July 4th Crowd Report

 

As promised (threatened?) last week, I wanted to take a look at the crowds at Walt Disney World on and around July 4th.  Some interesting data emerged from last week, and I thought we would talk about it in the context of overall crowd levels, touch a bit more on the weekday/weekend dynamic and see if we can figure out why these numbers were the way they were.

If you've ever watched the fireworks from Disney's 4th of July celebration (usually taking place on both 7/3 and 7/4 at Magic Kingdom), the crowds in the hub look daunting.  It might lead you to believe that crowds were out of control around this time. But the actual numbers here would lead you to the opposite conclusion.  As a side note, looking at crowds just in the hub around fireworks time (for ANY show) give a skewed view of what that day's crowds were like.  Most people who remain in Magic Kingdom at that time are watching the fireworks, meaning a large number of people are condensed into a relatively small space.  That also means wait times during the fireworks will generally be substantially lower.  But I digress ...

Weekday vs. Weekend Crowd Analysis

 

I keep a pretty regular eye on the crowd patterns at Walt Disney World ... so you don't have to!  Even when I don't have a trip coming up, I am interested in trends, as that can inform a decision on when to visit again.  Things have shifted a lot over the years, and Disney has gotten more savvy by programming events during formerly "slow" times to even out crowd levels throughout the year.

Actually, that's not entirely true.  Some things are beyond Disney's control, such as school breaks, holidays and weather.  Christmas season will ALWAYS be busy (a bold prediction if I do say so) and a time such as early September, with hurricane season in full effect and schools just back in session, will likely be quieter.  Disney's goal really is just to bring in more people during slow times - a good rule of thumb is that it's never really "slow" at any time, just varying degrees of busy.

Genie+ Now Priced Per Park

 

Disney recently announced more changes to Genie+ - they simply can't stop tinkering with it!  The journey to this point has been a long one, so I won't recap all of it but some of the "highlights" include Genie+ not being available for pre-purchase, variable pricing by date and the ability to modify your reservation (that last one at least is a positive).

The variable pricing was probably the biggest sea change, as originally it came out as one fixed price. Now the pricing is based on Disney's expected crowd level, meaning that the busier and more crowded the parks are, the more Genie+ would cost you.  Disney has pushed the envelope with the pricing, maxing out (so far) at $35 per person during this past Easter season.

Disney World Ticket Price Inflation

 

If you live in the real world, you won't be surprised to hear that things today cost more than things did a year ago.  And that things a year ago cost more than these same things five years ago.  This is true pretty much everywhere, and Walt Disney World is no exception.  If you last went on a trip ten years ago and wanted to price out that exact vacation again now, you should be prepared for some sticker shock.

But do all increases happen at the same rate?  I got to thinking about this when I saw the shocking increase in ticket prices between our last trip and our upcoming one, and I did some digging.  The short answer is no - at least in this particular case, the percentage increase in ticket prices is far higher than other increases.  But there are several factors that might affect this, which we'll discuss below.  The bigger question is why this is, and I'm not sure I have a great answer to that.

The Disney Dining Plan - Is It Right For You?

 

We're back today with a topic that carries a lot of weight among Disney fans - the return of the Disney Dining Plan.  As noted in that post, the original announcement was short on details.  Now that the Dining Plan is available to book (for visits starting January 9, 2024), we have a lot more information about what is included, what isn't, and most importantly, the pricing.

This post will take a look at those things and try to answer the impossible question - is the Disney Dining Plan "worth it"?  Or at the very least, is it right for YOU.  As you might surmise from the word "impossible", there is no real way to answer that question (if you're looking for a simple yes/no, you can probably stop reading this right now).  But we're going to crunch some numbers and talk about how these plans can best be leveraged for your vacation, and then you will hopefully have the information you need to make an informed decision.

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser to Close September 30

 

In a somewhat surprising move, Disney announced today that the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser is taking its "final voyage" this coming September 28-30, 2023.  This post will discuss what happened, why it's happening and what it might mean for future projects.

This blog didn't talk all that much about the Starcruiser for two reasons - one, this is WDW-centric blog, largely focused on the parks, and this technically doesn't qualify.  And two, we never had the opportunity to experience it firsthand, so there was no sort of "review" that could be done that would be reflective of our own personal feelings.

Dining Plan Returns, Park Reservations (Mostly) Eliminated and More!

Disney dropped a big chunk of news related to 2024 visits today and there is a LOT to get to.  It's funny timing, as I was just talking to someone yesterday about a 2024 trip and we realized that park tickets weren't available yet.  I looked back, and 2023 packages went on sale on June 8, so I had a feeling it was coming soon.  I guess I just didn't realize HOW soon, as this news then broke today.

These bits of news run the gamut, but they all have to do with trips that would begin in 2024 (specifically January 9, 2024, in most cases).  There's always a bit of dread when I see that new Disney news is dropping, but there wasn't any cause for concern this time (which, to be honest, has been the case with a lot of recent news - a good trend!).  All of these things are good news in different ways, so let's dig in and talk about them one at a time.