In case you missed them, here are the most visited stories of the week on The Disney Blog.
We had two major construction updates last week.
- First we looked at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which added 11 new animal ‘carvings’ to the roots area of the Tree of Life. It makes for a great new photo spot. Much of the park is behind construction walls as they prepare to add two new nighttime shows, a water show called “Rivers of Light” and a street spectacular that does not yet have a name, on Discovery Island. Our second update includes looks at those two projects along with some smaller changes.
- Disney Springs transformation was the focus of our second construction update. While the parking garage is not fully open, the new spot-finder lights are working. Additionally, construction on the Landing is moving fast with some shops open and many more getting close. Of course, there’s still a long way to go. Marketplace Co-op also added custom mobile cases sizes including the Galaxy S5 (my phone, yeah!).
- We found out the Walt Disney World Speedway will be going under the bulldozer at the end of June, which means the Richard Petty Driving Experience and Exotic Car Experience will be closing then too.
- Ticket prices at Walt Disney World are rumored to be going up soon. We examined what that means in terms of perceived value for guests.
- Luigi’s Flying Tires closed at DCA to make way for a new ride system in 2016.
A lot of news coming out of Walt Disney Studios too:
- A deal between Sony and Marvel has led to a shared custody arrangement for everyone’s favorite webslinger Spider-Man. Chris let’s us know what it could mean for Disney.
- Cinderella dropped a new trailer, new ad spot, and a featurette on the “Love Story” between Ella & Prince Kit. We also got a look at some concept art for three major costumes in the movie.
- Disney’s live action remake of Pete’s Dragon began production in New Zealand.
- Big Hero 6 entered elite animation air when it passed $500M at the box office.
- McFarland, USA is the next movie from Walt Disney Studios. It had a big event in Santa Barbara, debuted a new trailer, a featurette, and a free Spanish language audio track sync mobile app. I’ve seen the movie and agree with reviewers who think it has huge potential. Hopefully, it shows at the box office when it opens on Feb 20.
There are also a few posts from earlier this week that may not have received the attention they deserved, or at least, I had think they deserved.
- You’ll be Swinging into Spring on your next visit to Disneyland Pariss in the 2nd year of the new festival
- Guests on certain Disney cruises will find themselves surrounded in the The Force during Star Wars days.
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