Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Last week, this site had its sixth birthday. Thanks to all of you for coming by, getting help, asking questions (more than 3,500 questions in the last 12 months—several of which I answered correctly…) and telling your friends about it!

And thanks also for patronizing the sponsors of the site and finding some of the ads interesting enough to click on. You guys do enough of that that in turn I can spend the revenue you create improving the material here!

Your support pays for the hosting fees, for graphics that I turn to others for help with because they are beyond me (like the new floor plans I’ve been rolling out the last 12 months), for some research and other support that I get—and above all for visits to the Disney World hotels.

It’s harder to get reliable advice on the hotels than on any other Disney World topic–and that’s for a good reason: essentially, the people who write about them have not stayed in them. There’s too many, it takes too much time, and it’s too expensive. So instead of writing about their own experiences they write about the experiences–or the words–of other people, many of whom themselves did not stay in them…and so on.

But in the last six years, thanks to your support I’ve stayed in them all—and in every major room variant within them—twice…

In early 2012, I finished the first round of visits for reviews, and completed publishing the first-ever set of reviews of the Disney World resort hotels from one person who had stayed in them all—and in all their major room variants.

Then, with the opening of Art of Animation and major refurbs to a number of the moderates, it was time to start over! So I began revisits to the moderates and values to re-test their rankings and refresh their reviews. 2012 visits to the moderates included Pirate and standard rooms at Caribbean Beach, and the new Royal and refurbed Alligator Bayou 5-person rooms at Port Orleans Riverside.

At the values I stayed in the new Art of Animation standard Little Mermaid rooms and family suites at Art of Animation and All-Star Music.

We also squeezed in a family visit to a two-bedroom villa at Old Key West. (I stay in two-bedrooms at the DVCs when I can as doing so lets me cover studios and one-bedrooms too, without having to change rooms so often. A studio plus a one bedroom add up to a two-bedroom, so if that’s all I can reserve I’ll do that too. )

Early in 2013 I completed the re-visits to the values and moderates, with stays in standard rooms at values All-Star Sports, Movies and Music, Pop Century, the two types of family suites at Art of Animation I hadn’t already seen (Lion King and Cars) and in standard rooms at moderates Coronado Springs, Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness.

Later in 2013 I realized just how lousy my photographs were, got a new camera, and added to my reasons for re-visits not just refreshed reviews but also better photographs. Having completed a full set of revisit to the values and moderates, I then launched a new set of revisits to the deluxes and Disney Vacation Club resorts. Among the deluxes, in 2013 I stayed in a Tower Room at the Contemporary, both smaller and larger newly-refurbed rooms at the Polynesian, and standard rooms at the Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodges.

Among the DVC resorts, in 2013 I revisited two-bedroom villas at Kidani Village, Bay Lake Tower, and the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, and stayed in a two bedroom villa in the new Villas at the Grand Floridian. At Saratoga Springs, I stayed in the Treehouses, a one-bedroom villa, and a studio. I also revisited Port Orleans Riverside for better Alligator Bayou photos, and for reasons I don’t even remember was in a one bedroom at Old Key West!

2014 continues revisits to the deluxes and DVCs, plus stays at values and moderates for better photos.

At the deluxes, so far I’ve re-visited the re-furbed Grand Floridian, BoardWalk Inn, Beach Club, bunk bed rooms at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and the Garden Wing at the Contemporary.

Among the DVC resorts, I’ve stayed in 2014 at a two-bedroom villa at the Beach Clubs Villas, a one bedroom villa and a studio at the AKL Jambo Villas, and a one-bedroom at the Boardwalk Villas.

I’ve got visits booked in May for a studio at the BoardWalk Villas and a standard room at the Yacht Club. When those are done, I’ll have completed the re-visits to all the major room types at the values, moderates, deluxes, and DVC offerings…

Also in 2014 I’ve stayed at some more moderates and values to get better photos, including Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans French Quarter, a Little Mermaid rom at Art of Animation, and Pop Century.

Refurbs are expected in 2014 at the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, Caribbean Beach, and the Beach Club, so those will be on my list for later, as well as some more brief stays for better pictures.

As a result of our book, I am wildly behind in getting all the updates out from late 2013 and on.

But we may finish the copy as soon as this week, so I’ll have a lot more time to get everything updated for you!

And in the meantime, thanks again…

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: APRIL 5 TO APRIL 13, 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 April 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

[Read more →]

The latest edition of WDW Magazine is out—focused this month on cooling off at Disney World.

Topics include the waterparks, the rides where you get wet—or soaked—and more.

There’s a couple of articles from me in it.

One is on what first timers should do if it rains. Those who have been reading this site for a bit know that the art of Disney World is figuring out what everyone else is doing, and then doing the opposite. That’s the hint—for more, see WDW Magazine!

The second is a review of Art of Animation excerpted from the book Josh and I are working on coming soon from Theme Park Press.

Resort reviews in the book are very different from those on this site, partly because they represent the best thinking of the two of us together rather than the thinking of just one of us, and partly because we mean for the book to be short and easily actionable!

On this site I’ve got more than 6,000 words on Art of Animation (starting here, here, and also here!) but the book has fewer than a thousand words on this hotel.

I’ll be interested to hear what you all think once it comes out…

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April 1, 2014–Today multiple sources are reporting that Disney World has entirely and irrevocably canceled its new FastPass+ program.

Disney’s FastPass+ program (up until today…) let Disney World guests pre-schedule the wrong rides in the wrong order at the wrong park up to 60 days in advance. (Thirty days for off-site guests and annual passholders, and 13 days for vampires.)

With the cancellation, guests will be back to making bad decisions only in real time.

The background to the cancellation is beginning to leak out—and (if true) it’s astonishing but only too credible to anyone who has a. worked in large organizations, b. been inappropriate and c. committed typos.

Apparently the genesis of the debacle was an effort kicked off several years ago to make Disney World rides more accessible to those on scooters or wheelchairs, and/or those whose body sizes matched poorly to more than 40 year old turnstile, aisle-way, and ride seat sizes.

With so much re-work planned for ride entries, exits and queues anyway, the scope of the project was expanded to also include interactive queues, personalized greetings, hand puppets, and other features of 1990s technology.

This project had a formal corporate name, but became known internally as the “plus” or “+” project.

Sadly, one particularly insensitive executive—reputedly on loan from ESPN—started referring to it in a particularly insensitive manner, using a word which, while close to FastPass+, has two fewer letters.

Well, you can guess what happened next. The crude new nickname made its way into an email, a senior exec called the team on the carpet over it, and a fast-thinking middle manager claimed that it was simply an unfortunately poorly spell-checked typo, and what the team really meant was FastPass+.

“FastPass+?” the senior exec murmured. “Hmmmm…What are you all thinking about?”

In response, the team simply made up on the spot the entire FastPass+ program as we knew it until today.

The program then became a showpiece in the CEO succession race at Disney, as the two of the three key potential CEO candidates were viewed as either the champions (Jay Rasulo) or implementers (Tom Staggs) of FastPass+, and there we went…

So why cancel it now? Well, no one is talking yet, but my thought is that since the only potential CEO candidate without a background in the parks left Disney last month (Anne Sweeney), the way is now clear for Rasulo and Staggs to jointly walk away from the program without advantaging another potential successor.

I’m sorry to see FastPass+ go. Regardless of its unkind genesis and flawed pedigree, FastPass+ has enormous benefits for those first-time visitors who take advantage of good advice on how to use it. And it’s kinda embarrassing for Disney, following other high-profile cancellations like the pain-themed DVC offering, high-speed rail at the Animal Kingdom, and the Minnesota Pavilion at Epcot.

On the other hand, the constant whining about FastPass+ on various Disney fan forums thankfully will now come to an end, and everyone can instead return to whining about Horizons.

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This site posts recommended itineraries for first time visitors, and for each also a To-Do List.

I revised all the itineraries for June through October visits months ago for FastPass+ (months ago so that people could get their dining at the 180 day mark).

Last week I added suggested FastPass+ targets to the To-Do Lists (because 60 days before the first relevant arrival date is April 1).

I’ll have daily agendas for these out in April, but with what you’ve got now, you can book both dining and FastPass+ for your visit the first day available.

Moreover, as Disney posts its operating hours for future months, I’ll continue to add recommended itineraries and To-Do Lists tuned to the specifics of each week.

The daily recommended FastPass+ generally follow the  principles laid out later in this post, but modified for the actual number and timing of days each itinerary has you in each park.

• For the High-Crowd FastPass+ To-Do List, see this
• For the Lower-Crowd FastPass+ To-Do List, see this
• Note that the itineraries as written don’t match to every week–find your week here for any needed changes
• The seven night variants of each of these  also have had FastPass+ added–see this for links to these, and also for links to itinerary and To-Do lists mods for visits between now and June.

FASTPASS+ SELECTION PRINCIPLES

I published back in August 2013 FastPass+ selection principles. Tested over more than 30 days of park visits using FastPass+ since then, they are still right and so I’ve have copied them below.

These assume that most days you will still arrive at the parks early in the morning, well before opening—which is typically nowadays 8.45a everywhere but the Magic Kingdom, which is still going with a 9a opening.

Arriving plenty early means you can experience at least one more headliner with a low wait beyond what you can get to on FastPass+.  Since you will be limited (at least for now) to 3 FastPass+, with no repeats, this is a big deal.

Picking your early morning target is tricky.  There’s two good ways to pick:

1. A ride with a really distinctive queue that you will largely miss if you go through the FastPass+ return line—for example, Test Track and Expedition Everest.  (Recently Test Track FastPass+ visitors have been getting the whole experience, no different than those using the regular line–but I’m not confident–yet–that Disney will stick to this…)
2. A ride you know you will want to see again, since you can only do one FastPass+ per ride per day—more relevant to returning visitors who know what they want than for first timers.

So based on this, and on what’s being offered right now for FastPass+, here’s my suggestions by park:

FASTPASS+ AT EPCOT

Epcot: Plan to arrive early and see Test Track.  Target for FastPass+ first Soarin, then Turtle Talk with Crush,  and then Spaceship Earth (the last two aren’t that hard to get now, but I predict they’ll become tougher as FastPass+ takes more of their capacity).

FASTPASS+ AT DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Plan to arrive early and see Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster. Have Toy Story Mania be your Tier One FastPass+.

FASTPASS+ AT DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

Disney’s Animal Kingdom:  Plan to arrive early and see Expedition Everest.  Prioritize Kilimanjaro Safaris as your first FastPass+ selection, then Festival of the Lion King (once it re-opens), then Finding Nemo—the Musical. (These last two aren’t that hard to get it to now, but their schedules can otherwise be awkward, and I expect they’ll become tougher to access as FastPass+ takes more of their capacity.)

FASTPASS+ AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM

Magic Kingdom: Much tougher, as there are many rides that build long lines quickly.

• The ones to target are Big Thunder Mountain, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and –when it opens—the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
• Others will suggest adding Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh,  and Under the Sea—Journey of the Little Mermaid to this list.

There’s enough there for two or three days’ worth of FastPass+ at the Magic Kingdom while extra headliners are available, and even more days if the number of headliners on offer gets tiered.

Moreover, there’s number of great rides not on these lists, because I’m expecting that with their high capacity they should have OK waits—these include Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and Mickey’s Philharmagic.

So here’s the thought for now:

• FastPass+ Priority Targets:  Enchanted Tales with Belle (lines can be too long even at open), the Mine Train Ride when it opens (same reason), Splash Mountain (you don’t want to get wet at open)
• Park opening first ride (without FastPass+) targets: Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain
• Other possible priorities: Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea—Journey of the Little Mermaid

So for as long as you can book multiple headliners per day up to 3, here’s a suggested approach for dates before the Mine Train is available:

• Day 1 at the Magic Kingdom: Plan Peter Pan at open, then FastPass+ Enchanted Tales with Belle, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain
• Day 2 at the Magic Kingdom: Plan to repeat the favorite from Day 1 at open, then FastPass+ Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and one of Winnie the Pooh, or Under the Sea—Journey of the Little Mermaid
• If you have a third day at Magic Kingdom with a morning, then plan to save the first ride for a repeat of a favorite, then book as FastPass+ repeat visits to Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Peter Pan—almost everyone’s list of Magic Kingdom favorites includes at least two of these three…

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MARCH 29 TO APRIL 6, 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 March 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this, and for more on April, see this.

[Read more →]