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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 13 TO DECEMBER 21, 2014

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 December 2014 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 12/13-12/21/2014

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-1a 12/13, 8a-7p 12/14, 8a-12MN 12/15, 8a-7p 12/16, 8a-12MN 12/17, 8a-7p 12/18 and 12/19, and 8a-1a 12/20 and  12/21

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-8p 12/13 though 12/19 and 9a-9p 12/20 and 12/21

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 9a-6p 12/13 though 12/15, 9a-7p 12/16 through 12/18, 9a-6p 12/19, 8a-6p 12/20, and 8a-8p 12/21

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/13-12/21/2014

Saturday 12/13 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom

Sunday 12/14 Morning: none Evening: Hollywood Studios

Monday 12/15 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 12/16 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Wednesday 12/17 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Thursday 12/18 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Friday 12/19 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Saturday 12/20 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom

Sunday 12/21  Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Epcot Evening: Magic Kingdom

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/13-12/21/2014

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p 12-13 through 12/19; noon and 3.30p 12/20 and 12/21
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9 and 11p 12/13, 12/15, and 12/17; 10.15p and 12.15a 12/20 and 12/21

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/13-12/21/2014

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 10p 12/13, 12/15, 12/18; 9p 12/20 and 12/21

Illuminations at Epcot: 9.30p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 6.30 and 8p every night

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/13-12/21/2014

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

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/13-12/21/2014

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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(For the first page of this review of Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, see this.)

PHOTO TOUR OF A SIX PERSON FAMILY SUITE AT UNIVERSAL’S CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT

Disney World’s family suites basically combine the floor plans of two standard value resort rooms, almost literally so in the ~520 square foot family suites at All-Star Music and a little more creatively in the ~565 square foot family suites at Art of Animation.

The result in Disney World family suites is 33-45% more square feet per person than standard value rooms when both are at capacity, two baths–at least one divided–and in a design choice that we’ll come back to, a private queen bed room, with the other four sleeping spots in the living areas.

Universal’s floor plans at Cabana Bay Beach resort are profoundly different.   At 430 square feet they are much smaller (much cheaper too), and compared to the 300 square foot Cabana Bay standard rooms you actually get fewer square feet per person at capacity in the Cabana Bay family suites than in its standard rooms. One bath.  The bedroom space has two queens, not a sole queen for adults.

You can design an OK interior corridor family two queen room that’s 24 feet by 12 feet.

• A 15×12 foot bedroom space will hold two queens on one side with 30 inches between them and 15 inches of wall clearance. Nothing else will fit on this side, but the other side has plenty of length for a dresser and table and chairs, and with more than 5 feet between the foot of the beds and the wall, there’s room for the depth of these as well as an access path the length of the space.
• In the 9×12 foot space that makes up the front of a 24×12 room, there’s space for closets on one side, a one-sink divided bath on the other, and a hallway to the bedroom between.

Cabana Bay’s standard two queen rooms basically follow this minimum model, but add a foot or so of length.

Family suites at Cabana Bay are four feet wider and about two feet longer.

In the sleeping area, two feet is taken from the bed space and added to the four feet of additional width to create a walk-in closet and a long bath behind a wall on the long side of the bedroom.

This leaves a space at the entry to the room where normally you’d find the bath and closet, and in its added length and width you’ll find the kitchenette, a table, and a living area with a fold-out couch.

You enter the family suites into a living/dining kitchenette area. In the Cabana Courtyard this is where the windows are too. Lazy River Courtyard family suites have the window in the back bedroom.

One side of this area has the kitchenette with a microwave, coffee-maker, mini-fridge, and storage.

A high table with chairs for two (high enough that more–by which I mean Mom–can stand at it, but there’s not much standing room here) divides the kitchen area from the living area. The connecting door, if there is one, is also here. The connecting doors connect only to another family suite—not to standard rooms.

On the other side you’ll find the living room space, with the sofa, a couple of small arm chairs, and some tables handy for your important books.

At the other side of the couch is this TV/dresser combo. The two drawers on the right serve this space–two on the other side, behind the large panel to the left, serve the bedroom.

The drawers themselves are good-sized, but in total this is not enough drawer space for the six people this suite will hold (there’s some more storage space in the shelves and cabinets in the kitchenette).

Moreover, when the sofa is unfolded, you can only get to these drawers from the side.

To unfold the sofa bed, first you move the tables and take off the cushions.

There’s not a lot of places to put these. Depends on whether you want to lose the chairs, or lose the floor of the kitchenette.

The unfolded bed I measured as about full-sized–53 inches by 75 inches.  The remaining sofa cushion at the head makes it sleep a little shorter than this.  While the sleeping mattress is 4 inches deep, it’s as lousy a cushion as I’ve slept on in a sofa bed for a while.  The problem is not a railed suspension–the suspension is not the issue. Rather, it’s rock hard.  I would not put one adult on this bed–much less two.

A large sliding door leads to the back bedroom and bath/closet area.

The two queen beds from the other side.

As noted, a couple of feet of width you’d expect to find here occupied by a dresser and a table and chairs or a desk has been shifted to the bath, so you end up with an oddly proportioned narrow bedroom with a TV hanging on the wall.

The other two drawers from the cabinetry that divides this space from the front are big enough but hard to access, tight on the side of one of the beds.

There a little more storage in the table between the beds.

In the Lazy River courtyard rooms, there’s windows at the very back (they are in the living room in the Cabana courtyard rooms).  Here’s my view. Pool views are nicer, more expensive, likely louder.

In the back corner is the entrance to a small walk-in closet.

The closet itself.  There’s a famous photo of Josh in one of these closets here.

In the middle of this wall the space opens to this sink area–which would be better with a curtain to trap light.

There’s a couple of small drawers.

On one side in its own room is a toilet.

One the other side of the central sink in another room is the tub/shower and another sink.

This is a better layout for six than a simple divided bath.  But the Disney family suite layout of two full baths, with at least one accessible without entering the bedroom space, is much better.

I can’t particularly recommend these family suites. Too many design compromises and not enough space. They need a half bath, and more and more accessible dresser space.  And without a much better cushion on the sofa bed the parents are stuck in the queen room, with just beds–no chairs, no nothing.

Most families that need the extra beds will want two connecting Cabana Bay standard four person queen rooms instead, which give more space, better and more beds, better storage, and another bath, at the cost of the living room seats and the microwave.

AMENITIES AT UNIVERSAL’S CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT

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(For the first page of this review of Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, see this.)

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD TWO-QUEEN ROOM AT UNIVERSAL’S CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT

Nine hundred of the 1800 rooms at Cabana Bay Beach Resort are standard four person two queen bed rooms.

All are found in the Americana and Continental buildings in the Lazy River Courtyard at Cabana Bay.

There’s also family suites in this courtyard, but they don’t connect to the four person rooms.

Rather, there’s independent blocks of family suites and standard rooms.

See the Continental building fire escape map below (such fancy images on this site…).

At the far right you can see larger family suites; the building curves and narrows; the center has a block of standard rooms; the building curves and widens; and at the far left you can see another block of family suites.

Standard four person two queen rooms at Cabana Bay have a traditional design, looking like almost any other interior-corridor accessed two bed rooms.

You enter from an interior corridor into a hall.

One side has a good-sized closet with sliding doors. Here’s half of it…

…and the other half.

The other side of the hall has a divided bath, with a sink area open to the hall. Just one sink, but a couple of narrow but long storage drawers.

Next to it is a toilet and tub/shower in a separate space.

Deeper in the room you’ll find two queen beds on one side.

Between them is a bedside table with storage for all your important stuff.

The beds from the back.

A close up.

My room was deeper than most.  It was fitted into the curve of the Americana building, marked by the dot in the bottom center above, another fancy image you’ll find on no other site :), and based on eyeballing other standard rooms, I had 4 to 5 feet more room between the far bed and the window than most rooms.

“Standard” standard rooms at Cabana Bay are twelve feet wide and have bedrooms about 16-17 feet long (my non-standard one was 21 feet), making their bedroom areas about 40-50 square feet smaller than the Disney moderates, and tight between the far bed and the window.

No spaces at Cabana Bay have balconies.  Here’s the view from one of my atypical porthole windows–“Standard” standard rooms have rectangular windows.  Pool view rooms are nicer, but more expensive.

On the other side of the rooms you’ll find a table and chairs, and a dresser/TV/mini-fridge thingy with a coffeemaker.

There is to me a bit of charm to the Cabana Bay design outside the rooms, but overall I’m not keen on the colors, textures or materials of the rooms themselves.  The table and chair in particular look cheap to me.

But at least there’s plenty of outlets–including a four spot above the table…

…and another nearby, between the coffeemaker and TV.

Not keen on the dresser colors–though they are authentic to the old 60s motel theming.

The four drawers are adequate for the four people this room sleeps.

The TV knows more about me than I wish it did.

On the other side of the dresser thingy is a standard mini-fridge.

Compared to Disney World resorts, these rooms land between values and moderates.

• Unlike the Disney values, they have queen beds, extra space, and a coffeemaker.
• They are a little smaller than the Disney moderates, have just the one sink, and are missing some minor amenities common in moderates like a coat rack and a bench seat with additional storage–and none sleep five, as some Disney moderate rooms at Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans Riverside do.

But they are a great choice for people who want to take advantage of Universal’s early access program to see Harry Potter, but don’t want to shell out for the higher prices–but also better amenities and park privileges–of the Universal deluxes!

PHOTO TOUR OF A SIX PERSON FAMILY SUITE AT UNIVERSAL’S CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT

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Cabana Bay Beach Resort, a Loews hotel at Universal Orlando, opened in 2014 in stages beginning at the end of March.

The fourth Universal hotel, and the first “value/moderate” (the ambiguity is both intentional and accurate) to be built at Universal, Cabana Bay Beach Resort offers two room types:

• Typical four person two queen bed rooms, and
• Six person family suites with two queens and a bath in one space, and a fold-out sofa bed in another small living/kitchenette space.

Cabana Bay Beach Resort offers convenient access to Universal Orlando at a much lower price than the Royal Pacific, Portofino Bay, or Hard Rock.

However, it does not have so many amenities as these deluxe Universal resorts (especially dining) and does not offer the full range of park perks that guests at the more expensive resorts get.

Specifically, guests at Cabana Bay Beach Resort do get the early morning access to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter but don’t get the Universal Express line-jumping pass for other rides that guests at the more expensive hotels get.

“Early access” is the one hour period during which only Universal hotel guests can enter the Wizarding World (at either one or both parks—it’s varied), and if you arrive the turnstiles well before this period starts, you can save a lot of waiting.

For guests focused on Harry Potter and indifferent to fine dining at their hotel, standard two-queen rooms at Cabana Bay are a great choice. I’m not so keen on its family suites.

Because of the value of early entrance, I’ve always suggested that people who want to see Harry Potter without waiting for hours should stay a night or two at one of the Universal hotels. Cabana Bay makes doing so much more affordable, especially for larger families.

Comparing Cabana Bay to Disney values, moderates, and family suites is a natural act, but I’m not sure how relevant it is. In general, don’t choose between Disney and Universal hotels; rather, stay at Disney for your Disney World days to get 60 day access to FastPass+, and stay at Universal for your Universal days to get early access to Harry Potter.

That said, I stayed in both Cabana Bay rooms types in November 2014, and at Disney World have stayed in 22 different value resort standard rooms and family suites, and 27 different moderate rooms, so here’s my comparisons:

CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT COMPARED TO DISNEY WORLD VALUE RESORTS

Standard rooms: Cabana Bay much, much better, with queen beds, more floor space, and coffeemakers. A little more expensive than some values, cheaper than others. Perhaps more likely to be on deal—it’s too early yet to say.

Family Suites: Cabana Bay’s are much smaller, not nearly as good, but priced much lower than Disney family suites. Adults who plan to put the kids on the two queen beds and themselves sleep on the fold out couch should think again. Families that can put the adults in the queen room will likely prefer the beds to those in the Art of Animation Family Suites, and almost certainly will prefer them to those in All-Star Music Family Suites unless they need the four sleeping spots that Music suites offer. Space overall too small for the six people it can sleep. Many will find two connecting queen rooms at Cabana Bay a better choice than a family suite.

Theming: Cabana Bay is lightly themed as a 60s Florida art-deco roadside motor hotel. This will escape pretty much all kids and not be of much interest to most adults; it is generally much less garish than the theming at Disney values, but at times it does indeed seem a little loud. Jack LaLanne??

Amenities: Much, much better dining, pools, and other amenities than at the Disney values.

CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT COMPARED TO DISNEY WORLD MODERATE RESORTS

Standard rooms: Smaller and less well appointed. Although their 300 square feet seems pretty comparable to the ~314 square feet of Disney moderates, Cabana Bay’s room entry from interior halls means a waste of square feet in the room’s entry hall between the bath and closets. As a result, the bedrooms are larger at the Disney moderates, and in particular longer. The table and chairs fit the Cabana Bay 60s art deco theme but to the eye look cheap, and there is no footstool/bench, common in Disney moderates except Coronado Springs. No rooms sleep five. Cheaper than Disney moderates—sometimes much cheaper.

Theming: Disney moderates are more subtly themed and have much better landscaping. The absence of landscaping at Cabana Bay comes from the tight footprint—while not small, Cabana Bay is much more compact and easy to get around than the Disney moderates, except perhaps French Quarter.

Amenities: Comparable to or better than the moderates, except for table service dining. Has a great gym—you’ll find a gym only at Coronado Springs among Disney’s moderates. The quick service dining area of the Cabana Bay food court is cavernous compared to those at the Disney moderates. I haven’t eaten yet at the table service in the bowling alley (I am not making this up), but its menu is more limited than the Disney moderate table service offerings.

CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO

Cabana Bay Beach Resort has two wings, each surrounding a pool complex, with most other amenities in the middle.

One wing is variously called the North Courtyard or the Cabana Courtyard, surrounds the Cabana Pool complex, and has 600 family suites with exterior entrances in the Starlight, Thunderbird and Castaway buildings. No standard rooms are available in this Courtyard. It’s on the right in the map.

The second wing, the South or Lazy River Courtyard, left on the map, has 300 more family suites and all 900 standard four person rooms in the Americana and Continental buildings, all opening to interior corridors.

The corridor difference in the family suites means that Cabana suites have their windows in the living room, and Lazy River suites have them in the bedroom. It also means that the Cabana suites should be quieter. Exterior doors are typically MUCH better insulated than interior doors (to cut back on heating and cooling costs) and half as many people walk by on exterior corridors than interior ones (because there are twice as many exterior corridors).

On the other hand, interior corridors are out of the weather, welcome in the summer. Moreover, the interior corridors in the Americana and Continental buildings also connect directly with the central building holding the main amenities and services, so if you are in a standard room or one of the family suites in these two buildings, you don’t have to go outside at all to get to the main dining options, bar, bowling alley, etc.

My family suite was in the interior corridor-ed Continental building, and while I had no noise issues, I also—after trying the sofa bed for ten minutes—slept in the more isolated queen bed space, so may have missed some ruckuses.

I didn’t do floor plans on this visit—I’ll have them next time around—but here’s the basics of the layouts:

CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT FAMILY SUITES

You enter the family suites into a living/dining kitchenette area.

One side has the kitchenette with a microwave, mini-fridge, and storage. The other side has a couch and a couple of small easy chairs. A two person table (high enough that more can stand at, but there’s not much room) divides the two.

The connecting door, if there is one, is also here. No Disney family suites that I am aware of have connecting doors, so this is nice. The connecting doors connect only to another family suite—not to standard rooms. The Cabana buildings have only family suites, and the Lazy River buildings have only stretches of family suites, then a break, then stretches of standard rooms, because of footprint and length differences.

A TV stands on top of a split dresser, with half the dresser drawers serving this side of the suite and half the other bedroom space. This is not a lot of storage for six, and the drawers are awkward to access, cramped by a bed in the queen room and by the fold-out bed, when opened, in the living room.

The bedroom space of the family suite, with its two queens, is oddly proportioned, as it is much narrower than typical hotel rooms. The TV is on the wall instead of on a dresser, and the space that in standard rooms is occupied by a dresser and chairs instead here is on the other side of a wall. This space—widened a few feet–is used for a walk-in closet and a three compartment bath—with a sink area, a toilet in its own room on one side of the sink, and a bath/shower and another sink in their own room on the other side of the sink space.

This is not a lot of bath for six people—but much better than a bath divided into only two spaces. Disney family suites offer two full baths, at least one of them also divided.

The bath in Cabana Bay Beach Resort family suites is only accessible from the queen space, and oddly there’s no privacy curtain at the central sink area which is open to the queen room, so lights may wake some.

I can’t particularly recommend these family suites. Too many design compromises and not enough space. Most families that need the extra beds will want two connecting queen rooms instead, which give more space, better and more beds, better storage, and another bath, at the cost of the living room furniture and the microwave.

A full photo-tour of a Cabana Bay Beach Resort family suite is here.

CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT STANDARD ROOMS

Standard four person two queen rooms at Cabana Bay have a much more traditional design, looking like almost any other interior-corridor accessed two bed rooms.

You enter into a hall with a divided bath on one side and closets on the other.

The bedroom space is beyond, with queens on one side and a table, chairs, and a dresser/TV/mini-fridge thingy on the other.

These rooms are not so long as my photo suggests. I had an unusually-dimensioned room at the break of a shorter wing, and thus got both cool porthole windows and also a room about three feet longer than most.

From looking in the windows of other rooms (yes that was me, sorry, but I did it for a good cause) the bed far from the bath is very tight on the window wall—more so than in the Disney moderates.

Other than the ugly chairs and table, and the tight space at the further bed, these are great moderate rooms for four person or smaller families than can fit them.

A full photo-tour of a Cabana Bay Beach Resort standard two queen room is here.

KID APPEAL AND CONVENIENCE

No Universal resort has the strong visual kid appeal of, for example, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge or Art of Animation resorts. Cabana Bay has less than most, but kids will love the pools. More to come on these, but the Cabana pool complex has a great slide (above) and a kids water play area, and the Lazy River side (below) has a water play area and a lazy river.

Access to Universal is via bus. There’s one bus stop, nearer the Lazy River Courtyard buildings. Bus service during my visit was great, and you can also walk to the Universal Parks from Cabana Bay.

BEST PLACES TO STAY AT UNIVERSAL’S CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT

I’m pretty sold on an upper floor room in the Americana building.

The interior corridors of the Lazy River Courtyard’s Americana and Continental buildings are more comfortable—though potentially noisier—than the exterior corridors in the Cabana Courtyard buildings (and if you want a standard room, you won’t find one in the Cabana buildings anyway).

Of the two Lazy River buildings, the Americana Building is closer to the bus stops, so it gets the nod.

Upper floors tend to be quieter and more private—the rooms I looked in were all on the first floor, you know.

Views are tougher. Except at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I’m not too keen on first timers paying for views in rooms they won’t be in that much.

However, the parking lot views at Cabana Bay are particularly lousy. One side has parking lots and a construction wasteland, the other side parking lots, parking garages, and Turkey Lake Road. So if your itinerary suggests you will be in the room a lot, then a pool-view room might be better—making an upper floor (to avoid pool noise) even more important.

PHOTO TOUR OF A STANDARD TWO-QUEEN ROOM AT UNIVERSAL’S CABANA BAY BEACH RESORT

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OVERVIEW OF THE EASY GUIDE

From the renowned authors of the Number 1 bestselling, best-reviewed Disney World guidebook in history, The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit 2015, released in November 2014, takes Disney World first-timers by the hand through all the key Disney World decisions—some that they probably didn’t even know they had to make—in the simplest, most straightforward, and shortest way possible.

Co-authors Josh Humphrey and Dave Shute have unmatched experience with the Disney World rides, parks, restaurants, and hotels, and tremendous tested judgment from their years of helping more than ten million visitors on their websites yourfirstvisit.net and easyWDW.com. [Read more →]

The latest edition of WDW Magazine, which focuses on crowds at Walt Disney World, is now out!

The magazine is available on iTunes, for Android, and on the web.

(You can also sample a free issue here.)

The edition covers many topics related to crowds at Disney World.  The centerpiece this month is a dialogue between Carl Trent (editor and publisher, and also Chief Dad behind Dad’s Guide to WDW) and me on the best times each month in 2015 to visit.

Those keeping track at home will know that this is third version of such that I’ve helped with

1. This dialogue with Carl
2. The Week Rankings, designed for first timers who may never return, on this site.
3. The material I co-wrote with Josh in Chapter 4 “When to Go” of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit

Each is good–and largely consistent!

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