Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

INNOVENTIONS AT EPCOT

Innoventions East and Innoventions West are areas of Disney World’s Epcot where “you are invited to imagine, invent, inquire and inspire as you explore amazing innovations that are making our lives better.” (Slow-loading source.)

Each of the two Innoventions pavilions holds a changing roster of 5-8 experiences, each with an external sponsor—ranging from Coca-Cola to Cornell University.

Innoventions is the perfect example of the Epcot itinerary quandary.

These are low capacity experiences of varying, but usually low, interest to typical theme-park visitors—and especially of low interest to most kids. (The Sum of All Thrills is a bit of an exception.)

So skip Innoventions, right? After all, it’s ranked as “Most Can Skip” here, and as “Avoid” for little kids, and “Skippable for everybody else, here.

Well, maybe.

The issue is that Epcot is willing to make you think, if you wish to, and you just never know when your kids (or you!) will have their imagination or intellect sparked.

REVIEW: VISION HOUSE AT INNOVENTIONS EAST [Read more →]

EPCOT ITINERARY REVISIONS COMING SOON

Danny challenged me earlier this year to re-think my Epcot itineraries, and I’m in the middle of doing so.

Here’s some of my current thoughts—I’d love to hear everyone’s reactions!

This site is meant to help easily create the best Walt Disney World visit for first time visitors who may never return, and at multiple places encourages seeing almost everything.

But fitting all this into the site’s standard eight night itineraries—and still leaving some time for goofing off and recovering from the parks—is not always easy.

So I do in fact leave some things out—usually minor street events or character greetings (covered by character meals instead).

But at Epcot I’ve explicitly listed all kinds of stuff as

• To be sampled and only explored further based on reactions to the sample (e.g. World Showcase)
• As basically optional for families with kids (e.g. Agent P, Innoventions)
• As “skippable”

And some stuff (like Club Cool) I’ve just plain ignored.

This is actually a change from the early years of the itineraries, when wide swaths of Epcot—for example Innoventions and Agent P’s precursor, Kim Possible—weren’t even mentioned.

Slowly over the years I’ve added stuff to the Epcot itineraries, usually framed as optional or to be sampled–but if you do all these, and spend a lot of time in them, you won’t come even close to being able to meeting the suggested timetables of the site (which was one of Danny’s key points).

Moreover, with the re-do of Test Track, the best thing to do early on has changed.

There’s two problems with the new Test Track:

1. It is now even more popular than it was before the re-do, so it builds longer waits even earlier than it used to
2. Its Fastpass and single-rider lines give a profoundly different family experience than the standard “stand-by” line does.

Now personally, I don’t think that the “profoundly different experience” actually matters much—but that’s a personal call, and not one I’m willing to do on behalf of everyone else.

So the issue is adapting the day to doing the right things first thing, and incorporating somehow all the sorta-optional attractions.

Adapting the morning is fairly straightforward:

1. Be at the turnstiles by 8.30a—earlier in more crowded weeks
2. Go to Soarin and Fastpass it
3. Walk the ten minutes to Test Track and ride it
4. Go into Innoventions East, check out Sum of All Thrills, and if it looks like fun, ride it.
5. Head back to the Soarin side and do at least two of the three attractions in The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion:  See The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush, and check out the Seas Main Tank and Exhibits.  Spend a much time with the exhibits as works for your family.
6. Go to the Land Pavilion, and catch your Soarin Fastpass; do Living with the Land if you have an interest in history, farming, vegetable gardening, or technology; and if you are a huge Lion King fan, or an ironist, see The Circle of Life…

Ok, see the problem? We aren’t at lunch yet, and there’s already four attractions that are basically optional.

The cool thing about Epcot is that it’s willing to go beyond pure play and try to capture the imagination and intellect of your family.  The problem with Epcot is that mostly as a result of this willingness, different families—and different members within a family—will love some stuff that others find just dull as dirt. And it’s hard to say ahead of time which will light a spark in your kids…

There’s four different types of attractions at Epcot

1. Ones most people will find lame—the Gran Fiesta Tour, Journey into the Imagination with Figment, Captain EO, the Norway Film, Circle of Life, much of Innoventions (VISION House, anyone?), etc.
2. Minor attractions—nothing wrong, but not worth a lot either—Maelstrom, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure, etc.
3. Bi-modal attractions—some love them  and some find them unspeakably dull: the rest of Innoventions, Living with the Land, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, the Seas Main Tank and Exhibits, the American Adventure, the rest of the films in World Showcase, etc.
4. Attractions worth seeing for pretty much everyone 8 or older: Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Test Track, Turtle Talk with Crush, Mission Space, and Illuminations

So to get the best out of Epcot without spending two full days there, the trick is to have a sense of what might be your family’s “don’t-miss” attractions in addition to these last six, and see them either when they are right there at hand (like the ones in the Seas and Land pavilions) or later in the day—in times my itineraries right now mark as free time back at your resort.

WHAT’S COMING NEXT FOR THE EPCOT ITINERARIES

So I’ll be doing a couple of things to support this approach to Epcot.

• First, revising the early mornings so that they better respond to Test Track
• Second, publishing many more reviews of the rides at Epcot—with the focus being on the first three categories above, to help families with choices among them
• Third, grouping many of the rides from the first three categories above into new “optional” times that (optionally) re-capture time currently indicated as at the resorts, with as little back-tracking as possible

These changes and reviews will all be coming out over the course of the summer!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

DISNEY WORLD DEAL ABOUT TO EXPIRE

There’s a Walt Disney World deal out right now that offers room rate discounts of 15% to 30% off certain Walt Disney World resort hotels.

This deal covers arrival dates from June 13, 2013 through August 14, 2013–but it needs to be booked by June 14, 2013. 

For more on this deal, see this.  For other current deals, see this.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

‘OHANA AT DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

‘Ohana (the name is Hawaiian for “typographical error” “family”) is a deeply-loved restaurant at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.  In the evenings, dinner features flame-cooked meat skewers cooked over an open fire (menu here).

In the morning, though, the fires are out, and their entertainment value is replaced by Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and friends.

THE LILO AND STITCH BEST FRIENDS CHARACTER BREAKFAST AT ‘OHANA IN DISNEY’S POLYNESIAN RESORT

The Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast features standard continental American breakfast foods in any quantity you want, highlighted with a little Polynesian flair. (Somewhat vague menu here.)

The first course is fruit, yogurt, breakfast breads with a hint of the Pacific Islands, and mango juice (other standard breakfast beverages are also available).

This is followed by a skillet with biscuits, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and breakfast potatoes.  In our visit, we were among the earliest to be served (we had a 7.45a reservation)—before the real demand on the kitchen began–and the food was hot and perfectly cooked.

The potatoes and sausage each have a hint of the exotic to them—but the hint is subtle enough that even the most finicky kid won’t pine for a McDonald’s Big Breakfast instead.

The fruit, bread, and hot food are all served “family style”—your party serves themselves from the serving utensil, and you can get more of anything should you want it.

Later, the dedicated waffle service comes by!  I’d forgotten this was coming so could manage only one…a turn of events I regret as I sure do love those Mickey-head waffles…kind of a weird Disney communion…

All in this is fine but largely routine breakfast fare.

What distinguishes the Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast is the cool setting of the Polynesian—one of Disney World’s most kid-pleasing locales—attendance by Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and others, and fun Mickey-led marches for kids around the restaurant.

At various times during the morning, the characters come out and visit with each table, pose for pictures, and then shift into parade mode. After the parade—at least on our visit—they take a break, then return a little later.

The Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast is a great place for breakfast, and a fun alternative to this site’s recommended Chef Mickey’s character breakfast.

Chef Mickey’s has better characters, in its buffet a wider variety of food choices, and better access to the Magic Kingdom.  But the Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast is a fine choice as well!

HOURS, THE MAGIC KINGDOM, GETTING THERE, AND SUCH

Disney’s new website—which often works—lists the hours of the Lilo and Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast as being 7.30-11a.  I can’t tell for sure when the last seating is, but it is at least as late as 10.20a.

• Families eating here as part of a leisurely morning can make their reservations for anytime.
• Families combining breakfast here with a visit to the Magic Kingdom should eat as early or as late as possible.

Very early dining allows you to still make a standard 9a opening (but not morning Extra Magic Hours, or one of the 8a opening you’ll see at the busiest times of the year) while not having to rush out just as Mickey shows up.

Getting one of the latest possible reservations—10.20a, or later if you can–lets you do rope drop whenever it is, and thus see part of the Magic Kingdom while crowds are the lowest.  It also lets you sleep in a bit longer, and to treat the all-you can eat meal as a filling brunch. So that’s the way to do Best Friends.

‘Ohana is on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House—the main building—at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.

You get there from the Magic Kingdom by either boat or monorail.

• Check the Polynesian boat boarding area at the Magic Kingdom before you get on the monorail—if the boat is there, it’s more fun, but it’s not worth waiting for.
• Otherwise, take the resort monorail—also fun–getting off at the Polynesian.

If you are coming from the Contemporary Resort, take the resort monorail. From the Grand Floridian, you can walk, take the boat, or take the resort monorail.

From other Disney resorts, if you have one of the early reservations, ask your hotel concierge the day before how to get to the Polynesian.  Disney runs special buses for early character breakfasts, so you may be directed to one of these, or to the resort’s standard Magic Kingdom transport if it is operating that early.

You can also drive to the Polynesian, but while construction is going on there—as it will be for a while—parking is scarce, so you may have to valet.   It’s bad form, by the way, to leave your car in the Poly lot and head off to the Magic Kingdom for the day…

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JUNE 8, 2013 TO JUNE 16, 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.

Star Wars weekends have their final presentation at the beginning of this week and increasingly are mobbing the Studios, so avoid Disney’s Hollywood Studios the 8th and the 9th.

After the 8th, Disney World reverts to its normal summer Extra Magic Hours schedule. This means morning EMH at the Animal Kingdom this week the 8th, 10th and 12th–and thus that the 11th and 13th will be particularly good days at the Animal Kingdom.

(For more on June 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this.)

[Read more →]

THE NOMURA MEDIA AND TELECOM SUMMIT AND FASTPASS+

Fastpass+ is a new, not-yet-released Disney World program that will allow…and perhaps require…Fastpasses to be reserved well in advance of a visit.

(Len Testa has a great write-up of what’s known (not a lot) and what can be reasonably speculated about Fastpass+ here.)

I predicted back in early April that the earliest date we’d see this consequentially operational in the parks would be October 1, and nothing in Disney’s early May earnings call led me to revise this date to earlier.

I thought a telling exchange on this call was the following (bold added by me)

Analyst: “…in terms of [the Fastpass+] timeframe, would that be something where by fiscal 2014 you would think we start to see some impact?”

Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company: “Yes. I think–well, I definitely believe we’ll see some impact in fiscal 2014. That is certainly our plan…”

Disney’s fiscal 2014 starts in October 2013. This waffling is sensible—you don’t want to announce a date before you are confident in it, and Disney can’t be confident in Fastpass+ until a number of systems issues are resolved, and lots of further testing happens.

Now Jay Rasulo—who was also on that call, and is Disney’s CFO—was at the Nomura Annual U.S. Media and Telecom Summit last week, and of course got a similar question.

Here’s what Jay had to say about the timing of MyMagic+, the overall program of which the major element will be Fastpass+:

“…MyMagic+… will probably launch before the end of this year in its, I don’t know, I won’t say totality, but largely be launched by the end of this year and fiscal year.”

So my take-away?  October 1 is still the earliest date I’m seeing for the widespread in-park use of Fastpass+, but if I had to bet, based on just the passage of time and the comparative words used between these two early and late May sessions, I’d look for an even longer timeframe…

I’d now guess for a formal widespread opening of Fastpass+ for reservations sometime between late September and early November, with the first pretty full use of the program in the parks beginning no earlier than January 4 or 5, 2014—after all the holiday crowds are gone.

This is just a forecast—it could be earlier, especially if the launch in the parks explicitly excludes Thanksgiving week and the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s or even later.

But that’s my bet now—no widespread use of Fastpass+ in the parks until 2014.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook!