RIDEMAKERZ announced today its Downtown Disney shop won worldwide “Pop-Up Store of the Year.” They also announced that the current location would remain open through April of 2011. That’s an odd choice of words considering the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim location recently expanded to a… Read More »RideMakerz Wins Award for Orlando Downtown Disney Location, possibly moving?
There is little doubt Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition was the main driver behind the park’s reported 20% attendance growth and a profit of $261 million, which is more than the estimated cost for the whole addition. While it’s unlikely Universal Orlando… Read More »Will London Harry Potter exhibit slow Universal Orlando’s growth?
Where do you go for Dr. Seuss’s birthday? Well, a library seems the most appropriate, but failing that Seuss Landing at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure is good too. Orlando Magic’s Community Ambassador and former player, Nick Anderson, was there and reading Dr. Seuss’ “The… Read More »Universal Orlando Resort Joins Read Across America’s Celebration
Last weekend I was invited to Universal Studios Florida for a lesson in fun. We got to see behind the scenes at Mardi Gras, learn how to cook up some authentic New Orleans gumbo, caught some beads, and then partied into the night at a marvelous concert featuring the B-52s. It as an amazing experience.
The night started off with a cooking lesson from the resort’s executive chef Steven Jayson.
Thankfully there was no slicing and dicing required. All the ingredients for our gumbo were ready to go when we arrived as well as a cooking station.
The final product was supposed to look like this
but mine was more like this…
we didn’t really have the time required to bring out all the flavors, but it was still pretty good.
Read More »Party With Friends at Universal Studios Florida Mardi Gras
Capitol Records Nashville recording artist and star of Nickelodeon’s iCarly, Jennette McCurdy, was spotted today at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure newest land the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Above she’s seen enjoying some sweets at Honeydukes. McCurdy was hosted with her family and friends… Read More »iCarly Star Jennette McCurdy visits Wizarding World of Harry Potter
The big news earlier today was that Mickey and Minnie’s Main Street Meet and Greet would be opening with the benefit of Fastpass to avoid the long waits that the Toontown Fair location had become known for. I’m a bit on the fence about this. I don’t like Fastpass in general because I think it A) is unnecessary for most attractions, B) upsets the guests in the standby queue which is bad show, C) artificially inflates the guests in public spaces which means a lower overall capacity for the parks, D) totally negates the chance to enjoy an afternoon in the parks with an equal chance to enjoy the fastpass attractions… I can go on… but I’ll stop now. Positioning FASTPASS as convenience, which you’ll see Disney has done in their press release, is only true for those who are able to use it. Once Fastpass runs out or the return time passes beyond your availability, then it’s no longer a convenience and instead becomes a huge burden.
That said, I can see Fastpass working for character meet and greets if, and it’s an important if, they dedicate one room to that queue and then manage the standby queue to keep it under a reasonable length (say 20 minutes for the Big Cheese). Do I actually see Disney managing the queues that way? I doubt it, but I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Yes, I know that people “hate” to wait for attractions and characters. Nothing sucks more than waiting 45 minutes for a 30 second experience with a character that can’t even talk to you. To me that is a staffing problem and a capacity problem. Fastpass does nothing to address either of those. But it does make the guests that use it happy and they say good things about it, so it does have that one thing going for it. I don’t see how that outweighs the rest, but oh well.
Disney’s full press release for the announcement is below the jump. Please jump in on the comments with your thoughts on the changes:
Read More »Mickey and Minnie Meet and Greet gets FASTPASS, new Concept Art
It may be the off-season for theme parks right now, but you would never know it based on some of the crowds expected this weekend. Of course, it is a three-day weekend with President’s Day on Monday (although I don’t get it off :p ).… Read More »Things to do in Orlando this weekend
Early this morning a Disney airport bus shuttle was involved in a traffic accident on the way to Orlando International. It was hit from behind by a semi-truck. (Update: It appears the collision was more serious, see updated OS article.) Five passengers were taken to… Read More »Disney’s Mickey’s Magical Express Bus Accident Injures 5