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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MARCH 5 TO MARCH 13, 2016

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

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on March 2016 at Walt Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/5-3/13/2016

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 3/5, 9a-10p 3/6, 9a-11p 3/7 and 3/8, 9a-10p 3/9, 9a-11p 3/20 and 3/11, 9a-12MN 3/12, and 9a-11p 3/13

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

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8p 3/5, 9a-9p 3/6, 9a-8.30p 3/7 through 3/11, 9-9p 3/12, and 9a-10p 3/13

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-6p 3/5 through 3/7, and 9a-6.30p 3/8 through 3/13.

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/5-3/13/2016

Saturday 3/5 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 3/6 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: None

Monday 3/7 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 3/8 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 3/9 Morning:  none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 3/10 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 3/11 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Saturday 3/12 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 3/13  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/5-3/13/2016

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 3/5; 8 and 10p 3/6; 9a and 11p 3/7 and 3/8; 8 and 10p 3/9; 9 and 11p 3/10 and 3/11; 9p 3/12; 9 and 11p 3/13

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/5-3/13/2016

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 3/5; 9p 3/6; 10p 3/7 and 3/8; 9p 3/9; 10p 3/10 through 3/13

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7p 3/5 and 3/6; 7.30p 3/7 through 3/12; 8.30p 3/13

Symphony in the Stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p 3/5 and 3/6; 8.30p 3/7 through 3/12; 9.30p 3/13

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/5-3/13/2016

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

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 3/5-3/13/2016

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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I’ve just updated most of the material in my review of the BoardWalk Villas, based on my late January stay in its newly-refurbed spaces—my sixth stay at the BoardWalk Villas since I started this site.

More than 50 new photos show…

…The refurbed Studios, which now sleep five, the fifth on a fold-down bed that dismisses the table (photo at top of page)

…and the refurbed One Bedroom Villas, where most of the changes are cosmetic, and generally pretty successful.

(At the BoardWalk Inn, all Two Bedroom Villas simply combine a One Bedroom and a Studio.)

In addition all the floor plans are updated!

This updated review now has five pages:

• An overview of Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Theming and accommodations at the BoardWalk Villas 
• A photo tour of a refurbed BoardWalk Villas Studio
• A photo tour of the kitchen/dining/living room side of a refurbed BoardWalk Villas One Bedroom Villa
• A photo tour of the baths and master bedroom of a refurbed BoardWalk Villas One Bedroom Villa

Check out the updated review of Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, starting here.

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Late last month, in between seeing the new Hollywood Studios Star Wars fireworks and other Star Wars stuff and baking like a fiend to test the new ovens in the renovated Cabins at Fort Wilderness, I ran off with Josh of easyWDW.com –we co-author in The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, the best-reviewed Disney Word guidebook series, ever–to Clermont to do an interview with John Panda.

It was fun–you can see it here, if you’d like.  We start about 15 minutes in.

Disney World yesterday raised prices on its adult (10 and older) multi-day tickets from 5% to almost 10.5%. Child (3-9 years old) tickets went up even more, from 6% to more than 11%.

The higher price increases were on the five day and longer multi-day tickets that make for the best first visit for those who may not be able to return, and are also the most common tickets for returning visitors.

Price increases by length of ticket (except for one day tickets) for adult tickets are in the chart:

In addition, while it is still relatively inexpensive to add days to a ticket at least four days long, there’s now two prices for adding days to such tickets. For shorter tickets, it costs around $16/day, and for longer tickets, $10.65.

The full data on the new ticket prices is here.

At the same time, Disney changed the form of its one day tickets.

• One day tickets still have different prices for adults and children, and (unlike any other ticket lengths) still have different prices for the Magic Kingdom vs the other three parks.
• Now, in addition, one day tickets (but not any multi-day tickets) have different prices at different times of the year, creating more than 70 bazillion different possible ticket prices for these largely irrelevant one day tickets.

WHY THE BIG PRICE INCREASE AND MINOR SEASONAL PRICING ADD?

My speculation is that both of the curious features of the new prices are strategic–that is, they are about the future, not about 2016.

The high increase in ticket prices  for 2016 follows a high increase in 2016 resort prices that came out last summer. Both are trading off an increasing US willingness to spend on vacations now that we are years out of the recession with major exchange-rate issues for overseas visitors, in the context of the Disney hotels being for all practical purposes full, Magic Kingdom capacity a constraint to growth many weeks of the year, and a whole sequence of new attraction investments coming on line this spring, this summer, and next year.

I see this year’s minor stab towards seasonal ticket pricing as simply being the first shot at this seasonal pricing model.

That is, I believe that next year–or sooner, or a little later–seasonal ticket pricing will become more general across Disney World ticket types, as Disney tries to get people into the parks more in the lower-demand periods of the year. Until something relieves pressure on the Magic Kingdom during busier times, and additional hotels get built, that’s where volume growth has to come from.

The high increase this year lets the increases next year in the lower-priced seasons of the year be less, zero, or even a cut, while still showing a good two-year average growth, allowing for a wider band between the lowest and highest cost ticket dates.

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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.

DINOSAUR AT DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM–AND LUCKY TOO

By Jim Korkis

The Animal Kingdom attraction DINOSAUR originally opened as Countdown to Extinction in DinoLand at that park in April 1998, and is one of the few Disney theme park attractions that opened before the movie that inspired it was released.

After the movie DINOSAUR was released in May 2000, the attraction was renamed to the movie title.

(c) Disney

The logo on the building was taken down and replaced with a sign featuring the logo for the film. The original statue at the front of the building, which was a Styracosaurus, was replaced with a statue of Aladar, the Iguanodon hero of the animated feature.

In the attraction, guests board vehicles at the Dino Institute called Time Rovers and are sent to the Cretaceous period that contains several elements from the film including the appearance of a Carnotaurus, Igaunodon and a meteor shower.

Realizing that the newly re-named attraction might attract a younger audience that had seen the movie, at the same time the movement of the vehicles was changed to be less intense and the soundtrack was revised to be less frightening so that the sound of the Carnotaurus seemed further in the distance. (Later, the attraction was amped back up to more of a thrill ride.)

Imagineer Joe Rohde, executive designer of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and other Imagineers involved in the creation of the park, worked closely with the Walt Disney Pictures team that created the animated feature, Dinosaur to create the unique ride experience.

To publicize the film, there were even plans to have an audio-animatronics dinosaur parade walk down Main Street at Disneyland. Those readers who saw the 2012 Travel Channel special on Imagineering saw a huge box drop open and a free standing four-legged audio-animatronics dinosaur take a few steps.

Those experiments in the “Living Character Initiative” evolved into Lucky.

Lucky the dinosaur is the prototype for the next generation of audio-animatronics figures. In fact, the 20-feet long, roughly 12-feet tall, the 450-pound Lucky, who smiles, grunts, sneezes, bats his eyelashes and signs clover-shaped autographs, had very successful test runs at Disney’s California Adventure and later Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Lucky is patterned after the Gallimimus dinosaur, but Disney designers took some liberties to soften his image so children of all ages would fall in love with him.  He did vocalizations including hiccups.

Lucky was five years in development. Unlike earlier animatronics figures, Lucky is operated by electric motors and sensors that are controlled through a central computer, which regulates everything from Lucky’s ponderous footsteps to the gentle batting of his eyelashes.  The batteries and computer were located in the flower cart that he pulled.

The type of skin generally used for other animatronics characters could not be used for Lucky because it was too heavy so Imagineers developed a lighter, more flexible skin.

Lucky was also meant to publicize the four hour television mini-series Dinotopia (2002) which is why Lucky’s “handler” who walked along his side was attired in garb appropriate for that show.

Lucky’s first appearance was at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles on August 28, 2003. A few days later he visited Disney California Adventure park.

Since Lucky was only “play testing”, he returned to his home at Walt Disney Imagineering and eventually made appearances in Disney’s Animal Kingdom (May 6, 2005) at the Walt Disney World Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

Today, he’s back home at Walt Disney Imagineering and makes occasional appearances for Adventures by Disney guests, the D23 2009 Expo and non-Disney events like the 2008 World Science Festival.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. And 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 NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 27 TO MARCH 6, 2016

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

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on February 2016 at Walt Disney World, click here, and for more on March, here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/27-3/6/2016

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-12MN 2/27, 9a-10p 2/28, 9a-11p 2/29, 9a-9p 3/1, 9a-8p 3/2 and 3/3, 9a-9p 3/4, 9a-11p 3/5, and 9a-10p 3/6

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

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8.30p 2/27 and 2/28, 9a-8p 2/29 through 3/5, and 9a-9p 3/6

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-6.30p 2/27, 9a-6.30p 2/28, 9a-5p 2/29, 9a-5.30p 3/1, 9a-5p 3/2 through 3/4, and 9a-6p 3/5 and 3/6

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/27-3/6/2016

Saturday 2/27 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 2/28 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: None

Monday 2/29 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 3/1 Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 3/2 Morning:  none  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 3/3 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 3/4 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Saturday 3/5 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 3/6  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/27-3/6/2016

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 2/27; 8 and 10p 2/28 and 2/29; 7p 3/1, 3/3, and 3/4; 9p 3/5, and 8p 3/6

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/27-3/6/2016

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 2/27; 9p 2/28 and 2/29; 8p 3/1 through 3/4; 10p 3/5; and 9p 3/6

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7 and 9p 2/26 through 2/28; 7p 2/29 through 3/6

Symphony in the Stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p every night

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/27-3/6/2016

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

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 2/27-3/6/2016

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest