Last month, it was reported that an Animal Kingdom closure that would be taking place this summer. Now, the closure has finally occurred, leaving plenty of kids visiting Walt Disney World disappointed.
Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is a great place for the animal lovers! This Disney Park promotes the preservation and appreciation of animals and nature, as well as fictional animals, and the education of extinct animals.
However, this appreciation for extinct dinosaurs is actually endangered…
During a D23 Expo event, it was recently announced that Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A. is on the chopping block and that the area will be replaced with something newer.
While we don’t know precisely what will replace the area just yet, but we do know one thing: Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A. is doomed.
Which is why it comes as a surprise to hear that one of its remaining attractions has just closed for refurbishment.
DinoLand U.S.A. is only home to a few remaining attractions, with the most notable being DINOSAUR, TriceraTop Spin, and the Boneyard.
While DINOSAUR and TriceraTop Spin are rides, the Boneyard is actually a playground for kids.
The Boneyard is a great place for kids to blow off some steam, giving the parents a chance to take a break during the Disney day.
Although the Boneyard isn’t scheduled to close permanently and will reopen sometime in mid-June (according to Walt Disney World’s official website), it’s still a bummer to hear that this huge playground will be closed for a bulk of the summer!
Foodies know that one of the best places to explore a variety of global cuisines is at EPCOT, which will soon be home to a new location at the Japan pavilion – Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya. This table-service restaurant will offer a festive dining experience in a sharable Izakaya-style for guests to create memories and good times through flavors.
Here, guests will be able to experience the essence of Japan’s seasonal festivals, where each month brings a new celebration to their table. From hanging tanzaku to celebrate Tanabata in July to savoring moon-viewing dumplings in September, a cultural representative from Japan will guide guests through each unique festival experience, one bite at a time. The atmosphere also embraces the festivals of Japan, with the atmosphere featuring beautiful, hand painted artwork and lanterns highlighting some of the natural wonders that Japan offers as well. Each and every visit is designed to create unforgettable memories that capture the spirit of Japan’s vibrant seasonal festivities.
In addition to a full menu filled with mouthwatering Japanese delights like sushi and teppan items, there will be an open sushi bar and grill. Located on the second floor of the Japan pavilion, Shiki-Sai offers stunning views of EPCOT, the World Showcase Lagoon, and, of course, fireworks!
Sushi lovers will marvel at the first-hand look at sushi being made right before their eyes by the chefs when sitting at the sushi bar. This unique spot provides a can’t-miss dining experience along with a magnificent trellis inspired by the roof of the Phoenix Hall in Kyoto that will mesmerize guests eyes’ while the food captivates their taste buds.
Speaking of taste buds, let’s take a look at some of the dishes that will be served up at Shiki-Sai.
If guests fancy themselves a sushi afficionado or they’re looking to expand their palate to a new bite, this menu has no shortage of delicious bites for guests to try. Some highlights from the sushi bar include the Kobore Sushi, Tokyo Negi Roll, Funamori, and The Monster Roll.
Kobore Sushi translates to “overflowing sushi” and this item is “overflowing” with flavors. It features negi toro and nakaochi tuna elegantly paired with salmon roe and green onion. The Tokyo Negi Roll combines green onion tempura rolled with tuna tataki and topped with jalapeno aïoli, shredded carrot, and sliced jalapeno for a delightful roll that guests simply need to try.
The Funamori features sashimi and sushi arranged on a boat-shaped platter. This iteration of Funamori is even served with the festive pomp and the boat procession of the famous Tenjin Matsuri!
guests will also be able to sample dishes from the delicious world of Japanese Izakaya, a type of casual pub-style restaurant. One of the main highlights of Izakaya culture is the emphasis on sharing plates of food while enjoying drinks and conversation with friends. The menu at an Izakaya typically features a wide range of small dishes, and here is no different. From savory Karaage Chicken to succulent Salmon Misoyaki, even a refreshing Tomato Salad with Avocado, Izakaya cuisine is all about offering a variety of delicious small plates that can be indulged in a social and relaxed atmosphere.
Not only can guests get dishes from the sushi bar, but the grill will also be serving up delicious options commonly found in Japanese cuisine. Among the grilled items to enjoy, Okonomiyaki is a highlight. This Japanese savory pancake is made with a batter of flour, eggs, and water, and then filled with shredded cabbage and bacon, and topped with tangy okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, aonori, bonito flakes, and pickled ginger.
Welcome to EPCOT, Shiki-Sai: Sushi Izakaya. We hope everyone is as excited as we are for this new location to open its doors this summer!
On the heels of announcing the return of Disney Dining Plans in 2024, more details have been revealed. There will be two options: the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Plan.
Disney Quick Service Dining Plan
What’s Included
Everyone in the travel party (ages 3 and up) will receive 2 Quick-Service meals per night and 1 snack/nonalcoholic drink per night of their package stay* — along with 1 Resort-refillable drink mug**. Meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during the stay.
*Specific number of meals and snacks is determined by the number of nights included in the package stay. Meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during your stay. Unused meals and snacks will roll over day to day and expire at midnight on day of checkout. Meals and snacks are nontransferable between party members.
**Resort-refillable mugs are eligible for refills from self-service beverage islands at any Disney Resort hotel Quick-Service location.
Important Information
Beverages are included with each meal. Guests under 21 years of age may choose from a variety of nonalcoholic beverages. Guests 21 and older with valid identification may substitute for beer, wine, and cocktails.
Guests age 3 to 9 must order from a children’s menu, where available.
Plan must be purchased for entire length of stay and for the entire party (ages 3 and up).
Dine and Snack at Your Own Pace
Remember, meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during your stay.
For example, if you book a 4-night package with a Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan, each guest (ages 3 and up) in your party would receive 8 Quick-Service meals and 4 Snacks or Nonalcoholic Beverages — which can be used at any time during your 4-night stay.
Disney Dining Plan
What’s Included
Everyone in the travel party (ages 3 and up) will receive 1 Table-Service meal per night, 1 Quick-Service meal per night, and 1 snack/nonalcoholic drink per night of their package stay* — along with 1 Resort-refillable drink mug**. Meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during the stay.
*Specific number of meals and snacks is determined by the number of nights included in the package stay. Meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during your stay. Unused meals and snacks will roll over day to day and expire at midnight on day of checkout. Meals and snacks are nontransferable between party members.
**Resort-refillable mugs are eligible for refills from self-service beverage islands at any Disney Resort hotel Quick-Service location.
Important Information
Beverages are included with each meal. Guests under 21 years of age may choose from a variety of nonalcoholic beverages. Guests 21 and older with valid identification may substitute for beer, wine, and cocktails.
Guests age 3 to 9 must order from a children’s menu, where available.
Plan must be purchased for entire length of stay and for the entire party (ages 3 and up).
Dine and Snack at Your Own Pace
Remember, meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during your stay.
For example, if you book a 4-night package with a Disney Quick-Service Dining Plan, each guest (ages 3 and up) in your party would receive 8 Quick-Service meals and 4 Snacks or Nonalcoholic Beverages — which can be used at any time during your 4-night stay.
Disney Dining Plan
What’s Included
Everyone in the travel party (ages 3 and up) will receive 1 Table-Service meal per night, 1 Quick-Service meal per night, and 1 snack/nonalcoholic drink per night of their package stay* — along with 1 Resort-refillable drink mug**. Meals and snacks can be redeemed at any time during the stay.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has hired Glenton “Glen” Gilzean, Jr. as the new District administrator.
Glen Gilzean Jr.
Gilzean will officially begin the job tomorrow, May 10, replacing John Classe, who has been the administrator since January 2016. His salary will be $400,000 per year.
Gilzean is the president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League, which has the mission to “end generational poverty by empowering Central Floridians to achieve social and economic equality through education, employment and entrepreneurship.”
Gilzean is the chair of Florida’s Commission on Ethics, a position Governor DeSantis appointed him to. The Commission “serves as the guardian of the standards of conduct for officers and employees of Florida and its political subdivisions and functions as an independent commission responsible for investigating and issuing public reports on complaints of breach of the public trust by public officers and employees.” It also “renders legally binding advisory opinions interpreting the ethics laws and implements the State’s financial disclosure laws.”
Recently, the Commission rejected a complaint from the MAGA Inc. super PAC claiming Governor DeSantis was violating campaign finance laws and running a “shadow” campaign for President (via AP News).
In their lawsuit, Disney Parks & Resorts cites “a targeted campaign of government retaliation — orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.” The plaintiff further argues that this chronology of events “threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”
In 2020, DeSantis appointed Gilzean to the Re-Open Florida Task Force, alongside Josh D’Amaro (who was President of Walt Disney World at the time) and other business executives and government leaders.
Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors replaces the Reedy Creek Improvement District Board of Supervisors. The five members of the new Board were appointed by Governor DeSantis and recently confirmed by the Florida Sentate.
Board chair Martin Garcia and vice chair Michael Sasso will serve four-year terms until February 26, 2027. The other three members — Brian August, Bridget Ziegler, and Ron Peri — will serve two-year terms until February 26, 2025.
The CFTOD Board of Supervisors and Disney are currently suing each other.
Disney Suing DeSantis & CFTOD Board
Among other grievances, the Governor’s threat of new tolls and taxes, and the Board’s decision to void the company’s final agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District Board were included in the document.
They name Governor DeSantis, the CFTOD Board of Supervisors members, and now former District administrator John Classe.
The Walt Disney Company is suing for “declaratory and injunctive relief.” Injunctive relief forces a party to act in a certain way or prevents them from doing various things.
Disney regrets that it has come to this, but having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.
The company is demanding multiple items of relief be met, including:
A. Declare that the Legislative Declaration is unlawful and unenforceable because it abrogates Disney’s rights in violation of the Contracts Clause;
B. Declare that the Legislative Declaration is an unlawful taking of Disney’s property rights without payment of just compensation in violation of the Takings Clause;
C. Declare that the Legislative Declaration is unlawful and unenforceable because it was an arbitrary and irrational voiding of the Development Agreement and Restrictive Covenants in violation of the Due Process Clause;
D. Declare that the Legislative Declaration is unlawful and unenforceable because it was enacted in retaliation for Disney’s speech in violation of the First Amendment;
E. Declare that the Contracts remain in effect and enforceable;
F. Declare that Senate Bill 4C and House Bill 9B are unlawful and unenforceable because they were enacted in retaliation for Disney’s political speech in violation of the First Amendment;
G. Issue an order enjoining Defendants from enforcing the Legislative Declaration;
H. Issue an order enjoining Defendants from enforcing Senate Bill 4C and House Bill 9B;
I. Award Plaintiff its attorney’s fees and costs;
J. Grant such other relief as this Court may deem just and proper.
The federal judge originally attached to the lawsuit recused himself.
CFTOD Board Suing Disney
The CFTOD Board of Supervisors voted to file their own countersuit against Disney. While Disney’s lawsuit is through federal court, the Board’s lawsuit is through state court.
In their 188-page complaint, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District named itself as the plaintiff and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts US Inc. as the defendant. Through nearly 200 pages of legalese, the district asks the state court to render Disney’s development agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District as unenforceable, null, and void. They also ask the same to be done of the restrictive covenants, which notably set the benchmark for expiry at 21 years after the death of the last living descendant of King Charles III, living as of the date of the document.
The CFTOB additionally asks that all agreements cannot be enforced on Disney’s end either. Meanwhile, the Florida Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans and typically acts to rubber stamp Gov. DeSantis’ agenda, is working to pass a law that invalidates Disney’s agreement with Reedy Creek. Governor DeSantis said it was well within his power to do so.
A desperate young mother is pleading with the public to help her find something irreplaceable that was lost during a recent trip to Disney World: the ashes of her late son, Gabryel.
During a trip to Disney World in late April, a small stuffed elephant containing the ashes of a little boy named Gabryel were lost, leaving his mother, Iowa resident Liz Atkinson distraught, unable to sleep, and desperate.
The light blue stuffed elephant toy, lovingly named “Bruce,” was originally given to Atkinson’s son, Gabryel, when he was a newborn in intensive care after his birth. Bruce the elephant stayed by Gabryel’s side through more than 50 surgical procedures performed in an attempt to save his life. Sadly, Gabryel did not survive.
“He slept with it every night, and since his passing, my husband and I have had it in our bed with us,” Atkinson said. The young mother also explains that after Gabryel passed away, his ashes were placed inside a pouch that’s sewn onto Bruce’s back. In remembrance of Gabryel on his birthday, Atkinson says that she and her husband took their surviving son, Sebastyan, to Disney World. It was only natural that Bruce accompany the family on their trip to the parks as well.
“Bruce, of course, was brought on our trip, and a small bag of our son’s ashes was inside the pouch on Bruce’s back,” she wrote in a post on Facebook. “The trip was a bit hectic with three different cities and hotels, and grief-brain kicked in at some point with all of the emotions, making me really struggle with simple memory tasks.”
Gabryel’s mom says that during the family vacation, they first stayed at the Beachside Resort in Cocoa Beach. They were there from April 22 to April 24. Atkinson says the family went parasailing while at Cocoa Beach, and she remembers seeing Sebastyan, her son, holding Bruce.
“This is where the trip gets hazy in my memory due to emotions and grief,” Atkinson said. “Thinking back, I don’t recall Sebastyan bringing [Bruce] back to our vehicle.”
On April 24, the family spent the day at Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort. Then they were at the Palazzo Lakeside Hotel in Kissimmee, Florida, until April 25.
The young mother doesn’t recall carrying the stuffed elephant toy to the hotel that day. She says Bruce was normally packed in a suitcase, but that didn’t happen as the family had been parasailing. It wasn’t until April 25, when the Atkinson family checked into Disney’s Art of Animation Resort that they realized that Bruce was missing–Bruce and the irreplaceable pouch of her late son’s ashes. They stayed on Disney property until April 30.
“Because vehicles get messy on trips, I kept thinking maybe he was just mixed in somewhere,” Atkinson explained in her post. “[It’s] very unlike me; I know where everything is 100% of the time, even on trips (thank you, grief), but once we got home May 1, I searched EVERYWHERE. Every bag. He’s gone.”
Atkinson says she is “completely desperate” and hoping in earnest that the family is able to be reunited with Bruce and the very precious cargo he carries on his back.
She says she has called every location the family visited during their trip. She has even filled out a lost and found form with Disney World, but Bruce is still nowhere to be found, and the loss is taking a toll on the already grief-stricken young mom.
“I feel sick, struggling to sleep. I’m desperate,” she said.
Atkinson says the stuffed elephant could have been dropped or fallen out of their vehicle in the parking lot near Cocoa Beach Parasailing or at the Palazzo Hotel. Bruce might have even ended up on the ramp to the Orange Parking Garage at Disney Springs–if he fell out of the family’s car somehow. Gabryel’s mom can’t believe her grief would have such an effect on her that she would leave the toy accidentally.
“I never in a million years would’ve thought that struggling with grief would have impaired my memory enough to forget him somewhere, and I tried very hard to make sure he was always in a bag or in my arms so this didn’t happen,” she said.
Atkinson is reaching out and sharing her story in the hopes that someone who visited one of those places during the same time–or perhaps since the family was there–might recognize Bruce and take the first steps in getting him back home with his family. She says anyone who might know where Bruce is can contact her via Facebook.
Bruce the elephant is light blue in color and features a red “heart” or “pulse” on his chest. He also carries a pouch on his back where baby Gabryel’s ashes. We’re hoping and praying along with the Atkinsons that Bruce is returned safe and sound.
