News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Animal Kingdom, Dining, Disney Springs, DVC, Epcot, Events, Magic Kingdom, Shopping, Walt Disney World

Here are Rope Drop [dot] Net HQ we’re still recovering from the price increase that happened this weekend. Of course, even 8-10% ticket price increases can’t stop us from publishing the next edition of the News Nuggets!

Phew. That was a lot of News Nuggets. Let’s take a quick break to relax in the early morning glow of World Showcase:

Early Morning at World Showcase
Early Morning at World Showcase

Now, back to the News Nuggets!

We’ll finish things up with a couple of “events” from Disney World. First, they recently had a DVC 25th Anniversary “party” at the Magic Kingdom. It featured, among other things, a rare appearance by the Haunted Mansion’s tightrope girl and a special fireworks show. Here are the videos of that show from DVC News, Inside the Magic, and The DIS:

Also, Flower & Garden festival starts tomorrow. There’s a nice primer to the festival at TouringPlans and Denise at Mouse Steps has put together a really nice preview. If you’re still looking to get more hyped for the festival, I’ll leave you with this video from The DIS:

Thanks for reading!

Thoughts on Seasonal Pricing at Disney World

by John Commentary, Featured, Opinion, Planning

NOTE: This post will cover just the new Seasonal Pricing aspect of today’s price increase. Reaction to the multi-day ticket increase will be covered in a separate post.

As we (and every other Disney site on the Interwebs) reported earlier today, Disney World introduced seasonal pricing as part of its ticket price increase. The basic explanation is that the year is now broken up into Value, Regular and Peak “seasons” and 1-day tickets differ in pricing from season to season (You can read all the details here).

No matter the Season, you can always relax at Crescent Lake
No matter the Season, you can always relax at Crescent Lake

After seeing the Season pricing proposals earlier this Summer, I was pleasantly surprised with how the actual implementation of Seasonal Pricing took place. (Notice I’m not saying I’m “pleased that they implemented Seasonal Pricing”, I’m just happy with how they decided to implement if they had already decided they were going to do it.) First, Disney only applied the Seasonal Pricing to 1-day tickets. This alleviates a lot of the issues where people who had multi-day trips across the “seasons” would have been forced to buy tickets for the most expensive of the seasons in their trip. Relatedly, as was discussed on the above linked TouringPlans article and on WDW Today, the original “Seasons” had almost all weekend days listed as “Silver” or above (Disney decided to use Value, Regular and Peak for its Seasons instead of the Bronze, Silver, Gold structure it used in the survey that started all this discussion, but the concepts remain the same.) In the actual implementation, Disney generally left weekends as part of the same season as the weekdays surrounding it. Again, this could alleviate some of the “cross season” concerns when Disney implements Seasonal Pricing on multi-day tickets. (I think it’s safe to assume multi-day Season Pricing is coming within the next few years, so hopefully Disney continues to divide its “seasons” up the same way in the future.)

The actual division of the seasons was also a little interesting. I know that “Spring Break” is considered a popular time at Disney World, but I’m surprised to find it part of the new Peak Season (and, therefore, have the same price as the Summer and Christmas.) Similarly, I’m surprised to find that the 1st and 2nd weeks of December are part of the Regular Season instead of the Value Season, since they’re usually considered some of the lowest crowd times at Disney World. (Even the some of the “higher” crowd levels last year seem to suggest those weeks could have been value. Sorry, Howie.) Maybe Len Testa isn’t that far off the mark when he says that Value Season is “hurricane season” and Peak Season is “when your kids are out of school.”

In summary, I think we got (at least?) a 1 year reprieve from a full-on implementation of Seasonal Pricing for the multi-day tickets that a majority of Disney World guests purchase. We also ended up with a much more customer-friendly version of the “seasons” calendar than was originally rumored (I hope that holds true in future years.) Though I wish we weren’t moving to surge pricing at all, I’m pleasantly surprised by this particular implementation.

Initial Breakdown of the February 2016 Disney World Ticket Price Increase

by John Planning

As was expected, Disney World rolled out a new price increase this morning. It featured the “seasonal / tiered / surge” pricing that people had been expecting (Disney calls it “Seasonal” pricing, so I guess that’s what I’ll go with), but (thankfully?) only applied that pricing structure to 1-day tickets. Multi-day tickets will continue to have the same prices throughout every day of the year.

Here is an explanation of the new “seasonal” and multi-day pricing changes: (There will be more analysis and reaction coming in a separate post, later.)

Seasonal Pricing

Seasonal pricing is for single day tickets only and is based on a calendar that’s available when you choose to buy a single day ticket on Disney World’s website (the calendar currently only lists “seasons” through the end of 2016). It divides the entire calendar into 3 different “seasons”: Value, Regular, and Peak (and like Disney’s hotel “seasons”, they don’t align with traditional summer, spring, etc… seasons at all.)

NOTE: As you might expect, you can use a higher tiered ticket for a lower tiered day (e.g., Peak Season ticket on a Value Season day), but you can’t go the other way around.

Here is the breakdown for the Disney World price “seasons” for the rest of the year:

  • February 28 through March 3 – Value
  • March 4 through 10 – Regular
  • March 11 through April 2 – Peak
  • April 3 through May 26 – Regular
  • May 27 through July 23 – Peak
  • July 24 through August 21 – Regular
  • August 22 through September 29 – Value
  • September 30 through November 19 – Regular
  • November 20 through November 27 – Peak
  • November 28 through December 21 – Regular
  • December 22 through December 31 – Peak

Though I plan on writing about this more later, two things jump out at me: (1) I’m really glad Disney didn’t just make every weekend day part of a Regular Season or above; and (2) it’s interesting that early December (normally thought of as one of the lower crowd times) has been marked as a “Regular” season.

The pricing for the various seasons is as follows (NOTE: All prices are without tax):

Value Season

  • Magic Kingdom – $105
  • Epcot, Animal Kingdom, The Studios – $97
  • Park Hopper- $155

Regular Season

  • Magic Kingdom – $110
  • Epcot, Animal Kingdom, The Studios – $102
  • Park Hopper – $160

Peak Season

  • Magic Kingdom – $124
  • Epcot, Animal Kingdom, The Studios – $114
  • Park Hopper – $164

The Value Season 1 Park tickets are actually the same prices that those same tickets were in 2015. The Regular Season tickets get a $5 bump across the board, while Peak Season gets a whopping $19 per ticket increase over Value Season when talking about the Magic Kingdom, $17 for the other parks and $9 for a Park Hopper.

All 1-Day tickets purchased this year must be used by December 31, 2017 or they “expire.” (Thankfully, you can get the amount you paid for your “expired” tickets as a credit to use  for purchasing new tickets at the then existing prices.)

Multi-day Tickets

Multi-day tickets also got a (more standard) price increase of $5 per day. In other words:

  • 2-Day Ticket – $202 ($10 increase)
  • 3-Day Ticket – $290 ($15 increase)
  • 4-Day Ticket – $325 ($20 increase)
  • 5-Day Ticket – $340 ($25 increase)
  • 6-Day Ticket – $355 ($30 increase)
  • 7-Day Ticket – $370 ($35 increase)

The Park Hopper option went up $5 dollars as well (it’s now $55 for tickets of 1 to 3 days and $69 for tickets of 4+ days).

Summary

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll have more to say about this in a bit, but my initial reaction is that things are not as bad as I was expecting (I was convinced that the “seasons” would be more like Disney Hotels and that all weekend days and holidays were would be part of a higher priced “season.”) The $5 per day multi-day ticket increase is pretty much in line with my expectations.

I might have to work a little more to afford Peak Season pricing
I might have to work a little more to afford Peak Season pricing

More and More Rumors of Tiered / Surge Pricing Coming to Disney World this Weekend

by John Planning

The rumors started in the summer of last year and there have been rumblings ever since. The recent delays in ticket price updates have caused people like Len Testa to speculate that the “tiered” or “surge” pricing will be coming to Disney World soon. Now, WDW News Today is reporting that Disney World is going to implement this tiered pricing over the weekend.

If you already have a trip planned (or are seriously considering a trip) it really might be a good time to buy your Disney World tickets. You can find the best deals on tickets at the TouringPlans tickets price calculator. (Also, as a reminder, some of these 3rd party sellers will have the “old pricing” tickets in inventory for a few weeks after the increase. If you don’t buy your tickets today, you might want to at least check the 3rd party sellers listed at TouringPlans before buying them direct at the new pricing.)

Initial Thoughts from our February 2016 Trip to Disney World

by John Disney Springs, Hotels, Planning, Resorts, Walt Disney World
The BOATHOUSE Sliders
The BOATHOUSE Sliders

Elyssa and I just got back from a recent trip to Disney World. Though we anticipate doing more in-depth posts about various parts of the trip, here are some initial thoughts:

  • The location for the new Flamingo Crossing hotels is pretty awesome. It’s too early to really review the hotels themselves (they had opened only a week before our 1 night stay there), but the concept seem promising. I wonder how different it’ll feel when there is more than just 15 people staying in them, though.
  • Breakfast at Kona is the real deal. Tonga Toast, the Big Kahuna platter, etc…are great. If there’s a day where you don’t want to be waiting at the turnstiles at rope drop, then definitely stop by. (Same goes for Whispering Canyon, where we ate breakfast twice on the trip. Skillets AND giant Mickey Waffles, baby.)
  • Speaking of “real deal” food options, both Sanaa and The BOATHOUSE are great places to have lunch. Sanaa’s bread service is always good (TIP: You can order more bread for it if you want (and we almost always do)), and the filet sliders are The BOATHOUSE are delicious (and a complete steal at only $12.)
  • Skipper Canteen was pretty good. We both really liked the theming of the place (but I would have been fine with a few more puns from our “Skipper”.) Once you get past the slightly flowery “garnishes” to the dishes, they really are serving steak, chicken, pork, and mac ‘n’ cheese with beef. My pork was fine. Elyssa enjoyed her mac ‘n’ cheese (but not as much as the mac ‘n’ cheese from the BOATHOUSE which is probably now her favorite thing in Orlando). In an interesting twist, the $1.75 “Kid’s Volcano” dessert tasted better than the $8 Kungaloosh (so we’ll probably just 4 kid’s desserts next time instead of getting “grown up” desserts.)
  • The construction around the Wilderness Lodge right now is kind of bummer. I knew to expect it, but seeing so much of the resort closed and the trees near Bay Lake being removed is a bummer. I’m sure the new DVC rooms will be nice, but I’m going to miss that little buffer between the lodge and rest of the World that the “Woods View” rooms used to have.
  • There’s a few running jokes about Elyssa’s and my visits with Tinker Bell, but the cast members who portray her are consistently some of the best we interact with. We had one who must have dropped 15 “leaf” puns in the span of 2 minutes, all while carrying on conversations with Elyssa and I about running, pixie dust, and various other things that she was “tinking” about.
Tink Mode!
Tink Mode!

I’ll end by saying that the logistics that must go on behind the scenes at a runDisney race have to be insane. So many people getting moved around, running down World Dr., through theme parks, etc… while being provided with various character meets, and other entertainment. It has to be a tremendous effort. Our local races might get choked up if we get 2,000, but Disney handles close to 20,000 really, really well.

As I said, there will be more coming from this trip (hopefully, at least 2 or 3 of the 3,000 pictures Elyssa and I took turn out to be worthy of being included in a few posts), but these are some of the major takeaways from our 5 days down there.

Oh, and one last thing: BOATRIDE CLUB, BABY!!

Boatride Club
Boatride Club

 

Registration for the runDisney Star Wars “Dark Side” Half-Marathon Temporarily Re-Opened

by John Planning

If you’re looking to run the Star Wars “Dark Side” Half Marathon this year, the registration has been temporarily re-opened. There’s no word on how long it will last, so I’d jump on this quickly if you want to do it. (Also,  I have to admit, this would be super-tempting if Elyssa hadn’t already booked a Kivus & Camera wedding for that weekend.)

And We’re Back!

by John Uncategorized

Elyssa and I are back from our latest Disney World adventure. We finished our 10K plus half-marathon “glass slipper challenge”, got to hang out with some of the members of the BOATRIDE club, and had a pretty “magical time” overall. We’ll have some trip thoughts and other posts coming up soon! Thanks to everyone  who followed along with on social media.

Mid-Race Selfie
Mid-Race Selfie
Geez. Get a room.
Geez. Get a room.

Born to run(Disney)

by John Featured, Resorts, Touring

Okay, that description may apply to some people, but it surely doesn’t apply to Elyssa and I (unless a “runner’s high” means lots of wheezing and wanting to collapse). People who knows us, however, know that this time of year and this upcoming race are very important to us. (See also our Mickey Miles Podcast appearance, Part 1 and Part 2.)

So, if you want to follow us as we head down to Disney World to attempt the Glass Slipper Challenge (a 10K on Saturday morning, followed by a half marathon on Sunday), you can follow us on:

And, if you’re looking for some good Disney-related posts to read over the next couple of days, here are a few that you might want to check out:

Lastly, don’t forget to check out Harrison Ford announcing some of the plans for Star Wars Land on The Wonderful World of Disney special on February 21st!

Thank you to everyone who’s supported the site over the past few months. We’ll be back to talk more Disney with you soon!

Finish line photo
Finish line photo

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Animal Kingdom, Epcot, The Studios, Walt Disney World

Elyssa and I have a big week ahead of us, so we figured we would try to start it off on the right foot…with another edition edition of the Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggets!.

There isn’t a ton of major news to start the week, but the time changes at Epcot might indicate that things are going to be a little over there until for a few months.

Let’s take a look at that and some of the other news:

That’s it for now. Stay tuned tomorrow for a little Rope Drop [dot] Net special feature!

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

It might be a good time to buy your Disney World Tickets

by John Planning, Touring, Universal Studios, Walt Disney World

Friend of the site, Josh Gonzalez, pointed out that Universal Orlando has raised ticket prices. Since a ticket price increase was expected, and since Disney normally raises its tickets around the same time as Universal, it might be worth considering buying your tickets now for any upcoming trips. The TouringPlans Ticket Calculator is a good place to find out where to get the best prices on your Disney tickets.

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Disney Springs, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, The Studios, Walt Disney World

  It’s time for another edition of the Rope Drop [drop] Net News Nuggets! (Don’t worry, we haven’t given up the site as a result of our new found fame as models on Orlando Weekly) .Before we get to the “new” news nuggets, we have a couple of updates from WDW News Today on items we posted about last week:

and this announcement from Disney that:

With that out of the way, let’s move on to our traditional nuggets!

That does it for this edition of the actual “news” section of the News Nuggets, but I’ll leave you with this “Escape to the Magic Kingdom” video from The DIS to help you through your day:

Podcast to Keep an Eye On: Backside of Magic

by John Opinion, Planning

One of the things I enjoy about working on Rope Drop [dot] Net is finding out about new and upcoming resources for Disney information. Though I’m woefully behind on updating the Disney Podcast directory with all of the most recent submissions, one recent recommendation by friend of the site Dutch Lombrowski piqued my interest: Backside of Magic. With the recent departure of the original cast from WDW Today, I have been looking for a replacement Disney podcast that fills that same informative, analytical slot in my playlist, and Dutch’s recommendation was all I needed to give Backside of Magic a shot.

Summary of the Show So Far

To date, there have been 3 actual episodes of the show (and 2 mini / placeholder-type ones.) So far the format of the show seems to be:

  1. A summary of important Disney World news;
  2. “Preposterous Ponderance”, in which one host gives the other host a “preposterous” scenario and asks for his opinion on it (James Rosemergy would be proud); and
  3. The weekly topic.

The first episode’s weekly topic covered resources the hosts, Ryan and Jeremy, use to gather their information. Though probably not earth-shattering information to seasoned Disney travelers, knowing where they get their information helps validate their authority. (Yes, they did mention reading this site. I thank them for that, but it was really Dutch’s recommendation that got me to listen, not any kind of quid pro quo as a result of a site mention.) The second episode was a discussion about certain challenges that might arise when planning a Disney vacation (e.g., how to get Fastpass+ selection for a large group with different check-in days). Again, not particularly Earth-shattering information, but it does hint at the level of detail that hosts Ryan and Jeremy may be able to reach as their show continues to develop.

It was Episode 3, however, when the guys really hit their stride. First, in the news discussion, the hosts extrapolated how Disney’s new dining reservation policy may allow guests to avoid the current “$10 per person” fee one receives when cancelling an ADR within 24 hours of a reservation by applying the same technique that people use to avoid hotel cancellation fees (i.e., extending the reservation into the future, and then cancelling that new reservation). I followed up with the guys on Twitter to get their reasoning on that strategy. Not only did they provide me with a fuller explanation, but also informed me that they tested out the strategy during a previous trip (yes, they offered the disclaimer that maybe Bongos is less strict about its cancellation policy, but seeing that they actually tested out their theory before sharing it left me a very positive impression of the care they put into the show).

The weekly topic, saving money on Disney gift card purchases, was equally enlightening. The hosts provided 4 levels of “difficulty” in getting increasing amounts of discounts on Disney gift cards, and then explained how to apply those gift cards to your upcoming vacation. Even as someone who has previously written about managing Disney gift cards, I still learned a lot from this segment. (That said, I’m still firmly in the “you can’t pay your rent with a gift card” camp, and I encourage everyone to be smart about your gift card purchases when you have other expenses, limited funds, etc…) The segment also made me excited about the tips for saving on airfare that were teased for next week’s show. If that discussion is half as a good as the gift card one, I think it will be a real winner.

Looking to the Future

After listening to 3 episodes, I’m optimistic that Backside of Magic can be a strong entry in the Disney podcast space. Ryan and Jeremy seem to have a knack for making analytical connections related to certain news items, and I’m interested to see how they continue to apply that skill as the show continues to grow. With such a young show, there is  plenty of fresh ground they have not previously covered that is ripe for their analysis.

Of course, as Tony Kornheiser tells aspiring radio hosts: “Anyone can do a Monday show. What’s your Thursday show going to be?” In other words, what are you going to do when all the major topics have been talked about. It’s too early in the life of Backside of Magic to know what they’ll do on their “Thursday” show, but if these first 3 episodes are any indication, I think they’re going to be fine.

Why is there “Summer Free Dining” at Disney World?

by John Commentary, Featured, Hotels, Planning

Why is there a “Summer Free Dining”?

For dates from the end of May through mid-August (not including the 4th of July and surrounding days), Disney is offering a special “free dining” promotion that features one free quick service meal per person per night when you buy a “non-discounted 4-night / 5-day room and theme park ticket package at a Disney Value Resort.”

First, I don’t see this as impacting “traditional” free dining (the one where you actually get some variety of the Disney Dining Plan when you book a non-discounted stay at various resorts) at all. Here are the start dates for free dining in previous years:

  • 2012 – September 30
  • 2013 – September 29
  • 2014 – August 31
  • 2015 – August 28

As you can see, for the past 4 years, Disney has started its actual “Free Dining” promotion multiple weeks after this new “Summer” promotion is scheduled to end. I would imagine that if Disney does a free dining promotion this year, it will, as it has in the last several years, start in late August, after the traditional summer crowd (and this summer dining offer) has ended. I don’t think this summer free dining offer gives any real insight into Disney’s future “Free Dining” plans.

Secondly, I think this promotion is targeted at a very specific group of people, namely: Budget conscious travelers trying to decide between staying onsite or offsite for their summer visit. What leads me down this path is the offer’s limited applicability to only Value resorts. This suggests Disney World has a very specific market in mind.

In order to better evaluate this promotion, let’s look at a 4 night–5 day stay during the Summer Offer period for a family of 4 with two 5-year old children (specifically, staying Wednesday, June 15 through Sunday, June 19th). The non-discounted rate for a standard room during that time at Pop Century is $155 per night before tax (NOTE: Art of Animation Little Mermaid standard rooms are not an option for this Summer Offer). Comparatively, the same family could stay in the brand new SpringHill Suites at Flamingo Crossing for $99 per night before tax. Even if they rent a car for $20 a day plus pay parking for $20 a day (neither of which is absolutely necessary, depending on how they travel to Disney World and what their plans are while there) they have a comparable per night cost at the SpingHill Suites (and that’s before factoring in things like free in-hotel breakfast, money you could save by buying bottles of water at an off-site location, grabbing a lunch at Chick-Fil-A on your way back to the pool instead of at Casey’s Corner, etc…). They could also save over $180 on the price of 4 day Park Hopper tickets by buying from a reputable third party.

Even if it turns out that there is only $200 in monetary savings by staying offsite, that is $200 of real money the family is saving. When you’re talking about a total trip budget of around $2,000, that’s a pretty important amount of savings. I believe Disney’s “Summer Free Dining” is an attempt to eliminate some of that price difference between onsite and offsite stays for guests in an effort to appeal to extremely budget-conscious travelers. It’s Disney’s way of saying something like “if you stay with us, we’ll pick up your lunch bill.”

I understand all the arguments about why staying onsite is the only way to vacation at Disney World. I enjoy the “Disney Bubble” and I love being able to just walk out of my room and take a BOATRIDE, BAYBAY!! over to the Magic Kingdom. I like getting the extra 30 days to make my Fastpass+ selections and taking advantage of some night-time extra magic hours. 

But, if my budget for a Disney World trip for my family were $2,000, then those things might not be as important, and saving $100 here or $100 there could mean a lot. I think this Summer Offer is Disney’s attempt to close that off-site v on-site price gap in the budget-conscious market. I’m interested to see how it works.

Who doesn't love a boatride?
Who doesn’t love a boatride?

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, Magic Kingdom, The Studios, Walt Disney World

With the storm taking place last week, it was a good chance for us to put together a pretty significant helping of News Nuggets. The theme for this edition: “changes”. We have closings at The Studios (shocking, I know), as well as other various changes and new entertainment offerings. Let’s get to it!

I’ll finish up this post by urging you to check out a new feature that Josh at easyWDW has been doing: daily wait times analysis. It’s a nice “only at easyWDW” feature that it is worth checking out if you’re into that kind of in-depth analysis of crows at Disney World.

With all these closings, I need a drink.
With all these closings, I need a drink.

Putting some “Spring” in our Step as We Recover from the Storm

by John Disney Springs

I normally don’t post these “behind the scenes”, “how they made this” kinds of videos, but–after the storm this past weekend–seeing this little bit of the Disney Springs construction made me happy:

Though this video doesn’t really tough on it, I have been extremely pleased with how Disney Springs has been developing. I think it’s going to end up being a “must go” destination when it’s completed.

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, Magic Kingdom, The Studios, Walt Disney World

Though we still haven’t recovered from Monday night, we can’t keep our loyal Rope Drop [dot] Net Readers waiting any longer. It’s time for a new edition of the News Nuggets!

Let’s jump right in:

That’s all for this latest edition of the News Nuggets. I’ll leave you with a couple of links to WDW Magic videos of New Year’s fireworks from Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom

img_0876

Last One to Leave, Turn Off the (Osborne) Lights

by John Events, Holidays, The Studios

The End of the Osborne Lights

On Wednesday night, the Osborne Lights faded to black for the last time. Thankfully, a lot of our favorite Disney blogs were there to cover the event (and give people like me–who couldn’t be there in person–a chance to see what the Lights were like in their final moments):

Mouse Steps had an excellent photo post, including a video of the show’s final moments:

WDW Magic had a photo post and an epic 10 angle video of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” and the last moments of the show before it went dark:

WDW News Today had a nice written recap and video of the final moments:

TouringPlans had a recap of the last night and a video of their own:

And with that, we say goodbye to the Osborne Lights. As I’ve said before, I’m sad they’re going away, and I hope they come back (in some form) some day.

Someone finally recorded a Star Wars – The Force Awakens Podcast

by John Walt Disney World

I’m surprised no one thought of this sooner, but Elyssa and I recently joined the guys from Mighty Men of Mouse and Wes James to record a podcast about a recent movie that might have slipped under your radar: Star Wars – The Force Awakens.

The full episode starts with a recap of the Walt Disney World “Cruise Cup” challenge, featuring friends of the site Josh Gonzalez and Eric Laycock, but gets to the Star Wars Discussion right about the 39 minute 55 second mark. (You should definitely listen to the whole episode, not skip right to the part about Star Wars featuring Elyssa and me).

All kidding aside, thank you to Mighty Men of Mouse for having us on. It was a blast! (And I bet other podcasts are now going to do shows about this movie.)

Trying to Keep Elyssa from Reacting to some of the Opinions
Trying to Keep Elyssa from Reacting to some of the Opinions

New Balance has announced its 2016 RunDisney Collection

by John Disneyland, Events, Walt Disney World

New Balance has posted a page outlining its 2016 runDisney collection. The collection features:

  • Dumbo Vazee Pace;
  • Ariel Vazee Pace; and
  • The “Red Carpet” Minnie and Mickey 860v6s.

You can see the Dumbo and Ariel shoes on the New Balance page, and you can see a sneak peak of the Minnie & Mickey shoes right here:

If you want to get a pair of these new shoes at a runDisney event, you should sign up at the NB Virtual Queue as soon as possible for the day you’re attending your event expo. For Marathon Weekend, the NB Virtual sign-up queue timing is listed as:

To begin, runners can sign up at www.NBVirtualQueue.com using your bib number starting Wednesday, January 6th, at 6:00 AM EST, and all other guests can sign up Thursday, January 7th, Friday, January 8th and Saturday, January 9th, starting at 6:00 AM EST each day. 

Good luck! (And make sure you ask if they accept any discounts! I know they’ve given us an Annual Pass discount in the past.)

Disney gives People a Few More Days to See the Osborne Lights

by John Events, Holidays, The Studios

In a move that I don’t find particularly suprising, Disney has extended the display of the Osborne Lights through Wednesday, January 6th, including running the Lights until 10:00pm on Monday through Wednesday. (Frankly, I am surprised it’s only 2 more days. I was thinking they might extend the lights through Martin Luther Kin, Jr. Day or later.)

As you would expect with a piece of news like this, everyone has reported it: TouringPlans, WDW News Today, and easyWDW.

  

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Disney Springs, Epcot, Hotels, The Studios, Walt Disney World

With 2015 coming to a close, I figured we could sneak in one last edition of Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggests. After the big edition last week, this will feel like a little bit of a down week:

Let’s end things with a link to a video of this year’s holiday Illuminations and a link to Corey Disbrow’s 2015 Disney World photo recap. (And don’t forget that Disney is live streaming it’s New Year’s Eve fireworks from the Magic Kingdom tonight!)

The original news nugget picture for the last nuggets of 2015
The original news nugget picture for the last nuggets of 2015

Disney to Live Stream the Magic Kingdom Fireworks on New Year’s Eve

by John Events, Magic Kingdom, Uncategorized

Continuing their trend from the past year, Disney is going to live stream a major fireworks event.

This is normally the part of the live streaming post where I encourage people to bypass going to the Disney Parks Blog homepage when looking for the livestreams, and, instead, going to the Disney Parks Live channel on Youtube. Unfortunately, with the last stream, Disney didn’t update that channel page with the video, so my tip may no longer be valid. We’ll have to see how they handle this event.

That said, no matter where you have your New Year’s celebration, Elyssa and I hope you have a great one. (And go Clemson!)

Merry Christmas!

by John Walt Disney World

Merry Christmas to all our readers from Elyssa and me (and Fenway!). Thank you for all your kind words and support during our first few months running Rope Drop [dot] Net.  We hope y’all have a magical holiday season.

Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!

News Nuggets from Around Disney World

by John Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, Epcot, Events, Holidays, Magic Kingdom, The Studios, Walt Disney World

There has been a lot of Disney World news over these last few weeks of 2015. So, let’s not waste any time and get right to this edition of the Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggets: 

That’s it for this edition of the New Nuggets. Let’s finish off this post with a link to some pictures of some of the great Christmas trees found at Disney World And a video of the new Symphony in the Stars, Star Wars-based Fireworks at The Studios

News Nugget time!!
News Nugget time!!