Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Closing

[cdoc29]

Disney announced they are closing SOTMK Jan 24th. So sad, we have a trip planned in February and planned an extra day at MK just to play. My son (who has ASD) worked hard to complete his deck by email trades so we could play them next month. My hope is they are closing it to redevelop it into something new/better.

 

[buzzrelly]

Disney announced they are closing SOTMK Jan 24th. So sad, we have a trip planned in February and planned an extra day at MK just to play. My son (who has ASD) worked hard to complete his deck by email trades so we could play them next month. My hops is they are closing it to redevelop it into something new/better.

Sad news. My DS used to love playing and we all loved collecting the cards.

 

[revdon64]

Oh C'mon! Why? SOTMK was one of the best parts of my last trip with my then 8y/o son. He couldn't wait to go back and do it again.

 

[DisneyOma]

Oh no - one of our favorite things to do!

 

[DWillowBay]

I'm really sorry to see this go. Things change. I get it. But it was a nice alternative activity that was engaging, but with a low stimulation. Nice 'down time' activity.

 

[MinBz]

I’m disappointed too. Last trip (Sept 2020) We ran into a young boy playing it with his father and they were so sweet to tell us all about it. We didn’t know about it and it sounded so fun to do. We were going to try it this year with our soon to be 8 yr old daughter when we went back in June. So sad we won’t get to try it.

 

[tlmadden73]

Disney announced they are closing SOTMK Jan 24th. So sad, we have a trip planned in February and planned an extra day at MK just to play. My son (who has ASD) worked hard to complete his deck by email trades so we could play them next month. My hope is they are closing it to redevelop it into something new/better.

They may replace it eventually, but I doubt they have any plans for the near future. Dollars to donuts it is just a cost savings measure at this point and shutting down an "attraction" that just isn't being heavily utilized but they still have to pay to staff. (Plus the cost of keeping the tech up and running).

They could capitalize on closing it down and put their remaining stock of cards up for sale on Shop Disney. I'm sure a ton of fans would want to buy some more cards to complete a collection.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Oh so sad, I’m 38, but my friend and I played once during party season when everything had long lines, and it was super fun! Fingers crossed for new fun somewhere down the road!

 

[Bucknut2710]

I was disappointed to hear this news too! I'm 33 and never had a chance to do it. Hopefully by the time by kids are a little older and we take them to WDW they have a replacement.

 

[EMHDad]

I just read that sorcerers is closing. Anyone know anything. I am going on 1/11 & 1/15. Will it bw open or closed?

 

[Skippyboo]

Closing Jan 24. So you are still okay

 

[gatorlisa]

This is a bummer. It was a fun activity to do mid day when lines were long. And every time I have played I've usually had to wait for at least one or two people to finish to take my turn at a portal, so it seemed like it was still reasonably popular. Running costs for it had to be extremely low. I had been working on a second deck for my nephew for the next time he goes, but guess there won't be a whole lot of point to giving him the cards now.

 

[Fangorn]

When we were there last month, most of the portals had been deactivated because the "socially distanced" queues for the rides are layed out such that they block the portals completely. With so many unavailable, they may have just decided to close it completely.

Steve

 

[polynor]

This is disappointing. We finally played it on our trip last July and my 6yo LOVED it and talks about playing it again. we just got a survey about our upcoming trip and how committed are we to taking it, I might have answered differently had I known.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

I was wondering why we couldn't find the binders when I went this past December as well as the ongoing tech issues.

This is sad news though because I loved doing it as an alternative to rides and as a nice distraction. I never finished a game but loved collecting the cards and I would have been the type to buy a ticket to a special event in part for the limited card.

 

[kwdw]

I am bummed about it! I loved playing it between doing other things in the parks, and collecting the cards, and sharing the game/cards with new players. It was another thing to do and was great when lines were long.

 

[crayon3448]

Disappointing but not entirely surprising. The article I read said usage was down and I see this with our family. My husband used to play this a lot- I have photos of our daughter as an infant in a baby carrier playing with him (she's 8 now) but the past few years he mostly stopped. 2 reasons- it got repetitive but also the park hours kept getting shorter and shorter (and I'm not even talking about the hours now with the pandemic). When MK was open til midnight on regular nights we'd have time to play. When they cut the hours, they cut the time to do these extras while still trying to get in all the rides.

 

[DisneyOma]

After reading about it on some sites, it seems like Disney wants us staring at our phones all day. or at least walking around with our phones in our hands, ugh. Magic bands are not free with a room reservation, so they want us to use our phones to pull up FP+ at the tapstyles, and there were hints that anything new coming to MK that resembles SOTMK will be accessed through a phone app? When I'm at Disney I don't want to have my phone out all the time. It comes out to check the FP+ we've already made (screenshot as my lock screen) and to take a few photos. Now it sounds like I'm going to have to pull it out to tap in everywhere, or try to use an old magic band, or buy a new one, and then still have my phone out to play any cool interactive stuff in the parks. I'm just not one of those people with a phone glued to my hand in real life, and I certainly don't want to be one on vacation.

 

[yulilin3]

After reading about it on some sites, it seems like Disney wants us staring at our phones all day. or at least walking around with our phones in our hands, ugh. Magic bands are not free with a room reservation, so they want us to use our phones to pull up FP+ at the tapstyles, and there were hints that anything new coming to MK that resembles SOTMK will be accessed through a phone app? When I'm at Disney I don't want to have my phone out all the time. It comes out to check the FP+ we've already made (screenshot as my lock screen) and to take a few photos. Now it sounds like I'm going to have to pull it out to tap in everywhere, or try to use an old magic band, or buy a new one, and then still have my phone out to play any cool interactive stuff in the parks. I'm just not one of those people with a phone glued to my hand in real life, and I certainly don't want to be one on vacation.

It's all coming through Disney Genie whenever that is put into place, it was announced a couple of years ago so start warming up to the idea or continue using the physical ticket media (cards)

 

[TikiRob]

Wow. We played this for the first time in December and my 11yo was having a blast running around playing this. Hopefully they change their mind and at least incorporate it into the play app. There were lines to do this, even now during the pandemic.