Beginning May 26, to celebrate the opening of Disney’s film, “The Little Mermaid,” guests will be able to visit with Ariel from the new live action story “The Little Mermaid” at Disneyland Resort and at Walt Disney Presents in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort.
The Little Mermaid” film is a reimagining of the 1989 animated film with enhanced depth and dimension, including additional character backstory and motivations, new and reimagined characters, and unique elements that expand the world of the original film. We’re always looking for ways to build connection through the power of our stories, and we are excited for new and existing fans to enjoy Ariel from both the animated and live action stories this summer at Disney Parks.
Guests can use the My Disney Experience app to find character locations for both Ariel from the live action story and Ariel from the animated story.
The final voyage for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will take place Sept. 28-30, 2023.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of our most creative projects ever and has been praised by our Guests and recognized for setting a new bar for innovation and immersive entertainment. This premium experience gave us the opportunity to try new things on a smaller scale of 100 rooms, and we will take what we’ve learned to create future experiences that can reach more of our Guests and fans.
We will be contacting Guests booked for voyages departing on or after Sept. 30 to discuss their options and modify their plans. To prioritize these Guests, we are pausing new bookings until May 26.
We are so proud of all of the Cast Members and Imagineers who brought Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser to life and look forward to delivering an excellent experience for Guests during the remaining voyages over the coming months.
Anyone who’s visited the Walt Disney World Resort in recent months knows that there’s a lot going on. From new roller coasters at EPCOT and Magic Kingdom to exciting adventures at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, there’s never been a better time to visit “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”
Disney has also been playing around with its selection of water parks, closing down Blizzard Beach and reopening Typhoon Lagoon. However, there hasn’t been a more divisive and controversial project announced, quite like what Disney is doing to its Polynesian Resort.
On Walt Disney World’s sprawling 25,000-acre property, Guests will find dozens of fantastic places to call “home” during their stay. However, few hotels are as highly regarded as Disney’s first three hotels, those being Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian, and of course, Disney’s Polynesian Village.
Walt Disney World is home to dozens of hotels and Resorts for Guests to stay, but Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort remains one of the most popular and cherished destinations at the 25,000-acre Resort.
However, there’s been a lot of discussion and commotion regarding this classic hotel, starting with the announcement that Disney would be adding a new section of the hotel exclusively for Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members.
Progress on this new destination is being made quickly, as you can see in a new update from avid Disney World photographer bioreconstruct:
The new DVC Tower rising behind longhouses in Polynesian Resort. A view from the EPCOT Monorail platform at TTC.
The new DVC Tower rising behind longhouses in Polynesian Resort.
As you can see, the new DVC tower is, well, already towering over the other locations at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.
Disney is currently building new Disney Vacation Club (DVC) villas which will join the rest of Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. These were announced last year and, once complete, will effectively replace the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show entirely.
The project is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2023, though an exact date has not been revealed. While it’s always exciting to see something new make its way to Disney, this specific project was met with a lot of criticism from Guests. Guests felt that the design of the new building did not match the aesthetic of Disney’s Polynesian Resort.
At Universal Studios, Guests will find tons of their favorite tv and movie franchises, ranging from Jurassic Park to Nintendo. This collection of intellectual property will only increase with the addition of Epic Universe in Orlando. Epic Universe will act as the third theme park at the Universal Orlando Resort and is set to feature a ton of new adventures for Guests to enjoy.
Among the new offerings will be a new version of SUPER NINTENDO WORLD featuring Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and all your Nintendo favorites. There’s also rumored to be a land centered on the How to Train Your Dragon film franchise.
However, one iconic franchise still calls the Universal Studios Parks its home, for now, that is.
The Simpsons Ride can be found at the Universal Orlando Resort as well as the Universal Studios Hollywood Resort and is essentially an exact copy on both coasts. It features the essential cast of the legendary animated series, with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie attempting to escape the clutches of Sideshow Bob.
Both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida at Universal Orlando Resort are home to many of the same iconic attractions anyway, including one infamous cartoon family.
With Disney purchasing 20th Century Fox, the company now owns The Simpsons, making us wonder about the future of this iconic yellow family at the Universal theme parks. The version of the ride found at Universal Studios Hollywood was closed unexpectedly for weeks and also disappeared from the Park map, indicating Universal may be getting ready to lose this franchise.
However, nothing official has been stated regarding The Simpsons at Universal or Disney. But the possibility of seeing the lovable yellow family at the Disney Resorts is looking good.
A new statement from Walt Disney Company CFO Christine McCarthy suggests that titles like The Simpsons may be headed to the Disney Parks, eventually. The CFO stated that “consumer data” from Disney+, Disney’s streaming service, will be used to “better inform creatives and Imagineers” when it comes to further theme park developments.
When looking at the data, The Simpsons ranks as one of the most popular titles on the streaming platform:
Earlier today Disney CFO Christine McCarthy said "consumer data" from Disney+ will "better inform our creatives and Imagineers" when making decisions about theme parks.
While this is far from an official formation, we would not be surprised to start seeing The Simpsons brand have more representation inside the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts. The data does not lie, The Simpsons is incredibly popular to stream, as are other series like The Mandalorian, Bluey, and Modern Family.
The show has been running steadily since 1989, and with more seasons on the way, it would make a lot of sense for Disney to embrace this essential American family.
Magic Kingdom made headlines on May 16, 2023 but not for the rides, the food, or the parades. Guests were misbehaving…again. This is becoming an all too common occurrence. It had gotten so bad that Walt Disney World even updated its website, asking guests to behave and warning them of severe consequences if they do not. It seems not everyone got the memo.
A fight broke out between two families in front of the train station near the front entrance. Soon after it occurred, and at the time, there wasn’t a lot of information to go on. We now know more about the knock-down drag-out and the motivations behind it. The altercation began over a photo. You read that right—a photo.
Sheriff’s Deputies say that the fight began around 2:30 pm when one family (Family A) wanted to take a photo with the Disney100 sign commemorating the Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary. The only problem? Another family (Family B) happened to be standing in the way. A member of Family A asked Family B to move so they could take their photo, which didn’t sit well with Family B.
A member of Family B punched a member of Family A in the face. Then more members of Family B jumped in, and chaos ensued. What began as a simple request turned into an all-out brawl. Family B was substantially larger than Family A and did not hold back. They ganged up on the smaller group, and the punches kept flying.
Official reports say that at least one person was injured in the melee but declined to press charges. That individual was treated on the scene after the fight ended. Two others were escorted out of the park by security.
Bystanders recorded the fight and uploaded it almost immediately to social media, where it quickly went viral. Fox35 managed to obtain one of the bystander videos, which can be seen here:
The fight at Magic Kingdom is not the first violent disagreement to occur in a Disney Park, and unfortunately, it isn’t likely to be the last.
