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OVERVIEW: MAY 2012 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews May 2012 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, operating hours, adds a few other notes, and ends with week by week summaries.

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FREE DINING BOOK-BY EXTENDED TO 12/17 FOR 2012 WALT DISNEY WORLD DATES

The date by which Disney World’s free dining offer for January-March 2012 needs to be booked has been extended to December 17, 2011.

This applies to the 2012 dates only–2011 free dining bookings needed to be completed by October 29.

For more on this free dining offer, see this.

This is the third page of this review. For the first page, click here

THE THEMING OF DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

Disney’s Beach Club Resort opened in November 1990, and in 2009 completed a major renovation.

According to Disney World’s website, the Beach Club Resort is

“a New England-style Disney Deluxe Resort, shaded by broad oak trees and lapped by the gentle waters of 25-acre Crescent Lake.”

The theming is meant to evoke summer beach houses and old-fashioned sea-side vacation resorts.

The Beach Club, its sister resort the Yacht Club, and the nearby BoardWalk Inn were all designed to water-side themes by Robert A. M. Stern, a noted architect who was deeply involved in multiple properties during the Michael Eisner years at Disney.

Stern’s website notes that the Beach Club is “airy in expression. It is modeled on the many Stick Style cottages and resorts that could be found in towns like Cape May, New Jersey.”

STERN, EISNER, AND DISNEY WORLD HOTELS [Read more →]

This post is one in a series about personal favorites.

PERFECT AFTERNOONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Teal. Enjoy the ride as we share the ways we would spend a perfect afternoon in Walt Disney World.

The itineraries on this site are designed for first-time family visitors who are unsure if they will ever return and want to see all the best of Walt Disney World.

Moreover, they are placed into a Saturday-Sunday typical “week off of work.”

This results in a pretty intense vacation, one that could us a couple of more days away from the theme parks to recover from itself.

Even so, the key itineraries mostly have some mornings off, and all have some afternoons and evenings off.

What’s the perfect way to spend an afternoon? 

For some it’ll be time in the parks; for others, a little solitary time; for others a nap. Some would add reading a trashy novel, and others playing with the kids in the pool.  Margaritas may be involved at one or more points. So may be shopping or exploring other hotels.

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE AFTERNOON AT WALT DISNEY WORLD [Read more →]

Update: for 2012 dates, the book-by window has been extended to December 17.  See this for more.

Disney World’s current free dining offer covering periods from now through March 2012 expires soon!

This deal must be booked by October 29th. For more, see this.

Other current Disney World deals have later expiration dates.  See this for more.

CHANGES IN ANIMAL KINGDOM HOURS

The operating hours of the Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World during the less busy parts of the winter months used to be quite straightforward.

The park would be open from 9-5 every day, with morning and evening Extra Magic Hours once a week.

Early this year, without explanation, Disney stopped offering evening Extra Magic Hours at the Animal Kingdom, and added a second weekly morning session.  The net effect was a reduction of two operating hours per week, and some speculated that this was for cost reduction.

Last month, the other shoe dropped.

Disney began revising its Animal Kingdom park calendars with later park closings. 

It is now offering 6 and 7p closing on many nights that it the past it would close this park at 5p.  Midweek 5p closings are still common, but many weeks there’s as many or more later closings.

What gives?

A BETTER EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE [Read more →]