Some unexpected big news in both California and Florida makes for a fun week in review. Let’s get started!
The biggest news of the week has to be the imminent reopening of Disneyland in California. While the date isn’t set yet, it looks highly likely the park will be able to reopen as of April 1st. We’re pretty nerdy about the nitty gritty of all things theme park, so we we’re very interested in every detail of Theme Park Insider’s breakdown of how Disneyland can reopen.
This is on the heels of Disneyland’s new, limited-time event “A Touch of Disney”. The demand for the event was so strong that Disneyland released more tickets. Alas, those quickly sold out as well amid technical difficulties on the ticketing site. With a larger reopening seemingly right around the corner, we would suspect “A Touch of Disney” will see a sunset shortly.
The other big news of the week was a bit of a surprise that Universal Orlando announced their third theme park (Epic Universe) will restart construction imminently. Previous announcements about Epic Universe indicate there will be a portion dedicated to Fantastic Beasts. And, given the success of Super Nintendo World in Japan, we’re likely to see that as well. Can’t wait to hang out with Mario!
At Disney World, things seem to be shaping up for spring break season. Park hours have been extended at all four theme parks. That should really help with overcrowding if you’re planning a spring break trip. A 9pm close time at Magic Kingdom will mean more little ones can’t make it to closing and should help wait times a bit. Speaking of wait times, they were pretty “average” this week. Magic Kingdom still saw the longest waits, averaging over 30 minutes. For our money, that still makes for a long day with no FastPass+ opportunities. BTW, if you are headed to Magic Kingdom, we had no idea about these yummy potstickers.
If you are planning a trip, Disney Tourist Blog has a really nice piece on tips and tricks for tickets at all of the Disney parks. And, Touring Plans has a nifty new feature to get your mornings started right with park planning. Totally worth the investment!
Mask requirements are still in place and seem to be causing issues we hadn’t previously seen. One guest grabbed a sheriff’s gun???
Wait until you see the new “Moana” themed rooms at Polynesian. They look pretty awesome! Based on this recent Disney announcement these probably won’t be the last new characters we see pop up in guest room.
Closing things out from outside the parks this week, Disney is closing 20% of their Disney stores located around the country. At first, this seemed surprising, given these are a great advertisement to get people to book their next Disney vacation. But, they don’t sell theme park tickets in the stores any longer, and malls are becoming dinosaurs. Meanwhile, Disney+ will see a $1/month increase coming soon, though we still think it’s a phenomenal deal!
