Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

As detailed here, the two monorail loops serving the Magic Kingdom began closing on weekdays from 11.30a til 7p last week.

I was at the Contemporary Thursday through Saturday, experienced the closures on Friday, and so thought I’d give a bit of an update, with photos. Along the way, there’s detours into the new buses, and Polynesian construction!

But the short version is that there’s lots of buses and all seems to be going fine.

Friday I started the day with a visit to the Wilderness Lodge to pick up a few more photos for the re-review. While in line for the boat from the Wilderness Lodge back to the Contemporary, I heard another guest complaining that because the monorails were down at TTC, the boat was the only way she could get back to the Contemporary.

I couldn’t think of any sensible scenario where getting from TTC to the Contemporary included a boat from the Wilderness Lodge, so I thought I’d better check out how the outage was going…

I started at the Contemporary bus stop, where you can now find buses to the Magic Kingdom and to TTC.

I walked to the Magic Kingdom, and saw along the way two different track gang vehicles–here’s the one I got a better shot of.

At the Magic Kingdom bus stop, I saw the buses heading to the monorail resorts and to TTC.  The Polynesian and Grand Floridian shared one bus at spot 1, and the Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary Resort shared another at spot 2.

There was also a different bus stop for TTC, at spot 28.  Here’s the slot assignments the day I was there. (As always, click the photos to enlarge them.)

As I walked up to the TTC slot, one of the new articulated buses pulled away from it.  I was bummed to not get a ride in one of these–they are enormous!

But I did get this photo of three of them lined up at the bus stops.

Here’s a closer shot of the new buses.

Then I took a regular bus from the Magic Kingdom to TTC.  The rolling time was 5 minutes.

Here’s the TTC signage for the buses to the monorail resorts.

The bus sharing is the same here (or at least it was when I was present).

I suspect the poor woman who took the bus to the Wilderness Lodge, and then the boat to the Contemporary, got that idea from a Wilderness Lodge guest on the bus who didn’t realize the bus went both places…and only knew about the boat…

There’s also buses to the Magic Kingdom at TTC (plus, of course, the ferry).  These have better signs than the buses to the monorail resorts, including this one.

From TTC I walked to the Polynesian–despite the construction at the Polynesian, the walkway is still open. When they need to move stuff from the staging area to the construction area, they’ll shut it down for a bit.

The only new thing about Poly construction I noticed, by the way, is that Tahiti is now sealed off behind construction fabric.

Here’s a shot of the construction from Tokelau, which remains open.

Then I went to the Polynesian bus stop and grabbed a bus to the Magic Kingdom.  As was the case at the Contemporary, Magic Kingdom, and TTC, I waited less than five minutes for the bus.  I’d guess average waits will be on the order of ten minutes.

The bus to the Magic Kingdom from the Polynesian heads first to the Grand Floridian, then backtracks around the Seven Seas Lagoon to the park.  Rolling time plus the time at the Grand Floridian was about 15 minutes–the return trip, where the Poly will be visited first, will be about ten minutes.

Later that evening, when the monorails were running again, I took it both ways. It took about two minutes to get back to the Contemporary from the Magic Kingdom, and 13 minutes to get to the park in the first place.  Crowds were light both ways.

At the Contemporary, I heard a different woman complain to the monorail cast members–“How can you call yourself a monorail resort with monorail closures?” she asked.  A fair question.

But maintenance needs to happen, and, at least on this quiet Friday with no evening parade at the Magic Kingdom, the buses filled in just fine.

I’m a little worried about how this will work on days when people are trying to get to a 7p parade…and I’m really concerned about the week of President’s Day, when both the hotels and the parks will be mobbed–but at least on Friday, all was well.

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One of the frustrations expressed with Disney World’s new FastPass+ program is that unlike in “legacy” Fastpass program–which is now gone–guests are limited to three FastPass+ per day.

Moreover, at two of Disney’s parks–Hollywood Studios and Epcot–FastPass+ are “tiered.”

For example, you can have only one of Soarin and Test Track among your three Epcot FastPass+, and only one of Rock n’ Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania at the Studios.

In fact, getting around these FastPass+ limits is quite easy.  Just throw money at the problem.

GETTING MORE THAN THREE FASTPASS+ AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The key is to realize that the limit is not three FastPass+ per person. Rather, it’s three FastPass+ per active ticket.

The basics are simple: buy two tickets per person, enter the park twice, using each ticket once, and you can book six FastPass+ per person.

For example, on Friday I entered the Magic Kingdom at about 3p using my four day hopper and booked at a FastPass+ kiosk the rides shown above.

Then I got on my phone, and using my annual pass–which is linked to my MagicBand–I booked the same three rides (because I was also testing using this technique to ride the same ride more than once in a day using FastPass+) another 3 times. Then I exited the park, and re-entered using my MagicBand/Annual Pass combo.

And there you have it–six FastPass+ in a day.

Then I rode them all–I just needed to keep track of which FastPass+ was on my ticket and which on my MagicBand!

(Well, actually, I used both my FastPass+ for Space Mountain, but only one each for the Jungle Cruise and Enchanted Tales with Belle–I’d seen each recently enough to not need to do them twice within an hour…hey, this was a test, not a human sacrifice!)

I did the same thing Saturday at the Studios.  First, about noon, I booked the above on my hopper.

Then I booked three more on my MagicBand/Annual Pass combo. This time I was testing the ability to get more than one Tier One, and I wanted to ride Tower of Terror twice.

So I ended up on Saturday with two FastPass+ for Tower of Terror, and one each for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. 

Now this is an expensive solution to a problem most people won’t have.  Families following one of this site’s itineraries and going one of its recommended weeks simply don’t need to do this.

But other families–those on very short trips, those going during one of the four or five most crowded weeks of the year, those who want to sleep in and arrive at the park after noon, but still see all the best rides–may find this approach worth thinking about.

Disney World is already remarkably expensive, and adding just another two-day ticket for a typical family of four will cost more than $750…or a little more than $30 per “extra” FastPass+.  

For many,  there’s no way the extra FastPass+ will be even remotely worth this extra cost–and for others value for money won’t matter, as the extra money just won’t be there.

But for others, depending on the circumstances noted above, and willingness to pay, the chance to ride Space Mountain again–or even at all–without waiting in the stand-by line will be worth it!

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 25 TO FEBRUARY 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 January 2014, see this.

[Read more →]

Josh of easyWDW.com and I have begun working together on a big new secret joint project.

I can’t even hint at the details now, but if all goes as we hope–and if I don’t die of laughter in the meantime–we’ll be able to fill you in on the full scoop in six weeks or so.

In the meantime, this big new super secret thingy will absorb a lot of my spare time.

Thus I may end up posting new stuff here a little less often than usual–perhaps three to four times a week instead of five to seven times a week.

Or maybe it’ll take less time than I’m thinking, and all will be the same…

We’ll see–but for sure, I’ll still be here for you!

Now I have to go write Josh a memo, schedule a meeting with him…and otherwise get busy driving him crazy!

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I’ll be at Disney World from late Thursday of this week through early Wednesday of next week.  Here’s the goals:

TESTING FASTPASS+ AS THOUGH STAYING OFF-SITE

Buy a four day ticket, and, ignoring my annual pass, MagicBands, and such, test FastPass+ as though I were staying off-site.

That means making day-of reservations at kiosks in the park.

(All the parks will be FastPass+ only by January 23).

For the earlier tests, see

• First Test of FastPass+–attractions
• Second Test of FastPass+– fireworks, parades, and character greetings
• Third test of FastPass+ — making plans on the day of use

SEEING IF I CAN BUY MY WAY OUT OF THE THREE FASTPASS+ PER DAY LIMIT

Using both the new ticket and my Annual Pass, see if my way of throwing money to fix fastpass constraints under the old fastpass system works for the new system too.

That is, if, by using two different tickets per day, I can get six FastPass+ per day.

CONTINUING THE GREAT DELUXE RESORT TOUR OF 2013-2014

As some of you know, I’ve stayed in every Disney World resort (and within them every major room variant) since I opened this site.

Specifically, I’ve stayed in 86 different Disney World rooms, 70+ of those since I opened the site.  Reviews from these visits are here. 

Some of my reviews of the deluxe and Disney Vacation Club spaces are getting old, though, so over 2013 and 2014 I’m revisiting them all, to re-write their reviews.

So over this visit I’ll continue the re-visits to the Contemporary and Animal Kingdom Lodge that began in late 2013.

• In December I revisited the Contemporary’s tower rooms and a two-bedroom villa at Bay Lake Tower. On this visit it’ll be a garden room.
• In November I re-visited a Jambo House pool view room and in December a two-bedroom villa at Kidani Village.  On this trip I’ll have a Jambo Arusha bunk bed room, and a Jambo studio and one bedroom villa.

Among these visits, the Epcot DVC bookings I have for March, the four more deluxes I will be revisiting later in 2014, and some other plans, I’ll cross 100 different resort room visits sometime in 2014, and none of my reviews will be from visits earlier than 2012.

This seems worthy of some kind of celebration–or intervention!

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With the parks tearing out their old “legacy” Fastpass machines and converting entirely to FastPass+ by January 23…well, I’ve had to adapt and change my Disney World  itineraries!

I’ve now got you covered until the end of August—and likely, I think, through Thanksgiving week, though I won’t know that for sure until the September, October, etc. calendars come out.

But just as in the rest of the year, there’s always the possibility that in a given week you’ll need to swap things around in response to operating pattern changes that week.

My basic approach has been to keep park days the same for dates up to 180 days ahead (as of the time I started publishing these new itineraries, in November), so that dining recommendations remain valid, but take this opportunity to completely re-do itineraries for dates that were beyond 180 days. Since I started this in November, that means all-new itineraries beginning for arrival dates May 31, 2014 and later.

So here’s the details—but double check here for suggested or required changes

• Most arrival dates between now and the week before the week before Easter: Supplement the Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary with this
• The two weeks before and after Easter: Supplement the Summer Itinerary (not a typo!) with this
• The weeks from the week after the week after Easter through Memorial Day Week: Supplement the Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary with this
• The weeks from May 31 through mid-August: Use the new FastPass+ Itinerary for High Crowd Weeks
• The second half of August: use the new FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks

As Disney’s operating calendar continues to roll forward every month (it publishes about six and a half months ahead), you’ll be able to find recommended itineraries for the upcoming months after August here.

There’s also multiple seven night variants (all the above are the recommended eight nights)—these are all either supplemented or newly created too:

• Autumn-Winter-Spring Seven Night Variant, Saturday AND Sunday Arrivals —supplement with this.
• Seven Night FastPass+ Itinerary for High Crowd Weeks
• Seven Night FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks, Saturday Arrival
• Seven Night FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks, Sunday Arrival

I still need to do the “daily details” and finalize the To-Do Lists for the brand-new itineraries—these will come out well before the 60 day FastPass+ mark for them. Sixty days before the earliest new itinerary arrival date is early April—I’ll be done with these daily details by then, and likely by the end of February.

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