Category — p. News and Changes

Josh and I (and our publisher, Theme Park Press) released an updated version of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2016 earlier this week.

Written by the world’s leading experts on the Disney World parks and how to tour them (my co-author Josh) and on the Disney World hotels (me, I’ll stay in my 125th different Disney World-owned hotel room in later April), this is the best reviewed Disney World guidebook on Amazon, ever, with more than 95% of the 200+ reviews of the series being 5 star reviews.

Josh and I take pride in producing the most helpful, easy to use, to the point, accurate and up to date guidebook series ever seen. So we update the current annual edition every few months until the version for the next year is published.

Our latest update includes more than 50 pages of changes. Here’s some of the key changes

In Chapter 6 (“How to Spend Your Tine”), we’ve updated the Epcot touring plans and many other spots in the book to reflect how to approach Epcot with Soarin closed for refurbishment.

In this same chapter we’ve also updated Hollywood Studios to reflect the new and shortly expected changes to the Star Wars offerings there, including the new fireworks.

We also offer in Chapter 6 thoughts on Epcot after the new Frozen offerings open, and the Animal Kingdom after Rivers of Light opens.

We’ve updated almost all the resort hotel floor plans in Chapter 5 (“Where to Stay”), and added special notes about recently completed refurbs at Caribbean Beach, the Beach Club, and the BoardWalk Villas, and the ongoing refurb at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. We also increased our level of concern about the Wilderness Lodge during its refurb.

In Chapter 7 (“Where to Eat”), among other updates we’ve redone the review of Skipper Canteen at the Magic Kingdom and added reviews of new dining venues including Morimoto Asia and Jock Lindsey’s Hanger Bar.

There’s more on these changes:

• Details on the updates to Chapters One to Three
• Details on the updates to Chapter Four (When to Go)
• Details on the updates to Chapter Five (Where to Stay)
• Details on the Updates to Chapter Six (What to Do in the Parks)

The best-received Disney World guidebook, ever, just got better.

It’s available in paperback and Kindle editions here. The PDF version isn’t updated yet, so I’ve taken down the links to it until I can get it loaded.

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Disney changed its basic Extra Magic Hours pattern a while ago, so I’ve had to re-do my example itineraries to reflect new patterns of the ebb and flow of crowds among the parks.

All the integrated itineraries on this site come with To-Do Lists tied to the basic calendar issues of a Disney World trip: restaurant reservations opening 180 days ahead, and FastPass+ opening 60 days ahead.

So I posted the first draft of my Higher-Crowd Itinerary back in December, more than 180 days before the first period it was aimed at (the busy weeks beginning the Memorial Day weekend in 2016) and this morning (70 days before the first day of this itinerary) I published the daily agendas and FastPass+ that make it work.

The itinerary, its To-Do List, and the daily agendas are in the links:

Saturday  Sunday  Monday   Tuesday   Wednesday  Thursday   Friday   Saturday  Sunday

Summary of this Itinerary      To-Do List

The itinerary follows the basic design principles of this site:

• See all the best of Walt Disney World over a nine day trip.
• Spend the equivalent of 2.5 days at the Magic Kingdom, 1.5 at Epcot, and a day each at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (people who think either of these last two is a half day park have not written itineraries for them!)
• Have people see Epcot first and the Magic Kingdom last, because MK can set visual expectations that the other parks–especially Epcot–don’t deliver on.
• Divide actual parks visits across every day you are in Orlando.  This costs more for tickets, but yields additional FastPass+ and more breaks, reducing total waits and making the visit more civilized.

Curious?  The full Disney World FastPass+ Higher Crowd Itinerary beings here!

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A new Disney World deal for the summer of 2016 came out today!

To book it, contact Kelly B at kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com or at 980-429-4499 –she’s already saved the readers of this site more than $2,500 this morning!

The deal covers most dates from May 30 through August 25th, 2016, and needs to be booked by June 10.

Savings range from 15% to 30%, and vary by both resort and date.  As usual, some resorts are not in the deal.

All the value resorts except Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation are in the deal:

Among the moderates, Port Orleans French Quarter is excluded:

All the deluxes are in the deal, but at different price points:

At the Disney Vacation Club resorts, the Villas at the Grand Floridian and Bay Lake Tower are excluded, and the other resorts fall in three discount bands:

For an overview of Disney World deals, see this, and to book this new Disney World deal, contact Kelly B at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com!

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DISNEY WORLD DEALS

Disney World itself rarely offers deals on tickets, sometimes offers deals on dining, and commonly offers deals on rooms. Major current deals available to the general public can always be found here.

While timing varies, most Disney World deals are announced well after the hotel rooms and dining venues open for booking.

So the basic decision is whether to book your trip anyway well in advance at non-deal rates to maximize your ability to book our preferred hotel and dining choices, or to wait for a deal.

Waiting for a deal may mean you are shut out of your preferred dining or lodging options. If you can only afford to come if a deal emerges, then of course wait for it to be announced; otherwise, if you are committed to a certain set of dates whether or not a deal emerges, go ahead and book those dates, and then try to get the deal—not guaranteed—once it comes out.

Small ticket savings are usually available from places like the Official Ticket Center, and you can get major savings on lodging either from picking a less expensive time to attend, staying in a less expensive Disney-owned hotel class than your first preference might lead you to, or by staying in a hotel not owned by Disney, particularly offsite—although I don’t recommend this last option for first-timers.

DEALS ON DISNEY WORLD TICKETS

For many families, the largest Orlando expense of their Disney World trip will be their theme park tickets. A family of four with five day tickets will spend more than $1,400 on tickets. (Ticket prices are here.)

Right now, multi-day tickets don’t have seasonal pricing—you pay the same amount all year long if your ticket is longer than one day. That will end shortly.

Those doing longer-range planning should avoid in 2019 and later the week that includes Presidents Day, all of March but its first week, the weeks before and after Easter, the period from the Friday before Memorial Day until late July, Thanksgiving week, and the weeks that include Christmas and New Years. These high-crowd weeks have never been great choices; likely higher ticket prices during them would make them even more painful…

Until another US recession happens, you will have a hard time finding big discounts on tickets unless you are a Florida resident or are eligible for the Disney Armed Forces Salute. (See Disney’s website for Florida deals, and my friend Steve Bell’s MiltaryDisneyTips.com for deals for military folks and their friends.)

Everyone else should check the Official Ticket Center for ticket deals that may save them a few percentage points on tickets.

Any current general public deals that might have Disney World ticket savings will be noted on this page.

DEALS ON DISNEY WORLD DINING

Dining at Disney World is for many families their second-biggest on site expense after tickets. Disney dining prices are the same most of the year, but prices do get bumped up in the busier weeks.

Several Disney World package deals have commonly been offered which enable reduced dining costs in return for buying other elements of a package (a Disney-owned hotel room and park tickets) at full price.

The most valuable of these is free dining, which recently has been offered for much of September, and parts of October, November and December. The scoop on free dining is here. If offered for 2019, it likely will be announced in late April or early May. Smaller families staying in more expensive rooms may find that a room rate deal—almost always offered at the same time—may save them more than free dining.

The least expensive way to dine is to prepare some or most of your own food (note that these days it’s easy to get your food, etc., delivered), and the next least expensive choice is dining off site. However, unless your lodging is already off site, these will cost you time that might be more valuably spent in the parks, napping, or at a pool. More on saving money on dining at Disney World is here.

Any current general public deals that might have dining savings at Disney World will be noted on this page.

DEALS ON DISNEY WORLD HOTELS

Both the widest variety of price points and the broadest expense savings are available on your lodging costs. Hotel rooms most times of the year are available from $100/night to close to $1,000. The widest range of affordable options are off-site. Moreover, savings for higher levels of amenities are quite substantial at off-site lodging options compared to Disney-owned ones.

I’ve written extensively here about why I recommend that first timers in particular should stay in a Disney-owned hotel, so the rest of this focuses on the Disney-owned hotels.

Substantial savings come simply from picking a lower-priced time to visit, as Disney prices for standard rooms vary by a factor of over 50% at different times of the year. Details of the Disney World hotel price seasons, which vary by resort type, are here.

In addition, Disney offers room discounts—called “room-only” deals—on top of these rates for most weeks of the year except the very busiest ones. Typical savings are 10-15% for value resort rooms, and 20-30% for deluxe rooms, with the moderates in between.

Like most other Disney World deals, these are not usually offered as far in advance as you’d like them to be. But if you are committed to a certain time to go, go ahead and book your room, and then compete for the discount if/when it comes out. (“Compete” because not all resorts or room types may be in the deal, and some that are in the deal may sell out quickly.)

Eligible military families will find even better deals as part of the Armed Forces Salute, and should also check out Shades of Green and its very low year-round rates.

Any current general public Disney World room rate deals will be noted on this page.

DISNEY WORLD DEALS FOR RETURNING VISITORS

The options that follow actually apply to everyone, but returning visitors will be in a better position to judge their value and manage their complexity than first-timers.

Buy an Annual Pass.

Disney World’s Annual Passes—the least expensive, at around $800 per person, is now called the “Platinum Annual Pass—include unlimited admission to the four theme parks for 366 days beginning on the date of activation, including the ability to see more than one park in a day.

They also give you access to other benefits—an additional set of room discounts beyond (but usually not a lot better than) those available to the general public, some dining and shopping discounts, and the ability to access additional dining savings from buying a “Tables in Wonderland” card.

Only one member of the party need have a pass to be able to access these discounts. Families that plan two longer trips within the window of the pass may find value to buying passes for everybody.

Buy a Tables in Wonderland card.

Annual Passholders, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members, and Florida residents are eligible to buy Tables in Wonderland cards, which grant 20% discounts (subject to some block-out dates) at more than a hundred different Disney dining venues. Current pricing is $150 for the first two groups and $175 for Florida residents.

Some of these restaurants already offer a 10% discount to passholders, so the math of the incremental value of a Tables in Wonderlands card for those with a Pass as well can be opaque. But there’s no question that those on long or repeat visits with lots of cash-paid dining in their plans can come out ahead. The restaurant reviews in The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit indicate which discounts are available where.

Rent DVC Points

The Disney Vacation Club spaces are available to DVC members using their points, to the general public for cash—and to the general public who have rented unused points from DVC members. Renting points is an especially economical way to access deluxe-level spaces for a surprisingly low cost. See this for more on renting DVC points at Walt Disney World.

MORE ON SAVING MONEY AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Major current Disney World deals available to the general public are here.

If you book your Disney World vacation with my friend Kelly, she’ll be constantly on the lookout for new deals that might apply to your reservation and save you money.

You’ll find more ideas in my Tightwad’s Guide to Walt Disney World. The WDW Discount Club is a new offering run by some friends of mine with real promise. Mousesavers.com has always had the widest range of material on deals and saving money at Disney World. Military folk and their friends should check out MiltaryDisneyTips.com.

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I’ve just updated most of the material in my review of the BoardWalk Villas, based on my late January stay in its newly-refurbed spaces—my sixth stay at the BoardWalk Villas since I started this site.

More than 50 new photos show…

…The refurbed Studios, which now sleep five, the fifth on a fold-down bed that dismisses the table (photo at top of page)

…and the refurbed One Bedroom Villas, where most of the changes are cosmetic, and generally pretty successful.

(At the BoardWalk Inn, all Two Bedroom Villas simply combine a One Bedroom and a Studio.)

In addition all the floor plans are updated!

This updated review now has five pages:

• An overview of Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Theming and accommodations at the BoardWalk Villas 
• A photo tour of a refurbed BoardWalk Villas Studio
• A photo tour of the kitchen/dining/living room side of a refurbed BoardWalk Villas One Bedroom Villa
• A photo tour of the baths and master bedroom of a refurbed BoardWalk Villas One Bedroom Villa

Check out the updated review of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, starting here.

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Late last month, in between seeing the new Hollywood Studios Star Wars fireworks and other Star Wars stuff and baking like a fiend to test the new ovens in the renovated Cabins at Fort Wilderness, I ran off with Josh of easyWDW.com –we co-author in The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, the best-reviewed Disney Word guidebook series, ever–to Clermont to do an interview with John Panda.

It was fun–you can see it here, if you’d like.  We start about 15 minutes in.