Category — p. News and Changes

Earlier this month–I was on vacation, so got behind–the latest edition of WDW Magazine came out.

This month, the mag focuses on the Magic Kingdom area resorts–the monorail resorts

• Polynesian Village and its Villas and Bungalows
• Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower, and
• Grand Floridian and Villas at the Grand Floridian

and also the Wilderness Lodge and its Villas (soon undergoing refurb, see this), and the Cabins and Campsites at Fort Wilderness.

Editor Carl Trent has this to say about this month’s edition:

“I don’t think there is a more diverse group of hotels anywhere than you’ll find around the Magic Kingdom. You have everything from a luxurious Spa and Resort to camping in tents, all within a short boat ride to the Most Magical Place on Earth.

I think you’re going to love our tour of the Magic Kingdom Area Hotels.”

The magazine is available on iTunes, for Android, and on the web.

I’ve got a couple of things in this month’s magazine.

• I write the “Helping Hands” column for first timers, and this month’s column focuses on comparing the Magic Kingdom area resorts on various key features–themes, pools, room quality, dining, etc. I’ve stayed in each–and each major room option within them–multiple times, with more than 30 rooms stays across these five resorts and their villas. So you can trust this overview…
• I also did the article on the Polynesian, which is my top-recommended resort for first timers, despite some continuing construction. As a bonus, this article is based on the review of the Poly in the Disney World guide book that Josh of easyWDW and I co-wrote, so you can use it as a test of whether or not you’d find the book helpful!

Curious?  Of course you are! Check WDW Magazine out.

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Disney announced today the addition of a 14 acre Star Wars land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

(c) Disney/Lucasfilm

How big is 14 acres?  Well, an acre is 43,560 square feet, so 14 acres is about 610,000 square feet.

An acre can be any shape, of course, but to get a sense of scale I planted 14 acres as a square box (780 feet on a side) on top of a corner of the Studios just to get a sense of the scope of this expansion:

This is not a prediction in any sense–the Star Wars land is unlikely to be in this corner of the park, and will not be a perfect square. But it does give you as sense of how big 14 acres is.

The important takeaway? A good sized but not overwhelming expansion…and lots of room will still be left at the Studios for the rumored Pixar expansion, too.

Update: Disney has also announced the Pixar expansion, 11 acres.

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Construction is expected to kick off at the Wilderness Lodge and Villas in late October of this year and extend (at least) through next year.

The largest impact will be on the Villas, but around 20% of rooms at the Wilderness Lodge itself may see diminished views, and noise from construction might affect all rooms at both.

Wilderness Lodge guests who book courtyard-view rooms should largely be isolated from view issues. Villa guests who avoid Bay Lake views will be better off than those who don’t–but since these rooms are not directly bookable as such, Villas guests will be facing more of a challenge.

CONSTRUCTION AT THE WILDERNESS LODGE

Most construction is between the southeast edge of the Wilderness Lodge and the northwest side of the Villas, with another smaller area affected at the northwest side of the Lodge.

See the map (click it to enlarge it), where using my sophisticated image skills I’ve put blue boxes in the affected areas.

On the map, the Lodge has the green roof, and the Villas the red roof.

Major construction will include (it seems) removing and re-doing the smaller pool outside of the Villas (the main pool in the middle of the Lodge wings was updated in 2014 and will remain open), adding a restaurant between the Villas and the beach, and adding bungalows along the shores.

As a result, the small pool, beach, boat rentals and playground on this side will be closed.

Main Lodge guests who book courtyard views will largely escape the construction.  It will be a lot harder for Villas guests to avoid, as while one can request a “woods” view at the Villas that might avoid the construction, this is not a separately bookable category.

So despite the panic out there on the internet, any first-time visitors who can afford the upcharges of the Courtyard views (about $100/night, depending on the year and season) should not much worry about this construction.

Villas guest will have a harder time.

About half of rooms will have views dominated by construction, so it will be much harder to avoid.

I’d advise avoiding the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge at least until we all have a better sense of how these rooms feel.

Many Villas guests are already re-booking, some with some pretty nice arrangements–see this thread on co-author Josh‘s site.

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DISNEY WORLD ROOM RATE DEAL

A new Disney World room rate deal covering most arrival dates from October 4 through December 23 2015 was released today. (November 25-27 is excluded.)

This deal has

• Value resorts (except Art of Animation Little Mermaid rooms, which are excluded) at 10-15% off depending on the date
• Moderates at 15-20% off depending on the date (no moderates are excluded)
• Deluxes at a complex variety of discounts ranging from 10 to 25% off, depending on the hotel, the room type, and the date
• DVC resorts at 20-30% off, excluding Bay Lake Tower, the Villas at the Grand Floridian, and the Polynesian Villas and Bungalows

To book these discounts, contact Kelly at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com.

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(A slightly different version of this first appeared in WDW Magazine.)

First timers sometimes underestimate the physical challenges that Walt Disney World can present.

• You will be walking a lot—probably more than you think.
• There are some slopes to go up and down—often minor, but still real.
• Some of the hotels don’t have elevators, so if you are on an upper floor at one of these, there will be stairs to deal with.
• You will be outdoors in the sun a lot.
• And there are pools everywhere at the hotels, many unguarded, so safe swimming is worth thinking about too.

You might even have to dance with Belle!

There’s nothing at Disney World that requires you to go through Navy SEAL training to prepare—although that won’t hurt! But if you and your family are physically and mentally prepared, and have the right gear—that is, more than one pair of broken-in walking shoes each—you’ll have more fun than families who aren’t’ prepared and don’t have the right shoes!

At the end of January and beginning of February 2015, my sister and I pushed my 84 year old dad around Disney World (and Shades of Green and Port Orleans Riverside, our hotels) in a wheelchair.

That hadn’t been our plan, but it turned out that walking around at Disney World was too much for him.

And it might be for you, too.

None of the Disney World parks is small and compact—and three, the Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot—are quite large. While you’ll see some wild numbers on how much walking there is in the parks, three to five miles a day is not at all uncommon.

Your walking day likely will start well before you even get to the parks, and continue after. The only hotel at Disney World that can be reasonably described as compact is the tower at the Contemporary Resort. Your rooms at other hotels may be quite a hike from breakfast, the transportation areas or both—especially if you are staying at one of the large moderates Port Orleans Riverside, Caribbean Beach, or Coronado Springs.

Some of the Disney hotel areas don’t even have elevators—there’s none at Caribbean Beach, none in the Alligator Bayou section of Port Orleans Riverside, and none in most of the buildings at Old Key West.

So what to do? If you aren’t in shape, walk before you go in the shoes you plan to use! Build up to the ability to walk five miles a day, with some one or two story stair climbs at the beginning and end, and you’ll be fine on the physical front. And don’t skip doing it in the shoes you plan to wear. Your shoes need to be well broken in for your visit, as blisters are not the proper souvenir for a Disney World trip!

And if you or a member of your party can’t walk like this? Strollers, wheelchairs and scooters are available just inside the parks for rent, first come, first served. That’s what we did. Or if you need them to get to the parks, or around your resort, you can rent them for the duration of your visit from any number of local providers.

By the way, a wheelchair will put you in different seats than you likely are used to at many of the shows.  At Festival of the Lion King, we were right in front!

Also worth noting:

• You’ll be outside a lot—more than you might think—so think about sun protection.
• Almost all the Disney hotels have at least one pool without lifeguards. If any of your crew is a weak swimmer, or a non-swimmer, consider either building swimming skills before you go, or sticking to the pools with lifeguards—there’s at least one at every hotel.
• Pushing someone in a wheelchair is a LOT harder than it looks—while my dad had a great time, my sister and I wore ourselves out!!

I often say that Disney World is more like a backpacking trip than it is a day at the beach. This applies especially to pre-planning, and getting ready for the physical demands of the trip. Get yourself and your shoes prepared, and everything will be much more fun!

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The Candlelight Processional at Epcot is a holiday tradition at Disney World.  It is easiest to see if you book a lunch or dinner package.  These packages are now bookable–I just got mine online!

To book yours, see the Disney World website here!

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