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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 8 TO DECEMBER 16, 2018

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.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/8-12/16/18

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 12/8, 9a-6p 12/9, 9a-10p 12/10, 9a-6p 12/11, 9a-10p 12/12, 9a-6p 12/13 and 12/14, 8a-12MN 12/15, and 9a-6p 12/16

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p 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 12/8-12/16/18

Saturday 12/8 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/9  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 12/10  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 12/11 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 12/12 Morning:  none Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/13 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 12/14 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 12/15 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/16 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/8-12/16/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 2p 12/8 through 12/14; 11a and 2p 12/15; 2p 12/16

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/8-12/16/18

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 9p 12/8, 12/10, 12/12 and 12/15

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9.30p every night

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

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: not scheduled

Jingle Bell Jingle BAM at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 6.15 and 7.30p every night

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/8-12/16/18

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

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WHAT IS JUNE LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?

If you must go to Disney World in the summer, the very beginning of June is your best choice for a first visit.

Crowds, while not good, are lower then than much of the rest of the summer, hotel prices are OK–except at the value resorts–and the full weight of summer weather is not yet in place.

(The end of August is the next best choice.  Prices and crowds are much better, but you are not only in peak summer heat then, but also the peak of the hurricane season.)

Note however, that the last three summers have been unusually good at Disney World in terms of crowds. If this trend continues, then June will be better than I’ve noted.

[Read more →]

Josh (of easyWDW.com)  and I have just released (on Amazon, through Theme Park Press) the latest update to the 2019 edition of the best reviewed Walt Disney World guide book, ever, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019.

We did more than 30 pages of changes for this update—but probably the most important change is that our material and advice now fully incorporates Disney World’s new date-based ticket pricing approach. Other changes worth noting: all the recently-opened stuff at Caribbean Beach is covered, and there is a minor change to Day Two of the Character-Centric Two Day Touring Plan for Magic Kingdom.

If your Disney World guidebook does not know about lunch at Centertown or about the exact new model for ticket pricing and what it means for you, then cast that weak stuff aside and get our book!

Chock full of great advice for both returning and first-time visitors, the 2019 edition continues our tradition of offering the best, clearest, shortest, and wisest advice for your Disney World trip, ever.

It also continues our model of offering a free Kindle version to those who buy the paperback edition, and of free updates* (as PDFs) over the course of 2018 and 2019 (until we publish our 2020 edition), because Disney World changes faster than any guidebook on solely an annual publishing calendar can respond to.

I’ve already emailed those who have already signed up for getting the updated version of the book (unless I messed up).  For those who bought the 2019 edition but have not yet signed up for their updates, see the instructions you’ll find on page XII.

Our Disney World guide book series began in 2014, and since then has received hundreds of reviews on Amazon, 90%+ of them five stars. Some of our recent reviews:

More comments from my recent email traffic:

• Michelle: “I’ve bought every one since the beginning of time 🙂 I appreciate all the hard work that goes into it!”
• Jason: “Great book. My favorite Disney book. I’m one of the crazies that buy it every year!”
• Fred: “A very interesting and helpful book!”
• Andra: “Thank you for a great book!”
• Cheryl: “Thanks for a fantastic guide that is both extremely helpful AND fun to read!”

No other guide book can claim to be the best-reviewed, ever, because no other guide book is as good as The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2019! Click the link to get yours today!

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

PHOTO TOUR OF A ROOM AT THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

The Best Western Lake Buena Vista in the Disney Springs Resort Area has been purchased by Drury, and redevelopment, including another tower, is planned.

Right now the redevelopment is largely bulldozed dirt…

Until the new tower comes on line, rooms in the Best Western in the Disney Springs Resort Area are in an unusual three sided tower with reverse curves.  As a result, many of the rooms get an outline with angles and curves. Among them you can find large rooms with one king bed, two queens, and also two queens with a sleeper sofa.

This last, called a “deluxe queen room,” sleeping six, is what I stayed in. Regular queen rooms are largely similar, but lose the sofa bed and the alcove that you find it in, putting a wall with a straighter line and table and a couple of chairs here instead.

At the entry, you’ll find a wall on one side and the closet and bath on the other. (I’ve probably seen uglier carpets, I guess, but can’t think of any right now.)

The bath and closet area has the space to be a divided bath, but is not.  In place of a second sink, you’ll find a simple counter instead. Note the hair dryer mounted on the wall…

…and the coffee service.

A divided bath is always easier on family visitors, and is a near necessity for a group as large as the six people this room can fit.

Across from the counter you’ll find this mirrored closet.

One side includes a safe so large that I did not even bother to measure it. Note the luggage rack folded up back in the closet, and the extra bedding for the sofa bed above.

The other side of the closet includes an iron and ironing board, which may make me look fat.

Beyond these is the bath.

Bath toiletries offered.

The tub-shower combo.

Back in the main area of the room, one side has two queen beds and an easy chair.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer view of one of the beds.

A small bedside table includes a storage cubby.

An easy chair is back between the beds and the balcony. It rotates, making it almost as fun as Journey into Imagination With Figment.

The other side of the room has a desk, dresser, and in deluxe rooms a sofa bed, and in regular rooms a table and chairs.

The TV side of the room from the back.

A closer view of the desk.

The dresser has a TV above and a mini fridge inside. I measured the TV as a 37″ diagonal.  That’s pretty small these days.

The three good-sized drawers are likely fine for smaller families, but not enough for the six people this room can be booked for.

The mini fridge.

Deluxe queen rooms come with a sofa…

…that folds out into this bed. I got this bed as 72 inches long by 60 inches wide. It likely once had a 5 or 6 inch deep cushion, which has been beat up over the years into something closer to 4 inches, but it was surprisingly comfortable–I had no trouble sleeping on this sofa bed.

Even with the alcove at this point of the room that the couch fits into, when open, the foot of the sofa bed gets pretty close to the foot of the queen bed over here. My book, as the best-reviewed Disney World guide book, ever, looms large over the universe, but is in fact just 9 inches long–giving you an idea of how little space there is here.

Beyond the couch is the balcony.

Balconies are rarer in these Disney Springs Resort Area hotels than they ought to be, so it’s great that the Best Western offers them.  Some balconies have a distant view of the fireworks, others the lake (and construction) and others Hotel Plaza Boulevard.

The geometry and layout of these Best Western rooms makes them very wide–more than 14 feet at most points I measured.  It also makes it probably a fool’s errand to calculate their square footage, but even so I got this room as having on the order of 400 square feet.

At that size, these rooms are larger than most Disney World deluxe rooms.  And the balcony and easy chair are nice adds to the room. But the absence of a divided bath and/or an extra sink makes it hard for me to recommend this room for larger families. Couples and three person families should do fine.

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

This review continues here.

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

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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 (11)

By Jim Korkis

• Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire by Bob Thomas
• The Sorcerer’s Brother: How Roy O. Disney Made Walt’s Magic Possible by Scott M. Madden

The story of Walt Disney World is actually the story of individual people who working together made one of Walt Disney’s final dreams come true. Many people forget that if it were not for Walt’s brother, Roy O. Disney, that Walt Disney World would never have been built.

From the October 1972 Walt Disney Productions’ publication titled, The National Champion: A Report to Participants in Disneyland and Walt Disney World:

(c) Disney

“Of the thousands of persons responsible for the creation of Walt Disney World, no one played a more important role than the late Roy O. Disney. Long known as the behind-the-scenes financial genius, he was thrust into the leadership role by the untimely passing of his brother Walt Disney in 1966.

“Throughout the busy years that followed, Roy devoted nearly all his time and energy to bringing Walt’s dream to reality. It was a dream that was staggeringly complex…and yet with Roy’s guidance, it did indeed become a reality…”

At the dedication of WDW in October 1971, Roy was asked by reporters why a seventy-eight year old grandfather had felt the obligation to tackle this impossible project of battling unforgiving swamp land at this point in his life. Roy smiled, “I didn’t want to have to explain to Walt when I saw him again why the dream didn’t come true.”

The immediate reaction to Roy O. Disney is that he was the important financial officer for Disney that allowed Walt to build his castles. Roy was much more than just the “money man” but he was extremely modest and actively avoided the spotlight so that it could shine brighter on his younger brother.

These two books provide a fuller picture of this very important, intelligent, caring and humorous man, as well as providing some insights into his challenges of building WDW. In most books, Roy is a supporting character, but here are some intriguing insights into this most remarkable man that were previously unknown except to his closest peers when he was forced into leading the creation of WDW.

One of my favorite books remains Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas who knew and talked frequently with both Walt and Roy as part of his job as a reporter for the Associated Press. I must say, however, that I was a bit disappointed in his book on Roy since it too often defaults to just repeating material from the previous book without additional perspective.

Still, the book is well-written, accurate and provides some new information about Roy and perhaps Roy’s own hesitancy to reveal himself to others is part of the fault. For instance, he never even talked to his own son about his time serving in the Navy during World War I, something common among some veterans.

Madden’s book is also well-researched, even though he never had the opportunity to interview Roy or his son. An advantage of this book is that in the past two decades since Thomas’ book, new information about Roy has surfaced, and much of it is included here.

For those wanting to do their own research, Madden includes forty-two pages of annotations and bibliography. It is a well-written book that will give you a better sense of Roy as a husband and father as well as a protective big brother even though unlike Thomas, Madden did not have access to the Disney Archives or the Disney family.

I personally feel there is much more to Roy’s story than appears in both these fine books but I also feel it may never get told as the years disappear and those who actually knew him disappear with them.

*  *  *  *  *

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: DECEMBER 1 TO DECEMBER 9, 2018

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.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/1-12/9/18

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-11p 12/1, 9a-6p 12/2, 9a-10p 12/3, 9a-6p 12/4, 9a-10p 12/5, 9a-6p 12/6 and 12/7, 9a-11p 12/8, and 9a-6p 12/9

Epcot will be open from 9a-9.30p every day

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

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 9a-8p 12/1 through 12/4, 9a-7p 12/5, and 9a-8p 12/6 through 12/9

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/1-12/9/18

Saturday 12/1 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/2  Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 12/3  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 12/4 Morning: none Evening: Epcot

Wednesday 12/5 Morning:  none Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/6 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 12/7 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 12/8 Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Sunday 12/9 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/1-12/9/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 2p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/1-12/9/18

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 9p 12/1, 12/3, 12/5 and 12/8

IllumiNations at Epcot: 9.30p every night

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

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: not scheduled

Jingle Bell Jingle BAM at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8.30p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 6.15 and 7.30p 12/1 through 12/4; 6.15p 12/5; 6.15 and 7.30p 12/6 through 12/9

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/1-12/9/18

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

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