A child was left by their parents at Disneyland Resort recently, prompting Disney Cast Members to be involved.
Disneyland Resort is known as “The Happiest Place On Earth” and is one of the most popular destinations in the country for families to visit. Both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure are full of beloved attractions and experiences, like Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, the all-new Avengers Campus, Radiator Springs Racers, and The Incredicoaster, to just name a few.
These are all perfect attractions to experience with your family.
Recently, a video gained a lot of reactions on TikTok after it surfaced showing a child being left by their parents near the women’s restroom in Disneyland.
The user shared in another video that they waited with the child until the mother came to get them and then notified Disney Cast Members.
“I waited for the mom to get there so I can leave. The worst part is there was two of them with him and they both decided to get in there together. I didn’t make a scene but I did tell a member after she came out.”
While Disney Cast Members work to ensure that every Disney Park is safe for Guests, there are rules in place to ensure that children, in particular, are taken care of.
According to the official Disney website, Guests 14 years old or younger must be accompanied by an adult when visiting Disney theme parks. While your child can ride many attractions solo while in the theme parks, you will need to accompany them during their Park stay.
Under the direction and leadership of former Disney CEO Bob Iger, the company went on an impressive buying streak. The number of properties Disney-owned properties expanded at an explosive rate. For those keeping track at home of the Walt Disney Company’s quest for world domination, in addition to Disney branded content, the company owns Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, ESPN, 20th Century Studios, Hulu, ABC, 21st Century Fox, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Records, A+E Networks, Searchlight Pictures, National Geographic, Hollywood Pictures, and a whole slew of non-Disney branded hotels in California. That’s…a lot. It seems like, eventually, Disney is going to own everything, so what’s next?
Well, nothing, actually. During his sit down with the Wall Street Journal, current CEO Bob Chapek said, “We have the best creative teams, the best brands, and franchises in the world,” said Chapek, speaking at the WSJ Tech Live 2022 conference Wednesday. “We’re quite happy to have the output level across our channels without having to be a buyer in the open marketplace. At this point, our plan is to have all our content creation self-contained.”
That means they aren’t looking to buy anything new for the foreseeable future. This could be because the company is trying to make up for COVID losses, or it could be that they intend to pour their creative dollars into their in-house streaming network, Disney+.
The latter certainly seems to be the case as Chapek expressed full confidence in Disney+ and its ability to beat out the rest of the competition, saying that “not everybody who’s out in the marketplace today will survive. This is a critical-mass business. Scale is really, really important to be able to thrive.” He believes Disney+ has that scale and will become the ‘must-have’ streaming service even as others around it falter, which he predicts will happen soon.
The CEO also said that Disney was currently in a great position in terms of content creation. After shutdowns and restarts from the pandemic, the company can “finally reach some level of stability in terms of producing content at the right cadence,” according to Chapek, “now we can very thoughtfully plan the amount of content we need for each channel without over producing or under producing.”
As for whether he intends to sell off any of the brands they currently own? Not likely. When specifically asked about ESPN, which activist investor Dan Loeb recently recommended they sell off, Chapek expressed his desire to keep current assets, especially ESPN. “To the sports fan, it is the power brand out there,” Chapek said, adding that “There are dozens of companies that would love to have that.”
Time will tell whether Disney is done acquiring new properties for good or if this is a temporary strategy, but for now, it’s a safe bet that Batman won’t join the House of Mouse any time soon.
The new expansion project at Tokyo Disney Resort has been updated with names for the upcoming lands coming to the Tokyo DisneySea theme park.
Tokyo Disney Resort, the Disney-licensed, Oriental Land Company-operated Disney theme parks in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, is a collection of two Disney Parks — Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea — as well as the shopping and dining area, Ikspiari. Soon, Tokyo Disneyland, a near mimic of Parks like Disneyland Park in California and France, and the Magic Kingdom in Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort (at least on a smaller scale), will celebrate its 40th anniversary — and much like the aforementioned Parks, will have special events, experiences, and activities for forthcoming Guests.
One of those large-scale openings, and perhaps an opening even bigger than Avengers Campus at Disneyland Resort’s Disney California Adventure Park, and Paris’s Walt Disney Studios Park, will be the addition of three themed areas in a new land at Tokyo DisneySea — Fantasy Springs.
Fantasy Springs was announced years ago and was slated for a 2023 grand opening, likely due to coincide with the Resort’s 40th celebration. However, a recent press release from The Oriental Land Company has revealed that the anticipated land will now open in the first fiscal quarter of 2024. The operators cite delayed overseas production and the ongoing ripple effect of the COVID-19 shutdown. The project will also now cost a reported 320 million Japanese yen (approx. $2.1 billion), up from the 2018 and 2020 projected numbers of 250 million Japanese yen (approx. $1.7 billion).
Now, with construction well underway, and Disney and OLC already revealing that Fantasy Springs will be centered around areas themed to Peter Pan (1953), Tangled (2010), and Frozen (2013), the names of these areas have finally been released. In a press release from the OLC, the company stated that Peter Pan’s Never Land, Rapunzel’s Forest, and Frozen Kingdom will be the names of the upcoming Fantasy Springs areas, and be based around their Disney film namesake.
The release said of Frozen Kingdom:
Set after the events of the Disney Animation film Frozen, Frozen Kingdom is full of happiness now that Queen Elsa has embraced her powers to create ice and snow. The Kingdom of Arendelle has been returned to its former glory and guests can visit while immersing themselves in a festive mood. At the far end of the village are towering snowcapped mountains with several cascading waterfalls. In the distance, near the summit of North Mountain, Elsa’s ice palace glistens proudly, covered in snow.
For Rapunzel’s Forest:
Rapunzel’s Forest brings to life the world of the Disney Animation film Tangled. In the valley rises the tower where the long-haired princess Rapunzel has lived since she was a child. At night, the entire forest is bathed in warm light emanating from Rapunzel’s tower, lamps lining the paths, glowing restaurant and boathouse windows and lanterns hanging from the boats.
And lastly, Peter Pan’s Never Land is described as:
In Peter Pan’s Never Land, where the world of the Disney Animation film Peter Pan unfolds, guests become a member of the Lost Kids, a group of fun-loving, adventurous and energetic children. Here, guests can explore a pirate ship, dine in a secret hideaway, confront pirates with their friends and enjoy great adventures in Never Land. They can also visit Pixie Hollow, the fairy valley where Tinker Bell lives.
No word of Captain Hook… not yet.
Fantasy Springs is the eighth themed port at Tokyo DisneySea, joining the likes of Mediterranean Harbor, American Waterfront, Mysterious Island, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, and Port Discovery. There will be numerous attractions and restaurants across the three areas including a Tangled-themed boat ride.
The OLC also announced the name of the new hotel located within Fantasy Springs, the Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel. The official description of the new Disney hotel is as follows:
Paintings depicting Disney Princesses as well as floral motifs can be seen throughout the interior of the hotel, allowing the world of Fantasy Springs to continue from the Park to the hotel. The hotel is comprised of 419 “deluxe-type” rooms. In addition, there are 56 “luxury-type” rooms, offering guests the finest accommodation experience at Tokyo Disney Resort.
The Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel will be the sixth hotel in Tokyo Disney Resort’s portfolio. The range includes the Disney Ambassador Hotel, Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta, Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel, and the brand-new Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel. Neighbor hotels include Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel, Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel Club Resort, and Hilton Tokyo Bay.
The most recent addition to Tokyo DisneySea was the new nighttime spectacular, Believe! Sea of Dreams, which replaces Fantasmic! at the Disney theme park.
We have some very exciting news for fans of Mr. Toad!
Walt Disney World has a long, long list of closed and defunct attractions with varying degrees of affinity from Guests. Some attractions have gained a cult-like status after shutting down for good such as Horizons at EPCOT or World of Motion at EPCOT, or Kitchen Kabaret at EP-, well, you get the idea, a lot of beloved attractions have been taken away from EPCOT over the years.
However, there may not be a more sore subject to passionate Walt Disney World fans than Mr. Toad.
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is a classic Disney dark ride that can be found at Disneyland. The ride used to be at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World but was closed in 1998 to much criticism. Guests have missed the titular Mr. Toad ever since, longing for him to return to “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”
Well, Guests have finally had their wish granted, sort of.
A video was just shared on Disney’s official TikTok account, showing a beloved character literally rising from his own grave.
As you can see, this iconic Disney character will be returning in the form of a popcorn bucket, something Disney has really leaned into recently. This bucket will officially release on November 1. In the last year, popcorn buckets have been released in all different kinds of shapes and sizes, representing things from Disney’s Main Street Electrical Parade to EPCOT’s unofficial mascot Figment.
This popcorn bucket is definitely exciting, but it makes the pain of knowing there used to be an entire attraction based off this character that much stronger.
