Disney has announced that they will soon be adding another Disney Value Resort to the reopening roster at the Walt Disney World Resort! Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort will be reopening officially on February 9, 2021! This will be the third Value Resort to reopen, with Disney’s Pop Century currently reopen and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort reopening on November 1.

The Walt Disney World Resort hotels that are currently open (or have reopening dates) are as follows:

• Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
• Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• Disney’s Riviera Resort
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – November 1, 2020
• Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort – February 9, 2021
• Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort – Summer 2021

Future reopening dates of Disney Resort hotels are subject to change and reservations could still be modified to other Disney Resort hotels if needed.

The post Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort to Welcome Back Guests Soon appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: News, Walt Disney World (FL), Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort

Let’s face it – not everyone in your group is going to want to ride all the same rides together. Some may be into thrills, while others not. So there may be times when a part of your group goes on a ride while the other part needs to either wait for you or meet up with you later.

If you want to stick with your party, but not ride the ride, you can! Enjoy the queue together, as many are well themed. While in line, browse our Lines app to check out ratings for all the restaurants in the park. Place your lunch, snack, or dinner order through mobile ordering in the MyDisneyExperience app so your food will be ready when you’re done. Then when it’s time to board the ride just let the Cast Member know you’d rather not ride and they’ll show you where you can wait for your party.

Here’s how to find the exits of some of the most popular Magic Kingdom rides so you know where you can meet your party later.

• Big Thunder Mountain exit – Located to the right of the entrance and around the back curve of the mountain. There’s benches near the exit, as well as along the river a few steps from the exit.
• Space Mountain exit – Leads into the gift shop, of course. However, if you’d like you can go through the queue with your party, the Cast Member can point out where to wait, where it’s indoors, cool, and has benches. Otherwise, there are some benches outside to the far right of the entrance, as well as restrooms, that make a good spot to meet your party when they’re done.

• Splash Mountain exit – Here you have one of the best exit areas in Magic Kingdom. It is a little hard to find if you are unfamiliar so don’t be afraid to ask a Cast Member. Just behind the entrance to the ride is a shaded courtyard and in the far right corner of this courtyard is a small play area for little park goers who are too short to ride Splash Mountain. There’s a fair amount of benches and decent shade. Please note, the play areas at Walt Disney World are temporarily closed as a COVID-19 precaution.
• Haunted Mansion exit – Not everyone is into socializing with grim grinning ghosts, and sadly there’s no waiting area immediately near the exit of the Haunted Mansion. There’s an outdoor seating area near the Liberty Square Market which sells snacks, or there is some seating near the Liberty Belle Riverboat.
• Pirates of the Caribbean exit – Sometimes the pirate’s life isn’t for everyone. This ride exits into the merchandise shop that is immediately to the right of the ride entrance. There isn’t much seating immediately near the exit, but there are some benches along the walkway in the nearby vicinity.
• Astro-Orbiter exit – This ride exits at the entrance area and there are plenty of benches in the immediate area.
• Goofy’s Barnstormer exit – This ride exits near its entrance, there are a few benches nearby, or the Casey Jr. Splash Area is a fun place to wait.
• Mad Tea Party exit – The ride also exits near its entrance. There are some benches that line the fence of the Tomorrowland Speedway, which make for a fun view while your party goes for a spin.

Have you ever enjoyed some quiet time while waiting for your party? Or do you prefer to stay on-the-go?

The post Where Are the Exits for the Most Popular Rides at Magic Kingdom appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Attractions, Dos and Don’ts, Magic Kingdom, Magic Kingdom Attractions, magic kingdom rides, magic kingdom tips

This Crowd Calendar update is a bit of fine-tuning to the Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando.

Walt Disney World

Most of the changes in this update are to EPCOT.  For the October update, we were seeing a strong pattern where weekdays had very low crowds and weekends had very high crowds. It appears that the secret is out and more people switched their EPCOT days to weekdays. Most of the 1s that EPCOT had, are now 2s and 3s. Weekdays still have lower crowds than the weekend at EPCOT.

Animal Kingdom is the only park with a plethora of 1s.

50th Anniversary

October 1, 2021, will be Disney World’s 50th anniversary. We expect that there will be a bump in crowds for this historic day. Disney will be celebrating their 50th anniversary for 12-18 months, so don’t feel left out if you avoid the first weekend of October 2021.

The post October – Mid-Month Crowd Calendar Updates appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Crowd Calendar, Walt Disney World (FL)

EPCOT is my favorite Walt Disney World theme park (shhh, don’t tell Magic Kingdom). It’s a gorgeous park with great food, educational opportunities, and loads of just plain fun. I’ve never once hesitated to recommend it to families with younger children, until now.

Before I get into why I might think twice about bringing young kids (about age seven and below) to EPCOT now, let me preface this by saying that I’d still recommend EPCOT if park hopping were available. If you could spend a few hours at EPCOT and then take your kids on a hop to the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom, then you’d still be fine. But with the COVID restrictions currently in place, the entire family is committed to just one park per day. If you have younger kids, I’m not sure if there is currently enough at EPCOT to amuse them to justify burning a day of your vacation there.

Here’s why:

• Lack of attractions targeted to younger kids: The only attractions at EPCOT targeted to younger kids are Frozen Ever After (Norway pavilion), Gran Fiesta Tour (Mexico pavilion), The Seas with Nemo and Friends (Seas pavilion), Journey into Imagination (Imagination pavilion), and the Beauty and the Beast Singalong (France pavilion). The total time for those attractions is 37 minutes. Add a few minutes of fish-watching after the Seas ride, and you’re still only at about 40 minutes of time engaged in the park for a younger child.
• Water features are not currently operating: Kid-friendly water exploration areas such as splash pads and the jumping fountains have been turned off during the pandemic.
• The Kidcot Fun Stops are not currently operating: There are Kidcot tables at most of the World Showcase pavilions, but right now there is no coloring activity or international representatives to speak with. There are simply cards or stickers left on a table.
• There are no character greetings: Pre-pandemic, kids could meeting Mickey and Pals, most princesses, and characters from Wreck-It Ralph, Inside Out, Big Hero Six, and more. A hug from Goofy or Belle could go a long way toward boosting the mood of a cranky four year old, but today there are only brief drive-by “cavalcades.” Even the socially distant Winnie the Pooh appearance that debuted when the park reopened doesn’t seem to be an everyday occurrence.
• The interactive Agent P Adventure missions have ended: This attraction was discontinued in February, just prior to the pandemic. Still, it’s one less thing for young kids to do.
• Turtle Talk with Crush is not operating.
• The interactive play area in the Imagination pavilion is not operating.
• Most World Showcase entertainment is not operating: Mariachi Cobre and the Jammitors do have scheduled time on the America Gardens stage, but the diversionary jugglers and acrobats are no longer performing.
• The festival playground is not operating: Understandable, but this means there is no place for a child to stretch or run.

To be fair, the lack of rides for small kids was an issue pre-pandemic. However, when the character experiences, general entertainment, and interactive opportunities are removed, the sparse enticements for the youngest guests have become rare indeed.

With a slightly older/taller child, you could add in Living with the Land, Soarin, Test Track (minus the interactive car building), and Spaceship Earth, and perhaps some international food tasting, making a day at Epcot more in the realm of day’s entertainment. But bear in mind that, due to the lack of FastPass+ availability, depending on when you arrive and whether you use a touring plan, you can expect waits of 30-60 minutes (or more) for each of those attractions, with even longer waits on weekends.

The pandemic restrictions are justified and understandable, but given that there are just a handful of attractions of appeal to younger children, with possibly long wait times, if you have small kids, this may be the trip where you use your valuable park pass reservations to skip Epcot and book an additional day at Magic Kingdom.

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From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Epcot, kids, Trip Planning, Walt Disney World (FL), Families, young children