News Round Up 2020

[Anthony Vito]

Just to look at the other side - maybe the beancounters saw how active the "upgrade" program was going and they think people who want one will still just pay the $10 for one with a character they want anyway. And even first timers will say, well, might as well for an extra $10/person ... Cheaper than a lot of other souvenirs. And maybe some other people who just take the free one as it is "free" but still like getting one each trip will now pay the $10 they weren't paying before

Plus I could see Disney including magic bands with special packages to make it see like added value (like a exclusive summer printed one with the summer and fun package)

Granted I am saying this as someone who loves magic bands and usually has like 10 with me each trip to switch up each day and will definitely continue to pay for them going forward

I do it too. We bring a gallon size ziploc with us on each trip with all our special bands. I have specific bands for each park lol.

Yeah same here - between my wife and I we have a number of limited edition ones that trigger different colored lights and music at the different parks. Favorite might be my wife's Tiki Room one that sings "Tiki, Tiki, Tiki" when scanned anywhere in MK

The only one I have with effects is the Railroad one from the 45th Anniversary (plays a train sound). That was my favorite for a while, especially when it was the only black one that was out.

Here's our set up for our bands at home:


(sorry about being rotated). Got that on Amazon.

We also have this one that we got on Amazon. Not as nice as the wood one, and it's a bit big, so if they're sized down for kids/women, the bands barely fit on it. However, it's great because it disassembles and is light and easy to pack. So we bring this with us and set it up in the hotel room to hold our bands during the trip:

MagicBand holder.

 

[sherlockmiles]

This is probably the only change I'm excited about:

As someone who always buys the photo package, its frustrating to wait for the the photographers to take a set of pictures - and then take them all over again with guest phones.......or every phone of everyone in the party......

 

[Anthony Vito]

aaaaand here is the predicted savings for buying into DVC this summer:

New Members looking to purchase Disney Vacation Club can receive the following savings:

When You Purchase…	You’ll Save…
150 to 199 Vacation Points	$2,250 to $2,985
200 to 299 Vacation Points	$5,000 to $7,475
300 to 499 Vacation Points	$9,000 to $14,970

Additionally, current members looking to add additional Disney Vacation Club points are eligible for the following discounts:

When You Purchase…	You’ll Save…
100 to 124 Vacation Points	$500 to $620
125 to 149 Vacation Points	$1,875 to $2,235
150 to 199 Vacation Points	$3,750 to $4,975
200 to 299 Vacation Points	$7,000 to $10,465
300 to 499 Vacation Points	$12,000 to $19,960

https://dvcfan.com/2020/06/22/new-summer-savings-announced-for-disney-vacation-club/

Those are pretty significant discounts, especially for existing members. 150 points at $170/point or $200 at $160/point. That brings it down near to the resale prices at some of the resorts (or below in some cases).

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is probably the only change I'm excited about:

As someone who always buys the photo package, its frustrating to wait for the the photographers to take a set of pictures - and then take them all over again with guest phones.......or every phone of everyone in the party......

As someone who usually gets memory maker I often will still take my own pictures of have the CM take one with my camera, just as a back up in case something goes wrong with photo pass

But I do agree some people take it pretty far with wanting 17 shots each with 6 different cameras.

Worst one we had was a coup in front of us who got a number taken with their camera and then when they were done with the meet and greet they were looking over their photos and decided they weren't good enough so they came back, interrupted our meet and greet so they could retake the photos

 

[Anthony Vito]

View this content on Instagram

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Ok, I looked at this and went, holy crap, I want that face mask.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

NEWS

Everglazed Donuts and Cold Brew coming to Disney Springs

https://twitter.com/x/status/1275792344604971008

 

[Helvetica]

2021 Resort Reservations are now open!

All-Stars, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge aren't available.

https://blogmickey.com/2020/06/list...ions-today-and-those-that-didnt-make-the-cut/

 

[CastAStone]

2021 Resort Reservations are now open!

All-Stars, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge aren't available.

https://blogmickey.com/2020/06/list...ions-today-and-those-that-didnt-make-the-cut/

Can personally confirm it's working as intended.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

2021 Resort Reservations are now open!

All-Stars, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge aren't available.

https://blogmickey.com/2020/06/list...ions-today-and-those-that-didnt-make-the-cut/

In the dedicated thread there are some reports from people who booked. Some info:
- can book park hoppers
- cannot modify 2020 into 2021
- can still select plain magic bands
- price wise, someone mentioned booking Pop for Feb 2021 and was over $200/night

 

[Craig Larson]

In the dedicated thread there are some reports from people who booked. Some info:
- can book park hoppers
- cannot modify 2020 into 2021
- can still select plain magic bands
- price wise, someone mentioned booking Pop for Feb 2021 and was over $200/night

Can confirm the POP info. Just looking into options if we decide not to go in August. Looking at February vacaction for my kids, Feb 12-20 for standard room shows an average cost of $240 per night.

 

[tlmadden73]

2021 Resort Reservations are now open!

All-Stars, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge aren't available.

https://blogmickey.com/2020/06/list...ions-today-and-those-that-didnt-make-the-cut/

Oh .. didn't realize 2021 reservations would be open today.

And that's a lot of popular resorts NOT accepting reservations for 2021. Are they really planning on not being at full capacity and not having those resorts not open? I wonder why those? Simply because they are the "farthest" away from any of the parks and require buses 100% of the time?

I'll book something, just to have it on the books .. just not sure when ... or how(like what tickets to get) .. (I mean the way things are going what will the parks be like in January? February? Spring Break? Next Summer? Eesh).

How are prices? I am getting the "We're Almost in Orbit" error on the pages.

 

[CastAStone]

In the dedicated thread there are some reports from people who booked. Some info:
- can book park hoppers
- cannot modify 2020 into 2021
- can still select plain magic bands
- price wise, someone mentioned booking Pop for Feb 2021 and was over $200/night

Thank you! I'm going to go grab MBs before they realize their mistake!

 

[tlmadden73]

Can confirm the POP info. Just looking into options if we decide not to go in August. Looking at February vacaction for my kids, Feb 12-20 for standard room shows an average cost of $240 per night.

Good gravy .. $240/night for FEBRUARY? For a VALUE? I was struggling paying near $200/night for Little Mermaid rooms this past June.

 

[unbanshee]

Disney World Claims Disney Park Pass System Didn’t Have Glitches, Blames User Error

https://blogmickey.com/2020/06/disn...system-didnt-have-glitches-blames-user-error/

 

[CastAStone]

In the dedicated thread there are some reports from people who booked. Some info:
- can book park hoppers
- cannot modify 2020 into 2021
- can still select plain magic bands
- price wise, someone mentioned booking Pop for Feb 2021 and was over $200/night

P.S. According to the Mousesavers data, Pop was over $200 246 nights last year for a standard room, including 17/29 days in February, so nothing new there. February is becoming the new high season.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Good gravy .. $240/night for FEBRUARY? For a VALUE?

someone else just quoted POP for next July is (including tax) average $367/night

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Good gravy .. $240/night for FEBRUARY? For a VALUE?

That's in line for what 2020 was. The week in question is President's Day week which occurs on Feb 15th 2021. This year it was Feb 17th,2020. According to Mousesavers the weeks before and after Presidents Day were considered Spring rates (as opposed to Value rates).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

someone else just quoted POP for next July is (including tax) average $367/night

Now that's just crazy talk. Is that for a standard room? cuz that's pretty crazy and is even higher than what December's rates were listed on Mousesavers for 2020.

 

[CastAStone]

someone else just quoted POP for next July is (including tax) average $367/night

That is new. Pop's summer rates peaked at $290/night including tax for 4th of july in a Pool Preferred room in 2020. ☢☢☢

 

[skeeter31]

Yeah they’re not going to offer any discounts at this point. They are going to want to see what demand looks like at full price before rolling out any discounts at all.

And my thoughts on the closed resorts, I bet it’s a programming issue that they have those resorts closed now and the system can’t handle accepting reservations for them in the future either. Add to that the fact that they don’t know when they’ll open everyone of the closed resorts, so it’s just easier for them to leave them all closed for the bookings right now. I highly doubt they’ll all be closed next year, but they’ll just open availability once they need to.