It was just announced during the Destination D23 Celebration taking place at the Walt Disney World Resort that Fantasmic! will return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2022!
After seemingly endless construction, questions about its return, delays, and more questions about its return, we are happy to share the news with you that the fabulous, fantastical nighttime spectacular Fantasmic! is indeed on deck for a much-anticipated return!
Josh D’Amaro from Disney’s Parks, Products and Services division, made the announcement this afternoon at the Destination D23 celebration, saying that when the show reopens for Guests to enjoy, they will get to see an all-new sequence that features live performers like before, but also includes stunts, special effects and so much more!
Stay tuned to DisneyDining for the latest on all the changes, upgrades and additions at the Most Magical Place on Earth, now in its second month of celebrating its 50th anniversary!
Disney just announced it will pause its vaccine mandate for employees in the Sunshine State. This comes just two days after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a quartet of bills related to the COVID-19 vaccine and subsequent mandates into law on Thursday.
Per The Orlando Sentinel, the decision by the House of Mouse comes in response to the latest restrictions that were passed by the Florida legislature this week, which put limitations on the power of Florida employers when it comes to requiring employees to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
On Friday, The Walt Disney Company sent a memo to Cast Members, informing them that Disney was taking this action immediately because of the new law. The memo also said that an appeal court’s temporary delay of certain federal guidelines related to COVID vaccinations from OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, had also prompted the company’s immediate actions to pause its vaccine mandates.
Part of the memo reads: “We remain confident in the approach we have taken with our mandatory vaccine policy for Florida-based Cast Members and employees, with more than 90% of our active Florida-based Cast members and employees having verified that they are fully vaccinated, and we consider this to be very successful.”
The memo, which was sent to Florida employees of Disney, the largest private employer in the state, further explained that Disney would require every employee to wear face coverings, practice social distancing and take other measures in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19 if they had not yet verified that they are vaccinated.
In addition to putting the breaks on its company vaccine mandate, Disney is also taking a break on the consideration of requests from employees for exemption from taking the vaccine. During the pause related to new legislation, Disney says it will also deem employees “unvaccinated,” if they had not yet completed the vaccination verification process.
The Destination D23 Celebration was in full swing at the Walt Disney World Resort this weekend, and lots of exciting parks news was shared with fans from all over the globe.
One of the exciting announcements made today was that of the name of a new quick-service restaurant at EPCOT. The quick-service eatery will function like other quick-service locations throughout the Walt Disney World Resort, where Guests can order at a counter or use the My Disney Experience app to place a mobile order from their phones for quicker pick-up at the eatery.
The announcement was made by Disney’s Josh D’Amaro, who currently works as Disney’s top man overseeing its Parks, Products, and Experiences. (Sounds like the most exciting position within The Walt Disney Company to me!)
The all-new Connections Café and Eatery will be located in the World Discovery neighborhood at EPCOT. It’s just one of the many changes coming to Disney World’s second park, which opened on October 1, 1982.
EPCOT was originally divided into two sections: Future World and the World Showcase. After the park’s transformation is complete, EPCOT will feature four distinct areas, each one full of new experiences, attractions, rides, and more magic than ever before. The four sections, or neighborhoods within EPCOT are World Showcase, World Celebration, World Nature, and World Discovery.
The new neighborhoods were first announced at the 2019 D23 Expo in California, along with the announcement of a new Moana-themed ride that will be located near the front of the park.
Big changes have been taking place all over the park as Disney’s Imagineers re-imagine the retro-futuristic park that also has a focus on cultural cuisine, traditions, and customs. We can’t wait to see all that’s in store for Guests who visit EPCOT in the coming years. We kind of think of it as an “EPCOT 2.0,” and it’s very exciting!
Hong Kong Disneyland closed its gates for the entire day Wednesday, and according to Disney’s website, it continues to be closed today. The site says that the decision to cease operations temporarily came from “an abundance of caution” related to a single confirmed case of a novel coronavirus infection among its visitors to the park on Sunday.
A similar scenario took place at Shanghai Disneyland only weeks ago. After that park’s closure, visitors inside the gates were subjected to mass testing by health care workers, per orders from government authorities.
When the positive result was discovered at Hong Kong Disneyland, it was announced that the park would close for the day on Wednesday. Unlike Disney’s U. S. parks, Hong Kong Disneyland is not wholly owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Disney’s fifth theme park to be built is owned by a joint venture company, Hongkong International Theme Parks Limited, the Hong Kong Government, and The Walt Disney Company.
The Guest who was positive after COVID testing had only recently come into the country from Indonesia and had complied with the mandatory quarantine for 21 days.
Because the government of Hong Kong, which is somewhat separate from the government of mainland China, has ownership in the Hong Kong Disneyland Park located in Lantau Island, decisions to close because of the pandemic, or for any other reason are not solely left to Disney, and this is even more obvious within the confines of the global coronavirus crisis. The Hong Kong government is instrumental in decisions about closures at Hong Kong Disneyland, and it is the entity responsible for Hong Kong laws and statutes related to COVID-19 and the measures implemented to help slow or stop the spread of the virus.
When the decision to close was made, the government also announced that visitors at Hong Kong Disneyland on Sunday, November 14 would be required to have COVID testing performed. That mandatory testing must be completed by today, Thursday, November 18.
Hong Kong Disneyland has seen multiple COVID related closures, beginning with its initial closure in early 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak was in its infancy. Only weeks later, every Disney Park had fallen victim to early pandemic closures in an effort to keep Guests and Cast Members safe.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has just signed a quartet of bills that helps to protect employees in the Sunshine State from termination should they refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. The new laws create restrictions on vaccine mandates by employers. He signed the bills into law while standing at a car dealership in Brandon, Florida, citing Florida residents’ “right to earn a living.”
“We’re making sure that people have a right to earn a living,” DeSantis said. “We are respecting people’s individual freedom in this state.”
Governor DeSantis (R) sees the passing of the new laws as a political victory. But even though the laws are now in place, they aren’t quite what DeSantis had originally wanted. He had pushed Florida lawmakers for more protection and received backing from supporters who testified during committee hearings.
DeSantis called a special session during which to pass the bills. That move has been met with criticism from Democrats who call the session “political theater” and feel it was done to boost DeSantis’s efforts toward re-election in 2022. They also feel that DeSantis’s decision to call the special session and pass the bills into law is also an attempt on the part of the Florida governor to prop him up for a possible 2024 Presidential run.
The main part of the four-part law, called HB1B, strikes down vaccine mandates on employees by any local government entity in Florida. Private businesses are not wholly exempt from the reach of the bill, as it requires that even those employers to include exemption status for employees who refuse the vaccine because of religious or medical reasons. Under the new law, employees in Florida who have previously contracted COVID-19 are also exempt from vaccine mandates, as are those employees who agree to, and comply with, routine testing for the virus and also wear personal protective equipment (i.e., masks, face coverings, etc.).
“No nurse, no firefighter, no police officer, no trucker–no anybody–should lose their job because of these COVID jabs,” DeSantis said just before signing the bills into law this morning, referring to vaccinations as “jabs,” as he has been doing lately.
Disney mandated vaccines for its executive employees toward the end of the summer and then struck a deal with unionized Cast Members who work at the Walt Disney World Resort that would require those hourly workers to be fully vaccinated by October 22 or face the possibility of termination. Because Disney is a private employer–the largest in the Sunshine State, too–the law doesn’t change much for the entertainment giant.
But Florida HB1B does now make it a legal requirement for Disney and other private employers in Florida to allow for push-back from employees who cite religious reasons and/or medical inability to receive the vaccine as their reasons for refusing to have the–as DeSantis calls it–“jab.”
The new law was passed with seemingly little consideration for the fact that more than 60,000 Floridians have died from novel coronavirus infections since the pandemic began in early 2020. At this time, nearly 61% of Florida residents are fully vaccinated.
