Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Teal. Enjoy the ride as we explore this month the unexpectedly scary side of Walt Disney World!

LITTLE KIDS AND THE SURPRISINGLY SCARY AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

For reasons explained here, this site mostly focuses on kids eight and older. Kids that age can “get” pretty much everything at Disney World, and on average aren’t likely to be freaked out by much on offer.

But every kid is different, so you never know.  I was scared of Space Mountain well into my 30s–which I think of as the middle of my childhood–and until then would ride it with my eyes closed.  (Why it helped to close my eyes on a ride that happens in the dark is something I still haven’t been able to explain to myself…)

And there’s a lot at Disney World that might trouble the younger set–preschoolers. When leaving Fantasmic a month ago, I walked behind a family whose little boy–probably around five–in tears kept repeating “Never again! I’m never seeing this again!”

So this made me wonder where I’d marked Fantasmic on the Comprehensive Guide to Rides, and if that marking was right…

This guide (above) is meant to help families not using one of my itineraries to prioritize what to see, based on both the time they have and the ages of their kids.

The vertical axis is for preschoolers, and it divides rides for them into rides to avoid, best-loved rides, and “other”–rides neither best loved nor to be avoided.

Most of the scary rides are in “Avoid,” but I have Fantasmic in “Other.”  And I’m wondering what those of you with preschoolers who have seen Fantasmic think of this?

Fantasmic–like many other story-based attractions at Disney World, and many other stories in the Disney canon–has both good guys and bad guys. The strength and fearsomeness of the bad guys makes us care more about the struggle of the good guys, and makes the ultimate victory of the good guys (this is Disney, after all!) that much more to be savored!

And Fantasmic has villains everywhere, in images, as characters, and as the world’s biggest snake (I close my eyes when the snake comes out, and think instead of Space Mountain).

For those not freaked out by the villains, the quality of the antagonists makes the ultimate victory of the hero of Fantasmic, Mickey, that much more fun…but some little kids don’t get that closure, as they remain lost in unhappiness at the bad guys.

So what do you think?  For preschoolers, should I leave Fantasmic–one of Disney World’s best offerings, and a favorite of millions–as “other”?  Or should I move it for these little ones to “Avoid”?

MORE ON THE SCARY SIDE OF WALT DISNEY WORLD FROM MAGICAL BLOGORAIL TEAL

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on today’s Magical Blogorail Teal Loop is  Disney-Lovin’ Spectrum Mom.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Teal loop should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard!

1st Stop ~ yourfirstvisit.net
2nd Stop ~ Disney-Lovin’ Spectrum Mom
3rd Stop ~ The Disney Babies Blog
4th Stop ~ The Disney Kids
Final Stop ~ Capturing Magical Memories

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Some coming attractions on yourfirstvisit.net over the next month or so:

REVIEW OF THE VILLAS AT DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT AND SPA

Disney’s latest accommodations offering opens this week—the Villas at the Grand Floridian. Amy Girl and I are booked into a two-bedroom villa there in early November, so look for a review shortly after!

MORE TESTING OF FASTPASS+ AND MAGICBANDS

As part of that visit, we’ll do the second round of FastPass+ and MagicBand testing (for the findings first time around, see this).  This test will focus on FastPass+ for parades, fireworks, and character greetings

KICKING OFF THE RE-VISITS TO THE DELUXE AND DVC RESORTS

Over the last twenty months I’ve re-visited and re-reviewed all of the moderates and values—and all their different room types.

The November visit also “officially” kicks off the re-visits and re-reviews of the deluxe and DVC properties, so besides the Grand Floridian we’ll also be at the Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodges.  Some of the current reviews are as much as four years old (most are newer!), so this will be a welcome refresh of this material.

IMPROVED FLOOR PLANS!

There’s more than 60 floor plans on this site.  Denise from YourFloorPlan is making them all much easier to use!

Today I put up the first five here.  See the example at the top of this page. I’ll be rolling out the rest over the next 6 months.

THE PROS AND CONS OF EVERY WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS ACTUALLY STAYED IN THEM ALL!

I announced yesterday a new series on the pros and cons of all the resorts.  You can find similar stuff elsewhere, but not written by anyone who has recently stayed for multiple nights in all of them. The next entry in the series should be out later this week…

FINISHING THE DRAFT SET OF MATERIAL FOR 2015

I’ve already published Disney World price season projections for 2015. Next to come is the 2015 crowd calendar, and after that the 2015 week rankings. This should all be out within a month.  I’ll then revise it all in the summer of 2014.

OK, that’s the scoop. I hope all this stuff is useful to you all!! And let me know anything else you’d like to see, or to see updated!

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NEW SERIES: THE PROS AND CONS OF EVERY DISNEY WORLD HOTEL

I’ve launched a new series summarizing the pros and cons of all the Walt Disney World resort hotels, based on the 30+ reviews already published here.

• The first entry, on the Disney Vacation Club resorts, is here.
• The second, on the Disney World Deluxe resorts, is here.

When I started working on this site, I did not expect to become an expert on the Walt Disney World resort hotels.

But over the last four years, I’ve stayed for multiple nights in every Walt Disney World resort hotel, most multiple times.

And for the ones with significantly different room types–like the three major room variants at Port Orleans Riverside, or the two major DVC variants at the Animal Kingdom Lodge–well, I’ve stayed in all those too.

As a result, the readers of this site get perspectives into all the Disney World hotels from someone who can compare all of them directly based on recent deep personal experience. 

Moreover, because of this experience I get emails from people like Len Testa, who, after I suggested changes to the hotel material in The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, wrote to say “[Except for one] all of your other comments have been incorporated into the text.  Thanks for taking the time to do those.”

This direct, deep, complete personal experience with the Disney World resort hotels is rarer than you might think–as Julie Neal was kind enough to recognize in her The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World 2012 (copied above; when she wrote this, I was still using the pen name “David Hobart”)–because it takes a lot of time, and a lot of money.

(How the money works: you, the reader, find sponsors of the site that you like.  You do something with them. They send money. I spend the money going to Disney World to create and update the material.  I’m not sure where the time comes from…but more than 20 reviews have been published or updated based on stays in just the last 2 years.)

Elsewhere you will find people comparing hotels they have never stayed in, stayed in for just a night, or stayed in a decade ago.

Necessarily, these writers are cribbing their material from the thoughts of others, and all kinds of errors and poor judgment can emerge from not having the direct personal experience of recent stays of multiple days to use to filter this.

Insight doesn’t come from copying other people’s stuff…it comes from staying in all these hotels yourself!

Now don’t get me wrong–I too find great help elsewhere, I’m sure I repeat some errors I find, and I make my own errors!  But everything I find elsewhere is skeptically tested against my own personal experience, and I try to fix the errors when you point them out to me!

My Disney World hotel rankings are easy to find, and so are my Disney World hotel reviews.

But the rankings are terse, and the reviews typically long–I’ve got more than 30,000 words just on the Disney Vacation Club resorts, with more to come after my upcoming November visit to the Villas at the Grand Floridian!

So as a middle ground between these, I’m publishing a series on the pros and cons of every Walt Disney World resort hotel.

If you want to see the pros and cons of the Disney hotels from someone who has actually stayed in all these hotels, recently and for multiple nights…well,

• The first entry, on the Disney Vacation Club resorts, is here
  
• The second, on the Disney World Deluxe resorts, is here

and more are coming!

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: OCTOBER 19 TO OCTOBER 27, 2013

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.

(And for more on September 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this, and more on October, this.)

[Read more →]

Earlier this week Disney World updated its operating calendar for November, and Thanksgiving Week in particular saw massive changes.

MAGIC KINGDOM OPERATING HOURS THANKSGIVING WEEK

Every day from Saturday November 24 through Saturday November 30, the Magic Kingdom is now open from 8a til 1a.

Before the change, hours were listed that week as 9a-10p.  No one expected that the 10p closes would stay–they were clearly going to be extended.  But 1a closes every day Thanksgiving week is a surprise, as are the 8a openings.

While 8a opens are common other busy weeks, this is the first time since I’ve been tracking that Disney World has had a week of 8a opens during Thanksgiving. (To compare last year’s Thanksgiving Week hours, see this.)

So those intending to beat crowds by showing up before open at the Magic Kingdom now need to get up an hour earlier. And those with 8.10a breakfast in the Magic Kingdom, scheduled with the thought that they’d be finishing just as the park was opening, will need to seriously reconsider these bookings.

The best time to tour is the first hour or two after the park opens.  And since the surprising operating hour extensions are a hint that Disney is expecting really heavy crowds Thanksgiving week…well that touring time is golden, and not wise to spend eating!

OTHER OPERATING HOUR CHANGES

Beyond the Magic Kingdom, Epcot saw no changes; Disney’s Hollywood Studios now has 10p closes, as I would have expected, and the Animal Kingdom is now open 8a-8p all week–as it was last year.

The schedule may change again, even the day before–Extra Magic Hours may be added, etc.  So keep up with the operating hours!

Yesterday I learned that yourfirstvisit.net–well, actually, me–was named a “Top Florida Blogger” by Destinations in Florida.

I’m not entirely certain what the criteria were–although leaden prose, out-of-focus photographs, and not much personality come immediately to mind.

But I’m delighted at the honor.  This site has helped more than four and a half million people since I opened it five-plus years ago, and honestly it’s been an enormous amount of work.

I don’t copy and then re-write other people’s work, and pass it off as my own work–which you’ll see happen on some other Disney World sites. Rather, I do the fact gathering, research and analysis myself, and even show the backup…So the recognition for the help, and the work, is kinda neat!

On the other hand, it’s been a lot of fun too! Reporting on Disney World is not exactly the worst way to be spending your spare time!

Thanks to all of you who come here for help, ask questions, and tell your friends about the site.

The real honor is serving you…

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