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.
In 2001, a massive Disneyland Resort expansion was finally complete, and the Downtown Disney District was open for business. Downtown Disney is a great shopping and dining area that connects Disneyland Resort’s three hotels — the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel (soon to be Pixar Place), and the Grand Californian — with Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure.
While a lot of stores and restaurants have come and gone in those more than 20 years, there is one popular restaurant that has been a staple for the area — La Brea Bakery & Café. Sadly, on January 9, La Brea announced that they were closing the doors on the Café, effective immediately.
La Brea Bakery did not say exactly what led them to close their doors at Downtown Disney, but the press release did say that they would be focusing on their in-store bakeries found at supermarkets.
After 34 years at our flagship location on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, and more than two decades in Downtown Disney, Anaheim, Aspire Bakeries has made the difficult decision to permanently close La Brea Bakery Café. This morning, meetings were held at our Los Angeles and Downtown Disney Café locations to announce the closures, which are effective immediately.
Consistent with our strategy, Aspire Bakeries will exit the restaurant business and continue the focus on growing our thriving La Brea Bakery business in retail (grocery in-store bakeries) and foodservice. While we will no longer be operating the Cafés, consumers can still find our delicious La Brea Bakery artisan breads, both fresh baked and Take ‘n Bake, at their local grocery’s in-store bakery and at other restaurant locations that serve artisan breads.
Not long after the closure of La Brea Bakery was shared, Disney made an announcement, thanking the company for its long relationship with Disney and its Guests. Disney also shared that Earl of Sandwich would be returning to occupy the space for a limited time. Earl of Sandwich had been located at the other end of Downtown Disney, but was torn down as Disney began its major shopping and dining expansion project.
La Brea also acknowledged that the closure would affect many loyal employees. To help those who were now unemployed, the company teamed up with Disney to host a job fair immediately after the closure was announced. Disneyland Resort is currently hiring for multiple positions.
Downtown Disney is currently undergoing a major renovation and will see several new eateries coming to the area, including the incredibly popular Porto’s Bakery and the hit Chinese restaurant Din Tai Fung.
As Disney fans prepare for the permanent closure of the beloved Splash Mountain water ride at Magic Kingdom Park, the fear of another Disney water ride being permanently closed caused rumors to form among the Disney fandom. Have no fear! Disney has set the record straight.
Not only is Splash Mountain preparing to close forever on January 23, 2023, to make way for the retheme of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, but several other attractions and experiences have landed on the refurbishment list for January and February 2023.
Currently, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been unexpectedly listed as “temporarily unavailable” for multiple days. We’re also preparing for the refurbishment closure of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom Park and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even the Disney Skyliner will be closed temporarily for refurbishment soon.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park has been the center of attention in the news recently as a popular water ride, Kali River Rapids, prepares to undergo refurbishment. Listed on the refurbishment calendar beginning January 9, 2023, the lengthy, indefinite closure has created rumors predicting the attraction’s permanent closure.
But have no fear, Walt Disney World Resort fans! Disney has debunked any rumors of the attraction permanently closing.
According to a recent report, Disney has confirmed that Kali River Rapids WILL REOPEN in the month of March 2023. Currently, Disney has yet to release a specific reopening date, but we’re still thrilled to hear of its “March” reopening timeframe.
Spring 2023 will be a great time to visit Walt Disney World Resort! TRON Lightcylce / Run roller coaster at Magic Kingdom Park is scheduled to open in the Spring. Disney has also revealed several Resort Hotel discounts and a dining promotion for the late Spring into early Summer. Now, we know we can count on the return of Kali River Rapids this Spring as well!
For Guests planning a trip to Walt Disney World in the next few months, we recently discovered some sad news about one of the four Parks at the Resort.
Out of all the four Disney World Parks, none are quite like Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Featuring thrilling attractions like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror as well as the new Toy Story land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansions, Holywood Studios is the place to go if you’re looking for intense and exciting rides and attractions.
However, according to the official Walt Disney World calendar, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is set to mysteriously close several hours early in April. When looking at the calendar, the Park’s hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on April 6th. Usually, Hollywood Studios is open from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM and as of now, it is unknown why the Park will close four hours early on this day.
Besides Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios can also experience the amazing Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, the iconic Star Tours, the hilarious Muppet Vision 3D as well as dine in some fun restaurants like 50’s Prime Time Cafe and The Hollywood Brown Derby. Disney fans are also eagerly anticipating the return of Fantasmic! which is expected to return this year.
Disney’s relationship with the National Basketball Association (NBA) has been a strong one which was demonstrated during the height of the pandemic when Disney hosted the “NBA Bubble” within their resorts to keep the sport alive in a safe way while holding NBA games at ESPN Wide World of Sports. We can remember back to special NBA merchandise released by Disney and even one of the NBA players leaving an $8,000 tip for housekeeping (AKA “Mousekeeping”). Prior to the pandemic, Disney closed the former DisneyQuest on the west side of Disney Springs and reopened the space as the NBA Experience. The grand opening was held on August 12, 2019, and we were there for the excitement.
Sad news is being reported today however as it seem the NBA Experience has not survived the pandemic and will be closing permanently. As shared by reporter Scott Gustin via Twitter on August 16: ” BREAKING: The NBA Experience at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World will not reopen and is permanently closed.”
BREAKING: The NBA Experience at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World will not reopen and is permanently closed. pic.twitter.com/c4fZOXNHMh
Gustin continues with: “Disney says this will not impact their other partnerships with the NBA or their business relationship with the Orlando Magic. Disney will share an update about the future of the NBA Experience location at a later date.”
Currently, The NBA Experience webpage is still available through the Walt Disney World website. Most all of the experiences are high-touch which means it likely didn’t make the cut because of the COVID precautions that would need to be in place to reopen the experience. Even though The NBA Experience actually had its doors open for less than a year before they closed due to COVID in March 2020, it never seemed to be a majorly popular Disney experience outside of its initial reopening.
