A critically endangered female western lowland gorilla was born on Wednesday at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and her name is Grace.
Disney officials say her birth was an important step in sustaining the species, which has been in decline due to hunting and habitat loss. Grace’s parents, mother Kashata and father Gino, were selected to breed as part of the Species Survival Plan overseen by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Grace is named after the GRACE gorilla sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is dedicated to helping gorillas orphaned by poaching, Disney officials say.
Walt Disney World Resort guests can see Grace and her family on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
A new logo for Disney’s Hollywood Studios was unveiled during the park’s 30th Anniversary celebration yesterday.
The new logo looks to incorporate the direction in which Hollywood Studios is heading with the addition of Toy Story Land and, soon to open, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
This new look confirms that Disney is all-in in making this the home of Star Wars and Pixar.
Today, May 1st, new policies will go into effect that could effect how you are able to enter a Walt Disney World park. It was announced last month that smoking, wagons, and oversized strollers would be banned from the parks.
Visitors who wish to smoke or vape will no longer be able to do so and the smoking ban also extends to Disney’s shopping districts: Downtown Disney in California and Disney Springs in Florida.
In March, Disney said they had planned to handle smoking enforcement on the operational side by having employees politely ask people to light up outside the parks. Disney doesn’t plan to punish visitors if they are caught breaking the rules.
Stroller wagons, which are big enough to haul children and visitors’ belongings, are also no longer allowed. The parks have the stroller guidelines posted so people can see if theirs fits the new size requirements — which can’t be larger than 31″ (79cm) wide and 52″ (132cm) long.
“The good news – many strollers on the market, including many double jogging strollers, fit within these size guidelines,” Disney said in a post in March.
Another new rule is visitors can no longer bring dry or loose ice in their coolers, which Disney said was needed to streamline the bag check process.
According to the Walt Disney Company, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame has shattered records with an unprecedented estimated global debut of $1.209 billion, becoming the first film in history to surpass $1 billion in its opening weekend.
The film reached the billion-dollar threshold in just five days, more than twice as fast as its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War, which held the record at 11 days.
“From the very beginning with Iron Man, all we’ve wanted to do was tell stories that brought these characters to life onscreen the way we’ve experienced them as fans of the comics,” said Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios.
“That we’ve had so many other successes in this journey leading to this unbelievable result with Avengers: Endgame has been almost entirely due to the fans around the world who have supported us through it all. Our directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, and our writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, really brought this story home, and I am also incredibly thankful for our cast and filmmakers from across the MCU and all who’ve worked so hard to make these films the best they can be, including the amazing teams at Marvel Studios and Disney. And of course, without Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, none of this would have been possible.”
Seven years after releasing the first film to ever break the $200 million mark in its debut with 2012’s The Avengers, Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Studios have posted the first-ever $300 million domestic debut in history with Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel Studios now holds the top two global openings of all time (Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War), as well as six of the top 10 domestic debuts.
