BaubleBar has released a new Minnnie ear headband inspired by Princess Ariel of “The Little Mermaid.” We first found these in the Emporium at Magic Kingdom.

Princess Ariel Ear Headband by BaubleBar – $49.99

The headband and ears are covered in a golden shimmer fabric.

The ears are shaped like seashells, with strings of pearls across them.

The Minnie bow in the center is double-layered with purple and green, Ariel’s outfit colors. A large pearl charm is at the center.

A Disney x BaubleBar plaque is on the inside of the headband.

A new Princess Tiana ear headband by BaubleBar hit the shelves at Walt Disney World earlier this month. Which ears would you wear? Let us know in the comments.

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The post New Ariel Ear Headband by BaubleBar Swims Into Walt Disney World appeared first on WDW News Today.

It’s the age old question: should we take a vacation to Disney World or Hawaii? Okay, maybe it’s not a super common question, but if you’re planning a vacation, we’re sure you’ve considered whether you should spend your time off relaxing on a beach or frolicking around Disney World!

Fortunately, there is somewhere you can enjoy the magic of Disney and relax on the beach — Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa! It’s located in O’ahu, Hawaii and is affiliated with Disney Vacation Club. The project was overseen by legendary Imagineer Joe Rohde (who is responsible for a lot of Animal Kingdom) and celebrates the spirit of the island, located right on the water. So, let’s see which option is more expensive — Aulani or Disney World!

We’re going to compare the two by creating example trips to both locations. Our trips will both be for a family of 4 from May 15th, 2022 to May 21st, 2022. Let’s get into it! Just a note, that these are the prices as of writing and they can and will vary.

Disney World

We’ll start in Disney World, where we are going to show examples for 2 different scenarios: A family staying at a Moderate hotel and staying at a Deluxe hotel. Deluxe hotels at Disney World are the most comparable to Aulani in terms of amenities, but you don’t have to stay at a Deluxe hotel on your trip, which is why we’re also showing you a Moderate, too.

We chose Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside as our Moderate. A standard room here for the dates we’ve chosen in May start at $333.50 per night, before tax. If you multiply that by the 6 nights of the trip, it comes to a grand total of $2,001, before tax, for the hotel.

For our Deluxe, we chose Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. A standard room here for these same dates starts at $762.17 per night, before tax. Multiply that by the 6 nights and you get a total of $4,573.02, before tax — that’s a BIG difference from the Moderate!

Now, we have to get our theme park tickets for the trip. Since we’re at Disney World for 5 full days, we’ll need a 5-Day Park Hopper ticket — because this family wants to park hop! A 5-Day Park Hopper for the dates we have chosen comes out to $622.63 per person, including tax. If you multiply that by the 4 people in the family, it comes to a total of $2,490.52 total, with tax.

As for transportation, that will vary based on whether you’re driving or flying to Orlando. But, since we have to fly to Hawaii, we’re going to include airfare to Disney World as well! We found these prices through Kayak and we’re choosing Dallas, Texas as our example city. The cheapest roundtrip flight from Dallas to Orlando we found for the dates we chose is $248 per person, before taxes and fees, with American Airlines. So, for our family of 4, this would be a grand total of $992, before taxes and fees.

Then, once you get to the airport, you have to get to your hotel! Since both Disney World and Aulani have shuttle services, we’re going to use them for our example. The shuttle service from the Orlando Airport to the Disney Hotels will be Mears Connect. This service is $32 per adult roundtrip, and $27 per child (ages 3-9) roundtrip. So, with these prices and our example family having kids between the ages of 3-9, the total for the shuttle service would be $118, before tax.

So! That brings us to the total for the basics of our trip. If the family of 4 stays at Port Orleans, their total would be $5,601.52. If the family of 4 stays at the Polynesian, their total would be $8,173.54.

Aulani

Now, let’s take a look at Aulani! This is not an all-inclusive resort like some others you can find in Hawaii. So, a standard room for 4 people for our chosen dates starts at $549 per night, before tax. Multiple that by the 6 nights of the stay and it comes to $3,294.

Next, let’s take a look at airfare. We are again using Kayak and flying from Dallas, Texas, just to try and keep things as equal as possible. The cheapest roundtrip flight for our dates from Dallas to Hawaii is $649 per person, before taxes and fees,  through American Airlines. This would give our family a grand total of $2,596 for their flight, before taxes and fees.

The shuttle from the Honolulu Airport to Aulani is $24 per adult, which includes children 3 and over, BOTH to and from the airport. So, since the kids in our example family are between the ages of 3 and 9, they qualify as adults. This means the shuttle service to and from the airport would total up to $192, before tax.

The total for the basics of our Aulani trip comes to $6,082.

So, it really depends on where you stay at Disney World! If you go with the Disney Moderate hotel, it would be cheaper than this trip to Aulani by $480.48. But, if you stay at a Deluxe Disney hotel, it would actually be more than this trip to Aulani by $2,091.54! That’s definitely large difference that could be a deciding factor in where you’re going on vacation, and where you’re staying.

Now, we want to be sure to note here that there are many factors at play that might make your experience different. Keep in mind that while you are paying for Disney World tickets that guarantee you will have plenty of activities to choose from, you are not paying for any activities at Aulani in this calculation. Your stay at Aulani does include many free activities at the resort, but we suspect that if this is your first trip to Hawaii, you will want to book an excursion or two to see some of the more quintessential Hawaii vacation sites — such as Pearl Harbor or the North Shore. That will add to your cost.

In both cases, we have made no calculations for food. While we find the prices on menus at Disney World and Aulani comparable, if you are dining off-property, keep in mind that food on Hawaii could cost more.

So, if you stay at a Moderate hotel at Disney World, the basics of your stay will most likely be slightly less expensive than Aulani, but if you stay at a Deluxe hotel, Disney World could cost significantly more! Your experience will of course vary based on when you travel, how far in advance you book and many other factors. But if you’re dreaming of a Hawaii trip, this may show you it is within reach! Stay tuned to DFB for more Disney news, updates, and info!

Click here to learn about Disney World’s Genie+ program that has replaced FastPass+!

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Have you ever been to Aulani? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments!

The post Is a Trip to Disney World MORE Expensive than a Trip to Hawaii? We Break It Down. first appeared on the disney food blog.

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There is one particular piece of merchandise that we have wanted Disney to make for a while, and now, they finally have!

So, what is it you may ask? CANDLES. We don’t understand why Disney hasn’t dabbled in making candles because there seems to be a big market for them! We’ve even found dupes for classic Disney scents at places like Bath and Body Works and Amazon. But now, we don’t have to, because Disney has started making their own candles, and they’re now being sold online!

We’ve seen all of these candles in Disney World already, but now you can get them sent straight to your house! First up, we have this awesome Stitch candle that looks like a pineapple! Stitch’s head is the lid of the candle.

Can you guess what scent it is? Yep — pineapple! It has major Dole Whip vibes.

Click here to get the Stitch candle!

Next, we have this really cool Haunted Mansion candle that looks like it’s wrapped in tombstones. It even features Madame Leota on one side!

This one is oud and agarwood scented, so you can have a little bit of spookiness with you at home!

Click here to get the Haunted Mansion candle!

Finally, there is a Cinderella Pumpkin Coach Carriage candle! How clever to turn a carriage into a candle, right?

This one is pumpkin spice scented, which is great if you just can’t wait until fall to put out your pumpkin candles!

Click here to get the Cinderella Pumpkin Carriage candle!

All of these candles shown are $34.99 each, but there are even MORE available on shopDisney right now, so hurry on over before they sell out! And, stay tuned to DFB for more Disney merchandise news and updates.

Click here to see ALL of the candles you can get on shopDisney!

Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!

Which candle do you hope Disney makes next? Let us know in the comments!

The post RUN Don’t Walk — Official Disney Candles Are Now for Sale Online! first appeared on the disney food blog.

In this week’s episode of “Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace?” on CNN+, Wallace spoke to former Disney CEO Bob Iger. Iger spoke about why it is important for corporate leaders to make statements regarding issues like climate change, immigration, and legislation.

He said in the interview, “A lot of these issues are not necessarily political. It’s about right and wrong. So I happened to feel, and I tweeted an opinion about the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill in Florida. To me, it wasn’t about politics. It is about what is right and what is wrong, and that just seemed wrong. It seemed potentially harmful to kids.”

Iger tweeted a condemnation of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill in February, well before current Disney CEO Bob Chapek finally denounced it. Chapek initially said that “corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds.”

Iger also said about climate change and immigration, “I had to contend with this a lot, and the filter that I used to determine whether we should or should not weigh in considered a few factors. What would its impact have on our employees, on our shareholders, and our customers? And if any one of those three constituencies had a deep interest in or would be affected by whatever was the matter at hand, then it was something I thought we should consider weighing in on.”

Wallace asked if Iger considered if the statements were “going to tick off people.”

“There are going to be people who aren’t going to like what [you] are saying,” Wallace said, “and maybe that means fewer people will come to the theme park.”

Iger responded, “We never really saw much evidence of that, even though there were threats about boycotts on certain things. Again, when you are dealing with right and wrong, and when you are dealing with something that does have a profound impact on your business, I just think you have to do what is right and not worry about the potential backlash to it.”

Iger also said he has regrets about not raising the minimum wage of Cast Members sooner after Wallace played a clip from Abigail Disney’s “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,” which criticizes the pay of theme park Cast Members versus the CEO salary.

“You were making that year 1,000 times what the average Disney employee was making,” Wallace said. “Do you have any misgivings about that?”

“I’ve never been defensive about what I made,” Iger said. “I was paid at a level that was commensurate with what most heads of large media companies were paid throughout my tenure and often less than, interestingly enough, and Disney was among the most complex and the largest and the most successful of them all.”

He said that Disney created more jobs during his tenure and that employees receiving minimum wage also “earned overtime, got good benefits, and were promoted over time as well.” He also pointed to the launch of the Disney Aspire program, which helps pay for the education of hourly employees.

“If I have regrets,” he went on, “it would be one, and that is that, we were one of the first companies, by the way, to go to $10 an hour as the starting wage. We were being pushed to go to 15. There was some hesitation in that regard because of the cost associated with it. We should have done that right away. My opinion.”

Source: Deadline

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The post Former Disney CEO Bob Iger Speaks About Importance of Corporate Statements and Regrets Not Raising Disney Minimum Wage Sooner appeared first on WDW News Today.

Spencer Roach, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, tweeted this morning that he and fellow legislators have had meetings about repealing the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which created a special district around Walt Disney World.

Yesterday was the 2nd meeting in a week w/fellow legislators to discuss a repeal of the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which allows Disney to act as its own government. If Disney wants to embrace woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County. pic.twitter.com/6sj29Gj6Wz

— SpencerRoach (@SpencerRoachFL) March 30, 2022

Roach tweeted that yesterday was the second meeting discussing a repeal and, “If Disney wants to embrace woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County,” referencing Disney’s condemnation of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The 1967 act allowed Disney to create the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the self-described purpose being “to support and administer certain aspects of the economic development and tourism within District boundaries.” The creation of the district means Walt Disney World and other landowners pay for local essential services like water, electricity, fire protection, and emergency medical services instead of taxpayers.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been criticizing Disney’s stance against the now passed bill, most recently saying, “They do not run this state. They do not control this state,” after Disney stated their hope of repealing the bill.

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The post Florida Legislators Meeting About Repealing Reedy Creek Improvement Act Due to Disney’s ‘Woke’ Stance Against ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill appeared first on WDW News Today.

Many of you know, I grew up cultivating a love of Disney from further away than most. I’ve spent my life living on the eastern coast of Australia, where my family has a business that took us back and forward between Sydney and Los Angeles often. My sister, Casey, and I were lucky enough to spend many of our days waiting for conferences and business meetings to end, enjoying the rides of Disneyland. Before I saw my adult days, I knew every square inch of that park, every detail, every smell, every sound. Needless to say, I was a very lucky girl.

Fast forward to my teen years, and I started becoming more familiar with Walt Disney World, though a few things didn’t make sense to me, number one being the love of the fan-favorite, quirky dragon-looking character, Figment. So what better place to start this month’s Brief History of Disney than uncovering the backstory to this imaginative, purple creation? Let’s go.

It was 1983 at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park when a dark ride about the power of imagination opened to delighted guests. Inspiration for this attraction was recycled from a Disneyland project with an attraction named Professor Marvel’s House of Illusions. The plan was to feature an unconventional scientist who had made a hobby out of breeding dragons. This became the basis for the EPCOT attraction’s two main characters. The intended star of the show was Dreamfinder, though it would turn out that his imagined friend, Figment, would win the hearts of guests and become a lasting fixture of the park. The name, Figment, was said to be inspired by an episode of Magnum P.I. that creator Tony Baxter was watching in which a goat is referred to as a figment of Higgins’ imagination.

Journey Into Imagination continued to enchant audiences from 1983 to 1998, challenging them to explore new ideas and think outside the box. A reimagined version of this attraction, Journey into Your Imagination, opened in 1999 to a less than stellar response. The new attraction was dominated by Dr. Nigel Channing, with Figment taking a back seat to the action with a much smaller, almost non-existent role. This was when fan support for this lovable character escalated; his absence made guests further appreciate the role he had in the original attraction. As a result, the newly updated ride only remained open until 2000, when it closed a second time for a major refurbishment.

Journey into Imagination with Figment finally opened in 2002, delighting Figment-lovers with his return to the main stage. Figment acts as a sidekick to Channing in this version, now hosting guests in their own journey into imagination rather than being the student himself. Figment plays a more boisterous role, singing tunes and bouncing in and out of scenes. The third and final version of this attraction launched Figment into the Disney character catalog, showing up in merchandise and small cameos in Pixar films Inside Out and Toy Story 4. Figment even donned his own popcorn bucket earlier this year.

Even after closure rumors swirled in 2017, threatening an Inside Out-themed ride to take over the attraction; Journey into Imagination with Figment is now the longest-running iteration of this attraction, having been open 20 years to date. The most recent take on the ride has reacquainted older fans with the character they fell in love with many years ago and welcomed a new fan base of younger guests that enjoy the introduction to this mischievous, purple dragon.

Few know that during development, Figment was intended to be green. It was the intervention of the sponsor Kodak who insisted on the change in fear that the green would remind guests of rival business, FujiFilm.

Figment has become a fixture of Future World and a staple of the EPCOT park as a whole, often popping up in annual festivals such as Flower & Garden as well as Food and Wine. I’m still not convinced that I understand the devoted love that some have for this character, but I do now better understand why some Figment lovers are so protective over him, considering the backstory of this attraction. Let me know what you think. Which version of this attraction do you think was the best one? Should it be replaced with something else or stay true to its original concept indefinitely?