2013 marks the 30th anniversary of “Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi” — the film that featured the Battle of Endor, so it’s great to see Mickey on a speeder bike for this year’s Star Wars Weekends logo. While we still await the… Read More »Star Wars Weekends Gets Logo, New Details
Are you ready for the first Star Wars Weekends with Disney as the owner of Lucasfilm? Dates for 2013 event were just announced as every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from May 17 – June 9, 2013. Returning as hosts of the event are James Arnold… Read More »Star Wars Weekends Dates for 2013 Announced
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow has started limited soft openings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! The grand opening is scheduled for December 6th. The team at MouseSteps managed to grab this video featuring the complete experience: This is about what I… Read More »Pirates Walk-Through Attraction Soft Opens
Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz, from Disney’s newest animated adventure comedy “Wreck-It Ralph,” are now available for photos in a new character meet and greet experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Guests visiting The Magic of Disney Animation attraction are invited to step through Game… Read More »Wreck-it Ralph Meet & Greet Open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Map for Fountain of Youth covers outside of Pirates exhibit
The Magic Kingdom is getting all the attention now with the New Fantasyland soft-openings and Disney’s Animal Kingdom is lined up for the next major expansion with the addition of Avatar-land to the park. The next park due for a major announcement is Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the rumor is that something big is, in fact, coming. I snuck out for a tour of the park on a windy afternoon (thanks Sandy) and found out that there is plenty of change occurring already, even without an official announcement.
Read More »Disney’s Hollywood Studios Update
In my last visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios we saw a bunch of new Halloween Merchandise, today we continue our tour and look at a few other small changes around the park. The biggest change is the new exhibit for “Wreck-it Ralph” in the Magic of Disney Animation exhibit. So let’s get to it. (btw, all the images are available in larger size if you click on them)
The shade structure for American Idol Fast Pass Plus queue is complete. No word yet on when rollout or testing will begin.
The building that will house “The Legend of Jack Sparrow” Pirates of the Caribbean exhibit is getting a new treatment.
Yesterday Season 11 American Idol Winner Phillip Phillips visited the Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ theme park version of the popular reality TV contest, spent some time answering questions, and even greeted park guests who were performing as part of the show. I love that they do… Read More »American Idol Winner Phillip Phillips at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Disney’s Hollywood Studios continues to be one of Walt Disney World’s more neglected properties. It will be seeing some major changes soon, not in the park, alas, but in how you get to it. Road work is under way that will funnel all guests to the parking lot via the main entrance. Right now a significant portion of guests enter off Buena Vista Drive, which only has two lanes and sometimes back up into the intersection. In the future, that traffic will be redirected around the park to Osceola Parkway where a new off ramp will direct guests to the main entrance. The work they’ve done so far looks pretty nice, but it will be a bit difficult to get used to the change. The Buena Vista Drive route will still be used by busses and as an exit from the park.
One hopes they’ll also take advantage of this to reroute the entry road and allow for a little more expansion on that side of the park. Speaking of expansion, we heard that they’re once again looking at adding a Nemo themed coaster similar to the one in Paris to Pixar Place. Not sure how much weight I put behind that rumor. We do know for sure that DHS will be getting Fastpass Plus. The electrical requirements have been added to a number of attractions, as you can see on the floor to the right of the Tower of Terror entrance here:
There is some work being done on the secondary entrance for American Idol Experience. This could be related to Fast Pass Plus too.
There is no longer an American Idol Experience store.