In an Instagram post yesterday, Walt Disney World confirmed a character statue featuring Sebastian and Flounder will be found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as part of the Disney Fab 50 Character Collection.
The Disney Fab 50 is part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World on October 1. The celebrations will last for 18 months.
Last week, news broke that Disney would be requiring all of their salaried and non-union hourly employees in the U.S. working at any Disney site be fully vaccinated. The company cannot require union employees to be vaccinated without first consulting the unions, who can negotiate it into their contract for the members under a collective bargaining agreement. According to a statement made to Orlando news station Spectrum News 13, talks have been ongoing between Disney and the Services Trade Council, a collection of six unions representing Cast Members at Walt Disney World.
Jeremy Haicken, president of UNITE HERE Local 737, one of the six unions of the STC, told Spectrum News that despite not having reached an agreement yet, the negotiations will continue until one is reached.
“We continue to negotiate with Disney. We are especially concerned that unionized workers with medical or religious concerns will be accommodated fairly,” Haicken told Spectrum News. “The vaccines are safe and effective in preventing serious illness and death. We hope that all hospitality workers in Central Florida will get the vaccine as soon as possible.”
Via wdwnt.com
Walt Disney World has updated their rider switch (a.k.a. child swap) policy to limit the number of guests who can ride twice.
Here’s the description and directions for rider switch from the Walt Disney World website:
If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again!
To Use Rider Switch:
1. First check with a Cast Member to see if Rider Switch is offered at the attraction in question.
2. Once at the attraction, approach the greeting Cast Member with your entire party. At least one adult member of your party and the Guests who are not riding will be issued a Ride Switch entitlement by the Cast Member and asked to wait in a designated area (usually outside of the attraction). This group is “Party 2.”
3. The other party members (“Party 1”) ride the attraction.
4. After riding the attraction, Party 1 locates Party 2. Then, Party 1 takes over supervision of the non-riding children or Guests.
5. Party 2 enters and boards the attraction without having to wait in the regular queue a second time. The Rider Switch entitlement must be validated by a Cast Member at this time.
The policy previously read “If the person in Party 2 waited alone with the child, he or she may bring up to 2 other Guests back to ride the attraction with him or her. Please note that only 3 Guests are allowed per Rider Switch Pass.”
It now states “Please note that if the person in Party 2 waited alone with the child or non-riding Guest, the number of Guests who may join him or her and ride again is limited.”
This seems to indicate that only 1 or possibly no other guests may ride with Party 2. This may be to prevent some guests from riding multiple times in a row, and therefore shorten wait times for other guests.
In an Instagram post, Pixar and Walt Disney World confirmed a character statue featuring Woody and Bo Peep will be found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as part of the Disney Fab 50.
The statues were introduced by Annie Potts, who voices Bo Peep in the “Toy Story” series.
The Disney Fab 50 is part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World on October 1. The celebrations will last for 18 months.
R2-D2 is joining the Disney Fab 50 Character Collection and rolling into Disney’s Hollywood Studios this fall as part of “The World’s Most Magical Celebration.”
Walt Disney Imagineers Ann Morrow Johnson and Scott Trowbridge, who are currently working on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, announced R2-D2’s gold statue in a new social media video.
