Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: APRIL 14 TO APRIL 22, 2018

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

For more on April 2018 at Disney World, see this.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/14-4/22/18

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-12MN 4/14, 9a-11p 4/15, 9a-10p 4/16 through 4/20, 9a-11p 4/21, and 9a-10p 4/22

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

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

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open  9a-9.30p 4/16 through 4/16, 9a-8.30p 4/17, 9a-9.30p 4/19 through 4/20, 8a-10.30p 4/21, and 9a-10p 4/22

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/14-4/22/18

Saturday 4/14 Morning: Animal Kingdom   Evening: none

Sunday 4/15 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Monday 4/16  Morning: Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Tuesday 4/17  Morning: none Evening:  Epcot

Wednesday 4/18 Morning:  none  Evening: Magic Kingdom

Thursday 4/19 Morning: Epcot Evening: none

Friday 4/20 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: none

Saturday 4/21 Morning: Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 4/22  Morning: none Evening: Magic Kingdom

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/14–4/22/18

The Magic Kingdom: Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 3p every day

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/14-4/22/18

Happily Every After at Magic Kingdom: 8.55p every night

IllumiNations at Epcot:  9p every night

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios:  8.30p every night

Star Wars Show and Fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 9.15p every night

Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom 8.45 and 10p 4/14 through 4/16; 8.45p 4/17; 8.45 and 10p 4/18 through 4/22

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 4/14-4/22/18

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

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2018 FREE DINING RUMOR FOR DISNEY WORLD

Update 4/23: No free dining today. Many rumors that it will come out tomorrow! Rumors also that the first eligible check in date for the general public will be 8/20.

Update 4/19: The most common rumor now is that 2018 free dining will become available April 23 or 24.

One of my buddies was kind enough to translate a post from a South American travel agent today for me about Disney World free dining.

While all the specifics largely match what I’d expect except the early August start, treat this more as a rumor than as a leak until other confirmatory (or not!) material comes out.

Free Dining Booking dates: 4/27/18 to 7/7/18 (other rumors suggest it will start April 23 or 24)

Free Dining Eligible arrival dates:

• 8/2 to 9/29/18 (8/2 seems awfully early to me, and may be for just the Brazilian market; other rumors suggest a start much later in August)
• 11/24 to 11/27/18
• 12/7 to 12/23/18

Value and Moderate Resorts Eligible for Free Quick Service Dining Plans:

• Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
• Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
• The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort

Deluxe and DVC Resorts Eligible for Free Regular Dining Plans:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort
• Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas Jambo House
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani Village
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows (Studios)
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa

Tickets must Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus.

For more on Free Dining, see this.

If you book your vacation through my travel agent partner Kelly, she will automatically get it moved into Free Dining* if you end up being eligible and rooms are available ! Contact her via the form on this page.

*and if it’s the best deal for you–others might save you more!

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TOURING HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AFTER TOY STORY LAND OPENS

UPDATE 4/18. This won’t work for June 30-August 25 (for why, see this).  I’ll have a revision out shortly!

I’m starting to work on my revised itineraries for Disney’s Hollywood Studios for use after Toy Story Land opens on June 30. I’m waiting to finalize them until Disney releases the official FastPass+ tiering—or May 1 (60 days before), whichever comes first.

FastPass+ at Hollywood Studios has tiering—you can pick only one attraction from “Tier One” rides, and up to two or three (three only if you don’t pick a Tier One) from another group.

Image (c) Disney

With the opening of Toy Story Land, it’s expected that the tiering here will shift quite a bit from what it is today. Expected to be in Tier One are the two new rides, the family coaster Slinky Dog Dash and the minor spinning ride Alien Swirling Saucers, and also the other ride in Toy Story Land, Toy Story Mania.

Attractions expected to be in Tier Two include most, but perhaps not all, of

• Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
• Disney Jr. Live on Stage
• Fantasmic!
• Frozen Sing-Along
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Muppet Vision 3D
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
• Star Tours
• Tower of Terror
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

The new tiering complicates one day visits for those who wish to see all three Toy Story rides. One can be seen at rope drop, one via FastPass+, but the third will require either some waits or seeing it at park close, which might get in the way of seeing one of the evening shows here.

Some guests with older children will want to skip Alien Swirling Saucers as it does not look like there’s much to this ride, but Alien Swirling Saucers likely will have such low capacity that the skippers won’t mean a lot for waits—at least early on. Others will want to skip Slinky Dog Dash, as they avoid coasters. However, the experience so far with the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coaster at Magic Kingdom suggests that if Slinky Dog Dash is as family friendly as I expect, the skippers won’t have much impact on waits for it, it either.

For most one a one day visit, my suggestion would be to see Toy Story Mania at rope drop, pre-book FastPass+ Slinky Dog, and skip Alien Swirling Saucers, seeing the evening shows instead. For those with younger folk or avoiding coasters, book your FastPass+ for Alien Swirling Saucers and skip Slinky Dog. But good itinerary design means not skipping rides.

For a while now my standard itineraries have devoted two calendar days to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, for several different reasons:

• Allowing people to see both the evening shows, Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks, which otherwise is hard to do on a single day given how close together they can be scheduled
• Giving people some extra time off while still enabling them to book six FastPass+ for the Studios, and
• Setting up an itinerary structure that would still work after Toy Story Land opens—and, I hope (gulp) after Star Wars: Galaxy Edge opens

Itinerary design for the Studios is further complicated by shows with limited schedules and a larger group of attractions, including most of these, that—at least right now—operate only from late morning until early evening.

My current thoughts on the new touring plans is on each day to rope drop, to have an afternoon break, and to return in the  evening for one or the other of the evening shows. This permits eight high priority rides with low waits—six via FastPass+, and two more at rope drop.

Day 1 begins with Alien Swirling Saucers at rope drop, and includes pre-booked FastPass+ for Slinky Dog Coaster, the Frozen Sing-Along show, and Star Tours. Day 2 beings with Tower of Terror at rope drop, and includes pre-booked FastPass+ for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, and Fantasmic.

The immediate objection to this is the backtracking required. But Hollywood Studios is a small enough park that backtracking matters less than at the other parks (the longest walk at the Studios is half a mile), and the tiering structure means you can’t really avoid being in Toy Story Land both days if you want to minimize waits.

The other issue is using a FastPass+ for Fantasmic. Savvy folk know that using a FastPass+ for an evening show is often unwise, as it precludes you from looking for 4th and further FastPass+ until you’ve gone through the FastPass+ tap in—and many nights of the year, there won’t be any FastPass+ left, because of either crowds or park close times. I certainly would not use a FastPass+ for Fantasmic for a one day itinerary, and likely will have to abandon it after Star Wars opens, but for now, the chance to avoid long lines to get a good Fantasmic seat makes me comfortable with including it—especially since it’s on the late-arrival day, anyway.

So here’s my current overview of the days (note that I will revise this as need based on both reader feedback and the actual tiering once announced by Disney):

TOURING HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AFTER TOY STORY LAND OPENS DRAFT PLAN DAY ONE

Pre-book FastPass+ for Slinky Dog Coaster (9-10a), the 10.30 Frozen Sing-Along show, and Star Tours (11a-noon)

• Arrive at the tapstiles by 45 minutes before scheduled opening
• See Alien Swirling Saucers
• See Slinky Dog Coaster (FastPass+)
• See Muppet Vision 3D
• See the 10.30a Frozen Sing-Along (FastPass+)
• See Star Tours (FastPass+)
• Look for additional FastPass+ to use either before you return to your hotel or when you come back before the evening Star Wars show
• See the noon Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• See the 1p Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
• Head back to your hotel
• Return to the park, arriving in the park no later than 45 minutes before Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular
• See Disney Movie Magic
• See Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular

TOURING HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AFTER TOY STORY LAND OPENS DRAFT PLAN DAY TWO

• Pre-book FastPass+ for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (9-10a), Toy Story Mania (10-11a), and Fantasmic
• Arrive at the tapstiles by 45 minutes before scheduled opening
• See Tower of Terror
• See Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (FastPass+)
• See Toy Story Mania (FastPass+)
• See Walt Disney Presents
• See Voyage of the Little Mermaid
• See Disney Jr. Live on Stage
• See Star Wars Launch Bay
• See March of the First Order
• See Star Wars: a Galaxy Far Far Away
• Head back to your hotel
• Return to the park, arriving in the park no later than 45 minutes before Fantasmic
• See Fantasmic (FastPass+)

I’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback! Use the comment form below.

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Earlier this year Disney World announced that parking at its hotels would no longer be free for reservations booked after March 20, 2018. Only slightly less controversial than that whole poenitentia vs. metanoia thing among Luther, Erasmus, and the Catholic Church, no explanation for it has been offered other than such a parking charge is common practice.

At the end of my post on the parking matter, I’d noted that “I can think of one way in which–at least in 2019–this money may make its way back into guest pockets. I’ll publish more on this thought, which has to do with length-of-stay pricing, later.”

So this is the post on that thought. What it boils down to is that if Disney institutes length of stay discounts, it would need to make a big one-time increase in room rates to keep its overall revenue whole. The increases from parking revenue could be used to offset some of that price increase.

Note that I’m not predicting that Disney World will institute length of stay pricing—rather, this is largely a thought experiment on the implications for price increases if it chooses to do so. But we do know it is interested in increasing length of stay…

“We’ve got … a number of other plans as it relates to our hotel business. So we think that we’ve got room on pricing there. It’s not just about taking pricing up, it’s just about being more strategic at how we price, particularly how we manage demand and we’ve taken a number of steps there. We think we can expand length of stay …We have some nice pricing leverage with our hotels. We actually are comping nicely in hotel rates, particularly in Orlando as a for instance, but we have an opportunity to expand [length of stay].”

Bob Iger, CEO The Walt Disney Company, in the Q2 17 earnings call (May 9 2017)

Bob Iger noted about a year ago opportunities he saw to expand length of stay at the Walt Disney World hotels. One way to expand length of stay is through pricing mechanisms that reward longer stays.

Such a pricing mechanism can be as simple as giving a discount off of what would otherwise be a hotel’s rates in return for booking a stay of a certain length.

This is in effect what Universal does—it has its set of prices per night, but then takes a certain amount off of what would otherwise be the total if you book certain stay targets.

See the image—for example, on its far right, you’ll note that a seven night stay can be as much as 35% off what would otherwise be the sum of the nightly prices. That’s a big discount, in effect almost two and a half free nights (35% of seven nights= 2.45 nights).

Length of stay pricing can be meant to build a hotel’s occupancy—that is, add room nights—or to shift the current set of room nights to a group that has on average a longer length of stay.

If a hotel has plenty of rooms available and not many “typical” bookings already at the stay lengths at which the discounts kick in, then the goal would be to add room nights. High discounts might be accepted to do so, as little revenue would be lost from the few guests who already would have booked longer than the “typical” stay, and the new revenue from the extra nights would largely drop to the bottom line, since the variable costs of an extra night in a room are pretty low.

Length of stay pricing in already well-occupied hotels—as the Disney hotels are, recently reporting yet another quarter of occupancy in the 90% range—has a very different and more complicated dynamic.

Here you have different goals than increasing occupancy (because you have so little room to do so) and much less flexibility in discounting longer stays (because you are discounting many room nights that you could have sold at their regular rates).

The goal instead might be to convert the same number of room nights from shorter to longer stays, as longer stays are typically more profitable (as they spread the one-time costs of a single booking/check-in/check-out over more nights).

Or, if there is a value difference between shorter and longer stays not already captured in pricing, the goal might also be to use length of stay pricing to price shorter stays higher to extract more of the value they create. For example, Disney might be expecting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, expected to open in the last quarter of 2019, to increase the demand for shorter stays from those guests coming to experience only it.

So if Disney were to institute length of stay pricing (as a typical practice, like Universal–not as a one-time deal), given high occupancies and already longer lengths of stay than Universal, I’d expect a couple of features to their program

• The deals to kick in after longer stays—for example, after five or six nights, not the three or four that Universal offers
• A lower discount curve—one that still begins at 10%, perhaps, but that doesn’t get nearly as high as 35%, other than as a temporary promotion that replaces other typical Disney World hotel deals
• A one-time price increase for the base set of undiscounted prices, so that revenue stays whole over most trip lengths.

This last point is the key one, so let me illustrate it with an example.

Let’s say Disney offers 10% off the total price of a room that would before the one-time price increase average $250 a night (in this example, thus a moderate), beginning with a six night stay.

To keep the same $1,500 revenue over the stay, average pre-discount prices would need to go up in a one-time price increase by 11% (the formula is 1/(1-discount percentage) – 1).* At a new price $278 a night, a 10% discount off the new total of $1,668 would yield the same initial $1,500 revenue.

In other words, when the hotels are essentially full and the goal is simply to lengthen average length of stay, you don’t want to give up revenue to do so—otherwise you simply lose money on the extensions.

Disney World usually announces its new hotel prices for the coming year in the summer, and while it varies across hotels, room types, and times of the year, prices commonly go up 4%+. If it used its summer 2018 pricing announcement to include for 2019 both typical price increases and also a one-time price increase meant to keep it whole after length of stay discounts, then in my example undiscounted prices would go up ~15%.

That’s a pretty big number—a headline grabbing number. How could Disney avoid some of those headlines? Well, one way to do it would be to institute a one-time price increase for something else related to the hotels, and use the revenue from it to offset the needed hotel room price increase. Like parking.

For median priced standard-view rooms, the new parking charge amounts to an average increase across 2018 (you get about the same results if you use just the last 7 or 8 months of 2018) of around 8% at the value resorts, 7% at the moderates, and 4.5% at the deluxes. So if half of guests pay for parking, then Disney World already has in hand price increases of 2.25 to 4%. It can use these already-existing one time increases to offset some of what it would otherwise want to do to 2019 prices, and perhaps (other than at the deluxes) even get the 2019 increase below 10%, which would help the headlines a bit…

Note that there are other ways to incent longer lengths of stay.

For example, since both shorter and longer Disney World stays tend to include weekends, Disney could make the price difference between weekends and weekdays even sharper than it already is.

For some time now, many, but not all, Disney World resorts have had higher prices on Friday and Saturday nights during many, but not all, price seasons.

And for the 2018 pricing year (released not long after Iger’s comments noted above) Disney also made Sunday and/or Thursday prices higher than the rest of its weekday prices at some resorts during some price seasons (gory details here).

Continuing this approach with even sharper differences between higher and lower priced nights would certainly either dis-incent and/or capture more value from shorter trips that include these higher priced nights. I’m not sure, though, that sharper differences would have much effect on lengthening stays, as—at least now—Disney does not inform you of the cost of adding a room night.

*The increase actually needs to be less than this, as those on shorter stays pay its full value. But for me to estimate how much less, I’d need data on the distribution of bookings by length of stay, which I don’t have, so I am ignoring this issue.

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I’ve just re-published a re-do of my review of the Treehouses at Saratoga Springs, based on my stay in one in January—our third in a Treehouse, and eighth at Saratoga Springs. The updated Treehouse review includes 50+ new images.

In total, the updated Treehouse review has four pages:

• A summary and overview 
• A photo tour of the living/dining/kitchen spaces in a Treehouse
• A photo tour of a Treehouse master bedroom and master bath
• A photo tour of the back bedrooms and second bath of a Treehouse

Treehouses are among the most distinctive offerings on property for larger families or two-family groups. They are the only spaces that sleep nine with three bedrooms at a price comparable to a Two Bedroom villa.

The third Treehouse bedroom, however, has two bunk beds that won’t fit anyone much over 5’ 4”.

The living-dining-kitchen area feels more spacious than the equivalent in most Two Bedroom Villas, and both the dining table and the living room area seat more than almost all other such villas.

However, these rooms are distant from the main amenities at Saratoga Springs, and have a separate bus line that goes to Saratoga Springs rather than the parks. So I’m not at all keen on them for first-timers, and would strongly advise that returning visitors have a car or two.

But if your party can fit the beds and deal with the inconveniences, they are a spacious, flexible, darling, secluded, and woodsy choice, much the favorite in my family. Sadly, we’ve outgrown the bunk beds, but I look forward to future family stays here with grandchildren (are you listening, Teddy and Alex???).

There’s only 60 of them, and they seem to be pretty popular. So if you want one, can fit, and plan to have wheels, book them well in advance. Kelly, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can help you book your Disney World vacation at the Treehouses or anywhere else.  Contact her by using the form on this page.

The full updated review of the Treehouses begins here.

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(For the first page of this review of the Treehouse Villas, click here.)

THE BACK BEDROOMS AND BATH AT THE TREEHOUSE VILLAS AT SARATOGA SPRINGS

The rest of the spaces in the Treehouse are off a hall on the other side of the living room. The first door on the right of this hall is the bunk bed room, the second the queen room, the center door the bath, and unseen on the left is a door to the laundry.

Here’s the washer and dryer, typical of DVC villas.

The bath is not divided–a mistake in a space that sleeps 9, especially when the only other bath is hidden away in the master bedroom. Here’s the sink side of a standard Treehouse…

…and of an accessible Treehouse.

The hair dryer is tucked in one of the drawers under the sink.

There’s storage underneath the sink.

The tub/shower.

The queen bedroom is by the bath.

It is smaller and less furnished than the master bedroom–although it has all the basics, and has one of the fun corner windows.

The bed from another angle. Note the single bedside table in the far corner.  My close-up of it was too poor to publish here, even by my low standards.

Across from the foot of the bed there’s a 54 inch TV and dresser.

Dresser storage.

Next to the dresser you’ll find a closet.

The bunk bed room has the similar basics, except for shelves and a stump rather than a bedside table.

As noted earlier, the bunk mattresses are just 66 inches long–with frame clearance allowing another three or of inches for toes.

This makes them impractical for anyone much over 5′ 4″.

Also in the bunk bed room you’ll find this 54″ TV and dresser…

…and six small drawers below–plenty for the two people in this room, and perhaps allocable to some of those sleeping in the living room.

The bunk room closet.

The bunk room closet, with less stuff in it, from one of our other stays.

You’ll also find these shelves…

…and a handy stump.

More so than other DVC options, the Treehouses are not large hotel rooms, but rather little houses.  As a result, while you are in them, they bring a combination of wonderful livability and charming woodsy decor…

…and when you are near them, you can luxuriate in as natural a setting as you will find in Walt Disney World–for this view, I just went down the steps and turned right.

But it’s getting to someplace else that shows their shortcomings. Remarkably inconvenient even for those with cars, I can’t possibly recommend them to first timers.

But for repeat visitors with wheels and a reason to stay in them–like wanting the three bedrooms, the deck, the extra living space, the lovely setting, the quiet and solitude–they are just great!

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