Walt Disney World to build new value resort

by Leigh Caldwell on

Walt Disney World says construction will begin this summer on its first new hotel in seven years.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will largely consist of “family suites” that sleep up to six people.

There’s no word on how Disney’s family suites will be configured, but other resorts that offer family suites typically have a larger room that includes a partially walled off space outfitted for children, with bunk beds and a separate television.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will be built on a site that was once planned as a second phase of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, called “The Legendary Years.”

Walt Disney World has two partially built structures on the property. Construction on them was halted when Disney abandoned plans for Pop Century’s second phase several years ago.

The new resort will celebrate animation with themed sections from its movies, including “The Lion King” and “Cars,” according to the Sentinel’s report.

The hotel will be considered a “value” resort, Disney’s term for its lower priced properties, where rooms currently start at $82 per night. It is expected to open in 2012.

Walt Disney World offers free tickets for stranded European travelers

by Leigh Caldwell on

Walt Disney World is offering free one-day park hopper tickets to travelers stuck in the Orlando area because of the air travel disruption in Europe.

The tickets will be available today and Wednesday and are good for admission to the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT (to see the spring Flower and Garden Festival, perhaps), Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. These passes also include admission to Disney World’s two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon.

To get a free Disney World ticket, you must show a canceled airline ticket or expired boarding pass for a European flight, as well as a passport or other photo ID. You can also get reimbursed for Disney’s $14-per-day parking fees if you have to pay them to get to the parks.

SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Aquatica started offering a similar deal over the weekend.

The Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau is maintaining an online list of of hotel and attraction discounts available to those stranded by the volcanic ash cloud.

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Are Disney’s buses dangerous?

by Leigh Caldwell on

Walt Disney World has long touted its comprehensive bus system in a long list of reasons while staying at a Disney resort is a great value. When you stay “on property” at Disney World, you get free transportation to all the Disney resorts, theme parks and other recreation areas.

But three bus crashes in a two-week span, including one that killed a 9-year-old boy, have critics saying a computer system inside Disney’s buses could be too much of a distraction.

The “Magic in Motion” system routes buses in real-time, rather than scheduling all the routes in advance of a shift. The system requires bus drivers to input a 5-digit code into a computer on the bus before they arrive at their destination. It’s a feat Disney says is easily accomplished while waiting at a stoplight or parking gate.

But some Disney bus drivers and a local union leader told the Orlando Sentinel that the system is distracting and requires drivers to take their eyes off the road.

For its part, Disney says it is developing software to further automate the system so that drivers don’t need to enter anything into the on-board computers.

And that’s great. Disney, and any other travel company for that matter, should be continually innovating to improve safety. But for what it’s worth, authorities say that distracted driving did not contribute to any of the three recent Disney bus crashes.

Anytime there is an accident at Walt Disney World, people panic and seem to overlook the fact that tens of thousands of people ride on these buses every day, at a 40-square mile resort dotted with 4- and 6-lane highways. The bus system is as complex as many cities. In fact, its fleet is larger than the city bus systems in Tampa and Orlando.

There are going to be accidents.

Personally, I’m more worried about a scene I see nearly every time I drive on Walt Disney World property: A family driving a rental car 60 miles per hour in unfamiliar territory, while mom takes pictures out the window and dad talks on his cell phone and messes with the GPS.

That’s distracted driving at its best.

No lines at Walt Disney World? Theme park tests new ‘queue-less’ wait system

by Leigh Caldwell on

Walt Disney World is testing a system that would ask guests to ditch the lines and wait in a holding area at some of its most popular attractions.

Tests inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Tuesday and Wednesday assigned group numbers to those wanting to ride the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

These tests appear similar to a concept for a revamped Dumbo ride in Walt Disney World’s upcoming Fantasyland expansion project. Disney has said that rather than waiting in line, guests will be invited to play carnival games and enjoy entertainment in the air-conditioned circus tent in the renderings below, while awaiting their turn to ride the flying elephants.

Studios Central says that the test at the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster worked like this: Guests were assigned the group number, then led to a tented standby area where there was a DJ and video games (such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero.) There was also merchandise on sale in the standby area, which is not surprising. This is Disney, after all.The waiting system that was tested this week isn’t a scheduled appointment to ride where you could leave the ride and come back later. You are expected to stay in the designated waiting area. Signs warned that if you weren’t there within 5 minutes of your group being called, you would lose your place in the queue.

The test also did not replace Disney’s “Fastpass” system, where you do obtain a ticket with a certain time assigned that allows you to come back and ride popular rides with less wait. Fastpass was still running at the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. But there is no Fastpass for the Dumbo ride’s current incarnation.

Keep in mind, this was a test. The ‘queue-less’ waiting system that is installed when the Fantasyland expansion is completed in 2012 or 2013 could be totally different.

I guess the advantage is the entertainment and freedom to sit down or move around a bit when you would otherwise be standing in a line. But I don’t think this system actually reduces wait times. I do think it will be a boon to parents. It’s hard to corral kids in a hour-long line. What do you think?

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Walt Disney World hotels urban legend debunked

by Leigh Caldwell on

Even if you haven’t stayed at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, you have seen the convention hotel complex if you have visited EPCOT. The postmodern resort designed by American architect Michael Graves is visible from several places in the park.

The triangular hotel with leaves painted on it is the Dolphin, and the rounded one with waves is the Swan. Which seems to be the opposite of what they should be, right?

And thus, a Disney urban legend was born. It says that when the iconic sculptures on top of the two hotels were hoisted into place, they were put on the wrong buildings, and the names of the hotels had to be changed.

At Yesterland.com, Werner Weiss aims to put the urban legend to rest once and for all. Weiss recounts a conversation with Disney historian Jim Korkis, who has first-hand knowledge of Graves’ intent.

The real story, according to Korkis, is that the Dolphin hotel was raised up from the ocean bed by a volcano or earthquake, and the two dolphins on the roof were raised up with it. It’s an island now, which accounts for the leaves on the building. The swans on the companion building stopped to look at this phenomenon and were turned to stone.

Weiss has many more details, but among the other gems from the interview was the idea that Graves, who then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner handpicked to design the hotels, didn’t even like Disney. According to Korkis, Graves “freely admitted that seeing a four-foot mouse walking around in the parks was just ‘wrong’ as far as he was concerned.”%Gallery-86600%

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