We are back with another news and rumor roundup around the world of Disney parks. Things have been pretty slow since D23, as well as the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. This post will cover the past couple weeks since we haven’t done one of these updates in a while.
This is absolutely terrible news, especially since it’s for no reason other than budget cuts. Disney continues to raise prices and cut budgets as a response to lower attendance caused by price increases. In this case we could be losing one of the best shows in all of WDW.
Following Bob Chapek’s shade joke at D23, Disney has finally listened to feedback and installed permanent shade structures over much of the Slinky Dog Dash queue.
Photo credit to BlogMickey.com
This is a much needed and much welcome improvement! It’s just a bit odd they waited until near the end of the summer to do so.
Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios has officially stopped using the popular space sporks at Docking Bay 7.
Despite the rumor that Disney opened Docking Bay 7 with 5 times as many sporks as they did in Disneyland, they still didn’t last long. Due to theft, the land has stopped offering the neat dining utensil. This is why we can’t have nice things!
And FYI, if you stole one of these sporks, especially to re-sell on Ebay… you are a trash human being!
Following a trend which has been slowly implemented over the past year or so, Disney has replaced photopass photographers at the Mickey Town Square Meet and Greet with automated robot cameras.
Photo Credit to BlogMickey.com
Well, operation SkyNet has begun. This is very disappointing to us. Not only do we hate to see cast members lose jobs to robots, but there is no way for this automated device to achieve the same positive experience as having your photos taken by an actual person. Disney does have a cast member stationed in there who will take photos with your phone or personal camera if you ask, but its still not the same.
Disney will be increasing prices on all Magic Kingdom desert parties come February 2020.
Prices are rising from $84 – $99 for the (inferior) Terrace view seating, and from $69 – $79 for the Garden Plaza area. The post fireworks party is also going from $69 – $89 which makes no sense as its essentially the same as the Garden Plaza, only with the desserts served after the fireworks rather than before.
In our review of the Happily Ever After dessert party, we concluded that it was hard to justify the $69 per head cost of the party, while admitting that there was value there if you can afford it. I think this upcoming increase will finally price us out as it just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
Primeval Whirl is still closed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
I have nothing else to say at this point. I truly wonder if we have already seen the last of this attraction.
Photos have surfaced of Poe Dameron’s ship in the Rise of the Resistance Queue.
Everything about this ride from the queue, to the experience itself has us totally pumped. This is a nice touch and will hopefully quell some of the complaints that there aren’t enough familiar things from the films in Galaxy’s Edge.
Extra Extra Magic Hours have been a blessing to those staying at Walt Disney World this month. They will continue through early November, but are unlikely to be extended beyond then.
The Extra Extra Magic hours allow you to enter Hollywood Studios at 6 am and Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom at 7 am, EVERY day of the week. This has allowed folks to tour all of Hollywood Studios before official opening, basically walk on to Flight of Passage multiple times and catch the sun rise over Cinderella castle among other things. You can check out a couple of Easy WDW reviews here and here.
Perhaps the biggest news of late has been the official closing of Innoventions West and the Fountain of Nations at Epcot. One positive to come from this is a temporary Character Spot location with a very old school Epcot feel to it.
The only thing we will truly miss from these closures is the Fountain of Nations. Hopefully the new “story telling” fountain coming to the area will be a worthy replacement. It’s nice to see at least one positive come from this as the temporary Character Spot relocation is a really cool photo op.
The 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival is well underway at Epcot.
Our friend Tom over at Disney Tourist Blog has reviews of all the different booths of this years festival which you can check out here!
Disney has released a first look at the ride vehicles for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster.
The cars are capable of turning a full 360 degrees while moving along the track, making sure you always see the action all around you. We are sure the ride will be great, but capacity is going to be a bit of a concern as the 2-car trains will only fit 8 people each.
Finally, Dinsey will be live streaming the new “Not So Spooky Spectacular” Halloween Fireworks on September 15 at 10:10 pm.
We were mixed on this new show when we viewed it during the first party of the year. You can check out our review here. This will give all those not attending MNSSHP a chance to see it which is nice.
Well that will do it for this installment of Disney parks news and rumors. Until next time, thanks for reading and bye for now.
WDW Therapy: A Disney State of Mind 