Category — Reader Mail and Comments

DISNEY WORLD HOOP-DEE-DOO REVUE CLOSURE?

Update 6/10/2012: DiningDiva says that Hoop will begin re-booking June 12 for the October-December dates, and that new show times have been the cause of the booking delay–see comment 8 below and this…

Update 6/9/2012: See the comment from Disney Dining Agent lower on the page.

Update 4/19/2012: The situation is the same as it was 4/4.

Update 4/4/2012: Allison and my other friends at Destinations in Florida Travel have spoken to half a dozen or so Disney Dining staff, and have gotten consistently the following inconsistent message:  Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue will be closed for refurbishment October 1 to December 31, 2012, but that they are still allowed by the system to book dates in this window.

This combination suggests that either the systems are behind, the closure dates aren’t firm, or both!  But the autumn closure of Hoop-Dee-Doo seems real, just the details are still not set.

HOOP-DEE-DOO BEING CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT?

Crack commenter Colleen notes here that Disney World told her today that the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue will be closed for refurbishment from October to December 2012.

This has been rumored for a while…I’ll post more after additional confirmation and details…

TRUNDLE BEING REPLACED WITH FOLD-DOWN BED AT DISNEY’S PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE RESORT

Frequent (and terrific!!) commenter Barberella emailed a link to a page on PortOrleans.org showing the renovation of the Alligator Bayou rooms at Port Orleans Riverside resort.

You can see these under-construction photos by scrolling down this page.

The images answer the question of “what happens to the trundle beds now that queens going in?”

The Alligator Bayou section of Port Orleans Riverside has been a godsend for larger families looking for affordable accommodations, as it is the only part of any moderate resort with standard rooms that can sleep 5.

It’s also the only standard moderate option for smaller families looking for three sleeping spaces to separate the kids.

In the un-renovated rooms, this was handled by a trundle bed that slid out from the side of one of the two full beds in the room, and fit between the door and that bed.

These rooms are very nicely sized (as are all moderate rooms) but not so big that it was easy to tell how a queen and a trundle would fit.

The answer?  As Barberella had noted in a comment last week, a fold-down bed is being incorporated into the furnishings of the long wall that also has the TV, dresser, table and such.

Check out the photos for how this will work, and thanks, Barberella!

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

WALT DISNEY WORLD’S GRAD NITES

Grad Nites are a Disney Youth program (see this). 

Traditionally, several times a year, usually on Friday and Saturday evenings in the late spring after the Easter rush, the Magic Kingdom closes to the general public at 7p, and opens to high school kids celebrating their graduation.

Disney has announced that 2011 Grad Nites at Walt Disney World will be 4/29, 4/30, 5/6, and 5/7.

Grad nights have little impact on regular Walt Disney world visitors, other than the loss of the opportunity to see the evening Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks show Wishes on these nights.

Most of this site’s itineraries send families to the Magic Kingdom on their last Saturday night for Wishes and the parade–suggestions for alternate nights have been provided here and here.

As it turns out, these 2011 dates will be the last time Disney offers grad Nites at Walt Disney World. See this on the Disney Parks blog for more.

PREDICTING FUTURE DISNEY WORLD PROMOTIONS, DEALS, AND DISCOUNTS

The Disney World deals, promotions, and discounts I know about are linked to via this Summary of Current Walt Disney World Deals and Discounts.

However, all the time I get search traffic, questions, and comments about the dates of future deals and discounts, like this one from Brandon.

These questions are hard to answer, as it’s to Disney’s advantage not to be too predictable on these promotions.

It doesn’t make much business sense for Disney World to incent people who are perfectly willing to pay standard resort hotel prices to hold off on their reservations so that they can get a predictable further discount later.

So just because a discount was available at such and such a time last year doesn’t mean it’ll be available at that time this year, or next year.

This is particularly true if the economy keeps improving, which will lead Disney to continue to cut back on the scope of its discount programs–which it has promised to Wall Street that it will do.

However, that doesn’t mean that there’s no pattern, nor that observations can’t be made. [Read more →]

THE SPRING BREAK CROWDS ARE HERE…

Rick recently commented on this page as follows:

Dave – Good information on your website.

Maybe I missed it but Disney is good about extending hours during busy times.

If you are prone to getting up early you can enjoy small crowds, take a break and return later in the day. If you are only able to travel during busy times that has worked for us.

This is a really important point.

I address it in general–all this site’s itineraries include being at the parks before they open, and I posted some material on Christmas and New Years crowds here.

That said, there’s more to say, and now that we are fully in the incredibly busy Spring Break and Easter parts of the year, here it is!

HOW TO COPE WITH DISNEY WORLD MARCH AND APRIL CROWDS

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD ITINERARY HELP

I get lots of helpful comments and mail—for example see this.

Rarely, however, does a user of the site submit a detailed critique.

David G recently provided one.

Stuff like what David wrote is incredibly helpful in improving this site, so thanks!

David used the Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary.

His thoughts on it are below; my responses are inset in parentheses and italics.

DAVID’S EMAIL ABOUT THE DISNEY WORLD AUTUMN WINTER SPRING ITINERARY

Firstly, thank you for a great website which really helped in making a fantastic holiday.

(You are welcome! And thank you for the detailed comments, which are incredibly helpful in improving the site!!)

The best part of your advice for me was ensuring that we planned and booked well in advance and highlighting what to see/where to eat etc. Disney World is very complicated for the first time visitor and therefore it is very helpful to have someone steer you through it all. We used your itinerary to direct where we went every day but used the Unofficial Guide Touring Plans to work out how we moved around the parks when we got in. The combination of the two worked very well.

(While I’m satisfied with the day by day plans in my itineraries, TouringPlans.com‘s park itineraries are the best in the business. The key difference is that mine are integrated over an entire 8 night trip, whereas theirs mostly relate to single parks.)

A few specific comments I would make are as follows: [Read more →]