PIXELMANIA October 20th-24th 2021

Unfortunately at least for now, I haven't been able to make my schedule, and DVC availability, work for this year's Pixelmania. I haven't ruled it out - if more resorts open and become available, I might still consider jumping in. But for now, I was working on booking a bunch of trips now that the outdoor mask requirement has been lifted...and I was able to get a July 4th weekend (2nd through 6th) booked (Saratoga), my 'usual' September trip for Food & Wine (which this year is running for essentially half of the year!), my dates are later than usual on 9/24-9/28 (Saratoga again), and a December trip which has always been a tradition (had to pick the 2nd week in December as the first week was all booked up - so 12/10-12/14 - Saratoga again). Pretty much no chance to get my home resort of Boardwalk...or pretty much anything else. I don't know if it's because some resorts are still closed, but those remaining have strange patterns such as all rooms booked for Friday only, or Monday only, but the other days are available. I could try to figure out some kind of crazy mixed-resort trip hopping from one to another, but I decided to just look for something that had all the days I wanted in a row, and that meant Saratoga for all three trips. Which honestly is fine, because I like the proximity to Disney Springs for nighttime entertainment and walkability...I'll miss walking directly into some parks, but since things aren't all back to normal yet, I'll take what I can get.

Since 1971 - the longest period of time I've ever gone without visiting a Disney park - previous record - 8 months. Now new record - 16 months! From March 2, 2020 to July 2, 2021. Still no annual passes available...still require resort reservations each day...still many restaurants closed and some resorts closed...still lots of shows, fireworks, etc still off...still masks required on rides and indoors. So still some more to go before it's 'normal' again. But it's a start. I purchased daily hopper passes for July, but holding off buying for the September and December trips to see if the annual pass comes out by then, and maybe they'll drop the park reservation requirement by then and restore fast passes by the end of the year.

I did check the Pixelmania dates in DVC, and couldn't find any more than 2 nights available out of the 5 nights at any DVC location, including Saratoga and OKW. Tried studio and 1-bedroom. Oh well! I'll still keep an eye on it - I usually wouldn't take another vacation so soon after the September trip, but since I went last year with only 3 vacation days out of the 20 I get, and this year, no vacation days until July...I have plenty left over!
 
Unfortunately I already have my 3 days reserved and will be in use. I'd have to cancel and re-book. Then I'd have to stop visiting the parks for 3 months. I can't see reserving them that far in advance without booking a room at a resort. Maybe I'll get lucky nearer the time of the event.

Perhaps we can just meet up at Springs for a meal at least. Would be nice to see everyone again.

-- Jeff
 
Jeff Krause said:
Unfortunately I already have my 3 days reserved and will be in use. I'd have to cancel and re-book. Then I'd have to stop visiting the parks for 3 months. I can't see reserving them that far in advance without booking a room at a resort. Maybe I'll get lucky nearer the time of the event.

Perhaps we can just meet up at Springs for a meal at least. Would be nice to see everyone again.

-- Jeff
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Worst case scenario... if there’s at least one park available (even if it’s the same one every day), you book the open park... walk in to scan your ticket, then back out and hop over to the park of the day at 1pm/2pm when hopping opens up. Granted, you miss the mornings... but it’s better than nothing.


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Jeff Krause said:
Unfortunately I already have my 3 days reserved and will be in use. I'd have to cancel and re-book. Then I'd have to stop visiting the parks for 3 months. I can't see reserving them that far in advance without booking a room at a resort. Maybe I'll get lucky nearer the time of the event.

Perhaps we can just meet up at Springs for a meal at least. Would be nice to see everyone again.

-- Jeff
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Some of us are planning on doing Halloween Horror nights at Universal on Sunday October 17th. You're welcome to join us there, if you dare. ☠️

We can phone in news of your untimely demise to your place of employment on Monday morning, so you don't have to go to work that day. Then you can miraculously rise from the dead and go in on Tuesday. It would be totally believable.

I'm curious as to why you have to wait 3 months to go back to the parks. I'm guessing you have some sort of a Florida seasonal pass.

Wednesday we hope to be at that hotel restaurant that has the tasty bread service. Technically I'm not revealing where we'll actually be since we don't have reservations and plans may have to change, but the spreads are numerous and people rave about them like animals, or so I've heard.

I'll stop now before I get yelled at.
~Joanie
 
Joanie Eddis-Koch said:
Some of us are planning on doing Halloween Horror nights at Universal on Sunday October 17th. You're welcome to join us there, if you dare. ☠️

We can phone in news of your untimely demise to your place of employment on Monday morning, so you don't have to go to work that day. Then you can miraculously rise from the dead and go in on Tuesday. It would be totally believable.

I'm curious as to why you have to wait 3 months to go back to the parks. I'm guessing you have some sort of a Florida seasonal pass.

Wednesday we hope to be at that hotel restaurant that has the tasty bread service. Technically I'm not revealing where we'll actually be since we don't have reservations and plans may have to change, but the spreads are numerous and people rave about them like animals, or so I've heard.

I'll stop now before I get yelled at.
~Joanie
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Of course that sounds like fun. Planing your own untimely demise for "reasons". Oh and maybe joining the fun at Universal too. Thanks for the offer of legitimacy. I'll consider it and get back to you.

AP holders only get 3 passes. So I spend them wisely. Oct 1st (50th) and July 4th (in case things go shooting in the air in the middle of a lagoon) are already taken on my calendar. So that leaves only 1 pass to play with. I wish this park pass thing would go away soon.

The bread service place sounds good. I hope to be there if and when a plan happens.

-- Jeff
 
Jeff Krause said:
Of course that sounds like fun. Planing your own untimely demise for "reasons". Oh and maybe joining the fun at Universal too. Thanks for the offer of legitimacy. I'll consider it and get back to you.

AP holders only get 3 passes. So I spend them wisely. Oct 1st (50th) and July 4th (in case things go shooting in the air in the middle of a lagoon) are already taken on my calendar. So that leaves only 1 pass to play with. I wish this park pass thing would go away soon.

The bread service place sounds good. I hope to be there if and when a plan happens.

-- Jeff
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Staying offsite with an AP, you can only have 3 park passes at a time. After midnight, you can get another to replace the one used today. So that means that you can book your next Park pass after you use the one on July 4th and then you'd have to wait until Oct. 2nd to book another one (Using your existing park reservations).

I stole this off of the Dis Boards to explain park hopping with the stupid Park Reservation bull crap:

This is a thread intended to talk about everything to do with park hopping as we understand there are many questions.

Time: Park Hopping officially begins at 2:00 PM each day.

Park Hopping Capacity: There may be times that a park is closed to park hopping IF it has reached Park Hopping capacity.

To date, park hopping has always been allowed to all parks, even when all parks were full for new park reservations.

Park Reservation Capacity vs Park Hopping Capacity: Park capacity for daily reservations is not the same as park capacity for park hopping. If a park has reached capacity to book a daily reservation, this does not automatically mean you cannot hop to it.

Park Hopping Phone Number: To find out if a park is open for park hopping, guests may call 1-407-560-5000.

Park Hopping Requirement: In order to hop to a second park, a guest must have tapped into the park where they have booked a reservation for that day. Guests cannot just go to the second park even if it is after 2:00 PM.

Returning to Original Park: A guest can always return to the original park they had a reservation for. Even if it is at capacity for hopping, a guest with a reservation may enter their original park at any time that day.

Advanced Dining Reservations (ADR): An ADR may be booked at a park a guest intends to hop to but an ADR does not guarantee entrance to that park if it has reached park hopping capacity. (Reiterating that as of today a park has never reached capacity for hopping.) How the no-show fee for a missed reservation due to inability to hop has not yet been an issue so it is not known if the $10/person no-show fee would be charged or if this fee would be waived by Disney.

Park Hopper Tickets: The park hopping option must be added to the entire number of days of the ticket. It is not possible to add Park Hopping to only a portion of the ticket.

Park Hopping to Multiple Parks: It is possible to hop to as many parks as a guest wishes to after 2:00 PM. There is not limit as long as there is availability.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I too, hate with a passion, the park reservation system.
~Joanie
 
[emoji3595][emoji3595] what she and he said… $170+ for 3 hours of walking around (since I don’t do a lot of rides). Though I suppose that since the Mickey premium bars are free (after waiting in an hour long line)… you could grab about 3dozen or so to make your money back.


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while i am pretty sure i could eat enough mickey bars to amortize the cost down to $5.00 dollars a bar, i am not sure i would live to the next day from the sugar load on my body, and i know i can rock a 600 blood sugar and still be coherent, at least as much as coherent is for me. personal experience you see. i don't really want to go do a fastpass to celebration hospital
 
gary said:
while i am pretty sure i could eat enough mickey bars to amortize the cost down to $5.00 dollars a bar, i am not sure i would live to the next day from the sugar load on my body, and i know i can rock a 600 blood sugar and still be coherent, at least as much as coherent is for me. personal experience you see. i don't really want to go do a fastpass to celebration hospital
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Take a cooler for your “diabetic supplies” then stack your freezer full back at the Villa.


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I'll be interested to see if today's announcement of the return of fireworks on July 1 doesn't result in a change to the offerings of Boo Bash to add fireworks to that event as well. Sales do seem to be pretty heavy though so it may not be needed to drive demand.

As others have noted, if things stay the same with only 3 Park Pass reservations for a non-resort guest Passholder my attendance will likely be a late decision based on Park Pass availability. That is likely to change a lot in the coming months as they continue to ramp up capacity but it will still be a late September call for me vs locking up my allocation of 3 and blocking me out of the parks for months.

EDIT- Just saw an update. Happily Ever after on Boo Bash nights just before the park closes to non Boo Bash ticket holders. No specific Halloween fireworks show for Boo Bash.
 
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News of Yeeha Bob's return. The only fly in the ointment is will entertainment be offered as soon as the resort opens on Oct. 14th

From the Dis Boards: https://www.disboards.com/threads/yeeha-bob.3844562/#post-63171279
"From Port Orleans.org: Popular Port Orleans Riverside 'piano man' entertainer "Ye Haa" Bob Jackson has just shared via his Sunday weekly livestream show that in answer to everyone's questions, he hopes to be able to return to his previous nightly sessions at the River Roost Lounge as soon as the stage finally reopens. Apparently his musician's contract with Disney requires them to offer him his job back if he wants it - and he's just as eager to be back as we are to have him!"

https://www.portorleans.org/news.php?first=110721

Popular Port Orleans Riverside 'piano man' entertainer "Ye Haa" Bob Jackson has just shared via his Sunday weekly livestream show (https://www.facebook.com/yehaabob/video ... 5709115722) ((He addresses the opening announcement at the 9 minute mark in the Video)) that in answer to everyone's questions, he hopes to be able to return to his previous nightly sessions at the River Roost Lounge as soon as the stage finally reopens. Apparently his musician's contract with Disney requires them to offer him his job back if he wants it - and he's just as eager to be back as we are to have him!

While the resort is now known to be re-opening on October 14th, we don't yet know whether the Lounge will be commencing entertainment offerings at the same time - so we might still have to wait a little longer, but at least there's light at the end of the tunnel."

~Joanie
 
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Joanie Eddis-Koch said:
Bob was quoted on his video blog as saying that he expects his show to start up around 3 weeks after Riverside opens.

~J
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Good to know… I have some friends coming down just after I leave and I recommended Boatwright’s and Bob (if he was playing). He most likely will not so I can tell them to go somewhere else.


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FYI for anyone not following quite so closely.

WDW has resumed facial covering requirements when indoors or onboard Disney transportation effective on Friday regardless of vaccination status. All guests and CMs will be required to wear masks when indoors.
 
Prevailing rumor… Genie+ to debut on or around the 17th [emoji15]. Let’s hope that it doesn’t glitch out too much.
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mSummers said:
Well that sucks. I thoroughly enjoyed the reasonable queue times last week caused by a lack of a second line screwing everything up. It was so nice to see the attractions operating as they are supposed to.

At least I get to enjoy that a couple extra days before that starts up.
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those short waits were more a product of crazy low crowds than anything else. Even if this had been in place, everything would still be a walk on with attendance that low.
 
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