Disney World News: More MagicBand+, Boats Back, Cast Compliment, 50th Weekend Crowds

It’s time for a special 50th Anniversary installment of the Walt Disney World news & rumor roundup. This update shares the latest look at added hours, more on how MagicBand+ will work, a new in-app Cast Compliment feature, other changes from the past week, plus some on the ground conditions in the parks right now!

As usual, we’ll start with the latest release of new and modified operating schedules. All four theme parks have had hours for another week added to the DisneyWorld.com park hours calendar. The current calendar now runs through December 12, 2021. Here are the hours for most dates that were newly-added for December 2021:

• Magic Kingdom: 9 am to 9 pm
• EPCOT: 11 am to 10 pm
• Hollywood Studios: 9 am to 9 pm
• Animal Kingdom: 9 am to 7 pm
• Blizzard Beach: 11 am to 6 pm
• Disney Springs: 10 am to 11 pm (11:30 pm on Fridays & Saturdays)

As a reminder, Magic Kingdom closes at 8 pm on Disney Very Merriest After Hours dates, with that Christmas party running from 9 pm until 1 am. Additionally, Epcot’s opening time moves back to 11 am in December 2021. This change continues to confound us, especially given the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Harmonious, and the Christmas season…

In terms of extensions, the big one is that Magic Kingdom is now closing at 11 pm yesterday through October 4, 2021. (Hours cannot be extended on October 5 due to the After Hours Boo Bash.) We left the park at about 11:30 pm last night (10/1) and Main Street was still packed. The 11 pm closure was a good adjustment, but as we’ve said before, there’s no excuse that Magic Kingdom isn’t closing at midnight this weekend.

No other new extensions that I see. Epcot and Animal Kingdom are both opening earlier than normal for the next week-plus, but that change was made a few weeks ago. Our hope is that a big hours extension occurs for the holiday season in the near future.

In some positive transportation news, the Sassagoula River Cruise resumed operations, offering boat service to Disney Springs from Old Key West and Saratoga Springs Resort. Current hours are 10 am until 11:30 pm daily. Service will likewise resume at the Port Orleans Resorts when French Quarter and Riverside reopen later this month.

As someone who had to park at the Transportation and Ticket Center yesterday, I say bring back the parking trams next! That’s several months overdue at this point. (Before you ask, we have no clue what’s going on with those–it appeared that they were training/testing at multiple points this summer, but nothing ever came of it.)

In My Disney Experience, a new Cast Compliment feature has been added. There used to be social media accounts for this, but they’re no longer monitored or utilized.

This is in the new ’50th Anniversary Fun’ section of MDX. To access this feature, hit “Explore the Guide,” and then scroll to the bottom of the next page.

It’s a pretty intuitive process from there.

You can then select a relevant area, including bell services, parking, ticketing, attractions, dining, shops, custodial, entertainment, etc. (locations differ depending upon what you select).

Unfortunately, there is not (yet) an option to leave a specific name, so the Cast Compliment goes to the department as a whole.

While this is a step in the right direction, individual Cast Compliments are significant for internal recognition and advancements. We’d thus encourage you to leave an actual compliment at Guest Relations while in the parks, or by emailing [email protected], rather than exclusively using this feature. Here’s hoping an individual option is added in the future!

In celebration of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, the company donated $3 million to six nonprofit organizations in Central Florida, helping to support important causes and inspire a world of difference for children and families in our community.

Walt Disney World made contributions to Give Kids The World Village, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Heart of Florida United Way, Hope Partnership, and ELEVATE Orlando to work together in finding solutions to important matters throughout Central Florida, empowering people to create a brighter tomorrow.

We love to see this type of thing–it’s great to see Walt Disney World be a good member of the community. Both Give Kids the World and Second Harvest are excellent organizations doing great work locally. (The rest almost certainly are as well, we just have firsthand experience with both GKTW and Second Harvest.)

Next, I had a chance to check out the new MagicBand+ that’s coming to Walt Disney World in 2022.

To address concerns some of you expressed about size and battery life, the MagicBand+ will come with a magnetic charger. Weight-wise, it feels almost identical to the current generation of MagicBands. No word yet on a release date, but these were clearly production versions–some even in their retail packaging.

Another week, another update that not a single night has sold out for Disney Very Merriest After Hours. The first date is a little over a month away now. By this point, most Disney After Hours Boo Bash dates had sold out.

Normally, demand is higher for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party than its Halloween counterpart, with tickets selling faster for the holiday event. Hopefully Disney has finally pushed the limit of price increases too far, and guests are voting with their wallets. There’s still a lot of time between now and when that event begins, so it’s premature to declare “victory” or anything. But still–good to see slower sales, at the very least.

In response to Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Kicks Off!, several readers remarked on how low wait times appear in the My Disney Experience app.

I can assure you that Magic Kingdom is very busy this weekend. (Presumably, the same is true at Epcot.) It’s just that visitors here now are disproportionately at those two parks for the experience, and not attractions. If you’re at Walt Disney World for the rides, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the walk-on wait times, even for some headliners. However, there are long waits for food, merchandise, and crowds for entertainment.

In fact, Magic Kingdom was so busy yesterday that Park Hopping was temporarily paused in the early afternoon. This is the first phased closure (or its equivalent) since reopening, and the first time there has been any restriction on Park Hopping. Additionally, push notifications were sent out about 30 minutes before Disney Enchantment that Main Street was full.

Accordingly, here are some quick practical tips for this weekend if you’re in the parks visiting for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. This same advice is relevant whenever it’s busy, so it’s worth reading regardless of when you’re visiting…

All of Walt Disney World’s online systems have been strained and more glitch-prone than usual, so don’t be surprised if you experience issues with those. Additionally, Mobile Order pickup times have been lengthy–we’ve seen reports of people waiting over an hour after hitting the “I’m Here, Prepare My Order” button. We actually have not had this issue ourselves at Walt Disney World, but describe one solution to the problem in Tips for Avoiding Crowds at Disneyland. The bottom line is to hit the button well before returning to the restaurant–that post explains the “why” of it.

Another solution is to order at each restaurant’s one cash register, which is what we did on October 1 at Magic Kingdom. Disney will try to push you towards Mobile Ordering, indicating it’s easier or better. On days like yesterday, simply walking up and placing an order is so much faster. We had our food in minutes, rather than hours.

Consider watching Disney Enchantment from Fantasyland with a view of both Cinderella Castle in front of you and the Castle Walls behind you (so move forward about 10 feet from the photo above).

This is not our normal recommended “one and done” fireworks viewing location, but the Main Street crowds were absolutely bonkers last night–and will likely remain that way in the days to come. The projections don’t add a lot to Disney Enchantment; it’s arguably slightly better without them (that’s not saying much).

Similarly, use the bypasses flanking each side of Town Square rather than fighting the crowd to get down/up Main Street. On October 1, the seldomly used Tomorrowland ‘release valve’ was open in addition to the normal bypass because it was so busy. If you do opt to watch Disney Enchantment from the end of Main Street, use those bypasses to get back into the rest of the park afterwards, rather than trying to swim upstream.

On that note, don’t leave Magic Kingdom immediately after the fireworks. Rather than spending a while in a sea of humanity waiting for transportation, take that time for a spin on the PeopleMover or Carousel of Progress. Give the transportation ‘scene’ about an hour to clear itself out before heading for the exit. Walt Disney World will never strand you at the park–so even if you leave Magic Kingdom after midnight when the park closes at 11 pm, you’ll have no problem getting back to your hotel or car. To the contrary, it’ll be much easier if you wait out the crowds!

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 about all this Walt Disney World news? Thoughts on the crowd avoidance advice for the coming days/weeks/months when the parks are likely to be busier? Hope WDW adds more hours for October through December? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? 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!