In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its fourth – and still newest – Walt Disney World Resort theme park, Disney will be throwing a party for the ages… and using the occasion to kick off a few other new experiences at Animal Kingdom. Let’s tackle these in order, shall we? Party for the […]
Walt Disney World
3 reasons you should see a movie at Disney World
When undertaking a vacation to Walt Disney World’s theme parks, many families usually generate long lists of all the various experiences they’d like to tackle – and most, if not all, of these items are usually exclusive to the resort (such as, say, catching a particular character breakfast or, of course, hopping on a specific […]
7 ways to have a magical Valentine’s Day at Disney World
February 14th – arguably one of, if not the, most contentious commercial holidays around. If you’re in a relationship, it’s a day filled with expectation and pressure; if you’re single, it’s a day of irritation and bitterness. Regardless of what side of the rose you fall on, though, you can still have an amazing day. […]
Major Disney World news on Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more
At tonight’s D23 Expo Japan presentation at (where else?) Tokyo Disney Resort, Disney Parks and Resorts may not have revealed a tidal wave of new announcements – as the division did at the American counterpart’s event last July – but it still decided to unveil a series of smaller-yet-still-exciting details regarding its biggest and most-visited […]
Disney now offers upcharge FastPasses
7 things to know about visiting theme parks during the slow season
That sound of jubilation you hear coming from Central Florida can only be one thing – Orlando residents rejoicing the arrival of their favorite season all year. Yep, slow season is upon us! The first two months of the year are some of the best times to enjoy Orlando’s theme parks with comparatively no crowds, […]
Exploring Disney Springs’s newest restaurants
The dining, shopping, and entertainment district formerly known as Downtown Disney may have finished its transformation into Disney Springs nearly two years ago, but that hasn’t stopped the area from continuing to unfurl new experiences and recruit new tenants. As of today, a whole swath of them are now open, representing something of a mini-landmark […]
Explained: How Disney buying Fox affects Disney World
UPDATE (07.19.18): Just to recap: last December, after a tense, months-long process of behind-the-scenes negotiations, 21st Century Fox publicly announced its intentions to sell large swaths of its film and television portfolio to The Walt Disney Company – an industry-changing move, substantially shrinking the pool of studios in the Hollywood game and further upgrading Disney to […]
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort expansion REVEALED
While we’ve known for some time that Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World Resort would be getting something of an overhaul, we had no idea what, exactly, those details would consist of. Now we do, thanks to the “12 Days of Disney Parks Christmas” promotion that Disney’s currently throwing. Here’s what we know so […]
Disney looking into a Captain America experience and a new boutique hotel?
UPDATE (10:17 am 10.18.17): the Orlando Sentinel has just confirmed that the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort will, indeed, be getting an expansion –a third tower that will consist of 350 rooms. You can read all of the original details below. All eyes may be on Pandora: The World of Avatar, the new […]
14 Orlando attractions coming from now through 2018
2017, it’s safe to say, was an absolutely mammoth year for Orlando. From Volcano Bay to Pandora: The World of Avatar, Kraken Unleashed to Lego Ninjago World, there was not only a breadth of new attraction openings, but also a depth that is typically rare, even in the most-visited city in the country. That’s what […]
2017 marks the biggest Christmas celebration at Disney World yet
Disney blew out its resort-wide Christmas celebrations at Walt Disney World today, and it’s easy to see how the company is clearly itching to make this year the biggest – and, quite possibly, the best – holiday season it’s ever had across the destination’s 46-year history. There’s so much going on in November and December, […]
Disney’s new biannual Star Wars party
On April 14, 2017, Disney kicked off what has unsurprisingly already become a brand-new after-hours tradition: an all-things-Star Wars celebration called Star Wars: Galactic Nights. Today, the company has announced a second round, scheduled for Saturday, December 16 – just one day after Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi hits theaters, incidentally – […]
Disney Springs is becoming the Star Wars capital of Disney World
Everyone points to the new films, television shows, and, of course, theme park lands as to what Disney has been doing with the Star Wars property since it purchased it from creator George Lucas in October 2012. It turns out, however, that arguably the biggest impact the Mouse House has made on the franchise has […]
A THIRD new theme park land is revealed for Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Last month, Disney unveiled a brand-new bar for its continually-under-construction Hollywood Studios: BaseLine Tap House, a “cheerful corner pub specializing in beer and wines from California.” What was so intriguing about the announcement, beyond the continued revitalization of the former movie-studio theme park, was the reference of yet another brand-new land that BaseLine was going […]
Is Indiana Jones Land coming to Animal Kingdom?
Over the past few months, a particular rumor has started to gain traction all across the themed online community, with it seemingly coming to a boil just over the past two weeks. It initially caught our eye, and we’ve been doing our best to monitor it behind the scenes, checking with our sources along the […]
Star Wars hyper-reality experience coming to Disney
There has been a recent trend in the themed industry to have theme parks couple the real-world experiences they offer with virtual-reality components – think Kraken Unleashed, SeaWorld’s new VR upgrade to its 17-year-old floorless roller coaster, or Universal’s new slew of patents, which includes a virtual window that can wrap around a building or […]
4 exciting expansions coming to Orlando theme parks
New attractions (such as next year’s Fast & Furious: Supercharged at Universal Studios Florida) are exciting, and new theme park lands (like Disney’s Hollywood Studios’s Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge) are downright intoxicating, but, for our money, one of the most mesmerizing parts of the Orlando theme parks’ ever-expanding dominance is, well, […]
Will this be the most luxurious hotel at Disney World?
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that paperwork has been filed to build a brand-new hotel at Walt Disney World Resort, near Epcot (on the corner of Epcot Center Drive and Interstate 4, to be exact), with the name of JW Marriott at Bonnet Creek. The news is notable not only for the fact that the […]
15 new additions to Disney World by 2021
In 2012, Comcast – which had just finished purchasing NBCUniversal the year before – made what is a now-legendary announcement: it was going to spend $500 million a year on both of its American theme park locations, opening up at least one new attraction, restaurant, and/or hotel each and every year. Although we have yet […]
Toy Story Land arriving in summer 2018 at Hollywood Studios
Yes, we might have known all about Toy Story Land’s three attractions, its placement on the Hollywood Studios map, and a general timeframe for its opening (2018), but that still left quite a bit in the dark. What would the area’s various dining and character meet-‘n-greet experiences be like? What would happen to the next-door […]
Disney World announces its answer to Uber
Leave it to Disney to find a way to address consumers’ complaints and to increase its revenue stream in one fell swoop. Transportation at Walt Disney World Resort is always at a premium, given the huge number of guests that visit there each and every day and the vast number of square miles that the […]
Star Wars hotel CONFIRMED for Disney World
There were a whole bunch of announcements that we expected Disney to make during its D23 Expo today: a massive new E-ticket for Magic Kingdom (Tron Lightcycle Power Run), Epcot (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Hollywood Studios (Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway) each; new transportation options for Walt Disney World Resort (gondolas and Uber-like Minnie […]
Tron coaster CONFIRMED for Disney World
Tron Lightcycle Power Run, which opened with Shanghai Disneyland on June 16, 2016, has long been rumored to be making its way over to Walt Disney World Resort, whether that be in Epcot’s Future World or Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland (the coaster acts as Space Mountain’s replacement in the Chinese Tomorrowland). Today, at its biennial D23 […]
Guardians of the Galaxy coming to Epcot
During this weekend’s biennial D23 Expo, Disney Parks and Resorts made the long-awaited and -expected announcement: the ultra-successful Guardians of the Galaxy franchise will be landing at Epcot. The rumor that the recently-exploded property would be finding its way to Walt Disney World Resort is an old one, having first appeared shortly over a year […]
Big changes announced for Disney World’s Epcot
On the continued march to Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary in 2021, Disney has been readying each of its resort’s four theme parks for the big event, refreshing their attractions or expanding them with brand-new lands. So far, Hollywood Studios has been the out-and-out star of this preparatory work, getting such additions as Toy Story […]
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge details revealed
This weekend’s D23 Expo has been huge for Star Wars Land; on Thursday night, we got a sneak peek at the absolutely mammoth model Disney brought to the convention floor of the 14-acre area, and, now, we have a whole slew of official confirmations that fans have been waiting for ever since the development was […]
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway CONFIRMED for Disney World
Just because reconstituting half of Disney’s Hollywood Studios into both Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge just isn’t quite enough, Disney has gone ahead today and revealed that it’s adding one final piece to the makeover puzzle: Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the first-ever Mickey-themed ride in Disney’s history. Guests will be able […]
Is this the REAL name of Star Wars Land?
The big Disney Parks and Resorts panel at this year’s D23 Expo won’t begin until 6:30 pm EST on Saturday, July 15 – a panel which, we’re assuming, many a revelation will be dropped on us, including a lot more information about Star Wars Land – but it seems like we may have gotten one […]
Star Wars Land’s secret interactivity revealed?
The big, detailed nature of Star Wars Land has been well documented in the two years since the project was officially announced – it’s 14 acres in size, it’ll feature tons of hidden details and Easter eggs, and, we saw just last night, it’ll have multi-story-tall buildings that will dominate guests as they walk down […]
Star Wars Land model REVEALED
Tonight, at a special press preview event ahead of this weekend’s D23 Expo, Disney pulled back the curtain on its massive, impressively-detailed model of Star Wars Land… and the results are stunning, to say the least. What makes the reveal all the more exciting is the simple fact that Disney, despite having shared several different […]
The Great Movie Ride closing soon at Disney’s Hollywood Studios?
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is currently facing a whole slew of some pretty massive changes – after all, nearly half the park is under construction, with part of it being transformed into Toy Story Land for next year and the rest eventually rising as Star Wars Land in 2019. A Star Wars-themed hotel is also said […]
Everything you need to know about D23 2017
The Walt Disney Company, as you may have noticed, is a large enterprise, comprising a wide range of media and markets. The biennial D23 Expo, which is held in Anaheim this year from Friday, July 14 to Sunday, July 16, celebrates it all, with panels scheduled to highlight upcoming films and showcase the latest in […]
Christmas in July arrives at Disney World
For the very first time, Disney will be jumping on the Christmas in July bandwagon and celebrating the most wonderful time of the year in its Disney Springs dinning, shopping, and entertainment complex. Running from Saturday, July 15 to Sunday, July 30, the shindig will consist of several different events: Special food and drinks Both […]
Tron coaster coming to Disney World?
For the better part of a year, rumors have swirled that Tron Lightcycle Power Run, one of the flagship attractions of the just-opened Shanghai Disneyland, would be somehow, someway making the move over to Walt Disney World Resort, whether that be Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland or Epcot’s Future World (two lands that are in desperate need […]
Cirque du Soleil buys Blue Man Group & changes Orlando’s future
Well, talk about unexpected. Today, out of the clear blue sky (pardon the expression), Cirque du Soleil announced that it had purchased Blue Man Productions, the parent company behind the Blue Man Group show that has become so famous over the past 26 years (and across the four seasons of Arrested Development, of course). Citing […]
Is Disney World’s Star Wars Land getting delayed?
Star Wars Land, what is increasingly being talked about – and presented by Disney as – being the next major step in the evolution of theme park design, has been under construction at both Disneyland in Anaheim and Hollywood Studios in Orlando since April 2016. Since then, progress in California has skyrocketed ahead, leaving Florida […]
Pandora: Disney reveals new interactive element
Rumors have been swirling for the past several months that Disney would be introducing some sort of interactive element for its massive Pandora: The World of Avatar expansion to Animal Kingdom. Today, just eight days(!) before the land’s grand opening, the company has made it official – and while it’s not quite the same as, […]
Disney is increasing its lead in the food war
Two months ago, we said that Disney was winning the food war against Universal. Today, we can report that Disney is looking to build upon that momentum already. The story goes a little something like this: starting next Saturday, May 27 – the day that Pandora: The World of Avatar opens, not coincidentally – Mobile […]
Preview the five senses of Pandora: The World of Avatar
Come and explore a new land full of alien life, from the local inhabitants to the winged creatures that soar the skies. We take part on a journey as tourists with Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE) on an exploration trekking through a truly-alive landscape, overwhelming the senses and finding magic hidden in the unexpected while learning […]
Happily Ever After fireworks show debuts at Magic Kingdom
Tonight, Happily Ever After debuted at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The show replaced the beloved Wishes firework show. Happily Ever After is an 18-minute show that utilizes projection mapping technology to follow a variety of Disney’s both oldest and newest characters. Some of the 25 Disney films that are featured include “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Moana,” and “Zootopia.” […]
See Disney’s Happily Ever After one week early
Disney may not start Happily Ever After, its new nighttime show at Magic Kingdom, until next week, but it’s releasing a pretty detailed preview beginning today. This advanced look is actually an expanded version of the sneak peek the company offered a month-and-a-half ago, but at three times the length, there’s more than enough new […]
Prepare for the biggest-ever Epcot International Food & Wine Festival
A common complaint levied at Epcot, specifically, and Disney, generally, is that rather than investing the capital necessary to remove old structures (such as the mostly-abandoned Wonders of Life Pavilion) and to install new attractions, the company simply introduces new festivals or limited events to ensure the park is still filled year-round. The International Food […]
Disney might become the world leader in driverless vehicle technology
Move over, gondolas – there just may be a new transit game in (Disney) town. As driverless technology continues to slowly expand across the country, it appears as if Disney is seriously considering implementing automated vehicles at its Walt Disney World Resort later this year. According to the LA Times, the first step would be […]
Pandora: Striking images (and details!) from the media event
This morning, Disney held a special media preview event for Pandora: The World of Avatar, which opens at Animal Kingdom on May 27. Although usually described as Walt Disney World’s biggest expansion in over a decade, the new theme park land is probably best summed up as Disney’s big, if somewhat delayed, answer to Universal […]
The 8 must-read stories for April 2017
When covering Orlando and all of its many splendid attractions – including, of course, our particular focus, Universal Orlando Resort – it can be easy to get buried in a deluge of news stories or site updates. This is to be expected, given the breadth and depth of Central Florida’s themed wares, but it’s also […]
The exotic desserts of Pandora: The World of Avatar
Disney has been aggressively pursuing its food and beverage lineup for next month’s Pandora: The World of Avatar, telling us about the brand-new Mobile Order initiative and even revealing the land’s full menu. This is no surprise – Universal has said that it views the South Pacific cuisine of Volcano Bay as one of the […]
Starbucks offers Disney Springs-exclusive drink
A new store exclusive Pink Flamingo Frappuccino is now being offered at the Disney Springs West Side Starbucks. Baristas were inspired to create the drink following last week’s Unicorn Frappuccino craze. The Pink Flamingo Frappuccino is a white mocha creme frappuccino with raspberry and strawberry pieces blended in. It’s topped with purple whipped cream and […]
Disney’s little touches are making Pandora super immersive
Much attention has been paid of late to 2019’s Star Wars Land, and how it promises to revolutionize the theme park experience with built-in hotels and ongoing, all-encompassing narratives, but it’s increasingly looking like Disney will beat itself to the punch with Pandora: The World of Avatar, which opens at Animal Kingdom next month. Pandora’s […]
Disney World announces “Free Dining” details for 2017
It’s that time of year again. Disney has released details on one of their most popular promotions of the year, the “free” Dining Plan offer. The company made some interesting changes to the promotion this year, possibly making it less of a value if you’re considering it. What’s changed in the 2017 free Dining Plan […]