Twitter and Instagram were alive last night as users tweeted and posted about a power outage at Magic Kingdom that left many in the dark, even if only temporarily.
Local news station FOX News 35 in Orlando confirmed the outage, saying it was first noticed around 6:00 p.m. All power was completely restored before 10:00 p.m. local time, and doesn’t seem to have affected every area of the theme park. However, according to reports, the outage was seen and felt aboard the Walt Disney World monorail system, on the ferryboats, and at some areas inside the Walt Disney World Resort Hotels.
@DoleWhip71 tweeted this video, saying several of the Magic Kingdom Resorts were without power.
Contemporary, fort, poly, gf, and wilderness lodge have lost power according to CMs. Emergency lights are on at WL pic.twitter.com/KHakYTnB9U
“[I] walked up to the reception desk and asked them, ‘Are you guys aware that the ladies’ restroom is out?’ and they said, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a lot of areas that are out right now,” she explained in a video call with FOX News 35.
Bartlett said the loss of power also affected Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. She shared that the areas affected went dark at approximately 6:00 p.m. last night, but that by 10:00 p.m., power was restored, and everything was up and running. When the power did come back on, Bartlett says Guests began to cheer, presumably signaling their relief and their thankfulness for the restoration.
Huge Annual Passholder discounts on stays have just been announced this morning at The Walt Disney World Resort, so if you’ve been waiting for the right time to plan your Disney vacation to the Most Magical Place on Earth, there’s never been a better time!
The savings were just made available to Annual Passholders at the Walt Disney World Resort. Annual Passholders can save as much as 25%, thanks to the new promotion that will have you celebrating Disney World’s 50th anniversary in no time.
Discounts range from 10% to 25% and apply to rooms at select Walt Disney World Resort Hotels. The discount is valid most nights from now through March 10, 2022. If you’ve been hoping to join the celebration for Disney World’s 50th, this offer might just be your green light!
As a Guest of a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel, you’ll be surrounded by the magic and music of the parks, made so much more special by the World’s Most Magical Celebration, a once-in-a-lifetime event that began on Disney World’s actual 50th anniversary, October 1, 2021, and will continue for 18 exciting and fun-filled months!
See Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle all dressed up in her celebratory best, and feel the magic of the celebration throughout the entire Walt Disney World Resort, from EPCOT to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and as a Passholder taking advantage of Disney’s latest offer, you’ll get to enjoy the perks of early theme park entry–30 minutes ahead of everyone else–and enjoy that favorite attraction, like The Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and others, before the parks get too crowded!
The offer includes a majority of the fabulous Walt Disney World Resort Hotels. But for exact dates, Disney World Resort Hotels included in the offer, and discounts on specific dates at specific resorts, you can visit Disney World’s site here.
There is a limited number of rooms available as part of this discount, and savings are based on the non-discounted price for non-Passholders. There may also be requirements for lengths of stay, so be sure to check out all the details online!
For many Star Wars fans and Disney Guests, the excitement for Walt Disney World’s new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser quickly dissipated after the initial commercial for the Resort was shared by Disney. The commercial received such intense backlash that many reservations were dropped. Disney eventually wiped the video from the internet themselves, potentially due to the damage it had done to the reputation of the new Resort.
Now, reservations are seemingly at an all-time low for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser leaving many worried about what the future will look like.
We recently noticed on Disney’s official website for the Galactic Starcruiser Resort that reservations are way more available than they were previously before the commercial released.
Reservations for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser used to be booked solid for the foreseeable future but as seen in the screenshot above, reservations are now booked at less than half capacity for the upcoming months of both April and May. While many Guests are still excited for what’s to come when the Resort officially opens this March, many are wondering if the Resort has already failed.
July and August are both wide open in terms of reservations, with August being completely empty. It is important to note that many are only judging Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser based on the video Disney posted and the Resort overall could be an incredibly immersive and fun experience when it officially opens.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a part of the overall Star Wars expansion to Disney’s Hollywood Studios which started with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Here on the planet of Batuu, Guests can live out all their Star Wars fantasies and interact with iconic characters like Rey, Kylo Ren, and a whole lot of First Order Storm Troopers. Guests can also experience two state-of-the-art attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. More on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser:
SEE IT. FEEL IT. LIVE IT.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a revolutionary new 2-night experience where you are the hero. You and your group will embark on a first-of-its-kind Star Wars adventure that’s your own. It’s the most immersive Star Wars story ever created—one where you live a bespoke experience and journey further into a Star Wars adventure than you ever dreamed possible.Arrive at the Walt Disney World Resort terminal, board a launch pod and rendezvous with the magnificent Halcyon starcruiser. Stay in a cabin or suite with an exquisite view of space. Throughout the ship, you’ll interact with an eclectic collection of characters, sit down to exotic galactic cuisine and perhaps even plot a secret mission together.
As the itinerary continues, you’ll take the story further and deeper. Choose your path. Seek out the inner workings of the legendary starship, learn the traditional art of wielding a lightsaber and even jump on a transport to the planet Batuu—where your mission continues at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!
According to the latest estimates, more than 109 million Americans–nearly one-third of the United States population–are traveling or will travel during the holiday season from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day through New Year’s Day, despite the uptick in numbers of coronavirus cases, spearheaded by the omicron variant of the virus.
Among Americans and United States destinations, the favored holiday travel and vacation spot this season is Central Florida, specifically the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios Orlando, and Sea World Orlando.
But the U. S. workforce is woefully lacking this season as a labor shortage threatens to put a damper on travelers’ plans that include visiting a Central Florida theme park.
Some travelers are Florida residents, while others are visiting the Sunshine State from somewhere else in the country.
Alex Merisier of Miami and her sister-in-law headed north to Central Florida for a change of pace.
“Well, we wanted to do something fun for the holidays. We haven’t done anything fun during COVID, so we figured, now is the perfect time,” Merisier explained.
And while it’s good news that tourism and air travel are rebounding following closures across the country last year in response to the pandemic, a worker shortage stares that rebound right in the eye. Non-Disney family travel destinations and attractions are working to fill empty positions, and hotels in the Central Florida area are looking to hire front office employees and housekeepers.
Restaurants in the area face the struggle of attempting to hire sufficient staff for the demand of customers.
Recently, on December 13, the Walt Disney World Resort hosted a job fair at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort Convention Center. Disney World is in desperate need of new Cast Members to fill open culinary, housekeeping, custodial, and bus transportation roles.
The Walt Disney Company has been offering bonuses to employees hired in certain roles at Disney World, such as chef assistant positions. These roles have come with a $1,500 sign-on bonus. Other hard-to-fill positions at Disney World have been offered with $1,000 sign-on bonuses, and there has even been an incentive for current Cast Members to refer friends and family as referral bonuses have been available as well.
In Orlando and the surrounding area, there are more than 3,000 open positions at local restaurants, nearly 3,000 openings at local hotels, and almost 2,800 open spots at Central Florida theme park locations, according to Indeed.com.
The latest estimates state that in 2022, 1 in 13 jobs related to travel and vacationing will go unfulfilled in large communities like Orlando where tourism is a huge player in the economy.
For now, travelers will have to practice patience as they navigate theme parks and other destinations in Central Florida as efforts are being made to hire more and more workers to help meet the needs of Guests at places like the Walt Disney World Resort.
For the second day in a row, Florida has set a record for daily number of new COVID cases.
Yesterday the Sunshine State reported 31,758 new COVID-19 cases, a number that surpassed Florida’s previous all-time high number of cases in one day that was set in August during the height of the wave of infections from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. That record was 27,802 new coronavirus cases in one day.
Today, however, Florida has reported 32,850 new cases, making today its worst day for numbers of new COVID cases since the beginning of the global pandemic that has cost nearly 800,000 American lives so far.
The positive news is that not a single death from coronavirus was reported for today.
In addition to having a new one-day record for new coronavirus cases, a majority of counties within the Sunshine State are now considered “high” risk counties for community spread as positivity rates in COVID testing have skyrocketed over the last week. As of today, 41 of the 67 counties in Florida have this recognition from the United States Centers for Disease Control.
Private businesses are not completely exempt either, as the new law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis requires even those employers to include exemption status for employees who refuse the vaccine because of religious or medical reasons. Also, under the new law, employees in Florida who have already had COVID-19 are exempt from vaccine mandates, as are those employees who agree to, and comply with, routine testing for the virus and commit to wearing personal protective equipment like masks, etc.
The Sunshine State’s new record means that since the beginning of the pandemic, 3,897,138 Florida residents have been infected by COVID-19, and 62,264 Florida residents have lost their lives to coronavirus infections and complications.
