Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 12, 2013 TO JANUARY 20, 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.

(For more on January 2013, see this.)

[Read more →]

FASTPASS+ AND THE APOCALYPSE

There’s been a ton of reaction to Tom Stagg’s Disney Parks Blog post on “MyMagic+” and “FastPass+” and to prior and subsequent press.

There’s not much new in any of this, other than the beginning of rollout—February; the length of rollout—all year; and the order of rollout– starting with Walt Disney World resort hotel guests, probably BoardWalk Inn guests at first, with the program expanded slowly to others.

But oh my, there’s been a lot of noise!

In general, any noise about this is good—I’ll come back to that in a bit—but the general tone out there is that the new program will be either a cataclysm, or the best thing since the forward pass.

LET’S ALL STAY CALM…THERE’S NOT MUCH TO SEE HERE

Well maybe it will be one or the other, but I doubt it; it’ll end up somewhere between, as do most human endeavors.

Moreover, there’s some key facts that just aren’t out yet, and some emergent behavior to observe that we’re all just gonna have to wait for.

The key missing facts are

1. How many daily FastPasses will be available to all guests, and
2. How these will be divided between those reserved for those who book them ahead and those that are available to anyone on the day of visit, just like today.

The answer to these questions will make a huge difference to the overall guest satisfaction with the program, especially for those who don’t, or don’t want to, reserve their rides ahead of time. (See this for more.)

Stay calm on this point, since as the link notes, Disney World could be on the way toward daily FastPass capacity triple what it offers today…plenty for advance reservation users and “unplanned” users too!

The behavioral question is will the “schedule from home” system lead more people to get up early if the only time they can reserve Space Mountain is at 9.15a? And if so, does that mean the time-honored strategy of getting to the parks at rope drop to beat the crowds will no longer work so well?

Stay calm on this too…mostly because we won’t know for a while, and in the meantime it’s best to bet on human nature, and thus tens of thousands still sleeping in…

Much of the cataclysmic thinking about FASTPASS+ comes from either those with privacy concerns (who, if this remains an issue for them, will need to opt out) or experienced Disney World visitors who have an approach that works for them, and are worried that the new system will get in the way of something they understand and are happy with.

I have a lot of sympathy with this latter group–as I’m in it too!—but that’s not what I’ve got my eye on.

Since I started thinking about this site, I’ve had one example family sharply in my mind’s eye:

They’ve been in line for Peter Pan’s ride for hours in the Magic Kingdom on an early July afternoon. They didn’t know that July was a bad time to go, they didn’t know that not sleeping in but rather hitting the park at opening was the best way to see Peter Pan without much of a wait, and they didn’t know that FastPasses are free with their ticket, and so don’t use them.

I want this family to have a great time, and FastPass+, if it lives up to its promise, can help them see great stuff without waiting so long…even on a July afternoon.

And that’s the reason I like the noise. The more noise, the more likely this family will find out how best to do Walt Disney World—however the new best way to do it emerges to be!

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FREE TRIP TO WALT DISNEY WORLD CONTEST

Disney has a contest going on right now that every day in January is awarding a free trip to Walt Disney World!

To enter, go here, click one of the five “favorite vacations” shown across the bottom of the page  (the part that looks just like the image to the right) and fill out the entry form.

One trip will be awarded every day through January 31.

You can only enter once per day…but you can enter every day.

Good luck…and let me know if you win!

(Thanks to this site’s Facebook friend Brian for reminding me to post about this.)

Everybody hurries to the circus grounds
Time for lemonade and Cracker Jacks
Casey Junior’s back!
Casey Junior’s back!

(Casey Junior, from Dumbo, music and lyrics by Frank Churchill and Ned Washington)

STORYBOOK CIRCUS: GREAT FOR LITTLE KIDS, SO-SO FOR OLDER ONES

Storybook Circus is one of two areas that together make up New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom (the other is the Enchanted Forest).

Located in the space that used to house Mickey’s Toontown Fair, it continues that former land’s focus on little kids, through a re-themed ride, a moved ride, a character meet and greet area, and a play area.

However, the theming of Storybook Circus is much better than that of Mickey’s Toontown Fair, and much more nicely tied to Disney’s legacy. [Read more →]

RIDES CLOSED FOR REHAB IN THE WINTER OF 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The winter of 2013 is seeing the usual spike in ride closures at Walt Disney World.

With Disney World’s new web calendar, this is a little harder to figure out than it used to be.

(Well, with Disney World’s new calendar, everything is harder to figure out than it used to be.)

But here’s the  Disney World ride closings I know about:

• Splash Mountain: closed until March 19
• Mad Tea Party: closed January 7 until February 18
• Kali River Rapids: closed January 6 until February 14
• Liberty Square Riverboat: closed February 1 through February 7
• Beauty and the Beast: closed January 1 through January 7
• Disney Junior: closed January 14 through February 14
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: closed January 22 through January 24
• The Barnstormer: closed January 29 and 30.

Every year rides are also closed for rehab and repair at other times as well, but the period after New Years and before President’s Day is the most predictable time for this to happen.

That’s why these weeks are dinged in this site’s rankings of the weeks of the year for first time visitors who may never return–why go during a time when you know you will miss some great rides?

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 5, 2013 TO JANUARY 13, 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.

(For more on January 2013, see this.)

[Read more →]