If you stay 3 nights or longer at a Disney Resort Hotel during 2020, you will receive a letter thanking you for visiting. This is no ordinary letter. Within the letter there will be a QR code that will unlock a hidden screen on the Play Disney Parks app. This screen will allow you to access an animation, augmented reality Mickey Mouse that will appear on your phone.
I am looking forward to seeing this once me and my pups come back from our upcoming trip.
A major refurbishment is scheduled to take place on Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World within the next couple of weeks and is expected to last until mid-Summer.
With Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary scheduled for 2021, most of the parks have been seeing major changes and new rides. Magic Kingdom has pretty much been spared other than construction of the Tron Rollercoaster in Tomorrowland (Disney World Railroad and Tomorrowland Speedway have taken the brunt.).
Disney announced today that the Icon of all Disney World parks, Cinderella Castle, will start refurbishment within the next couple of weeks. Disney claims that the work on the castle will not interrupt any of the shows or fireworks that are held at Cinderella Castle daily.
Disney released an artist’s rendering of what the completed work will look like. The majors change will be the pinkish hue added to the structure along with golden highlights very similar to Disneyland in California’s Castle.
We are disappointed with the extremely late notice of this construction by Disney. Most of those that will be visiting Walt Disney World this Spring and Summer had booked trips months ago knowing that there was MAJOR construction throughout Walt Disney World. To have Disney spring this upon guests that may not be able to view the icon on of the Disney Empire is not leaving many long time fans of the Mouse too happy.
We have booked our FastPasses tonight and have gotten the following rides
We got really lucky to be able to get three of the four major rides (Rise of the Resistance is not yet available.)
My family treats FastPass Night as many would a Fantasy Football Draft Night. Bartering and trading for the FastPass that you want.
Our next task for preparing for our Walt Disney World trip will be in about a month when we start to get clothing and other items that we will need for when we head down to Lake Buena Vista. Check back for more info.
You have to admit that planning a trip to Disney can be quite overwhelming, and if you have small children, it can also be next to impossible. When I took my wife and my pups to Disney for the first time, they were 2 and 4 years old. For my wife and I to remember everything was a disaster.
Thankfully, today, families have help through internet forums and fan sites (like this one) to help with all of the stages of planning a trip.
Even with the resources available today, you are bound to forget something.
That is where we come in. With having to pack for herself, and the pups, my wife has developed a packing list that she will go through to make sure that she has not forgotten anything. She has tweaked the list throughout the year and has it almost down to science.
Below is the list that she uses and at the very bottom of the page is a link that you may download for free to help remember what is needed to be packed so that you do not have to either go to one of the gift shops at your resort and pay 3-5 times as much for a product or have to run out to Walmart and/or Target at midnight to get something you’ve forgotten.
70 Days to go!!!
Rumors are swirling around this morning that the Regal Eagle Smokehouse located in the American Adventure at EPCOT will be opening soon.
WDW News Today reported that on Google the listing for the restaurant is showing that it will be open on Sunday, February 9th at 11:30am… I did the Google search for Regal Eagle Smokehouse and it is indeed showing operating hours for that date.
I wouldn’t smack your lips for some delicious BBQ while visiting EPCOT this coming Sunday quite yet. If you also look at the hours, it is showing that the restaurant is CLOSED on Monday. I would think that if Disney was opening the restaurant on Sunday, that it would be continuously open from that point. Remember, this information is coming from a Google search and quite possibly could be a mistake.
I also went to the Disney website to see if there were any hours there. At the time that I am writing this post, the Disney website is still showing the Regal Eagle Smokehouse as COMING SOON.
If I were a betting man, I would guess that if you go to EPCOT on February 9th at 11:30am, the restaurant will still not be open.
With the recent openings of two new major attractions and a third coming in March, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be currently changing its FastPass+ tier structure.
Currently, there are two tiers for FastPass+ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. When booking a FastPass there, you may only choose one attraction from Tier 1 and two from Tier 2. The main complaint about this current structure is that the following rides are all located within Tier 1
These are the major rides in which guests visit Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Alas, there is a change coming and it seems as though Disney may have listened to the thousands and thousands of complaints about the way the rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios were structured.
As of February 19, 2020, there will only be two rides listed as Tier 1 for FastPass+ and they are:
This means that all other rides, Tower of Terror, Rock n Rollercoaster and even Toy Story Mania are now Tier 2 attractions. This is a tremendous option now for those that are visiting Hollywood Studios.
Don’t forget, you are not limited to just three FastPasses a day. Once you have exhausted the three that you have chosen, you can search using the MyDisney App or one of the many kiosks for any available FastPasses. This can be done in any of the four parks. We have actually been able to reserve as many as 14 FastPasses in a single day.
Now with Mickey’s Runaway Railroad slated to open in March, I think that it is a safe bet that it will be a Tier 1 FastPass and very difficult to get at first.
So there you go, riding the attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be come much easier come February 19th and I think it is also safe to say that DHS is no longer a half-day park.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Please let us know how your feel about this new policy and if you think that there may be any changes to Epcot’s tiered FastPass+ structure in the near future with their additions of the Guardians of the Galaxy Rollercoaster, the Ratatouille ride and all of the new attractions coming to Epcot over the next five year.
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