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Next Week (August 22 Through August 30, 2015) at Walt Disney World
DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 22 TO AUGUST 30, 2015
The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.
The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on August 2015 at 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 8/22/-8/30/2015
The Magic Kingdom will be open 9a-12MN 8/22, and 9a-11p 8/23 through 8/30
Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day
Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be 9a-9.30p 8/22 through 8/30
Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-6p 8/22, and 9a-5p 8/23 through 8/30
EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/22/-8/30/2015
Saturday 8/22 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom
Sunday 8/23 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none
Monday 8/24 Morning: none Evening: Hollywood Studios
Tuesday 8/25 Morning: Epcot Evening: none
Wednesday 8/26 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none
Thursday 8/27 Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening: none
Friday 8/28 Morning: none Evening: Epcot
Saturday 8/29 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom
Sunday 8/30 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none
PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/22/-8/30/2015
The Magic Kingdom:
- Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day
- Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p every evening
FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/22-8/30/2015
Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p every night
Illuminations at Epcot: 9p every night.
Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30 and 10p 8/22; 8.30p 8/23; 8.30 and 10p 8/24; 8.30p 8/25 through 8/30
SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/22/-8/30/2015
See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.
LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 8/22/-8/30/2015
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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August 20, 2015 No Comments
Amenities at the Disney World Swan and Dolphin
For the first page of this review of the Disney World Swan and Dolphin, see this.
The Disney World Swan and Dolphin share all amenities except parking lots (vast, a hike), lobby check in (each has its own lobby), and bus stops (in each case, outside the lobby to the left).
The Swan lobby, on its first floor, is small and decorous.
The third floor Dolphin lobby is more grand.
Each lobby floor has gift shops–one good-sized one at the Swan (above) and several varied shops at the Dolphin (below).
There’s also a lot of snack-type items available in Picabu, the 24-hour quick service located on the first floor of the Dolphin, by the registers.
Some of the Picabu stock.
Each also has a lobby coffee bar…
…and a gym–the one at the Dolphin is above. Both are by the pools.
The Dolphin offers the well-regarded Mandara Spa…
…and also child care in Camp Dolphin.
There’s a boat dock between the two main buildings with boats that go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and the Disney-owned Epcot resorts.
You can also walk to either park. To get to the paths, head toward the BoardWalk. (You should also check out the BoardWalk itself, which can be fun.)
Buses serve Disney Springs, the water parks, and the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom theme parks. The bus stops are outside the lobbies on the left.
These hotels are the only ones at Disney World within walking distance of a mini-golf offering.
DINING AT THE SWAN AND DOLPHIN
Counting some seasonal and pool offerings, there’s a dozen dining venues at the Swan and Dolphin. Leading the pack for adults are three fine dining experiences, each overpriced and aimed a little too sharply (in expense-account pricing and ambiance) at conventioneers.
Because the walkway between the Swan and Dolphin is just 600 feet, I group them here by type, rather than by hotel.
Unless you are committed to steak or sushi, Todd English’s bluezoo (Dolphin) will likely be the best choice. Seafood-focused but also with fine beef, bluezoo has a great setting but is quite expensive, and is the place you’re most likely to find a tech conventioneer.
Kimonos (Swan) is a gentle and delightful sushi venue until 9p, when the conventioneers begin belting out karaoke, and is where you’re most likely to find a a pharmaceutical sales rep from a sales meeting.
Shula’s Steakhouse (Dolphin), menu above, entry below, is one of the three or four best steakhouses on property, and is where you’re most likely to find a UAW conventioneer.
Two more table-service restaurants are more family friendly:
Garden Grove (Swan) serves traditional family foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has Disney characters at dinner and at weekend breakfasts. Not worth a special trip, but its dinners are worth a visit if your family is staying here
Il Mulino New York Trattoria (Swan) offers upscale causal Italian cuisine.
More casual options, all at the Dolphin, include the Fountain (above) (salads/ burgers/ sandwiches/ ice cream), Fresh Mediterranean Market (seasonal hours; more healthy options) and Picabu (below), a 24-hour counter-service offering.
There’s even more offerings (some with seasonal hours) near the marvelous Swan and Dolphin pools.
THE POOLS AT THE DISNEY WORLD SWAN AND DOLPHIN
This review continues here!
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August 19, 2015 No Comments
The WDW Magazine Magic Kingdom Resorts Issue is Out
Earlier this month–I was on vacation, so got behind–the latest edition of WDW Magazine came out.
This month, the mag focuses on the Magic Kingdom area resorts–the monorail resorts
- Polynesian Village and its Villas and Bungalows
- Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower, and
- Grand Floridian and Villas at the Grand Floridian
and also the Wilderness Lodge and its Villas (soon undergoing refurb, see this), and the Cabins and Campsites at Fort Wilderness.
Editor Carl Trent has this to say about this month’s edition:
“I don’t think there is a more diverse group of hotels anywhere than you’ll find around the Magic Kingdom. You have everything from a luxurious Spa and Resort to camping in tents, all within a short boat ride to the Most Magical Place on Earth.
I think you’re going to love our tour of the Magic Kingdom Area Hotels.”
The magazine is available on iTunes, for Android, and on the web.
I’ve got a couple of things in this month’s magazine.
- I write the “Helping Hands” column for first timers, and this month’s column focuses on comparing the Magic Kingdom area resorts on various key features–themes, pools, room quality, dining, etc. I’ve stayed in each–and each major room option within them–multiple times, with more than 30 rooms stays across these five resorts and their villas. So you can trust this overview…
- I also did the article on the Polynesian, which is my top-recommended resort for first timers, despite some continuing construction. As a bonus, this article is based on the review of the Poly in the Disney World guide book that Josh of easyWDW and I co-wrote, so you can use it as a test of whether or not you’d find the book helpful!
Curious? Of course you are! Check WDW Magazine out.
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August 18, 2015 No Comments
Why Disney World Deals Are So Hard to Find
In recent years, Disney World has offered deals most parts of the year.
The most common deal is discounts on its hotel rooms, but now and then it also offers package deals, such as the dining plan for free to those who book a hotel room and tickets at full price.
In 2015, however, several major deals in a row have been hard to book, especially for the least expensive “standard” rooms: the fall free dining deal (now closed), and room rate deals for early and later fall (both still open).
Why are these deals hard to book? Because Disney is making many fewer rooms out of its inventory available for the deals. And why is it doing that?
Because it can get really good occupancy and rates even without the deals.
A week and a half ago Disney reported its Q3 earnings and (in its earnings call) hotel trends for the current quarter. In its 10Qs it also includes available room nights, occupancy, and per-room guest spending.
For Q3 2015 (basically April to June) it reported 2.6 million available room nights at 87% occupancy with an average spend of $310 per night.
Multiply them together, and that’s more than $700 million in domestic hotel revenue, Disney’s highest results ever, and nearing twice the worst quarter of the recession, Q2 2009 when hotel revenue was just a bit over $400 million.
Seasonality can muddle Disney’s trends, but using a four quarter moving average clears out seasonality.
The chart above shows the results of this analysis.
It combines the effects of available rooms, which vary from both new construction and rooms taken out of inventory for refurb…
…occupancy…
…which then results in booked rooms (multiplying available rooms by occupancy)…
…and is multiplied by guest spend per room to yield actual room revenues per quarter.
Disney is a public company–which means it has the job of increasing earnings. How do you increase earnings when your hotels are booked almost to capacity?
Well, one way to increase earnings when you don’t have a whole lot more rooms to sell is to cut back on the number of discounted rooms you offer…
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August 17, 2015 No Comments
March 2016 at Walt Disney World
OVERVIEW: MARCH 2016 AT DISNEY WORLD
This page reviews March 2016 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.
The first week of March can be a great time to go to Disney World, and is so in 2016. The rest of the month will be lousy–with high prices and high crowds.
[Read more →]
August 16, 2015 4 Comments
How Big Is the Hollywood Studios’ Star Wars Expansion?
Disney announced today the addition of a 14 acre Star Wars land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
(c) Disney/Lucasfilm
How big is 14 acres? Well, an acre is 43,560 square feet, so 14 acres is about 610,000 square feet.
An acre can be any shape, of course, but to get a sense of scale I planted 14 acres as a square box (780 feet on a side) on top of a corner of the Studios just to get a sense of the scope of this expansion:
This is not a prediction in any sense–the Star Wars land is unlikely to be in this corner of the park, and will not be a perfect square. But it does give you as sense of how big 14 acres is.
The important takeaway? A good sized but not overwhelming expansion…and lots of room will still be left at the Studios for the rumored Pixar expansion, too.
Update: Disney has also announced the Pixar expansion, 11 acres.
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August 15, 2015 No Comments
