Earlier today, Disney (via Marvel) announced that its 2019 runDisney “Virtual” races will be Marvel themed. Personally, I view “virtual” races as a little bit of a money grab (Elyssa and I are going to run 5Ks during those months, anyway, so why pay to be able to print out a “bib” to do it?), but if this is a chance for me to get a Captain America themed runDisney medal, I am ALL IN.
Of course, the announcement page doesn’t show any medals (just bibs), so we’ll have to wait a little longer to see what the medals look like.
In The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker says to Kylo Ren: “Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.” Though I wouldn’t got that far when evaluating this article from Blog Mickey, the seriousness of the headline and subject matter deserve some analysis.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration alerts consumers and retailers of the potential for serious injury from eating, drinking, or handling food products prepared by adding liquid nitrogen at the point of sale, immediately before consumption.
These products are often marketed under the names “Dragon’s Breath,” “Heaven’s Breath,” “nitro puff” and other similar names.
It further states that:
Foods and drinks prepared by adding liquid nitrogen immediately before consumption may be sold in malls, food courts, kiosks, state or local fairs, and other food retail locations. These products may include liquid nitrogen-infused colorful cereal or cheese puffs that emit a misty or smoke-like vapor. Similarly, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks prepared with liquid nitrogen emit a fog.
The Blog Mickey article ignores this second part of the warning and instead lists the issues the FDA has encountered from the above described use of liquid nitrogen in point-of-sale items drinks, etc… It also ignores this part of the FDA warning, that seems to encompass the nitro truffles that have been served at the Food & Wine Festival the past few years:
In general, other foods treated with liquid nitrogen prior to the point of sale and before consumption, for example some frozen confections, are treated in such a way that results in the complete evaporation of liquid nitrogen before reaching the consumer and are no longer at an extremely low temperature, and therefore do not pose a significant risk of injury.
This type of “frozen confection” is what the nitro chocolate truffles are. Further, there are no “misty or smoke-like vapors” or “fogs” emitted from the truffles.
If Blog Mickey is right about the FDA warning actually relating to the truffles (a point of view I disagree with), then I’m sure we’ll see a response from Disney before too long. Unfortunately, misinformation about the actual real subject matter of the warning could mean Disney just pulls the truffles to avoid the hassle. Personally, that would be a huge bummer (and I know Elyssa would be devastated.)
Here’s hoping that I’m on the right side of this one.
Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel
Sound Lion now closed at Disney Springs – Huh. I actually wandered into the store the other week while waiting for Elyssa. I imagine it was tough to get the kind of volume necessary in “high end headphones” to cover the Springs rent.
May 2017 Monorail service adjustments – Check this out: “From 11:30am to 6:00pm on May 16, 17, 23 and 24, stops at the Contemporary will be switched to the Express Monorail line. During this period, the Resort Monorail will shuttle between the Polynesian, Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom only. The Express Monorail will make stops at the TTC, Contemporary and Magic Kingdom. ” I’m sure that won’t confuse anyone.
Savor a Taste of the Pacific Northwest at Geyser Point Bar & Grill – Nice little promotional video for Geyser Point. Unfortunately, the food and service don’t really live up to the location. (At least from out experience.) Maybe when Roaring Fork is back open, there will be less stress on Geyser Point and the service will improve.
John and I are done with our trip down to WDW for the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon weekend, and I am the one putting together this Quick Hits post because John is driving (and blogging while driving is probably not that safe).
Here are some of the “new to us” items:
Small World Dress!
The Dress Shoppe @ Cherry Tree Lane. IT IS THE BEST AND I WANT ALL THE DRESSES! They aren’t free though, so I only bought one. I got the Small World pattern and love it. I tried a bunch of them on and they’re all really cute. I wish they’d had the Orange Bird one in stock. Cast Members said they’d been told much more stock would be coming in summer. Hopefully Disney recognizes the demand and we get even more patterns and styles.
BB-8 Meet & Greet. Droid please. He’s really cute and we thought this was a positive experience. One thing that’s different about the BB meet is you’re the only ones in the room with him; at most character meets, there’s a family or two behind you watching/waiting their turn. They brought us in to him alone. He’s a nicely attentive droid too – even though he doesn’t roll around, his head swivels and you can see him looking around based on where voices are coming from. The chirps are the cutest.
The Polite Pig. MEH. As North Carolinians, we have pretty high expectations for BBQ/southern food, so it’s a bit of a tough sell. The fast casual concept of ordering and then sitting down might be nice if they figure it out. When we went, they had clearly not ironed out the wrinkles in that system. When we initially got in the main line, which was pretty long and didn’t seem to be moving quickly, the CM handing out menus told us we could sit/order at the bar if we didn’t want to stand in line. So we went to the bar, where the lone bartender was clearly overwhelmed (both sides of the bar were almost at capacity). It took almost 10 minutes for us to even get water, but we stuck it out and ordered. I got mac & cheese and John got the brisket sandwich. John liked his sandwich okay. My mac & cheese just made me wish we’d gone to Homecomin. We both agreed that if we’d just gone to the bar at Homecomin, we could’ve gotten a better tasting meal in about the same amount of time though at a slightly higher cost. I don’t think we’ll really need to go here again, but it would be okay if sitting at the Homecomin bar is not an option for you.
Geyser Point. Beautiful views, not so beautiful food/service. When we sat, it took a while for a waitress to even acknowledge us. She gave us drink menus and seemed mad when we asked about food. Apparently, you are supposed to go over to the quick service counter (not clearly visible from the Geyser Point entrance) to get anything aside from 3-4 appetizer type things. Given that there’s a giant menu at the Geyser Point entrance showing all the options from the quick service counter, I’m sure lots of people walk in expecting those options. Yet, when we asked about them she huffed and acted like it was a giant hassle, so we just ordered drinks. John ended up just going over to the quick service counter to order some food. The food you get is definitely Disney quick service. That doesn’t mean it’s gross, but it’s replacement level. The food from Territory Lounge is much better. The views at Geyser Point are really pretty though, so I can see us getting some stuff from Territory to go and posting up at Geyser Point to eat it and enjoy their drink menu. *Note that you can only get food discounts (like AP) if you order directly from the quick service counter.
Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. What we had of the new menu was good – John had the King Triton breakfast calzone and enjoyed it. I had the Tower of Pancakes, which were thick and fluffy. Each table gets a skillet of breakfast pastries when they sit, and the pastries are themed to Rapunzel & Ariel (the two princesses you meet). Character interactions were solid. Flynn Ryder comes out first, then Rapunzel, Eric, and finally Ariel. While each character meets tables individually, the two couples do dance around the restaurant a little together, so if you’re in a good position, you could get a photo of Rapunzel with Flynn and Ariel with Eric, they just don’t come to your table together. Overall, the breakfast was fun, but it was a little bit of a bummer, because we really liked the old Trattoria breakfast. It was a great option to fuel before heading into International Gateway at World Showcase opening. Now, the breakfast is more expensive (because of the characters) and some of our favorite menu options are gone. We may end up at the Bon Voyage breakfast again, but not as often as we went to the old Trattoria breakfast.
Il Mulino. This restaurant is by no means new, but we’ve never been so this is new to us. The disclaimer is that the purpose of this dinner was to have a mild, carb-y dinner before Saturday’s 10k. If it were a normal meal, we may have ordered different things. The atmosphere was nothing to write home about. It was pretty enough, but there certainly aren’t any exciting views. The wine list looked nice, but we stuck to water like good little runners. We both ordered pasta dishes – I got a linguine in a “spicy” red sauce. It was not spicy, and I probably wouldn’t order it again. John got the pappardelle dish and really liked it. I can’t see us choosing this over Tutto Italia unless we’re staying in the Swan or Dolphin and simply don’t feel like going into Epcot.
Paddlefish. Food was pretty good and a decent value. We had the lobster corn dogs from the appetizer section and those were quite tasty. Everything else was fine too, but not significantly memorable. You won’t have any trouble getting a table and it’s certainly not the type of restaurant to rush you through your meal, so I think Paddlefish is a good option if you want a longer/lazier meal at Disney Springs. If you get a window seat you can wave to the Amphicars.
Tiffins. OMNOMNOMNOMNOM. Seriously lives up to the rave reviews we’ve seen elsewhere. We were there on the Rivers of Light dining package, which means we got more food than we probably would have otherwise. The package includes an appetizer, entree, and dessert for each person. To start, I got the octopus and John got the lobster soup. John’s summation of the soup is that it was good, but he prefers traditional lobster bisque. We both really liked the octopus. I could’ve eaten 3 or 4 of those. For entrees, I had the Waygu pasta dish, which was delicious, and John got the Waygu beef and short ribs. This is one place where you don’t have to worry so much about Disney overcooking – the beef was insanely tender and tasty. We both got the chocolate dessert because chocolate. It was so good and now I’m seriously craving another one. After dinner, the waiter brought our Rivers of Light tickets along with a GLOWING LOTUS FLOWER POPCORN BUCKET. It didn’t have any popcorn in it, but it only cost $1.50 to fill it at any of the popcorn stands. The only negative from Tiffins was that our waiter told us they were out of Kungaloosh. We were both shocked since they only have 3 beers on the menu, but John audibled and got the Tempting Tigress instead. When we went to Nomad almost immediately after Tiffins, John tried ordering the Kungaloosh again and it was available. Not sure if they got a new keg in or if our waiter was misinformed/playing a cruel joke.
Rivers of Light
Rivers of Light. I tweeted this, but I seriously don’t understand how people are unimpressed with this show. It was beautiful. Even though it was kind of windy and you could see where the water screens were rippling, it was delightful. The shadows during the preshow were entrancing and the glowing animals during the show itself made me so happy. The synchronized water effects were incredible. I also really liked the cast members on the boats dancing and contributing through the shadow puppets. I do think they need to make the narration louder or put in more speakers, because there were definitely parts that were difficult to hear, but overall I really enjoyed it. John definitely will not go this far, but now that Celebrate the Magic is gone, this is my favorite nighttime show. I’m not really a fireworks fan though, so you can take that with several salt grains.
Additional thoughts from the trip:
We watched our last Wishes. Here’s hoping that Happily Ever After is a suitable replacement.
Ample Hills being open to 11:00pm is a good thing. Frankly, it should be 24 hours, because duh.
Uniqlo has awesome deals and is a great option if you forgot to pack some essential piece of clothing.
The race expo was a little underwhelming compared to prior expos, and we may post more about the race stuff.
Territory Lounge has a new spicy watermelon margarita that I loved.
There is a dumb waitress at Sanaa who kept insisting she was bringing me the bread service sauce I was requesting, even though it was clearly the Tomato-Date Jam instead of the Red Chili Sambal. So I sat there with four of the WRONG sauce until another table’s waitress noticed and brought me the RIGHT sauce, explaining that they had been mislabeled, but she could tell the difference by looking at the sauces instead of the label (AS COULD ANYONE WITH EYES). Our waitress never apologized. She’s the worst. I was right. I’m not still bitter about this or anything.
Disney-Pixar’s “Cars 3” Nationwide Tour Kicks off at Disney Springs – Denise over at Mouse Steps has coverage of the “tour” the will be promoting the new movie. It include replicas of the cars, games, etc… Not really my thing, but I can see why people would really like it.
Bob Iger’s Contract Extended to July 2, 2019 – These kind of corporate maneuverings are not usually something I write about, but Iger has had an “interesting” relationship with the parks. To date, I would argue there have been some negatives (e.g., the trend of “up charge events”, lower staffing during certain periods), but we’re about to start on some big changes (e.g. Avatar, Star Wars, Toy Story), so it should be interesting.
Virtual tours of Copper Creek Villas – I’ve previously said this is where Elyssa & I might buy DVC, but that was before I saw the maintenance dues.
Pandora – Everything You Need To Know – I’m going to leave this here, since I don’t do an “info dump” nuggets. This is a pretty comprehensive rundown from the TouringPlans gang.
Sign Up Now For The runDisney Virtual Running Shorts Series – Elyssa and I do 1 (or more) runDisney events per year, and–I admit–I did this last year. I just wanted the medals (which I thought looked cool.) I’m not sure I’ll ever do it again (and definitely not for these medals.)
Grab-and-Go Menu Available at Art Smith’s Homecomin’! – Something to keep in mind if you’re walking around Disney Springs. The to-go menu is available from the Shine Bar (which has a separate entrance you can use.)
Martha’s Vineyard Review at Disney’s Beach Club from easyWDW. – I don’t normally post reviews like this in the News Nuggets, but I found this review of Martha’s “Graveyard” to be interesting for it’s overall positive tone. At a minimum, Josh has a good tip that the beer selection is pretty decent.
If you weren’t one of the people waiting 24+ hours in various lines at Star Wars: Celebration, you might have missed some of the news that came out this weekend. As a Disney World focused site (and someone who still hasn’t decided if he’s going to even watch any of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailers before seeing the movie), the coverage here is going to focus on news related to Disney theme parks. That said, let’s start with the preview video Disney put together to discuss the new “total immersion” experience:
Disney has since provided additional details about the setting of the new theme park land mentioned in the video:
[T]his mysterious destination somewhere on the Outer Rim — lying on the edge of the Unknown Regions. The remote village was once a busy crossroads along the old sub-lightspeed trade routes, but the prominence of the outpost has been bypassed with the rise of hyperspace travel. Now home to those who prefer less attention, it has become a thriving port for smugglers, rogue traders and adventurers traveling between the frontier and uncharted space. It’s also a convenient safe-haven for others intent on avoiding the expanding reach of the First Order.
That covers the major highlights for me, but If you want to watch the full panel, The DIS has posted a video.With Bob Iger’s contract set to end on July 2, 2019, there’s a lot to do if he’s going to have this all ready before he walks out the door.
Attractions Magazine has a rundown of the Star Wars: Galactic Nights event that took place this weekend (and is almost assuredly going to be offered as a hard ticket event on an ongoing basis before too long.) For me, the highlight was the debut of a Rey face character during the A Galaxy Far, Far Away show:
Don’t forget! Tonight, March 23, 2017, the Disney Parks Blog is going to live stream Wishes at 8:55pm Eastern. With this night spectactular being replaced in May, it might be one of, if not the, last time that Disney will live stream the event.
As always, that easiest way to get the informatin on the live stream is to go to the Disney Parks Blog at about 8:45pm and find the post about the upcoming live stream. I’ll also try to update this post with the information if I’m able.
From March 1 to May 29 this year, Epcot is hosting my favorite festival: the Flower & Garden Festival. Below is a collection of some my favorite coverage of this year’s event. Elyssa and I plan to be done there in April to see some of this stuff first hand, but–for now–we’ll point you to some other sources to show you what is going on.
As with Food & Wine, the best coverage of the individual items available at these these Kitchens comes from Josh over at easyWDW. Here are the link to his various reviews: (the NEW indicator means a new Kitchen this year, not a new review from Josh)
For more food coverage, Tessa Koten at TouringPlans has a list of her favorite items (which she labels as “family friendly”, though I don’t understand what about those items makes them such), and Robert Niles, over at Theme Park Insider has a brief write-up of some of the items he sampled.
Topiaries
Even though there is a growing emphasis on the Outdoor Kitchens, the original draw of the Flower & Garden Festival (and what really makes it special for me) is the wide array of topiaries that Disney puts out . As you would imagine, there is a lot of photography.
Cory Disbrow has some coverage in his signature style at the end of this post and
Josh over at easyWDW has a walk around Future World as well a detailed look at the Festival Center (which is only open from 10am to 5pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). The only “issue” with Josh’s review is that it might be comprehensive enough for you to just skip the Festival Center all together.
Other Media
If you’re someone who prefers to listen to your Flower & Garden coverage, then Lou has got you covered over at WDW Radio. On the other hand, if you’re someone who wants to watch some video coverage, then check out these videos from the DIS covering overall highlights:
and the more general “exploring” of the Festival:
The Disney Food Blog also has a video covering (you guessed it) the food:
Despite how much I’m sure y’all enjoy getting double and triple sized orders of News Nuggets, sometimes, I’m able to actually get these out on a regular schedule. This is one of those times!
There isn’t much about the Flower and Garden Festival in this posting, since I’m looking to do one of my “best of” coverage posts to cover that event fairly soon.
My favorite of the festivals at Disney Festival Adventure (i.e., Epcot)–Flower & Garden– starts on March 1 this year and the Disney Parks Blog has posted all the menus for the “outdoor kitchens”. My general fear when reading these menus is that the items are going to be fairly “expensive” what you’re getting from Epcot booth food. I’ll wait and see what’s actually being offered, however, before making an final judgments.
‘Happily Ever After’ to replace ‘Wishes’ at the Magic Kingdom starting May 12
Ever since the Main Street Electrical Parade ventured out (along the Oregon Trail, I presume?) back to California, people have been wondering when Disney would announce the Magic Kingdom’s new nighttime parade. Interestingly (surprisingly?), Disney has announced a replacement for Wishes instead. Disney describes the new show, entilted Happily Ever After, as follows:
The show will feature the latest fireworks and pyrotechnics and original animation, plus a heart-tugging original score. And thanks to the inclusion of state-of-the-art projection mapping technology, more Disney characters than ever before will be featured in the show, including moments from “Moana,” “Brave,” “Big Hero 6,” “Zootopia,” “The Princess & The Frog,” “Aladdin” and many others.
Disney has announced May 12 as the official opening date for the new show, but if you really want to make sure that you see Wishes one more time before is relegated to the Youtube archives, you might want not want to wait until the last day / week before Happily Ever After debuts (just in case Disney gets too aggressive with “soft opens” of the new show.)
Even the holidys don’t slow down the amount of news that comes out about Disney World, so it’s time for another edition of the Rope Drop [dot] News Nuggets!
Obviously, the biggest item of news is the upcoming transformation of Spaceship Earth into the frakin’ Death Star at the upcoming Rogue One premiere event (which, of course, is already at capacity.) I’m probably in the minority on this, but I wish they’d do this more than just the one night.
The other big items are related to various festivals that occur at Epcot over the course of the year:
Date Night at STK Orlando + Save $25 – Ignore the (slightly?) over the top language in the post, but–if you’re going to go to STK–you can take advantage of the $25 off promo that they list at the end.
$30 off Discount for Club Villain for AP Holders & DVC Members – I think this is still just a little pricier than I value this experience, but it’s getting closer. If the discount had been $50 off the $129 price instead of just $30, I would have really thought about going.
We’ll close this edition of the News Nuggets with this video walkthrough of the famous Royal Asanta Presdiental Suite at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This might be the closest I’ll ever get to actually being in that:
This weekend was D23’s Destination D – Amazing Advenutres event. As you might expect, there was a decent amount of Disney World news that came during this. Here are the highlights:
Pandora – The World of Avatar
I would classify the news concerning Avatarland coming out of D23–especially the announcement of a “Summer 2017” opening–as the most “important” item from the event. Now, obviously “summer” could mean anything from late April through early September, but I’m going to try to be optimistic (remember, Animal Kingdom first opened on April 22).
Satu’li Canteen – Artwork courtesy of Disney
Bolstering the opening date announcement, Disney also revealed additional details about the new land, including (i) Satu’li Cantenn (the major restaurant in the land), (ii) Pongu Pongu (a “special drink location”), and (iii) Windtraders (the merchandise location.) What seems pretty clear from the concept art Disney released is that this land–much like the upcoming Star Wars land–is going to maintain its theming throughout the entire land, from the food offerings, to the merchandise offerings, to (I bet) even the way cast members interact with guests (I believe the buzzword is “immersive.”)
Windtraders – Artwork courtesy of Disney
Robert Niles over at Theme Park Insider also had a write-up of the actual D23 presentation, that included confirmation from James Camerson himself that Na’vi will not be walking around Avatarland, instead limiting their appearances to attractions.
Maybe the most interesting release from the event was this video of a Na’vi animatronic–the “Shaman of Songs”, a key figure in the Na’vi River Journey BOATRIDE:
If the actual animatronics are going to look that good, Avatarland really could be something.
Star Wars
Though the news coming of Avatarland might have more immediate impact on Disney World, Star Wars land also got a minor highlight, including a mention of the attraction that will allow guests to “take controls of the Millennium Falcon” and the release of new piece of artwork showing what the new land will look like at night:
Star Wars Land at Night – Artwork courtesy of DisneyWindtraders – Artwork courtesy of Disney
Similar to what happened when Disney released Episode VII, it was also announced that there would be a new Episode VIII theme mission that will be added to Star Tours along with the release of the movie.
Other Items
“Major Changes” coming to Epcot – Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek said that Epcot would be going through a “major transformation” in the next couple of years (WDW News Today classified it as “an overhaul“.). Write-ups of the speech all reference his use of the phrases “dream big” and “more Disney, timeless, [and] relevant”, while staying true to Epcot’s “original vision”. At this point, those phrases are more a Disney fan Rorschach test (“relevant means it’s going to be all current IPs!”, “timeless means they’ll be thinking outside of what’s hot now, and doing something that will last”, etc…), than actually revealing about what might happen at Epcot. With so much else going on around Disney World, I’m going to take more of a wait-and-see approach on this one.
MagicBand 2 coming to Disney World – This new magic band has been rumored for a few weeks, and involves a removable disc that you can take out of the band and insert in other items (e.g., a necklace.) Ultimately, I’m glad I’ll now have an easy, visual way to know which of my Magic Bands is older, but I don’t really have a lot of excitement (or disappointment) about this. (Check out WDW News Today’s Magic Band 2 gallery if you want to see a metric buttload more photos of the new style of Magic Band.)
In-Park Cabanas coming to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. – This news item was not part of the official D23 announcements, but, instead, quickly spread on Twitter. Details are still a little hazy, but it seems like the “cabanas” are $650ish a day “tents” (see here and here) that have AC, seating, television, and the ability to order “room services” (at an additional cost.) As you might imagine, that initial pictures look ridiculous. However, if Disney can somehow offset additional prices increases or staff reductions on the backs of people who want to hang out in a tent and watch tv in the Magic Kingdom, I’m fine with it.
Our latest trip to Disney World focused around a few major Disney World events: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. I’ve learned these past couple of years that having defined things that we want to do lets us feel a little of the time pressure that people who don’t visit as frequently as we do can end up feeling. It makes for an interesting trip. Here are some initial thoughts:
The End of Celebrate the Magic:I’ve already written about how much Celebrate the Magic means to Elyssa and me, but seeing the show for the last time was still overwhelmingly emotional for both of us. I have faith that the new projection show will be good, but I doubt we’ll ever have the emotional connection to that new show that we have to this one. It truly will be missed.
Kona Cafe (Breakfast): I still love starting a day with a press of Kona Coffee and an order of Tonga Toast. Elyssa almost always ends up with a Big Kahuna (which, again, is a great way to start the day.) We normally get an early ADR, and then head to the Magic Kingdom to watch the Welcome Show. I don’t know if I’d recommend Kona if you want to rope drop Mine Train, but it’s pretty perfect for what we use it for.
Homecoming Florida (Dinner or Drinks): Homecoming is fast becoming one of our favorite spots to grab a drink later at night (in addition to being an excellent dining option for either lunch or dinner.) Fried Chicken, biscuits, and hush puppies aren’t the most “adventurous” of dishes, but Homecoming does them very well. If southern comfort food is something you enjoy, I’d definitely give Homecoming a shot.
Animal Kingdom at Night is a (Hidden?) Gem: We now build nights at Animal Kingdom into our trip. An evening Safari, a drink or two at Nomad Lounge, and the Tree of Life Awakenings (which are extremely fun to watch) all make for a really enjoyable night.
Seeing Friends is Always Fun: Elyssa and I were fortunate enough to run into world famous podcaster, “Light ‘Em and Hide”, twice including once with a guest appearance by similarly renowned Disney theme park photographer Brandon Glover. Though we didn’t get to meet up with friends of the site, Dutch, Josh, or Eric, I’m sure we’ll run into them again before too long. Name dropping aside, it’s always nice to spend time with people we know from this little hobby of ours. I hope the trend those meet-ups continues.
Over the next week (or two, or three…), I’ll be working some more in-depth coverage of a few of things we did, but here is a little preview:
Goofy and Pals Breakfast at the Four Season: Elyssa and I decided to switch things up on the character breakfast front and try something a little different. My (almost) twitter length review: Breakfast was good. It has a little different vibe than standard Disney character meals (fancier?). The food also seemed to be a step up from what you might find at a traditional Disney buffet. The character interactions were superb (and if that’s what you want, I’d recommend making a 10:45am or so reservation, since the place was nearly cleared out by 11:00.).
Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party: Halloween is Elyssa’s favorite holiday, so we had been thinking about planning a trip around the halloween party for years. Things finally fell into place this year. We arrived at the party a little before 4 (and used our AP to gain admission.) We ended up meeting Tink, Rapunzel, Tiana, the Seven Dwarfs, and riding Mine Train before the party officially started at 7pm. From then on it was character meet-and-greets, parades, fireworks, and candy. It was a super fun night (Maybe Elyssa and I should do a Mic Drop segment on it??)Is there anything left for me?
Food and Wine: I feel like the stand outs from Food & Wine the past couple of years are either desserts or from the Chew booths (or sometimes, both.) Things like the Liquid Nitro Truffle, or the Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Mousse stand out in my memory more than the duck bun I got from China. At this point, I’d probably be fine attending 1 or 2 mornings mid-week and calling it a Festival.
Overall, it was a pretty great (if not a little jam packed) trip (even with Celebrate coming to and end.)
If you’ve been following us on Twitter (including at Elyssa’s new handle!), then you know that the last few weeks have been crazy at Rope Drop [dot] Net HQ. Weddings in foreign lands (well, Maine), J O B job stuff getting in the way of site updates, etc…all have conspired to make this a HUGE helping of News Nuggets. I hope you’re hungry (for news)!
Disney World puts up Bug Spray Kiosks to fight Zika – It’s interesting that Disney is going to give away free bug spray because of the Zika threat, but that it makes you buy sunscreen. (At least it’s interesting to me.)
Aladdin and Jasmine debut new outfits at Disney Parks – I post this only because Elyssa and I were going to stop by and meet Aladdin on our most recent trip, but the line was too long. Looks like we might have missed seeing him in his old garb.
Disney testing Guest Relations Location in Tomorrowland. – This makes sense to me. It allows people who have Guest Relations issues to avoid having to go all the way down Main Street (which can be especially problematic during a parade, Wishes, etc…).
Sanaa now offering Quick Service Breakfast – Interesting. It makes sense to provide a quick service option for guests staying at Kidani. That said, it doesn’t look like something that requires a special trip to experience.
Dr. Strange Meet and Greet is Coming to Walt Disney World? – Speaking of Doctor Strange, this is really interesting (not just for the chance to meet the character, because of what it means for Disney v. Universal with respect to Marvel.)
Here’s a different way to end the post, a video stroll around Castaway Cay from The DIS:
The Disney Parks Blog is doing another live stream tonight at 8:00PM. What’s different about this stream, however, is that it’s not dedicated to just 1 event. Instead, it’s supposed to give looks at things like Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party and the Food & Wine festival. I’m interested to see how it works.
Can Disney send me a couple of these to enjoy during the live stream?
2016 Candlelight Processional at Epcot Dining Packages On Sale – It’s tough to book a package when the announcers aren’t known for so many dates. Also, with them offering packages for Captain’s Grill and Trattoria Al Forno, there’s going to be a lot of spots filled up package buyers.
Celebrate Halloween at ‘Club Villain’ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – They’re bringing back this event on Friday and Saturday nights from September 2-October 29 (and also on October 31). With this timing, it’s an alternative option to Mickey’s Not So Scary (but on different nights.) I know this event has gotten good reviews, but $129 a person seems just so steep for something like this.
Inside look at 2016 DVC Beach Bash – Got to love lines like: “When the ice cream cart was wheeled out, it was like ‘The Hunger Games’ with people grabbing Mickey Bars by the handful!”
PizzeRizzo Opening This Fall at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – This post originally said “September”, but I guess Disney wanted to give themselves some leeway. I’m hoping they have the new flatbreads that from Pizzafari Josh over at easyWDW speaks so highly off.
As you might imagine, there have been a bunch of ride-through / experience videos of the new attractions. I don’t think I’m going to watch any of them, but if you’re interested, here are a few:
This is a big month for people who like Disney live streams, as the Disney Parks Blog is doing one every Monday. Today’s stream, which goes live at 4:00PM Eastern Time, is Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire.
The other upcoming streams are:
July 18 – Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular; and
July 25 – Paint the Night Parade
Enjoy getting your Disney fix, even when you can’t be at the parks yourself!
It may seem like you just had a large helping of News Nuggets, but the Disney World news has been coming hot and heavy for the past week or so. Sounds like it’s time for another order!
Here are the latest Rope Drop [dot] Net News Nuggets:
Goodbye Earffel Tower – The Earful tower at Hollywood Studios is officially no more. The park, it is a changin’.
Authentic Details Bring to Life Pandora — The World of AVATAR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom – The touches Disney is bringing to Pandora are pretty impressive. I do fear, however, that all these new features might result in even more time delays. (SIDENOTE: It’s super confusing that Avatarland is called “Pandora” while Pandora, the jewelry company, sponsors so much at the Magic Kingdom.)
Tutto Italia at Epcot Offering Prix-Fie Lunch this Summer – This is kind of “meh” for me. It looks like an okay deal for the price, but I’m not usually eating lunch at Epcot at all. I guess I’ll wait until I see some actual (paying for the meal) reviews before I make a final decision.
“Star Wars Celebration” event heading back to Orlando in 2017 – Cool news. Unfortunately, this timing (in between Wrestlemania & Star Wars: Dark Side) means that it’s unlikely that Elyssa and I will be going (unless we just decide to spend the whole month in Orlando).
Tiered pricing for Mickey’s Not So Scary and Very Merry Christmas. – The lower-priority parties didn’t change that much, but some of the more sought after dates went up significantly (and don’t allow AP or DVC discounts.) Unfortunately, if you’ve already planned your vacation (as a lot of people have, since it’s less than 6 months out), you’re kind of just stuck with that pricing.
Even though it’s not really our beat, we’ll end with a couple of videos from Shanghai Disney. First the TRON coaster:
And this one of Shanghai’s version of Pirates of the Carribbean:
Rumors are that this is the BOATRIDE system that will be used in the new Pandora BOATRIDE. Hopefully, that ride will be as impressive as this version of Pirates is.
It’s Easter Weekend and and that means (among other things, obviously) lots of visitors to Disney World, and a whole bunch of new Disney World News Nuggets.
The biggest news is probably the new “extra” hours opportunities at the Magic Kingdom:
Disney “After Hours” Event Announced. – 3 extra hours at the Magic Kingdom with a low attendance sounds pretty awesome, but $150 per person is a lot of money for it. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I have the option to go to this. (I’m not the first / only person to say this, but it seems like the DVC Fireworks we saw a couple of weeks ago might be a good fit for this party.)
Disney adds “Early Morning Magic” to the Magic Kingdom – Rumors are saying that $69 gets you rides on Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh, as well as a “breakfast buffet” at Pinocchio Village Haus for 1.5 hours before the park opens to regular guests. I was hoping this would be $50 per person, not $70.
That wasn’t all the news from the past few days, though. Here are the rest of the News Nuggets:
“Disney TAG” travel accessories boutique opens at Disney Springs. – I’m pleasantly surprised that Disney has continued to update the various mini-stores that are in the CO-OP area. I really thought they were going to put a few stores in there and leave them for years.
Additional Nighttime Kilimanjaro Safaris Details Released – One of the best parts of the Wild Africa Trek is having more time to watch the animals while you’re not moving, so I hope the rumor of “longer truck stops” turns out to be true
STK sees Disney Springs as fit for entertainment strategy – I think this is supposed to be a high end steak house, but I’m concerned about any restaurant that features a live DJ who it’s going to try access the “mood of the room.”
We’ll end this edition of the News Nuggets with this look at what has become of Disney’s River Country “Watering Hole”. I used to love River Country, and I was sad when it was closed. It’s freaky to see what it looks like now that Disney has abandoned it. Hopefully, the rumors Jim Hill talks about (building a DVC resort in that area) turn out to be true.
See you next time!
What special entertainment will be part of After Hours at the Magic Kingdom?
It has been rumored for some time, but WWE has officially announced that Wrestlemania will be in Orlando on April 2, 2017.
From a fan perspective, I’m interested in seeing such a big event in a city I love to visit. As someone who writes about Disney World, I’m interested to see how something like this might impact crowd levels.
UPDATE: AM2 Magazine is also reporting that a WWE “Hall of Fame” Restaurant is coming to Universal CityWalk. AM2 reports that the restaurant will be where NBA City used operate. (NOTE: This is the first time I’ve used a rumor from AM2, so I’m unsure how it’s reliability at this time. My excitement over Wrestlemania might be getting to me.)
