I’m sure you’ll see this everywhere today, but I know friend-of-site Howie from Maryland has been looking forward to this. I’ll credit Dave from yourfirstvisit.net as the first place I saw it. The discounts are pretty much what you’d expect, based on previous years:
Save up to 25%* on rooms at select Walt Disney World® Resort hotels for stays most nights May 28-Aug. 31, 2017 when you book March 27-July 14, 2017.
It’s a big day for Star Wars fans, as Rogue One is now available for digital download. If Carolina wasn’t playing this evening, Elyssa and I would probably be watching it tonight with a bowl of Ample Hills ice cream. (Yes, I’ll have a review of that whole “ice cream via Amazon process soon.”)
If you need to prep for your Rogue One viewing, there’s always these Mighty Men of Mouse shows that feature the MMoM Guys, friend of the site Wes James, Elyssa, and me discussing the movies:
Enjoy the (re-)watching the movie! It’s a good one.
UPDATE: Heres’s the Disney Parks Blog post and the video is embedded below
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.
Enjoy the show tonight!
VIDEO COVERAGE:
BREAKING! Pew, pew! Lasers! (Not really) EXCLUSIVE!! Here at Rope Drop [dot] Net HQ we don’t really try to be the FIRST to break news, but, sometimes, we want to share something special with our readers that has a time component. In this case, it’s that Fastpass+ selections for Pandora (Avatarland) open tomorrow, March 24, 2017.
The anouncement is little weird, since 60 days from tomorrow (the length of time in advance that onsite guests can book Fastpass+ selections) is Tuesday, May 23, 2017 (i.e., before Pandora is supposed to open on May 27.) I wonder if this is an indication that Disney is going to be allowing guests to get Fastpasss+ for various “soft opening” periods prior to the official opening. Also, as (kind of?) expected, you can’t book both Avatar attractions on the same day with Fastpass+ in your first 3 selections. It’s not a full on “tier” structure, but it’s close.
Relatedly, Disney has made it official that Animal Kingodm will have special Pandora-only Extra Magic Hours every night from (at least) May 27th through July 4th, 2017. For people like Elyssa and me who usually stay offsite, this extra benefit is enough to make us consider an onsite resort for a quick “hop” down to experience Avatar once the land opens.
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.
Over the years, Flower & Garden has expanded its “Outdoor Kitchens” (i.e., Flower & Garden’s answer to Food & Wine’s country kiosks.) You can tell Disney is really serious about these kitchens, since it released a special, scratch-and-sniff, wrist band gift card for people to use at them.
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)
If you’re more concerned about just the new items for this year’s Festival, than TouringPlans has a post covering just those and Tom from WDW News Today has his list of the top 7 new dishes.
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.
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
WDW Magic has a whole photo gallery.
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.
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:
If, after all that, you still need coverage of the Flower & Garden Festival, then Tom Bricker has an overview post with some more photography over at Disney Tourist Blog, as does JeniLynn Knopp over at Inside the Magic. Finally, Denise at Mouse Steps has a list of 13 tips to help you enjoy your time there and a review of one of the new “Tea Tours” that’s available in the England pavilion.
That’s it for coverage this year! Enjoy the festival!
It’s that time of year (no, not time for the annual News Nuggets post…), time for Disney’s annual attractions bracket. I’ve bought a few of these shirts in the past, but nothing stands out as “must have” for me this year. (WDW News Today has images of all the designs.)
Also, since it’s St. Patrick’s day, you might want to check out the Raglan Road Mighty St. Patrick’s Festival at Disney Springs and all the other Disney Springs St. Paddy’s day festivities.
Now, on to the rest of the nuggets:
We’ll finish things up with this video from Disney about the construction of Star Wars Land: (The AT-ATs do look pretty cool):
Enjoy the Tournament!
I like Disney; I like fashion; ipso facto I love Disney fashion.
That means I’m going to be spending ALL OF THE MONEY on our next trip at The Dress Shop, Disney’s new store/fashion line designed specifically for me. The shop will be located in the Co-Op at Disney Springs and is set to debut at the end of this month. There better still be plenty of cute things in stock when I’m there in April!!! (The line will also be available in the Shop Disney Parks App, but I’m the type who can’t buy anything without trying it on.)
Disney fashionistas will be quick to point out you can find plenty of great dresses like this on ebay and etsy if you look in the right places, don’t mind online shopping, and are up for a gamble on quality/price/fit. I’ve also always been a big fan of seeking out “regular” pieces that can be turned into Disney fashion a la Disneybound. The pic below is me and my girl Minnie in our matching outfits. The new shop will make this sort of fun that much more accessible to other people, and I’m a big fan of spreading awesomeness.
Before I go, question for the masses: am I allowed to wear the Tower of Terror dress if I’ve never ridden Tower of Terror?
Tweet me @LadyKivus
*P.S. guess who wrote this post!
It’s NCAA tournament time (again), which means that everyone is going to be filling out brackets, joining “bracket pools”, and trash talking about how well their favorite teams are doing in the tournament. Last year, I asked on Twitter if there was a bracket group for us Disney World fans that read each other’s website, listen to each other’s podcasts, and interact online. Since no one seemed to know of one, Elyssa & I decided to create one.
So, welcome To the this year’s editionRope Drop [dot] Net NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge!
Here are the details:
Though Elyssa & I are contemplating a few things, there are no official prizes for entering, winning, etc… (If you’re a fellow Disney fan, site proprietor, podcast host, etc…, however, who wants to contribute some swag to a possible “prize pack”, please get in touch.) That said, the hope is there will be some fun competition and trash talking amongst the contestants that will give the winner some fun “bragging rights.”
To help facilitate the communication, I am suggesting the Twitter hashtag “#ropedropbc” to use when talking about the challenge. (Though you never know if another hashtag will take off, instead.) You can use that tag for talking about the tournament, as well as asking for help on getting your bracket picked, getting into the group, etc… I’m pretty sure that people will be willing to help others or have questions.
At this point, I think that covers all the basics. Feel free to reach out online to ask for questions, or let Elyssa know if we missed something. Good luck on your tournament picks!!
![Rope Drop [dot] Net Bracket Challenge](https://i0.wp.com/ropedrop.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/img_04111.jpg?ssl=1 "Rope Drop [dot] Net Bracket Challenge")
Yesterday was “Pandora preview day” across Disney-owned ABC. That means a ton of new imagery and videos of what we can look forward to in Pandora when it opens on May 27th.
The first look came on Good Morning America, with a few clips that would be involved in some of the later videos and an appearance by Joe Rodhe (of Iger, Rodhe, Lombrowski fame):
WATCH: INSIDE LOOK: @VisitPandora the world of Avatar only at @WaltDisneyWorld! #VisitPandora @DisneyParks @OfficialAvatar pic.twitter.com/uFqamUfuLa
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 9, 2017
Next came a James Cameron-led walk-though to see the floating mountan landscape (both during the day and at night) that ended with a trip down the Navi river:
Floating mountains, glowing forests and more! @JimCameron gives @whoopigoldberg an exclusive look at @VisitPandora in @WaltDisneyWorld. pic.twitter.com/OLBuFw5sOf
— The View (@TheView) March 9, 2017
Coverage continued with the crew from the Chew tasting some one of the food items available in Pandora. (Unfortunately, I ran screaming from the video when I heard “pineapple cream cheese”):
We’re ready for sweet treats from #VisitPandora! Get a sneak peek @WaltDisneyWorld‘s @visitpandora and see even more tonight on @Nightline! pic.twitter.com/DltwE9WBpH
— The Chew (@thechew) March 9, 2017
Finally, the most extensive preview came from Nightline and it featured a walk-through of the new land (again) with James Cameron and then Joe Rodhe. The BOATRIDE, as expected, looks spectactuar and the ride vehicle for the Banshee ride does seem designed to give you the feeling of being on a Banshee:
If you want even more previews of Pandora, Disney issued a press release with a lot of details, including:
Avatar Flight of Passage launches each guest on an exhilarating, wind-in-your-face experience on a winged mountain banshee over the awe-inspiring world of Pandora. Guests will actually feel the banshee breathe beneath them as they soar through the forest and past floating mountains. What was a rite of passage for Na’vi in Cameron’s film becomes a multisensory experience for guests seeking the ultimate adventure – a faceoff with the most feared predator of Pandora, the Great Leonopteryx.
On the family-friendly Na’vi River Journey, guests travel down a sacred river deep into a bioluminescent rainforest. The eight-seat reed boats float past exotic glowing plants and Pandoran creatures into the midst of a musical Na’vi ceremony. The mystical journey culminates in an encounter with a breathtakingly realistic Na’vi Shaman of Songs who is deeply connected with Pandora’s life force and sends positive energy through her music into the forest.
With 4 (!?!?) Avatar movies in preproduction, hopefully, there is a real interest in people experiencing these new things.
Tonight, the Disney is going to live stream the Main Street Electrical Parade from Disneyland. I was pretty bummed when this parade left Disney World (which hasn’t been helped by Disney still not having announced a replacement nighttime parade), so I’m going to be quite tempted to stay up to watch it again.
As with any of these events, the easiet way to get the link to view the parade is to visit the Disney Park Blog about 30 minutes before the event to see the post that contains the link to the stream.
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.
Now, on to the News Nuggets!
INTERMISSION!!
Okay, now back to the News Nuggets!
That’s it for this News Nuggets helping. Let’s end with this video of the upcoming Pandora BOATRIDE (which looks pretty amazing):
Pandoran riverbanks are hotbeds for bioluminescent life. Leave the flashlight back at basecamp for night hikes. #VisitPandora pic.twitter.com/SMi6vA54GT
— Visit Pandora (@visitpandora) March 3, 2017
UPDATE: VIDEO NOW INCLUDED BELOW and here’s the official website
As (semi-?)frequent vistors to Disney World, Elyssa and I have (also semi-?)frequent discussions about whether or not we want to buy into DVC. Since the Wilderness Lodge is my favorite Disney resort (and in Elyssa’s Top 2? 3?), we have been closely watching that resort’s new Copper Creek DVC expansion.
Today, it was announced the Copper Creek has an anticipated opening date of July 17, 2017. Maps and photos of the rooms indicate that both the “deluxe studios” and the one bedroom villas may sleep fewer people (just 4, total) than other, similarly-styled rooms at some resorts. (From “artist rendering,” the Deluxe Studio Villas look to be much brighter than traditional Wilderness Lodge rooms.) The Cascade Cabains (as expected) look pretty fantastic (and seem like a good place to hold a future Mighty Men of Mouse podcast meetup. (If you really want to see all the possile room configurations, check out the drawings of “alternate studio” rooms pulled by DVC News.)
Throw in the recently opened Geyser Point Bar & Grill and this “updated” Wilderness Lodge is really starting to come together. I can’t wait to see it in person.
