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I wanted to thank you for your appreciative comments and praise of the parade. It's a lot of hard work, sweat and muscle, but it's worth it. :) I don't know if you are a guest that has visited the parks or a fellow cast member, but I wanted to thank you either way. :)

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However, I was upset to read that Port Orleans French Quarter was being temporarily closed - do this mean that Port Orleans Riverside will be 'heaving' with guests in February? (if French Quarter guests are being transferred to Riverside).

Also, we used to love the walk from 'Dixie' to 'Port Orleans' - will this now be off limits?

Any comments you could offer would be gratefully received Brian.

Site continues to be a wealth of info for us - keep up the good work!

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The guests that were booked at the French Quarter are being moved to resorts all over WDW. Mostly, they are going to the other moderates... but I know that some guests have been up-sold to some of the pricier resorts, too.

I have no idea whether or not the carriage walk will remain open to guests. Frankly, I suspect that it will be open but that, with no reason to make the walk, very few guests will take the stroll.

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And what do you know? We had a terrific time, and were affected by very few of the cutbacks! In fact, the reduced amount of crowds added to our appreciation of the parks! I've been a regular visitor of WDW since its opening in the early 70's, and have stayed at most of the hotels, so I think I have a fairly good standard to judge by, and frankly, I had very few complaints on this trip!

My biggest concern was the cutback of hours of operation by the parks, as that's one of the main reasons for staying at one of the Disney hotels. In particular, I was concerned that the Magic Kingdom was closing too early. And perhaps we might have stayed there longer than we did, but we got to be there to see the lights in the evening and even enjoyed a Fantasy in the Sky fireworks show before beating the crowds out of the park. But in those afternoon hours, we walked on practically every ride we wanted to go on and only used Fastpass for Peter Pan's Flight (which I doubt will ever be empty!). Yes, I was disappointed not to see the Carousel of Progress again, but that was probably my major disappointment for the trip. Many of the Fastpass rides weren't using it, and although there were plenty of people visiting the parks, it was not the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that make the average trip somewhat miserable. (I think Disney believes that anything less than a jam-packed park means it's sparsely-attended..!) Epcot, as well, was easy to visit, and was open into the evening hours. Even the Disney MGM Studios was a delight. I ran to get my Fastpass for Tower of Terror, and then walked on the ride 3 times in the space of a half an hour before I could use it! The evening hours were spent at Victoria and Albert's (a restaurant I had always wanted to try, but could not get reservations), or the Adventurers' Club on Pleasure Island, or visiting the other hotels.

All in all, it was a terrific trip, and we enjoyed it immensely. The cutbacks were not as obvious to us as they may be to others, and frankly, I have to say I would encourage anyone to take a trip to WDW now--before it regains popularity and gets crowded again! The air fares are cheap, the planes are not crowded, and the parks are more delightful than ever (for the most part!) and definitely worth the trip. The perceived value may seem less because of the reduced hours and attractions, but the reduced crowds and stress easily make up for it.

Just thought I'd let you know!

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I'm so glad you still had a great trip Thanks for letting me know!

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We've booked a vacation to Disney World, Orlando, for this coming February 2002 for me, my husband, and our 3 kids ages 4, 8 and 11. I live in New Jersey and watched the 9/11 travesty out of my office building across the Raritan River in NJ, so no thanks to the plane ride - we're taking Amtrak to Orlando - which costs $200 round trip for adults, $100 round trip per kid - We're staying at the Contemporary Hotel in Disney, and got the limited concierge 12th floor (our little 4 yr old is a bit of a terror, and we needed to be near the monorails, character meals, quick food breakfasts/snacks etc...). Our travel agent told us to get a $40 Disney club card so we saved a lot of $. It isn't applicable to the 15th floor full concierge, only to the 12th limited and below.

Anyway, I'm trying to make preferred seating reservations for my husband and I at a few nice restaurants (California grill, Narcoossee's, Victoria and Albert's...) but I'm not sure about what time to make all these reservations. The kids will be booked at either the Neverland club at the Polynesian or at our Mickey club at the Contemporary Hotel on those evenings me and my husband want to have a nice dinner. I don't' want to make the reservations too early or too late, but also don't want them to interfere with perhaps that once a week parade they may have due to cutbacks.

Can you assist? I called the hotel directly - all they said was that there is no more early entry in light of the 9/11 event - they need to keep careful watch on who arrives and they didn't have a full crew during early entry. The characters come to the hotel instead. They also didn't know when the parks would be open or closed in February. Do you know of a normal February 2001 schedule that I can at least work off of? This was the only time we could take the kids out of school. We know it is very off season, but what the heck - a vacation is still a vacation!

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I would suggest, to be conservative, that you use the hours listed on the WDW Cutbacks page as you plan your trip.

Unfortunately, there is no way to tell what the park hours or parade schedule will be that far in advance -- even during the "normal" situation, Disney doesn't share that information this far in advance.

The restaurants you mentioned are all located in the resort hotels, so you shouldn't have a time problem other than, as you mentioned, the possibility of scheduling over a parade. You can avoid that, for the most part, by scheduling your nice dinners on nights other than Friday and Saturday as they are the most likely days to have a nighttime parade if one is held.

I hope you have a great trip! I think you'll really enjoy the Contemporary. It's a very stylish resort.

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I have no idea! My best suggestion would be to call (407) WDW-DINE and ask the reservationist that question.

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Go to the site and just click on Hot Hotel Rates and it will list all the participating hotels, the rates, and the code you need to use (OCVB). There are also links that describe the amenities, including whether they offer a free buffet breakfast or not.

Hope this helps.

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Anyway, I am a CM at Disneyland Anaheim and I was planning on going to WDW in about a year. But one of the reasons why I was going is now closed: the Carousel of Progress. I am not sure I want to go.

I have never been there and I know there is more to see over there, but for a Disney fan like me, Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress would be the highlight of the trip. I have never seen it before in any of its incarnations (1964 World's Fair, Disneyland, WDW) and I feel like I was cheated out of seeing it. Now I don't know if I'm going to be able to see it at all.

But, I have an idea: bring the Carousel back to Disneyland. It would make perfect sense! The Innoventions attraction in Tomorrowland is really tanking because people think it's boring. I think they should put the Carousel show on the first floor and Innoventions on the second floor.

The corporate sponsors would still have their exhibits and Tomorrowland would see the return of an all-time great show! The show and the exhibits would fit together because the theme is the progress of technology. And believe me, there is a HUGE fan base for the Carousel here. The locals and hard-core fans would go NUTS.

Let's hope the suits realize there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow for Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress at Disneyland.

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Any time around Christmas (up to a week or so after New Year's) is still very busy. Of course, the actual week between the two holidays is the most busy.

If you can delay your visit until the middle or end of January, you'll be in a much less crowded situation.

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Also, I have never nor my family been to Florida or WDW where should we begin planning our WDW vacation? We will be staying at a resort, so no need for hotel reservations, but what should I plan to see on a one week vacation with a husband, 2 daughters, and 1 son?

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You know your daughter better than I, so I think you'll have to evaluate the flying vs. ground transportation issue.

I would suggest you go over MousePlanet's WDW Trip Planning Guide. There you'll find lots of information about planning a trip.

If you have some specific questions after you've gone through the guide, things that I haven't made clear or covered at all, then feel free to email me back! Have a great trip!

Click here to see some awesome WDW pieces that have run on MousePlanet recently!

Click here to check out the rest of Brian's Archive, including all of the previously published "Notes From the World" pieces!

I've always gotten email about the WDW Trip Planning Guide, but since we added the feedback form to the site several months ago, the number of questions has increased dramatically!  I do my best to answer each and every question personally, but I've noticed that a lot of the questions are asked again and again.  The question that one person asks might very well be the question that someone else is wondering about.  Thus this page!

So...I'll post reader email and feedback every once in a while, because the question someone else asks might be the same one you're thinking about yourself!