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OVERVIEW: APRIL 2018 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews April 2018 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

Because of Easter breaks, the first week of April in 2018 will be quite bad, with some of the highest crowds and highest prices of the year.  The rest of April 2018 should be be a great time to go to Disney World.

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Late last week Walt Disney World announced a pilot program in which The Cabins at Fort Wilderness, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort, and Disney’s Yacht Club Resort would join the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort (which has long allowed dogs) in being dog friendly.

Among the rules and regulations of this pilot program,

• Pet-friendly rooms in the four pilot resorts will cost an additional $75 (Yacht Club) to $50 (the other three) per night
• At most, you can have two dogs per room
• Disney World will also “designate certain floors or sections of a hotel as dog-friendly, while the majority of areas will remain canine-free to accommodate Guests with allergies or other concerns.”

Here’s more Disney World guidance on the issue (click it, then click it again, to enlarge it):

There’s a number of other features of this pilot in a disboards post by the usually reliable rteetz here, and more in this Touringplans.com post.

The backlash from those with allergies and/or fear of dogs has been quite understandable, especially with the short notice and two of the pilot resorts being among Disney World’s most popular.

Beyond this, the Disney community is enraged by only two things—

• Things Disney does
• Things Disney doesn’t do

And so of course there’s been even wider dismay beyond those whom it most materially affects.

Much of this backlash seems to be from people who don’t understand that Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort has been pet friendly for years without much in the way of issues; that the Universal resorts have been pet friendly for decades, and that this has caused so many problems that they’ve had to double the number of their pet-friendly hotels; and that the Four Seasons at Disney World is also pet-friendly—though perhaps it has a less demanding clientele than Port Orleans Riverside.

All of which is not to entirely diminish the concerns of those without allergies or phobias who still hate this pilot, but rather to note to those rabidly opposed to it that dogs in destination resorts, in Disney World resorts, and even in Disney World owned-and-operated resorts is hardly a new thing, and that tested practices for handling them have existed for decades.

Beyond this, there has been reasonable skepticism about the effectiveness of Disney World’s post-pet room cleaning, and real concern that in fact “the majority of areas will remain canine-free,” given the number of likely over-booking situations by lawyers bearing pugs. Moreover, ADA will continue to mean that service dogs can be in any room anywhere that is needed to accommodate their owners–as these dogs have for years now.

Given this reasonable skepticism and concern, those who judge their allergy or phobia issues to be material probably will want to change their resorts until there’s more experience–especially with room cleaning–to report on. The new pilot is already in effect—although very few will be in a position to take advantage of it immediately, so I don’t expect to see much in the way of added pups for a month or so.

• The best alternatives to Art of Animation are, for Little Mermaid rooms, Pop Century and All-Star Movies, and for Family Suites, suites at All-Star Music
• The best alternative to the Yacht Club is the Beach Club
• The best alternative to Port Orleans Riverside is Coronado Springs if you care about table service dining, and Port Orleans French Quarter if you don’t
• The best alternative to a Cabin at Fort Wilderness is not so obvious. There’s just one option that replicates their most distinctive features—woodsy isolation, full kitchens, and space for six people—and that’s the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs, which are much more expensive and few in number

Those who simply don’t like dogs have a somewhat more complex calculus, as dogs are everywhere at Disney World—service dogs, security dogs, and commonly specious “support/therapy” dogs. For multiple reasons, we will see more and more of each of these classes of dogs at Disney World…regardless of how this pilot goes.

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DISNEY WORLD IN 2019

Below are perspectives on rides, hotels, crowds and such at Disney World in 2019, updated with the opening date of the new Star Wars land and Disney’s March 2019 ticket price increase.

You can find more of my thoughts on 2019 at Walt Disney World in my book, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019.

2019 will be a good time to visit Disney World–at least until the end of August, when the new land Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge partially opens. Even more new rides will open in 2020 and 2021, and Disney World will be celebrating its 50th anniversary from late 2020 into early 2022.  The combination of Star Wars, other new attractions, and the 50th will make Disney World visits challenging from late 2019 well into 2022.

NEW RIDES AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2019

The big news of 2019 will be the opening of the new Star Wars land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

This land will add a planet to Disney World to join Avatar’s moon–a new, remote frontier planet–and include two new rides–a Millennium Falcon ride and a ride involving a battle between the First Order and the Resistance.

Expect also Star Wars dining, character interactions, and a new standard for immersiveness–even richer detail than in Pandora.

The land will partially open on August 29, 2019, with one of its two new rides operating then. There is yet no word on the exact date when its second ride will open. Bob Iger had said it will open in 2019, but after the fiscal year was over, which puts it into October-December 2019. In May 2018 the date range was narrowed to “late fall” 2019.

Multiple other new rides are being developed or worked on at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Studios. The ones at Magic Kingdom and Epcot I don’t expect to see open in 2019.

However, the Hollywood Studios ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, a new ride that will occupy the old Great Movie Ride space at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, I expect to be open by the end of August 2019.  Update April 2019: The opening of this ride will be delayed until the spring of 2020. There’s more about Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway here.

DISNEY SPRINGS AND THE DISNEY RESORTS IN 2019

The massive redevelopment at Disney Springs should be complete by 2019.

The story at the Disney World resorts will be refurbs and new construction.

A new Star Wars hotel was announced in 2017.  I’ve seen forecasts for a 2020 opening.

Pop Century, Port Orleans French Quarter and Caribbean Beach have completed their renovations, and All-Star Movies is about halfway done with a renovation similar to Pop’s, adding queen beds and coffee makers to its standard rooms.  The other values likely will shortly follow.

Construction of the new Disney Vacation Club property, Disney’s Riviera Resort, in the former Barbados area of Caribbean Beach, will be completed in late 2019, and  Coronado Springs is almost done–a new tower and new dining will open here in July 2019.

Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Caribbean Beach will be connected in later 2019 to a new gondola that will go to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I expect this new gondola, the Disney SkyLiner, to be open before the end of August.

Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside will complete a light refurb in 2019.

Between permanent closures and floor-by-floor or building-by-building closures for refurbs at resorts, a lot of capacity may be unavailable in 2019.  Since Disney’s occupancy is already very high, as a result, rooms have been hard to find, so book as soon as you can–and ideally more than 180 days before.

DISNEY WORLD DEALS IN 2019

Disney World uses a combination of complicated and changing room pricing, and, on top of that, deals, to keep its resort hotel occupancy very high. While deals have been technically available for most times of the year (you’ll find current Disney World deals here), the number and types of rooms available has gotten more and more restrictive. I expect this trend of less-available deals to be even more true in 2019 because of the openings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios of very attractive franchise (Toy Story in 2018 and Star Wars in 2019) and the capacity reductions noted above.

Deals often emerge after the best time to book your Disney World vacation. The simplest way to handle getting your deals is to make your initial booking through a travel agent, who will then–if a deal comes out for your dates–move heaven and earth to try to get you in to it.

DISNEY WORLD CROWDS IN 2019

The major question for 2019 is the impact of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on the parks. Based on what Universal saw with Harry Potter, I expect the new land to be just slammed with crowds, with some spill-over effect into the rest of the Studios.  However, based on what happened at Universal I don’t necessarily see a broad increase in crowds in all the other parks from the Star Wars fans. I have more on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge crowds here.

Presidents Day, February 18 in 2019, is late-ish, meaning more good January and early February dates, and fewer good late February dates. The week that includes Presidents Day will be bad as usual. (Tons of kids in the northeast have the whole week off.) Crowds for this week actually begin the Thursday before.

Mardi Gras in 2019 is March 5.  A few southern school districts have it off as a single or multi-day holiday. The impact of Mardi Gras-related visitors on Disney World is vastly overrated, so don’t worry about it. (People mix up the effects from it and the effects of President’s day breaks–five out of the last seven years have seen the week of Mardi Gras also influenced by crowds from President’s Day breaks.)

Easter in 2019 is almost as late as it can be, on April 21. As a result, later March, while not good, will be better than in years with an earlier Easter. Early April will have a good week or two, but there will be fewer good late April weeks.

Summer crowds are a bit up in the air.  They felt down in the last three years. As I note here, I have theories about why, mostly about the effects of Disney’s strategic re-pricing of tickets to make the higher-demand periods like summer less attractive to some, and thus more comfortable for everyone else, particularly in the pricing of Florida resident annual passes with summer block-out dates. These new distinctions launched before the 2016 summer seasons, so the timing is right. But honestly I’m not sure what’s going on, so for the moment am still forecasting high summer crowds.

Thanksgiving, November 28, is as late as it can be in 2019, giving more good early November dates but fewer good late November ones.

Christmas is on a Wednesday in 2019.  That means almost all schools will begin their breaks on 12/21/19, with heavy crowds into the new year.

For more on 2019 crowds at Disney World, see this.

DISNEY WORLD PRICING IN 2019

Expect higher than average ticket price increases in 2019 as Disney World extracts value from its Pandora, Toy Story, and Star Wars investments.

2019 ticket prices have already been raised once–in March 2019–and may go up a second time, after the opening of Galaxy’s Edge’s second ride is announced.

Moreover, Disney World now also has a new ticket pricing model where you will pay more for more attractive dates.

MORE ON 2019 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Disney World 2019 Crowd Calendar

Disney World 2019 Price Seasons

2019 Disney World Week Rankings

Kelly B, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can help you book your 2019 Disney World vacation.  Contact here using the form below:

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

FLIGHTS OF WONDER IN DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

By Jim Korkis

When the Flights of Wonder show originally premiered at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in its opening year, it had a fanciful storyline and continued to evolve through several different versions.

It was finally re-scripted to be a more straight-forward educational presentation along with the comedy relief of a clueless tour guide character named “Guano Joe” who is more than a little fearful of these avian performers. Along with the audience, he learns about them and learns to love them. The roughly tweny-five minute show is performed several times a day.

(c) Disney

Under the canvas canopy of a shady sanctuary that is what remains of the Maharajah’s crumbling fortress is the makeshift Caravan Stage in the “ruins” that are now the refuge for a dazzling array of birds. From opening until 2015, the Caravan Stage was covered with a canopy. A permanent roof was finally installed during a renovation in early 2016.

The façade of the roughly thousand person amphitheater is designed to resemble the architecture of that found in the Himalayan highlands or Rajasthan, India. The theater is situated outside the fictitious village of Anandapur, on the “trade route” towards Africa.

Guests are introduced to approximately twenty species of exotic birds who perform natural behaviors rather than the traditional silly tricks in some other bird shows. Some of the birds perform their antics onstage while others swoop over the audience and show off their dramatic wingspans.

While the show is entertaining and at times amusing, its core is a much deeper message about serious conservation themes and habitat loss. It promotes the World Wildlife Conservation Fund. The finale includes the appearance of an American Bald Eagle and the story of how thanks to concerted conservation efforts, this majestic bird is no longer endangered.

Among the species are birds most guests see include Barbary falcons, macaws, Amazon parrots, Harris Hawks, ibis, vultures, crowned cranes, a Trumpeter Hornbill, Great Horned Owl, Black Vulture, the previously mentioned American Bald Eagle and several other interesting birds.  The birds are from various continents and not just Asia. While the specific birds may occasionally be different in each show, the format of the show remains the same.

The host is an actual trainer who has spent hours with these birds. The birds are trained to react and take different actions based on audio and visual cues they have been taught.  Certain noises, words or a subtle hand placement will spark an action from the birds.  While the show has been carefully rehearsed to demonstrate how birds hunt and eat, they have not been trained to do the typical tricks but merely duplicate natural behaviors with an emphasis on entertainment value like grabbing a dollar bill an audience member holds high in the air.

Groucho, the singing parrot in the show who is an audience favorite, was named the World’s Best Singing Parrot on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno after an appearance. He’s also appeared on other television shows including The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

He is fairly unusual for most parrots because he is able to sing seven full songs including How Much is that Doggy in the Window?, Camptown Races, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Alouetta and Jingle Bells.

Hatched in 1986 in Kalamazoo, Michigan and raised by Theresa Barylock, Groucho is a yellow naped Amazon parrot with an amazing ability to articulate many words and phrases such as “Look ma! No hands!”

In 2017, trainers and birds from the Flights of Wonder show now also made occasional appearances in Harambe and DinoLand U.S.A., again emphasizing the birds’ natural behaviors.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim!  And here’s more on FLights of Wonder from The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2018:

Come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Secret Stories of Disneyland, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: OCTOBER 14 TO OCTOBER 22, 2017

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on October 2017 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/14-10/22/17

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-12MN 10/14,  8a-7p 10/15, 8a-12MN 10/16, 9a-7p 10/17, 8a-11p 10/18, 9a-7p 10/19, 8a-7p 10/20, 8a-12MN 10/21, and 8a-7p 10/22

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 10/14, 9a-9p 10/15 through 10/19, 9a-10p 10/20 and 10/21, and 9a-9p 10/22

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8.30p10/14, and 9a-8p 10/15 through 10/22

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-9.30p 10/14, 9a-9p 10/15 and 10/16, 9a-8.30p 10/17 and 10/18, 9a-9p 10/19 and 10/20, 9a-9.30p 10/21, and 9a-9p 10/22

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/14-10/22/17

Saturday 10/14 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 10/15  Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Monday 10/16 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 10/17 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 10/18 Morning: none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 10/19 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 10/20 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 10/21 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 10/22  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/14-10/22/17

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/14-10/22/17

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 9p 10/14, 10/16, 10/18 and 10/21

IllumiNations at Epcot:  10p 10/14, 9p 10/15 through 10/19, 10p 10/20 and 10/21, and 9p 10/22

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p 10/14; 7.30p 10/15 through 10/22

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:  8.30p 10/14; 8p 10/15 through 10/22

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom 8 and 9.15p 10/14; 7.45 and 9p 10/15 through 10/22

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/14-10/22/17

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

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I rank the weeks of the year for first time visitors to Disney World who might not be able to ever return to Disney World on this site—the 2017 Disney World week rankings are here, 2018 Disney World week rankings here, and draft 2019 Disney World week rankings are here.

(These same rankings also inform the guidebook I co-author with Josh of easyWDW.com, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit.)

Here’s an example, for 2018:

These rankings are meant to guide first timers who can never return towards better weeks, and away from bad weeks. They incorporate crowds and prices, as you might expect. But because they are meant for people who might be able to make only one visit, they also particularly downgrade the weeks of January and early February when rides are more commonly closed for refurb, and also view skeptically the weeks when the hurricane season is at its peak.

Both of these periods contain good weeks for returning visitors who might care less about these risks. So for this reason, I both include the crowd and price data in the chart, and also mark in green at the far right edge of the chart weeks that are good for returning visitors.

That way returning visitors can use the chart to pick their weeks, too—or they can simply focus on my crowd forecasts and price information. Disney World crowd forecasts for 2017 are here, 2018 here, and draft crowd forecasts for 2019 are here. Disney World resort pricing for 2017 is here, for 2018 is here, and draft price forecasts for 2019 are here.

Besides deprecating the ride closure and peak of the hurricane seasons, I also promote the lower-crowd part of the Christmas season, because it is such a magical time at Disney World.

So with that as the background, here’s the technical approach I take to ranking the weeks of the year for first time visitors.

HOW THE DISNEY WORLD WEEK RANKINGS ARE BUILT

First, I take the ride closure season weeks, and give them the lowest rankings of the year (because if you can only come once, why come at a time when some great rides predictably will be closed?)

In every grouping, including these weeks, higher crowd weeks get the worst ranking, and within equivalent crowd rankings, higher prices break the ties. This involves a bit of judgment, as the deluxes work to a different price seasons than the other resorts from July into the fall, and the moderates don’t show as much price variation over the year as the other price classes do. So if you are committed to a certain resort type, note also the price levels of your resort type among these weeks.

Next to be ranked are all the remaining higher crowd weeks, with the worst rankings going to the highest crowds, and ties sorted by prices.

Next to be ranked is the remaining weeks in the peak of the hurricane season. I have taken a lot of grief over the years for deprecating these weeks, as, like the January and early February weeks, they include a number of lower crowd and lower price dates:

After the past two years, however, I expect people to hold off a bit on the “hurricanes never affect Disney World” claim…

This leaves a group of moderate and lower crowd weeks of various prices that are in neither the ride closure season nor the peak of the hurricane season. The moderate crowd weeks get ranked by crowds then prices, in the usual fashion.

Then the remaining low crowd weeks get ranked the same way, with the expectation that the Christmas season low crowd weeks get privileged rankings. This set of weeks become my “Recommended Weeks”—usually 13 to 15 a year. (The number has narrowed over time as October has gotten more crowded; in any given year, an early Thanksgiving might add a fourth December week, and an early Easter might add an extra April week.)

The rankings are fundamentally based on crowd forecasts and actual or forecast prices.

The crowd forecasts are based on my actual experience—I’m in the parks 30-60 days a year over six to ten visits.

For example, in 2017:

• I’ll be going November for the Christmas Party and to see the Yacht Club refurb. (That Yacht Club room, incidentally, will be the 150th different Disney World-owned room, studio, villa, suite, cabin or campsite I’ve stayed in. So I’m pretty reliable on the Disney World hotels, too…)
• I went in September for the Halloween Party, the new film at Mission: SPACE, and the new Fantasmic dessert thingy
• I went in July for the new Copper Creek Villas and the rest of the new stuff at the Wilderness Lodge, the Pop Century room refurb, and the new Happily Ever After dessert party
• I went in June for Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey, and the Caribbean Beach refurb
• I went in May for the new Magic Kingdom evening show Happily Ever After
• I went in February for the new Animal Kingdom evening show Rivers of Light
• I went in January for the Pro Bowl events at Disney World (and still haven’t written about them…) but did also see again the Disney After Hours event, and covered the new Festival of The Arts and the refurbed rooms at the Dolphin and Kidani Village.

This experience is supplemented by extensive analysis of school breaks—here’s an example from my analysis of spring breaks in 2018:

The prices are based on actuals for 2017 and 2018, and on forecasts based on recent Disney practice for 2019. I’ll be revising the 2019 rankings as necessary after the actual 2019 prices come out, likely in the summer of 2018, and based on a full analysis of 2018-2019 school year breaks, also in the summer of 2018 (too many districts don’t publish their calendars for the upcoming school year until May or June for me to do this earlier).

So that’s how the week rankings are built!

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