Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Josh and I published an updated version of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit last week, and as promised, here I’m both going into a little more detail on the update and also introducing the material in the book overall to those who aren’t familiar with it.

This post focuses on Chapter Five: Where to Stay.

First, on the book itself—my co-author Josh of easyWDW is the world’s leading authority on the Disney World parks and how to maximize the value of your time within them.  I have the same world-beating insight into the Disney World resorts–after my April visit, I’ll have stayed in more than 125 different Disney World-owned rooms, villas, studios, suites, cabins and campsites.

We each know a whole lot about a lot of other stuff too, and as a result, the Disney World guidebook series we have written has received more than 95% five star reviews. You simply won’t find a better reviewed Disney World guidebook.

Probably the biggest budget variable you have on your Disney World trip is where you stay, as rooms are available from less than $100 to ten times that much.

In the book we are pretty firm that most first-timers, and almost all first-timers who may never return, should stay in a Disney-owned resort, and give a number of reasons why.

We explain the Disney World resort price classes, and recommend particular hotels within each price class. This lets first-timers make quick decisions.

For returning visitors, or first-timers who want do understand better their options, we then offer detailed reviews including overall appeal, theming, standard rooms, dining and prices for every Disney-owned option, and also for the key on-site but not Disney-owned hotels.

Finally, the chapter includes a few suggestions for those staying offsite–but if you really need to know a lot about the off-site options, you should get The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2016, which has more detail.

The update has several components.

Almost every floor plan has been updated. Most show simple cosmetic changes from recent minor changes to fits and finishes. Incidentally, all are now in color–fun if you are viewing the kindle version on your Fire, laptop, or phone.

However, we also now have updated floor plans reflecting recently completed refurbs in the rooms at the Beach Club and a current refurb at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. We’ve added the final update on the Caribbean Beach refurb, and also note that the studios in the BoardWalk Villas now sleep five after their recent refurb.

Also on the refurb topic, we’e noted that the refurb at the Wilderness Lodge is more extensive than we had thought, and that it’s hard for us to recommend it right now–at least until the construction walls in its lobby come down.

The material on the hotels is the weakest part of many Disney World guidebooks.

Frankly, too many of their authors just don’t put the time into staying up to date (and staying in the rooms) that it takes to be accurate.

Our hotel material was the most accurate available even before this update–now it is even better!

Want a copy of your own? It’s available in paperback and Kindle versions on Amazon here!

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Josh and I published an updated version of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit last week, and as promised, here I’m both going into a little more detail on the update and also introducing the book overall to those who aren’t familiar with it.

This post focuses on Chapter Four: When to Go.

First, on the book itself—my co-author Josh of easyWDW is the world’s leading authority on the Disney World parks and how to maximize the value of your time within them, and I have the same world-beating insight into the Disney World resorts.

We each know a whole lot about a lot of other stuff too—like when to go in particular—and as a result, the Disney World guidebook series we have written has received more than 95% five star reviews. You simply won’t find a better reviewed Disney World guidebook.

The two most critical factors in having a great Disney World visit are having good plans for the parks themselves (covered in Chapter Six) and picking a good time to go. Chapter Four focuses on When to Go.

You can pick when to go based on crowds, prices, weather, special events, ride closures, or–most usually–some combination of these. Chapter Four covers each of these topics, then ends with month-by-month overviews.

The updated version of Chapter Four mostly sharpens the material we already published with updates based on new details that have come out since our late September publication date.

For example, we’ve now taken the Star Wars weekends out, and have the correct dates for the Flower and Garden and Food and Wine Festivals.

We mention the new variable prices for single day tickets, but don’t make a big deal out of this for picking your visit dates because in 2016 multi-day tickets still have the same price all year.  We would not be surprised to see variable pricing on multi-day tickets in 2017.

We put the update to bed too early to include the recently-released dates for the Halloween and Christmas parties, but you can see the dates at the links.

We also missed the recently announced special evening events and the expected morning events at the Magic Kingdom.  At current prices, I doubt these will make their way into the book (we more or less ignore in the book many high-priced opportunities of little general interest, to keep it short and focused on the many), but we’ll see.

I’ll be writing more about these shortly, and will be doing one of the evening events in April so that I can advise on for whom it might be worth the high cost.

Want one of your own? It’s available in paperback and Kindle versions on Amazon here!

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Josh and I published an updated version of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit last week, and as promised, here I’m both going into a little more detail on the update and also introducing the book overall to those who aren’t familiar with it. This post focuses on the first three chapters of the book.

First, on the book itself—my co-author Josh of easyWDW is the world’s leading authority on the Disney World parks and how to maximize the value of your time within them, and I have the same world-beating insight into the Disney World resorts.

We each know a whole lot about a lot of other stuff too—like when to go and where to eat in particular—and as a result, the Disney World guidebook series we have written has received more than 95% five star reviews. You simply won’t find a better reviewed Disney World guidebook.

Chapter 1 both introduces and summarizes the rest of the book. It is inspired by the home page of this site, and like it, it lets you—if you are willing to be guided—make all the key decisions in planning a Walt Disney Word trip quickly.

The rest of the book gives you much more detail on all the topics covered in Chapter 1, so that first timers can make their own decisions if they wish to, and returning visitors can make nuanced choices based on the “when to go” material, and the resort, ride, and dining reviews in the rest of the book.

The only major change in Chapter 1 was that we have pulled the Wilderness Lodge from our list of recommended resorts, based on the more extensive refurb happening there than we had thought when we originally published.

Chapter 2 covers a topic that surprises some first timers with it importance—how old and tall your kids should be. This is an important issue if you can afford to go only once. If first-timers can return, it matters less. And returning visitors will already have internalized the issues about maturity and height. Changes here were quite minor.

Chapter 3 covers a topic related to that of Chapter 2—how long to stay. Our recommendations in this chapter vary by whether or not you can return, and how old you kids are.

Changes here were also minor—we stopped using Soarin as an example while it is down for refurb, and we updated some observations about the value of longer trips after Disney World’s latest ticket price increase—where the price to add ticket days five to seven went up from around $11/person/day to $16/person/day.

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Josh and I (and our publisher, Theme Park Press) released an updated version of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2016 earlier this week.

Written by the world’s leading experts on the Disney World parks and how to tour them (my co-author Josh) and on the Disney World hotels (me, I’ll stay in my 125th different Disney World-owned hotel room in later April), this is the best reviewed Disney World guidebook on Amazon, ever, with more than 95% of the 200+ reviews of the series being 5 star reviews.

Josh and I take pride in producing the most helpful, easy to use, to the point, accurate and up to date guidebook series ever seen. So we update the current annual edition every few months until the version for the next year is published.

Our latest update includes more than 50 pages of changes. Here’s some of the key changes

In Chapter 6 (“How to Spend Your Tine”), we’ve updated the Epcot touring plans and many other spots in the book to reflect how to approach Epcot with Soarin closed for refurbishment.

In this same chapter we’ve also updated Hollywood Studios to reflect the new and shortly expected changes to the Star Wars offerings there, including the new fireworks.

We also offer in Chapter 6 thoughts on Epcot after the new Frozen offerings open, and the Animal Kingdom after Rivers of Light opens.

We’ve updated almost all the resort hotel floor plans in Chapter 5 (“Where to Stay”), and added special notes about recently completed refurbs at Caribbean Beach, the Beach Club, and the BoardWalk Villas, and the ongoing refurb at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. We also increased our level of concern about the Wilderness Lodge during its refurb.

In Chapter 7 (“Where to Eat”), among other updates we’ve redone the review of Skipper Canteen at the Magic Kingdom and added reviews of new dining venues including Morimoto Asia and Jock Lindsey’s Hanger Bar.

There’s more on these changes:

• Details on the updates to Chapters One to Three
• Details on the updates to Chapter Four (When to Go)
• Details on the updates to Chapter Five (Where to Stay)
• Details on the Updates to Chapter Six (What to Do in the Parks)

The best-received Disney World guidebook, ever, just got better.

It’s available in paperback and Kindle editions here. The PDF version isn’t updated yet, so I’ve taken down the links to it until I can get it loaded.

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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 LIBERTY BELL IN LIBERTY SQUARE

By Jim Korkis

One of the most iconic representations of the early history of the United States originally rang from a steeple in the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall).

The Liberty Bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack (Whitechapel Foundry) in 1751 and displayed the phrase “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” The phrase was from The Book of Leviticus (25:10) in the Bible.

The bell’s purpose was to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens to public meetings and special announcements.

The City of Philadelphia turned over the custody of the bell to the National Park Service in 1948. The bell was moved to a nearby glass pavilion on Independence Mall in 1976 and then to the larger Liberty Bell Center in 2003.

One of the things that changed over the years at the Magic Kingdom was the entrance to Liberty Square from the Hub. In 1971, the Court of Flags representing the original 13 states led guests to the old Concord Bridge, where the colonial forces faced off with the British in 1775.

In 1991, those flags were relocated to surround the Liberty Bell that had been installed in 1989. The entrance to the land was rebuilt with the brick walls, plaque and guardhouse that are familiar today. Stanchions now fill the holes where the flagpoles once stood.

The bridge led to a public square that would still seem somewhat similar to guests visiting the park today. The double-stacked Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat leisurely plied the Rivers of America starting on October 2, 1971.

It would be joined by the single stack Richard Irvine Riverboat in 1973 that is now called the Liberty Belle. Irvine was the WED Imagineer who was in charge of the attractions, while Fowler was in charge of supervising construction inside the park.

During the Bicentennial Celebration of the U.S. Constitution at Walt Disney World in 1987, one of the temporary displays in Liberty Square was an authentic reproduction of the original Liberty Bell loaned from the Mount Vernon Memorial Park and Mortuary of Fair Oaks, California through June of 1989.

However, Disney guests loved seeing the reproduction and taking photos with it so to provide a permanent display, Disney Show Properties and Interiors purchased a new replica. It was cast by Paccard Fonderie of Annecy, France using the original Liberty Bell mold. The new bell took its place of honor just before July 4, 1989 where it remains to this day.

The bell was made primarily of copper but also contains tin, lead, zinc, arsenic, gold and silver. It stands eight feet high, including stock, and weighs two and a half tons. The word “Pensylvania” was an accepted alternative spelling for “Pennsylvania” and appears on the original bell. Alexander Hamilton also used that spelling in 1787 on the signature page of the United States Constitution.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. Come back next Friday for even 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 First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD’S SPECIAL CHRISTMAS PARTY IN 2016

While Christmas itself is December 25 of course, Walt Disney World provides a special Christmas celebration at the Magic Kingdom many nights in November and December.

This celebration is called “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, or “MVMCP” for short.

At the party, many of the Magic Kingdom’s rides are open, and cookies and hot chocolate, special events, and different Christmas parades and fireworks, and even snow (!) are offered.

The official Disney World page for this event (where you can also buy tickets) can be found here. For a review of the 2016 version of MVMCP, see this.

MORE ON MICKEY’S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY

This party occurs from 7p-12MN on certain evenings at the Magic Kingdom in November and December.

The 2016 dates for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party are as follows:

• November 2016:  7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 27 and 29
• December 2016: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18 and 22

You need to buy a special ticket for this party. This ticket is different from regular Walt Disney World park admission tickets.

• The special party ticket does not allow you to enjoy the rides and attractions of the Magic Kingdom before the the Party starts–you need a regular ticket for that (note that you can usually enter and enjoy the rides as early as 4p–although your ticket will say 7p)
• Regular tickets used to enter the park earlier the day of a Party do not give you access to the Party–you need to have the special Party ticket

The party tickets are expensive, so why would first-time visitors be interested? A couple of potential reasons

• Evening fireworks shows are rare this time of year, so going to one of the parties is a way to guarantee you can see them
• Operating hours at the Magic Kingdom are shorter this time of year, so the Party allows you more time there within the same visit
• Walt Disney World sells only a limited number of tickets to each party, so the evening can be less crowded, particularly compared to whenever the Magic Kingdom is doing evening Extra Magic Hours that week

Many families go the first time for one of these reasons…and then going becomes a tradition!

On the other hand, families following one of the standard 8-night itineraries on this site will see the fireworks and evening parade, and have plenty of time at the Magic Kingdom. For that reason, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is not designed into this site’s pre-Thanksgiving itineraries.

It is, however, built in to this site’s Christmas-oriented Basic Itinerary, which works for the three weeks beginning the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

For details on what the party offers, suggested approaches, etc., see this!

Here’s the 2016 brochure–as always on this site, click to enlarge:

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