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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MAY 11, 2013 TO MAY 19, 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” kicks off at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for 2013 on Friday May 17.

Because of this, you’ll see slightly different Extra Magic Hours than normal, and early openings at both HS and AK over the weekend.

These weekends increasingly are mobbing the Studios, so avoid Disney’s Hollywood Studios the 17th-19th.

I’ll be at Walt Disney World the 13th through the 19th, at Pop Century, then All-Star Music, and then the Polynesian.  Expect updated reviews of these three to follow in later May and June.

The first part of the trip will be focused on re-testing the Epcot itineraries (I think Danny is right, so I need to test, revise and re-test them), and the second part on fine and fun dining with older son, who just graduated from law school!

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

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DISNEY WORLD FALL 2013 FREE DINING DEAL

As expected, Walt Disney World announced today a free dining deal good for most arrival dates from September 2 through September 25. You need to book this deal by July 31.

Savings vary by resort, and not resort hotels are included in the deal.

Here’s the basics of what’s available:

Deluxes, Disney Vacation Club, and Moderates:

• Free “regular” dining plan, which gives you credits for one table-service meal, one quick-service meal, and one snack per night of your hotel stay.

Values:

• Free “quick service” dining plan, which gives you credits for two quick-service meals and a snack per night of your hotel stay.

For more on the dining plan, including how/when you can use these credits, see this.

The best-loved dining venues will book very quickly, so make your dining reservations as soon as you can!  See this for ideas, and also this.

While I’m widely booed for saying so, I expect this to be the only free dining offer for US residents in 2013.  For why, see this.

Oh, well, gotta call em as I see em!  And at least I’ll get a free breakfast out of this!

For more, see Disney’s page on this deal here.

Also today Disney World announced a room rate deal covering most arrival dates August 15 through September 28

Many smaller families aimed at more expensive hotels will save more with the room rate deal than with the free dining deal.  See this for more on this room rate deal.

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DISNEY WORLD FALL 2013 ROOM RATE DEAL

As expected, Walt Disney World announced today a room rate deal good for most arrival dates from August 15, 2013 through September 28, 2013. You need to book this deal by July 31.

Savings vary by resort, and not all are included in the deal.

Here’s the basics of what’s available:

Deluxes and Disney Vacation Club:

• 30% off: Animal Kingdom Lodge Standard and Pool View rooms; Beach Club and Villas; BoardWalk Inn and Villas; Contemporary Standard and Lake View rooms; Old Key West; Saratoga Springs; Wilderness Lodge and Villas; Yacht Club
• 20% off: Polynesian and Grand Floridian

Moderates: 25% off: Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, and Port Orleans Riverside

Values:

• 20% off: All-Star Music, All-Star Sports, and Pop Century
• 15% off: Art of Animation Family Suites

For more, see Disney’s page on this deal here.

Also today Disney World announced a free dining deal covering most arrival dates September 2 through September 25.  See this for more on this deal.

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Disney released its Q2 2013 results (covering December 30, 2102 through March 30, 2013) yesterday, and discussed them with analysts.

(The earnings report and 10q are herehere.)

I haven’t made my way through the 10Q yet, but based on the earnings release and call, a couple of observations:

• The key component of MyMagic+, Fastpass+, may not even open this year
• MyMagic+ will indeed have special perks for guests staying at a Disney-owned and -operated resort
• I’m even more convinced we won’t see any 2013 free dining for US residents other than the September offer that will come out tomorrow

THE TIMING OF MYMAGIC+

An analyst specifically asked CEO Bob Iger when MyMagic+ would open.  Prior statements had implied it would open this spring—which has been unlikely for a while now. This time, Iger said that “the goal is to roll it out at some point this year.”  When later asked if it would have an impact on earnings “by” fiscal 14 (that is, October 2013) Iger said it would have in impact on earnings “in” fiscal 13.

I forecast more than a month ago that the earliest we’d see a general roll out of My Magic+ and Fastpass+ would be October 1.  I’m sticking by that as the earliest date, but can now easily see this date slipping to November 1 or January 5.

EXTRA MYMAGIC+ PERKS FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT HOTEL GUESTS

It’s been long assumed by thoughtful observers that MyMagic+ will provide extra perks to those staying in a Disney-owned and operated resort, for obvious business reasons.

But yesterday’s call was (so far as I can remember) the first confirmation of that.

Iger (or CFO Jay Rasulo, I forget which) said in response to an analyst’s question that MyMagic+ will continue the tradition of providing perks to on-site guests not available to off-site guests and “encourage people to stay more on property than off property.”

There’s no credible scoop on how this might unfold.  Because of the high value to Disney of people pre-planning their park visits (and hence limiting those darned spur-of-the moment choices to see Harry Potter) the offer may be more complicated than people have been predicting.

For example, the simplest approach is to offer more Fastpass+s per day (OK, what’s the right plural of Fastpass+?) to on-site guests than to off-site guests.  But this doesn’t keep them in Disney World on their off days.  Adding extra Fastpass+ to the later days of a visit based on how many earlier days are scheduled (or more simply but less effective, on how many ticket days are bought…) would both drive ticket sales and keep people on property.

Just a thought…

MORE FREE DINING IN 2013?  MY FORECAST IS STILL “NO WAY”

Disney’s domestic parks and resorts really shot out the lights this quarter.

While a big part of the improvement (about $70 million of a $161 million operating income improvement compared to a year ago) came, as I’d noted it would in my comments on the Q1 call, from differences in the timing of Christmas and Easter school breaks vs. Disney’s fiscal quarter timing, another big part came simply from increased attendance and increased spending per attendee.

There’s no way to tease out how much of this came from Disney California Adventure and a full quarter of the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, vs. Walt Disney World itself.

But Disney did note that resort hotel bookings in the current (April-June) quarter were running 7% ahead of last year, at rates comparable to last year.*  These rooms are overwhelmingly at Disney World, so they are a cue to ongoing strong performance.

This performance, and these booking levels, means that Disney simply doesn’t need to discount to bring people in the way it had to in 2007-2012.  So it won’t.

I expect we will see continuing room-rate discounts for the slower periods, but, other than the September free dining deal that will come out tomorrow, I’m even more convinced we won’t see any more Free Dining in 2013.  Free dining is just too expensive to Disney to offer—and too complicated to administer—compared to the value it creates for the company.

MORE ON THIS CALL

Jason Garcia does a nice job with the Disney World-related facts of this call here.

*When asked why rates weren’t higher and if Disney was discounting too much, Rasulo noted that Art of Animation was added to the inventory in 2012, and, as a value resort, it necessarily drives overall average realized prices down.

Not quite true. Because so much of Art of Animation is pricey Family Suites, average rack rates at the resort are well over $200.  A much bigger driver of Q3 2012 vs. 2013 rate oddities is the different timing of the Easter price season—entirely in Q3 in 2012, and only half in Q3 in 2013.

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This is the fourth page of this review of Disney’s Old Key West Resort. For the first page, see this.

MORE ON DISNEY’S OLD KEY WEST RESORT

There are currently 8 official Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World.

However, I have come to count them as ten, because two of the resorts–Saratoga Springs and the Animal Kingdom Villas–have two very different areas.

In order of their appropriateness for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World, they are:

1. The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
2. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Jambo House
3. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Kidani Village
4. Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
5. The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
6. Disney’s Beach Club Villas
7. Disney’s Boardwalk Villas
8. Disney’s Old Key West Resort
9. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, main resort
10. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort, Treehouse Villas area.

These resorts are available to anyone to reserve through the regular Walt Disney World website or resort reservations phone number at 407-939-7675.

They also are available to the general public at great discounts through renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member. (They are also of course available to these members themselves.)

All Disney Vacation Club resorts have studio rooms, One-Bedroom Villas, and Two-Bedroom Villas.

Most have Grand Villas as well.

Old Key West floor plans of all four room types, which were all renovated in 2011-2012,  are below.

At Old Key West, Studios sleep 4 and have a microwave and a mini-fridge.

See the second page of this review for multiple photos of a Studio--disguised as the second bedroom of a Two-Bedroom Villa!

The One-Bedroom Villas sleep 5, including three on fold-out beds in a full kitchen/dining/living space.

See the second page for more images of the master bedroom, and the third page for images of the combined kitchen/living/dining space.

They also have large porch or balcony, and a separate master bedroom.

Two-Bedroom Villas add a second four-person bedroom (similar, or identical, to a Studio) to the amenities of a One-Bedroom, and sleep 9.

Functionally they combine the amenities of a Studio and a One-Bedroom Villa, so the images on pages 2 and 3 all apply to Two-Bedroom Villas as well.

Grand Villas sleep 12 in almost twice the space of a Two-Bedroom Villa, in three bedrooms plus sleeper sofas. At Old Key West, Grand Villas are two-story spaces.

Grand Villas hold three more people in space almost twice as big a the 9-person Two-Bedroom Villas.
The extra space downstairs comes from doubling the already commodious size of the kitchen/dining/living area, and moving the second bedroom the the upper level–where it is joined by a third bedroom, also sleeping four.

These spaces are also about twice as expensive as Two-Bedroom Villas…

You all haven’t found the sponsors of this site quite appealing enough yet for me to have been able to afford to stay in a Grand Villa, but I’m sure they are quite nice!!  And a fellow can dream…look for a review of one here within the decade…

(To each of the capacity figures above, you can add one more kid under 3 at time of check in who sleeps in a crib.)

THEMING, AMENITIES, AND CHOICES AT DISNEY’S OLD KEY WEST RESORT

This review continues here.

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FREE DISNEY WORLD DINING

Update 5/9/13: This deal is now out! See this.

The Chase Disney Visa Walt Disney World Free Dining offer for the fall of 2013 came out this morning.

It notes (see the bottom of the image, in the red square; click it to enlarge) that this Disney World 2013 Free Dining offer will come out to the general public on May 9.

Arrival dates include September 2-25 2013; as usual in recent offers, value resorts get “Quick Service” Free Dining, and moderate and deluxe resorts get the regular Dining Plan for free.

Some resorts are excluded–particularly the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation.

A room rate deal for August 15-September 28 came out for Chase Disney Visa cardholders today as well, and this Disney World fall 2013 room rate deal also should open up to the general public on May 9.

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