The Walt Disney World Instruction Manual --yourfirstvisit.net

Next Week (5/19 to 5/27/2012) at Walt Disney World

Dave — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:19:25 +0000

May June July August September October November DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MAY 19 TO MAY 27, 2012 The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks. The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic. (For more on May 2012 at Walt Disney World, click here.) Note that [...]

News on Disney World Armed Forces Salute Extension in “Early Summer”?

Dave — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:43:52 +0000

ARMED FORCES SALUTE CONTINUES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD INTO 2013? Steve at MilitaryDisneyTips.com notes in his blog here that a Disney spokesman has said that, regarding Disney’s Armed Forces salute, “hopefully we’ll have something to announce by early this summer.” Don’t view that Disney statement as a promise–it’s not a promise about another continuation of this great program, nor [...]

Late Summer Disney World Free Dining Expires Soon

Dave — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:29:29 +0000

Walt Disney World is offering a free dining promotion for arrival dates from August 25th to September 29th 2012. This deal must be booked by May 18, 2012–the end of this week. So if you’ve been dawdling, book it now! For more on the deal, see this.

Review: Disney’s Beach Club Villas, Continued

Dave — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:51:49 +0000

This is the second page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas. For the first page of this material, click here. MORE ON DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS Disney’s Beach Club Villas is one of 7 official Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World. However, I count them as nine, because two of the [...]

NextGen at Walt Disney World and Disney’s “Touché”

Dave — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:49:57 +0000

A CLUE ABOUT NEXTGEN INTERACTIVITY? Disney NextGen project is reported to have a lot of parts to it, and most of the attention over the last year has been on the problem or opportunity of scheduling a new kind of FASTPASS months in advance. But from the start of the rumors about this project, another part of NextGen [...]

Next Week (5/12 to 5/20/2012) at Walt Disney World

Dave — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:10:02 +0000

May June July August September October November DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MAY 12 TO MAY 20, 2012 The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks. The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic. (For more on May 2012 at Walt Disney World, click here.) Note that [...]

Strong Disney Earnings Suggest No Changes In Current Strategies

Dave — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:24:22 +0000

Disney released and discussed its quarterly earnings yesterday, and its domestic parks shot out the lights, with increases in attendance, per-attendee spending, hotel occupancy, and hotel revenues per room. Disney does not break out Orlando vs. California any more, but it did report that Disneyland had its highest attendance ever for the quarter (January-March) so it’s unclear how park attendance at Walt Disney World went. However, [...]

Review: The Color Companion to Walt Disney World, 2nd Edition

Dave — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:14:12 +0000

THE COLOR COMPANION TO WALT DISNEY WORLD AS A STAND-ALONE GUIDEBOOK FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS Long time readers of this site know that I don’t think guidebooks are necessary for first-time visitors, but for those who want them anyway I recommend a few of the hundreds that are out there. One I’ve always recommended is Bob Sehlinger and [...]

Disney World Calendar Effects of Star Wars Weekends

Dave — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:52:50 +0000

Star Wars weekends begin at Disney’s Hollywood Studios May 18 (see this for more) and continue every weekend through June 10. As a consequence, there’s some changes to the typical Walt Disney World schedule: The two Star Wars weekends in May (the 18th-20th and 25th-27th) both have 8a openings instead of the typical 9a opening [...]

Review: Disney’s Beach Club Villas

Dave — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:46:59 +0000

Where to Stay Resort Features by Price Resort Kid Appeal Large Families OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS Disney’s Beach Club Villas (a Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) resort, and one of the Epcot resorts,) is a wonderful place for returning visitors to Walt Disney World to stay, and could easily become one of my personal [...]

An Apple Takeover of Disney?

Dave — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:47:05 +0000

APPLE AND DISNEY, TOGETHER AT LAST? Greg Sawchyn has an interesting speculative article today on Seeking Alpha, grounded in how Apple might spend its $100 billion pile of cash. Where is Apple’s “headline grabbing growth going to come from in the future?,” he asks…and continues “[p]ure speculation of course, but the answer is Disney.” An interesting thought…one [...]

Next Week (5/5 to 5/13/2012) at Walt Disney World

Dave — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:42:02 +0000

May June July August September October November DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: MAY 5 TO MAY 13, 2012 The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks. The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic. (For more on May 2012 at Walt Disney World, click here.) Note that [...]

Dates Announced for Disney World Halloween and Christmas Parties

Dave — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:12:12 +0000

Yesterday Disney World announced the dates and put tickets on sale for its Halloween and Christmas parties. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party kicks off in September 2012 and continues into November. Dates include September 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 28, 30 October 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31 November 2 Mickey’s Very [...]

Celebrating Military Disney Tips

Dave — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:53:27 +0000

MilitaryDisneyTips.com (and its blog) is celebrating its fourth birthday today! If you are a military family, related to a military family, friends with a military family, or could be friends if you realized what great deals they and their friends are sometimes offered, you need to check out this site. Military families are offered amazing deals for Disney World and other central Florida attractions, [...]

New Late Summer/Early Fall Discounts at Walt Disney World

Dave — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:38:12 +0000

DISNEY WORLD DEAL FOR LATE SUMMER/EARLY FALL 2012 Walt Disney World has announced a new promotion for stays from August 15 through September 29, 2012. Book between now and and August 14, 2012. Savings range from 15-30%. Value Resorts discounts: 15% off Disney’s All-Star Movies 20% off Disney’s All-Star Sports and All-Star Music Moderate Resorts discounts: 20% off at Disney’s Port Orleans [...]

Crowds and Walt Disney World

Dave — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:33:23 +0000

DISNEY WORLD CROWDS, LIES, STATISTICS, AND JUDO Every now and then I get a comment or an email saying something like (this is an exact quote, but for reasons that will become apparent I’m not going to link to it): “Our last visit was Sept. 2011 . . . The crowds were not low in [...]

Expect New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World to Open by December 8

Dave — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 08:59:38 +0000

NEW FANTASYLAND OPENING DATE SORT OF ANNOUNCED The Disney Parks Blog announced Friday that the “openings of Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Be Our Guest Restaurant, Gaston’s Tavern, and Ariel’s Grotto” would be celebrated ”this holiday season.” (The same post noted that the next phase of Storybook Circus will open in July, [...]

Next Week (4/28 to 5/6/2012) at Walt Disney World

Dave — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:48:30 +0000

April May June July August September October November DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: APRIL 28 TO MAY 6, 2012 The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks. The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic. (For more on April 2012 at Walt Disney World, click here, [...]

Review: The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue

Dave — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:00:45 +0000

HOOP DEE DOO REVUE…REVIEW Welcome to those coming from The World of Deej as Magical Blogorail Teal writes about our favorite things to do outside the parks! This site promises first-time family visitors who may never return all the best of Walt Disney World. From the start, that’s meant the best in or outside of the parks. Some [...]

Review: The Disney Institute

Dave — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:19:30 +0000

WHAT IS THE DISNEY INSTITUTE? The Disney Institute is the professional development –I would say leadership development– arm of Disney. Through a variety of paid programs, it aims to help people build their toolkit to enable cultural change in organizations –particularly, but not only, in improving the quality of service delivery. Disney Institute programs are delivered in single and multi-day sessions at Walt Disney World and [...]