Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

For the details, see this.

I’m not sure how stable the calendar is yet, but it looks like after the opening weekend that it’ll be on (until early April) Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with one show a night.  After that it’s expected to be on nightly.

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 11 TO FEBRUARY 19, 2017

Update: Rivers of Light is showing twice on 2/18 and 2/19, at 7.15 and 8.30p.

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

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

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/11/-2/19/17

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 2/11, 9a-10p 2/12, 9a-9p 2/13, 9a-8p 2/14 through 2/16, 9a-11p 2/17, and 8a-12Mn 2/18 and 2/19

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-7.30p 2/11 and 9a-8p 2/12 through 2/19

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/11-2/19/17

Saturday 2/11 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 2/12  Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 2/13 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 2/14 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 2/15 Morning: none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 2/16 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 2/17 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Saturday 2/18 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 2/19  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/11-2/19/17

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/11-2/19/17

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom:  9p 2/11; 8p 2/12 through 2/16; 9p 2/17 through 2/19

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7.45p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 7.15p 2/17; 7.15 and 8.30p 2/18 and 2/19

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/11-2/19/17

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

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Several interesting things came up in yesterday’s Walt Disney Company earnings call. One takeaway is that you might want to buy your tickets now.

PANDORA – THE WORLD OF AVATAR TO OPEN MAY 27

From Disney CEO Bob Iger’s introductory remarks on the call:

“This year we’ll open a great addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom with a brand new land called Pandora – The World of Avatar. Our Imagineers have brought the breathtaking world of Pandora to life through astonishing feats of artistic genius and groundbreaking engineering. The result is an exquisite environment with phenomenal attractions. And today I’m happy to announce this incredible new world will officially open on May 27.”

From later in the call:

“This is a very big land with an extremely unique design and architecture because it really does make you feel as though you’re in Pandora, that great world that Jim Cameron created, and an E-ticket attraction that is unlike any E-ticket attraction that we’ve ever built. And it is sizable. The whole experience is sizable.”

STAR WARS LAND TO OPEN IN 2019

Also from Iger on the call:

“Additionally, our progress continues on Star Wars Lands at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World [Hollywood Studios], both of which will open in calendar 2019.”

TOY STORY LAND—2018?

Toy Story Land in Disney’s Hollywood Studios did not come up in the call, but the Star Wars date of 2019 has led many to continue to believe that 2018 will see its opening. This seems a little fast to me…

TICKET PRICE INCREASE?

For the last three years, Walt Disney World has increased ticket prices in February. Buying your tickets now –for example from my friends at The Official Ticket Center  –will let you avoid this price increase.

Moreover, I do expect one of these days that Disney World will move its multiday tickets to a seasonal price model, where tickets for some periods of the year are more expensive than for other periods. (One day tickets took on this form in 2016.)

The business logic of this is to simultaneously shift demand to lower attendance times and, for those who won’t change their dates, to capture more value from higher demand times—as Disney’s hotel prices already do.

The possibility of a ticket price increase came up in the call, and I was intrigued by how Bob Iger answered it—and specially why he did not stop his response after the words “I have nothing to announce at this point,” and why he went on to mention redesign of packages and the distinctive importance of multi-day tickets at Disney World.

My take away? This stuff is on his mind…and so perhaps we will see the shift to seasonal pricing for Disney World multi-day tickets this month. If so, my guess is we will see only minor increases in ticket prices for the less-demanded parts of the year, and larger increases for the popular times.

So if you have not yet bought your tickets for your next visit, I’d do that now, especially if you plan to go in the spring break season, the summer, or during any of the major holiday periods later in the year. My friends at The Official Ticket Center  can help you get great prices.

Here’s the complete discussion of ticket prices during the call:

John Janedis – Jefferies LLC

“Hi. Thank you. Maybe another quick follow up at the parks. I think you’ve increased ticket prices in February the last couple of years. You’re going to lap the demand-based pricing model in a couple of weeks. And with Pandora opening, is there maybe a near-term opportunity to further increase single or multi-day ticket prices?”

Robert A. Iger – The Walt Disney Co.

“Yes. I have nothing to announce at this point, but we do take ticket pricing up on typically an annual basis and we do so in a variety of different ways. Sometimes it’s redesign of packages. Remember that in Florida that most of our attendance is multi-day in nature, and so the single day including when we take pricing increases is less important than when we take single-day pricing up in California. But we’re not prepared to make any specific comments about what’s in store in that regard.”

RIVERS OF LIFE NEXT WEEK?

Something else happened yesterday that was not on the earnings call—Rivers of Life, the much-delayed new evening show at Animal Kingdom, had a preview:

There’s no official opening date, but one rumor is that it could be announced any day now, and open as soon as next week. I’ve been burned so much on predicting this show that I officially have no opinion.

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

THE FLAGS OF THE AMERICAN ADVENTURE

By Jim Korkis

The flag flying over the American Adventure pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes. It was this version of the flag that writer Francis Scott Key wrote about in the poem The Star Spangled Banner in 1814. The song became the national anthem in 1931 by an Act of Congress.

The original Star Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry that Key saw proudly waving after an all-night bombardment by the British during the War of 1812 was given to the fort’s commandant, and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History.

This version of the flag became the official flag of the United States in 1795 replacing the original thirteen stars, thirteen stripes flag adopted in 1777. The original plan was that an additional star and stripe would be added for each new state entered into the union. This remained the official U.S. flag until 1818.

It quickly became apparent that if this continued, the number of stripes would not be appealing. So, the decision was made to just add a star to the star field and keep thirteen stripes to recognize the original thirteen colonies.

By the way, the 14th and 15th stars and stripes represented the states of Kentucky and Vermont.

From the main lobby in Epcot’s World Showcase, guests proceed to the American Adventure theater by going up escalators or climbing up stairs through what is referred to as the Hall of Flags (and sometimes called by Disney the Corridor of Flags). Hanging above the guests in rows of three as they make their journey to the upper floor is a collection of over forty flags that have flown over the United States over two centuries.

This collection of flags include Revolutionary War flags, Colonial flags, and even foreign flags of countries that once had claim to some sections of the land.

In July 2015, one of the flags was removed. It was the third and last official flag of the Confederate States of America. It was a white flag with a red stripe on one end and a small representation in the opposite corner of the most familiar battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia that people normally associate with the Confederate flag that is generally used in opposition to the civil rights movement.

This was a reaction to various businesses and state governments removing the battle flag as it has come under recent scrutiny as a symbol of racism.

The following is an alphabetical listing of the flags originally displayed, and their date of adoption:

Alamo Flag – 1824
Appomattox Courthouse Flag – 1865
Army Commander in Chief’s Flag – 1775
Bedford Flag – 1690
Betsy Ross Flag – 1777
Bucks of America – 1777
California Republic – 1846
Centennial Flag – 1876
Colonial Jack – 1701
Connecticut Second Regiment – 1776
Continental Colors – 1776
Dutch West India Company – 1655
The 50 Star Flag – 1960
First Navy Flag – 1777
Fort Moultrie Flag – 1776
Fort Sumter Flag – 1865
48 Star Flag – 1896
45 Star Flag – 1896
Frémont Flag – 1856
French Ensign – 1700
Green Mountain Boys – 1776
Hawaiian Royal Flag – 1800
Hayes Flag – 1860
King George III’s Flag – 1607
Massachusetts Navy Flag – 1776
Mexico – 1800
Navy Commander in Chief’s Flag – 1776
New Hampshire Second Regiment – 1777
New Sweden – 1638
New York Third Regiment – 1777
Old Glory – 1865
Perry Flag – 1813
Russian-American Company – 1700
Spanish Bourbon Flag – 1513
Stamp Act Protest Flag – 1774
Star-Spangled Banner – 1795
Stars and Bars – 1861
Taunton Flag – 1774
Texas Flag – 1836
Tricolor – 1789
The U.S. Flag – 1959
Washington’s Life Guards Flag – 1776
Whiskey Rebellion Flag – 1794
White Plains Flag – 1776

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 4 TO FEBRUARY 12, 2017

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

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

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/4/-2/12/17

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 2/4, 9a-10p 2/5, 9a-9p 2/6, 9a-8p 2/7 through 2/9, 9a-10p 2/10, 9a-11p 2/11, and 9a-10p 2/12

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-7.30p 2/4 through 2/11 and 9a-8p 2/12

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/4-2/12/17

Saturday 2/4 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 2/5  Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 2/6 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 2/7 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 2/8 Morning: none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 2/9 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 2/10 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Saturday 2/11 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 2/12  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/4-2/12/17

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/4-2/12/17

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom:  9p 2/4; 8p 2/5 through 2/10; 9p 2/11; 8p 2/12

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7.45p every night

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/4-2/12/17

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

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Update: Disney After Hours is returning for the summer of 2018.

Disney After Hours, an expensive way to see a bunch of Magic Kingdom rides with hardly any waits, has returned for 2017.

Not something I’d recommend for first-timers, this event is well worth it for returning visitors who can afford it and can stay up through it.

It’s currently on the calendar for most (but not all) Thursday nights into early March—specifically, February 2, 9, and 16, and March 2 and 9.

It “begins” at park close–the February dates are 8-11p, and the March dates 9p-12MN–but ticket holders can officially enter at 7p, and unofficially, I believe, can enter at 4p.

Prices for most people are $119 per adult or child. There’s also a deal of $89 per Annual Passholder/Disney Vacation Member adult or child (plus tax for both). The general price of $119 is about 20% less than last year’s price.

The number of tickets sold is quite limited. As a result, you can enjoy a number of Disney World rides with almost no wait.

It’s hard to communicate just how empty Magic Kingdom is.

I attended the party Friday January 27th and here’s a shot of the area between Peter Pan and the Carrousel during the afternoon that day:

And later during the event:

The boarding area for it’s a small world during the event:

The boarding area for Splash Mountain during the event:

The TTC parking lot about half an hour before event end:

If you know the Magic Kingdom well and are willing to move quickly, you can see quite a bit during the period from when you are let in to event end.

My test of the event last April is here, when basically I saw almost every headliner at Magic Kingdom, plus more.

In my 2017 test of this event Friday January 27, I tried to act less like a power user and more like what I thought the “typical family” might act like—specifically by starting in Fantasyland and going from there to Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland.

(Note that I don’t actually recommend this approach. You’ll see lower crowds if you start with Adventureland and end your night in Fantasyland. See below.)

Moreover, I intentionally arrived just before the event’s official beginning, as would those who aren’t aware that they can enter the park before the event, and knocked off after about two hours, figuring that I was about 50% more productive than the typical family, who would spend some time bickering outside the restrooms and eating ice cream (you get free ice cream, popcorn, and water and soft drinks at the event).

Here’s my results (times are when I got to the ride):

• Barnstormer 9p
• Dumbo 9.05
• Mad Tea Party 9.14
• Winnie the Pooh 9.19
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 9.25
• Under the Sea–Journey of the Little Mermaid 9.32
• Prince Charming Regal Carrousel 9.44
• it’s a small world 9.53
• Peter Pan 10.08
• Haunted Mansion 10.18
• Big Thunder Mountain 10.40
• Splash Mountain 10.50
• Pirates of the Caribbean 11.10p

Note that if you could have matched my pace, you would still have had time to ride Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, and perhaps, Seven Dwarfs again.

If you want to see a lot of Magic Kingdom rides with low or no waits, it is well worth it. The challenge is fitting it into your already existing plans and budget.

Like most things at Disney World, a successful visit to the event comes from careful planning.

The best strategy is to

• Do what Josh and I call in our book “Anytime Rides” (that is, rides that typically have low waits all day long) until near the time of the event
• Do “First or Last Hour Rides” (that is, rides that typically have low waits at the beginning and end of the day, but high waits in between) just before the event, and
• Do rides that are typically high-wait during the event itself.

Moreover, during the event, target the west side of the park first, then Tomorrowland, then Fantasyland.

Do it this way for a couple of reasons

• Most people’s first targets will be Tomorrowland or Fantasyland, so you’ll see lower crowds by starting in Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square
• The only ride where other people are essential is the Jungle Cruise, giving another reason to put Adventureland early
• Small children at the event will be sinking as the night grows later, so put Fantasyland last

Depending on how you value your time and money and design your visit, doing the After Hours event will either save a hotel night and day of eating (if you are at a deluxe, that itself will pay the extra cost of full price tickets), give you an extra day at another park, or give you an extra day off.

Taking full advantage of the minuscule waits requires the ability to stay up somewhat late, a good plan, sound knowledge of Magic Kingdom, and brisk movement.

For these reasons I can’t recommend it to first timers.

But the After Hours event can be a very good idea for returning visitors who know the Magic Kingdom well and want to grab an extra day out of their trip.

A NOTE FOR THE ENRAGED

The Disney World fan community, in general, gets enraged by only two things:

• Things Disney does
• Things Disney doesn’t do

The After Hours Event, after it was announced last year, enraged many people. Almost all the reasoning behind the enragement was speculation that something, somehow was being taken away from regular park guests and given instead to the rat-finks who could afford the quite expensive tickets for the After Hours Event.

In 2016 this reasoning was comically inept, as nothing in fact was taken away from regular guests.

There’s a bit more to the rage for the 2017 event, however.

Over the relevant weeks in January-March 2017, the Magic Kingdom in fact closed/is closing on average an hour and 17 minutes earlier on event nights than it did on the equivalent nights in 2016 (yes, I’ve corrected this for the changing dates of Presidents Day).

A third of this reduction in operating hours available to the general public (three of the nine fewer hours) is on one night, the Thursday before Presidents Day, when Magic Kingdom was open until 11p in 2016 and is open only til 8p in 2017. Three more of the “lost” hours have already passed—one on January 20th and two on January 27th. The next biggest impact is March 9, open til 11p in 2016 and 9p in 2017.

That said, it seems worth noting that on non-event nights in February 2017 (March 2017 does not yet have a firm calendar), the Magic Kingdom is open, on average, 58 minutes fewer than the same days in 2016…so it’s not only the event nights that are seeing shorter hours…

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