Is Pent Up Demand Running Out At Disney World?

 

 In recent days, Disney has released a bunch of discounts for resort stays through spring 2023.  These include Disney+ subscribers, Annual Passholders and most recently, Disney Visa Cardholders (this one doesn't appear on the official WDW page for some reason, but it is being reported everywhere so I assume they're just slow in updating).   

I bring this up here not to highlight anything in particular for these specific discounts but rather to put in context what it might mean for the future of discounts going forward.  And to look into the future, we have to first talk about the past, as is often the case here.

Akershus Reopening Date and More Restaurant News

 

As announced by Disney today, we finally have a reopening date for one of the most popular restaurants on property - Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in the Norway Pavilion at Epcot.  This headlines some other restaurant news, which we'll also talk about below. But Akershus is the big one here.  To understand why this is a big deal, as well as why this is one of the last major restaurants to reopen, we have to talk about what Akershus is.

Akershus is modeled after a real castle (named Akershus) in Norway.  It originally opened with the pavilion in 1988 but wasn't a character dining location at the beginning.  That changed, as more intellectual property was brought into World Showcase and Storybook Dining with the Disney princesses was born.

Fantasmic! Returns to Hollywood Studios in November!

 

After what seems like forever, Fantasmic! (exclamation point included in the name of the show, though I'll refrain from using it going forward in this post, despite my excitement) FINALLY gets an officially announced return to Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios - November 2022.  That's right, there's still no actual start date, but if it's being announced now, they must finally be confident in that time frame. [October 19 edit - official start date is November 3!  See below for more]

There isn't much more to this announcement but given my love of this show, I'm going to post about what Fantasmic is, the changes being made to it, what it means for the crowds at Hollywood Studios and some final lamentation about what possibly took so long.  Join me on this quest, if you will.

Genie+ Moving to Date Based Pricing

 

Disney announced today that their Genie+ service will now be subject to date based pricing as opposed to a flat rate year round.  This post will discuss the specifics and talk about why this is happening and what it means for the guest experience.

To review, when Genie+ was introduced at Walt Disney World, the price was $15 per person per day (plus tax).  This was true on any day you visited.  Since Genie+ is still a relatively new service, Disney continues to tweak certain aspects of the system.  Some are good - moving rides from Individual Lightning Lanes (ILL) to Genie+ added capacity and (at least theoretically) created more inventory from which guests could choose their attractions.  Some of the changes have been neutral or negative (not allowing you to see ride availability on the first screen, not allowing pre-trip purchases of Genie+ as an add-on, etc).  This change appears to fail into the latter category.

Disney After Hours Returning in 2023

 

As announced today, Disney After Hours events are returning to Disney World in 2023.  In this post, we'll take a look at what these parties entail, the information we have about the upcoming parties and whether or not these are "worth it" for the average guest.  

Disney After Hours (DAH) has existed since 2016. Technically, they existed for much longer than that, but were just called "longer hours" back then.  I kid, kind of.  For years, park hours were longer and Extended Evening Hours added on even more time in the parks as part of your regular admission.  Like many things in recent years, this has been monetized by Disney and rebranded as Disney After Hours.

Beat the Heat? Visiting Disney World in the Summer

 

Last year, I wrote a post about the best and worst times to visit Walt Disney World.  I stand by my recommendations in that post but unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way and I can't follow my own advice.  Assuming that's true for many of you, I began to think about this question in a different way recently.  Given the negatives, is it a good idea to visit Disney in the heat of the summer?

To recap a bit of that previous post, I'm mostly speaking here to people who have no real choice.  If you can visit whenever you want, my recommendations there still stand (November/December being the best time to go, as long as you avoid holiday weeks).  But for many of us, especially with kids, it's not as simple as just picking your favorite time of year and going on vacation.

D23 News and Announcements

 

This weekend is Disney's biennial D23 Expo in  Anaheim.  I say "biennial" but on off years, there is a smaller version of this convention named Destination D23.  For all intents and purposes, there is an annual convention where Disney shares behind the scenes looks at upcoming projects.  It takes place over multiple days in September, and there is sure to be a ton of announcements coming out of this.  I believe last year, a huge portion of the Marvel TV projects were all announced at once - quite a news dump.

In any case, the news most relevant to this blog will be about Disney Parks and Experiences.  And while there are sure to be a bunch of things related to Disneyland as well as the international parks, in order to keep the focus on what this blog does best (?), we're going to be looking at things that effect Walt Disney World.  The Parks news come on the last day this year, but there were a few tidbits put out during a media preview on Thursday night, so we'll start with those.