Category — p. News and Changes

For the details, see this.

I’m not sure how stable the calendar is yet, but it looks like after the opening weekend that it’ll be on (until early April) Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with one show a night.  After that it’s expected to be on nightly.

Several interesting things came up in yesterday’s Walt Disney Company earnings call. One takeaway is that you might want to buy your tickets now.

PANDORA – THE WORLD OF AVATAR TO OPEN MAY 27

From Disney CEO Bob Iger’s introductory remarks on the call:

“This year we’ll open a great addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom with a brand new land called Pandora – The World of Avatar. Our Imagineers have brought the breathtaking world of Pandora to life through astonishing feats of artistic genius and groundbreaking engineering. The result is an exquisite environment with phenomenal attractions. And today I’m happy to announce this incredible new world will officially open on May 27.”

From later in the call:

“This is a very big land with an extremely unique design and architecture because it really does make you feel as though you’re in Pandora, that great world that Jim Cameron created, and an E-ticket attraction that is unlike any E-ticket attraction that we’ve ever built. And it is sizable. The whole experience is sizable.”

STAR WARS LAND TO OPEN IN 2019

Also from Iger on the call:

“Additionally, our progress continues on Star Wars Lands at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World [Hollywood Studios], both of which will open in calendar 2019.”

TOY STORY LAND—2018?

Toy Story Land in Disney’s Hollywood Studios did not come up in the call, but the Star Wars date of 2019 has led many to continue to believe that 2018 will see its opening. This seems a little fast to me…

TICKET PRICE INCREASE?

For the last three years, Walt Disney World has increased ticket prices in February. Buying your tickets now –for example from my friends at The Official Ticket Center  –will let you avoid this price increase.

Moreover, I do expect one of these days that Disney World will move its multiday tickets to a seasonal price model, where tickets for some periods of the year are more expensive than for other periods. (One day tickets took on this form in 2016.)

The business logic of this is to simultaneously shift demand to lower attendance times and, for those who won’t change their dates, to capture more value from higher demand times—as Disney’s hotel prices already do.

The possibility of a ticket price increase came up in the call, and I was intrigued by how Bob Iger answered it—and specially why he did not stop his response after the words “I have nothing to announce at this point,” and why he went on to mention redesign of packages and the distinctive importance of multi-day tickets at Disney World.

My take away? This stuff is on his mind…and so perhaps we will see the shift to seasonal pricing for Disney World multi-day tickets this month. If so, my guess is we will see only minor increases in ticket prices for the less-demanded parts of the year, and larger increases for the popular times.

So if you have not yet bought your tickets for your next visit, I’d do that now, especially if you plan to go in the spring break season, the summer, or during any of the major holiday periods later in the year. My friends at The Official Ticket Center  can help you get great prices.

Here’s the complete discussion of ticket prices during the call:

John Janedis – Jefferies LLC

“Hi. Thank you. Maybe another quick follow up at the parks. I think you’ve increased ticket prices in February the last couple of years. You’re going to lap the demand-based pricing model in a couple of weeks. And with Pandora opening, is there maybe a near-term opportunity to further increase single or multi-day ticket prices?”

Robert A. Iger – The Walt Disney Co.

“Yes. I have nothing to announce at this point, but we do take ticket pricing up on typically an annual basis and we do so in a variety of different ways. Sometimes it’s redesign of packages. Remember that in Florida that most of our attendance is multi-day in nature, and so the single day including when we take pricing increases is less important than when we take single-day pricing up in California. But we’re not prepared to make any specific comments about what’s in store in that regard.”

RIVERS OF LIFE NEXT WEEK?

Something else happened yesterday that was not on the earnings call—Rivers of Life, the much-delayed new evening show at Animal Kingdom, had a preview:

There’s no official opening date, but one rumor is that it could be announced any day now, and open as soon as next week. I’ve been burned so much on predicting this show that I officially have no opinion.

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Update: Disney After Hours is returning for the summer of 2018.

Disney After Hours, an expensive way to see a bunch of Magic Kingdom rides with hardly any waits, has returned for 2017.

Not something I’d recommend for first-timers, this event is well worth it for returning visitors who can afford it and can stay up through it.

It’s currently on the calendar for most (but not all) Thursday nights into early March—specifically, February 2, 9, and 16, and March 2 and 9.

It “begins” at park close–the February dates are 8-11p, and the March dates 9p-12MN–but ticket holders can officially enter at 7p, and unofficially, I believe, can enter at 4p.

Prices for most people are $119 per adult or child. There’s also a deal of $89 per Annual Passholder/Disney Vacation Member adult or child (plus tax for both). The general price of $119 is about 20% less than last year’s price.

The number of tickets sold is quite limited. As a result, you can enjoy a number of Disney World rides with almost no wait.

It’s hard to communicate just how empty Magic Kingdom is.

I attended the party Friday January 27th and here’s a shot of the area between Peter Pan and the Carrousel during the afternoon that day:

And later during the event:

The boarding area for it’s a small world during the event:

The boarding area for Splash Mountain during the event:

The TTC parking lot about half an hour before event end:

If you know the Magic Kingdom well and are willing to move quickly, you can see quite a bit during the period from when you are let in to event end.

My test of the event last April is here, when basically I saw almost every headliner at Magic Kingdom, plus more.

In my 2017 test of this event Friday January 27, I tried to act less like a power user and more like what I thought the “typical family” might act like—specifically by starting in Fantasyland and going from there to Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland.

(Note that I don’t actually recommend this approach. You’ll see lower crowds if you start with Adventureland and end your night in Fantasyland. See below.)

Moreover, I intentionally arrived just before the event’s official beginning, as would those who aren’t aware that they can enter the park before the event, and knocked off after about two hours, figuring that I was about 50% more productive than the typical family, who would spend some time bickering outside the restrooms and eating ice cream (you get free ice cream, popcorn, and water and soft drinks at the event).

Here’s my results (times are when I got to the ride):

• Barnstormer 9p
• Dumbo 9.05
• Mad Tea Party 9.14
• Winnie the Pooh 9.19
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 9.25
• Under the Sea–Journey of the Little Mermaid 9.32
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel 9.44
• it’s a small world 9.53
• Peter Pan 10.08
• Haunted Mansion 10.18
• Big Thunder Mountain 10.40
• Splash Mountain 10.50
• Pirates of the Caribbean 11.10p

Note that if you could have matched my pace, you would still have had time to ride Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, and perhaps, Seven Dwarfs again.

If you want to see a lot of Magic Kingdom rides with low or no waits, it is well worth it. The challenge is fitting it into your already existing plans and budget.

Like most things at Disney World, a successful visit to the event comes from careful planning.

The best strategy is to

• Do what Josh and I call in our book “Anytime Rides” (that is, rides that typically have low waits all day long) until near the time of the event
• Do “First or Last Hour Rides” (that is, rides that typically have low waits at the beginning and end of the day, but high waits in between) just before the event, and
• Do rides that are typically high-wait during the event itself.

Moreover, during the event, target the west side of the park first, then Tomorrowland, then Fantasyland.

Do it this way for a couple of reasons

• Most people’s first targets will be Tomorrowland or Fantasyland, so you’ll see lower crowds by starting in Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square
• The only ride where other people are essential is the Jungle Cruise, giving another reason to put Adventureland early
• Small children at the event will be sinking as the night grows later, so put Fantasyland last

Depending on how you value your time and money and design your visit, doing the After Hours event will either save a hotel night and day of eating (if you are at a deluxe, that itself will pay the extra cost of full price tickets), give you an extra day at another park, or give you an extra day off.

Taking full advantage of the minuscule waits requires the ability to stay up somewhat late, a good plan, sound knowledge of Magic Kingdom, and brisk movement.

For these reasons I can’t recommend it to first timers.

But the After Hours event can be a very good idea for returning visitors who know the Magic Kingdom well and want to grab an extra day out of their trip.

A NOTE FOR THE ENRAGED

The Disney World fan community, in general, gets enraged by only two things:

• Things Disney does
• Things Disney doesn’t do

The After Hours Event, after it was announced last year, enraged many people. Almost all the reasoning behind the enragement was speculation that something, somehow was being taken away from regular park guests and given instead to the rat-finks who could afford the quite expensive tickets for the After Hours Event.

In 2016 this reasoning was comically inept, as nothing in fact was taken away from regular guests.

There’s a bit more to the rage for the 2017 event, however.

Over the relevant weeks in January-March 2017, the Magic Kingdom in fact closed/is closing on average an hour and 17 minutes earlier on event nights than it did on the equivalent nights in 2016 (yes, I’ve corrected this for the changing dates of Presidents Day).

A third of this reduction in operating hours available to the general public (three of the nine fewer hours) is on one night, the Thursday before Presidents Day, when Magic Kingdom was open until 11p in 2016 and is open only til 8p in 2017. Three more of the “lost” hours have already passed—one on January 20th and two on January 27th. The next biggest impact is March 9, open til 11p in 2016 and 9p in 2017.

That said, it seems worth noting that on non-event nights in February 2017 (March 2017 does not yet have a firm calendar), the Magic Kingdom is open, on average, 58 minutes fewer than the same days in 2016…so it’s not only the event nights that are seeing shorter hours…

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Update: the Festival of the Arts is returning for 2018, and unlike 2017, many of its offerings will be available all week long! It will run 1/12 through 2/19/18, with the Broadway offerings (and perhaps others) limited to Fridays through Mondays.

Epcot’s International Festival of The Arts is a new-for-2017 event happening in Epcot’s World Showcase Fridays through Mondays until February 20, 2017.

The Festival kicked off on January 13, and I had a chance to see it this past weekend.

The Festival combines

• Great, albeit pricey, dining
• Dozens of kiosks with art to view and buy
• Interactive opportunities to paint, be photographed into great art, and play with silly living statues
• Seminars and other sessions
• Music–some casual, some distinctive presentations from the Disney on Broadway team

Disney calls it a mix of “visual, culinary and performing arts inspired by cultures from all around the world…a global masterpiece.”

That’s a stretch, but with better food than past Food and Wine festivals, and better visual appeal than past Flower and Garden festivals, it is, by far, my favorite among all the Epcot festivals I’ve attended, and I highly recommend it for returning visitors.

First-timers will enjoy it as well, but will find that it adds crowds to Epcot’s World Showcase on the days it is open.

EPCOT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS DINING

Dining opportunities are particularly concentrated at the entrance to the World Showcase, but are also found in the Odyssey Festival Showplace (between Test Track and Mexico—the Showplace is the centerpiece of the Festival) and scattered through the rest of World Showcase.

The Festival of the Arts offers the best dining ever seen at an Epcot Festival. Waits are long as much food is prepared while you wait, and prices are also high. The value for money is also very high, and with many $7+ items available for a snack credit, the festival provides the single best argument in years for you to buy the Disney Dining Plan.

I had a chance to try the Charcuterie Palette from the Masterpiece Kitchen…

…the Savory Doughnuts and darling Mary Blair Chocolate from The Painter’s Palate…

…and half of co-author Josh’s deconstructed BLT from E=AT^2 (that’s not, I think, a typo). Because nothing says deconstructed BLT better than a poached egg…

Detailed reviews of the dining options are on Josh’s site easyWDW.com:

• Pop Eats! 
• Decadent Delights 
• The Masterpiece Kitchen 
• The Artist’s Table 
• Cuisine Classique 
• El Arista Hambriento 
• E=AT^2 
• The Painter’s Palate 

EPCOT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS SHOWS AND GALLERIES

Art, fittingly, is everywhere at the Festival of the Arts.

Begin in the Odyssey Festival Showplace, which includes brief exhibitions of the work of Herbert Ryman and Mary Blair.

The Ryman work is stunning. For more on Ryman, see this.

The Blair material is focused on her early South American work.

While mildly fun and historically very important in the life of the Walt Disney Company–and suiting the Festival’s international theme–it is much less interesting than her later work, which you can find here  or, even better, here.

All over World Showcase are tented kiosks offering mostly Disney-related art to browse through and buy:

EPCOT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS INTERACTIVE OPPORTUNITIES

There’s lots of opportunities for simple play.

In front of the Future World stage you can find living statues that will mess with you and your kids (check the Times Guide for showings)…

There’s an opportunity to play with a paint-by numbers canvas on the way to Canada…

Scattered through World Showcase are opportunities for you to join famous works…

These folks in France are from the “toxic employee” list.

There’s also some Figment thingy that I paid no attention to, but is a bit of a variant on the Kidcot concept—buy a map and stickers, find Figment-themed picture frames and Figment within them, add the appropriate sticker to the map, and turn the map in for a prize.

EPCOT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS SEMINARS AND SESSIONS

Formal seminars happen at the Odyssey Festival Center at 1.30p and 4.30, and less formal sessions happen there during the day–check your Times Guide.

Over in Innoventions East you’ll find The Animation Academy, an animation drawing class, where you learn to draw a Disney character under the tutelage of a real animator.

Some have reported that all will end up with a great drawing, but irl your results will vary.

My Winnie the Pooh is above…

…and above is Josh’s Winnie the Pooh. No, he was not trying to add Darth Vader elements; this was just the best he could do.

EPCOT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS MUSIC

Music at the Festival includes both performances at the Future World stage (see your Times Guide for show times)…

…and a more interesting set of brief Broadway concerts in the evenings at the American Gardens Theater, at 5.30, 6.45 and 8p.

Presented by the Disney on Broadway team, the concerts showcase songs from Disney Broadway productions sung by Broadway stars.

I saw Kerry Butler (who was Belle in Beauty and the Beast) and Kevin Massey (Tarzan) singing songs from Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, and The Little Mermaid.

These two will be returning next weekend, and then the rest of the February dates will see Kissy Simmons and Alton Fitzgerald White doing songs from The Lion King, Aida, Aladdin, and the Little Mermaid.

Passholders and DVC owners can get priority seating, which you are supposed to do ahead of time, but we had no trouble grabbing day of. Your mileage may vary.

The area to do so and/or pick up your reserved badges is in Innoventions East.

Those with priority badges line up on the Japan side of the pavilion. There’s a stand-by line as well, on the Germany side.

As you can probably tell, I love this Festival…and hope it returns next year!

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As noted here, Josh and I will be signing copies of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit Saturday January 28 from ~1-2p at Mexico in Epcot.

However, you don’t need to actually be there to get a signed copy. For the first time in a while, Josh and will each be giving away and mailing copies signed by both of us of this best-reviewed Disney World guidebook, ever, to one lucky winner from each of our sites—this one and easyWDW.com.

Josh’s giveaway is here. You can enter both.

In the meantime, though, to enter my giveaway, all you need to do is page down and enter a comment about how either this site OR easyWDW.com OR one of our guidebooks has helped you with your Disney World visit.

The way it will work is that

• I’ll subjectively pick my favorite comments (for the kind of comments I like, see the winners from my most recent giveaway), and then
• From that group randomly pick the winner!

I’ll the use the email you entered in the comment form (only I can see your email address) to notify the lucky winner, and get his or her mailing address.

Want your own signed copy without the awkward pauses and lingering regret that comes from meeting us in person? Then add your comment now!!

• To get a quote on your trip from my travel agent partners Destinations in Florida, you can either call the toll-free line dedicated to readers of this site, or fill out the form below.

• To speak directly to an agent, call 877-918-8941 Monday-Saturday between 9a-4p (Eastern). (Toll-free if dialed from within the USA.)

• (Hint: Check out What to Budget first, as there can be some real sticker shock!)

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MEET THE AUTHORS

Co-author Josh and I will be doing a meet-up and book signing Saturday January 28 at Epcot.

We’ll be outside the main pyramid in Mexico on the right from 1p to 2p (or until the crowds go away) and would love to say hi and sign your copy of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2017.

For your own copy of the 2017 edition of the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever (ever!), click here.

PRO BOWL AT DISNEY WORLD

That’s the same period that for the first time the Pro Bowl will be in Orlando, with many festivities in Disney World, especially at ESPN but also at Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs.

Here’s the current scoop on what’s going on with the Pro Bowl at Disney World:

To actually see practices or the skills showdown, go here to get tickets.

The tickets are free and are just a way of limiting access to capacity. Note that Saturday the 28th is already sold out, so just come to the meet-up. You don’t need tickets for the “Pro Bowl Experience” fan zone.

In addition there’s a parade of players Friday at the Magic Kingdom—at 2.30p, according to the Orlando Sentinel—and something at Disney Springs, possibly late night player sightings at Raglan Road or, more likely, STK.

Younger son and I will be doing most of these experiences so we can review them for you in case you want to try them out next year. (Older son can’t make it because he’s too busy BECAUSE HE WON A TICKET TO THE SUPER BOWL.)

It’s hard to say what impact the Pro Bowl and associated festivities will have on the parks that week—the best guess is little, except for Friday at the Magic Kingdom and the roads around ESPN Wide World of Sports. (We’re at Art of Animation most nights, so are theoretically within walking distance, although I don’t recall any sidewalks on Victory Way.)

The Pro Bowl fan events and practices at ESPN and parade at Magic Kingdom obviously makes a Disney World visit a little more attractive that week for some football fans, and if it gets the rep of being fun, may make that week a bit more of a target next year. That’s’ why I’m going—to see for myself so I can offer guidance for next year.

ALTERNATIVES TO EPCOT’S FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

Over that weekend I’ll also be seeing Epcot’s new International Festival of the Arts, which occurs Fridays to Mondays until February 20th. This looks, so far, more promising than I’d thought it would, and after the visit I’ll let you know what I think.

However, you can do your own Festival of the Arts at home—grab some Triscuits and pimento cheese, and settle down with a copy of The Walt Disney Film Archives.

Wildly expensive at 135 bucks on Amazon, this huge (I put the playing card on it for scale, and had to reorganize one of my bookshelves to fit it), 14 pound book is the most beautiful book on the classic animated films you’ll find, and despite the tiny type, my favorite Disney-related book in years.

I’ll post more on this amazing book later, but in the meantime, just trust me and get it.

DISNEY AFTER HOURS

Friday night the 27th we’ll be doing the Disney After Hours event, an expensive way to see a bunch of Magic Kingdom rides with hardly any waits.

Not something I’d recommend for first-timers, this event is well worth it for returning visitors who can stay up through it, especially on nights Magic Kingdom closes at 8p, or if they’ve otherwise blown their Disney World visit hanging around at ESPN.

Space Mountain at the Disney After Hours Event

It’s currently on the calendar for multiple Thursday and Friday nights into early March—specifically, January 20 and 27, February 2, 9, and 16, and March 2 and 9.

See this for how it went in 2016.

THIS AND THAT

FWIW, also on this visit I’ll be staying in and photographing a refurbed One Bedroom Villas at Kidani, and also, I hope, a refurbed room at the Dolphin.

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