This week’s weekend discussion topic is going to be an interesting one. Recently, I’ve been paying attention to some of the new characters making their way into Disney theme parks. Pete has been introduced to Mickey’s ToonTown in Disneyland, Mirabel from Encanto is coming to Magic Kingdom, and Moana is expected to start appearing in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The new additions have made me think about which characters in the parks I spend more time with and any others I wish had more exposure to.
Obviously, the staples like Mickey and Minnie are always a pleasure, though outside of the usual suspects, there are a few characters that I wish we saw more of. Though my daughter once had me lining up for hours, waiting for Rapunzel and Elsa, and my son once waited around 45 minutes to meet Darth Vader, there are only a few characters that spring to mind that I would wait in line to see now. Unexpectedly, the shortlist I jotted down had a few villains on the list, like Maleficent and Ursula. How cool would that be? In fact, it spurred on a whole other idea that I will tell you about this afternoon.
In the meantime, I want to know who you would like to see more of in the parks. Give me the who, where, and why of which Disney characters should have a bigger presence at Walt Disney World.
In an interview with Collider, Frozen and Frozen 2 songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (who also worked with Disney for the music on the WandaVision series) spoke more about the upcoming sequel, including details about how they learned Frozen 3 was happening. We first learned about it when Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned it during an earnings call — well, the songwriters learned about it JUST before that.
Kristen said: “They told us, the day of, and a little bit about what they’re thinking. It got us very excited. Now, we have to let the wheels of Hollywood do what they do, but we were very excited with their ideas.”
It sounds like those “wheels of Hollywood” are already working on ideas for the next movie in the Frozen franchise, which makes it seem like the movie is in at least the pre-production phase. How exciting!
The songwriters also talked a little bit about their process when they were writing songs for the first Frozen movie. Robert said, “With Frozen, when they showed us the pictures of Little Anna and Little Elsa, we were like, ‘That’s Katie and Annie. That’s our kids. This is for them. This is what we have to be saying to the world right now.’”
Frozen 3 isn’t the only sequel in the works at Disney, though. During that same earning call, Iger also announced sequels to Zootopia and Toy Story. So fans of those franchises also have something to look forward to.
Order Your Copy of the 2023 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Today!
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You’ll get a Reference Guide, a 101 Plan, and a Printables and Resources Guide! With mini-reviews of every single restaurant, bar, lounge, kiosk and more; an entire chapter on the best snacks in Disney World; full Disney Dining Plan analysis; and a full chapter on discounts and deals; you’ll have everything you need to plan your best vacation yet.
Let’s start things out next to Guest Relations, where a section of the park has been blocked off for several months. Most of the dirt has been moved around inside this construction zone recently, so hopefully, that means they’re making progress on getting this walkway open again! It would be a great shortcut back to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
Next to Guest Relations
In World Discovery, we’ve been watching the construction at Cool Wash, which has been renamed Refreshment Station. The inside has been revamped, but it looks like there’s more work to be done!
The former Cool Wash
As you come around the back of Spaceship Earth, you can see the progress on CommuniCore Plaza, where there seems to be a new pavilion constructed. This outdoor space will have multiple functions, and we can’t wait to see it complete!
Around the back of the construction zone
CommuniCore Hall is the indoor space next to the plaza, and a BUNCH of support beams have been added recently. Also, a significant amount of progress has been made on the roof of the building.
CommuniCore Hall
Finally, we make it to the main event…Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana! Most of the structural elements in the attraction are complete, but it seems like the Imagineers are still hard at work on the technicalities.
It’s coming along!
There’s still a little more landscaping to be done by the entrance and exit, but the pathways through the walking trail are all in place!
On the other side of that construction wall is a space that looks to house some essential equipment for the new attraction. It’s likely that Disney will surround this with trees to hide it from the public eye before more of the space is opened up.
Construction by Spaceship Earth
And that’s a complete look at the construction in EPCOT! We’re excited to have the transformation completed this fall, and until then, we’ll continue to bring you updates. Stay tuned to DFB!
Order Your Copy of the 2023 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Today!
With more than 900 pages, the 2023 DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining is full of tips and planning tools developed by Disney World experts over 30+ years of visits. We’ve done the research for you, so you’ll know just which spots will uniquely suit your family’s needs!
You’ll get a Reference Guide, a 101 Plan, and a Printables and Resources Guide! With mini-reviews of every single restaurant, bar, lounge, kiosk and more; an entire chapter on the best snacks in Disney World; full Disney Dining Plan analysis; and a full chapter on discounts and deals; you’ll have everything you need to plan your best vacation yet.
Gideon’s has just announced that there’s a new bonus limited-time cookie for the rest of the month of March — the Fruit Bat Cookie (also known as the new Raspberry Dark Coffee Cake Cookie). The Coffee Cake Cookie is a fan favorite, so it’s fun to see this with a new twist!
This cookie is layered with housemade Raspberry Jam and is covered in Crunch Butter Crumbs and Raspberry Sugar. So if you love raspberry, this is for you!
Inside Gideon’s Bakehouse
This cookie is only available through the end of this month, and all proceeds from this cookie will go to the Lubee Bat Conservancy, which is a non-profit organization that supports saving bats and their habitats. Be sure to grab them early every day, because they’re expected to sell out!
March’s Cold Brew at Gideon’s Bakehouse
In other Gideon’s news, don’t miss the addition to Hot Cookie Hour, and stay tuned to DFB for the new treats coming to this spot in April!
In its time at Universal Studios Florida, JAWS was always notorious for being difficult and expensive to keep properly maintained. This was one of the many factors which lead to its closure in 2012. Now it seems many of those same issues have come to the clone at Universal Studios Japan, with several animatronics still broken and sound out of sync even after refurbishment concluded.
Reports from Twitter users local to Universal Studios Japan have noted continued maintenance issues at JAWS following its month-long refurbishment from February 22 to March 16. The attraction often closes multiple times through the year, with another refurbishment already on the calendar for June 22 to July 14, 2023. Several shark animatronics still face issues, and even sound is having trouble staying in sync.
Twitter user @LCASTUDIOS_USJ notes that two key shark animatronics were not working following the most recent refurbishment — the sharks at the gas dock and the shark biting the electric cable at the attraction’s climax. Additionally, the audio within the boathouse is out of sync, which diminishes the scare. They note “It’s the worst time I’ve rode in recent memory” in Japanese.
User @We_Love_USJ made similar observations, noting the broken sharks and all-around sound lag rather than situational.
Other users commented similarly, noting that maintenance of JAWS in recent years has been very sporadic, and it rarely functions as intended.
Our experiences riding JAWS over the past few years at Universal Studios Japan have been similar, almost always with at least one shark missing, significantly diminishing the effect of the attraction. The last time in memory that all shark animatronics functioned in the ride was in mid-2021, along with the longer fire wall following the gas explosion being absent for longer, perhaps as long as 2020. Promotional videos of the park show a more elaborate shark which flailed much more and whose jaw actually bit up and down on the electric cable, though personally we can’t recall this effect ever working since we started visiting in 2020.
JAWS opened with Universal Studios Japan on March 31, 2001, and remains the last operating version of the attraction. It originally debuted at Universal Studios Florida when that park opened on June 7, 1990 before closing on January 2, 2012 to make way for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Diagon Alley. The ride remains quite popular in Japan, often drawing lines upwards of 60-75 minutes on normal days, and guests are frequently spotted wearing JAWS-themed headbands and hats sold by the park.
How do you feel about seeing JAWS in this state? Let us know in the comments below!
For more Universal Studios news from around the world, follow Universal Parks News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news, visit WDWNT.
Early Theme Park Entry is available for on-site resort guests at Walt Disney World, and we’ve taken advantage of the perk several times for each park. This Animal Kingdom photo report offers step-by-step “speedrunning” strategy for accomplishing every ride with minimal waits during the morning hours in the park. While this Early Entry at Disney’s […]
By now, we are all reasonably well acquainted with what Walt Disney World looks like in the springtime. The famous EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival brings the natural botanical wonders of this earth to life in a spectacular display of new season glory. It makes me wonder what the other Disney resorts worldwide do to celebrate nature’s reawakening as the weather warms and the day grows longer. Luckily, Disney has offered an inside look at what one of their international theme parks does to mark the occasion. Let’s take a peek at what Springtime looks like at the Shanghai Disneyland Resort!
Guests can prepare to be enchanted not only by the beautiful topiaries but also by the secret behind their creation. Planning starts early, as the seedlings used in these topiaries are found half a year in advance! Seedlings are then carefully guided to grow in the shapes of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Chip ‘n’ Dale, Pluto, Goofy, Duffy, and LinaBell.
Disney Parks Blog
Did you know that flowers are carefully chosen for specific areas of the park? See if you can spot some of these on your next visit! Follow the path to Evergreen Playhouse in Fantasyland, and you’ll see that it is lined with Serissa japonicas, or “snow roses,” that give the illusion of snow as you approach the “Frozen: A Sing-Along Celebration.” You can also stroll through the Gardens of Imagination, which are filled with giant lupines that are shaped like castle spires to pay homage to the Enchanted Storybook Castle.
Disney Parks Blog
The floral arrangements aren’t the only features of this celebration that the characters get to enjoy. As you can see from the image above, special outfits are featured for Duffy and his friends, each featuring a flower! Here are a few of the ones shown above:
Gelatoni: Charming Iris
Cookie: Daisy
LinaBell: Freesia
Duffy: Cherry Blossom
ShellieMay: Hyacinth
StellaLou: Camellia
Olu: Grape Hyacinth
And, of course, what would a Disney Celebration be without a few special merchandise items to accompany it? The answer? We don’t know; it has never happened… C’mon, that was a little bit funny.
Let’s find out what items are going to be accompanying the occasion over in Shanghai!
To make this a real celebration, we are going to need festive snacks to enjoy while we look around at all of the seasonal decorations. The Shanghai Disneyland Resort is happy to help, offering several delicious sounding snacks and desserts to try.
This springtime, Shanghai Disney Resort also serves up sights and smells for your stomach! Some delicious desserts that celebrate Sakura, also known as the cherry blossom, include a Sakura Flavored Chocolate Churro and a Sakura Flavored Ice Cream Cone.
Disney Parks Blog
It looks like a beautiful time of year to visit. What’s your favorite Springtime celebration between all of the Disney resorts around the world?
The original voice of Bambi, Donnie Dunagan, recently stopped by Walt Disney World during The World’s Most Magical Celebration to visit his old friends Bambi and Thumper.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World just received new options to celebrate a popular attraction, with more Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway merchandise. It is sure to get fans of the attraction chugging down the tracks to get some of their own. Disneyland recently released merchandise celebrating the attraction (which is relatively new there), and Walt Disney World is now getting on the action. We found all of these items at “Great Movie Finds”, located at the exit of the attraction.
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Limited Release Pin – $17.99
The pin card features a cartoon-drawn sky with clouds, green mountains, and trees drawn in the style of art that appears on the attraction.
On the enamel pin front, we can see a rendition of the carnival scene from the attraction. The background is in a dark blue color with black outlines of a Ferris wheel and carnival tents. In the sky, you can see stars of various sizes in a lighter blue. The attractions logo is in white at the bottom. In the top right in yellow and red reads “Talk about a story twist!”
The Mickey and Minnie element of the pin is overlaid with the background giving the design a 3D effect. Mickey and Minnie can be seen riding on a hotdog while holding hot dogs. The balloons that carry them into the sky are in shades of green, blue, teal, red, and gray with one green balloon extending off of the edge of the pin background.
Next time you need a blanket for a day out in the park, this may be the one for you. This blanket features a red and white gingham pattern overall. The edge of the blanket features railroad tracks around the center and showcases Mickey, Minnie, Pete, Pluto, Chuuby, and Goofy along the track with renditions of scenes from within the attraction.
The center of the blanket had Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto riding in Mickey’s car with Chuuby flying along beside. Around the center are framed images of Pete, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy. The attraction logo is at the bottom, and at the top reads “Let’s get that runaway train!”
The blanket is designed for easy roll-up and storage, with two included straps in red and two gray plastic clasps to keep it rolled up during travel.
The straps once on the blanket also include a red handle for ease of carry when you are out and about for your perfect picnic.
Here is what the sheet looks like when opened.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Insulated Bag – $34.99
The insulated bag would pair nicely with the picnic blanket for an outing. The front of the bag features Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Chuuby headed out for a perfect picnic. The bag is light blue with a red and white gingham pattern on the sides and top. The front features the attraction logo at the bottom, with blue railroad tracks and attraction-inspired artwork. In the top left a happy sun shines down.
The opposite side of the bag has Goofy driving the train down the tracks. Behind the train, you can see the attraction cars behind. On the bag, the text reads “Gawrsh, what could possibly go wrong!?” The sun appears on this side also in the top left corner and the continued red and white pattern can be seen on top of the bag and on the sides.
The top of the bag is covered with a red and white pattern fabric, and two red handles are attached at the top for carrying.
The bag also includes a red strap to use when carrying over the shoulder.
The lid of the bag has a zipper for access to the inside. Inside is silver insulated to help keep items placed inside at their appropriate temperature.
The front of this blue and white striped engineer’s hat features the attraction logo embroidered at the center, with Mickey and Minnie on either side.
The back of this stretch band hat features Chuuby embroidered in the back center of the hat. Note the hat size is intended for children.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Hoodie- $64.99
The blue and white striped hoodie features the attractions logo in the center, with both Mickey and Minnie on either side. The front includes a center pocket and drawstrings for the hood.
On the back, the blue and white stripes continue, with the hood on the back. The waist and cuffs of the hoodie are in a light blue and cinched.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Long Sleeve Shirt – $44.99
This long sleeve white shirt showcases Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto riding along in Mickey’s red car on the front right side. Mickey and Minnie both are waving and Pluto holds the picnic basket by his mouth. Butterflies and Chuuby can be seen flying around the outside of the car.
On the back, the attractions logo is at the top and has smoke coming from the train below. Mickey and Minnie can be seen riding on the locomotive featured on the attraction.
The attraction’s logo is printed down the left sleeve of the shirt.
Will you be hopping on board for this attraction-themed merchandise? let us know your favorites in the comments.
For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
There is a super limited BONUS treat in Disney World, and the purchase limits are strict! Even better, it supports a great cause! Gideon’s Bakehouse Gideon’s Bakehouse is an extremely popular place to grab treats in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. The bakehouse serves delectable bakery items including cakes and cookies as well as caffeinated brews. The […]
