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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 17, 2013 TO AUGUST 25, 2013

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic.

(And for more on August 2103 at Walt Disney World, see this.)

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OVERVIEW: MARCH 2014 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews March 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 March 2014 will see low crowds and moderate prices. After then, the spring break crowds pour in to Disney World and prices jump up.

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DISNEY WORLD SPRING BREAK CROWDS FROM FEBRUARY THROUGH APRIL 2014

DISNEY WORLD SPRING BREAK CROWDS: THE PRINCIPLES

Walt Disney World Spring Break crowds are governed by two and a quarter factors:

• Public school Spring Break calendars, which are still largely framed around Easter
• The demand of snow-belters for a break from winter weather, which peaks in March, and
• The quarter factor, the date of President’s day.  Later President’s Days (which can range from February 15 to February 21) tend to make the first part of March better

An early Easter combines the first two factors, making for more than the usual horrible crowds in March but a great April; a late Easter spreads the first two factors out, yielding some good early March and early April weeks.

Easter 2014, on April 20, is very late in the possible range. President’s Day 2014, on February 17th, is in the middle of its possible range.

As a result, 2014 Spring Break crowds at Walt Disney World will be

• Fine the last week of February and the first week of March,
• Very rough the weeks beginning March 8, 15, and 22
• Better the week beginning March 29
• Fine the week beginning April 5,
• Horrible the week of April 12 
• Bad, but not horrible, the week beginning April 19
• ..and back to fine the week beginning April 26

2014 PUBLIC SCHOOL SPRING BREAKS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON WALT DISNEY WORLD CROWDS [Read more →]

My younger son and I just checked out of Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort.

We had a great visit, but the food court is down until December for rehab, the mini-fridge in our room—like those in thousands of other Walt Disney World rooms—is off until it’s replaced, and the heat and humidity were such a mess that the AC in our room could only make the temperature adequate, not comfortable.

So it was kinda like being dropped into the Mojave Desert portion of the Pacific Crest Trail with just some twine, a mirror, a broken hacksaw blade, and empty water bottles for succor…but it was still a blast, and because of that, it was kinda like every other Disney World trip I’ve ever been on.

Details follow.

THE CLOSURE FOR REHAB OF THE FOOD COURT AT ALL-STAR SPORTS

The food court at All-Star Sports, not much to start with, is now closed for a welcome rehab into December 2013.

Alternatives abound.

First, there’s dedicated bus service to the food courts at nearby sister resorts All-Star Music and All-Star Movies (for most people in the Homerun hotel section of Sports, and many in other southern rooms, walking to Music is faster).

The buses leave from the lobby bus point, not the theme park bus point—the same place where Disney Magical Express drops people off.

I checked the crowding in Music’s food court multiple times over the last few days, and except for one breakfast zoo didn’t find it that much more mobbed than I would normally expect it to be with no such closure…and the Movies food court—the best of the food courts at the All-Stars anyway—doesn’t seem much affected at all.

Second, there’s a couple of grab and go points at All-Star Sports.

• One is by the Surfboard Bay pool, between the main and baby pools. It has a selection of muffins, hot dogs and such from carts.
• The second is the bar, which now still works as a bar, but has some additional food options.
• Third is the main replacement.  Disney has stripped out the video arcade in the main building, and replaced it with a large grab and go section. Here you’ll find all kinds of room-temperature and cold options.  Lots of pastries, some great pre-made sandwiches, all the different drinks you could want, cold cereal boxes, etc.  The merit of this space compared to the other two is that it has a much larger selection, and is indoors.

This is a pain, but the alternatives do a pretty good job of helping deal with it.

MISSING FRIDGES AT ALL-STAR SPORTS

As has been widely reported, Disney is slowly replacing tens of thousands of mini-fridges which have  some risk of fire.

The deluxes are largely done, I hear mixed things about the moderates (see for example this, which reports 40%+ are in service at Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter) and so far as I can tell there’s not yet a ton of traction at the values—except for the family suites, unaffected by this replacement.

Our room at Sports had the fridge present, but turned off, with this note on it.

The room I’m currently in at All-Star Movies has the fridge present and off, but with this working replacement in the corner by the window.

If you need a fridge for medication or allergies, and are in a moderate or value, call your resort and request one.  I also hear that people are having some success on site getting either a fridge or a refund for other less urgent reasons by calling and being firm.

Sometimes we have our mini-fridges stuffed full of breakfast and lunch fixins.  Sometimes it’s just beer. This trip, we managed just fine without the fridge, by drinking the beer before it got warm.

But there are other alternatives, all framed around the presence of the ice machines and some handy extra-strength trash bags and zip lock bags you bring from home:

• Use your un-plugged mini-fridge (if it is still in the room) as an insulated box, cooling it with ice.
• Use an emptied suitcase, trash bags and ice to make a cooler
• At home, buy a soft-sided cooler, pack it in one of your bigger bags, use it and ice as your cooler, and then use it as an extra bag to pack your souvenirs into for the trip home

(The role of the trash bags and ziplock bags is to separate your food and the room carpet from the ice-melt water, especially for the first two alternatives.)

This is a pain in the butt, but not a disaster.

AIR CONDITIONING CHALLENGES AT ALL-STAR SPORTS

So in our room with no fridge, at a hotel with no food court, we also had trouble keeping our room cool enough.

Despite setting the AC as low as it would go, both my son and I were a little uncomfortable with the warmth of our room at All-Star Sports—not very, but just not quite cool enough to comfortably drift off to sleep.

Now, it’s August in Florida, and this weekend has been as hot and humid as any I’ve ever experienced at Walt Disney World.  Highs have been in the upper 90s, and the humidity, sadly, seems to be giving it that old mathematically impossible 110%…and I know you can’t size heating and cooling to be perfect every conceivable day…

But this room comfort issue is where the approach to our missing fridge—drink the beer before it gets warm—came in especially handy.

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OVERVIEW: FEBRUARY 2014 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews February 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.

Early February 2014 will see low crowds, low prices, and the prospect of  ride closures.

The high crowds and prices of Presidents Day dominate the middle of the month, with rougher times beginning Thursday the 13th and continuing through Saturday the 22nd.

Crowds and prices diminish beginning the 23rd–though a massive convention in Orlando runs the 23rd through the 27th, promising to make hotel rooms scarce, and perhaps leading to some minor holdover crowds showing up in the parks beginning the afternoon of the 27th.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: AUGUST 10, 2013 TO AUGUST 18, 2013

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic.

(And for more on August 2103 at Walt Disney World, see this.)

[Read more →]