Greetings Magic Makers!

It was an eventful week at Disney World this week. We said goodbye to Tom Sawyer Island and had mixed reports about crowds and prices for the Fourth of July holiday-week. Read on for details!

Trivia Question

In the 90-foot Mary Blair mosaic that towers over the Grand Canyon Concourse inside Disney’s Contemporary Resort, one whimsical animal is famously “extra-legged.” What is it, and how many legs does it have?

Quick Reads

🌠Nighttime Parade Returns — Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away glides down Main Street starting July 20 with glowing floats, Moana, Mirabel, Mickey in shimmer blues, and serious Main Street Electrical Parade nostalgia. Read more

💸Deal Alert — Half-price kids’ tickets (3-9) now through Sept 20 plus up to 30 % off select rooms Aug 1–Oct 11. Read more

🚤 VIP Fireworks Cruise Review — Business Insider says the $500 pontoon splits to ~$55 pp for ten…no toe-crushing hub crowds. I’m skeptical on the “discounted” price, but maybe it’s for you. Read more

🏊 Cool Kid Summer Perk — Resort guests score free water-park admission on check-in day; Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon are running. (IMO: opening Typhoon Lagoon made a major difference; over the 4th of July the water parks were much less crowded than Blizzard Beach was during Spring break) Read more

🍽️ Dining App Glow-Up — New reservation filters & calendar view drop the 5 am scramble for Cinderella’s Royal Table. Read more

Park Magic At Home

Club Cool is selling these Coca-Cola branded slushy makers. Amazon has it for less — and you don’t have to figure out how to wedge it into your carry-on.

Deeper Dive: What We Learned Over Fourth of July

Conventional wisdom is to avoid Disney World over holidays because it is simply too packed. Five or ten years ago, that was great advice.

Mind you, my family never took that advice. We love to be at Disney World on the 4th of July. The fireworks are just that good. Seriously. Now, we aren’t crazy — we aren’t in Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. We are almost always at the Polynesian for the 4th (and the 3rd — when you can get a preview of the holiday show). Most years we even splurge and stay in the Hawaii building so that we have a guaranteed primo spot on the beach. There’s nothing like rolling up to the best fireworks show you’ve ever seen 30-seconds before it starts and getting a prime viewing location.

But things have changed for the holidays (4th of July and others). Annual passes are a big factor. Most of the Florida resident passes “block out” attendance on and around the holidays. This helps thin out the crowd in a meaningful way.

This year, there’s also the Universal Epic Universe factor, which, quite frankly, we don’t fully understand yet. For the first time in decades there’s a brand-new massive park with amazing IP in town. And that is surely drawing a few folks away who would otherwise be at Disney World.

International visitors to the US are down (broadly speaking — not Disney specific). According to Forbes, 33% fewer Canadians visited the US in June than they did in June 2024. 4th of July stats obviously aren’t available yet and Canadian travelers don’t make up all of the international visitors to Disney. But there’s something there.

There was also quite a bit of rain. July 3rd fireworks were delayed ~20 minutes due to weather. I think we were cleared from the pool three times over the 3rd and the 4th due to weather. And it rained pretty hard on the 5th. Yes, it’s Florida in the summer and much of this is normal. But if you were lucky enough to be in a park right after a rainstorm, you found some low wait times. 15 minutes for Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios? Yes, please.

So what does it mean for your next trip?

Those factors combined to mean (generally) shorter wait times throughout the parks over the holiday. That’s unusual. Ride lines were manageable despite a number of marquee attractions being closed (including Big Thunder Mountain and Test Track).

Will reasonable lines happen again around Christmas? My guess is that it will. Impact from Universal’s Epic Universe will likely ramp up — as they expand capacity and work out kinks in the operation. Block out dates still exist on the annual passes. All told, we are unlikely to see 10 of 10 crowd levels coupled with 60-90 minute waits for anything resembling an e-ticket ride.

Trivia Answer

It’s a mountain goat with five legs—Mary Blair’s playful wink to eagle-eyed guests. 😉

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you in the next edition!

Don’t forget, as a faithful subscriber, you have access to Savannah Brooks, our Disney World Planning Assistant. You can ask her questions here: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-687174fc59448191b8495662c8f245cb-minutes-to-magic-planner-bot

As always, feel free to hit reply and let us know what you’re thinking… or to ask us a question.

Mike