We’re getting closer to the opening of the Orlando Airport Brightline train!

Brightline Terminal C Train Construction

The expansion from West Palm Beach to Orlando is 90% complete, the final train in the fleet has arrived in Central Florida, and the Orlando Airport station will be opening soon. And now, we’ve got more updates about when we might be able to experience it.

The Brightline station at the Orlando International Airport (MCO) is gearing up to open its doors, and company president Patrick Goddard recently answered some questions from the Orlando Business Journal about the project and its progress.

©Brightline

According to Goddard, much of the infrastructure is already in place and it feels like they’re “at the finish line.”

He continued that tickets will go on sale “soon enough” and that right now in Brightline’s South Florida market, average fares are between $15 and $100 depending on the time of day and class of service selected. Goddard says next-day airfare from Orlando to Miami can be $150-$180 one way, and added, “We’ll be a lot less than that.” We’re watching the Brightline site carefully and will let you know as soon as we see tickets to Orlando available.

Would You Take a Train to Disney World?©Brightline

Much of the train’s business is expected to come from the business community, as that’s what they’ve seen in South Florida. As of now, they have “identified 150 companies with a 20,000-employee population that have a need to commute between South Florida and Central Florida.”

The trains are expected to carry around 3 million passengers per year, with that number increasing as more trains are added. Goddard says that ultimately, the system will carry 6 to 7 million passengers per year.

©Brightline

The Brightline train station at the Orlando Airport will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April. That is for the station only though. Again, service between South Florida and Orlando isn’t expected to start until the second quarter of 2023.

©Brightline via The Orlando Sentinel

And work continues on the path the train will then take through Orlando. The Sunshine Corridor plan is the current strategy. It would have Brightline share a corridor with the existing SunRail service, and it would make stops (potentially) at the Orange County Convention Center and South International Drive. A potential stop “near” Disney World has also been discussed. The plan is then to eventually connect with Tampa (if possible).

© Orlando Business Journal

We’ll keep watching for more updates from Brightline, so stay tuned to DFB for all the latest updates.

Go INSIDE the Orlando Airport’s Brightline Train Station

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What are your thoughts on the Brightline train to Orlando? Let us know in the comments.

The post Tickets Will Go On Sale “Soon” for the Orlando Airport Train! first appeared on the disney food blog.

Sometimes, amidst all of the tips, insights, discounts, and plannings we research while writing posts or creating fun and inventive videos for you, our dear readers, we find ourselves in the depths of a very specific, and unique internet search.

She’s beauty and she’s grace

For anyone who reviews our search history, you’d likely find topics like “most chocolatey dessert in Disney World,” “best time of year to visit Disney,” and yes, even “list of pink muppets.”

We won’t dignify the question of “why on earth were you Googling pink muppets” with an answer because the REAL question is, why aren’t you regularly Googling for Muppet trivia?

Researching Muppets is distinctly patriotic.

The Muppets represent the very heartbeat of American entertainment. Created by Jim Henson in 1955. The Muppets are an ensemble cast of puppet characters known for corny, sketch-style comedy. They have been infused into American pop culture through television, film, and music. The Jim Henson Company sold the rights of the Muppets to the Walt Disney Company in 2004 under Michael Eisner. And have since been marginally used in Disney projects and re-emerged onto the silver screen.

Many of us were introduced to The Muppets through Sesame Street, another branch of Jim Henson’s creations, and even more of us might be more familiar with some of the Jim Henson creatures that established themselves in George Lucas’ Star Wars universe with Yoda, and many of the other alien citizens of the films (but none of them are pink).

©Disney

We dug deep. We stretched the boundaries of who is considered a “Muppet” (ultimately, anyone from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, no matter their affiliation), and even reviewed our definition of “pink” (how much pink qualifies them? pastel pink or hot pink or reddish pink?). And in true Muppet fashion, we just went with our hearts on who the Rainbow Connection highlighted in our search engines.

So, now to indulge you with the fruits of our Google searching and provide you with a list of pink Muppets and their contribution to Muppetdom… Muppet-tonia?…the Muppetverse? …Muppetopia… You get the idea. (But we do like how Muppetopia just rolls off the tongue…)

Snowths

The Snowths are furry pink creatures with horns and round, yellow lips who sing the “do doo do doo doo” backup vocals in versions of “Mah Na Mah Na.” They kind of look like cows; the types of cows that might produce strawberry milkshakes. They’ve graced the screen with Ed Sullivan, were featured on the original The Muppet Show, and have made more recent appearances with celebrities like Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Miley Cyrus, and Rico Rodriguez.

©Disney

They come in a set —  you will hardly ever find a solo-Snowth, as their vocal harmony of “do-doos” is best sung in a duet.

Animal

Animal is the wild drummer with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. An impassioned percussionist who toes the line of inspired musical creativity and an animalistic primitive behavior that borders on impropriety. Animal is a creature of few words, often speaking in a guttural shout and repeating simple phrases. In relatively calmer moods, he can have more coherent conversations, though these instances are infrequent.

©Disney

His simplicity is his beauty as his life revolves around sleep, food, drums, and occasionally chasing a beautiful woman. Is he “pink”? Well, not in its truest form. But he does have a pink mane and is often portrayed in hues of pink. So, though Animal isn’t purely pink, he personifies the passion that pink inspires. So, he’s pink enough for us.

Miss Piggy

Miss Piggy is one of the central characters of The Muppet cast. She is the leading lady of the Muppets, the queen bee, and, when she needs to be, the muscle of enforcement. She is a prima-donna pig, and stardom is her destiny. She is demure, delicate, sophisticated, and cultured (but can also pack a punch… or karate chop) — a unique hybrid of southern charm and French “je ne sais quoi.”

©Disney

She is not known for her humility or subtleness, but why hide it when you’re a pig as awesome as she is?

Is she “pink?” Her earlier iterations were definitely on the pinker side of the color spectrum. As she’s continued in her career, she’s matured, and her pinkness has been toned down to more of a muted peachy-tone. But in our esteem, she is still the pink of perfection.

Floyd Pepper

Floyd Pepper is the bass player for the Electric Mayhem band, led by Dr. Teeth. Floyd’s costume and last name reference the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. And his hip sarcasm lives up to his namesake’s street-cred. Floyd oozes cool. In fact he’s so confident that he is one of the cast members to have influence over Animal and reign him in when his “animalism” starts to get out of hand. In fact, Floyd is often seen at the helm of Animal’s chains keeping him in line. Because losing your cool when there’s a show, just isn’t cool.

©Disney

When he isn’t helping Animal chill out with his calming demeanor, he’s poking fun and making sarcastic quips to Miss Piggy, because anyone with that much confidence and swagger needs to reminded that they’re just a pig, sometimes.

Is Floyd “pink”? Sorta. Perhaps his excessive coolness toned down his pinkish hue to more of a fuchsia or lavenderish color. But any color on Floyd is gonna look good.

Mokey Fraggle

Stepping away from our main Muppet cast, we find Mokey Fraggle. Mokey is one of the five main Fraggles in Fraggle Rock. She is a true flower child from the sixties. A dreamer. She loves painting, writing poems, writing in her diary, meditating, and is in tune with the earth. She is the oldest Fraggle and tends to take on the nurturing role within the group. Mokey is very emotional and concerned about others. She’s always ready to help a friend in need.

©Disney

Is Mokey “pink?” Well, as much as Floyd is. It could be a pink, mauve, lavenderish hue. She’s not hot pink by any stretch of the imagination, but her personality is far from “hot pink” quality. This cool pinkish hue suits her.

Clifford

Clifford is the hip Muppet who didn’t hit the Muppet scene until well into the Muppet’s third decade of entertaining. He often wears sunglasses, and his multi-colored dreadlocks give him a Rastafarian vibe. Although his facial features, particularly his lips and mustache, are somewhat reminiscent of a catfish. He is also a musician, lending a cooler beat as a percussionist when the Electric Mayhem needs a calmer tone to Animal’s wild drumming.

©Disney

He’s appeared with Milli Vanilli and Arsenio Hall, so this cool cat has gotten around. His hue is brighter, and he definitely stands out from the crowd. Another tone that is somewhere between pink and purple, but since we get to make the final decision, we’re adding him to the pink count.

Prairie Dawn

Prairie Dawn was practically one of the founding cast of Sesame Street. Her Type-A personality had her writing and organizing school plays and pageants, and often directing her fellow Sesame Street pals, Bert, Ernie, Herry, Grover, and Cookie Monster, in plays and pretend games. She’s an ambitious go-getter with dreams to break into broadcast journalism.

©Sesame Street

This determined young Muppet is undeniably pink. And if you don’t believe us, just ask her. She knows her mind and will tell you straight up.

Lola

Lola has a defined Mexican-American heritage, hailing from Plaza Sésamo. She’s a spunky four-year-old who loves singing, playing the harmonica, and the letter “L”. She is another independent young Muppet who wants to make friends and prove that she can do things on her own (like more human four-year-olds out there).

©Sesame Street

She’s one of the newest to the Muppet cast of characters, but has quickly become one of the most endearing, crossing intercultural lines as a Mexican-American as well as a Monster-American, and infusing harmony and friendship with all she encounters.

Abby Cadabby

Abby is a “fairy-in-training” and can actually speak Dragonfly. Because of her magical affinity, her name is actually a derivative of “abracadabra.” Abby is one of the most recent additions to the Muppet cast and brings with her a depth of experiences. Her parents are divorced, and her mom has remarried.  So Abby has learned to navigate life between her mother and father’s house as they share custody and adapt to living with a new stepdad and stepbrother. She is also so advanced that she has a “wand cell phone” she uses to call her parents.

©Sesame Street

She is adventurous, curious, and loves learning. This pink little furry monster fairy-in-training brings some bubbly energy to the Muppet family.

Telly Monster

Telly is a longstanding resident of Sesame Street. He’s a bit quirky and neurotic with a talent for playing the bassoon and tuba, and special affinity for triangles (both the shape and the musical instrument). Telly is the sympathetic alternative to Oscar the Grouch.

©Sesame Street

Unlike some of our other pinker Muppets, Telly tends to be bit insecure and needs reassurance and help building confidence. But he’s also a very deep-feeling Muppet that is capable of strong emotions at far extremes of the emotional scale, and sometimes experiences both of those extremes in rapid succession.

Muppets Fans! You HAVE to See Disney World’s New MagicBand!

So, that’s our deep dive into the universe of pink Muppets. Stay tuned to DFB to see what our random search engines turn up again. And we never turn down a voyage into the unknown recesses of the Muppet Trivia universe!

Click here to see a hilarious Muppets blooper reel!

It appears that the new board overseeing Disney World’s special district (whose members were chosen by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis) may not have the power it thought it had. 

©WFTV 9

Although Gov. DeSantis is now able to appoint members of the board and has limited some rights and abilities within the district, a recent development shows that Disney may have thwarted the Governor’s efforts to take control. Now, DeSantis and one of the new Board members have responded to the news.

Disney has been locked in a feud with the Florida governor for several months now. The latest move involved DeSantis taking over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which had essentially allowed Disney World to function as its own government for over 50 years. The change means that DeSantis is able to appoint all five members of the Board of Supervisors for the District (but his selection must be confirmed by the Senate). DeSantis clearly expected this to hand the power back to the government, even going so far as to say, “There’s a new sheriff in town.”

DeSantis signing the new bill

The new Board has been appointed and already started discussing changes that could come to the District. But not long after the new Board met for the first time, they ran into a snag — the previous Board made several agreements with Disney that apparently gave Disney “wide reign over [the district’s] land for the next 30 years.”

One of the agreements is called the Developer Agreement, which seems to set in stone Disney’s rights over the next three decades, regardless of what the new Board says or does. This was a kind of “insurance policy” that ensures Disney is able to function as they expect to even if the new Board wants to make changes. The Orlando Sentinel reported that this agreement was unanimously approved by the old Board on February 8th of this year.

©Spectrum News 13

The agreement also bars the District from “using the Disney name without the corporation’s approval or ‘fanciful characters’ such as Mickey Mouse” and bars the Board from regulating the height of buildings. This particular agreement is set to be valid until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England.”

Cinderella Castle for the 50th Anniversary

The new Board is not happy with this and other agreements, stating that they are “unusual” and “suspect.” One member went so far as to call them “unlawful.” A member said, “This essentially makes Disney the government…This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintaining the roads and maintaining basic infrastructure.” The chairman of the Board said that the District may need to adopt “an adversarial position” against Disney in light of the agreements. In fact, they suggested that they may need to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in “protracted litigation” against Disney. 

One of the new Board members, Bridget Ziegler, tweeted a response as well: “The arrogance of @disney continues… from ignoring parents and allowing radicals to sexualize our children, to now ignoring Florida taxpayers by sneaking in a last minute sweetheart development agreement, Disney has once again overplayed their hand in Florida. We won’t stand for this and we won’t back down. If unlawful actions were taken, this development agreement will be nullified.”

Disney responded to the accusations made by the new Board and stated that all of the agreements between Disney and the District were appropriate and were discussed in open, noticed public forums.

Reedy Creek

Now, the office of Governor Ron DeSantis has commented on the situation as well. Spokeswoman Taryn Fenske said that the board on Wednesday retained “multiple financial and legal firms to conduct audits and investigate Disney’s past behavior.” She went on to say, “The Executive Office of the Governor is aware of Disney’s last-ditch efforts to execute contracts just before ratifying the new law that transfers rights and authorities from the former Reedy Creek Improvement District to Disney. An initial review suggests these agreements may have significant legal infirmities that would render the contracts void as a matter of law” (CNN).

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ©Deadline

The District’s acting counsel and legal counsel have released a statement claiming that “the lack of consideration, the delegation of legislative authority to a private corporation, restriction of the Board’s ability to make legislative decisions, and giving away public rights without compensation for a private purpose, among other issues, warrant the new Board’s actions and direction to evaluate these overreaching documents and determine how best the new Board can protect the public’s interest in compliance with Florida Law.” The statement was from Fishback Dominick LLP, Cooper & Kirk PLLC, Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC, Waugh Grant PLLC, and Nardella & Nardella PLLC.

We’ll continue to watch for more updates on the latest Disney news, so stay tuned to DFB.

Click here to learn why Disney dragged King Charles III into its battle with DeSantis.

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The post Gov. Ron DeSantis and Board Members Comment on Reedy Creek Controversy first appeared on the disney food blog.

Disney Vacation Club members, get ready to blast off to Disneyland!

Sleeping Beauty Castle

We first told you about a brand new DVC lounge coming to Disneyland last year, but now we FINALLY have an official opening date!

A new perk is coming to Disneyland for DVC members, and it will be the first of its kind in the California theme parks. Disneyland previously announced that Disney Vacation Club will have a new “space” to hang out inside the park! The brand-new lounge is called the Disney Vacation Club Star View Station – a Member Lounge, and it’s set to open to members starting April 19th, 2023!

If you’re looking to take advantage of this new lounge, you’ll be able to find it in the heart of Tomorrowland.

©Disney

It looks like they really nailed the space theme for this Tomorrowland-based lounge, but we couldn’t help but notice that the concept art was slightly different from the finished product. For reference, here’s a look at the photos that Disney just released…

©Disney

…compared to these concept art pictures that were released last year. The lighting and seating options seem to have changed a bit!

©DVC

Disney gave us a peek at what the inside will look like along with details that members will be able to relax, cool off, and enjoy some “out of this world” amenities such as Disney Vacation Club member services on-site, complimentary Wi-Fi, device charging stations, and complimentary beverages.

DVC Sign

Although this is the first of its kind for the West Coast parks, EPCOT in Walt Disney World has been home to a similar Disney Vacation Club member lounge just above the Imagination Pavillion for several years. We’re excited to hear that Disneyland is looking to expand its offerings to Disney Vacation Club and hope it will continue to expand on these perks for members.

How do you feel about this new lounge announcement? Will you be able to visit on opening day? Stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney news!

Did you hear about the NEW STORE coming to Disneyland Resort?

Are you planning to visit the new Disney Vacation Club member lounge in Disneyland? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

The post OPENING DATE ANNOUNCED for the Newest Disney Vacation Club Lounge first appeared on the disney food blog.

Get ready to lace up your running shoes — Disney just dropped some MAJOR runDisney news!

©Disney

runDisney fans have a lot to look forward to with the upcoming Walt Disney World Wine & Dine Marathon weekend and the runDisney Springtime Surprise races coming up soon. Now there’s a new reason to celebrate because Disney has announced the THEMES for the 2024 Walt Disney World marathon weekend races!

Disney just released the themes for the upcoming 2024 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend! This event is held annually in January and invites everyone to enjoy a “run-cation” at Walt Disney World. If you haven’t ever run any of these races before, you should know they’re full of fun character photo ops, miles of encouragement from fellow runners and volunteers, and Disney bling that gives you bragging rights for years to come.

Let’s take a look at this year’s themes for each race!

©Disney

The Walt Disney World Marathon weekend is comprised of multiple races that combined account for 48.6 impressive miles. The upcoming themes for the 2024 races include a bounding Pluto featured for the 5K run, Chip & Dale running for the acorns for the 10K run, a training Donald Duck and Daisy for the half marathon, and Mickey & Minnie to round out the full marathon. Take a close look at each of the numbers in the themes for hints at park icons that will tell you which parks you’ll be running those races through.

Experienced racers ready to test their might and go the distance can also sign up for Goofy’s Race & A Half Challenge as well as the Dopey Challenge! 

©Disney

If you’re looking to sign up for these races you’ll want to act fast because these have been known to sell out quickly! You’ll want to go ahead and mark your calendar for these dates:

• Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World Resort
  • Club runDisney Gold & Platinum Member Registration: April 4, 2023
  • General Registration: April 11, 2023, at 10 AM ET

• Virtual Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend
  • General Registration: April 14, 2023, at 10 AM ET

Here’s a look at the prices for the 2024 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend races:

©Disney

And if you’re feeling really adventurous, you can challenge yourself at BOTH Walt Disney World and Disneyland by claiming the 2024 runDisney Coast to Coast Challenge!

©runDisney

Think you have what it takes to complete both the 2024 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend and 2024 Disneyland Resort Half Marathon Weekend races? If you do, there’s some special bling that will be waiting for you at the finish line. You won’t have to register separately for this race, however, there are special qualifications that must be met to be recognized for this achievement.

We’ll update you on future posts as more is revealed about Walt Disney World’s 2024 Marathon Weekend but as always, for the latest in Disney news, stay tuned to DFB!

Learn more about the runDisney races and events here.

Planning a Trip to Disney World? We’ve Got Everything You Need to Know

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Which race are you signing up to run? Have you ever completed a Dopey challenge? Tell us below!

The post THEMES ANNOUNCED for the 2024 Disney World Marathon Weekend first appeared on the disney food blog.