Disney World News: Added Hours, AP Freebie, 50th Ambassador, Hotel Opening & More
We’re back with another Walt Disney World news and rumor round-up! After skipping a couple of weeks–not due to a lack of big updates, but because we dedicated entire posts to several–we have several stories: added park hours, a modified bounceback discount, Annual Passholder freebie, and more on vaccine requirements/health passports for travel.
Per tradition, we’ll start with the least interesting update: new and extended park hours. All four theme parks, Disney Springs, and Blizzard Beach have had hours for another week added to the DisneyWorld.com park hours calendar. These now extend to May 8, 2021. Hours are the same for all dates:
- Magic Kingdom: 9 am to 6 pm
- EPCOT: 11 am to 7 pm
- Hollywood Studios: 10 am to 7 pm
- Animal Kingdom: 9 am to 5 pm
- Blizzard Beach: 11 am to 6 pm
- Disney Springs: 10 am to 10 pm (11 pm on weekends)
Park Hopping times for those and all dates remain from 2 pm until park close; that’s quite the range given Animal Kingdom closes at 5 pm and Magic Kingdom closes at 10 pm on certain dates. As usual, there are also extensions to hours for select dates at specific parks…
Hours have been lengthened for most dates in early to mid-March 2021. If you’re traveling then, the easiest way to see what’s been added is to look at the official calendar (link above) and compare those boilerplate hours with the actual hours. That’s easier and more digestible than me listing out everything here.
We now have 10 pm Magic Kingdom and EPCOT closures on March 13, 2021. Those longer hours might sound like good news, but we view it as another red flag. As covered in our March 2021 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World, that’s the start of spring break for the Osceola and Orange County, Florida school districts. Avoid that weekend and the week that follows if at all possible.
Next, we have another special offer for Annual Passholders beginning today (February 22) and running on weekdays through March 19, 2021. On Mondays through Fridays, Annual Passholders can head to DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for a variety of AP-exclusive offerings:
- At Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, you can try your luck at Fossil Fun Games with a special promotional offer: buy 3 game tickets and receive a complimentary retired, non-Disney plush consolation prize
- Try 4 exclusive beverages available for purchase at Restaurantosaurus Lounge–Tyrannosaurus Wreck, Fossil Fuel, Pterodactyl Punch and Triceraberry Pop
- Enjoy an exclusive cookie featuring Donald Duck, available for purchase at Dino-Bite Snacks
- Receive a free Donald Duck magnet, which makes its return for pick-up in DinoLand U.S.A. (limit one magnet per Annual Passholder; same rules as all the past EPCOT magnets)
The free magnet is great, even if it’s a tad cruel that Walt Disney World is coercing APs to visit Dinorama to receive it. The rest of the offers don’t really appeal to us, but they’re nevertheless nice gestures–the kind of thing that helps foster goodwill among Annual Passholders.
It’s ultimately mutually-beneficial. The move makes APs feel good that Disney is doing something exclusive for them, and incentivizes off-season visits during the week to Walt Disney World’s park with the lowest attendance among locals.
However, we’re guessing this won’t really move the needle much. The real problem is that Animal Kingdom closes at 5 pm on offseason weekdays, and most locals work during the week until then. Unlike the other parks, there’s really no option for post-work visits to Animal Kingdom Monday through Friday. Hard to imagine many APs playing hooky from work for a free magnet–except maybe during the week of spring break for Central Florida school districts.
While we reported the major announcements for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary: The Most Magical Celebration last week, we have another tidbit. Former Walt Disney World President George A. Kalogridis will be serving as the Global Ambassador for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary per his updated Disney.com bio. Announcing this was current Walt Disney World Resort President, Jeff Vahle, who shared an Instagram post saying the following:
“So happy for my hometown friend and longtime colleague, George A. Kalogridis as he’s going to celebrate a major milestone this year. He started his 50-year Disney career as an opening day Cast Member here at WDW in 1971. In addition to currently serving as president of Disney Park’s Segment Development and Enrichment team, he is also Global Ambassador for our upcoming Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary Celebration that kicks off Oct. 1st. He is about to become an even busier man!”
For those booking stays during Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, good news! You can now make reservations for the newest addition to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resorts, the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve, for travel dates starting September 1, 2021.
The Walt Disney World Swan Reserve is a 14-story tower hotel adjacent to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, and Fantasia Gardens mini-golf course. The hotel will feature 349 guest rooms, 149 spacious suites and two presidential suites, all featuring floor-to-ceiling windows.
The Swan Reserve will be within walking distance of EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and accessible via complimentary Disney water taxi. However, we should note that it’s a longer walk than the normal Swan and Dolphin.
This hotel is also not actually on Crescent Lake, so you’ll presumably need to walk across the street to catch the boat. That is, unless Disney is converting to a fleet of amphibious vehicles or adding some sort of water bridge I’m unaware of. (They aren’t.)
Continuing with hotel news, many of you have asked about this over the last few months, and Walt Disney World Bounceback Discounts remain suspended. However, Disney does appear to be testing a new type of bounceback deal in lieu of the in-room fliers.
Please note that we’re sharing this simply as a ‘heads up’ so you can check your spam folder. This discount is not available to the general public. If you don’t have the email, you will not be able to book the discount, so don’t bother calling and trying. It’ll just lead to confusion and wasted time.
With that caveat out of the way, emails have been sent out by Walt Disney World Resort General Managers to past guests who have stayed at certain resorts in the last few years for exclusive ‘friends of the family’ rates.
These special offers are valid for travel dates now through June 10, 2021 if booked by May 26, 2021. No blockout dates are listed, nor are exact discount rates, but I’ve found dates at over 50% off when calling to inquire.
This is not the first time we’ve seen Walt Disney World trying new things with targeted offers since reopening. Last fall and holiday season, we saw an array of Unique Offer Code and Disney Visa Cardholder offers. This comes as occupancy rates remain low for the spring and summer, even as many hotels are still closed.
This potentially casts a wider net than normal bounceback deals, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the approach more widely deployed. Walt Disney World likely wants to lure back guests who are not visiting right now, which cannot be achieved via in-room advertisements. In any case, it’s worth checking your spam or promotions folder–or simply searching “Walt Disney World General Manager” in your email to see if you’ve received anything in the last week.
Finally, a few months ago we covered digital health passports being developed by IATA, CLEAR, and IBM. This digital travel pass will allow users to share test and vaccination results in a safe, verifiable, and privacy-protecting manner. IATA and other operators view these as a potential option for safely restarting travel.
At the time, we speculated that Walt Disney World could be a potential candidate for using such a system. In the months since, there’s been a lot of public pushback against digital passports and they haven’t gained much mainstream traction. Between all of that and forecasts of an accelerated vaccine rollout this spring and summer, we’d now bet against Walt Disney World using digital health passports. Once again, this is entirely speculative and not based on any inside info–just our expectation in following this topic closely out of personal interest (it’s relevant to us for our non-Disney travels).
What we have been seeing is cruise companies starting to announce that they will require verified documentation of vaccination and a negative test at the time of boarding, with no exceptions. Saga Cruises, American Queen Steamboat Company, Victory Cruise Lines, and Crystal Cruises have all stated that this will be their policy when sailings resume. (Here’s the full text of Crystal Cruises policy–it’s worth a read.)
Cruising is fundamentally different than visiting theme parks, so this has zero implications for Walt Disney World. In other words, don’t read anything into this. We’re just sharing the news because it’s interesting–we doubt anything like this is on the horizon for theme parks. However, we do think it’s probably on the horizon for Disney Cruise Line as well as international travel, so it’s probably indirectly relevant to many of you.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of this Walt Disney World news? Thoughts on what another extension to park hours means for spring break? Will you attempt to visit Animal Kingdom during the week for the free Annual Passholder magnet? Planning on booking a stay at the Swan Reserve? Any expectations with regard to vaccination requirements or health passports for international travel, cruises, or even theme parks? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Thanks to you I checked and noticed I received one the ‘friends of the family’ exclusive offer. Yay! Guess I’ll be going back this spring!
The weekend of March 12-14 is right in between the two weeks that are Spring Break for a lot of Texas, as well.
Is a new VISA Disney Cardholder hotel discount expected to be released past the current one that ends soon?
Yes! I’m hoping to get a summer Disney visa card deal! Crossing my fingers. I did not get the email bounce back promo code
Me either…but it may have something to do with the fact that I already have my May trip booked. I’ve just been waiting to see if there would be a new visa discount that would be any better than the 30% off deal Disney currently has before I paid the balance.
Jordan-
Me too! And sounds like I’m in the same boat as you. We have a June trip booked. Although, I just booked it last week. Disney probably won’t send us one since we already have trips booked? I don’t know the answer. I’ve received bounce back offers in the past. And we have stayed there the last three years, continuously. We had a great time this past November, I don’t know if you have been since C-19. It’s still a nice get away. We Took advantage of the 30% discount for June,But, I was hoping for more. It’s still expensive when you stay at aVillas at Disney. 🙂
When should we expect the “offer” in our email? We have been to the Disney resorts the past 3 years , and have not received any bounce back offer email. Just wondering if we will ever get it:/
First round went out last week–so you’d already have it.
Always possible more dates and resorts will be added and they’ll send out another round of emails, though!
I rarely if ever receive anything from Disney! I’ve been an AP holder for 25 years…occasionally we would be sent a “unique pin code” to only be told its not connected to me and I can’t use it even though it was sent to me…with my name and address on it? Uuugghhh…I’ll get off my soapbox now
We are booked for late July, 2021. Any rumors on what crowd expectations would be mid-summer? Phone lines have been busy, I’m expecting crowds to be higher – what is the thought for summer travel? Thanks so much for all of your Disney insights!
New to this blog…the information is outstanding and super helpful.
Apologies for this question, but when I scan past postings, I can’t figure out how to tell the date that the blog posting was made. Am I just overlooking it somewhere?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
You can’t really tell, which is a big pet peeve of myself and many readers.
Some articles on evergreen or long-running topics (e.g. Current Ride Refurbishments, Best Months to Visit, Space 220 Restaurant Coming Soon) get periodically updated and re-posted, and those will always have a “Last Updated on [DATE]” note near the top.
For articles that come and go and never get revisited or updated (like this one), the best way to determine the publication date is to scroll all the way down and look at the date of the first comment.
I’ve addressed this before, but to reiterate:
Back when I disabled the date feature in this WordPress theme, it had something to do with the way post dates were displaying via Google (inaccurately). I’m not totally sure, as that was several years ago, but I tried a few fixes to no avail. I try to mess with WordPress as little as possible because I don’t really know what I’m doing and don’t want to break anything.
At this point, I think the ‘Last updated’ date on pertinent posts should be sufficient. If there’s no such date, looking at the comments should give you a rough idea.
The blog has a search function, but it’s not very good. What I recommend (and what I do) is going to google, typing in disneytouristblog.com followed by your search query. Much better results. Hopefully this is something I can get fixed with a new WordPress theme.
In general, the blog’s layout and navigation are frustrating for me, too. I’m not a fan of the WordPress theme and it’s overdue for a change, but I’m reluctant to do that because it’s a ton of effort and I barely know what I’m doing. It’s a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” kind of thing.
That’s my second Pet Peeve. My first is not having a general search option. Sometimes things I am looking for do not fall exactly in line with the way they are categorized along the top line.
Tom, just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work. Your website is by far my favorite Disney resource.
Planning our first trip to Disney 9-13-21 with a2yr. old and an 11 yr. Old. Booking through my travel agent going to get some great deals. We will be booking this week. Anything you see on the horizon for deals?
Maybe they will install a cable system from Swan Reserve over to the Swan. At the Swan you climb up to the top of the swan on the roof and at Reserve you start at the top of the building.
Ha! A mini-gondola would be pretty fun.
Tom, Do you think any discounts will come available for the first week of Dec 2021. We have CBR booked and are hoping to save some money on our package by watching for discounts to drop. Does Disney usually give discounts to the general public around those types of holiday travel dates? Love your blog, thanks for keeping us all informed!
Thanks for the updates, Tom! I have a trip booked for mid-December and I was wondering if you think there will be any free dining opportunities? I know it’s probably way too early to say as they aren’t even offering the regular dining plan at the moment, but I just thought I’d ask.
Fish I would love it if Disney made it mandatory to have either a negative rest or an immunity passport to enter the parks or resorts. I moss disney so much but don’t see much point in going if it doesn’t feel safe. I know there would be pushback from a certain type but I think so many of us would be even more eager to visit.
I’m curious is “a lot of public pushback against digital passports” means widespread pushback, or just a small vocal contingent. (Small, vocal contingents seem to be the rule these days.)
Also: Norway! We didn’t get quite as far west as Bergen and I’d love to go back some day and fly into there.
Thanks for this info, Tom. I have two trips currently booked, by my travel agent – one for July, 2021 and one for May, 2022. I am unclear after reading some comments herein as to whether my travel agent can pursue the discounts you note for these travel dates.
Clarification will be most appreciated. Thanks again 🙂
If you did not receive the email referenced in the post, you cannot book the discount.
“We now have 10 pm Magic Kingdom and EPCOT closures on March 13, 2021…. we view it as another red flag….Avoid that weekend and the week that follows if at all possible.”
JUST booked a couple of nonrefundable days at MK and Epcot that week. Boo. Are there any rumors of capacity being increased? Is “busy” this specific week relative to now (or, comparable to Christmas COVID crowds), or do we expect the floodgates to open?
Busy relative to this week through (roughly) March 11. Less busy than last week.
No rumors of capacity being increased or the floodgates being opened. I wouldn’t expect any changes on that front until the current health rules can be relaxed. They pretty much hit their wall on all of that for now, from what I understand.
Thanks Tom, and thanks for the informative updates!
Tom,
You mentioned the week of March 15th being busy die to local schools being on Spring Break, do you think the following week of March 22nd would be any better?
We have reservations for the week of the 15th, I honestly wasn’t sure we would be able to go but now that cases are looking better I am getting excited that we will. Just curious if I should consider move our travel plans. I booked with an AP hotel discount and I may not be able to get the same discount if I move it now.
“You mentioned the week of March 15th being busy die to local schools being on Spring Break, do you think the following week of March 22nd would be any better?”
Yes, that’s my expectation. It’s going to be a weird spring break “season” with many schools around the US cancelling their breaks, but most Central Florida schools are still doing theirs (to my knowledge).
We have cancelled three times since March 2020 – would be nice if they did something special for anyone who had to cancel – also do you know when it will come back that you don’t have to carry your luggage through the airport – Mickey’s Magical Express use to bring the luggage to your room – that was so nice traveling with younger children. All they would have to do is wear gloves. Same price but less perks for staying at the resorts.
Disney no longer uses the contractor who picked up the luggage. It probably won’t come back unless Disney comes back with airport transportation.
I dont understand the “all they have to do is wear gloves” comment. Germs get on your hands and gloves.
Karen: Exactly. When you wear the same pair of gloves, you just transfer anything on your gloves to another item. Unless you are constantly changing those gloves, you are spreading germs.
When do you think discounts for resort stay to come out for after October 1, 2021 – we have booked for October and I have not seen anything yet. Thanks for your updates they are really helpful
Probably mid-July, if going by past precedent.
With DCL being so very child-centric, it will be interesting to see how they will handle a vaccination policy when children below 16 may not be able to be vaccinated for a good while, and children under 12 may take significantly longer than that!
They may not have an option. It’s possible CLIA will institute a blanket policy; the CDC framework that’s been released thus far seems pretty onerous, too.
It seems like there’s a decent amount of pent-up demand for cruising–families may not like it, but I’d imagine DCL could work around such a requirement/policy for a year or so.
We live in U.K. and have had our Holiday to Disney and universal Orlando booked since Dec 2019 we still do not know yet if us being in the U.K. will be able to Fly to Orlando in August 2021 as of yet U.K. and USA have travel bans ?
All the U.K. by July would have been vaccinated by then but who knows with USA? We will be gutted if we don’t get to go as our grandchildren are so looking forward to it!
J’espère que vous pourrez enfin faire votre voyage, depuis le temps. C’est long long très long. Vous irez Á 3 générations ??? Super chouette. Vous y avez déjÁ été ??? Moi jamais, j’économise pour y aller d’ici 2/3 ans.
Céline
Us too! We’ve had ours booked since April 2019. Would have been nice if Disney had done something nice for anyone that had to cancel but at the moment we’re paying more money for this August and also our free dining plan still cancelled so having to find the additional money for all our food now as well, if our holiday actually goes ahead this time!
Totally agree with Caroline and Joy. We booked in 2019 for 2020 which was cancelled – re- booked for 2021 thats been cancelled. Re- booked for 2022.
It would be a matk of respect for the loyalty and committment shown to Disney by repeat customer bookings who have kept faith with them if Disney offered some form of acknowledgement. If you live in the UK you cant take advantage of flash sales or sudden lrice drops.
Remember your loyal fans in the UK Disney !