Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

(For the first page of this review of the Best Western, see this.)

AMENITIES, DINING, AND THE POOL AT THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

The Best Western Lake Buena Vista in the Disney Springs Resort Area has been acquired by Drury, and construction is ongoing here.

A new room tower is expected–adjacent to the current tower, and perhaps connecting at each floor to the current tower, although it appears to have its own elevator bank–and I would hope that more is added to the currently weak pool set-up. During my visit in November, all I saw was site prep…

…but in January work had extended to the front parking lot. Expect more significant construction and daytime noise later.

You enter at the port cochere, but check-in parking may vary depending on what is closed for construction. Just grab a nearby spot.

Before construction, the stop for theme park buses (and for Disney Springs in the late afternoon and evening)  was in front of the port cochere…

…but on my latest visit the bus stop had been moved a bit to the former check-in parking area.

Inside, most amenities are dead ahead on the first floor.

Here you will find the check in area…

…guest services…

…a business center…

…and a small Disney gift shop.

More from the gift shop.

Beyond this area, on the way to the pool, is a small gym.

DINING AT THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

Just off the lobby is an area that serves as an additional gift shop centered on snacks, and also for grab and go food.

Offerings on the hot side include pizza and wings.

Between it and the pool area is the Best Western Lake Buena Vista’s table service offering, the Trader’s Grill.

Trader’s Grill is open for a breakfast buffet ($15.99) and also dinner.

The dinner menu.

When I had dinner here, I was greeted by this kinda illiterate sign. I usually test a restaurant such as this with a steak–popular, and easy to source and prepare well, so getting a poor one can be indicative, but “steam broccoli” scared me off a bit, so I went with fajitas–also easy to do well.

My fajitas were terrific, as was the service.  That said, while the Best Western is tied with the Doubletree Suites as the furthest of the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels from Disney Springs, dinner time buses make dinner in Disney Springs easy to manage, and much the better choice.

You’ll find a bar between the restaurant and the pool.

THE POOL AT THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

Go past the bar and you’ll find the pool. The bar has an outdoor seating area that’s very convenient to the pool.

There’s not much to the pool–a small swimming area…

…and a good-sized hot tub.

The pool at night.

This pool is adequate, but you will find better options at any other Disney Springs Resort Area hotel, except perhaps the Doubletree Suites, which while better, is not much better.

With the so-so location, dining, and pool, and the prospect for construction noise, I would hold off on booking the Best Western Lake Buena Vista in the Disney Springs Resort Area unless you can find a real deal, at least until the construction here is complete.

And I hope that a part of the construction will include an expanded pool set up with more amenities–in the construction paperwork I’ve seen, the approach to the pool is labeled “Design in Development”….

MORE ON THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

• Overview and summary
• Photo tour of a deluxe queen room
• Dining, amenities, and the pool 

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 19 TO JANUARY 27, 2019

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on more on January 2019 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/19-1/27/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 1/19, 9a-10p 1/20, 9a-9p 1/21, 9a-8p 1/22 through 1/24, 9a-9p 1/25, 9a-11p 1/26, and 9a-8p 1/27

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-8p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 9a-8p every day

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/19-1/27/19

Saturday 1/19 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 1/20  Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 1/21  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 1/22 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 1/23 Morning:  none Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 1/24 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 1/25 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 1/26 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 1/27 Morning:  Magic Kingdom  Evening:

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/19-1/27/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/19-1/27/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom 8p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 6.30 and 7.45p 1/19; 6.45 and 8p 1/20 through 1/27

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/19/-1/27/19

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

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2020 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The chart lower on the page shows my forecasts for 2020 crowds by week at Walt Disney World.

2020 will be an interesting year at Disney World, with the new land Galaxy’s Edge dominating the news early in the year, but after that other new rides opening, and Disney World beginning its 50th anniversary celebration later in the year.

More on 2020 at Walt Disney World is here.
[Read more →]

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (13)

By Jim Korkis

• Poster Art of the Disney Parks by Danny Handke and Vanessa Hunt

Released in 2012 by Disney Editions, Poster Art of the Disney Parks is still a popular seller because it is timeless. At roughly eleven and half by fourteen and a half inches, the pages are large enough so that even when there are several images on an individual page they still are big enough to be seen clearly and when there is only one, it is spectacular.

Both Handke and Hunt are Imagineers who specialize in artwork, so it is not surprising that this is a beautifully done book when it comes to displaying art. However, while the focus is on the art, there is still plenty of room for explanatory text, although, as always, I would have liked even more including background on some of the talented artists.

After an informative introduction by Imagineer Tony Baxter, there are nine chapters: Here You Leave Today…, Main Street, U.S.A., Adventureland, New Orleans Square and Liberty Square, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Tokyo DisneySea, and Disney California Adventure. The book ends with a bibliography and an index by artist.

For Walt Disney World fans, it is interesting to compare the Disneyland and Walt Disney World posters for the same attraction like The Enchanted Tiki Room and the Tropical Serenade. Also, there are several examples of posters of attractions that are uniquely Disney World, like The Hall of Presidents

In the summer of 1956, Disneyland sported an exciting new visual method to entice guests to unfamiliar at the time Disneyland attractions, exhibits and restaurants: brightly silk screened framed attraction posters adorned the area below the Main Street Train Station at the entrance of the park, the Penny Arcade, and also the distinctive Avenue of the Flags entrance in Tomorrowland.

Later in 1959, the posters would decorate the bottom of the monorail support pylons. Walt Disney considered his theme park analogous to a motion picture experience, so these posters served as “Coming Attractions” posters like at a movie theater to excite and familiarize guests with what “shows” were in the park.

The early posters with their simple but dramatic graphics were intentionally designed with limited blocks of color to keep the silk-screen process uncomplicated. Disneyland used silk-screening to render each poster, but Walt Disney World favored a 4-color lithography process even when the artwork was basically the same.

Over the years, talented Disney Imagineers designed attraction posters, including Claude Coats (Alice in Wonderland), Rolly Crump (Flying Saucers) and Mary Blair (“it’s a small world”). Between 1956 and 1987, 32 different ride posters were created by Disney artists on large masonite panels that were used as the model for the finished silk-screened print.

As the park evolved, certain attraction posters, like the one for the Monorail (done by Paul Hartley), required updated images or text and a new version of the poster was made.

A great site for more information about Disney park posters is here.

I know some Disney fans who bought two copies of this book so they could use a razor blade and remove some of the full-sized pages to frame in their houses. I am not quite that fanatical although I have purchased some full sized reproductions at the Art of Disney Gallery at WDW for a similar purpose.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest,  The Vault of Walt Volume 7: Christmas Edition, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.

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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 12 TO JANUARY 20, 2019

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

For more on more on January 2019 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/12-1/20/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 1/12, 9a-9p 1/13 and 1/14, 9-8p 1/15 through 1/17, 9a-9p 1/18, 9a-11p 1/19, and 9a-10p 1/20

Epcot will be open from 9a-9p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-8p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 9a-8p every day

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/12-1/20/19

Saturday 1/12 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 1/13  Morning:  Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 1/14  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 1/15 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 1/16 Morning:  none Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 1/17 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 1/18 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 1/19 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 1/20 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening:

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/12-1/20/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/12-1/20/19

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom 8p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 6.30 and 7.45p 1/12 through 1/19; 6.45 and 8p 1/20

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 1/12/-1/20/19

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

2020 RESORT PRICE SEASONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The material below shows my forecast resort price seasons at Walt Disney World at different times of the year in 2020. My forecasts are based on recent Disney practice, and I will revise them once Disney World publishes its actual 2020 resort hotel prices—likely in the summer of 2019.

Resort prices can be almost twice as high during some periods as they are at others. My forecasts help you identify lower and higher cost periods.

My comparisons are to prices that are “the lowest of the year,” the value season.

Grouping of dates is based on “price seasons,” a grouping tool Disney World no longer makes public, but which can be identified analytically. Disney charges based on the actual price of the actual nights, so if your visit straddles price seasons, you’ll pay the prices of each price season.

(For more on 2020 at Disney World, see this. For 2019 price seasons, see this. For the basics on where to stay at Disney World, see this.)

2020 DISNEY WORLD FORECAST RESORT PRICE SEASONS: VALUE RESORTS

• The lowest prices of the year–the value season–begins 1/2/2020
• 20-30% higher prices–Marathon rates–begin 1/9/20
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/12/20
• 20-25% higher for the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend begins 1/17/20
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/20/20
• 55-65% higher for the long Presidents Day weekend begins 2/13/20
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 2/17/20
• 20-30% higher–the regular season–begins 2/23/20
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 3/6/20
• 60-65% higher–the Easter season–begins 4/5/20
• 20-30% higher–the regular season 2–begins 4/19/20
• 45-50 higher over the Memorial Day long weekend begins 5/22
• 30-40% higher–the summer season–begins 5/25/20
• 20-25% higher–the summer 2 season–begins 8/9/20
• 5-10% higher–the fall season–begins 8/23/20
• 20-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 9/13/20
• 40-50% higher over the long Columbus Day weekend begins 10/9/20
• 20-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 10/12/20
• 5-10% higher–the fall 2 season– begins 10/25/20
• 30-35% higher over Thanksgiving begins 11/21/20
• 5-10% higher–the fall 2 season–begins 11/28/20
• 10-20% higher–the regular 4 season–begins 12/6/20
• 35-45% higher–the peak season–begins 12/11/20
• 60-70% higher–the holiday season–begins 12/18/20

2020 DISNEY WORLD FORECAST RESORT PRICE SEASONS: MODERATE RESORTS

• The lowest prices of the year–the value season–begin 1/2/2020
• 15% higher prices–Marathon rates–begin 1/9/20
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/12/20
• 10-15% higher for the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend begins 1/17/20
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/20/20
• 35-45% higher for the long Presidents Day weekend begins 2/13/20
• 25% higher–the peak season–begins 2/17/20
• 20% higher–the regular season–begins 2/23/20
• 25% higher–the peak season–begins 3/6/20
• 40-45% higher–the Easter season–begins 4/5/20
• 15-20% higher–the regular season 2–begins 4/19/20
• 25-35% higher over the Memorial Day long weekend begins 5/22
• 14-17% higher–the summer season–begins 5/25/20
• 16-22% higher–the summer 2 season–begins 8/9/20
• 10-20% higher–the fall season–begins 8/23/20
• 15-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 9/13/20
• 25-35% higher over the long Columbus Day weekend begins 10/9/20
• 15-25% higher–the regular 3 season–begins 10/12/20
• 10-18% higher–the fall 2 season– begins 10/25/20
• 20-25% higher over Thanksgiving begins 11/21/20
• 10-18% higher–the fall 2 season–begins 11/28/20
• 10-20% higher–the regular 4 season–begins 12/6/20
• 325% higher–the peak season–begins 12/11/20
• 45-55% higher–the holiday season–begins 12/18/20

2020 DISNEY WORLD RESORT FORECAST PRICE SEASONS: DELUXE RESORTS

• The lowest prices of the year–the value season–begin 1/2/2020
• 15-20% higher prices–Marathon rates–begin 1/9/20
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/12/20
• 15-20% higher for the Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend begins 1/17/20
• Lowest prices of year–the value season–begin 1/20/20
• 40-55% higher for the long Presidents Day weekend begins 2/13/20
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 2/17/20
• 20-25% higher–the regular season–begins 2/21/20
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 3/6/20
• 50-60% higher–the Easter season–begins 4/5/20
• 20-25% higher–the regular season 2–begins 4/19/20
• 25-35 higher over the Memorial Day long weekend begins 5/22
• 10-17% higher–the summer season–begins 5/25/20
• 5-10% higher–near-lowest of year–the value season 2–begins 7/12/20
• Lowest of year–the value season–begins 8/21/20
• Prices bump up on 9/4/20 to 15% higher than the lowest of the year for the long Labor Day
  weekend
  Lowest of the year–the value season–begins 9/7/20
• 10-20% higher–the regular season 3–begins 9/18/20
• Prices increase to 25-30% higher than the lowest of the year for the long Columbus Day weekend on 10/9/20
• 5-15% higher–the fall season–begins 10/12/20
• 20-25% higher–the regular season 4–begins 10/30/20
• 5-15% higher–the fall season–begins 11/8/20
• 25-40% higher during Thanksgiving begins 11/24/20
• 5-15% higher–the fall season–begins 11/28/20
• 15-20% higher–the regular season 4 or 5 or something–begins 12/6/20
• 30-45% higher–the peak season–begins 12/11/20
• 55-75% higher–the holiday season–begins 12/18/20

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!