The current plan is that I will be heading down to Disney World in just about a month. It’s been since Elyssa’s and my February trip for Princess Race weekend since I have been down, so I’m excited about a few things that are “new”:
TRON! – TRON was in some early previews while we were there, but I was not able to do any of the AP previews due to my recent trial. I’m really looking forward to trying this out.
Flower & Garden – This actually started the day we had to fly home so we did not get to see it in “full bloom” (so to speak.) We saw a few of the topiaries, but I am ready for a nice easy stroll around Epcot (with the occasional stop at a food booth.)
New California Grill Menu – We went during the 50th celebration but have not had a chance to experience the new menu. A lot of the entrées look really tempting (as does the Peanut and Banana Torte.)
That should keep me busy for a couple of days (especially when I throw in some old favorites.)
There have been a couple of stories over the past week that sit at the intersections of my interests and previous Disney writing.
First was the announcement that in January 2021, Disney will be replacing its existing Disney Gift Card website. As someone who has written articles about the ways to use the current website to you manage your gift cards, I have my fingers crossed that the new website will provide more functionality and be easier to use. In preparation for the transition, though, Disney emphasizes that you should keep your physical gift cards and make sure you have them available to re-add to the new Disney website when it launches. Similarly, I would probably avoid maxing out any of your gift card balances in January. If there is a technical glitch in Disney’s gift card system, it would be better if you had just a few dollars on the gift card than if you had multiple hundreds.
Second was the trailer for something I knew was in the works, but I did not realize was so close to release. IT IS A DISNEY MOVIE ABOUT CLEMSON FOOTBALL!. People who know me or follow my social media know that I have a strong allegiance to my alma mater and am an especially big fan of their football program. This movie tells the story of Ray Ray McElrathbey, a Clemson football player who had to face a near-impossible situation and what he did to try and make the best of it with the help of his teammates and the Clemson family:
I hope Disney does this story justice since it seems like a perfect, uplifting movie for a year that has been less than ideal.
Yesterday was the first day that Disney World Annual Passholders without hotel reservations could make Park Pass reservations. Here is a high-level summary of some of the results (as found on Disney’s Park Pass Availability Calendar):*
There are 19 days where no parks have any annual pass availability.**
There are 20 days where Epcot has no availability (the 19 “no parks available” days, and July 24.)
There are 21 days where Animal Kingdom has no availability (the 19 “no parks available” days,” August 2, and August 16.)
There are 25 days where the Magic Kingdom has no availability (the 19 “no parks available” days, plus 6 other days.)
There are 36 days where The Studios has no availability (the 19 “no parks available” days, plus 17 other days–including a day in September (which no other park has).)
Again, these numbers are only for Annual Passholders that do not have a resort reservation. Resort guests continue to have availability for all parks after the first week of opening. (This also confirms Disney’s statement that Resort Guests and Annual Passholders will be pulling park pass reservations from different pools of availability.)
It will be interesting to see what happens when reservations for regular ticket holders open up. Specifically, I am interested to see how many reservations Disney is holding back just for them. (I would not be surprised if Disney has a small percentage of reservations held back for ticket holders so they can have a full “green” calendar at the outset, but I suspect that the number is relatively low. I could see Disney re-allocating availability from resort guests to ticket holders as time passes, and it becomes clear that resort guests are not going to use all of their allocated reservations.)
Regular ticket holders can start making reservations tomorrow (June 28, 2020), so we will not have to wait long to see how it goes.
A little over 3 years ago, I wrote a post about a podcast to keep an eye on. In that post I talked about how Backside of Magic hosts Ryan and Jeremy were discussing techniques to enhance people’s enjoyment of Disney vacations, and how—as early as episode 3–they really seemed to be hitting their stride in that space.
Since that post, and for the past 3 years, Ryan and Jeremy have continued their exploration of time saving and trip planning. As they mentioned in their last episode today, techniques and terms they coined such as “bump and run” are now regularly used in Disney (DisTwitter?) discourse. Also, whether or not you had issues with the appropriateness of some of their more “aggressive” techniques, information like Flight of Passage Fastpass+ drops is invaluable for people planning Disney vacations and Ryan and Jeremy were always at the forefront of providing that. When I had a trip to Disney World coming up, I always made sure I had listened to—at least—the last 3 episodes of Backside of Magic (if I hadn’t already listened to them the morning they came out) to make sure that there were no new bits of information I needed to be aware of.
Saldly, for us Disney fans, Ryan and Jeremy are hanging up their microphones today. It’s been a fun ride for the past few years, and I’m glad I kept my eye on the show. From the various other feedback I see in the Disney community, it sounds like a lot of other people kept their eyes on it, too.
Enjoy podcast retirement, y’all. Pop a Jai Alai. You’ve earned it.
The Studios: 6:00am to 9:00am – featuring Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, and “select other attractions”;
Animal Kingdom: 7:00am to 8:00am – Pandora and other attractions (same as current EMH)
Magic Kingdom: 7:00am to 8:00am – attractions in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland (same as the current morning EMH)
These EEMHs will go from August 29 through November 2 (though, for August 29, 30, and 31 only, Galaxy’s Edge will be open for all guests at 6:00pm).
Though I figured that Disney would offer some extra magic hours for Galaxy’s Edge, I never expected it would be for 3 hours before park open. Also, I didn’t think Disney would extend the offering to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom as well.
Overall, I’m quite please with this plan. Elyssa and I have an early September trip planned and we’ll definitely be taking advantage of these early park entry times.
Elyssa loves it when I don’t agree with her opinions.
From the earliest Galaxy’s Edge announcement of a “late Fall” opening at Disney World, everyone seemed to assume that the actually opening date would be in late December 2019. Then, about a month or two ago, Disney changed the opening date to “Fall” of 2019. Still, I think most people still assumed this meant November.
Personally, I still think September seems too early for an actual opening, but maybe late October is workable. Of course, hurricane season is still months away from hitting Florida and that always has potential to cause some constructions delays. I guess we’ll know more (maybe?) on Thursday.
Construction foreman at Galaxy’s Edge are not to be messed with.
Though not 100% on point for this site, the various discussions I’m seeing this morning related to flights, flight boarding, etc.. remind me of this CGP Grey video:
Part of me wonders what it would be like to have a much more “efficient” boarding process (though, after flying Southwest with their “groups”, I wonder how the “plane’s here, go ahead” method would really work for today’s travelers.)
If what you really want to watch ist just 20 minutes of the loading and unloading animations, though, then here’s that:
No hard news or anything on this. The guys at Backside of Magic mentioned in their episode this morning that it’s about the time Disney World raises its ticket prices, so it might be worth buying tickets for your upcoming trips. I agree Ryan and Jeremy on that.
For context, here are the dates of Disney’s last few matches of February prices increases:
February 11, 2018
February 12, 2017
February 28, 2016
February 22, 2015
February 23, 2014
Sometimes there is a 1 or 2 day “rumor” that can give you notice, but who knows if that will happen this time.
Disney has started sending out emails to annual passholders so that they can sign up for the special “Passholder Play Time” event in September. Disney is advertising the event as AP holder-only access to Toy Story Land, including all 3 attractions and Woody’s Lunch Box.
The event is offered Tuesday through Saturday in September, with time slots of either 7:00am to 8:00am or 8:00am to 9:00am. When I signed up for my selected time slot a few minutes ago nearly the entire month of September was still available (though, I ended up picking a slot at the end of September, anyway.)
Good luck to everyone who wants to register! I hope you get in before it fills up!
As expected, Disney announced changes to the race registration process today (i.e. removing Active from involvement in the process.) This (hopefully) will make the registration process smoother (though I have a feeling there will be some hiccups during the initial Marathon Weekend sign ups), and also brings the ability to use Disney Gift Cards to pay for registrations. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes.
Here are the new registration dates:
2019 Marathon Weekend (Jan. 9-13, 2019)
July 17, 2018 – Pre-sale for AP and DVC
July 19, 2018 – General on-sale date
2019 Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend (Feb. 21-24, 2019)
Aug 2, 2018 – Pre-sale for AP and DVC
Aug 7, 2018 – General on-sale date
2019 Star Wars Rival Run Weekend (April 4-7, 2019
August 23, 2018 – Pre-sale for AP and DVC
August 28, 2018 – General on-sale date
Elyssa and I are planning on running the challenge at Star Wars Weekend next year. Maybe we’ll see y’all there!
Disney Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts: $24 per night (because the pavement at deluxe resorts costs more to upkeep ???)
Aside from the increase in cost resulting from this (for example, our recent 5 night stay at the Beach Club would have been $120 more), I think I’m most bummed out by the “makes Disney World like everywhere else” aspect. I’m sure I’ll get over it (and I’m not going “stop” going to Disney because of it), but, right now, it feels like a bummer.
It also changes the cost calculation for some of the 3-4 day trips that Elyssa and I like to take. Before, I would probably be torn between getting a cheap rental or taking an uber / lyft from the airport if I was going to spend a long weekend at the Yacht Club (current estimated cost per the Lyft app: $31.85). Now, it’s a no brainer to get the uber / lyft when dealing with the $24 in parking I’d pay on top of the rental car fee. (And, yes, I know Magical Express is a thing that exists, but I just get really antsy when I fly in at 7:00pm on a Thursday and want to just get to Disney World.) Of course, it also probably makes it more likely I just grab at room at Flamingo Crossing instead of staying onsite at all (at least until they add a parking charge as well.)
This weekend was a big weekend for Disney World news, since Disney decided to drop its latest prices increase on the same day as its parks presentation at D23 in Japan.
Starting first with the price increase, Disney has increased prices by around $4 a day (depending on the type and length of ticket you are buying). This is generally in line with previous price increases, and probably doesn’t change many people’s calculatioons as to whether or not they will actually visit Disney World, but—that said—having to spend an extra $100 in tickets for a 5-day trip for a family of four is not insubstantial. What could really impact people’s travel behavior, though, is if the rumors of seasonal pricing for multii-day tickets come true.
This first-of-its-kind resort will combine luxury with complete immersion into an authentic Star Wars story. Guests’ journey through space will start when everyone departs together for a multiday Stars Wars adventure by boarding a starship alive with characters and stories that unfold all around them during a voyage through the galaxy.
At the resort, guests immediately become active citizens of the galaxy and can dress up in the proper attire. Every resort window will also have a view into space. The opportunity for immersion at this resort will also stand out among all Disney resorts around the globe, as it will be seamlessly connected to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, allowing guests a total Star Wars experience.
I know I’m biased, but it sounds pretty awesome (even if there aren’t a lot of details in that blurb).
Well, that covers a big weekend of Disney World related news. I hope you enjoyed this extra helping of News Nuggets!
Pretty much all the Disney sites are reporting rumors of a price increase happening tomorrow (in the range of $5-7 a day for various types of tickets). If you’re thinking about buying tickets for an upcoming trip, keep that in mind.
Big news for the Apple nerds in the audience: the new versions of My Disney Experience and Shop Disney Parkswork on the latest iOS 11 Beta. Get back to refreshing for Fastpass+ selections!Yay! MDE is back!
With D23 and various other things (like a visit to Mighty Men of Mouse HQ), I’ve fallen a little behind on the News Nuggets. Now, with only 1 week left for The Great Movie Ride and Universe of Energy, it’s about time to unleash a mega helping of Nuggets before it’s too late. (In a nice move, Disney lifted Annual Passholder Blockout Dates so people could ride them one more time.)
Big Changes to Disney’s Yacht Club Resort Dining Options at Walt Disney World Resort – Captain’s Grille is no more. Soon to be replaced by Ale & Compass. I have my fingers crossed that this will be the new “late morning breakfast” place for me to go to now that Trattoria is a character meal. (And, yes, I know that you can opt to get a “no character” version of the experience.)
Up close look at Disney’s new Minnie Van car service – Depending on the time of day and where you’re going, it could be 2x to 3x more than Uber or Lyft. Also, getting dropped off at the Contemporary is not that much different than getting dropped off at the Magic Kingdom bus stop (which is the perk everyone seems to talk about).
JW Marriott Hotel Planned Near Epcot and Typhoon Lagoon – Being able to use Marriott points that close to “on property” makes me happy. (Yes, I know I can convert Marriott points to Starwood points and use them at the Dolphin. I’ve done that.) Also, this hotel looks very different from the other JW Marriott in the area.
Permits Filed for Coronado Springs Expansion Project – There is a lot of resort related construction going on at Disney World right now. It’ll be interesting to see how the various moderate resorts differentiate themselves when this is done.
That’s it for this edition of the News Nuggets. If you’re like me and unable to get in one last ride on the The Great Movie Ride before it closes, check out this video from WDW News today that features an actual “walk through” of the attraction. See you next time:
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, My Disney Experience, the Shop Disney Parks App, and even the Disneyland App (per the comments to my original post), all crash at launch on the iOS 11 Beta (currently, in developer beta 4 and public beta 3.) I’ve submitted bug reports using Apple’s beta feedback system (and been contacted to test a fix or two), but the crash is still occuring.
If you’re planning a trip to Disney World in the near future, and you want to use MDE for things like refreshing Fastpass+ selections, I would recommend not installing any iOS 11 beta. There is always a chance that the next iOS beta will fix things, but I think it’s possible that the fix for this crash requires Disney to submit a new version of its apps that is compiled against the iOS 11 SDK. That would mean no fix would come before iOS 11 is actually released (which has, historically, been in mid-to-late September.)
The concept of “refreshing” My Disney Experience to get additional Fastpass+ selections is nothing new (e.g.,this post from easyWDW from April 2016.) It’s a strategy Elyssa and I have been using for at least that long and it has resulted in us getting some pretty great Fastpass+ choices (we ended up taking a last second trip to the Magic Kindgdom on Christmas Day without any Fastpass+ reservations as we walked through the tapstiles, but ended up getting at least Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear while we were there–no comment if we got a Meet Tinker Bell one.)
Even with people having known about the technique for some time, I feel like I’ve received a lot of questions about this kind of refreshing lately (possibly due to Disney closing loopholes related to people getting “extra” Fastpass+ selections?) With that in mind, here’s how Elyssa and I search and “refresh” for Fastpass+ in My Disney Experience:
General Fastpass+ “Refresh” Steps in My Disney Experience
Step 1: Get any Fastpass+ selection you can for the park you want to be in.
Basically, I think of this step as just “get the best available.” So, if my goal is to try and get a Mine Train Fastpass+, I’ll look to see if there’s anything available for the Mine Train, and, if there is, I’ll grab that. If there’s isn’t, I’ll just grab whatever I can in the Magic Kingdom. I’ll also avoid getting other Fastpass+ selections with a return window near what I’m “refreshing” for, so I have more flexibility to choose the results I’m presented with.
Here’s a screenshot of a current Fastpass+ selection with “Modify” link you’ll ned in Step 2 called out:
Step 2: Choose to “Modify” your existing Fastpass+ selection and see what’s available.
The “Modify” Fastpass+ selection screen is pretty straightforward. It starts with a list of times at the top that sets the search parameter for the time of the new Fastpass+ you are looking for. It then shows the other availables times for the attraction you are currently modifying (i.e., if you are modifying a Mine Train selection, it’ll show you other times for the Mine Train.), followed by all other available Fastpass+ selections for around that time (unless an attraction only has selections outside of your time window. In that case, it just shows you what is available for that attraction.)
Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about:
Step 3: If you like what you see, select your new Fastpass+
Pretty straightforward, right? If you see the attraction and time you want available, just grab it. That’s it!.
Step 4: If you don’t like what you see, select another “time” and see what options present themselves. REPEAT.
I feel like Step 4 is the actual “refreshing” step, since it’s the one that actually pulls new information from Disney’s servers. In this step, you basically just tap on the time in the top bar that you ideally want for you Fastpass+ selection. So, if you want an 11:00am Fastpass+ for Mine Train, you tap 11:00am. If something comes up, grab it. If not, then tap the next time (in our example, 11:30am) and see what comes up. Again, if you see what you want grab it. If not, then I’d recommend choosing the time period right before your ideal time (in our example, this would be 10:30am). Did you get what you want? No? Then go back and tap 11:00am again, and continue repeating this process until something opens up.
So, basically, you’re tapping 3 different “times”, over and over again (but, hopefully, not too long) in order to eventually get the time that you want. (Once again, our example: Tap 11:00am. No Mine Train Fastpass+. Tap 11:30am. No Mine Train Fastpass+. Tap 10:30am. No Mine Train Fastpass+. Tap 11:00am. No Mine Train Fastpass+. … REPEAT… Tap 11:00am. MINE TRAIN FASTPASS+ FOUND)
I’m sure other people have different ways to handle this “refreshing” step, but this method works well for us. The biggest advantage of this strategy is that your thumb is basically just tapping in almost the same place over and over again, so you don’t have to think too much about context, what the menus are showing, etc.. (Personally, I don’t like to expend a lot of mental energy when doing a task like this.)
Some other “Refresh” Tips and Context
A few other quick thoughts about this My Disney Experience “refreshing”:
I prioritize getting the attraction I want when doing Step 4, above. So, if I want a Mine Train Fastpass+ for around 11:00am, but a 5:00pm pops up while I’m refreshing, then I just take that 5:00pm one and start back over at Step 2. This way, I don’t have to keep scrolling down to Mine Train in the available attractions list to see what’s available. It’s right at the top. (If that wasn’t clear, here’s an example of what I might do when trying to book a Fastpass+ for Mine Train for 11:00am: Step 1: Book Splash Mountain, since it’s all that’s available; Step 2: Choose to modify that Fastpass+, Step 3: Select a 7:00pm Mine Train that’s become available: Step 4: Keep performing Step 4 until an 11:00am-ish Mine Train Fastpass+ selection shows up.)
Related to the tip above, it seems like Disney might just be putting the 2 Avatar attractions at the top when you refresh (which is nice.) There’s no guarantee that’ll continue, though.
Be careful when getting into a groove on “refreshing”. I have, admittedly, been in such a rut of refreshing, that I’ve refreshed instead of actually selecting the new Fastpass+ option that’s become available. That can be frustrating.
Don’t necessarily give up if things don’t work in the first 5 minutes. I’d estimate that I spent a total of 50 minutes refreshing on Christmas Day last year to get the Fastpass+ selections I mentioned. I think Mine Train took about 30 minutes of that.
Even though this article is about Fastpass+ selections, I’ve also used it for last minute ADRs. For example, we finished the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon and decided we wanted Kona breakfast, even though there was no ADR availability when we made the decision. It took about 15 minutes of refreshing on the bus ride over to the Poly to get an ADR for about 10 minutes in the future.
Summary
People at Disney World are always looking for the ways to best utilize the system. Paper Fastpass had a set of strategies, people tried collecting various “dummy bands” in the early days of Fastpass+, and, now, people can take advantage of My Disney Experience to get additional (or better) Fastpass+ options that are more in line with what they want to do. Hopefully, “refreshing” (no matter what technique you use), works as good for you as it does for us.
Happy touring!
You never know who your Fastpass+ might let you meet
I’m sure you’ll see this everywhere today, but I know friend-of-site Howie from Maryland has been looking forward to this. I’ll credit Dave from yourfirstvisit.net as the first place I saw it. The discounts are pretty much what you’d expect, based on previous years:
Save up to 25%* on rooms at select Walt Disney World® Resort hotels for stays most nights May 28-Aug. 31, 2017 when you book March 27-July 14, 2017.
Pretty much the entire world is reporting that tomorrow will be a Disney World price increase (See, e.g., WDW News Today and The DIS.) The rumors include increases in the range of 2-5 dollars (depending on the “season” and the park) for single day tickets–there will probably be a similar increase on the “per day” rate for multi-day ones–, with annual passes getting a rumored increase of $10 to $30 depending on the level. If you were going to buy tickets directly from Disney in the next week or so, it might be worth buying your tickets today. If you frequently use a third party reseller, they will probably have stock at the old prices for another week or two.
Here are the new prices for new multiday tickets (Non-Park Hopper / Park Hopper):
2 Day (199 / 259) from (202 (??) / 257)
3 Day (289 / 349) from (290 (??) / 349)
4 Day (350 / 425) from (325 / 394)
5 Day (370 / 445) from (340 / 409)
6 Day (390 / 465) from (355 / 424)
7 Day (410 / 485) from (370 / 439)
8 Day (420 / 495) from (380 / 449)
9 Day (430 / 505) from (390 / 459)
10 Day (440 / 515) from (400 / 469)
and here’s the update to out of state / non-discounted annual passes:
Even the holidys don’t slow down the amount of news that comes out about Disney World, so it’s time for another edition of the Rope Drop [dot] News Nuggets!
Obviously, the biggest item of news is the upcoming transformation of Spaceship Earth into the frakin’ Death Star at the upcoming Rogue One premiere event (which, of course, is already at capacity.) I’m probably in the minority on this, but I wish they’d do this more than just the one night.
The other big items are related to various festivals that occur at Epcot over the course of the year:
Date Night at STK Orlando + Save $25 – Ignore the (slightly?) over the top language in the post, but–if you’re going to go to STK–you can take advantage of the $25 off promo that they list at the end.
$30 off Discount for Club Villain for AP Holders & DVC Members – I think this is still just a little pricier than I value this experience, but it’s getting closer. If the discount had been $50 off the $129 price instead of just $30, I would have really thought about going.
We’ll close this edition of the News Nuggets with this video walkthrough of the famous Royal Asanta Presdiental Suite at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This might be the closest I’ll ever get to actually being in that:
runDisney has posted the dates for the late 2017 and early 2018 events (full list in the runDisney image, below.) Most race dates are pretty much what you would expect (it looks like Marathon weekend is settling right into that first full weekend in January slot instead of later in the month.) There are a couple of milestones, though, including the 25th annivesary of the Walt Disney World Marathon, and the 10th Anniversary of the Princess Half-Marathon, that you might want to consider (Maybe runDisney will give out a special medal?)
Disney has announced that it is offering a new “4 Park Magic Ticket”. This new ticket is $280 and allows entry into 1 of Disney’s 4 theme parks per day, but–unlike a standard 4 day ticket–only allows entry into each theme park once per ticket. (In other words, the 4 Park Magic ticket allows you to get into Magic Kingdom, the Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, one time, each.) You save $45 per adult ticket from the standard 4 day, non-park hopper price if you’re willing to accept this additional restriction. It’s also $10 less than a regular 3-day ticket. (All prices, pre-tax.) The ticket is good from Nov. 15, 2016 – May 26, 2017, but has blackout dates of Christmas time and Easter (i.e., Dec. 17, 2016 through Jan. 2, 2017 and April 10-21, 2017.). Other common restrictions such as “use within 14 days of first use”, etc… also apply.
The ticket seems to be marketed to more “price conscious” guest, as it specifically calls out guests in “nearby” hotels and offers packages at “Good Neighbor” (i.e., offsite) hotels.
Families that are planning to travel during this period and are planning on buying 4-day tickets to simply visit each of the 4 parks might want to give this a look. Having an extra hundred-plus dollars in ticket savings could mean the difference between fitting that extra character meal or souvenir into the budget. Also, it might be worth investigating if you were planning on buying a standard 3-day ticket. (Use that extra day to visit the Animal Kingdom at night, grab a drink at Nomad Lounge, and thank me later.) People running one of the runDisney races during the period might also want to see if it fits into their travel plans.
From an analysis perspective, this kind of ticket seems consistent with Disney’s “variable” pricing experiments over the past few years. It provides an incentive for people to visit all of Disney World’s park on vacation, even while some of those parks are under construction. Such efforts remain necessary to distribute guests across the resort. Elyssa and I have seen “mixed” late night attendance at Animal Kingdom since they’ve started the nighttime offerings (frequently it’s empty, but it was somewhat “crowded” during our last visit), and, until Rivers of Light finally debuts, I doubt that will change. Having something like this 4 Park Magic Ticket that encourages people to visit there–and the heavily under construction Studios–seems like an interesting experiment. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
The new 4 Park Magic Ticket is only $70 per day for a limited time and gives one admission to each of the four theme parks on four separate days starting tomorrow, Nov. 15, 2016-May 26, 2017.
Eagle-eyed readers might have noticed a new navigation option pop up in the menu a few days ago. That was a “soft launch”, but today we’re officially launching a new feature on the site: Everyday Carry – John’s Disney Bag. People who know me are aware of the extent that I iterate over every aspect of my Disney plans, always trying to refine each and every detail. As you might expect, that refinement extends to the bag that I bring with me to the parks pretty much every day.
One of the things you’re frequently doing when planning your Disney World trip is calculating dates. (When is 180 days before the first day of my trip? When is 60 days before the first day of my trip?, etc…) Over the years, I’ve tried various options (TouringPlans’s Dashboard, Wolfram Alpha’s Professional Assistant App, and I even wrote my own date calculation program), but none of them were easy as I wanted the process to be. Enter, Siri.
“Hey Siri, what’s 180 days before April 20?”
“It’s Saturday, October 22, 2016.”
Siri Date Example
Boom. Done. It’s so simple. Why would I ever bother to do date calculations any other way? (I can also ask Siri to make appointment on my calendar or set a reminder for me, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.)
NOTE: Sadly, my beloved Alexa cannot handle this kind of date calculation (which bummed me out.) Also, Google’s “Ok, Google” assistant seemed to be able to handle the “in the future” calculation (e.g., “What is 60 days from now?”), but couldn’t handle the “days before” type of requests that are so common when doing Disney-related planning (e.g, “What is 60 days before April 20?”). Microsoft’s Cortana cannot do it either, but I don’t know anyone who uses her (except when playing Halo.)
It’s time for everyone’s favorite serving of Disney World, the Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggets! There isn’t a lot of particularly juicy news this time, but a few things that I would classify as “transitional” (like the closing of Sum of All Thrills or–essentially–moving all convention space to the Yacht Club.) That said, let’s get to it!
Rumors of The Sum of All Thrills and Stormstruck Closing and an End of Innovations at Epcot – If Sum of All Thrills is closing too (as rumored), it would seem that Innovations might be added to the list of things that will get an overhaul. That said, with the construction currently going on at The Studios and Animal Kingdom, I would think it would be a few years before they even start things at Epcot.
Rumors of Wreck-It Ralph VR Attraction to Replace Stitch’s Great Escape – I heard Jim Hill talking about this, and I thought it sounded like a decent idea (especially with Wreck-It Ralph 2 coming out in a couple of years.) I’d be fine with it. (Good job by WDW NT for crediting the source of the rumor, too.)
Celebrate Disney PhotoPass Day on August 19 – This strikes me as a weird promotion. Disney does seem to run things during this period in August, though (remember that Studios Villains event they did for a couple of years?)
New FitBit-style MagicBand design change possibly in development – Interesting. It might make sense to allow for people to move their RFID between different “bands”. Part of me wonders how that would impact the “special” MagicBand sales (like the Christmas themed ones, etc…), though.
Extending Western Way to Route 545 past Flamingo Crossings – I always like easier traffic patterns, but I don’t want anything that’s going to result in Flamingo Crossing raising its prices (it’s a nice, quaint little place to stay for a night or two at the beginning or end of a trip.)
We’ll close out with a video that Disney recently posted of what it’s like to be the eagle at the tail end of the Main Street Electrical parade. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!
