Walt Disney World News Roundup July 2021
There is so much changing at Walt Disney World right now that we thought we'd better do another roundup.
First, we'll start with the old news for some, with some new information.
Fireworks are Back!
They're back, baby! Fireworks returned to Walt Disney World at the Magic Kingdom mid-May. At this time, all fireworks shows are back except for Fantasmic. This is one of the latest changes as things improve with the pandemic here in the United States. Other changes have included the removal of the requirement for guests who are vaccinated to wear masks, and removing many social distancing markers. FastPass plus signs have been seen being restored as well, and speculation is that that system will also soon return.
The newest news in terms of fireworks is that Walt Disney World is welcoming two new fireworks shows on October 1st of this year in celebration of the 50th anniversary. The first of these is one we've already written about, EPCOT HarmoniUS which will FINALLY debut this October (right now, EPCOT Forever is still playing). The second of these is a new Magic Kingdom fireworks show called Disney Enchantment. We've all come to love the light projections on the castle during Happily Ever After, and now, with Disney Enchantment, these projections are going to be extended all the way down the buildings of Main Street USA.
Up next....
The Dining Plan is Coming Back
Along with announcing that Disney Resort guests would be able to enter the parks 30 min early, Disney also announced that they do plan to bring back the Disney Dining Plan. The date, however, was not yet announced, but we imagine it will be before or on October 1st as part of the 59th anniversary celebrations.
The advantage of the Dining Plan is convenience. In most cases, unless Disney is offering a "free dining" promotion, you will pay about the same or more for this plan each day than you would spend if you paid for the meals out of pocket.... UNLESS you maximize your dining and select the most expensive meals at the most expensive restaurants. So, although there was some speculation that Disney cut the Dining Plan to save money, that seems unlikely. It seems more likely that the Dining Plan was unsustainable when few restaurants were open and reservations were going away quickly. The last thing Disney would want is guests that pre-paid their dining and then become upset when they can't actually use the credits.
So now that dining is returning, many wonder whether there will be a free dining promotion soon. We would speculate this is unlikely. Free dining promotions are used to encourage guests to come to Walt Disney World, and based on attendance and demand lately, guests do not need encouragement right now. Americans are itching to travel. Disney will not need to offer steep promotions like free dining for quite some time until the wanderlust returns to normal levels.
Speaking of wanderlust...
Crowd Calendars are Back
Ok, crowd calendars always existed throughout the pandemic, but many say they could not possibly be accurate. This is because crowd calendars use historic attendance data as well as historic ride capacity and number of operational attractions and compare the two to come up with a crowd index (how crowded the park will feel). If we know anything, we know that 2020 and early 2021 were anything but normal times. Therefore, crowd calendars likely struggled to anticipate what a realistic crowd index would be when capacity in the parks was artificially limited, ride capacity was artificially limited, and many attractions were not fully staffed.
However, Walt Disney World released more new Park Passes starting in July, further increasing capacity to a point at which many predict park passes will no longer be sold out every single day as they have been. In other words, capacity is beginning to look like actual park capacity with the likelihood of a park selling out only appearing on holidays and days with major park events. This brings the capacity at which parks operate much closer to historic park capacity, which makes the crowd calendars more accurate.
In other news...
Contemporary Resort Re-Imagining
Rooms at the Contemporary Resort are getting a facelift. We previously talked about how rooms at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort were being subtly renovated with Moana themes. Well, a similar thing is now happening at the Contemporary Resort, with an Incredibles theme.
Photo credit: Disney Parks Blog
We'll be honest: At first we wondered "why Incredibles?" and then "must everything really be tied to a movie now?". While the second question remains unanswered, the more we think about it, the more the Incredibles seems to fit in, given the architecture in the movies is somewhat on the modern side of midcentury modern. Which is pretty much exactly what the Contemporary Resort is going for. While we kinda wish everything didn't have to be themed to a movie all the time, we do appreciate the subtlety of the theme in the room.
New Daytime Show Coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom
In October (yes, we have the 50th anniversary to thank for many things), a new daytime show is coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park called Disney KiteTails. It will include kites and windcatchers, some of which will be 30 feet long. We can't help but think of Tapestry of Nations, the beloved kite, stilt, and drums parade that went around the World Showcase lagoon 20 years ago. Without the stilts, this looks like the same magic in a way that is safer for the performers. Below is a short concept video loop from Disney's official website.
The State of the Virus
So much of Walt Disney World's offerings has been in response to the pandemic, we feel we can't truly talk about changes to Walt Disney World without acknowledging the state of the pandemic at this time, which, in the United States, right now, is a very controlled state. As a country, we have the opportunity to roll out vaccines to anyone who wants one which is an amazing privilege compared to some countries around the world. It's also summer here, which always reduces virus activity, and the delta variant is not yet the dominant variant in the country (though it likely will be).
This is why our CDC advice is that vaccinated people should consider themselves protected and do not need to wear a mask. Unvaccinated people should be concerned about the delta variant in particular and should wear a mask and social distance. In other words, for the vaccinated, our country is basically wide open now.
This is different than the advice of the World Health Organization, which encourages even the vaccinated to wear masks in public places and continue social distancing to reduce the spread of the virus.
So, why does this matter when it comes to Walt Disney World? We'll repeat ourselves when we say that Walt Disney World is a global tourist destination. Residing in the United States, it is subject to the rules of the CDC, but the tourists visiting are from all over the world, and ultimately, the CDC and many local governments leave it up to business to decide how to conduct business. Fall will come, as will the delta variant, and while we hope that vaccinations continue to increase, Florida, at this time, is one of the less vaccinated states in our country with just less than half the population fully vaccinated.
The bottom line is, this opens up a risk that restrictions might be necessary later this summer or into Fall, so we will be watching closely and you should too if you are making travel plans.
Right now, though, things have not looked this good in a long while and we are exciting for the changes and experiences coming to Walt Disney World!
A note about the blog: We have lots of great content planned for the near future, including our continuation of guides to Walt Disney World for different types of guests including seniors, geeks, foodies, and Disney-lovers. However, our site needs a little bit of structural work to make it more easily navigable, and we're planning to prioritize that work, which means there might be a week or two in the near future where we do not publish a new blog. We'll try to keep sending Disney news your way on our Facebook page, and of course, that's the best place to follow to see when a new blog is posted. Your patience is appreciated!
Until next time...
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