Happy New Year!
For our first post of 2018, we thought we’d drop in for the most riveting type of content: a housekeeping update. Since we like to do a few of these per year to keep regular readers apprised of what’s going on behind the scenes, we thought we’d get one knocked out early this year. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a decent amount going on behind the scenes right now.
Our first tidbit is not all that exciting. I’m in the process of updating the blog to make sure everything is accurate for 2018. While many of our most popular posts receive regular updates, others are more static, and are updated annually. On the site’s backend, I can see which ones haven’t been updated recently, and refresh them–a process I’ve been going through pretty much nonstop since the day after Christmas.
The “problem” is that I wrote more than ever before last year, and as the blog grows, this task of updating old content becomes even gargantuan. I miss posts that need to be updated, or particular details while skimming. This is where your help would be greatly appreciated–if you stumble info that is stall or no longer accurate, please leave a comment on that post indicating as much (I see new comments no matter how old the post.) In more exciting news, we’re also heading back to Walt Disney World later this month…
Last year, we took my parents in February, and we had such an awesome time at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts that we decided to do a return trip this year. We heaped a ton of praise on the inaugural version of this event, but perhaps the better endorsement is that we’re putting our money where our mouths are and returning specifically for this event.
One thing we are not looking forward to is the potential for unseasonably cold weather. If you read our updated Winter Disney Packing Guide today, you saw that snow is in the forecast for Central Florida. The long-term forecast doesn’t look much better, either.
While photographing a snow-covered World Showcase is the stuff of my dreams, the reality is that it’ll just be colder than normal and maybe there will be sleet. (And maybe it’s just me, but I swear cold weather in Florida feels about 20 degrees colder than it actually is. It was -11º here when I got up this morning, but I’m still dreading 40º weather in Florida.)
The silver lining with this weather is that it’ll hopefully keep people away, and the parks will be even less crowded than they typically are this time of year. If off-season turns to “ghost town” because of the cold, that’s a fair trade-off in my book.
Beyond Festival of the Arts, we’re excited about spending a lot more time at Disney Springs. The Edison, Maria & Enzo’s, Enzo’s Hideaway, and Pizza Ponte are all new, and perhaps another location will be open by the time of our trip. We’re particularly interested in The Edison, but we’ve blathered on about that in a number of Disney Springs updates, so we won’t fixate on that now.
We should be spending a lot of time at Disney Springs, and doing many meals there, as we’ll be staying at several of the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels. We booked these back when it was rumored that these hotels would receive Extra Magic Hours and the ability to book FastPass+ 60-days prior to arrival, a rumor that has since been confirmed.
While we’ve already reviewed a few of these hotels, some of those reviews need to be updated. After this trip, we’ll have current reviews for all of these Disney Springs hotels.
As Walt Disney World resorts continue to see high occupancy rates and fewer discounts, we think more value-conscious Disney fans are going to start taking a harder look at the Disney Springs hotels, so hopefully our hotel-hopping will be useful.
Of course, we’ll be getting our “fix” with stays at Disney-owned resorts. We’re also staying at a new-to-us Disney resort, albeit not one at Walt Disney World. (We’ll see if any of you can guess which one.) Hopefully, we’ll be seeing some manatees, too.
As we noted in our updated Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews post, we stayed at almost every resort in 2017, so we really don’t have much to update right now beyond the third party/off-site hotels. Old Key West and Caribbean Beach will be the big ones for 2018, but those won’t be ready for reviewing for a while.
Then there are the parks. This might be our last time seeing Disney’s Hollywood Studios in full “transition” mode, as Toy Story Land should be open–and things starting to congeal–by our next visit. I’m a dork, so I’m excited for this, as watching the redone park take shape is oddly fascinating for me.
We’re excited to revisit Pandora with lighter crowds than our last trip, and Magic Kingdom is good whenever. Hopefully crowds will make it easier to watch and photograph Happily Ever After, because we haven’t seen that show nearly as much as we’d like. I’m also curious to see firsthand how the finished product in one recently completed refurbishment turned out.
After this Walt Disney World trip, we have a bit more travel to “get out of our systems” this spring, but this is pretty much all that’s relevant right now on the travel front.
Another focus in the immediate future is going to be adding new photos to posts. In going through old ones, I noticed that I didn’t upload as many ‘good’ photos to the blog last year. I uploaded far more ‘documentarian’ shots of food, hotel rooms, and the like.
I can assure you, I did not stop racing around like an idiot during sunset and staying out late with my tripod at night last year. I just shared fewer of the photos. So, part of the updating process is going to include uploading and injecting new photos to refresh the content, too. (The photos here are the first fruits of this initiative.)
I think that’s it for now. Basically, this post is all a long-winded way of saying our focus is mainly going to be updating old blog entries and adding new photos for the next week or so, followed by a slew of new content as we visit Walt Disney World.
Finally, while I suppose it’s “nice” of us to wish you a Happy New Year, everyone knows the right way to ring in the new year is with Big Al:
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviewspage. 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
Are you similarly hyped for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts? Would you consider staying at one of the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels on your Walt Disney World vacation given the increase of perks? Anything specific coverage you’d like to see come out of this trip we take? Any other random thoughts to go with my stream-of-consciousness rambling? 😉 Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments below!
Hi Tom!! Took my first trip to WDW last November for the first time in my adult life and everything went EXCELLENT thanks to you, Sarah and your blog (no kidding: I spent almost a year reading you to get ready!).
One thing I noticed about the posts is they lack of date! I couldn’t find anywhere a post date or even a “last updated” time stamp.
Sometimes you would write on the actual post the last update date, but it would be very useful to have an actual time stamp just to know how updated a post really is.
Thanks again for keeping the magic alive for me through your blog!
My fella and I are taking a trip to Disney World for the first time together in late January and I have you two to thank for all of the valuable trip planning I’ve done in advance. He jokes that at this point I’d be as excited to see you there as I would be to see Mickey Happy travels!
We are going on family trip Jan 2018 to Disney World. I am on oxygen concentrator and renting a mobility scooter there. Can’t walk far distances.
How limited will I be there?
Any advice or suggestions appreciated.
Couldn’t find anything on blog related.
I’m super pumped for Festival of the Arts. Looking forward to your coverage. I’ve had my eye on the Falcon Heavy rocket, wonder if it launches while you’re there if you’ll be able to see it? I was hoping that by chance it would happen when we were there, but looks like probably launching earlier.
Also, want to reiterate for anyone who may be fooled by a Florida forecast, it does feel colder than you think it should. A wet cold had to be a real thing.
Any chance photos will be added back to old trip reports?
No. Unfortunately, that’s way too much work. I’ll probably just delete all of the reports that are missing photos. I simply don’t have the time or resources to update those. 🙁
I got started reading your blog through the trip reports and I love them. Can you keep the content and delete the photos?
We are planning a trip for the first week in February after reading your posts about how great the Festival of the arts was last year. I’m stupid excited to get a palatte cookie! You do a great job of balancing the good and the realities and that makes your blog my favorite! Plus Sarah’s Disney style is adorable! Happy new year!
Happy New Year! My husband and I will be staying at the Beach Club Villas (first time staying there!) from 2/2-2/5. Any tips or suggestions for must see/eat/do at the Festival of the Arts? We are excited to experience this festival for the first time and especially excited to be staying within walking distance of Epcot. Your site is always such a great Disney resource – thank you!!!
Happy New Year! You guys are always my first go to for travel info whether it’s Disney or otherwise. We used your advice in Japan and my daughter just visited Disneyland Paris using some of your suggestions. My Disney library is also growing thanks to your recommendations. Looking forward to much more from you all in the future! Enjoy life!
My husband and I decided to take a trip back (we took our kids in septmeber) for our anniversary towards the end of the month. I am also worried about the cooler weather! However, after the heat we went through in September, I am looking forward to less humidity!! Lol! We are from the Indianapolis area, so we also had -11 degree temps this morning! We might be the only ones wearing short sleeves and enjoying ourselves in the parks while there! We are only doing 2 park days, one being Epcot, which we are looking forward to the art festival. The other 4 days will be spent exploring resorts, Disney springs, and dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Revue!
Lol. https://twitter.com/Tom_Bricker/status/948182899806924803
I will still be packing jeans, sweaters, and a coat! 😉
We’re looking forward to our honeymoon in late January!! Hoping to enjoy lighter crowds and can’t wait for the Festival of the Arts! We’re staying at Pop Century and we’re so excited!! Thanks for all the tips and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Tom and Sarah! Looking forward to many more great posts and photos in 2018.
Happy New Year Tom and Sarah. Thank you for your hard work on this blog in 2017. I am glad you rang in the new year with Big Al. “Ain’t nothin’ like a brand new year to lift your spirits.”-Buff
Happy New Year!
I just got some incredibly good news yesterday that makes a WDW trip a TON more likely for us to pull off. It may come with a few downsides, (may not be able to book FP+ in advance) but the fact that we can now pick where to eat based off food and theme and not how little we can get away with paying has totally changed the dynamics of my planning.
I will definitely be digging deeper in the dining reviews.
I haven’t been to WDW since I was a cast member back in 1994. Thanks to your blog, I am planning a return this year for Christmas. Thanks so much for all of your hard work and I look forward to reading and planning this year.
Happy New Year Tom, thanks for the great work and fun posts!
You mentioned Pandora and hopeful that crowd levels will be lower. I will be there twice on weekdays with a group of 8 during the first week of February. Since we only have FPs for one of those visits, we were thinking of rope-dropping (is that a verb??) Flight of Passage for our non-FP day. We are staying at Poly and we’re wondering how early we need to get there for an early magic hour opening of 8:00am? One hour? Two hours?!? (hope not).
Thanks and as always, keep travelin’!
I was in Disneyland once in a Crowd Level 1, ie “ghost town”. Yes, most attractions were walk ons.
But it takes a certain crowd level to get the synergy. Perhaps for ride junkies and photographers a empty park is ideal, but I will take a CL 2 over a 1.
Of course, CL 8-10 are bad.
We just stayed at the Hilton BVP, the updated one this past week for christmas / new years. The location was great being next to disney springs, and i think that was the only thing that was great. the bus system is horrible they have one bus for 3 hotels, this hotel being the last one to pick up and drop off and to make it worse the bus went to two parks each so Epcot and HS were the same bus and MK and AK the other one. we tired it out the first day/ night and it took us almost 2 hours to get back to the hotel and decided that uber was worth the extra price on top of the “resort fee” we paid for those buses. we will never stay at a disney springs hotel again! makes you realize how much the disney resort buses work and make life alot easier! we only stayed here because we booked the trip so close to the date and disney had nothing available. the room was also ok and we could hear everything out in the hallway , not very sound proof!
I want your life. 🙂
Ha, it might seem glamorous, but remember that everyone puts their best face forward on the internet. The majority of my time is spent looking into a computer screen, writing and editing photos. When we are traveling, we also do so in ways sane people wouldn’t, such as changing hotels every other night or eating at restaurants we know are going to be awful, among other things. I’m not complaining–we are so fortunate to be able to travel so much, but it’s definitely not always fun. 🙂
Ooh are you guys going to Vero? If so, I hope you enjoy it! We’ve been a few times with my parents and liked it as a relaxing get-away. The town is also very cute but not close to the resort, unfortunately. Definitely check out the bike trail!
Happy new year!
Well, I guess that mystery was solved quickly! Any other recommendations for Vero? I’ve done no research whatsoever.
Orange juice from Hale Groves. If I remember it’s about 20 minutes away, but totally worth getting some to take some (or several gallons) back to the room!
Like I said, the town nearby is very cute but not walkable. You will definitely need a car. The resort is kind of isolated which is a big downside. There is a daily activity guide. Our typical day was spent either on the beach or by the pool (they have a DJ like at the deluxe resorts) with pool games, music, etc. There is a tiny mini golf course by the pool, also, and a fun slide. I believe they have some guided kayak tours and they did campfire songs one night. There is a bike trail on the other side of the road (you have to cross under the road through a cute little tunnel) which is a fun way to spend an afternoon. Food on property is expensive (of course). We liked the bar on the top level that overlooks the water. I think they redid the main restaurants — they were okay, nothing crazy. If you have a car it’s worth it to make a drive into town for better food/prices. Overall Vero is enjoyable but very different than vacationing near the theme parks — much more of a relaxing, take-it-easy vibe. I hope you enjoy it! I’ll be very interested to hear what you think. 🙂
Happy New Year Tom and Sarah! Thanks for all your hard work in regards to helping others traverse Disney World successfully. I refer to you/your posts when I’m explaining to my boyfriend why we’re eating at a certain place or changing up our plan for an upcoming WDW trip as, “BFF Tom” said this or suggests that, we value your input! So, thank you, and happy 2018!
Happy 2018 to you, as well!