MickeyBlog News for January 1st, 2024
Happy holidays, everyone!
Depending on when you read this, 2023 only has a few hours left, or we’ve already entered 2024. If so, welcome to the world of tomorrow!
At Disney theme parks, the past week blurred the lines between reality and fiction as crowds surged to levels previously unseen at the parks.
In this week’s MickeyBlog News update, we’re gonna focus on a wild week at Walt Disney World.
The Most Wonderful and BUSIEST Time of the Year
Throughout the year, I often joke about how theme park crowds aren’t bad, at least not when compared to Christmas Week.
Well, we just lived through Christmas Week, and if you were at Walt Disney World, you will never forget it.
One of the best calendar configurations, with Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve falling on Sunday, led to a massive upswing in attendance.
Even by holiday standards, the past week stood out for its crowds and frenzied activities.
MickeyBlog’s noble park reporters braved the mobs to take photographs of the memorable event.
Here’s Kristin Sabol, who crushed it this week with her writing, recounting the wacky events of Friday, December 29th.
No, you aren’t imagining those wait times. In fact, they remained steady throughout the week.
Here’s my recap from Thursday, which was, if anything, even more crowded.
When DINOSAUR lists a 110-minute wait, you know Walt Disney World has gone plaid with its park crowds.
Disney officials anticipated all this and did what it could to control traffic.
At the parks, rare characters appeared for a limited time. Santa Goofy arrived at EPCOT, while a showstopper held court at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Friends, Duffy the Disney Bear hung out at the park during Christmas Week!
I can count on one hand how often Disney has done this, not counting after-hours ticketed events.
Park officials were desperate to distribute the crowds as much as possible in the face of wait times that were comically large.
About the Disney World Crowds
As I’ve mentioned, I can always tell how big a story is by whether my non-Disney friends mention it.
They were obsessively tracking theme park wait times this week.
One joked that the wait time at Avatar Flight of Passage exceeded the length of the film!
At one point, you could have nearly watched both Avatar movies in the time you needed to stand in line for the attraction.
The estimated wait approached five hours! That’s…too much, especially for a park that was only open for 12 hours on that date.
Not coincidentally, Disney Genie+ sold out for the first time ever at Animal Kingdom.
This sellout occurred despite Disney increasing the prices of Disney Genie+ last week.
The price stayed the same throughout Christmas Week, with guests paying up to $39 plus tax each to enter the shorter digital queues.
Even at those prices, guests happily (well, grumpily) paid, as they didn’t feel they had much choice with such lengthy wait times.
Hollywood Studios sold out multiple days this week, and Friday qualified as a first for Disney Genie+.
Currently, Disney sells five versions of the service. Four of them sold out on Friday! By the end of the day, only Magic Kingdom remained available.
The whole experience provides an amusing capper to the July 4th discussion.
On the other huge annual holiday, the calendar configuration and sweltering heat combined led to an attendance decline.
Critics proclaimed that fewer guests were visiting Disney. Nobody is saying that this week. As proof, Walt DIsney World tracked its most crowded day since 2019!
Disney’s attendance was as large as I can ever recall. If you’re visiting in January, you shouldn’t worry, though.
The crowds will dissipate around January 3rd or 4th as people return home after holiday vacation.
Disney Miscellany
You’ve got parties to attend and bowl games to watch, so I’ll keep today’s update brief.
Disney has announced the New Year’s Eve festivities at Walt Disney World.
Three of the parks will celebrate the New Year, with EPCOT and Hollywood Studios hosting DJs and dance parties.
Meanwhile, EPCOT and Magic Kingdom will ring in the New Year with fireworks presentations.
At Disneyland, a freak chemical accident injured two Disney cast members.
That’s the second incident of its kind in 2023. Disney may want to evaluate its safety protocols in dealing with chemicals.
In more predictable news, one Disney attraction required evacuation this week. With crowds this size, something was bound to happen.
The attraction in question was Pirates of the Caribbean, but it could have been any of them.
Ride maintenance is particularly challenging with this much daily traffic.
Not coincidentally, many attractions receive overhauls in January and February.
In fact, Disney just announced a Frozen Ever After refurbishment coming next month.
Speaking of Frozen, Central Florida was a bit nippy this past week. So, park officials went ahead and closed Blizzard Beach for a few days.
You have to laugh that a place called Blizzard Beach closes when it gets too cold.
Finally, I want to draw attention to one of the most important aspects of Disney each year.
Cast members quietly work to bring dreams into reality for sick children.
Here are a few Make-A-Wish highlights from the year, as well as Disney celebrating the historic year.
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