A Blog About Disney Stuff

One of my favorite gifts to give and receive during the holidays is personalized ornaments from Walt Disney World. The artwork is always so lovely, and it is fun to come up with thoughtful ways to personalize an ornament for a loved one. With the holiday season approaching we thought it would be good to review the pricing and procedure for getting an ornament personalized at Walt Disney World.

Currently personalization is offered at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe at the Magic Kingdom and at 12 Days of Christmas shop at Disney Springs. Personalizing ornaments has been a tradition at Walt Disney World for many years. It can be a fun annual tradition for families who like to celebrate the holidays with some Disney magic.

Practically any ornament can be personalized. The artists can work wonders, but a flat, smooth service is best. You can select practically any ornament available at either shop and bring it to the personalization desk. You’ll want to look for the signage and set up at the designated desk and head there to get your personalization order placed. At Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe you’ll need to head all the way to the front, furthest away from Liberty Tree Tavern.

The artists are not available all day. You’ll want to head to the shop early to place your order. They usually take about two hours to be complete, so heading there toward the beginning of your visit will give you more time to have fun while your ornaments are worked on. When our team returned to pick up their personalized ornament meant for that special someone, they encountered a line that was quite long and took about 10 -15 minutes to get through.

Personalization costs $3.00 per name and artwork item, plus the cost of the ornament. One set of decorative accents can be added complimentary. Any additional art is $3.00. Names and dates are the most common personalization. Anything else like business names or names of copyrighted material cannot be added.

Have you ever had an ornament personalized at Disney? How did it turn out?

The post Disney’s Personalized Ornaments – One of the Best Holiday Gifts Ever appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Christmas, Dos and Don’ts, Holidays, Magic Kingdom, Shopping, disney christmas, disney christmas ornament, disney holiday shopping, magic kingdom shopping

One of the best destinations within Walt Disney World is the EPCOT Resort Area. This little neighborhood encompasses Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts and Villas, Disney’s Boardwalk Resort and Villas, and the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin. Each resort surrounds beautiful Crescent Lake, with an entrance to EPCOT near the Beach Club, and a walkway to Disney’s Hollywood Studios near the Boardwalk Resort and Dolphin Hotel. It is truly one of the best locations on Disney property.

We hadn’t visited this area in a while so we asked a member of our field team, Ivonne to take a stroll around this picturesque area. The resorts in this area are some of the highest rated on property according to our readers and subscribers. We have ratings and information on all the Walt Disney World hotels, and even have a free Room Finder tool so you can see which specific hotel rooms have the views and location to fit your needs.

Let’s take a stroll around the EPCOT Resorts Area, and make a stop for some Halloween sweet treats too.

We’ll start at Disney’s Beach Club Villas. The regular rooms and suites at Disney’s Beach Club are closed, only the Disney Vacation Club Villas are open right now. There’s quite a bit of food and beverage options available even though the Beach Club guest rooms are closed. The Beach Club Marketplace is a very casual dining option inside the large merchandise shop at the Beach Club. It is the lowest rated quick dining options at Walt Disney World, according to our readers, with a 66% thumbs up rating. However, there are currently two grab and go Halloween treats available that might boost its rating a little.

The Tiramisu Grave is classic tiramisu with no extra frills in the flavors, but fun Halloween toppings of white chocolate covered pretzels for a skeleton body, and a marshmallow for a head to resemble the grave. A nice treat, nothing tremendous, but a good standard tiramisu for $5.49.

Ivonne preferred the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie instead. The pumpkin cake was a great texture and full of festive fall flavor and the brown butter cream cheese was rich and creamy. Not a bad deal for $4.69.

Right next door to Disney’s Beach Club is the Yacht Club Resort. The Yacht Club was one of the hotels that hosted the NBA Bubble. Now that the NBA Season has come to a close, the Yacht Club has reopened. It is currently the only hotel besides the Swan and Dolphin that is open, whereas Beach Club and Boardwalk only have the Disney Vacation Club Villas open. As a result the Friendship Ferry Boats are not currently operating.

Across Crescent Lake is Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. The theme of this resort is a turn of the century Atlantic boardwalk. There’s lots of whimsical details here. The most whimsical and weird detail perhaps is the clown face pool. It is quite a strange sight to see kids and adults go down the waterslide, only to come out of the clown’s mouth. It seems the nightmares of many Disney fans may be over as there is a scrim up over where the clown’s face would be. We’re not sure how we feel about the cloud print on the scrim, but maybe it’s better than the clown face. What do you think?

Lastly, Ivonne headed over to the Swan and Dolphin hotels. One of the most unique properties at Walt Disney World, the Michael Graves architecture is sure to catch your eye. The blend of Disney amenities and Marriott features is quite unique here. Recently, one of the amenities has been changed. Instead of Disney bus transportation, these hotels now use Mears Transportation.

Will you miss the clown face if it is indeed removed from the Boardwalk pool? Do you have a favorite resort in this area?

The post PHOTOS: Let’s Visit the EPCOT Resort Hotels for Halloween Treats and More appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Observations, Photos and Video, Resorts, disney on site hotels, disney’s beach club, Disney’s BoardWalk, Disney’s BoardWalk Villas, Epcot resorts, walt disney world swan dolphin

Crowds were lower on Monday at every park in Walt Disney World except Hollywood Studios, and the wait times there are almost too high to be believed.  It was also a tough day for Rise of the Resistance, after a pretty good week.  Let’s do the numbers.

Magic Kingdom Wait Times

Wait times at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad averaged 38 minutes today, well below its 7-day average of 48 minutes and its 30-day average of 45 minutes. And even then, actual wait times today averaged 45% of the posted wait time, so your average wait was under 20 minutes.

It was a similar story over at Splash Mountain, which had an average wait time today of 66 minutes (#5 week / # 11 month). But actual waits only averaged 62% of the posted wait time, so a posted wait of 66 minutes was an actual wait of about 41 minutes.

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin had an average wait time today of 33 minutes. Its 7-day average is 35 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 30 minutes, so today ranks #9 for the past month (and #128 for the past year). The actual wait averaged 86% of the posted wait time, which is pretty good overall.  And Space Mountain had an average wait time today of 43 minutes (#5 week / #16 month / #150 year). The actual wait at Space averaged 78% of the posted wait time.

Pirates of the Caribbean had an average wait time today of 48 minutes. Its 7-day average is 52 minutes, so today ranks #5 for this week. The actual wait averaged 69% of the posted wait time.

 

 Actual waits in line average under 20 minutes with our Walt Disney World touring plans.  Subscribe today and get our Lines app too.

EPCOT Wait Times

Monday was a good day to tour EPCOT, with wait times around the park averaging under 25 minutes.  Frozen Ever After had an average wait time today of 58 minutes. Its 7-day average is 74 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 61 minutes, so today ranks #17 for the past month.

Soarin’ had an average wait time today of 30 minutes. Its 7-day average is 46 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 36 minutes, so today ranks #16 for the past month (#164 for the past year, too).

Test Track had an average wait time today of 68 minutes. Its 7-day average is 71 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 60 minutes, so today ranks #7 for the past month.

Spaceship Earth had an average wait time today of 13 minutes. Its 7-day average is 23 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 19 minutes, so today ranks #18 for the past month.

 

Hollywood Studios Wait Times

Wait times at the Studios today were sus, as the kids say.  Toy Story Mania! had an average wait time today of 32 minutes. Its 7-day average is 33 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 30 minutes, so today ranks #8 for the past month. But the actual wait averaged 37% of the posted wait time.  That’s way off – it means the actual wait in line at TSM averaged around 12 minutes.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith had an average wait time today of 51 minutes. Its 7-day average is 55 minutes, so today ranks #5 for this week. Its 30-day average is 52 minutes, so today ranks #15 for the past month. The actual wait averaged 61% of the posted wait time.

Star Tours: The Adventures Continue had an average wait time today of 32 minutes. Its 7-day average is 31 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 29 minutes, so today ranks #8 for the past month. Actual waits averaged 52% of the posted wait time.

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway had an average wait time today of 90 minutes. Its 7-day average is 83 minutes, so today ranks #1 for this week. Its 30-day average is 84 minutes, so today ranks #5 for the past month.

Things were rough over at Rise of the Resistance today. It looks like they had a long outage starting around 10:30 this morning for about an hour, and then another long outage from around 3:10 p.m. to around 4:25 p.m.  It looks like Rise isn’t going to get to Boarding Group 90 today.

Animal Kingdom Wait Times

Wait times were pretty accurate over at Avatar: Flight of Passage today.  FoP had an average wait time today of 78 minutes. Its 7-day average is 84 minutes, so today ranks #3 for this week. Its 30-day average is 57 minutes, so today ranks #4 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 104 minutes, so today ranks #153 for the past year. Actual waits averaged 76% of the posted wait time.

Na’vi River Journey had an average wait time today of 45 minutes. Its 7-day average is 52 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 44 minutes, so today ranks #13 for the past month.

Kali River Rapids had an average wait time today of 18 minutes. Its 7-day average is 31 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 24 minutes, so today ranks #18 for the past month.

And Expedition Everest had an average wait time today of 35 minutes. Its 7-day average is 38 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 30 minutes, so today ranks #9 for the past month.

The post Lighter Crowds Across The Parks – Walt Disney World Wait Times for Monday, October 19, 2020 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

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