Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

DISNEY’S 2014 INTERNATIONAL FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVAL AT EPCOT

Every year from roughly early March through mid-May, Walt Disney World presents the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.

In 2014, the Flower and Garden Festival is scheduled for March 5-May 18.

The gardens at Epcot are almost always lovely, and they are at their loveliest during this period.

Disney’s own wonderful landscaping is supplemented by additional plantings, topiary, and specially themed gardens.

Also presented are special programs presenting gardening tips, and weekend concerts.

Likely growing in 2014 is the more emphasis on food we saw beginning in 2013.

See the official Walt Disney World web page for the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival here.

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The author of MiliaryDisneyTips.com and moderator of military family issues on this site, Steve Bell, has released a new e-book on Shades of Green, the Armed Forces resort at Walt Disney World.

(Click the image for a sample page.)

As you can tell if you click the link, I think quite a lot of this e-book!

(Disclosure: I’m such a fan that I’ve set up an affiliate relationship with Steve, so if you buy the book, he’ll share a bit of pixie dust with me.)

For those eligible for it, Shades of Green has one great positive and one great negative.

• The great positive of Shades of Green is wonderful rooms at much less than half of the price you’d pay for the equivalent Disney-owned rooms.
• The great negative is an almost complete absence of the fun theming you will find in the Disney resorts.

For me the  negative outweighs the positive for first time family visitors who may never return (see my review here), but many families just don’t agree that it matters given the low-priced wonderful rooms there.

Steve’s e-book deals with this and all of the other issues and opportunities that Shades of Green presents in a really comprehensive and well-illustrated way.

So if you are considering a stay at Shades of Green, but not completely sure, you need to buy this e-book. It will help you make a decision you will be happy with!

Steve Bell is the Military Moderator on this site. And Steve’s Military Disney Tips has always been the go-to site for military families looking to make the most out of their Disney World vacations.

But like every other website (especially mine), finding exactly what you need to know, in the right order, sometimes isn’t as easy as you’d like it to be.

So the great news is that Steve has just published a Disney World guidebook for military families.

With entire chapters devoted to the 2016 salute, to Shades of Green, and to other deals and perks available to military families, I can’t recommend it enough!!

It’s available as a PDF–probably the most convenient format–here, and on Amazon.com here.

This book will be a great help to military families contemplating a Disney World visit in 2016!!

LINKS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

• Military Families at Walt Disney World
• Deals and Discounts
  • Military Discounts and Deals
  • Other Walt Disney World Discounts and Deals
• Shades of Green
  • Shades of Green e-book
  • Review of Shades of Green
  • Splitting Your Stay Between Shades of Green and Another Resort
  • Overflow Rates at Shades of Green
  • Shades of Green website

Comments moderated by Steve Bell of Military Disney Tips.

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: SEPTEMBER 21 TO SEPTEMBER 29, 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.)

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OVERVIEW: APRIL 2014 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews April 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.

The first week of April 2014—beginning March 29– will see moderate crowds and high prices. The week beginning 4/5 will have a pre-Easter lull in crowds, but still high prices.

Because of spring break crowds, the week before Easter, beginning April 12, will see wildly high crowds and prices. The late Easter in 2014 means the week after Easter won’t be as bad as in recent years.

The week beginning April 26th will be wonderful.
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My four-page Walt Disney World Cheat Sheet–an example page is to the right–includes a number of this site’s famous charts and graphs. It’s updated to reflect FastPass+.

In total, the cheat sheet provides the key stuff you need for planning your 2014 first family visit to Walt Disney World.

Click here to open it as a PDF–it’s 1.47 MB, so might take a bit.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY RESORTS TO BE ADDED TO FASTPASS+ TESTING

As predicted by the “Mysterious A” on this site almost a month ago, reported on disboards.com a couple of days ago and other sites since, and confirmed by Kerri, one of my twitter followers who got FastPass+ for Coronado Springs for an October 31 arrival date, the number of resorts in the current FastPass+ test will be hugely expanded over the next month or so.

Below are resorts already in the test, and after that the arrival dates on which others will be added.

No one knows for sure if the test will continue after the announced end date of October 31.  Most expect it to do so; others think it will be on hold after 10/31 until after the Christmas/New Years holiday weeks.

Me?  Well, on September 12, Jay Rasulo, Disney CFO, said this at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2013 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference:

“…By the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2014 we will have substantial [Fastpass+] coverage of our resort guests…” (p10)

Disney’s first fiscal quarter end is at the end of December 2014, so I find it hard to interpret Rasulo’s comments as supporting any other interpretation than that FastPass+ availability will continue after 10/31 at most or all of the resorts in, or entering, the test.

That is, I think FastPass+ will continue to be largely available to Walt Disney World resort hotel guests after October 31st.

And for everybody else?  Well, here’s what Jay said about that, continuing the same answer quoted above: “and ultimately all guests who visit the property…”  So everybody else is still in the “ultimately someday” category.

RESORTS ALREADY IN THE TEST

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Disney’s Polynesian Resort
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

RESORTS TO BE ADDED, BY ARRIVAL DATE

September 30

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village
• Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
• Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter

October 7

• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
• Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

October 14

• Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

October 21

• Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa

October 23

• The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

For more on Fastpass+, see this and this.

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