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!
Any updates on the Disney Dining Plans return?
Hi,
Any word on the Minnie Vans hopefully returning?
We were at the Magic Kingdom on October 1st.
The shopping experience was worse than any Black Friday I have ever seen and I have seen women fight over Rubbermaid.
Lined up at the door only to have it slammed shut as we got to the door and told we had to go to another door. Virtual Queue for the Big Top, we received a spot then told it was an error when we showed up at the door.
Food? You want food? Our group of 6 placed 4 orders with a window of 11:00 – to 11:20 am. 3 orders were received, one of them only because someone slipped past the keepers of the door and heard them calling her name. One order was not received after 2 hours. The keeper of the door was taking a list of orders to be canceled. After 2 hours, we canceled and moved on, only to receive a notice our food was ready 3 hours later.
That means the list this person was keeping didn’t mean anything. Food continued to be prepared and others continued to place orders, so the system never had an opportunity to catch up.
People were not waiting in attraction queues but standing outside restaurants waiting for their food.
From a purely selfish POV I’m glad the Christmas nights are not sold out – I’m going in November and will be happy if it’s low crowds – I don’t need mega crowds for “atmosphere”!!!
Ha ha! Tom, it’s funny you bring up the trams not running yet because that was my big complaint each morning at each of the four parks I visited last week! I went directly to guest relations at each park to formally complain that IF Disney is charging $25 per day then they should at least have the trams running! Otherwise, if they’re making me walk a mile from my parking spot to the front entrance, then the parking should be FREE!
Not that my complaining will do any good, but I just had to tell them there’s just NO reason for not running trams when it’s hot and humid and Disney has boats and buses and Monorail and SkyLiner running! It’s just another cost-cutting tactic by Disney management that is totally inexcusable!
@Cindy The entry to the Tomorrowland “release valve” is around the side of Buzz Lightyear and feeds into the main bypass. It was open last night before the fireworks, but inexplicably Disney closed after the show began. We worked our way there after the show, and a CM apologized, saying she didn’t understand why, but they had closed the gate when the show began. So, we backtracked and entered the bypass between the Plaza Restaurant and Tomorrowland Terrace, which brings you out near Tony’s Town Square Restaurant.
Dead on about Enchantment viewing. We were very close to your locale last night. But it isn’t like this show is amazing … wouldn’t it have been nice to see a WDW focused show and not a current woke IP one?
I would have loved hearing 20K and MSEP and Now Is the Time and If You Had Wings and Mickey Mania and … you get the idea.
Hearing Moana, Frozen 2, Princess and the Frog B-Music just is … not what a WDW 50th show should ever have been.
Mobile Order stinks! Just returned from Disneyland – out there, many counter service restaurants with 4 or 5 registers/pick up windows were only operating one! (with the remaining windows dedicated to mobile pickup.) The line was always huge! I know mobile ordering has its fans, but sorry, I don’t want to plan a cookie hours in advance. I always waited in line, doin’ my part until Disney comes to its senses (with at least half the registers operating!)
My wife and i just left the parks, for my birthday, (and we are passholders,) she wanted to surprise me with a nice weekend.
NOT SO MUCH. The restaraunts were pathetic, (ale and compass), the worst I have ever been to,( cape may ), was a total joke.
That all being said the disaster continued at Disney Springs, ( paradiso 37 ). There best stake for 38.00 was filled with tendons and grizzle. This was so bad it needed to be sent back for a hamburger that was no better than McDonalds.
The breakfast at cape may was insulting to say the least. For 50.00 dollars, i got scraps, i got nothing.
The ale was the biggest joke of all, they fead me a half a chicken??? That must of bean anorexic to say the least. Also missing parts. In otherwords, it was a chicken drum stick with a piece of white meat attached.
I have been a passholder for many years, but its time to re-think Disney because its out to get you not out to be the happiest place on earth.
Its ashame how just a few people can ruin a legend.
They can care less about people whom visit frequently like myself, but catering to the people that come once a year or more.
I also feel like they moved Fantasmic to Epcot.
Just watch the fire works.
They stopped the best fireworks display ever for the present joke.
So sad.
@Cindy: I can’t speak for the “seldom used Tomorrowland ” bypass, but the main/usual bypass, which is used all the time is easy to find. The main bypass is right between the Plaza Restaurant and Tomorrowland Terrace, next to the restrooms that take on the Tomorrowland theming. You can even see it on Streetview on Google Maps. There’s a pair of gates, and it’s through there that you take the bypass. which lets you back in through gates right next to Tony’s Restaurant & The Chapeau gift shop, also visible on Google Maps.
Hello
For the first time I find myself adding a comment, I was able to watch the Magic Kingdom new Enchantment. I was more than disappointed. The music was not happy, very intense with an evil overtone when you add the lightning affect.
It seems that Disney has lost touch with the child within. Famous songs that adults want their children to sing to and were probably sung on the plane and car rides on the journey to Disney World were no where to be heard.
This show in my opinion can not compare to Ever After—and why not keep Tinkerbell coming down the wire??
And where was a picture of Walt Disney up on the screen—just saying.
How about Hoop De Do?
Do you know if the interactive Magic Bands will be the only option, or will the regular, current non interactive ones still be available?
Tom,
I saw the extended hours added. As we will be there from Dec 18 through Jan 1, and it is usually one of the highest peak times, do you think they will extend hours and Magic Kingdom until at least 11?
How do you think it will look the week of 11 Oct. ? My son is coming to visit a few months prior to starting work in the Disney College Program! YAY.
(He is carrying on the family legacy. I danced in the parades in the early 90’s! )
We are doing our best to figure out strategies for riding things we haven’t before like Star Wars and Pandora. We are going with friends who have year passes and are pretty savvy. I just am a bit reticent with crowds, although I am fully jabbed and have my booster! We were thinking of trying to get to those in the evenings as late as possible right before park close unless everyone has been clued into that. Thanks for ALL you do.
Regarding the “bypasses” to avoid the Main St. crowds, could you provide a map marking those pathways?
Tom,
I read somewhere else that they closed Park Hopping to Magic Kingdome because it reached capacity(I assume restricted capacity). The article I read placed attendance at just over 40,000. Any idea if this is an accurate number. If so it bodes well for our upcoming Christmas Holiday stay.
“The projections don’t add a lot to Disney Enchantment; it’s arguably slightly better without them (that’s not saying much)”. Ouch. I’ve been waiting for a spoiler-free review from this site (and have largely avoided any other news). That sentence does not make me feel good.
Carousel of Progress is the way to go after a fireworks show!!! Last night we grabbed the great big sundae before going on it after enchantment!
Any update on the Candlelight Processional?