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DISNEY WORLD IN 2018

Below are my thoughts on rides, hotels, crowds and such at Disney World in 2018. BTW, there’s even more on Disney World in 2018 in the guidebook I co-author, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2018–the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook, ever.

NEW RIDES AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2018

The big news of 2018 will be the opening of Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

This land will include what looks like a great new roller coaster ride, Slinky Dog Dash, aimed at kids but probably fun for all, kinda like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, and also a minor spinning ride.

See the image at the top of this page, from the preview model in Walt Disney Presents, for the extent of the Slinky Dog Dash ride. (Click it to enlarge it.)

Toy Story Land will formally open on June 30, 2018.

Construction of the new Star Wars area will continue at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2018. It’s not expected to open until late 2019–October or later.

Multiple other rides are being developed or worked on at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Studios.

DISNEY SPRINGS AND THE DISNEY RESORTS IN 2018

The massive redevelopment at Disney Springs should largely be complete in 2018.

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

Pop Century rooms are being renovated, with queen beds and coffee makers being added.  This should be complete, I’d hope, by mid-2018.

Shortly after Pop is done, I’m betting that Art of Animation Little Mermaid rooms will get queen beds. This will chill the already cold hearts of Disney’s accountants, as these rooms are the highest priced among the values and there’s not many of them.  However, I can’t imagine a world where the premium prices at Art of Animation can be maintained if standard rooms there have full beds and no coffee makers, while Pop has queens and coffee.

Caribbean Beach is in a messy refurb that for the moment has led to weak temporary dining. No official re-opening of the new dining here has been announced, but clues in how Disney priced Caribbean Beach for 2018 make me suspect that permanent dining will open here in the second half of 2018, and letters are being shared that suggest August 2018 is the target date.

All three of these resorts will be eventually connected to a new gondola that will go to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While I don’t really expect this to open until 2019, work is proceeding pretty quickly at, for example, the station for Pop Century and Art of Animation (image of the pilings for it from September 2017 above), so 2018 is possible for this.

Coronado Springs has lost a building which is being replaced by a new tower, and is also going through a building-by-building room refurb I expect to be completed in 2018.

Port Orleans French Quarter began a room refurb project in early January 2018, to be  followed by a similar refurb at Port Orleans Riverside–first Alligator Bayou, and then Magnolia Bend–ending in 2019. The re-opened rooms in Building 3 show an unambitious refurb, including principally wooden floors, more power points, and bigger TVs.

Kinda hoping for a new shower surround in Alligator Bayou…and since French Quarter is now so far ahead of Riverside in its kids water play area and in 2016 had its quick-service venue completely redone, I would not be surprised to see a bigger redo at Riverside than wooden floors, bigger TVs, and more power points…

Old Key West also is in a long-delayed refurb.

Between permanent closures and building-by-building closures for refurbs at Pop Century, Coronado Springs, and likely floor by floor closures at French Quarter, as much as 6.5% of capacity may be unavailable in earlier 2018 compared to prior years.  Since Disney’s occupancy was 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.

In late 2017, it was announced that the seven Disney Springs Resort Area third-party hotels, and also Shades of Green, would gain access to FastPass+ at 60 days. The Disney Springs hotels also gained access to Extra Magic Hours, which Shades already had. Important details are here,

Kelly B., who has been the travel agent partner of this site for years, can help you. Contact her at KellyB@DestinationsInFlorida.com or 980-429-4499, or use the form to get a quote from her:

DISNEY WORLD DEALS IN 2018

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 2018 because of the capacity reductions that I 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.

I recommend Kelly B., who has been the travel agent partner of this site for years. To book your vacation through her, contact her at KellyB@DestinationsInFlorida.com or 980-429-4499.

DISNEY WORLD CROWDS IN 2018

Presidents Day, February 19 in 2018, 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 2018 is the week before–February 14th.  A few southern school districts have it off as a single or multi-day holiday. This, combined with the more important early Presidents Day breaks, will lead to the week of 2/10/18 being moderately busy, especially in the second half of the week when the President’s Day crew begins to show up.

Easter in 2018 is early, on April 1. As a result, later March will be particularly heavy, but there will be more good April weeks.

Summer crowds are a bit up in the air.  They felt down in both 2017 and 2016. 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 22, is almost as early as it can be in 2018, giving more good late November dates but fewer good early November ones.

Christmas is on a Tuesday in 2018.  That means almost all schools will begin their breaks on 12/22/18, with heavy crowds into the new year.

For more on 2018 crowds at Disney World, see this.

DISNEY WORLD PRICING IN 2018

Disney World raised ticket prices in February 2018, and announced that later in the year it would move to seasonal pricing for multi-day tickets. Resort prices should not change again during the calendar year.

MORE ON 2018 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Disney World 2018 Crowd Calendar

Disney World 2018 Price Seasons

2018 Disney World Week Rankings

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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.

CYPRESS POINT LODGE

By Jim Korkis

The plan for Walt Disney World was for Disney themed resort hotels on property so that guests could stay for an extended vacation and have easy access to the theme park and surrounding amenities like golfing.

Originally, WDW featured the Polynesian Village Resort, the Contemporary Resort and Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. The plan for Phase Two was to build within the next three years, three more resort hotels: The Asian, The Venetian and The Persian.

The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 that dropped attendance at WDW by twenty percent or more prompted Card Walker, the conservative and cautious chairman of the board of the Disney Company, to delay proceeding with the building of those resorts even though land and infrastructure were already being prepared for The Asian.

The very small and inexpensively-themed Golf Resort (which later became Shades of Green) open in 1973. It was the last WDW owned resort hotel to open for fifteen years until the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in 1988.

With the development of Epcot Center, the need for more hotel rooms on property to accommodate the hoped for influx of visitors became apparent and so plans were announced for more resorts.

Disney executive Dick Nunis was quoted in the May 1982 issue of the cast newspaper Eyes and Ears: “We also have in design three hotels. The Mediterranean will be located between TTC and the Contemporary. The Cypress Point Lodge will be west of River Country and be themed as a western hotel. It’ll include log cabins along Bay Lake.”

The third hotel would have been the Grand Floridian since preparation for the area had already been done years earlier. All three hotels were announced in 1980.

The November 4, 1982 issue of Walt Disney World Eyes & Ears provided the following description of the rustic, moderate resort:

“Cypress Point Lodge will be a medium-sized hotel facility, located on the south shore of Bay Lake near our Fort Wilderness Campground Resort. Encompassing 550 rooms and 50 log cabins on the beach, Cypress Point Lodge will offer a romantic notion of a turn-of-the-century hunting lodge secluded in a deep forest.

“Neither the trees nor the buildings dominate the entire area; but blend together in a natural harmony. One can almost hear the crackling fireplace and feel the large wooden beams offer a haven of security and comfort.

“Cypress Point Lodge will also include: two restaurants, a pool, extensive beach, and lake dock. Guests will commute in and out of Cypress Point Lodge by watercraft.”

One of the advantages of building the hotel was it was not on the monorail loop and so would not disrupt its operation or the Magic Kingdom.

Obviously the location and theme echoed the Wilderness Lodge Resort that would be built in 1994 but with several key differences including several separate waterfront cabins.

The land in the area had been cleared of trees by 1971 although some claim that this was originally meant for additional campground. The 1973 WDW souvenir guide states that an unnamed “Lodge” was planned to be built at Fort Wilderness for guests. A rough replica of the resort was featured in the model in the post show area of Magic Kingdom’s The Walt Disney Story attraction.

However, cost overruns for the building of Epcot Center resulted in Cypress Point Lodge being cancelled and it is no longer mentioned in any documentation after 1983.

With the arrival of new CEO Michael Eisner in 1984, he chose to develop both the Grand Floridian and a lodge-themed resort but with much different approaches, which became the Wilderness Lodge.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And the cabins in this area have now actually been built, although at a different price point than I imagine was contemplated then,  in the Cascade Cabins at the Wilderness Lodge’s Copper Creek Villas and Cabins!

And 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: SEPTEMBER 23 TO OCTOBER 1, 2017

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

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

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/23-10/1/17

The Magic Kingdom will be open 9a-11p 9a-11p 9/23, 9a-7p 9/24, 9a-9p 9/25, 9a-7p 9/26, 9a-9p 9/27 and 9/28, 9a-7p 9/29, 8a-12MN 9/30, and 9a-7p 10/1

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 9/23,  9a-9p 9/24 through 9/28, 9a-10p 9/29 and 9/30, and 9a-9p 10/1

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8.30p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-9p every day

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/23-10/1/17

Saturday 9/23 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 9/24  Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Monday 9/25 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 9/26 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 9/27 Morning: none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 9/28 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 9/29 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 9/30 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 10/1  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/23-10/1/17

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

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/23-10/1/17

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 9p 9/23, 8p 9/25, 9/27, 9/28, and 9p 9/30

IllumiNations at Epcot:  10p 9/23, 9p 9/24 through 9/28, 10p 9/29 and 9/30, and 9p 10/1

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:  8.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom 8.15p 9/23 through 9/30; 8p 10/1

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 9/23-10/1/17

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

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RIVERS OF LIGHT DINNER PACKAGE AT DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

Rivers of Light is the new evening show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom that debuted in February 2017. While it opened to mixed reviews, I think it a must-see.

Rivers of Light (full review here) takes place most nights. Early on, it saw some weeks where it showed only four nights a week (Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesday and Thursdays), but since the summer has been scheduled for every night, for one to three times a night.

On nights when it shows once, more have wanted to see it than it can accommodate. You can book an advance FastPass+ for it, but this means that you will be unlikely to be able to add 4th or following FastPass+ to your Animal Kingdom visit that day.

Another option—though more expensive—is to book a Rivers of Light Dining Package. This package, which is available at the character buffet Tusker House and the high-end dining venue Tiffins, gives you either a fun or exceptional meal—depending on which you pick—and seats in a dedicated seating area in the Rivers of Light viewing area.

The package costs one or two table service credits, depending on the restaurant, if you are on the dining plan. For cash, current pricing of the Rivers of Light package at Tusker House is $52 for adults and $ 32 for children at lunch or dinner, and breakfast is $39/24. Lunch or dinner at Tiffins is $67/26.

Note that the dedicated Rivers of Light viewing area does not have individually reserved spots. Seating here is first come, first served, and those who get the package most commonly are those who are really dedicated to seeing this show. As a result, the seating area fills up quickly, and you want to get to it no later than 30 minutes before show start.

Because I think Rivers of Light is a must see but that there are better ways to manage your FastPass+, I’ve added the Rivers of Light Dining Package at Tusker House to all of my itineraries. In every case it replaces a previously suggested sit-down character meal (most commonly the princess meal at Akershus, as Cinderella’s Royal Table is already in the itineraries) so there’s not much extra cost.

THE RIVERS OF LIGHT DINNER PACKAGE AT TUSKER HOUSE

Tusker House is a character buffet in the Africa section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Here’s the review from The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit:

Tusker House includes an interesting village market theming…

Multiple rooms to dine in…

…with fun art…

…and visits from Mickey…

…Donald…

..and Goofy and Daisy.

The buffet is extensive and includes a carving station (salmon and pork at my visit) of which my images were either terrible or off-putting. The online menu is here.

Here’s few other representative shots from our last meal here:

For many more images and details on the offerings, my co-author Josh has an extensive review with a comprehensive set of photos, all of which are better than mine, here.

THE RIVERS OF LIGHT DINNER PACKAGE AT TIFFINS

Tiffins opened in 2016 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as a “signature” fine dining venue.

A favorite among bloggers, it also appeals to normal people looking for fine dining and an interesting, imagination filled setting.

Here’s the review from The easy Guide:

The online menu is here.

The physical menu (click it to enlarge it) and some other shots, several in focus, from my last meal here:

You need to see Rivers of Light; you need to eat, and specifically you need to either dine well or eat with Mickey Mouse. Either way, a Rivers of Light dining package can be an effective way to both do that—at Tiffins or Tusker House.

Note that as Disney experiments with how frequently and at what times it will show Rivers of Light, the package is not available to book six months ahead like regular Disney dining—it’s been three months or so lately. Check your dates here.

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2019 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The chart lower on the page shows my forecasts for 2019 crowds by week at Walt Disney World.

I updated and revised these in April 2019 after I completed my first set of analyses of 2019 fall breaks, and after the partial opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on August 29 was announced. Dates affected by the update are the weeks beginning 8/24/19 through 10/26/2019.

I considered revising the July 6 through August 17 crowd level forecasts down by a point–e.g. from “High-minus” to moderate plus,” for two reasons:

• For several years now, summer waits have been below past trend
• Now that the Star Wars partial opening has been announced, some folks may shift their summer visits to later in 2019 when they can see at least part of the new land

I chose not to do so for a couple of reasons. First, people underestimate how many people want to avoid the whole Star Wars opening mess, and who as a result may move their trips from the fall into the summer. And second, summer in Orlando is miserably hot and sticky, and anything I can do to incent you to avoid it I view as a service to world…

For 2020 crowds, see this.

I expect Galaxy’s Edge to unfold much like Harry Potter did at Universal–with crushing crowds in the actual land, but not a huge spillover effect on the other parks–or even much of the rest of Hollywood Studios other than the more thrill-style rides.

That said, Labor Day weekend 2019 will probably be the busiest ever instance of this holiday weekend at Disney World, and more generally, If I’m wrong, expect to see an increase of a point or two more in the crowd levels after late August. [Read more →]

2019 RESORT PRICE SEASONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The material below shows resort price seasons at Walt Disney World at different times of the year in 2019. Resort prices can be almost twice as high during some periods as they are at others. (For 2020 price seasons, see this.)

The text part is based on “price seasons,” a grouping tool Disney World no longer makes public, but which can be identified analytically. Disney charges based on the price of the actual nights, so if your visit straddles price seasons, you’ll pay the prices of each price season.

The charts average prices over the next seven nights, by arrival date.  This eliminates what would be otherwise be incomprehensible bumpiness from Thursday/Sunday and Friday/Saturday upcharges. For exact prices by night by room type by date, see MouseSavers.com here.

My comparisons are to prices that are “the lowest of the year,” the value season.   By this I mean the average nightly price of the lowest-priced seven night period during the value season. I use seven night comparisons because there’s as many as three different prices during a seven night period in a price season, but they follow a weekly pattern.

For longer seasons, my “x% higher” compares average prices over seven nights of that season. For shorter seasons (for example, the many three day weekend upcharges)  I compare the exact short-season prices to the seven-day prices.In the material below, “X% Higher” means compared to the lowest prices of the year.

2019 DISNEY WORLD PRICE SEASONS: VALUE RESORTS

• The lowest prices of the year–the value season–begins 1/2/2019
• 20-30% higher prices–Marathon rates–begin 1/10/19
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/13/19
• 20-25% higher for the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend begins 1/18/19
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/21/19
• 55-65% higher for the long Presidents Day weekend begins 2/14/19
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 2/18/19
• 20-30% higher–the regular season–begins 2/24/19
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 3/8/19
• 20-30% higher–the regular season–begins 3/24/19
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 4/7/19
• 60-65% higher–the Easter season–begins 4/14/19

• 20-30% higher–the regular season 2–begins 4/28/19
• 45-50 higher over the Memorial Day long weekend begins 5/24
• 30-40% higher–the summer season–begins 5/27/19
• 20-25% higher–the summer 2 season–begins 8/11/19
• 5-10% higher–the fall season–begins 8/25/19
• 20-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 9/15/19
• 40-50% higher over the long Columbus Day weekend begins 10/11/19
• 20-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 10/14/19
• 5-10% higher–the fall 2 season– begins 10/27/19
• 20-25% higher over the long Veterans Day weekend begins 11/8
• 5-10% higher–the fall 2 season–begins 11/11
• 30-35% higher over Thanksgiving begins 11/23/19
• 5-10% higher–the fall 2 season—begins 11/30/19
• 10-20% higher–the regular 4 season–begins 12/8/19
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 12/13/19
• 60-70% higher–the holiday season–begins 12/20/19

2019 DISNEY WORLD PRICE SEASONS: MODERATE RESORTS

• The lowest prices of the year–the value season–begin 1/2/2019
• 15% higher prices–Marathon rates–begin 1/10/19
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/13/19
• 10-15% higher for the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend begins 1/18/19
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/21/19
• 35-45% higher for the long Presidents Day weekend begins 2/14/19
• 25% higher–the peak season–begins 2/18/19
• 20% higher–the regular season–begins 2/24/19
• 25% higher–the peak season–begins 3/8/19
• 20% higher–the regular season–begins 3/24/19
• 25% higher–the peak season–begins 4/7/19
• 40-45% higher–the Easter season–begins 4/14/19

• 15-20% higher–the regular season 2–begins 4/28/19
• 25-35% higher over the Memorial Day long weekend begins 5/24
• 14-17% higher–the summer season–begins 5/27/19
• 16-22% higher–the summer 2 season–begins 8/11/19
• 10-20% higher–the fall season–begins 8/25/19
• 15-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 9/15/19
• 25-35% higher over the long Columbus Day weekend begins 10/11/19
• 15-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 10/14/19
• 10-18% higher–the fall 2 season– begins 10/27/19
• 20-30% higher over the long Veterans Day weekend begins 11/8
• 10-18% higher–the fall 2 season–begins 11/11
• 20-25% higher over Thanksgiving begins 11/23/19
• 10-18% higher–the fall 2 season—begins 11/30/19
• 10-20% higher–the regular 4 season–begins 12/8/19
• 25-30% higher–the peak season–begins 12/13/19
• 45-55% higher–the holiday season–begins 12/20/19

2019 DISNEY WORLD PRICE SEASONS: DELUXE RESORTS

• The lowest prices of the year–the value season–begin 1/2/2019
• 15-20% higher prices–Marathon rates–begin 1/10/19
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/13/19
• 15-20% higher for the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend begins 1/18/19
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/21/19
• 40-55% higher for the long Presidents Day weekend begins 2/14/19
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 2/18/19
• 20-25% higher–the regular season–begins 2/24/19
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 3/8/19
• 20-25% higher–the regular season–begins 3/24/19
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 4/7/19
• 50-60% higher–the Easter season–begins 4/14/19

• 20-25% higher–the regular season 2–begins 4/28/19
• 25-35 higher over the Memorial Day long weekend begins 5/24
• 10-17% higher–the summer season–begins 5/27/19
• 5-10% higher—near-lowest of year–the value season 2–begins 7/7/19
• Lowest of year–the value season—begins 8/23/19
• Prices bump up on 8/30/19 to 15% higher than the lowest of the year for the long Labor Day weekend
• Lowest of the year–the value season–begins 9/2/19
• 10-20% higher–the regular season 3–begins 9/20/19
• Prices increase to 25-30% higher than the lowest of the year for the long Columbus Day weekend on 10/11/19
• 5-15% higher–the fall season–begins 10/14/19
• 20-25% higher–the regular season 4–begins 11/1/19
• Prices go to 20-30% higher than the lowest of the year on 11/8 for the long Veterans Day weekend
• 5-15% higher–the fall season–begins 11/11/19
• 25-40% higher during Thanksgiving begins 11/26/19
• 5-15% higher–the fall season–begins 11/30/19
• 15-20% higher–the regular season 4–begins 12/8/19
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 12/13/19
• 55-75% higher–the holiday season–begins 12/20/19

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