Commentary Archive
Labor Day weekend is the last hurrah for summer crowds before off-season begins at Walt Disney World. Our Labor Day Crowd Predictions anticipated high attendance, long lines, and elevated wait times. After experiencing the ‘eye of the storm’ crowd-wise, let’s take a look at the holiday’s peak. For starters, our expectation for heavy attendance was
“Is the 2020 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party going to happen?” and “when will MVMCP tickets go on sale?” and (my personal favorite) “will Christmas be cancelled this year at Walt Disney World?” are common reader questions. We’ll attempt to answer those here, with an emphasis on Magic Kingdom’s hard ticket holiday party. While the
“Is visiting Walt Disney World still magical right now?” and “is the magic really back without [insert something cut] at Walt Disney World?” are two common reader questions. We’ll attempt to answer here based on visits to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom. This is an ongoing series, coming in response to feedback
On the first night of our Walt Disney World honeymoon, we raced to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to catch the final evening of Star Wars Weekends. We met Darth Goofy, Jedi Mickey, R2D2, and Princess Lei Minnie before stopping at the Star Tours stage to see the final showing of Hyperspace Hoopla. Following that, we headed
It’s no surprise that crowds are low at Walt Disney World right now. In Summer Is Not Peak Season at Walt Disney World, we’ve covered how this has been the “new off-season” for the last few years at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and especially Epcot. In this post, we’ll look at how things
“Believe! Sea of Dreams” is the brand-new nighttime entertainment spectacular debuting in 2021 to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Tokyo DisneySea. In this post, we’ll share details of the announcement, plus what this and other recent news from OLC could mean for Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Not many details accompanied the official announcement. Essentially,
Walt Disney World has done a great job with the phased reopening of its resorts and theme parks. Our experiences at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot have been largely superb. Health safety measures have been thorough and thoughtful, and guest compliance with rules like mask-wearing has likewise been exceptional. There’s a lot
Today is Disneyland’s 65th Anniversary, a bittersweet occasion unceremoniously marked by a merchandise line at Downtown Disney, but with both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure closed. In this post, we’ll celebrate Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom with a look back and brief look forward. It’s depressing to think that this is the first time in
With rising case numbers in Florida, many readers have been increasingly vocal that it’s too soon for the Walt Disney World theme parks to reopen. In this post, we’ll look at whether opening should be postponed, with the potential pros & cons, plus ramifications of the parks staying closed for now. As you’re undoubtedly aware,
Walt Disney World’s Park Pass theme park reservation system has been live for Annual Passholders for over 24 hours, so we thought it’d be worthwhile to check the status of AP availability now that the first wave of bookings has subsided. In this post, we’ll cover how the rollout went, some policy surprises, and answer
As soon as Walt Disney World announced the advance theme park reservation system that would eventually become Park Pass, we began predicting that most days it’d be unnecessary because organic demand would seldom exceed reduced capacity. Our expectation was that pent-up demand would fizzle out after the first couple of weeks, and Park Pass reservations
