Category — p. News and Changes

2015 AT DISNEY WORLD

Disney World in 2015 is coming out of a cycle of openings and major changes stretching back to the summer of 2012, including

• The new Art of Animation Resort
• A refurbed Test Track
• The first parts of New Fantasyland, including Be Our Guest, Storybook Circus, Enchanted Tales with Belle, and Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid
• The new Villas at the Grand Floridian
• Then more New Fantasyland and related new offerings, including Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the Festival of Fantasy Parade, and Anna and Elsa at Princess Storybook Hall
• New five-person room options at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge and at Caribbean Beach
• The new Four Seasons Resort
• Ride closures for redevelopment at Epcot (Maelstrom) and Hollywood Studios (Backlot Tour and American Idol), and the addition of the Frozen Sing-Along to the Studios
• And of course there’s FastPass+, the biggest change in how to approach the parks since Epcot opened and with it eliminated the old A, B, C, D and E-Tickets

(Small wonder that Josh and I thought the time was right for an entirely new guidebook, written from scratch for FastPass+.)

Compared to the last 30 months, there’s not much new at Disney World in 2015.

• Major developments are underway at the Animal Kingdom and, it’s expected, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but not much is expected to be seen from them until 2016.
• Refurbs will be completed in 2015 at the Polynesian (including DVC), the Beach Club, and Caribbean Beach; five person rooms will come to the Beach Club Villas and BoardWalk Villas
• Major re-work at Downtown Disney will be complete in 2015, including a name change to Disney Springs, although work will continue into future years

We’ll also see in 2015 the beginning of years of major construction to Interstate 4, mostly well north of Disney World, and, potentially, because of the strength of the dollar and collapse of oil prices (word to the wise: “light sweet crude” is really neither that light nor that sweet…) a reduction in the growth of overseas visitors to Disney World.

So 2015 is a year to luxuriate in and take advantage of all the recent developments at Disney World, and not a year in which to worry too much about what cool new thing will open when.  There just isn’t that new that will open in 2015 compared to the 30 months just past, or the couple of years that will follow.

MORE ON DISNEY WORLD IN 2015

Here’s more on Disney World in 2015, including

• Disney World 2015 packages and booking dates
• 2015 Disney World deals
• 2015 Disney Armed Forces Salute
• Free Dining in 2015 at Disney World
• The best weeks of 2015 to visit
• 2015 crowds at Disney World

DISNEY WORLD PACKAGES FOR 2015

 You can find 2015 Disney World price seasons here.

You can book a Disney World hotel room up to 500 days in advance. That means you can book all of 2015 on-line, and some 2016 dates over the phone.

DISNEY WORLD DEALS IN 2015

Walt Disney World offers specials, discounts, package deals, and other deals only when, based on its booking rates, it believes it can profitably bump demand by doing so.

The windows it provides for such deals seem to range from a month to nine months ahead. Given this, the more the economy seems to be doing OK, the shorter the notice for these deals likely will be.

As deals launch, you’ll find them here.

For Disney World 2015 military deals and 2015 free dining at Walt Disney World, see below.

DISNEY WORLD MILITARY DISCOUNTS IN 2015

Disney World has announced special discounts for Military families for most of 2015.  See this for more. There’s no telling if this deal will be extended into FY16, or if so, when such an extension will be announced.

FREE DINING AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2015

There’s no guarantee Disney will offer the Disney Dining Plan for free in 2015.

If it does, based on past dates, Disney will most likely offer more free dining in 2015 for much of September, and perhaps selected later dates in October, November and December, and announce it in the late spring of 2015.

BEST WEEKS TO VISIT DISNEY WORLD IN 2015

For the best times for first-timers who may not return to visit Disney World in 2015, see 2015 weeks to visit, ranked in order. Returning visitors should use the 2015 Week Picker.

A few observations (all reflected in the 2015 week rankings):

• New Year’s Eve is midweek in 2014, so the Disney World holiday season crush will last until Saturday January 3, 2015.
• Mardi Gras 2015 is the day after President’s Day.  Many northeastern school districts have the whole week of President’s day off, which makes it a bad week to start with.  A few southern school districts have off around Mardi Gras, and they will add even more to the crowds this week.
• President’s Day itself, February 16, 2015, is almost as early as it can be.  This means fewer low-crowd early February days, but a few more good days in later February.
• Easter, on April 5, 2015, is in the middle of its range. The weeks before and after Easter will be mobbed, as usual, but there will be good weeks in very early March, and April after the 11th should be great in 2015!
• Memorial Day, May 25, 2015, is as early as it possibly can be.  This makes me think the week that includes it will be a little less crowded than usual, but it’s still a week to avoid!
• The Fourth of July in 2015 will be on a weekend, so it will be even more crowded than usual, and the weeks before and after it will be the worst ones in the summer of 2015 at Disney World.
• Labor Day, September 7 in 2015, is as late as it can be.  Some states have school openings tied by law to after Labor Day, so the end of August will be a little more crowded than it is in years with an earlier Labor Day.  The end of August is still going to be a good time to go to Disney World crowd-wise–just not as good as years in which Labor Day is earlier.
• Thanksgiving, November 26, 2015, is in the middle of its range.  The week that includes it will be as bad as usual, but there will then be three great weeks at Walt Disney World after it.  Pop Warner week in 2015 looks to be the week beginning December 5.
• Christmas 2015 is on a Friday.  Some school districts will go on break Monday the 21st, and others Thursday the 24th.  Rough crowds will begin December 19, 2015, but New Year’s week at Disney World–the 26th of December 2015 through January 2nd, 2016–will be a particular mess.

CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD IN 2015

See the 2015 Disney World Crowd Calendar.

MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

• For when to go to Walt Disney World, see this
• For the best and worst times to visit, see this
  • For 2015 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
  • For the 2015 Week Picker, see this
  • For 2016 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
• For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
  • For the 2015 Crowd Calendar, click here
  • For the 2016 Crowd Calendar, click here
• For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
  • For 2015 price seasons, see this
  • For projected 2016 price seasons, see this
• For weather at Walt Disney World, see this

Want a second opinion?  Then check out my book lol.

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DEALS ON DISNEY WORLD HOTEL ROOMS

My friends at Destinations in Florida let me know that today Disney World released a new room rate deal for stays most nights from March 2 through June 15, 2015.

It’s a somewhat complex deal:

• There’s different discounts for stays before or after April 5, and
• Two different book-by dates–booking by February 16 will get in some cases a better deal than booking in the deal’s second period, February 17th through March 28
• Moreover, as usual some room types are excluded, and others have different discounts than others in their class.

If you are ready to book, contact Kelly, the designated Destinations In Florida agent for yourfirstvisit.net readers, at KellyB@DestinationsInFlorida.com or 980-241-7066.

Kelly offers itinerary planning, dining services, mouse perks….complete professional vacation planning all for FREE!!!  (Don’t forget to mention that I sent you.  All qualified vacation packages also receive a copy of “The Easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit – 2015” FREE.)

Otherwise, here’s some of the details of the offer.

VALUE RESORTS

At the values, All-Star Movies and standard Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation are excluded. Otherwise, here’s the deal:

MODERATE RESORTS

At the moderates, Port Orleans French Quarter is excluded.

DELUXE RESORTS

No deluxes are excluded, but there’s two different discount levels.

 DVC RESORTS

Bay Lake Tower, the Villas at the Grand Floridian and the soon-to-open Polynesian Village villas are the DVC resorts that are not in.

To book one of these deals, contact Kelly, the designated Destinations In Florida agent for yourfirstvisit.net readers, at KellyB@DestinationsInFlorida.com or 980-241-7066.

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Continuing an offer they made with the 2014 edition, my friends at Destinations in Florida will send a free copy of The easy Guide to anyone who

• Books their trip with them via a link from this site, like this one
• Books a trip costing at least $2,000, a pretty easy number to hit

This is a really nice little extra offering on top of all the extra stuff they already will do for you!

For more on The easy Guide, see this!

So start planning your Disney World visit with my friends at Destinations in Florida today. Click this link to start!

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OVERVIEW OF THE EASY GUIDE

From the renowned authors of the Number 1 bestselling, best-reviewed Disney World guidebook in history, The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2015, released in November 2014, takes Disney World first-timers by the hand through all the key Disney World decisions—some that they probably didn’t even know they had to make—in the simplest, most straightforward, and shortest way possible.

Co-authors Josh Humphrey and Dave Shute have unmatched experience with the Disney World rides, parks, restaurants, and hotels, and tremendous tested judgment from their years of helping more than ten million visitors on their websites yourfirstvisit.net and easyWDW.com. [Read more →]

The latest edition of WDW Magazine, which focuses on crowds at Walt Disney World, is now out!

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

(You can also sample a free issue here.)

The edition covers many topics related to crowds at Disney World.  The centerpiece this month is a dialogue between Carl Trent (editor and publisher, and also Chief Dad behind Dad’s Guide to WDW) and me on the best times each month in 2015 to visit.

Those keeping track at home will know that this is third version of such that I’ve helped with

1. This dialogue with Carl
2. The Week Rankings, designed for first timers who may never return, on this site.
3. The material I co-wrote with Josh in Chapter 4 “When to Go” of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit

Each is good–and largely consistent!

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The 2015 edition of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit launched as the most up-to-date Disney World guidebook ever, with the right stuff on new dining options, ride closures and openings, and hotel changes.

But things at Disney World always change–and we also are unfortunately human and do make mistakes.

So as things change or we find mistakes, here’s how to keep up: [Read more →]