Category — p. News and Changes

2015 DISNEY WORLD FREE DINING DEAL RELEASED

Disney World released today a special offer for free dining covering the following 2015 arrival dates

• August 28 – October 2
• October 25 – October 31
• November 8 – November 19
• December 15 – December 21

Contact Kelly to book it at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com.

Guests who get the deal (not all resorts are eligible, and some have a very small number of rooms available) will get the Quick Service dining plan for free if their stay is at a value resort, or the Regular dinning plan for free if their stay is elsewhere.

Excluded resorts include Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, All-Star Movies, Port Orleans French Quarter, Bay Lake Tower, The Villas at the Grand Floridian, and the Polynesian Villas and Bungalows.

Moreover, Port Orleans Riverside is in the deal only for arrival dates August 28 – October 2.

The deal requires minimums of a three night stay and two days of park hopper tickets. It can be booked through July 10, but these deals often sell out fast…

Contact Kelly to book it at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com.

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Just some news from my visit to Disney World that ended this morning. I’ll be posting more about all (well, most) of this later, but wanted to get some key points out while the thoughts are fresh.

COACH CLASS ON THE AUTO TRAIN

I did a full report from my January/February trip on taking the Auto Train to Disney World here, but that trip was in two different types of spaces in the sleeping cars.

As this trip included tent camping at Fort Wilderness, I needed to take my car stuffed to the gills with camping gear. See the picture (experienced tent campers will recognize that it’s from the trip back, from all the sand…)

So I loaded the car and to complete the Auto Train experience drove to Virginia, boarded, and took coach in Auto Train down. (Actually I drove halfway to Lorton, did the Jeopardy online test from a hotel in Breezewood that evening, then continued the next day. The online test? I don’t think I did well enough…)

The short version: yes, you can sleep in coach. Not as well as in a sleeper (or a hotel room), but you can.

TWO SECRETS TO TENT CAMPING AT FORT WILDERNESS

I’ll have much more to say about the keys to success in tent camping at Fort Wilderness when I re-do my review of it based on this trip (the current review, from before this trip, is here).

But leading up to that, here’s two key secrets that even the most experienced tent campers may not know:

First, the tent sites are all sand, and given the wind and storms you can face any season in Florida, you need sand stakes—real sand stakes, the kind you have to drive in with a tire iron or an 18 inch screwdriver as an aid to torque.

Your tent and fly may both be self-supporting, but without stakes, that just means they are self-ballooning—they will blow away in a wind. (I’ve seen un-staked self-supporting tents blow away with kids inside.) Bring sand stakes to anchor them.

Second, every campsite at Fort Wilderness—even the ones optimized for tent camping–has electric power. Bring extension cords and electric fans—more than one of each. You won’t regret your fans.

THE REFURBS AT CARIBBEAN BEACH

It’s been true for a month or so now that the main refurb at Caribbean Beach is done, so all buildings except those in Trinidad South now have refurbed rooms with either a king, two queens, or two queens and a short murphy bed.

But I wanted to see this for myself, so I drove over one morning and confirmed it.

I asked at the Customs House what the scoop was with the Pirate rooms, and was told this time that “they will only have their soft goods replaced—e.g. the mattresses—and will stay full bed rooms.”

Time will tell if this is true, but it’s what I was told…

THE SWAN

It stormed and stormed and stormed at Fort Wilderness, and when it didn’t, it was 93 degrees with 80% humidity—very unseasonable weather. So I ducked over to the Swan for a night for walls and a roof, air conditioning, and a tub.

I liked the room—and I really liked the pool complex. The bedroom area of a two queen Swan room is comparable to a Disney moderate. More expensive than a moderate, but less expensive than a Disney deluxe Epcot resort—and almost as well-located.

I’ll be staying at the Dolphin for three nights in May on a business trip, so after that I’ll do a full review of both the Swan and Dolphin.

THE MEET-UP

Part of the point of this trip was to do a meet-up and book signing with Josh from easyWDW, my co-author (pictured above with a family who met us), and Jim Korkis, who contributes to our book The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit.

It was great fun—and thanks so much to those who came, and to Allison from Destinations in Florida who came with stuff to give away—but the weather at Epcot was as bad as I’ve seen: umbrellas were snapping, small kids floating away. So attendance was not quite what we’d hoped for…

THE STUDIOS AT THE POLYNESIAN

The new Studios at the Polynesian are both gorgeous and whimsical. They are way short on storage space, though. More to come in a complete re-write of my Poly material soon.

THE NANEA VOLCANO POOL AND KIDS PLAY AREA AT THE POLYNESIAN VILLAGE RESORT

The re-furbed Nanea Volcano pool and the new kid’s play area—which opened the day I checked in—are just great.

There’s much more deck chair space than there used to be, the new hot tub is a hit, and the Poly now has the best kid’s water play area of any Disney resort. More on all this in the re-done review to come

CONSTRUCTION AT THE POLY

Construction however, is not over. Lotsa walkways are being worked on the east side of the resort, Tokelau is still in refurb (though it looks like it’ll be done soon), and as a result there’s lots of construction walls on this side of the resort.

Moreover, it’s still expected that the smaller East Pool on this side will begin refurb soon.

With the Great Ceremonial House and main pool refurbs now done, there’s no reason not to stay at the Poly—but stay on the west side…

OK, that’s all for now. Back to Ohio, and I promise I’ll catch up on the comments soon! After that, the re-review of the Poly.

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MEET THE AUTHORS MONDAY APRIL 20

The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit co-authors Josh and I, plus the contributor of the “Jim’s Gem’s” vignettes in The easy Guide, Jim Korkis, will meet our fans–if there are any–and sign our books Monday.

We’ll be in Epcot outside the Liberty Inn in the American Pavilion Monday, April 20 from 7p until the line for Soarin goes down a bit.

We’ll sign pretty much anything but especially one of our (or Jim’s) books.

We’ll also have some giveaways, especially for those who are around right at 7p.  Some books, likely, and for sure some other loot donated by my friends at Destinations in Florida!!

(Nothing for sale though–if you want to get the book, you are stuck with Amazon. Amazon will deliver to your hotel, in appropriate plain brown packaging so no one else will know…)

That’s me and Josh on the left from December, and on the right Jim as Merlin at the Magic Kingdom from a while ago.

Meet us at Epcot, just outside and to the left of the Liberty Inn in the American Pavilion Monday, April 20 from 7p until the line for Soarin goes down a bit!

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The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit co-authors Josh and I, plus the contributor of the “Jim’s Gem’s” vignettes in The easy Guide, Jim Korkis, will meet our fans–if there are any–and sign our books next Monday.

We’ll be in Epcot outside the Liberty Inn in the American Pavilion Monday, April 20 from 7p until the line for Soarin goes down a bit.

We’ll sign pretty much anything but especially one of our (or Jim’s) books.

We’ll also have some giveaways, especially for those who are around right at 7p.  Some books, likely, and for sure some other loot donated by my friends at Destinations in Florida!!

(Nothing for sale though–if you want to get the book, you are stuck with Amazon. Amazon will deliver to your hotel, in appropriate plain brown packaging so no one else will know…)

That’s me and Josh on the left from December, and on the right Jim as Merlin at the Magic Kingdom from a while ago.

Meet us at Epcot, just outside and to the left of the Liberty Inn in the American Pavilion Monday, April 20 from 7p until the line for Soarin goes down a bit!

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The latest edition of WDW Magazine, which focuses romance at Walt Disney World, is out! The magazine is available on iTunes, for Android, and on the web. Editor Carl Trent has this to say:

“We’ve all heard about Disney Weddings, but did you know that WDW is a great honeymoon destination? It’s also a great place for an engagement or even for a date. Check this out.

“This issue is packed with romance. Dave takes a look at the romantic side of WDW. We’ve got the perfect Disney wedding gifts, and we even have a throw down between Danny and Stephanie over the most romantic attractions at WDW.

“Romance continues in our Best of WDW section as we look at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, California Grill, Spaceship Earth and the Art of Disney. We even look at romance on a Disney Cruise.

“This issue is full of what makes Disney special. It’s full of love.”

My column for first-timers focuses on date-night and other romantic activities for first timers. Curious?  Of course you are! Sample a free issue here. Also, now available is a preview function–check it out!

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April 1, 2015: In a surprise, Disney World announced today that it is no longer taking reservations for the 20 new Bungalows that line Seven Seas Lagoon at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

Instead, Disney is converting the deck of each Bungalow and the boardwalk that connects them all into FastPass+ viewing areas for the Electrical Water Pageant.

Disney World’s FastPass+ program is a way for guests to make poor decisions about which ride to do when as many as 60 days before a visit, rather than saving those mistakes for only the time they are actually in Walt Disney World.

“We don’t have a FastPass+ offering at the Magic Kingdom comparable to key FastPass+ options at Epcot like Captain EO and Journey into Imagination with Figment,” a Disney spokesman noted. “Adding an Electrical Water Pageant viewing area to Magic Kingdom FastPass+ options solves that problem.”

The Electrical Water Parade is a moving display of lights and sounds that visits the Disney resorts on the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake nightly unless cancelled by weather or mercy.

Much loved by both the elderly and their parents, it combines the visual sophistication of a blinking stoplight with music whose tonal qualities were dated three decades ago.

The change powerfully illustrates the failure of the new eight-person Polynesian Bungalows to attract their target market.

(c) Disney

Compared to most other Disney Vacation Club two bedroom options, Bungalows have great outdoor decks and nicer dining rooms, but also have less space and a worse second bedroom.

Even so, they rent for more than twice as much, from $2,400 to $3,400 a night.

The pricing is easy to understand when one remembers that the Four Seasons now has a presence at Disney World, and its suites go for as much as $10,000 a night (before parking fees).

The Polynesian Bungalows at these price levels represented Disney’s attempt to stay competitive in the important and growing President for Life/dictator/oligarch/drug cartel jefe “get me the most expensive room” market that’s now being siphoned off by the Four Seasons.

Unfortunately, a design feature has made the bungalows not really well-suited for this market.

The President for Life/dictator/oligarch/drug cartel jefe market requires not only a spectacular space for the Supreme Leader and Nutmeg of Consolation himself, but also a whole constellation of connecting or nearby rooms for the oligarch’s entourage that have to be in regular rooms nearby, but not in the suite itself—bodyguards, children, mistresses.

This is easy to pull off in a standard hotel room tower, where such rooms can be connected (mistresses), down the hall (bodyguards), or just an elevator ride away (children).

But with disconnected individual buildings like the Bungalows, this is much harder, and as a result the target market is not responding.

Thus, Disney has given up pursuing this market through the Bungalows and is converting the Bungalows to FastPass+ viewing areas for the Electrical Water Pageant instead.

Insiders suggest that Disney may yet pursue the high-price market, via other alternatives.

For example, refurb plans for the Pirate Rooms at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort are still not clear.

At current pricing, one could book one of the 64-room Pirate accommodation buildings in its entirety for the price of three or four Polynesian Bungalows. This yields vast refurb scope for building as many as six “Pirate Castles” at Caribbean Beach with more than 20,000 square feet each—plenty of room for the entire entourage to spread out a bit.

But even if this Caribbean Beach piratical refurb goes forward, walking away from the Polynesian Bungalows is still a bit of a black eye.

Creativity requires the freedom to make mistakes, so it’s not that big a deal.

Yet when put in the context of other recent reversals—the brief cancellation of FastPass+ about a year ago, the abandonment of a pain-themed DVC resort, dropping the addition of a Minnesota Pavilion to Epcot, and still no word on the groundbreaking for the high-speed option for leaving Rafiki’s Planet Watch—well, it does make you wonder…

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