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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 ANANDAPUR REPORTER

By Jim Korkis

The queue for the attraction Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is set in the remote village of Serka Zong, in the Kingdom of Anandapur in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Guests move through the Himalayan Escapes Tours and Expeditions Booking Office to “obtain permits.”

The Himalayan Escapes Tours and Expeditions company organizes a number of different tours and expeditions with “Expedition Everest” being the name of just one of their specific tours.

Himalayan Escapes is operated by a native Anandapuri, Norbu, and his business partner, a British entrepreneur named Bob.

They operate out of a building that had previously been used as the headquarters of the Royal Anandapur Tea Company. They have refurbished a steam train that had been used by the tea company to bring harvested tea leaves down the mountains.

This train now takes customers to the base camp using a shortcut through the Forbidden Mountain that is supposedly the location of a mysterious environmental guardian referred to as the Yeti…

Norbu and Bob’s office is filled with dozens of small details, from a map of the Himalayas to a tour board depicting the status of the various expeditions.

In fact, there are so many details in the various buildings leading to the attraction vehicles that guests are unable to see all of them—they may miss a yellowed newspaper clipping from The Anandapur Reporter “Serving the Nation for 100 Years.”

While some headlines like “Trekkers Feared Lost” and “Herders Report Missing Yak” are missing their full stories, the lead feature story is complete:

“Forbidden Mountain Railway Re-opens
Locals Fear Wrath of Yeti

“SERKA ZONG—Despite dire warning from irate local residents, the old Anandapur Rail Services route through Forbidden Mountain was reopened today. Closed since 1934 under mysterious circumstances, the railroad, formerly operated by the Royal Anandapur Tea Co. was refurbished by Himalayan Escapes Tours and Expeditions.

“The intent, say the operators, is to provide safe, efficient transport to base camp at Mount Everest and environs. Hundreds of western trekkers and climbers are expected to make the journey to Serka Zong to book passage on the new service.

“In the heyday of the great tea plantations that flourished in the region, private rail lines were established to carry produce to distant markets. The Royal Anandapur Tea Company used the Forbidden Mountain route extensively in the 1920s and early 1930s. However, beginning in 1933, the railroad was plagued with accidents. Some drew a connection between the mishaps and increasing British expeditionary attempts to reach the summit of Mount Everest, invoking the spirit of the guardian of the sacred mountain.

“By 1934, continual equipment breakdowns and track breakages caused the tea company to shutter its facilities and pull up stakes. The legend of a sacred beast continued to loom large among locals, coming to a head in 1982 with the tragic disappearance of the Forbidden Mountain Expedition.

“However, warnings and naysayers aside, the daring entrepreneurs behind Himalayan Escapes were determined to put on a loud, colorful show to celebrate their achievement. Local government officials in attendance trumpeted the event as a landmark enterprise, marking a new era of prosperity and opportunity for Serka Zong. It is indeed our hope that this is the case.”

Near the end of the Yeti Museum, before guests board the train, two notices hang on the wall. One is written by the museum’s curator Professor Pumba Dorjay warning against the railroad expedition and another by Norbu and Bob stating that the curator’s notice “does not represent the opinions or views” of the company.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. 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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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: OCTOBER 17 TO OCTOBER 25, 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 October 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 10/17/-10/25/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-12MN 10/17, 9a-7p 10/18, 9a-12MN 10/19, 9a-7p 10/20, 9a-11p 10/21, 9a-7p 10/22 and 10/23, 9a-12MN 10/24, and 9a-7p 10/25

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 10/17, 9a-9p 10/16 through 10/22, 9a-10p 10/23 and 10/24, and 9a-9p 10/25

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8.30p 10/17 and 10/18, 9a-7p 10/19 through 10/22, and 9a-8.30p 10/23 through 10/25

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-6.30p 10/17 and 10/18, 9a-6p 10/19 through 10/22, 9a-7p 10/23, and  8a-6.30p 10/24 and 10/25

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/17/-10/25/2015

Saturday 10/17 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 10/18 Morning:  none Evening: Hollywood Studio

Monday 10/19 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 10/20 Morning: Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 10/21 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 10/22 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Friday 10/23 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 10/24 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Sunday 10/25  Morning: none  Evening: Hollywood Studios

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/17/-10/25/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 10/17, 10/19, 10/21 and 10/24

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/17-10/25/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 10/17, 10/19, 10/21 and 10/24

Illuminations at Epcot: 10p 10/17; 9p 10/18 through 10/22; 10p 10/23 and 10/24; 9p 10/25

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7.30 and 9p 10/17 and 10/18; 7.30p 10/19 through 10/22; 7.30 and 9p 10/23 through 10/25

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/17/-10/25/2015

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

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/17/-25/11/2015

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:

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

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I don’t usually warn people off of bad stuff—life’s too short, so mostly I just ignore it.

For example, there’s a Disney Word guide book out there from a famous publisher that claims “Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom now opens at 8 a.m. almost every day, you can see the park in half a day.” Neither of these claims is true (except in the trivial sense that if you skip half of the Animal Kingdom, you can see it in half a day). Rather than warn people off, I just didn’t bother to review it.

Today I’m making an exception because the influential Orlando Sentinel published an article about a new website (from hotels.com) called Orlando.com.

I looked at the new website and was appalled.

Just a few issues I found on it:

From its material on Magic Kingdom park hours and the evening fireworks show Wishes:

“Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World is open every day from 09:00 to midnight…The Wishes nighttime spectacular firework display also runs every evening at 22:00.”

The Magic Kingdom’s operating hours aren’t “from 09:00 to midnight,” but in fact vary substantially, especially in later September through mid-December.

It can be open as long as from 8a until 1a, or as briefly as 9a to 7p (even 6p one or two nights a year).

This week, its operating hours are as follows: 8a-12MN 10/10, 9a-11p 10/11, 9a-7p 10/12 and 10/13, 8a-11p 10/14, 9a-7p 10/15 and 10/16, 8a-12MN 10/17, and 9a-7p 10/18. Note that on not a single date this week is it open “from 09:00 to midnight.”

Wishes does not “run every evening at 22:00.” First, it’s not on every night of the year—it’s on just four nights between 10/10 and 10/18—and while commonly shown at 10p, is also shown some nights at 8p or 9p, and even more rarely 7p.

From its material on attractions at the Magic Kingdom:

“Check out the best attractions at each of these zones below:”

“Adventureland – inspired by the tropical jungles of Africa, Asia and South America, this is the place to delve into the deep, dark world of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, float down the river in the ‘Jungle Cruise’ simulator, or go wild in the long-standing ‘Enchanted Tiki Room’.”

“Fantasyland – this recently-expanded part of Magic Kingdom is inspired by the medieval fayres and carnival featured in Walt Disney’s movies. Top rides and attractions here including the more child-friendly ‘It’s a Small World, ‘Peter Pan’s Flight’, ‘Seven Dwarfs Mine Train’ and ‘Tangled’.”

Not sure that the Jungle Cruise is a simulator; not many would highlight the Tiki Room as either a “best attraction” or a place to “go wild”; and in Fantasyland, “Tangled” is a bathroom, not an attraction.

From its ticket price material on the Magic Kingdom (typos and grammar problems from the original):

“Do not that tickets are sold separately for Disney’s Magic Kingdom, with day-passes starting at around $100. You can then upgrade your ticket to the ‘Park Hopper Option’ which grants access to all four parks at an additional cost $64 per day.”

The park hopper upgrade is not priced “per day” but rather has a single one-time cost that varies by ticket length. A park hopper costs in total (after tax) about $68 for all ticket lengths longer than three days. It’s $53 if added to a one day MK ticket, $62 if added to another one day ticket, and $53 for two and three day tickets.

From its material on When to Go—oddly buried under “Weather”

“Peak Seasons:”

“There are two times every year when Orlando is really busy with tourists …[that] coincide with the school holidays – spring break in March and April and the summer vacation from June to September.”

“Low Seasons:”

“…[T]he tourist numbers (and, as a result, hotel prices) are at their lowest…during the winter months from November to March.”

In fact, the “winter” weeks that include Christmas and New Year’s Eve are the busiest and highest-priced periods of the year, and March other than the first week is both very crowded and expensive.

The site also has a number of “Top Ten Lists” which seem to be simply crowd-sourced with some questionable editorial matter then added.

For example, in its “Ten Best Restaurants” entry, it (not unreasonably) puts Victoria and Albert’s at #3, but begins its commentary with this odd text:

“Fine dining and Disney haven’t always gone hand-in-hand; the first restaurant you might associate with Mickey Mouse and co probably has a giant yellow ‘M’ towering above it or a certain Colonel Sanders plastered on a billboard outside. Victoria & Albert’s, however, flips this now out-of-date stereotype on its head, offering the polar opposite of the old-school Disney fast food joint.”

And then, most tellingly, comes Orlando.com’s proposition for the Number 4 Best Restaurant in Orlando: The Cheesecake Factory!

Enough said.

This website may be of some use, someday. But for sure it is not now. Ummm…get my book instead.

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THE BEST-REVIEWED DISNEY WORLD GUIDE BOOK SERIES PUBLISHES 2016 EDITION

The 2016 edition of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, published by Theme Park Press, came out at the end of September, and we’ve already published a minor update—on Wednesday—incorporating changes like the increase in theme park parking fees to $20. (Details on the update are here.)

The latest entry in the best-reviewed Disney World guide book series ever (94% of its almost 200 reviews on Amazon have 5 stars; reviews of the 2014 edition are here, 2015 here, and 2016 here), the 2016 easy Guide is the most accurate and up-to-date Disney World guide book ever published. It’s also the shortest major guide book, has the largest print of any major guide book, and is, by far, the easiest one to use.

And it’s co-written by the world’s leading expert on touring the parks—my co-author, Josh Humphrey of easyWDW—and the world’s leading expert on the Disney World hotels—me.

Everything is updated for 2016—

• All new material on when to go, in Chapter 4
• Chapter 5 offers updated resort reviews—now including Shades of Green, the Swan and Dolphin, and the Four Seasons, plus more detail on camping at Fort Wilderness, and key info on renovations at the Polynesian and the Wilderness Lodge
• Chapter 6 has fully reconfigured material on how to tour the parks, based on updates to Josh’s famous Cheat Sheets, including previews of the new Star Wars Season of the Force and Star Wars Launch Bay at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the new Frozen Ever After and Frozen Meet and Greet at Epcot, and the new Rivers of Light evening show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
• Chapter 7 includes updated dining material including reviews or previews of new or soon to open venues such as the Skipper Canteen in the Magic Kingdom and The BOATHOUSE in Disney Springs

Co-author Josh has an even more detailed overview here of just what you can expect to find in The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2016.

It’s available as a paperback and Kindle book on Amazon here. Those who buy the paperback version can also get a free version of the Kindle edition through Amazon’s MatchBook program.

WHY BUY A GUIDEBOOK AT ALL?

With tens of thousands of pages of Disney World websites, blogs, and community forums out there, perhaps you don’t really need a book, too.

But you deserve one.

First, the material out there for free is only as reliable as its authors. Most of these authors have much more limited Disney World experience than would at first seem—typically, the website writers at best have been on most of the rides, dined at some of the restaurants, and stayed at a few of the hotels. As a result, they either ignore vast sets of possible choices, or, even worse, just copy other people’s work about what they have not themselves experienced. Since the work they copy may also have been copied, this becomes like a game of telephone, where bad information propagates into really bad advice.

I’ll get more into this later, but there is no better guide in the world to all the parks than Josh, no better guide in the world to all the hotels than me, and no two people in the world that can bring you more complementary experience and sound judgment to all the other choices of a Disney World visit—when to go, where to eat, how old and tall your kids should be, how to set up and navigate My Disney Experience and FastPass+–than the two of us.

Fine, you say—just read our sites! But here’s the thing. A book is shorter. It’s better organized—a book has just one flow of topics, whereas a website, by definition, is a network of topics, and the findability of the next key bit of info on a website is partly a factor of luck and where you enter it. There’s nothing like being able to flip among a book’s pages to directly compare short, consistent, and highly relevant treatments of the attractions, the restaurants, and the hotels to help you make the choices you have to make.

I can’t really do better than what Josh said on this topic

“Overall, and if I do say so myself, “The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit” is essential reading for anybody planning a trip, whether you’ve read every word Dave and I have ever written or not. You can’t beat the organization, layout, and easily-consumable advice found in the book. Spend a few dollars on the book and save a lot of time, money, and frustration on your next Walt Disney World visit.”

WHY THIS GUIDEBOOK?

There a lot of reasons why our book is the best choice for first time visitors to Disney World—and, because of the completeness of its coverage and the expertise of its authors, for returning visitors too.

But first, let me highlight two other books that will in fact be better for some visitors:

• Military families should start with Steve Bell’s Walt Disney World for Military Families 2016, and
• Those who are staying outside of Disney World, and/or who are devoting substantial time to the non-Disney SeaWorld or Universal Orlando theme parks should use The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2016.

(Frankly you should buy these and our book too—getting several complementary guide books is still gonna cost less than 1% of your total visit costs…)

Everyone else should buy our book.

There’s a reason why Josh is now the most influential (and copied) Disney World writer out there…

…and there’s a reason why I’m in the acknowledgements of three major Disney World guidebooks.

(I should be in the acknowledgments of a fourth, based on emails from its co-author like this:

…but the co-authors of it don’t have seem to have enough room.)

Josh is in the parks multiple times a week, and is the best guide you can find today on how to manage a park visit—from when to go, to which park to visit each day, to how to arrange your visit over the course of the day.

Between us, Josh and I have dined in every Disney World dining venue that we write about, most many times.

No one has more deep and relevant experience with the Disney World hotels. By the end of 2015, I will have stayed in 120 different Disney World-owned hotel rooms—including

• 25 value resort rooms—including all the standard rooms and all four types of family suites
• 31 moderate rooms and cabins (including all the special variants like five person rooms, Royal Rooms, Pirate Rooms, etc.)
• 29 deluxe rooms
• 31 Disney Vacation Club Studios, One Bedroom Villas, and Two Bedroom Villas (no Grand Villas or Bungalows, sadly…but those aren’t relevant to most first-time visitors)
• 4 Campsites at Fort Wilderness (my soon-to-be four stays in the Cabins at Fort Wilderness are counted above among the moderates).

I’ve also stayed in dozens of non-Disney owned rooms at Shades of Green, the Swan and Dolphin, the Hilton, the Four Seasons, the Universal resorts and many others.

As a result, The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2016 is the most accurate, and the most up-to-date, Disney World guide book ever published.

Here’s an example of how it’s different.

One otherwise very good guide book is not as good as it should be on the Disney World resorts. For example, for Fort Wilderness, it asserts that “Tent/Pop-Up campsites provide water, electricity and cable TV…Full Hook-Up Campsites have all the previous amenities…Preferred Hook-Up campsites…add sewer connections.”

Well, above is a photo of a sewer connection at a Full Hook-Up campsite in Loop 1600. Sewer connections at Fort Wilderness are in all campsite types except Tent/Pop-Up sites—not just Preferred and Premium sites.

Later on the same page, the “other” guide book asserts that “access…from Fort Wilderness…to Epcot [is] by bus, with a transfer at the Transportation and Ticket Center to the Epcot monorail.”

This is another error—Epcot is served from Fort Wilderness by bus. The bus from Fort Wilderness to Epcot is above, and the bus from Epcot to Fort Wilderness is below.

Other resort hotel issues with this guidebook include missing 5 person Caribbean Beach rooms in its floor plans, and getting the description of Alligator Bayou rooms wrong on the same page (the trundle bed has been gone for a while, replaced with a Murphy bed).

Nobody’s perfect, and I’m sure we have errors too. But our book is based on personal, recent, deep, complete, direct experience with Disney World, and thus has many fewer errors.

Moreover, as news emerges we publish updated versions of the book every three months or so (see this for the first update), so that it continues to be the most accurate and up-to-date Disney World guidebook available.

Another distinctive advantage of The easy Guide is how short it is. By design, it is the shortest Disney World guide book available. We have 297 pages of material, which is almost two thirds fewer than some alternative guide books. We focus on including just the essential information for most visitors, and no more.

Our shorter guide book also has a bigger font size, also making it easier to read. In the image above, The easy Guide is on the left, and an alternative is to the right.

Finally, the overall structure of our book also makes it very easy to use. Chapter One is inspired by the home page of this website in that it gives all of our core recommendations in one easy to find spot. Follow the guidance in Chapter One, and add the touring plans and FastPass+ bookings advised in Chapter 6, and you will have a great visit!

The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2016 is available as a paperback and Kindle book on Amazon here.

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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.

STAR TOURS: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

By Jim Korkis

Star Tours: The Adventures Continue debuted at Walt Disney World in 2011 and features a different storyline than its previous incarnation, Star Tours, which was in place from 1989 to 2010.

According to the Disney publicity release:

“It has been a long time since the end of the Clone Wars, and the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader continues to tighten his grip on the Empire as the galaxy moves closer to the brink of a great civil war.

“A new intergalactic spaceline, Star Tours, seeks to preserve unrestricted intergalactic travel in this age of tyranny. Freedom fighter Captain Raymus Antilles has assigned two droids, C-3P0 and R2-D2, to help launch the spaceline, fueling Imperial suspicion that Star Tours is part of the Rebel Alliance.

“Star Tours is about to open its first intergalactic space terminal in the Earth System as rumors of a fearsome weapon of mass destruction dash all hope for peace and freedom in the galaxy…”

Depending upon which of the possible visual combinations are randomly selected during the flight, guests get to visit the ice planet of Hoth, Tatooine for a podrace, Kashyyyk (the home planet of the Wookiees — including this was a suggestion of John Lasseter), Naboo, Coruscant or the Death Star above the planet Geonosis.

However, sharp-eyed Disney fans or Star Wars fans may catch a quick glimpse of some possible destinations that were abandoned or may give an indication of possible future adventures.

During the launch sequence, guests can see other Starspeeders painted with different color schemes and logos than the one they are on, with an Aurebesh letter emblazoned on the side of each of them.

Just like the airports we are familiar with today, this busy spaceport has other spacelines using the facilities and going to other destinations. Despite the rise of the galactic Empire, interstellar travel is still a thriving industry. Different tour companies, like Star Tours, carry tourists to the distant corners of the galaxy for exotic vacations.

Those other Starspeeder 1000s are:

• Dantooine Express: White with a brown diagonal at the rear with the letter “dora”. Dantooine Express provides tours of the grasslands, rivers and lakes on Dantooine, located in the Raioballo sector of the Outer Rim and far removed from most galactic traffic. On the tour, visitors see native wildlife, including the kath hound, the iriaz, the kinrath, and the graul.
• Tatooine Transit: Solid blue with a white letter “nern”. Tatooine Transit provides tours of the planet Tatooine in the Outer Rim Territories. This dangerous area is controlled by the Hutts, but travelers can still visit popular sites such as Mos Espa, The Dune Sea, moisture farms and even the infamous Mos Eisley Cantina.
• Bespin Direct: White with a brownish top with white letters outlined in red “wesk,” “dora,” “isk”. Bespin Direct offers tours of the gas planet in the Bespin system, located in the Outer Rim Territories. Tours include the refinery production facilities of the tibanna gas mines and the famous floating Cloud City luxury resort.
• Naboo Spacelines: Gold with a brown circle at the back with a white “nern”. Naboo Spacelines travels to Naboo near the Outer Rim territories. It is a largely unspoiled world with large plains, swamps, and seas. Tours include a visit to the capital city of Theed or the underwater Gungan city of Otoh Gunga.
• Air Alderaan: White with a brown “aurek” letter at the back. Air Alderaan offers tours of the second planet in the Alderaan system. This planet is considered the “Shining Star” of the Core Worlds. Wild grasslands, old mountain ranges and large oceans dominate the planet’s land surface. One of the highlights of the tour is a visit to the capital city of Aldera.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. I’ve got a little more on Star Tours: The Adventure Continues here.

Moreover, as Josh and I note in our book, Disney is expected to add new scenes from Episode VII: The Force Awakens in late 2015.

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!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: OCTOBER 10 TO OCTOBER 18, 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 October 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 10/10/-10/18/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-12MN 10/10, 9a-11p 10/11, 9a-7p 10/12 and 10/13, 8a-11p 10/14, 9a-7p 10/15 and 10/16, 8a-12MN 10/17, and 9a-7p 10/18.

Epcot will be open from 9a-10p 10/10, 9a-9p 10/11 through 10/15, 9a-10p 10/ 16 and 10/17, and 9a-9p 10/18

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-9.30p 10/10, 9a-9p 10/11, 9a-8.30p 10/12, 9a-7p 10/13 through 10/15, and 9a-8.30p 10/16 through 10/18

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-8p 10/10, 9a-8p 10/11 and 10/12, 9a-6p 10/13 and 10/14, 9a-6.30p 10/15, 9a-7p 10/16, and 8a-6.30p 10/17 and 10/18

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/10/-10/18/2015

Saturday 10/10 Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 10/11 Morning:  none Evening: Hollywood Studio

Monday 10/12 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 10/13 Morning: Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 10/14 Morning:  Animal Kingdom  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 10/11 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Friday 10/12 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 10/13 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Sunday 10/14  Morning: none  Evening: Hollywood Studios

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/10/-10/18/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 10/10, 10/11, 10/14 and 10/17

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/10-10/18/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 10/10, 10/11, 10/14 and 10/17

Illuminations at Epcot: 10p 10/10; 9p 10/11 through 10/15; 10p 10/16 and 10/17; 9p 10/18

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8 and 9.30p 10/10; 7.30 and 9p 10/11 and 10/12; 7.30p 10/13 through 10/15; 7.30 and 9p 10/16 through 10/18

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/10/-10/18/2015

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

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 10/10/-18/11/2015

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:

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

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