Category: Disney

Play, Stay, and Dine Offer

Disney Dining Offer

Disney World is currently offering a Disney Dining Promo Card when you purchase a non-discounted package that includes a resort stay and park tickets on select resorts and days from late 2023 to early 2024.

The promo gives you a certain amount of dining credit on a digital gift card that can be used to purchase meals, snacks, treats, and beverages at participating dining locations across Walt Disney World Resort. The amount will vary depending on resort category and length of stay. A minimum stay of 4 resort and ticket days is required.

The offer is valid for stays that start on the following arrival dates:

  • Most nights October 27 to November 1, 2023
  • Most nights November 25 to November 29, 2023
  • Most nights December 9 to December 25, 2023
  • Most Sunday to Tuesday nights January 9, 2024 to March 5, 2024

The amount you get will be calculated approximately as such:

  • Up to $200 per room, per night at most Deluxe and Deluxe Villa Resorts
  • Up to $120 per room, per night at most Moderate Resorts
  • Up to $60 per room, per night at most Value Resorts

The number of packages available for this offer is limited so book soon. If you already have a stay booked on the eligible dates, you can call to see if this promo can be applied to it. Everyone in the same room must be on the same package. For more details about this offer, visit the Disney Play, Stay, and Dining Promo Card offer page.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat more about this or anything else related to planning your Disney trip.

Note: this is different from the Dining Plans, discussed in a separate post.

Disney Dining Offer

Skyliner Closures

Disney Skyliner

Heads up if you have a Disney World trip planned for January 2024. Disney just announced the following closures for the Skyliner for its annual maintenance.

  • Jan. 16-21, 2024
    • The line between Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Art of Animation, and Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort will be closed.
    • The line between Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be closed.
  • Jan. 16-27, 2024
    • The line between Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s Riviera Resort, and International Gateway at EPCOT will be closed.

Buses will be available for affected Skyliner resort guests to get to/from EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, which are the only parks normally accessible via the Skyliner.

If your trip is affected or if you want to chat about any other aspect of a Disney trip, feel free to contact me.

Haunted Mansion Parlor

Haunted Mansion Bar

Are you a Haunted Mansion fan?

Disney Cruise Line just announced that a Haunted Mansion themed lounge will be on the new Disney Treasure ship when it sets sail next December 2024!

This new lounge will bring to life the fan-favorite lore and styling from the Haunted Mansion park attractions around the world. Of course, specialty cocktails will capture the spirit of our ghostly friends and a new collection of Haunted Mansion inspired merchandise will be available.

Haunted Mansion cocktails

This will be the first Haunted Mansion inspired venue on the ships and parks. Perhaps, they’ll bring this concept to the parks next. I know many fans of the franchise have been hoping for this for a while.

The artist renderings look really cool so far! Are you excited? Do you want to sail on the Treasure?

Visit my Disney Treasure post for more revelations about this new ship.

Contact me if you want to chat about booking a cruise.

Hurry baaccckkkk!

Haunted Mansion ghosts

Pics ©Disney Cruise Line

Holiday Events Beginning Soon at Disney World

Frozen Holiday Show

Disney announced that a new Frozen Holiday Surprise show will be coming to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, and over 100 of his Snowgie siblings will decorate Cinderella Castle for the holidays, with Elsa transforming Cinderella Castle into a “shimmering crystallized palace” with her frozen fractals.

The show will start November 7, 2023 and will occur nightly during the holiday season. This means you can watch them light up the castle even if you’re not going to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Merry Managerie puppets

Don’t miss the holiday events at the other parks either. The Merry Menagerie, life-size, artisan-sculpted animal puppets, will return to the Animal Kingdom, the International Festival of the Holidays will be taking place in EPCOT, and a new Jollywood Nights party will be held on select nights at Hollywood Studios. More info coming soon on that one.

Gingerbread cookies

Disney also shared that preparations are underway to create the beautiful gingerbread houses and displays at the Disney resorts. They should start going up around mid-November. This year, there will be gingerbread displays at the following resorts:

  • Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
  • Disney’s Beach Club Resort
  • Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
  • Disney’s Contemporary Resort
  • Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
  • Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Disney Springs holidays

Disney Springs will join in the holiday fun with new decor and dining starting November 10th. You can also visit Santa and look for all of the incredibly themed trees on the Christmas Tree Stroll presented by AdventHealth. They are amazing!

Are you excited for the holidays at Disney? It is an especially beautiful and magical time to go.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.

Pics ©Disney

DisneyBand+ Available on the Dream

DisneyBand+

Disney Cruise Line announced that the DisneyBand+ will now be available for use on the Disney Dream ship starting November 20, 2023.

The band functionality is currently available on the Wish, Fantasy, and Magic ships already. They give you another way to open your cabin door, charge purchases to your cabin, and enhance your shipboard experience with fun sounds and lights. It is not required though and you will still get the current key cards.

The DisneyBand+ is the same as the MagicBand+ at the Disney parks and in fact, will work at both locations if you have one. There are some cool cruise designs but it doesn’t matter what the design is or where you buy it from – cruise ship, park, online. You can link the same one to both your park and cruise apps.

If you have a cruise booked on one of the enabled ships, you will see the link to purchase a MagicBand+ in your reservation 45 days before your sail date. That means those of you on that Nov 20th sailing can buy them now. You can’t buy from there before your 45th day if you have a farther sailing, though you can buy from other sources sooner.

You also have to buy them at least 10 days before your sail date so they have time to mail them to you, though I recommend at least two weeks, and don’t forget to factor in extra days if you’ll be leaving home sooner than your sail date.

Do you think you’ll get a DisneyBand+?

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about booking a cruise.

DisneyBand+

Pics ©Disney Cruise Line

Blizzard Beach Reopening

Blizzard Beach

Disney World’s Blizzard Beach water park will reopen on November 6, 2023! This winter-themed tropical wonderland is ready for another fun season!

If you don’t know, the two Disney water parks alternate closing for refurbishment in the winter months. Currently, Typhoon Lagoon is open, but it will close for a bit once Blizzard Beach reopens.

Blizzard Beach snowmen

New this year, you can buy a Disney Water Park Seasonal Pass valid for unlimited visits at either park from now until May 24, 2024 for $79 (adults) or $73 (child). Considering that a one-day ticket is just a few dollars less, it’s worth it to buy the annual pass if you visit two or more times before it expires. The seasonal pass has no block-out dates and no reservations are necessary.

Churros

Have you ever been to the Disney water parks? It’s a good way to do a semi-rest day and cool off between multiple theme park days. We love the water slides, wave pool, and lazy river. Don’t forget about the mini donuts either! Sooo good! There will be new churros and other snacks this year too.

If you want to chat about adding the water park pass or single-day tickets to your Disney trip, feel free to contact me.

Lazy river

Pics © Disney

Disneyland Price Increases

Disneyland California Adventure Park

In case you haven’t heard already, Disneyland in California increased prices for tickets and other items effective October 11, 2023. Here’s the rundown.

  • Magic Key Annual Passes increased by $50 for the “Imagine” and “Inspire” tiers, and $150 for the “Enchant” and “Believe” tiers.
  • Single-day tickets increased up to $15 depending on date. The lowest tier price remains unchanged. There are now date-based dynamic pricing tiers for tickets.
  • Multi-day tickets increased by $25 – $65 depending on length.
  • Park Hopper add-ons for multi-day tickets increased by $5 – $15 depending on length.
  • Genie+ add-ons increased $5 per day for pre-arrival purchases, but you can add them up to 120 days in advance now.
  • Genie+ day-of purchases start at $30 and go higher depending on the date. Magic Key holders still get a 20% discount for day-of purchases.
  • Parking at the theme park and Disneyland resort lots increased by $5.

For a bit of good news, Disneyland has announced a Child Ticket offer (ages 3 to 9) for as little as $50 per day for some visits between January 8, 2024 and March 10, 2024. These tickets will be available for purchase beginning Oct. 24, 2023.

Also, the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure rides will be added to Genie+.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.

Disneyland Small World Closing for Holiday Overlay

Disneyland Small World Ride

Heads up! The It’s a Small World attraction at Disneyland Park in California will be closed from Oct 23, 2023 through November 10, 2023 for its annual holiday overlay. Just be aware if you have a trip planned for this timeframe. It starts next Monday.

It’ll be gorgeous when it’s done. The above pic is from our trip there last December. Look at all those lights! There are holiday overlays inside the ride too. Beautiful! Check it out if you can.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.

Disney 100 Celebrations

Walt statue

October 16, 2023 is officially the 100th Anniversary of the Walt Disney Company. This was the day when Walt and Roy Disney signed the contract to create their first animated short in a little humble studio in California soon after arriving from their hometown in Missouri. The rest, as they say, is history.

To celebrate these 100 years of great stories and characters, Disney debuted a new short film featuring over 500 beloved characters from its long list of featured films. Once Upon a Studio is available now for streaming on Disney+.

Once Upon a Studio

In addition, Disney has restored a 4K version of its first full-length feature animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, now also available for streaming on Disney+. There is a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version too.

Disney100 on TikTok

TikTok and Disney have partnered together to create a unique Disney100 interactive experience on TikTok that features “unique Disney videos, trivia challenges, ‘Character Cards’ of favorite Disney characters to collect and trade, unique profile badges, and more. The new destination also lets you participate by creating your own videos with custom Disney effects and music. You can engage and connect with Disney fans while reliving favorite memories”. TikTok is also creating a Disney100 Playlist featuring popular hits from the Disney catalog.

Disney100: The Exhibition is traveling to various museums around the world still, currently in Chicago and London. The exhibit features tons of items from the Disney Archives and provides a look at the company’s achievements in films, parks, and many other facets.

Epcot 100

If you’re going to any of the Disney parks worldwide, you’ll see new decorations, events, foods, merchandise, and more commemorating this milestone. Some new rides and attractions are opening and for the next few months, there will be new Disney100 PhotoPass Magic Shots. Join in the festivities!

It’s been an amazing 100 years of unforgettable stories and memorable experiences. Do you have a Disney story?

Happy Disney100!

Walt n Roy Disney

Pics ©Disney

Disney World Room Deals

WDW Room Offers

In light of the recent price hikes, there are some Disney World Resort room deals to help with your trip costs.

For trips from now until March 2024, Disney has announced room offers that will save you 10%-30% on select nights. The amount varies depending on which resort you’re staying at, what day your trip starts, and how long your stay lasts.

If you purchase a package that includes a resort stay and park tickets, you may also qualify for a Dining Card up to $1000. The amount varies depending on length of stay, type of resort, and dates of stay as well. Lots of fine print for this one.

There are also regular offers for 35% savings for Annual Passholders and 30% savings for Florida residents.

You may want to check a few resort and date combinations or work with a travel agent (like me) who can help you do that, to see if you qualify for any offers and which offer gets you the best savings for your trip.

As always, feel free to contact me if you want to chat about planning a Disney trip.