Tonight on WDW News Tonight, the infamous news monologue returns, we discuss what to do when the sun goes down at Walt Disney World, we play WDWNT: The Price is Right for prizes straight from the moon of Pandora!
If you are in the Orlando area, you can tune in to 105.5 FM or AM 1520 WBZW at showtime. For those outside of the Orlando area, the show can be watched via video stream at listen.WDWNT.com on your computer or mobile device. You can also use WDWNT: The App to watch and chat along. The show also utilizes a live chat and the ability to call-in to interact with the show. WDW News Tonight is hosted by Tom Corless and Nick LoCicero, but also features appearances by a number of other WDWNT correspondents and announcer Michelle Wargo.
Coming up on this week’s show:
A recap of the week’s news (with a WDWNT comedic twist)
An In-Depth Discussion of things you should do and see after the sun goes down at Walt Disney World
The Wonderful World of Psychotic Comments
“WDWNT: The Pandoran Price is Right” for prizes from Pandora: The World of AVATAR, provided by WDWNT: The App
Who Hates Tom Now?
And more!
We hope that you will tune in tonight at 9PM ET for a very special episode of WDW News Tonight!
If you missed last week’s show, be sure to watch it:
With the opening of Pandora: The World of AVATAR over the weekend, the world was finally introduced to the beauty and splendor of the nighttime bioluminescence that fills the newest land at Animal Kingdom when the sun goes down.
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
While there is no grand lighting ceremony, watching the plants and walkways slowly come to life as the sun goes down is pretty neat. It’s not the greatest nighttime lighting package I’ve ever seen, but it’s still awesome to see. While I still think Cars Land at Disney California Adventure is far more grandiose (in the mountain range alone, never mind all of that fantastic neon), this is a solid runner up.
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime on Pandora is a hard thing to capture in pictures or video, so you will need to see it for yourself before you judge, but here is a look at some highlights:
Last night, we actually got caught in the land during a thunderstorm which offered some really beautiful shots.
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
Nighttime bioluminescent lighting in Pandora: The World of AVATAR, Walt Disney World
We also have video of that experience to share:
If you haven’t seen it yet, a nighttime trip to Animal Kingdom is certainly in order to experience Pandora: The World of AVATAR at night.
On a hot day in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, nothing was much better than grabbing a Jungle Juice Slushy from the Mahindi stand in Africa. Well, guests no longer have that option…
Despite signage remaining for the purchase of the drink with a souvenir cup, the drink is removed from the main menu and is no longer available. Mahindi now only sells fountain beverages for drink options.
The Jungle Juice Slushy was a frozen version of the popular beverage served at many locations, most famously at Boma and Tusker House. The drink contains orange juice, passion fruit juice, and guava juice.
Disney today announced two new restaurants for Disney Springs as work ramps up on the West Side, essentially phase 2 of the project.
Opening in 2018 on the West Side is Jaleo, a concept by world-renowned Chef José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup. Bringing the spirit and flavors of Spain, the Disney Springs restaurant will feature an extensive menu of tapas that reflect the rich regional diversity of traditional and contemporary Spanish cuisine, such as paella cooked over a wood fire, hand-carved Jamon Iberico de Bellota and wood-grilled Iberico pork. With five locations in the United States and Mexico City, this will be the first location in Florida. The first floor of the multi-level restaurant will feature a “grab-n-go” storefront with Spanish-style sandwiches. Designed by noted Spanish designer Juli Capella, the multi-level space will feature vibrant, theatrical décor representing the colorful culture of Spain.
Also in 2018, a new Wolfgang Puck concept will open in a new location in Town Center. Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, will modernize the traditional “bar and grill” concept in a setting inspired by traditional farmhouses with a touch of elegance. The restaurant, designed by tonychi, will capture the essence of laid-back California dining made popular by Puck at Spago, his flagship restaurant in Los Angeles. The menu will highlight the best of Puck’s signature dishes with Mediterranean influences, innovative takes on comfort food classics and handcrafted specialty cocktails, beer and wine.
Disney has released some new info about Wine Bar George at Disney Springs. Today we have some concept art that depicts what the interior and exterior will look like:
Wine Bar George is a new bar coming to Disney Springs late this year. It was created by master Sommelier George Miliotes and will feature over 100+ selections of feature wines from famed growing regions in the United States and abroad. The design for the 6,000-square-foot space will feature wood ceilings, concrete floors, warm lighting and a welcoming atmosphere.
Guests will experience a feel reminiscent of the ‘Old World’, as if they are on the bottom floor of a gravity-flow winery surrounded by their best friends. The space includes a center bar on the first floor, seating for groups of all sizes and chalkboards displaying menu details. Lastly, shareable plates will be served including cheese and charcuterie that complement the wines, with local, seasonal features.
Wine Bar George will open sometime in late 2017 at Disney Springs.
DisneyStore.com is now featuring a Space Mountain 40th Anniversary Limited Release T-Shirt commemorating the opening of Disneyland’s version of the attraction on May 27, 1977. This shirt, available in adult sizes for $29.99 and kids sizes for $22.99, features Space Mountain imagery on the front and also has printing on the back with the May 1977 opening date. These are only available through Sunday, June 4.
Both the Space Mountain and Guardians tees are part of the Buy One, Get One 40% Off promotion, along with the previously-released Pandora – The World of Avatar shirts (which are available through Wednesday, June 7).
With Pandora now open, the next themed land opening at Walt Disney World will be Toy Story Land. With the opening date to be announced at the D23 Expo in July, major progress on the land’s headlining attraction was made this week…
As you can see, a fair amount of the roller coaster track for the Slinky Dog Dash attraction has already been installed. Photos were taken by @bioreconstruct on twitter.
On May 26th, Disneyland Park launched the much-discussed Tomorrowland Skyline Lounge experience, an event meant to be a fireworks dessert party held on the second floor of the Star Wars Launch bay building. Based on the reaction our breaking of this story received, we decided to send someone out to review the very-first night of the experience on Friday.
Check-in took place at the Tomorrowland fruit cart, located underneath the former Observatron/Rocket Jets. The price for this experience was $45 per person, that was not collected on making the reservation for some reason, so they do collect before giving you your lanyard and wristband.
Guests lining up to enter prior to the event start.
Check-in began at 7:45pm and you are allowed up into the lounge at 8:00. You check-in (again) at the bottom of the ramp of the former-Innoventions building (now Star Wars Launch Bay on the bottom floor) where you are escorted up to the second level.
You then receive a free drink of your choice. Coke products, coffee, tea, etc., and you also receive your dessert box before being seated in one of the lounge areas. There were 4 or 5 different areas in all with several couches and chairs. At the very end of the balcony, there were several high-top tables if you would rather sit there. You were grouped with other parties, so you did have to share the space if you have a smaller group.
Once seated, you could charge your phone at one of the many charging stations, which is nice. Games were available to play such as Jenga, Connect Four and Checkers, because nothing says Tomorrowland like classic board games. You are in Disneyland, where you can play in essentially the world’s greatest playground, but hell, LETS GO FOR IT, CONNECT FOUR!
PhotoPass photographers were available to take pictures with the beautiful Tomorrowland scenery in the background, which is actually really neat. The views from up here are great, incase you have never been up on this patio (which I can’t imagine in many cases as it was open to the public for years).
Mickey and Minnie even made an appearance for a short meet and greet, the pair also available for photos. Blankets were provided by cast members if you were a bit chilly as well.
This being Disneyland, there is a good chance that the nightly fireworks are cancelled due to high winds and such. Needless to say seemingly, fireworks ended-up being cancelled due to high winds for this very first night of the experience.
The lounge itself was nice enough. The couches were nice and there were plenty of places to charge devices.
The dessert tray, while very tasty, was extremely rich. It includes:
Mickey Cloud Cake – Cream-filled Sponge Cake
Chocolate Eclipse – Cream-Filled Chocolate Cake drenched in Chocolate
Coconut Comet – Coconut-Strawberry Iced Sponge Cake filled with Cream
Planetary Pie – Mini Cherry-Filled Pie
Moon Rocks – Boursin Herbed Cheese, Cream Cheese, Shredded Cheddar, and Jack Cheese, Chives Pimento, and Bacon
No one sitting in our group finished any of their desserts. Again, not because they were bad, but just incredibly sweet. The Coconut Comet was basically a Hostess Zinger pumped up to eleven, and if you don’t know what a Zinger is, please head to the grocery store and rectify that. The Moon Rocks were probably the highlight of the offerings; a delicious cheese spread covered in bacon with an assortment of crackers.
The fancy-Zinger
This is a nice offering and is at a low cost in comparison to the World of Color or Fantasmic dessert party packages. However, without fireworks, it’s a giant waste of time. Disneyland Park has the most unreliable nighttime spectacular of all U.S. Disney Parks, making it a gamble each night whether the show will be performed. Even the slightest amount of wind can cancel a show due to the proximity of the park to nearby neighborhoods. Seriously, only half of the Celebrate America Fourth of July fireworks shows ever scheduled at Disneyland, have actually happened.
You could always do this with the Jenga game if the fireworks don’t happen, I guess…
This is probably why event organizers decided to call it Tomorrowland Lounge rather than a fireworks dessert party, to try to ease some of the complaints that are going to come regardless when the fireworks are cancelled. We were even told several times by cast members that the fireworks were only an addition to the experience and that the lounge is the experience by itself. Large disclaimers on the website when booking this alls make it unmistakebly clear.
$45 for dessert and Connect Four? Just come to my place and I’ll host you for $20 a person, buy a box of Zingers, and play a Fireworks video on my TV for you.
In our opinion, you would be better off just spending your $45 on the many other delicious snacks in the park and grabbing a spot on Main Street, even if you do have to be around other people. It will result in less time lost from your day if the fireworks do not actually go off. On a side note, if you are on Main Street, you could have seen the short projection show that takes place on the front of the castle when the fireworks are cancelled. You’re also not going to see the awesome projections on Sleeping Beauty Castle if Remember… Dreams Come True does perform…
In review, unless you have the strong urge for a fancy Zinger and a rousing game of Jenga (which I hoped ironically would have been the Tower of Terror version), you should probably skip the Tomorrowland Skyline Lounge at Disneyland Park.
This 10-minute show is essentially a preshow for the “Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular” fireworks show, though it takes place 30 minutes prior to the start of the fireworks. Disney hasn’t officially announced this new offering, but we expect it to be shown nightly prior to “Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.” It includes many Disney live-action movies, including recent ones such as Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Book, and some from the archives such as Tron!
Tonight at 9pm, a new nighttime spectacular will debut at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
“Disney Movie Magic” is a new projection show that will perform nightly on the facade of the Chinese Theater before Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular. The show will contain Disney live action movies.
No further details are available at this time, but we will be checking it out this evening, so stay tuned for a live stream of the show!
