooms, Pop Century and All-Star Movies, and for Family Suites, suites at All-Star Music
• The best alternative to the Yacht Club is the Beach Club
• The best alternative to Port Orleans Riverside is Coronado Springs if you care about table service dining, and Port Orleans French Quarter if you don’t
• The best alternative to a Cabin at Fort Wilderness is not so obvious. There’s just one option that replicates their most distinctive features—woodsy isolation, full kitchens, and space for six people—and that’s the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs, which are much more expensive and few in number

Those who simply don’t like dogs have a somewhat more complex calculus, as dogs are everywhere at Disney World—service dogs, security dogs, and commonly specious “support/therapy” dogs. For multiple reasons, we will see more and more of each of these classes of dogs at Disney World…regardless of how this pilot goes.

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DISNEY WORLD IN 2019

Below are perspectives on rides, hotels, crowds and such at Disney World in 2019, updated with the opening date of the new Star Wars land and Disney’s March 2019 ticket price increase.

You can find more of my thoughts on 2019 at Walt Disney World in my book, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019.

2019 will be a good time to visit Disney World–at least until the end of August, when the new land Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge partially opens. Even more new rides will open in 2020 and 2021, and Disney World will be celebrating its 50th anniversary from late 2020 into early 2022.  The combination of Star Wars, other new attractions, and the 50th will make Disney World visits challenging from late 2019 well into 2022.

NEW RIDES AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2019

The big news of 2019 will be the opening of the new Star Wars land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

This land will add a planet to Disney World to join Avatar’s moon–a new, remote frontier planet–and include two new rides–a Millennium Falcon ride and a ride involving a battle between the First Order and the Resistance.

Expect also Star Wars dining, character interactions, and a new standard for immersiveness–even richer detail than in Pandora.

The land will partially open on August 29, 2019, with one of its two new rides operating then. There is yet no word on the exact date when its second ride will open. Bob Iger had said it will open in 2019, but after the fiscal year was over, which puts it into October-December 2019. In May 2018 the date range was narrowed to “late fall” 2019.

Multiple other new rides are being developed or worked on at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Studios. The ones at Magic Kingdom and Epcot I don’t expect to see open in 2019.

However, the Hollywood Studios ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, a new ride that will occupy the old Great Movie Ride space at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, I expect to be open by the end of August 2019.  Update April 2019: The opening of this ride will be delayed until the spring of 2020. There’s more about Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway here.

DISNEY SPRINGS AND THE DISNEY RESORTS IN 2019

The massive redevelopment at Disney Springs should be complete by 2019.

The story at the Disney World resorts will be refurbs and new construction.

A new Star Wars hotel was announced in 2017.  I’ve seen forecasts for a 2020 opening.

Pop Century, Port Orleans French Quarter and Caribbean Beach have completed their renovations, and All-Star Movies is about halfway done with a renovation similar to Pop’s, adding queen beds and coffee makers to its standard rooms.  The other values likely will shortly follow.

Construction of the new Disney Vacation Club property, Disney’s Riviera Resort, in the former Barbados area of Caribbean Beach, will be completed in late 2019, and  Coronado Springs is almost done–a new tower and new dining will open here in July 2019.

Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Caribbean Beach will be connected in later 2019 to a new gondola that will go to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I expect this new gondola, the Disney SkyLiner, to be open before the end of August.

Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside will complete a light refurb in 2019.

Between permanent closures and floor-by-floor or building-by-building closures for refurbs at resorts, a lot of capacity may be unavailable in 2019.  Since Disney’s occupancy is already very high, as a result, rooms have been hard to find, so book as soon as you can–and ideally more than 180 days before.

DISNEY WORLD DEALS IN 2019

Disney World uses a combination of complicated and changing room pricing, and, on top of that, deals, to keep its resort hotel occupancy very high. While deals have been technically available for most times of the year (you’ll find current Disney World deals here), the number and types of rooms available has gotten more and more restrictive. I expect this trend of less-available deals to be even more true in 2019 because of the openings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios of very attractive franchise (Toy Story in 2018 and Star Wars in 2019) and the capacity reductions noted above.

Deals often emerge after the best time to book your Disney World vacation. The simplest way to handle getting your deals is to make your initial booking through a travel agent, who will then–if a deal comes out for your dates–move heaven and earth to try to get you in to it.

DISNEY WORLD CROWDS IN 2019

The major question for 2019 is the impact of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on the parks. Based on what Universal saw with Harry Potter, I expect the new land to be just slammed with crowds, with some spill-over effect into the rest of the Studios.  However, based on what happened at Universal I don’t necessarily see a broad increase in crowds in all the other parks from the Star Wars fans. I have more on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge crowds here.

Presidents Day, February 18 in 2019, is late-ish, meaning more good January and early February dates, and fewer good late February dates. The week that includes Presidents Day will be bad as usual. (Tons of kids in the northeast have the whole week off.) Crowds for this week actually begin the Thursday before.

Mardi Gras in 2019 is March 5.  A few southern school districts have it off as a single or multi-day holiday. The impact of Mardi Gras-related visitors on Disney World is vastly overrated, so don’t worry about it. (People mix up the effects from it and the effects of President’s day breaks–five out of the last seven years have seen the week of Mardi Gras also influenced by crowds from President’s Day breaks.)

Easter in 2019 is almost as late as it can be, on April 21. As a result, later March, while not good, will be better than in years with an earlier Easter. Early April will have a good week or two, but there will be fewer good late April weeks.

Summer crowds are a bit up in the air.  They felt down in the last three years. As I note here, I have theories about why, mostly about the effects of Disney’s strategic re-pricing of tickets to make the higher-demand periods like summer less attractive to some, and thus more comfortable for everyone else, particularly in the pricing of Florida resident annual passes with summer block-out dates. These new distinctions launched before the 2016 summer seasons, so the timing is right. But honestly I’m not sure what’s going on, so for the moment am still forecasting high summer crowds.

Thanksgiving, November 28, is as late as it can be in 2019, giving more good early November dates but fewer good late November ones.

Christmas is on a Wednesday in 2019.  That means almost all schools will begin their breaks on 12/21/19, with heavy crowds into the new year.

For more on 2019 crowds at Disney World, see this.

DISNEY WORLD PRICING IN 2019

Expect higher than average ticket price increases in 2019 as Disney World extracts value from its Pandora, Toy Story, and Star Wars investments.

2019 ticket prices have already been raised once–in March 2019–and may go up a second time, after the opening of Galaxy’s Edge’s second ride is announced.

Moreover, Disney World now also has a new ticket pricing model where you will pay more for more attractive dates.

MORE ON 2019 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Disney World 2019 Crowd Calendar

Disney World 2019 Price Seasons

2019 Disney World Week Rankings

Kelly B, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can help you book your 2019 Disney World vacation.  Contact here using the form below:

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I rank the weeks of the year for first time visitors to Disney World who might not be able to ever return to Disney World on this site—the 2017 Disney World week rankings are here, 2018 Disney World week rankings here, and draft 2019 Disney World week rankings are here.

(These same rankings also inform the guidebook I co-author with Josh of easyWDW.com, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit.)

Here’s an example, for 2018:

These rankings are meant to guide first timers who can never return towards better weeks, and away from bad weeks. They incorporate crowds and prices, as you might expect. But because they are meant for people who might be able to make only one visit, they also particularly downgrade the weeks of January and early February when rides are more commonly closed for refurb, and also view skeptically the weeks when the hurricane season is at its peak.

Both of these periods contain good weeks for returning visitors who might care less about these risks. So for this reason, I both include the crowd and price data in the chart, and also mark in green at the far right edge of the chart weeks that are good for returning visitors.

That way returning visitors can use the chart to pick their weeks, too—or they can simply focus on my crowd forecasts and price information. Disney World crowd forecasts for 2017 are here, 2018 here, and draft crowd forecasts for 2019 are here. Disney World resort pricing for 2017 is here, for 2018 is here, and draft price forecasts for 2019 are here.

Besides deprecating the ride closure and peak of the hurricane seasons, I also promote the lower-crowd part of the Christmas season, because it is such a magical time at Disney World.

So with that as the background, here’s the technical approach I take to ranking the weeks of the year for first time visitors.

HOW THE DISNEY WORLD WEEK RANKINGS ARE BUILT

First, I take the ride closure season weeks, and give them the lowest rankings of the year (because if you can only come once, why come at a time when some great rides predictably will be closed?)

In every grouping, including these weeks, higher crowd weeks get the worst ranking, and within equivalent crowd rankings, higher prices break the ties. This involves a bit of judgment, as the deluxes work to a different price seasons than the other resorts from July into the fall, and the moderates don’t show as much price variation over the year as the other price classes do. So if you are committed to a certain resort type, note also the price levels of your resort type among these weeks.

Next to be ranked are all the remaining higher crowd weeks, with the worst rankings going to the highest crowds, and ties sorted by prices.

Next to be ranked is the remaining weeks in the peak of the hurricane season. I have taken a lot of grief over the years for deprecating these weeks, as, like the January and early February weeks, they include a number of lower crowd and lower price dates:

After the past two years, however, I expect people to hold off a bit on the “hurricanes never affect Disney World” claim…

This leaves a group of moderate and lower crowd weeks of various prices that are in neither the ride closure season nor the peak of the hurricane season. The moderate crowd weeks get ranked by crowds then prices, in the usual fashion.

Then the remaining low crowd weeks get ranked the same way, with the expectation that the Christmas season low crowd weeks get privileged rankings. This set of weeks become my “Recommended Weeks”—usually 13 to 15 a year. (The number has narrowed over time as October has gotten more crowded; in any given year, an early Thanksgiving might add a fourth December week, and an early Easter might add an extra April week.)

The rankings are fundamentally based on crowd forecasts and actual or forecast prices.

The crowd forecasts are based on my actual experience—I’m in the parks 30-60 days a year over six to ten visits.

For example, in 2017:

• I’ll be going November for the Christmas Party and to see the Yacht Club refurb. (That Yacht Club room, incidentally, will be the 150th different Disney World-owned room, studio, villa, suite, cabin or campsite I’ve stayed in. So I’m pretty reliable on the Disney World hotels, too…)
• I went in September for the Halloween Party, the new film at Mission: SPACE, and the new Fantasmic dessert thingy
• I went in July for the new Copper Creek Villas and the rest of the new stuff at the Wilderness Lodge, the Pop Century room refurb, and the new Happily Ever After dessert party
• I went in June for Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, and the Caribbean Beach refurb
• I went in May for the new Magic Kingdom evening show Happily Ever After
• I went in February for the new Animal Kingdom evening show Rivers of Light
• I went in January for the Pro Bowl events at Disney World (and still haven’t written about them…) but did also see again the Disney After Hours event, and covered the new Festival of The Arts and the refurbed rooms at the Dolphin and Kidani Village.

This experience is supplemented by extensive analysis of school breaks—here’s an example from my analysis of spring breaks in 2018:

The prices are based on actuals for 2017 and 2018, and on forecasts based on recent Disney practice for 2019. I’ll be revising the 2019 rankings as necessary after the actual 2019 prices come out, likely in the summer of 2018, and based on a full analysis of 2018-2019 school year breaks, also in the summer of 2018 (too many districts don’t publish their calendars for the upcoming school year until May or June for me to do this earlier).

So that’s how the week rankings are built!

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