Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

I’m in Orlando to help out my client at a ginormous convention at the Orange County Convention Center.

The plans to attend came together very late, so the only flights available got us here a day early.

So of course we went to the Magic Kingdom, where I had a chance to see parts of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train where the construction walls had been taken down. (Click the images to enlarge them.)

This new ride will be the final component of the New Fantasyland expansion.

There’s a press event for it at the end of April/beginning of May, so all expectations are that it will be open by then–and perhaps well before.

It looks really, really fun!

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: FEBRUARY 22 TO MARCH 2, 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 February 2014 at Walt Disney World, see this.

[Read more →]

(A slightly different version of this first appeared in WDW Magazine.)

People who haven’t been to Walt Disney World or Central Florida sometimes think that it is consistently sunny and comfortably warm year-round.

Well, it isn’t. Summer days are typically stiflingly hot and humid. But while winter rarely sees snow, or (more common, but still rare) temperatures below freezing, there’s so much variability in winter temperatures that a visit then may be loaded with perfect days or full of shivers.

Officially there’s just two seasons in Orlando, the dry season from October through mid-May, and the wet season the rest of the year.

But below, I divide the year into four seasons, based on common and consisted weather patterns.

For convenience, they have the traditional labels—but because they are about Orlando, they don’t match the astronomical date of the season! For example, “Fall” below is not September 22 to December 21—it’s the latter three weeks of October!

WINTER AT DISNEY WORLD: November through March

Orlando is dryer—with less rain and less humidity—these months. Temperatures on average are cooler, but are also highly variable.

Typical highs are in the 70s, but highs in the 30s are not uncommon, and record lows are below 20. December, January and February are the coolest and most variable of these months.

• Best for: those seeking to avoid the heat and humidity of summer.
• Worst for: those for whom extended time at the pools and waterparks is an essential part of their trip—there’s too much variability to be sure of lots of great warm days.

SUMMER AT DISNEY WORLD: Mid-May through September

During this time of year Orlando is hot, wet, and humid.

High temperatures are typically around 90, and show little variably year to year. High humidity makes the heat tougher to bear, as it limits the ability of sweat to cool the body by evaporating. June through August is the worst. You’ll see more comfortable days before and after–particularly in May but also sometimes in later September.

Brief late-afternoon thunderstorms are common, happening almost every day, and multi-day storms are possible.

The hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30, but it has a clear peak from late August to early October.

When the heat and humidity are at the upper end of their typical ranges, it can be so uncomfortable that you don’t want to leave your room. The common approach to summer is to hit the parks early and late, and stay out of the mid-day heat.

• Best for: Those for whom extended time at the pools and waterparks is an essential part of their trip; those willing to risk hurricane-related disruptions to take advantage of late August and September low crowds and prices
• Worst for: those made miserably by heat and humidity, or those not willing to risk hurricane-related travel disturbances

SPRING AT DISNEY WORLD: April and early May

April and early May bring the best mix of warm, dry, but not too hot or humid days. (The summer rainy season can start as early as the first week of May but much more typically begins late in the month.)

In years with an early Easter—pushing spring break crowds into March and early April—the second half of April is one of the absolute best times to go to Orlando, from the combined perspective of crowds and weather. The late Easter in 2014 makes these dates unwise.

• Best for: Visitors seeking to balance comfort both in and out of the pools
• Worst for: Visitors who prefer much cooler or much warmer days

FALL AT DISNEY WORLD: October except the first week

The peak of the hurricane season ends in early October, and after that October weather is almost as nice as in the spring.

Later October is a little warmer and wetter than April, with some continuing small risk of hurricanes, but still a favorite of many.

• Best for: Visitors seeking to balance comfort both in and out of the pools
• Worst for: Visitors who prefer much cooler or much warmer days

MORE ON DISNEY WORLD WEATHER

• Weather and When to Go
• High Temperatures Year Round
• Average Rainfall by Arrival Date
• Hurricanes
• Tornadoes
• Chance of Winter High Temperature Over 75
• Pool Days November through February

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OVERVIEW: SEPTEMBER 2014 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews September 2014 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

September combines low crowds with low prices, and typically also has a great room rate and free dining deals as well.

This makes it a great month for returning visitors.

But it has lousy weather, combining continuing summer heat and humidity with the peak of the hurricane season, making me not so keen on the month for first time visitors who may never return.

[Read more →]

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, click here.

THE ACCOMMODATIONS AT DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE

All Disney deluxe resorts have standard rooms; concierge rooms, which Disney calls “club” rooms; and suites. (See this for more on suites at Walt Disney World.)  The Wilderness Lodge has, in addition to these, club-level “deluxe rooms.”

Rooms in Disney’s Wilderness Lodge are in a connected set of six and seven story high buildings, in a “Y”  shape. On the map, the Wilderness Lodge is the green-roofed building at the top center.  The nearby Villas at Disney Wilderness Lodge (reviewed separately here) is the red-roofed area below and right.

At Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, standard and club/ concierge rooms sleep four, in two queen beds, or a queen and bunk beds. The floor plan above is for a two-queen standard or club room. There’s a photo tour of one of these rooms here.

(See photo for the bunks, the mattresses of which I measured as 5’9″ long and 39″ wide.)

A few standard rooms with a king, sleeping two, are also available.

Standard rooms are sold with “standard,” “courtyard”, and “woods” views.

Courtyard views look into the center of the open space, woods views into the woods, and standard views–the least expensive–onto something else…e.g. a parking lot.

Though these standard rooms are tied with the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s rooms as the smallest standard deluxe rooms on property, the space rarely feels cramped; it just has no more space than it absolutely needs.

Club rooms–which the rest of the world calls concierge rooms–all on the key-access 7th floor, have the same layout as standard rooms but have various services and amenities added on, as well as a substantial extra cost.  The outside balcony half-wall in many of these rooms (as well as other top-floor rooms in other areas of the Lodge) is solid, not railed–limiting views except for standing adults.  Some of these rooms also have sloped ceilings.

Club rooms are not worth the extra cost for most first time family visitors. However, they may be well worth it for families intending to spend more time at the Wilderness Lodge than implied by this site’s itineraries. TikimanPages.com has a great discussion of the value of concierge rooms here. Though focused on the Polynesian, it applies to any deluxe resort.

Deluxe rooms (sometimes called “junior suites”) are suite-like club rooms, although they are found on many floors, not just the 7th.  They sleep 6–four in two queens in the bedroom, and two in a fold-out couch in the sitting room. (See floor plan at right.)  For a review of these rooms, click here.

Suites sleeping 2 to 4 people are available for families seeking a particularly comfortable visit–see this for more on suites at Walt Disney World.  The Yosemite Vice Presidential suite, with 885 square feet, sleeps 4–two in the bedroom in a king, and 2 in a queen sleeper sofa in the parlor. The Yellowstone Presidential Suite has the same sleeping arrangements in 1000 square feet.

(To each of the capacity figures above, you can add one more kid under 3 at time of check in who sleeps in a crib.)

The Wilderness Lodge inspires devotion among its fans–of which I am one.

Families who have stayed at it once will have difficulty understanding why they should ever go to a different Walt Disney World resort hotel.

The Wilderness Lodge’s strengths for first time visitors are its unsurpassed kid appeal and its reasonable prices.

The Wilderness Lodge’s principal negatives compared to other deluxes are its small rooms and relative inconvenience for parks other than the Magic Kingdom.

THE THEMING AND HISTORY OF DISNEY’S WILDERNESS LODGE

This review continues here.

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Last week Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel published about Disney World’s new advertising campaign touting FastPass+ and staying at Disney resorts.

Right now, those not staying at Disney-owned resorts can use FastPass+, but can’t book rides ahead of time, while Disney resort guests can.

(So far, booking great same-day FastPass+ has not been a big deal–see this.)

Garcia’s article quoted Disney spokeswoman Marilyn Waters a couple of times–interestingly, and glancingly, on “non-hotel” guests as well (bold added):

“Disney would not say when it will begin offering reservations to non-hotel guests. Waters said only that it will happen ‘in the coming months.’“

Not sure what to make of this.

It could be referring to the annual passholder test that has recently begun.

But it could also be referring to making reservable FastPass+ available to regular people with regular tickets not staying in a Disney World hotel. 

This would make a lot of people happy…

Pretty much everyone expects that Disney will make the whole MyMagic+ thing better for on-site guests than for offsite.

But how much better has not been clear–and still isn’t.

If off-site guests get reservable FastPass+, something will be different for them–the booking window, the number of FastPass+ available per day, access to “Tier One” FastPass+…maybe all the above.

Pragmatically speaking, the next big practical test of FastPass+ will be the busy spring break season–this will be the first test of the full system during a sustained period of high crowds.

I could not see Disney offering reservable FastPass+ more broadly to off-site visitors until it makes it through this test…

My guess is that if off-site guests get access to reservable FastPass+, it’ll happen at earliest this summer.

There’s a press event scheduled for April 30 to May 2. Topics in it include not only the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train but also MyMagic+.  If the spring break tests of FastPass+ go well, that’s a natural time for the announcement of such an expansion of eligibility…

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