By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

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Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Free Dining for 2019 is Out!

by Dave

Two new Disney World deals came out this morning.

One is a room-only discount and the other is Free Dining—the best-loved Disney world deal, out months before it usually is, and covering a longer period in the summer, but no dates—as of today—after September.

FREE DINING DEAL

Book through February 10, 2019

Valid for arrivals most nights July 5 through September 30, 2019

Package Includes

  • Room and Theme park ticket(s) with a Park Hopper Option or Park Hopper Plus Option, for which you will pay full price
  • Dining Plan (Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan with Value and Moderate Resort hotel packages; Disney Dining Plan with Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resort hotel packages), which you will then get for free.

Among the hotels/rooms excluded from the free dining deal are Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, All-Star Movies, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans French Quarter, and DVC rooms at Bay Lake Tower and the Villas at the Grand Floridian.

More on this deal is here.

ROOM ONLY DISCOUNT

Booking dates and valid travel dates:

  • Valid for stays most nights April 28 through September 30, 2019
  • Save 10-25% for travel April 28 to May 27, 2019 when you book through May 27, 2019
  • Save up to 10-30% for travel May 28 to September 30, 2019 when you book through March 24, 2019

In general, savings rates are higher at more expensive and less popular hotels, and less at less expensive and more popular hotels. Not all hotels or room types are included

More on this deal is here.

Many families do great with the free dining deal, but smaller families in more expensive hotels should compare the room-only deal, as it may be the better choice. See this for more–it’s out of date, but still explains most of the key concepts and savings.

The long standing travel agent partner of the site, Kelly, can book your vacation, and figure out the best deal for you! Contact her using the form below.

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KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

 

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January 2, 2019   4 Comments

Photo Tour of a Garden Room at the Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista, Disney Springs Resort Area

by Dave

For the first page of this review of the Wyndham/Wyndham Garden, see this.

PHOTO TOUR OF A WYNDHAM GARDEN ROOM

The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista in the Disney Springs Resort Area has two different accommodations buildings, which are marketed, kinda, as two different hotels.  (Both share the same check in desk and all other amenities.)

  • The 232 “Wyndham” rooms are two queen (or one king) offerings accessed from interior corridors in the main mid-rise tower.
  • The 394 “Wyndham Garden” offerings–about two thirds of the total– are two full bed (or one king) rooms in five story buildings, with rooms accessed from exterior corridors.

I have a photo tour of a tower room at the Wyndham here. The photo tour on this page is of a Wyndham Garden room.

Wyndham Garden rooms are in many ways comparable to Disney’s value resort rooms, with exterior access, no balconies, full beds, and a single sink in the bath. However, their bedroom space is appreciably larger than that in Disney’s value resort rooms, and they have some other amenities uncommon in the value resorts, so they end up being more livable than those.

One side of the Wyndham Garden room has a table and two chairs, and two full-sized beds.

A closer view of the table and chairs.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer view of one of the full beds.

There’s a bedside table between the beds with an open cubby below…

…and a storage drawer above.

The other side of the room is dominated by a dresser and a mini fridge.

The TV side from the back of the room.

The dresser has a small-ish 38 inch TV above.

Its four large drawers provide plenty of storage for the four people this room will hold.

Above the drawers on one side is a cubby, and on the other is this safe. I did not measure it, but my book is 6″ by 9″, so you can tell that the safe is quite large.

Next to the dresser is an enclosure with a mini fridge inside…

…and a coffee service above.

The divided bath is at the back of the room, and is separated from the rest of the space by a sliding door.

The first part of the bath has a sink…

…with these toiletries.

Next to the sink is a closet.

Inside the closet.

In their own room on the other side of the sink you’ll find the tub/shower and toilet.

These Wyndham Garden rooms are not as nice as the Wyndham’s tower rooms, and some will miss the queens in those rooms in particular.  But unlike those rooms, they have a divided bath, making them more family friendly, and they can be quite a bit less expensive.

At ~290 square feet, these rooms are larger than Disney’s value resorts, but smaller than its moderate resorts.  Bath sizes are comparable to those at the values, and the living area is about 30 square feet larger than the values, and 15 square feet smaller than the moderates.

All in–excepting the full beds, which are being replaced with queens at the values (Pop Century is done, and All-Star Movies about half done)–these rooms are more livable than Disney’s value resorts, and a step below its moderates.

AMENITIES AND DINING AT THE WYNDHAM LAKE BUENA VISTA

This review continues here.

MORE ON THE WYNDHAM AND WYNDHAM GARDEN LAKE BUENA VISTA

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

 

 

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January 2, 2019   No Comments

Walt Disney World in 2020

by Dave

DISNEY WORLD IN 2020

Usually on pages like this on this site I focus just on choices within a year. But—barring a recession—for those making plans, it’s important to note how Disney World in 2020 will stack up versus later years.

What we have coming up is the completion of the re-imagination of Hollywood Studios in 2020, the first major fruits of the re-imagining of Epcot in 2020, and Disney World’s 50th anniversary likely kicking off in 2021 and extending into early 2023.

As a result, I expect

  • In 2020, something on the order of 2-4 million extra guests from three new attractions at the Studios and new attractions at Epcot
  • In 2021 and especially 2022, something on the order of 6-10 million extra guests from Star Wars, the anniversaries and additional new attractions, including a total of four new E-ticket rides that will open at the Studios, Epcot and Magic Kingdom in 2020, 2021, and/or 2022

So 2020 at Disney World, while it will be rough, will be better than the next two years, for which I am forecasting eventually as many as 30,000 more guests a day than we saw in 2018. That’s the equivalent of a whole new park’s worth of guests…without a whole new park having opened.

Let me explain a bit how I get there, and then return to 2020 at Disney World.

WHAT HAPPENED AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2019

  • The new land Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, with two “E”-ticket rides, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  The opening  of the new E-ticket ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway has been delayed to March 4, 2020, completing the transformation this park began in 2018 with Toy Story Land. Based on other recent openings, I expect all these to add something like the equivalent of 2-4 million new guests a year.
  • IllumiNations at Epcot ended in the early fall, and was replaced with a temporary show while construction happens in World Showcase and the World Showcase Lagoon to support an all-new permanent show that will open in later 202o.
  • The Disney Skyliner, principally a transportation system, but also a bit of an attraction and a kinetic addition, opened in September. It connects Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios with the hotels Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, Art of Animation, and the new Disney Riviera Resort.
  • The equivalent in capacity of about 1,000 new hotel rooms opened, in a new tower at Coronado Springs and at Riviera.

WHAT’S NEW AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2020

  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on March 4, 2020.
  • Epcot will see a new permanent nighttime show, and its new E-ticket Ratatouille attraction, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, is slated to open in the summer of 2020. Epcot’s other new E-ticket attraction, based on Guardians of the Galaxy, may open as early as late 2020, although the first half of 2021 may be more likely. New films and minor shows open at Epcot in January 2020
  • A new Star Wars-themed hotel may open outside of Disney’s Hollywood Studios as early as late 2020, as may a third hotel in the Swan/Dolphin complex, the Cove. 2021 is more likely for these.

WHAT’S NEW AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2021

  • Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration will likely begin later in the year.
  • A new E-ticket ride at Magic Kingdom, TRON Lightyear Power Run, will most likely open in the first half of 2021. I would also not be surprised to see a new evening parade at Magic Kingdom in 2021, although this is just a guess, or more properly a hope.
  • We may also see a re-launch of the Animal Kingdoms’ Rivers of Light in 2021.

WHAT’S NEW AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2022

  • Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration will continue all year. Based on what happened to attendance during its 25th anniversary, I expect this to add 15-20% to attendance compared to 2020, or another 4 to 8 million people. Adding this and the Hollywood Studios effects together, and picking a nice round number, I get about six to ten million more folk than in 2018.
  • The transformation of Epcot will continue with changes to its entrance and Future World.
  • The new resort “Reflections,” between the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness, will likely open in 2022.

DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICING IN 2020

Expect higher than average ticket price increases in 2020 as Disney World extracts value from its Pandora, Toy Story, Star Wars and other investments.

Disney World also has a new-in-2018 ticket pricing model where you pay higher ticket prices for more attractive dates. For current 2020 Disney World ticket prices, see this.

DISNEY WORLD RESORT PRICING AND DEALS IN 2020

Disney World uses a combination of complicated and changing room pricing, and, on top of that, deals, to keep its resort hotel occupancy very high. Typically, rooms are more expensive—sometimes much more—during the more attractive times to go to Disney World. While deals have been technically available for most times of the year (you’ll find current Disney World deals here), the number and types of rooms available has gotten more and more restrictive over the past few years.

Deals often emerge after the best time to book your Disney World vacation. The simplest way to handle getting your deals is to make your initial booking through a travel agent, who will then–if a deal comes out for your dates–move heaven and earth to try to get you in to it.

I recommend Kelly B., who has been the travel agent partner of this site for years. To book your vacation through her, contact her using the form at the end of this page.

DISNEY WORLD CROWDS IN 2020

The major question for 2020 crowds at Disney World is the continuing impact of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on the parks after its 2019 opening. Based on what Universal saw with Harry Potter, I expect the new land to be just slammed with crowds, with some spill-over effect into the rest of the Studios.  However, based on what happened at Universal I don’t necessarily see a broad increase in crowds in all the other parks from the Star Wars fans.

Early January 2020 will be slammed through the 4th, but better after then, with the Martin Luther King weekend being the worst later dates in the month,

Presidents Day, February 17 in 2020, is in the middle of its possible range. The week that includes Presidents Day will be bad as usual. (Tons of kids in the northeast have the whole week off.) Crowds for this week actually begin the Thursday before.

Mardi Gras in 2020 is February 25.  A few southern school districts have it off as a single or multi-day holiday. The impact of Mardi Gras-related visitors on Disney World is overrated, so don’t worry about it. (People mix up the effects from it and the effects of President’s day breaks–five out of the last eight years have seen the week of Mardi Gras also influenced by crowds from President’s Day breaks.)

Easter in 2020 will be later in its possible range, on April 12. As a result, there will be fewer good late April weeks.

Summer 2020 crowds are a bit up in the air.  They have been down the last few years, but I expect that the draw of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and the new Ratatouille ride in Epcot to bring us back to pretty profound summer crowds.

Thanksgiving, November 26, is nearly as late as it can be in 2020, giving more good early November dates but fewer good late November ones.

Christmas is on a Friday in 2020.  That means almost all schools that take two weeks off for Christmas will begin their breaks on Saturday December 19, 2020, and be off through Sunday January 3, 2021. Schools with shorter breaks will largely be out Thursday December 24 through January 3. As a result, the period from Christmas through January 2, 2021 will be especially crazy.

See the links for more on 2020 at Walt Disney World:

Expect hotel rooms–and perhaps even tickets, in a new twist–to be harder to book in 2020 than they have been for years.  You can book a hotel up to 499 days before your planned check-in.

The long-time travel agent partner of this site, Kelly, can book your vacation for you.  Contact her using the form below.

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January 1, 2019   44 Comments

The Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels

by Dave

In 2018 the hotels of the Disney Springs Resort Area–third-party owned hotels at the far southeastern edge of Disney World property–for the first time began offering access to two of the most valuable Disney World perks–access to FastPass+ at 60 days, and access to Extra Magic Hours.

Eligibility for these perks has been extended at least through December 31, 2019.  Because of these new perks, I started paying more attention to these hotels in 2018, and stayed in them and their various room types eleven times in 2018. (I had already stayed in some of them half a dozen times in prior years, but not with a view to reviewing them.)

I’ve already published almost 20 pages on them based on my 2018 stays, but have not completed my reviews of any (I started with rooms and the pools, as these are the most important factors for most of you).

However, because many people have now begun planning their 2019 visits to Disney World, and these hotels are much more attractive with these perks than they used to be, I thought it would help you to bring to one page links to what I have published so far.

As I publish more about these–I kinda hope to finish everything by the end of January–I will add links to this page!

The hotels are listed in alphabetical order.

The B Resort & Spa

The Best Western Lake Buena Vista

Doubletree Suites by Hilton Orlando

The Hilton Buena Vista Palace

The Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista

The Holiday Inn Orlando

The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista

All of these hotels are weakened by their location and their transportation. But, in general, in terms of room quality and size, you have the potential to save some real money on them.

I’ll have much more to say about comparative strengths and weaknesses after I complete all my missing material. But among them, the best choices are the Hilton Buena Vista Palace (tower rooms only) and the Hilton, followed by the Wyndham (tower rooms only).  The Best Western and the Doubletree Suites by Hilton are the weakest.

Note that Kelly, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can book you a room in any Disney or non-Disney hotel.  Contact her using the form below!

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  • Date Format: MM slash DD slash YYYY

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

 

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December 30, 2018   2 Comments

A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Realityland

by Dave

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 (12)

By Jim Korkis

David Koenig has been a columnist writing about Disney for over two decades, as well as the author of several Disney related books including Mouse Tales: A Behind the Scenes Look at Disneyland and its sequel.

In 2007, he decided to tackle the daunting task of documenting Walt Disney World and interviewed over a hundred past and present cast members to try to get an in-depth perspective.

The majority of the book resulting from these interviews is on the creation of Walt Disney World, especially the Magic Kingdom and resort hotels. Leading up to just the opening of the Magic Kingdom takes nearly a third of the overall book. The latter part of the book is less chronological in approach, but still covers Epcot, Disney MGM Studios (the former name of Disney’s Hollywood Studios) and the beginnings of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Interestingly, the latter chapters showcase less of other people’s memories, and Koenig seems to do more of his own personal summary to rush to the end of the story.

Koenig can not be faulted that there was so much to cover even in a book that is over three hundred pages that some items seem to get much less attention. He does not shy away from revealing some of the negative aspects and missteps of Disney in Florida. I know some people relish hearing about the “darker side” of Disney but I feel Koenig, for the most part, was justified in order to show the difficulties of building the vacation destination and is not unfair when he covers that material.

For the most part, Koenig’s work is accurate but there are occasional slips throughout the text like claiming Walt was working on the St. Louis Riverfront Square project “by 1960” when the city fathers did not even approach Walt until 1963 and it wasn’t until March 1964 that Walt announced his proposal for that indoor amusement venue.

Nor does Koenig point out how work on that project that ended in July 1965 ended up influencing aspects of Florida’s Magic Kingdom and increased Florida’s willingness to work with Disney seeing how easily he walked away from St. Louis when they didn’t give him what he wanted. Yet these minor “speed bumps” do not detract from the main thrust of the text.

Koenig also tends to trust the quotes he got from his interview subjects without doing sufficient cross checking to confirm their accounts. I have found that sometimes interview subjects are not always accurate on chronology and proper nomenclature, maybe only saw their part of a much larger project or sometimes have an agenda they wish to promote about their accomplishments or to grind axes about old enemies.

Koenig’s strength, as in his previous books, is preserving some of the many stories surrounding Walt Disney World and I smiled broadly at his recounting of his first visit to the now extinct Big Bamboo Lounge, a seedy bar hangout for vintage WDW cast members for years, because it mirrored my own first visit so closely.

One of the original WDW cast members, Bill Hoelscher, seems to be a major contributor and his perspective of the time has been sadly neglected in other works about WDW. In fact, Koenig went beyond “the same usual suspects” in gathering material for this book and I am grateful he did.

With so few books available solely about Walt Disney World, this is definitely one of the better ones available. Perhaps the strongest criticism I have is that I wish Koenig had written even more or produced a sequel volume like he did for his look at Disneyland but concentrating on the last half of the story that he had to quickly skim over here. Koenig’s writing is clear and he did a good job of juggling so much material and still maintaining an understandable narrative.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim! Realityland is one of the first books I read about Disney World, and I thought it was a hoot! The stories about Epcot especially remain with me.

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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December 28, 2018   No Comments

Next Week (December 29, 2018 through January 6, 2019) at Walt Disney World

by Dave

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 29, 2018 TO JANUARY 6, 2019

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

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

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/29/18-1/6/19

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-12MN 12/29 and 12/30, 8a-1a 12/31, 9a-11p 1/1 through 1/5, and 9a-9p 1/6

Epcot will be open from 9a-10.30p 12/29 and 12/30, 8a-1a 12/31, and 9a-9p 1/1 through 1/6

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-9p 12/29 and 12/30, 9a-12MN 12/31, 9a-9p 1/1 through 1/4, and 9a-8p 1/5 and 1/6

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-1op 12/29, 8a-11p 12/30, 8a-9p 12/31 through 1/4, 8a-8p 1/5, and 9a-8p 1/6

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/29/18-1/6/19

Saturday 12/29 Morning: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/30  Morning: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios Evening: Magic Kingdom

Monday 12/31  Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 1/1 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 1/2 Morning:  Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Thursday 1/3 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 1/4 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 1/5 Morning: Animal Kingdom  Evening: none

Sunday 1/6 Morning:  Hollywood Studios  Evening:

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/29/18-1/1/19

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon parade: noon and 3.30p 12/29 through 12/31; 3p 1/1 through 1/6

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/29/18-1/6/19

Holiday Wishes at Magic Kingdom 10p 12/29

Fantasy in the Sky New Years Eve Fireworks at Magic Kingdom 6.30 and 11.50p 12/30 and 12/31

Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom 8p 1/1 through 1/6

IllumiNations at Epcot: 10.30p 12/29 through 12/30; 6.30p 12/31; 9p 1/1 through 1/6

New Years Eve Fireworks at Epcot 11.40p 12/31

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9p 12/29 and 12/30; 9 and 10.30p 12/31; 8p 1/1 through 1/6

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 12MN 12/31

Jingle Bell Jingle BAM at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.30p 12/29 through 12/31; 8.30p 1/1 through 1/6

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 6.15, 7.45 and 9.15p 12/29; 6.30, 8 and 9.30p 12/30; 6.30 and 8p 12/31 through 1/5; 6.30 and 7.45p 1/6

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/29/18-1/6/19

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

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December 27, 2018   No Comments

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