Disney Parks shared a video featuring a first look at the updated version of “Fantasmic!” that will return to the park this month.
First Look at Updated ‘Fantasmic!’
Peter Pan returns to “Fantasmic!,” replacing a scene that featured “Pirates of the Caribbean.” (Richard Harbaugh / Disneyland Resort)
Watch the video embedded below. It includes classic “Fantasmic!” moments like Mickey shooting sparks from his hands, as well as a look at the returning “Peter Pan” sequence.
Mickey Mouse and Maleficent do battle with a host of special effects in “Fantasmic!” (Richard Harbaugh / Disneyland Resort)
The LA Times also shared photos of the show’s new climactic sequence. “Fantasmic!” performances were halted in April 2023 when a fire broke out that completely destroyed the Maleficent dragon figure. Maleficent will no longer transform into a dragon and the new climax features her atop a tower, rising 35 feet in the air.
Sorcerer Mickey battles Maleficent as she appears to set the river aflame. (Richard Harbaugh / Disneyland Resort)
“The whole theme of the show — good versus evil, and Mickey’s magic and imagination overpowering the evil — it’s important to have that peak in the show,” says Disney Live Entertainment’s Tobi Longo. “Maleficent is still going to be spectacular. She’s on the stage longer than she used to be. We’ve added new pyro effects, with really cool projections and lasers. The river is still going to light on fire. … As much as we miss the dragon right now, it’s still going to be a spectacular scene.”
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Aimed at the younger comic fans, Marvel will be releasing two new Spider-Man series this August. What’s Happening: Today, Marvel revealed two new spider-series for younger audiences coming out this August. With Spidey and His Amazing Friends and Spider-Man: Homeroom Heroes, Marvel is welcoming a brand new generation of comic book fans. Spidey and His Amazing Friends, aimed […]
The Universal Orlando Resort Summer Tribute Store will have merchandise and theming inspired by “Ghostbusters,” “Back to the Future, “Jaws,” “Shrek,” and “E.T.” The store will open this Friday, May 24, after a UOAP preview on Thursday.
Summer Tribute Store
The Summer Tribute Store “will invite guests to explore a 1980s-themed retail space that celebrates these beloved classics with special props, photo ops, merchandise and so much more.” The highlighted films are from upcoming new experiences at Universal Orlando Resort including DreamWorks Land and Universal Mega Movies Parade.
Located in the Hollywood area of Universal Studios Florida, this year’s Summer Tribute Store will transport guests to ‘The Tribute Store Plaza’ — a 1980s shopping mall featuring three highly immersive ‘mega’ rooms — the nostalgic Mega Video Rental video store, a retro Mega Castle Arcade, and the majestic Tribute Theatre. As guests explore the shop, they’ll discover various photo opportunities and countless Easter eggs inspired by familiar characters and moments from each of the films.
The new Tribute Store will feature a variety of new collections full of apparel, accessories, home goods, and more themed to the films, including a colorful new Shrek assortment, an E.T. outdoors-inspired line, Ghostbusters out-of-this-world goods, Jaws nautical merchandise, and so much more. Later this summer, the store will also carry the all-new interactive bubble wands inspired by DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Trolls,’ Illumination’s ‘Minions,’ and Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s ‘Jurassic World’ that include fun features that allows them to interact with each other as well as with specific floats in the Universal Mega Movie Parade when it debuts on July 3rd.
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The hype continues to build as we get closer to the premiere of Descendants: The Rise of Red in July with a new poster that has been shared by Disney+. ’ What’s Happening: Disney+ has shared a new poster for the highly-anticipated next installment in the Disney Descendants franchise, Descendants: The Rise of Red. In the […]
Spring and Summertime fun awaits you, so why not greet them with some magical Disney accessories for your vacation, wardrobe or next Parks visit? Disney Store has the best merchandise around and today, they’re offering Free Shipping on any size order. (Please note this article contains affiliate links. Your purchase will support LaughingPlace by providing […]
Lari the Armadillo has gotten his own umbrella during Tiana’s Bayou Adventure construction at Magic Kingdom.
Lari the Armadillo
During our visit on May 21, empty logs were being tested. We spotted a few coming down the drop and circling this peninsula. On May 22, the ride was tested with people.
The Lari figure in this area now has an umbrella over his head. The umbrella is made out of greens and florals that could be found in the bayou. It joins a small lantern that was added two weeks ago.
Lari is an original character for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. He’s described as mischievous and quiet, with a habit of borrowing things that don’t belong to him. That said, we may discover the umbrella and lantern don’t actually belong to Lari.
This Lari figure is located on the right side of the ride flume near the end of the attraction. Another Lari animatronic can be found up behind the yellow barn of the attraction queue. There are likely more Lari figures inside the ride.
Lari’s home, which recently got its own set of props, can be found outside one of the doors of Critter Co-Op, a gift shop for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The other gift shop will be Tiana’s Bayou General.
Windows inside the Critter Co-Op are still covered, though we spotted lights on inside during our recent visit. We heard work ongoing inside, too.
More Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Construction
At the entrance to the attraction, queue signs have yet to be installed in the themed frames. Crew members were working on the frames on Wednesday. They appeared to be installing copper wiring.
The frames feature the lily flower motif present throughout Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and its branding. They’re purple, green, and yellow — the main colors of Mardi Gras.
In the queue area under the Frontierland train station, construction tape has been removed from the tops of blue fencing, revealing gold detailing at the tops of the posts. This matches gold details on lampposts in the queue.
Crew members were working inside a tent next to the barn, but we couldn’t be sure of what they were doing. Other crew members in the queue were doing electrical work. In addition to the blue lampposts, wood lampposts and lights are hanging from wires.
Beyond the main doors to the barn, we could see another pair of double doors. Each door features nine small window panes. They have the same staining as the windows on the doors at the top of nearby stairs (pictured below).
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Star of the new Star Wars series, The Acolyte, Amandla Stenberg, stopped by Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge ahead of the series debut and during the park’s Season of the Force event. What’s Happening: Last night, Amandla Stenberg, who stars in Lucasfilm’s new, live-action Star Wars series The Acolyte, made an appearance at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge during Season […]
An all-new episode of 20/20 reports on a clown who murdered a Florida mother, leading to a 30-year journey to bring the killer to justice. This features interviews with the son of the victim, Marlene Warren, and the defense attorney for the killer, who pleaded guilty to murder. What’s Happening: In May 1990, a clown carrying balloons […]
DreamWorks Land recently had its Team Member preview at Universal Studios Florida, and our intrepid reporters Annie and Nana were there to check it all out.
Annie and Nana’s Honest Review: DreamWorks Land
DreamWorks Land is located in the former home of Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone, and is comprised of experiences themed to “Shrek,” “Trolls,” and “Kung Fu Panda.” An easy comparison for us is to liken it to Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in more ways than one.
However, if there’s one takeaway we have from this land as a whole, it’s this: DreamWorks Land is the biggest downgrade since Fast and Furious: Supercharged.
There are a lot of redeeming qualities of this land, but overall, it disappoints. Starting off with decor, we’ve seen birthday parties with better decorations. The land is filled with character flats, which we feel are a cheap alternative to what could’ve been offered instead. There is also hardly any shade, which will no doubt be brutal in the summer months.
The former KidZone entrance sign had a spinning spiral at the center, but the new DreamWorks Land entrance is flat and offers no movement.
Shrek’s Swamp area is the best part of the entire land, and it shows. We also love that Donkey and Shrek are back in a new, permanent meet and greet location, alongside Fiona.
Shrek’s Swamp for Little Ogres is a playground area made for smaller guests to splash and slide. Not only is there an outhouse slide that farts as you slide down, but there is also a Pinocchio animatronic that tells you true (or not-so-true) facts. The animatronic is a highlight for us here, and we hope it will last a long time in the area. Other than that and the farting slide, we’d liken it to a McDonald’s playground without shade. It’s fine but there’s nothing special about it beyond that.
Compared to Fievel’s Playland, the former playground area had much more theming, a water slide, more interactive aspects, and more water features. Shrek’s Swamp for Little Ogres feels so small and simple when considering its predecessor.
We loved King Harold’s Swamp Symphony. The animatronic frogs are awesome and well-made. You can also make them say “Budweiser,” which we found extremely amusing.
Mama Luna’s Feline Fiesta is a screen-based interactive experience in which guests can utilize cranks and buttons to cause the cats onscreen to react. Universal has had a long-standing trend of putting screens in every attraction, and we had hoped that we had moved past that. However, Mama Luna’s Feline Fiesta is just fine, and a good distraction for kids.
Trolls Trollercoaster is the only actual ride in the new land, and is a retheme of Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster. To us, the coaster car seats are very small, and barely big enough to fit two adults. It’s still the Nuthouse Coaster, just with new colors, signs, and a coaster train.
In addition, the entrance to its predecessor featured Woody in a ride vehicle that spun around. Here, we get a bunch of flats of Trolls. The queue is also quite empty.
Poppy’s Playground is located near the DreamWorks Imagination Celebration entrance. We thought it was cute, and wish we were kid-sized so we could take advantage of the bouncy pods. Like with the rest of the land, we wish it offered more shade, so parents could relax while their kids run around.
However, thinking back to Barney’s Backyard, this area once had a fantastic and beautiful indoor play area, and now we have a troll tree with seed pods planted in front of the bathrooms. While it is cute, it’s not up to the standard we expected given the previous offering.
Po’s Kung Fu Training Camp is a play area located at the back of DreamWorks Land, where Curious George Goes to Town once was. Much of this area is shaded, and will no doubt be a great place for kids to run and cool off once the water features are activated.
That being said, the two too-difficult-to-push noodle bowl spinning structures are likely not going to be enough for young crowds. The noodles that hang down and spin around are nothing compared to the laundry washing area of Curious George, where you could open doors, pull strings, dump water buckets, and more.
Po Live! is very much like Turtle Talk with Crush at EPCOT. We think it’s a great spot for kids and parents to hang out in the shade, with additional interaction for the younger kung fu masters. The performer for Po was also incredible, and an excellent, near undetectable voice match for Jack Black, who voices Po in the “Kung Fu Panda” films.
However, once you walk into Po Live, you’ll immediately see it’s just the corpse of The Ball Factory, with just an added screen and a few benches. It’s a two-story experience reduced to a single-story sitting area. It deeply disappointed us, and felt like inhabiting the dead shell of a place we loved. However, the longer we sat there, it eventually started to grow on us. We also kept returning to Po Live! because it offered the only shaded area in the entire land.
To us, this is the worst of the worst when it comes to DreamWorks Land, as it pales in comparison to what the Curious George area had to offer. We’re not saying that kids won’t love Po, but this feels like a storage structure when some birthday party cut-outs and decor.
The crown jewel of the land is no doubt DreamWorks Imagination Celebration. Not only were the performers amazing and so talented and the puppets beautifully detailed, but it takes a lot to keep kids fixated on a stage show with minimal distractions, and this entertainment offering accomplishes that. The theater also has nice air conditioning, which we’re thankful for.
We are disappointed that the holding area for the show no longer offers any kind of pre-show, and instead just had screens that play clips from DreamWorks films.
The two snack stands — Swamp Snacks and Trolls Treats — offer some hits and some misses. But with no tables to eat at or shade to eat under, everything melts fast and is a mess rather than a refreshing or refueling treat. We hope that Universal will take this into consideration and potentially add umbrellas or standing tables ahead of the land’s official opening. Read our reviews for Swamp Snacks and Trolls Treats.
One major disappointment for us was the removal of the theming in the former “Barney” bathrooms. Before, the walls featured characters and kites and other embellishments, and now they’re plainly decorated in blue and white and just plain sad.
To us, this is the biggest downgrade the park has seen in a long time purely because we loved so many aspects of Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone. Curious George Goes to Town, The Ball Factory, and Fievel’s Playland all had so much interactivity and fun to offer, and this land feels like it’s missing so much.
In addition, the land’s water features weren’t operational on the day of our visit, so that does have some impact on our opinion of the entire experience.
All that being said, DreamWorks Land might be a downgrade for us, but we think most kids will enjoy it. We understand that not everything at the parks is made for everyone, but this land has so much potential wasted. Still, it is a welcome addition to the park for younger guests.
Hear all of Annie and Nana’s thoughts on DreamWorks Land in their honest review video 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.
