Have you become as numb to the news-cycle as I have? It seems like every week brings more things we don’t want to hear. At this point, nothing phases me anymore. . . not even the unfortunate rumors below about the suspension of future Walt Disney World projects. But before we get to that, some honestly good news . . . more to eat and drink . . .
EPCOT News
New year, new festival!
When EPCOT reopened in July, the park offered a hybrid Flower & Garden and Food & Wine Festival. Over time, it morphed into an expanded Food & Wine Festival which will run until the International Festival of the Holiday’s launches in November. Now we know that following the holiday festival, the 5th annual Festival of the Arts will return to EPCOT on January 8th, running through February 22nd! That will be at least 8 months of back to back Epcot festivals.
More than 15 food studios will return for the Festival of the Arts, serving deliciously artistic cuisine; along with the large paint-by-number mural and themed photo ops throughout the park.
While artwork from various Disney and non-Disney artists will be available for purchase, there are no confirmed Artist signings scheduled at this time.
The festival’s Broadway concert performances will be missed this time around, but the JAMMitors & Mariachi Cobre will continue performing at the American Gardens stage throughout the day. (Both musical acts have been performing for the Food & Wine Festival since the park’s reopening.)
Morocco – Now With More Disney
This week, it was announced that Disney will officially take ownership of all the Moroccan pavilion’s businesses, including all food, beverage and merchandise locations.
The decision was mutual, according to a joint statement from Jacquee Wahler, VP Communications at the Walt Disney World Resort, and Rashid Choufani and Rachid Lyazidi, Operating Participants of the Morocco Pavilion:
Construction Views from the Skyliner
During our time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this week, we took a ride aboard the Skyliner for some views over EPCOT…
Approaching EPCOT, we get some fantastic views into the France pavilion’s expansion area, including the upcoming Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Zooming in on the attraction’s entrance; signs for stand-by, FastPass+ and single riders were recently installed:
Looking at those green double-doors, a new side entrance for the beloved Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie will be located within the expanded area:
Also included within the expansion, France will finally have its own authentic crêperie:
Any time we pass through the France pavilion, we always spy some work being done . . .
They’re not too far off from what the original concept art looked like! What do you think so far?
EPCOT’s upcoming nightly fireworks show, HarmonioUS, is promised to be the largest Disney Parks nighttime spectacular, ever. And now from the Skyliner, we can see one of the HarmonioUS barges peeking out from the trees…
@bioreconstruct on Twitter recently obtained some great aerial shots of the 7 new barges:
Aerial view of the 7 new barges being built for the new EPCOT HarmonioUS night time show. Video will be on screens either side of the 4 barges at right. It’s not yet apparent how images will be seen in the circle; possibly a water screen. pic.twitter.com/4sX3YJnbzI
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) October 11, 2020
The tallest barge, which can easily be seen from the Skyliner, will be the new show’s centerpiece:
It is unknown when EPCOT’s newest nighttime spectacular or attraction will debut, as the original “Summer 2020” opening timeframes obviously couldn’t happen. 2021 seems more and more promising for the highly anticipated openings of both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and HarmonioUS.
RUMORS: 50th Anniversary Delays
With all the pain 2020 has inflicted, who knows what next year will hold. And within the Disney Parks realm, 2021 was set as a milestone celebration year for Walt Disney World. Both “TRON Lightcycle / Run” (yes, that’s the real name with the “/” and all) at Magic Kingdom and “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind” at EPCOT were originally planned to open in time for the 50th anniversary on October 1st, 2021. However, recent rumors suggest big delays for these next two big attractions.
A poster on fan site (WDWMagic), Seanual757, who claims to be a vendor providing products to the job site, says:
“Tron WILL NOT open fall of 2021. The exterior will be completed to clean up the area (still tons of work to be done). December will end the construction on this project and it will be suspended until October 2021. The outdoor canopies will continue to go up during the winter and into 2021. Depending on how the economy and attendance goes construction will pick back up fall of 2021. Plan on Spring/Summer 2022 for an opening.”
According to the post, Ratatouille is ride testing now and will open soon, but Guardians and Tron will be delayed. He further explained that crews are currently finishing up the exterior and weather-proofing, but the interior work will be paused until a later date.
While this is unfortunate if true, it’s certainly not surprising given Disney’s massive loss of revenue in 2020 and the huge layoffs still in progress.
With the disruption to the travel industry and the delay in many of WDW’s 50th anniversary draws, it’s likely that the celebration will be stretched out 18 to 24 months. This gives Disney more time to spread out spending on ongoing projects, while also allowing more time for the current health situation to improve so the parks and tourism industry can resume some sort of normalcy. Hopefully, the 50th will continue to grow and unveil new shows and attractions before the celebration concludes.
Keep in mind, while this seems to be a credible insider source, no delays have officially been announced by Disney, so let’s call this rumor and keep an eye on how things develop.
A Visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We spent a day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this week to check things out, and… surprise, surprise… it was busy! Already anticipating this, and mirroring my last visit to the park, we dipped out during the busy morning and early afternoon period after achieving a Rise of the Resistance boarding group right at opening. Let’s see how a normal day in this park looks . . .
The park’s opening time of 10AM welcomes many guests, all entering for the same reason— trying to nab a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance.
After the boarding groups are reserved within seconds of opening, most guests head for the Chinese Theater to experience the park’s newest attraction, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway:
Before taking our park break, we decided to check out Toy Story Land and get a quick ride in. Since the typical ramp and stairway leading to Mickey Avenue are closed off for Runaway Railway’s queue, guests need to walk to the Animation Courtyard entrance area before veering left for Toy Story Land.
Upon first glance, it looked like there was a long queue for Voyage of the Little Mermaid… then I remembered it was closed, and noticed the Slinky Dog Dash end-of-the-line sign!
The queue for Slinky Dog Dash actually trails back to Animation Courtyard… wow!
Approaching Toy Story Land, the end of the line for Toy Story Mania is wrapped all the way around the side of the building (which is ironically near the old entry before it was moved into the new land).
We hopped in line, which was continuously moving. It was strange to see the two different queues lining both sides of the walkway:
The posted wait for Toy Story Mania was 50 minutes. But it moved pretty quickly and seemed much shorter of a wait than expected.
After racking up some points, we decided to leave the park for a few hours to let the crowds subside. This park quickly exceeds my comfort level. But waits tend to drop quickly in the later afternoon, so I like to find a nice place to spend a few hours before returning.
On our way over to the Skyliner, we’re reminded the Friendship Boats are not in operation. Since this was the best way to park-hop between Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, we may not see these running again until the park-hopping option returns. (This must also be a letdown for guests staying at the connected EPCOT resorts.)
After a few rides around the Skyliner and a Riveria lunch break, we returned to Hollywood Studios for our Rise of the Resistance boarding time.
After a failed (but fun!) mission, we boarded a last-minute mystery flight… 1401 to be exact…
While the posted wait was 30 minutes, Star Tours was actually a complete walk-on (they do themselves a disservice by inflating wait times on attractions such as this).
Once again we find that by late afternoon a lot of guests have cleared out. But after a busy morning, we were too pooped out to keep walking around, so we headed out as well.
The morning overcrowding is entirely caused by folks flooding in to get a Rise of the Resistance boarding group and lack of park-hopping, which means folks really don’t have anywhere else they can go. We wish that reservations for Disney’s Hollywood Studios would be timed and include a lottery for Rise of the Resistance. The process for getting a boarding group is just too disruptive to social distancing efforts early in the day. We’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
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Let’s Hear From You!
These are interesting times to be a Disney fan. While I go to the parks and feel mostly safe, there are definitely times that my comfort level is exceeded. I find myself increasingly feeling like I need to get away from the herd or step out of the park for a bit to let crowding decrease. But the ebb and flow of the parks seems to be busy early and then empty. So, if you don’t need that Rise of the Resistance boarding pass, go a little later in the day. Perhaps sleep in, have lunch outside the park, and then make your way to the park after lunch.
What do you think Disney should do about the boom and bust of crowds in the park each day? Would timed entries help? Should they publish hourly crowd forecasts so guests can better plan their days? Let’s hear your thoughts.
And what about those rumored delays in upcoming attractions? While I would have been very disappointed 3 months ago, at this point, I’m just not surprised. What about you?
Let’s end on a happier note…
The Dapper Dans transform into the Cadaver Dans on Disney’s Tik Tok:
@disneyparks The Cadaver Dans came out to socialize ? #HauntedMansion #Disney #ShoeFlipChallenge #Boo #MyCostume
If you missed last week’s update from Magic Kingdom, you can check it out here:
Walt Disney World Update – How Much of a Good Thing is Too Much?
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