Epcot is probably a lot like your kitchen at home. You’ve wanted to remodel it for years, but you know it’s going to be expensive, disruptive, time-consuming, and ultimately, everything you currently have more or less works, even if it’s not the latest and greatest. Well, Disney has finally decided to take the plunge, and the renovation is going to be expensive, disruptive, and time-consuming. At the end of the day on February 15th, Electric Umbrella and the pin store behind Spaceship Earth closed, and Disney walled off the middle of the Park, requiring a variety of bypasses and temporary walkways to move about Future World. In this post, we’ll take a walk around the Park to get an idea about the sorts of things that we’re going to see over the next couple of years as Epcot’s transformation continues.

You can click any of these images for a larger version, which may provide more context and clarity than the standard 800 pixels across.

Continue reading “What Epcot’s Future World West Looks Like with the Middle of the Park Closed Plus Rope Drop Changes”

We pick things up on the morning of Tuesday, February 11th, 2020, at exactly 11:30am. In Part One, we returned to Early Morning Magic, the paid event at Magic Kingdom that currently comes with a Cinderella 70th anniversary twist. Part Two followed with a foray into Storybook Circus for The Barnstormer and Tron construction pictures, before ultimately returning to Tomorrowland for the PeopleMover and now the Carousel of Progress.

This is where we’ve been:

1. Meet Fairy Godmother: 7:51am – 7:54am
2. Say hello to Suzy and Perla: 7:55am – 7:57am
3. Try to marry Anastasia Tremaine again: 7:58am – 8am
4. Peter Pan’s Flight: 8:01am – 8:09am
5. Peter Pan’s Flight: 8:10am – 8:16am
6. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:18am – 8:29am
7. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:30am – 8:37am
8. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:38am – 8:48am
9. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 8:51am – 8:57am
10. Space Mountain: 9:02am – 9:27am
11. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: 9:28am – 9:39am
12. Breakfast at Cosmic Ray’s: 9:40am – 10:10am
13. The Barnstormer: 10:15am – 10:43am
14. Visiting the Lilly Belle: 10:44am – 10:48am
15. The PeopleMover: 11:02am – 11:18am
16. Carousel of Progress: 11:20am – 11:45am

At this point in the day, it’s time to continue visiting the anytime attractions, while beginning to mix in our three pre-booked FastPass+ selections. Thanks to Early Morning Magic, I’ve already experienced the Fantasyland headliners, in addition to two Tomorrowland priorities in Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. That’s allowed me to book FastPass+ for a few priority attractions in other Lands:

Continue reading “Magic Kingdom Late Morning February 2020 Touring”

We pick things up from our review of Early Morning Magic, which included an exclusive hour in Fantasyland to tackle the priorities there. I also stopped by Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This is where we’ve been:

1. Meet Fairy Godmother: 7:51am – 7:54am
2. Say hello to Suzy and Perla: 7:55am – 7:57am
3. Try to marry Anastasia Tremaine again: 7:58am – 8am
4. Peter Pan’s Flight: 8:01am – 8:09am
5. Peter Pan’s Flight: 8:10am – 8:16am
6. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:18am – 8:29am
7. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:30am – 8:37am
8. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:38am – 8:48am
9. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 8:51am – 8:57am
10. Space Mountain: 9:02am – 9:27am
11. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: 9:28am – 9:39am
12. Breakfast at Cosmic Ray’s: 9:40am – 10:10am

If you’re not attending Early Morning Magic, then you can still follow along with this post for the most part, with the assumption that we started with Space Mountain at regular Park open and then moved on from there. The 30 minutes that I spent at Cosmic Ray’s could be substituted with Tomorrowland Speedway or Astro Orbiter, both of which would take around that much time at 9:40am.

In the picture above, the wait for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is already up to 130 minutes at 10:11am. I was able to ride three times during Early Morning Magic without waiting longer than five minutes, and could have ridden another time or two if I hadn’t been busy with the pictures, trying to marry Anastasia, and the other attractions. Riding three times now would take 390 minutes, which is not three hours and ninety minutes, but rather six-and-a-half hours. If you were to get in line at 10:11am, and then wait the 130 minutes, you’d be off the ride at approximately 12:21pm, which is just in time for lunch at Cosmic Ray’s.

Continue reading “Magic Kingdom Morning Touring on a Busy Day After Early Morning Magic”

We head out to Magic Kingdom Park on the unseasonably warm, unseasonably foggy morning of Tuesday, February 11th, 2020.

We’re here for Early Morning Magic, which you shouldn’t confuse with Extra Magic Hours, Disney After Hours, Villains After Hours, Extra Extra Magic Hours, Magic Morning, or any other possible combination of similar words.

Continue reading “Review and Strategy: Disney Early Morning Magic at Magic Kingdom with Character Bonus”

Disney made another round of changes to the operating hours at Hollywood Studios today. You’ll notice that the Park is now opening at 8am daily from March 1st through the 14th:

We still don’t see 7am opens during Presidents Day Weekend or as the busy spring break season gets underway moving through March. It’s possible that Disney will try to continue with the 8am opens, hoping that a similar number of people will arrive for a later opening.

Continue reading “Hollywood Studios Hours Extended During the First Half of March, April’s Morning EMH Moved to Evening EMH”