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Disney World FastPass+ Lower Crowd Itinerary, 6 Night Version
This itinerary will be retired for 2017, as with additions at the Animal Kingdom it is too short.
Below is a six night variant of my updated FastPass+ based Disney World itinerary for lower crowd weeks.
It does not work all dates, and some dates that it mostly works it may need some little adjustments.
Check your week here. If the eight night lower crowd itinerary works unchanged, then so will this. If I indicate on the linked page required changes to the eight night itinerary, then use the comment form below to ask about your week.
This six night variant does a great job of covering the parks, at the expense of almost all your time off. The seven and eight night options are much better choices.
The recommended FastPass+ that make it work are in the To-Do List, so you can book them at the 60 day window for FastPass+ sign-ups. Daily agendas are in the links:
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November 22, 2015 12 Comments
Disney World FastPass+ Lower Crowd Itinerary, 7 Night Saturday Arrival Version
NOTE: THIS ITINERARY IS OUT OF DATE. A REVISED VERSION FOR 2017 WILL BE OUT SHORTLY
Below is a seven night, Saturday arrival variant of my updated FastPass+ based Disney World itinerary for lower crowd weeks.
It does not work all dates, and some dates that it mostly works it may need some little adjustments.
Check your week here. If the eight night lower crowd itinerary works unchanged, then so will this. If I indicate on the linked page required changes to the eight night itinerary, then use the comment form below to ask about your week.
There’s also a seven night Sunday arrival variant. If you could do either, the Sunday version is much better.
The recommended FastPass+ that make it work are in the To-Do List, so you can book them at the 60 day window for FastPass+ sign-ups. Daily agendas are in the links:
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
November 21, 2015 3 Comments
A Friday Visit With Jim Korkis: Dave Smith and “Walt Wouldn’t Do That!”
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.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVE SMITH
By Jim Korkis
Dave Smith became a Disney Company employee on June 22, 1970 and was the company’s first archivist and the only person in his department at the time. His first assignment was to document all the items in Walt Disney’s offices.
In 2007, he was made a Disney Legend. He retired in October 2010 over four decades after first being hired but continues to work for the Disney Company as a consultant with the title Chief Archivist Emeritus.
I have interviewed Dave many times. The following is an excerpt from one I did with him on March 16, 2005 at the Walt Disney Story Theater in Main Street Exposition Hall at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. It was done on stage in the afternoon in front of more than three hundred eager cast members.
Dave Smith: “I think that Epcot was an idea of a visionary. Epcot was something that Walt Disney came up with just a couple of months before he died so there really wasn’t the opportunity there for people to think about his ideas too much, to discuss his ideas too much and then he was gone. And, the idea sort of died for a while with him because nobody wanted to continue with this because that was Walt’s idea and I don’t think anybody else really had a lot of confidence in the idea of Epcot.
“Roy O. Disney who took over the company at that time said, “We know how to build a Magic Kingdom. We’ve got all this land out there in Florida. It’s got to start making some money for us so let’s build our Magic Kingdom first. Let some money start coming in and then we’ll think about Walt’s ideas for Epcot.”
“So, I think if there had been a lot of discussion in 1966 about Epcot, you found a lot of naysayers in the company saying, we’re going to be wasting our money. Of course, when we built Epcot you had a lot of people outside the company saying that too because we spent a billion dollars to build this amusement park and nobody had ever done anything like that before!
“A lot of people have complained about Disney bringing outside elements into its theme parks. As the example, Star Tours, Captain Eo, things like this. They think, “Walt built a Disney park! This was a Disney park and he didn’t allow all these outside things in!”
“But look at Disneyland in 1955. What part of that park was Disney? Fantasyland! That was about it. I mean, he’d made some true-life adventures and so, yeah, let’s have an Adventureland. But, the Jungle Cruise wasn’t based on a Disney film; that was based on The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart. I mean, the boats are pretty much the boats from The African Queen.
“Frontierland. How much did Disney do on the subject of Frontierland before the park opened? We’d done three Davy Crockett shows on television but that’s about it. So, and Davy Crockett wasn’t very much of a part of Frontierland when it opened. And a year later we expanded Frontierland and bullt Tom Sawyer’s Island. How many movies did we make about Tom Sawyer at that time? None. So, that didn’t have Disney connotations either.
“Look at Tomorrowland. We’d never done anything about the world of the future until our television show started and this was while he was building Disneyland and Walt thought well, we better do some things about Tomorrowland. And so he did a few space shows.
“And, Main Street! What’s Disney about Main Street? I mean, people say that’s based on Walt’s childhood. Well, maybe partially but it’s probably more based on the childhood of Imagineer Harper Goff, who designed Main Street and based it on his hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, not Marceline, Missouri. So, there are a lot of myths there and people don’t really think this out before they start complaining about what would Walt have done. Well, Walt did that!”
* * * * *
Thanks, Jim. And come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!
In the meantime, check out his books, including The Vault of Walt
, Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?, and The Book of Mouse
, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.
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November 20, 2015 No Comments
Next Week (November 21 Through November 29, 2015) at Walt Disney World
DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: NOVEMBER 21 TO NOVEMBER 29, 2015
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 November 2015 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 11/21/-11/29/2015
The Magic Kingdom will be open 9a-12MN 11/21, 8a-12MN 11/22 through 11/25, 8a-1a 11/26 and 11/27, 8a-11p 11/28, and 9a-7p 11/29
Epcot will be open from 9a-9p 11/21 through 11/26 and 9a-9.30p 11/27 through 11/29
Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8.30p 11/21, 8a-8.30p 11/22 through 11/26, 8a-11p 11/27 and 11/28, and 8a-8p 11/29
Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-7p 11/21, 8a-8p 11/22, 8a-7p 11/23 through 11/27, 8a-8p 11/28, and 9a-8p 11/29
EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21/-11/29/2015
Saturday 11/21 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none
Sunday 11/22 Morning: none Evening: Hollywood Studios
Monday 11/23 Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening: none
Tuesday 11/24 Morning: Epcot Evening: none
Wednesday 11/25 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: Magic Kingdom
Thursday 11/26 Morning: none Evening: Epcot
Friday 11/27 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none
Saturday 11/28 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none
Sunday 11/29 Morning: none Evening: Hollywood Studios
PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21/-11/29/2015
The Magic Kingdom:
- Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
- Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 11/21; 8 and 10p 11/22 through 11/28
FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21-11/29/2015
Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 11/21; 9p 11/22 through 11/28
Illuminations at Epcot: 9p 11/21 through 11/26; 9.30p 11/27 through 11/29
Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7 and 8.30p 11/21 through 11/29
SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21/-11/29/2015
See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.
LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21/-11/29/2015
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:
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November 19, 2015 No Comments
Disney World FastPass+ Lower Crowd Itinerary, 7 Night Sunday Arrival Version
NOTE: THIS ITINERARY IS OUT OF DATE. A REVISED VERSION FOR 2017 WILL BE OUT SHORTLY
Below is a seven night, Sunday arrival variant of my updated FastPass+ based Disney World itinerary for lower crowd weeks.
It does not work all dates, and some dates that it mostly works it may need some little adjustments.
Check your week here. If the lower crowd eight night itinerary works unchanged, then so will this. If I indicate on the linked page required changes to the eight night itinerary, then use the comment form below to ask about your week.
There’s also a seven night option with a Saturday arrival. If you could do either 7 night arrival date, this Sunday arrival version is much better.
The recommended FastPass+ that make it work are in the To-Do List, so you can book them at the 60 day window for FastPass+ sign-ups. Daily agendas are in the links:
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
November 15, 2015 8 Comments
A Friday Visit With Jim Korkis: Why Disney World in Not in St. Louis
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.
DISNEY WORLD AND ST. LOUIS
By Jim Korkis
During 1963 and 1964, Walt Disney was in discussions with the city of St. Louis to build a five story building covering over two city blocks that would house an indoor entertainment complex called Riverfront Square.
It would include a Pirate’s Lair and Blue Bayou boat ride (later combined at Disneyland into Pirates of the Caribbean), a Haunted House, a Circarama 360 Theater, a Mike Fink ride, a “Lewis and Clark Adventure Ride” and even a Mississippi steamboat attraction.
Since it would be an enclosed area devoted to telling the story of the state of Missouri, the Mississippi River and Mark Twain, Walt had plans to create his own “sky” on the ceiling that would simulate weather and time of day so that the venue could operate year round in a climate controlled environment.
Walt had insisted that no alcohol be served in the indoor venue because he wanted it to be family friendly, and the absence of alcohol would keep out what Walt referred to as “rowdies” who would disrupt the experience. This was the same philosophy he had at Disneyland.
Admiral Joe Fowler, who was in charge of construction for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, was 82 years old in 1988 and living in his Bay Hill home in Florida when he shared this story with me by phone:
“Well, it seems almost from the day Disneyland was opened people were after Walt to open another. If not exactly like the one in California, then something else, but hurry up and build something. Walt resisted this at first, but then, after our New York World’s Fair exhibits were in place and proving a spectacular success, he began to look around the country.
“I think it was in early 1964 that after several visits, Walt gave the green light for some preliminary theme park work to start in St. Louis. We were invited to this fancy civic banquet, where there were lots of enthusiastic bankers, chamber of commerce types, the mayor and his people, that kind of thing.
“At some point well into the dinner, August Busch, owner of Anheuser-Busch brewery and a powerful man in St. Louis, stood up, when he should have sat down and said something to the effect of ‘Any man who would build something like this, and then not serve beer and liquor inside, ought to have his head examined’.
“Now Walt, when in public, didn’t show much emotion if he got angry. He would just remain quiet where usually he was quite talkative. But when you saw his left eyebrow shoot up, you knew there was a serious state of affairs. Well, when Walt heard that Busch considered him crazy for not selling alcohol in the thing, his eyebrow arched straight up.
“Once we were all on the company plane and headed back to California, Walt gathered us for a meeting and said, ‘All right, forget about St. Louis’. Nobody had to ask why. The bankers called, all upset that we had pulled out. Some even visited us later, but it was to no avail. After that Walt said maybe we should concentrate more on Florida.
“When we picked up the bulk of 27,000 acres in Florida, Walt was delighted but not overwhelmed or over the moon. If he had had his way, we would have bought 50,000 acres!”
Interestingly, documentation has been uncovered in recent years that Walt did not consider the St. Louis project as an alternative to his interest in building something in Florida. He truly intended to do both things simultaneously.
The biggest issue was not actually the selling of alcohol, but rather that St. Louis felt that Disney was going to pay for the entire thing itself, whereas Walt felt that St. Louis was going to finance it and then later be reimbursed from the net profits of the operation but that the property would have been owned solely by Disney.
In any case, on July 13, 1965, St. Louis officials and Disney executives jointly announced that the project would not be built. Four months later, in November 1965, Disney made a public announcement of the plans to build in Florida.
* * * * *
Thanks, Jim. And come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!
In the meantime, check out his books, including The Vault of Walt, Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South?, and The Book of Mouse, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
November 13, 2015 No Comments
