Well, I thought I would never see the day, but Walt Disney World is indeed introducing a refillable popcorn bucket offer…
As part of a limited time offering, guests at Walt Disney World’s theme parks, water parks, Disney Springs, and ESPN Wide World of Sports may purchase a refillable souvenir popcorn bucket for $10 and enjoy $1.50 refills for the remainder of the day. The offer is set to begin June 26th.
No other details are available at this time, but we will be sure to bring you more details on how this works once we know more.
This weeks issue of Entertainment Weekly goes behind the scenes of the next Star Wars film to hit theaters this year, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”. The front cover above confirms in the headline that “DARTH VADER IS BACK!”
From EW:
Before Luke fired the blast that detonated the Death Star, before Leia launched R2-D2 to a remote desert world with secret plans for that battle station, someone had to locate and steal those schematics.
Turns out, it was a team effort.
In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, we bring you an inside look at Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which explores just how the Rebellion came to possess the information that revealed the fatal flaw in the Empire’s super weapon. It’s a battlefield heist that fans have been imagining for nearly 40 years, described in the opening crawl of 1977’s original Star Wars, with little details scattered throughout.
And here are some new photos and character biographies for the cast of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”:
Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones)
A streetwise delinquent who has been on her own since 15, she has fighting skills and a knowledge of the galactic underworld that the Rebel Alliance desperately needs. “She’s got a checkered past,” says Lucasfilm president and Rogue One producer Kathleen Kennedy. “She has been detained [by the Rebellion] and is being given an opportunity to be useful. And by being useful, it may commute her sentence… She’s a real survivor. She becomes a kind of Joan of Arc in the story.”
Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna)
Andor is a by-the-book Rebel intelligence officer, brought in to steady the volatile Erso, but he’s no square. He’s committed, steady, and practical, and has seen more than his share of combat. “He conveys a fair amount of experience and the reality of what it’s like to do this every day, to try to figure out how to resist the Empire effectively and intelligently,” says Kiri Hart, Lucasfilm’s chief of story development. “It’s not easy.”
Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen)
Pronounced chi-RUT, he’s no Jedi, but he’s devoted to their ways and has used his spirituality to overcome his blindness and become a formidable warrior. “Chirrut falls into the category of being a warrior monk,” says Kennedy. “He very much still believes in everything the Jedi were about.” He maintains that belief even though the Jedi are no longer there to protect the galaxy. As director Gareth Edwards puts it: “This idea that magical beings are going to come and save us is going away, and it’s up to normal, everyday people to take a stand to stop evil from dominating the world.”
Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen)
Heavily armored, Baze prefers a blaster to hokey religions and ancient weapons, but he is devoted to protecting his friend Chirrut at all costs. “He understands Chirrut’s spiritual centeredness, but he doesn’t necessarily support it,” Kennedy says. Baze goes along with this Force business because “it’s what his friend deeply believes,” she adds. Think of them as a little like the galactic version of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed)
Bodhi is this Rebel squad’s lead pilot. He tends to be hot-headed, but any abrasiveness is overshadowed by his skills in the air — and the void of space. “He flies a lot of cargo, one of his key jobs,” Kennedy says. “And he tends to be a little tense, a little volatile, but everybody in the group really relies on his technical skills.”
K-2SO (Alan Tudyk)
This towering, powerful security droid is described by Edwards as “the antithesis of C-3PO.” In other words, he’s tough, confident, not especially interested in “human/cyborg relations,” and the complete opposite of a neurotic fussbudget. “Kaytoo is a little bit like Chewbacca’s personality in a droid’s body,” Edwards says. “He doesn’t give a s— about what you think. He doesn’t fully check himself before he says things and does things. He just speaks the truth.” Like Jyn, he’s also seeking a bit of redemption for past wrongs. Droids, too, can have regret.
Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen)
Jyn’s estranged father is like the galactic version of nuclear pioneer J. Robert Oppenheimer, with doomsday knowledge that is sought by both the Empire and the Rebellion. “He’s one of those people that has insight into you know specific aspects of just how the universe works,” says Hart. Where has Galen been, if Jyn has been on her own for years? “The circumstances of how the family got to the state that it’s in is something that we probably don’t want to share right now,” Hart says. (Lucasfilm isn’t revealing his image yet, so this is file picture. Don’t worry — the button-down isn’t retro galactic fashion.)
Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn)
On the opposing side, this villain is an ambitious Imperial apparatchik who intends to use his squad of Deathtroopers to pulverize the Rebel uprising and ascend into the Emperor’s graces – while hopefully avoiding the wrath of his enforcer, Darth Vader. “The bad guy is a lot more terrifying when he’s really smart, and really effective,” says Knoll. “There is a lot of palace intrigue going on in the Empire, with people conspiring to move up the ranks and sabotaging each other. There’s not a lot of loyalty there.”
???? (Forest Whitaker)
This character has a past that Star Wars completists will recognize immediately when they see his name, even if he looks very different than the way they’ve seen him elsewhere. (He even looks different from when we saw him in the teaser trailer.) There’s so much to say about this character, we’re going to save his revelation for later today. Check back to EW.com around 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT for a deeper exploration of this shadowy figure …
OK. They are not revealing Forest Whitaker’s characters name. They say that “Star Wars” completists will recognize his name. Hmmmm. I think if it was someone that we would easily recognize they would have said Star Wars “fans”, not completists. So real diehard fans may recognize the name. But they also say that he looks different from what we are used to seeing him.
UPDATE: EW has revealed that the character that Forest Whittaker is playing is Saw Gerrera, who appeared in Season 5 of “The Clone Wars.”
Podcasting Truth Into Imaginary Places – A legion of music workers pore over samples of Western Music for inclusion in the Radio Free Disneyland Podcast.
“An aged and addled couple of East Bloc operatives believe they have identified an American Principality on which to exact radio revenge for the electronic incursions during the Cold War.
The principality?
A theme park in Anaheim California. To them, it’s little Liechtenstein with the GDP of Qatar. “
The Radio Free Disneyland Podcast will musically tell the stories of the Kingdom in a completely original way.
Tonight on WDW News Tonight, we review Walt Disney World’s newest attractions, talka bout the greatest dark rides of all time, and we play The Fan-ly Feud…
If you would like to play the Fan-ly Feud tonight for prizes, here’s how:
Send an email to contactnickl@gmail.com with your name, hometown and phone number you can be reached at.
The game is played entirely over the phone. We will call you when it is time to play.
WDW News Tonight is hosted by Tom Corless and Nick LoCicero, but also features appearances by a number of other WDWNT correspondents.
If you are in the Orlando area, you can tune in to AM 1520 WBZW at showtime. For those outside the Orlando area, the show can be heard (and now watched via video stream) at Listen.WDWNT.com on your computer or mobile device. The show also utilizes new interactive avenues for our audience, including a live chat, the ability to call-in to the show, and live polling.
Coming up on this week’s show:
A recap of the week’s news (with a WDWNT comedic twist)
The wait is finally over, Frozen Ever After has opened in the Norway pavilion of World Showcase at Epcot. The ride utilizes what was the space occupied by the Maelstrom attraction, reusing boats and some sections of track, but that is where the similarities end. In what may be their finest feat in modern dark rides, the attraction is a marvelous combination of audio animatronics, projection technology, and beautiful backdrops.
The queue was completely rebuilt, you won’t find anything resembling Maelstrom here.
The queue is gorgeous, taking place in a small courtyard and through Oaken’s Sauna.
First off, the attraction is hard to photograph, as are most Disney dark rides. Your best bet for a good look at the ride will be our video later in this post.
The attraction begins with a walking, talking Olaf that has to be seen to be believed.
The trolls then make an appearance before the lift hill.
Upstairs, guests will find Anna, Kristoff, and Sven singing.
Guests then enter Elsa’s ice palace and watch as she transforms the room around them.
Guests then travel backwards and encounter Marshmallow and the Snowgies before taking the classic plunge.
Guests splashdown in fron of the kingdom, as icy magic happens around it.
Also, there are puffins from Maelstrom!
Anna, Elsa, and Olaf appear in the final scene to say goodbye to guests (it wasn’t working when we went through, but supposedly has been fixed already).
And now, here’s a full video of the queue and on-ride experience of Frozen Ever After:
Frozen Ever After is a masterpiece of modern Disney Imagineering. They took a very confined space and built one of their very best dark rides ever. The animatronics are stunning, the scenes are perfectly crafted, and it is sure to please guests of all ages. While the capacity may be a little low with the usage of the old Maelstrom boats and the attraction may not be the best fit for Epcot, the attraction otherwise excels in all areas. Frozen Ever After is certainly a must see at Epcot and will be for a long, long time to come.
Special thank to our sponsor Theme Park Connection for their help in covering this story today! Be sure to shop with them for Disney items featuring Frozen, Finding Dory, and more!
If you find yourself feeling like there is a deficiency in the number of vikings at Epcot with Maelstrom gone, don’t fear, because the park recently introduced a pair of comedic barbarians for guests to interact with.
The pair can be found roaming the pavilion and promenade during the day, entertaining nearby guests as they pass by. Here’s a video of the pair out and about on Friday:
With the opening of Frozen Ever After approaching, the Mexico and Norway pavilion have been testing out their new 9AM opening time with some new breakfast options. Over in Mexico, La Cantina de San Angel now opens with the park and offers four breakfast plates (and no margaritas before 11am, before you even ask me):
The tamal verde con huevos was a good sized dish for the price. The tamale was a little dry, but not bad. The scrambled eggs (or huevos) served with each dish are pretty good, slightly better than the Disney-made counter service scrambled eggs elsewhere.
The chilaquiles was the best of all of the dishes in both presentation and taste. Similar in texture to the tamale, this did not have the same dry taste. This would be my recommendation if you are eating here.
The pambazo de chorizo is a weird dish, almost tasting like a hamburger covered in marinara sauce. It wasn’t bad, just strange, especially for breakfast.
The huevos revueltos kid’s meal is a good size dish and includes a beverage and fruit. The potatoes had a good flavor, and all of the fruit tasted very fresh.
Overall, La Cantina serves up a solid breakfast. I’m not sure if they are adding this out of necessity, but I don’t think this is where I would get breakfast at Epcot if given a choice. The bakeries in France and Norway have a really solid pastry lineup I would likely choose over this, and I might even be more likely to go for an adult breakfast platter from Sunshine Seasons over this location. The lack of indoor seating for breakfast doesn’t help the cause in the summer months either. Personally, I would skip this in favor of almost any other breakfast option at Epcot, even if it is on the way to Norway.
This weekend, “Finding Dory” swam into theaters and beat the competition to become the #1 Highest Grossing Domestic Movie for the weekend grossing a total of $136.1 million! Back in 2003, “Finding Nemo’s” opening weekend domestic gross was $70.2 million.
“Finding Dory” broke the box office record for the Opening Weekend Record for an Animated Film which was $121.6 million and previously held by “Shrek The Third”. The film also broke the animation record for the Largest Single Day and Opening Day amount with a domestic gross of $54.9 million.
Here is a list of the Highest Grossing Worldwide Movies of 2016 and as you can see “Captain America: Civil War” leads the way but both “Zootopia” and “The Jungle Book” are still chugging along. “Civil War” is now ranked as the 12th Highest Grossing Worldwide Movie Of All Time and “Zootopia” has just passed “The Dark Knight” to take the number 25 spot.
Check out this video featuring Broadway performers from The Book Of Mormon, Hamilton, Wicked and more dancing and singing songs from The Lion King, The Jungle Book and Tarzan in a performance they like to call “Disney Jungle Dance Party”! Special thanks to Christopher Rice!
#DJDP– DISNEY JUNGLE DANCE PARTY
Featuring covers of 3 wild Disney songs by Christopher Rice (Broadway’s The Book of Mormon)
Director, Choreographer, Lead Vocal:
Christopher Rice
“Just Can’t Wait to Be King” Dancers:
Mackenzie Warren (Anything Goes tour, Pippin tour)
Kirstin Tucker (Trip of Love, Cinderella)
Kelly Sheehan (White Christmas, 42nd Street)
Amanda LaMotte (Matilda)
Elise Mestichelli
Tiffany Laterza
Maggie Mial
Audra Bryant
Kristen Brooks Sandler
“I Wanna Be Like You” Dancers:
Nathan Keen (Chicago tour, We Will Rock You tour)
Graham Keen
Matthew Borchers
Clinton Sherwood (The Book of Mormon)
Drew King (On The 20th Century, Elf tour)
Bryan Hunt (White Christmas tour, Billy Elliot tour)
Ben Lanham (Cinderella tour)
Vocalists:
Matthew Marks (The Book of Mormon)
Ben Estus (The Book of Mormon)
Gabe Gibbs (The Book of Mormon)
Stephen Anthony (The Book of Mormon)
Matt Rosell (Les Miz)
Emily Mechler (Wicked, Evita)
Chelsea Stavis
Liz Byrne (Baby, It’s You!)
Associate Choreographer and Assistant to the Director:
Audra Bryant
Director of Photography:
Eric Mann of Unreel Films
Assistant to the Director of Photography:
Mikita Thompson
Behind the Scenes footage:
Tim Grady Films
Musical Arrangert and Director:
Clinton Sherwood
Audio Recording and Mixing:
Carl Cully
Guitar:
Matt SanGiovanni
Drums:
Laura Hamel
Filmed Live on location in Brooklyn NY at Chemistry Creative
Production Assistants:
Vinyetta James
Molly Jae Chase
Tiffany Laterza
Audra Bryant
