We were excited to get an invite to see Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey circus “LEGENDS” as it swung back through Orlando for a second time. The circus is one of those European imports that was somehow made distinctly American over the decades. Now,… Read More »Legendary Circus performance as Ringling Bros. continues its rich tradition
What does the circus mean to you? To me it’s history, tradition, beauty, feats of human bravery and incredible talent all wrapped up into one spectacular pageant. In short, it’s Americana to the 10th degree. No one has done it longer and better than the… Read More »Legends – Ringling Bros and Barnum Bailey Circus Coming to Orlando
Despite the closure of Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney isn’t completely devoid of nightlife. In fact, it has one of the world’s best shows playing nearly every night. La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil is exclusive to Walt Disney World too, you can’t find these acts… Read More »Fall Deal Announced for La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil
In my experience, Disney fans are quite often also fans of the spectacle and magic of showbiz. Other than Disney, there is no bigger purveyor of spectacle and magic than Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Their circus acts have entertained families of all ages for decades. So it makes sense that Disney partnered with Feld Entertainment, who produces their circus shows, to also put on Disney themed shows, such as Disney on Ice, etc.
In their latest show, Legends, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey brings the unbelievable to excited audiences. Experience unimaginable family fun, as amazing performers from around the globe perform awe-inspiring feats of daring, spectacles of strength and thrills of wonder to summon the mythical and mysterious creatures of the past: a Unicorn, a Pegasus and a Woolly Mammoth! Now that sounds like fun.
Legends continues its tour of the South East and East coast cities with a huge stop at Orlando, FL’s Amway Center on January 9-12. If you’re living in or around Orlando, FL we want you to have a chance to go to the circus. We’ve been provided a family-four pack to the Saturday January 11th 3:30 PM performance. Enter a comment below (and be sure to leave your full name and email in the correct fields) with your favorite type of circus act and I’ll draw one winner on Wednesday January 8th at 9AM. (more rules below the jump.)
Don’t want to wait for a contest? You can purchase tickets here. (Make sure you’re buying circus tickets, not just parking tickets, both are available). There are still some great seats left if you look carefully.
Below the jump, check out some super behind the scenes details about Legends.
Read More »Legends from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey In Orlando
Guests visiting the Storybook Circus section of Fantasyland find themselves immersed in a small town where the Circus has just rolled in off the train tracks to set up its show. So far we have a two-ring circus full of flying elephants, daring airplane stuntmen, a sideshow, and a big top souvenir stand… so it should be no surprise that clowns will be part of the milieu. The clowns will be joined by the Silly Saxtet, a new musical group at the Magic Kingdom, with a playlist of circus favorites with a unique twist.
The Storybook Circus Giggle Gang is set to debut with the official opening of New Fantasyland later this week. According to the Disney Parks Blog the troop of clowns includes a variety of training and experiences, including some from the prestigious Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.
Storybook Circus was the first area of the expanded Fantasyland area to open a few attractions at the Magic Kingdom. The backstory for the area is that a small circus has come to the small midwest town of Carolwood Park. Over the last few weeks, many of the final details have been added, but the land wasn’t completely open yet.
It’s still not completely open, but yesterday they opened Big Top Souvenirs and the new Fastpass distribution tent for the land. All that remains now is a little landscaping and Pete’s Silly Sideshow, the character meet and greet for the land.
When Imagineering originally wanted to redo the Toontown Fair area, the numbers folk at the park asked that they keep the large tent store since it’s one of the best performing stores per square foot in the park. So the imagineers compromised, give us the budget to really make the tent themed to a circus and we’ll redo our plans for the area to keep the tents.
Read More »Storybook Circus opens Big Top and Fastpass Distribution
Workers are all over the Magic Kingdom working on projects large and small. Changes are coming at such a rapid pace these days, it’s hard to keep pace with what’s new. Still, I have to try. Some of these pictures are a few days old, but I think they’re exciting anyway, and if you haven’t seen them, they’re new to you, right?. I’ve got almost 50 photos to share in this week’s photo update. We’ll cover New Fantasyland, Rapunzel’s Village, Tinker bell and more!
Today we’re going to get started with some of the final touches coming to Storybook Circus as the land races closer to opening. Make sure you scroll down to the end for a special treat you won’t want to miss. (Note: you can click on the image to see it larger, but you’ll have to click on the link to the full size image on that page to see it in the largest size I uploaded.)
The new Marquee for Storybook Circus is almost done. Looks nice too. Not quite as elaborate as the original concept art showed, but it fits in well with the rest of the area.
Read More »Magic Kingdom Photo Update – Part 1 – Storybook Circus Nears Finish
We visited the Magic Kingdom yesterday morning and were fortunate enough to get an opportunity to explore the new interior queue portion of Dumbo The Flying Elephant. When you approach Dumbo the left side is now the Fastpass Queue and the the right side is now the Standby. Fastpass machines are currently located over at Mickey’s Philharmagic, so plan for that as you head toward Dumbo. But keep in mind that Fastpass does not include access to the new indoor play area.
The queue was short when we entered the standby side, so we were given the option of just heading right on to the spinner or taking a break in the play area. We choose the play area and were given a restaurant style beeper at the podium. The cast member there has a control that says how many are in the play area at once (looked like a limit of 150 when we were there) and lets them monitor the average amount of wait time.
When you enter the queue there are circus style benches for adults to sit on while the kids run around and play. The center ring is for toddlers (2-5) and the outer play structures are for older kids (4 – 8). Many of the elements generate sound effects and the background music is periodically interrupted by announcements from Timothy Mouse.
We were in there for about 5 minutes when our beeper went off. As you might expect many parents were having trouble rounding up the kids to head out and get on the spinner. My son enjoyed the play area so much that after we got off Dumbo he wanted to go back and play some more.