The annual Halloween event is coming back to Tokyo Disneyland from September 8th – October 31st with Mickey and friends starring in a Halloween music festival.
Parade and Decorations
With two daily 45 minute performances, the “Halloween Pop’n LIVE” parade will be making a return this year with all new music and costumes.
To go along with the Halloween parade, the World Bazaar along with Westernland, Fantasyland, and Toontown will be decorated with huge cobwebs, Jack-o-lanterns, and ghosts. When nightfall hits, you can expect the Cinderella Castle will be lit up to match it’s spooky Halloween surroundings.
Costumes
The rules regarding costumes during the Halloween season at Tokyo Disneyland have changed slightly. This year will mark the 20th year that the event has been held, but the first year that both parks at the Tokyo Disney Resort will be allowing guests of all ages enjoy wearing costumes.
Any day during the time the event is running, all guests are encouraged to get into the Halloween spirit and dress up, as long as their costumes do no cover their face, follows safety and theme policy and be representing a Disney Character, or guests may not be admitted into the parks.
Other Programs
Starting on September 2nd, 2017 and continuing until January 3rd, 2018, the Haunted Mansion will be receiving the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, to be transformed into the Haunted Mansion “Holiday Nightmare”. At the Westernland Shooting Gallery, guests will get the chance to win a limited time Halloween themed Goofy sheriff badge as well.
The Great Movie Ride farewell merchandise we told you about last week is now on sale at Walt Disney World. There is also farewell merchandise for the Universe of Energy attraction at Epcot.
Some of the Great Movie Ride merchandise is available at the merchandise stand to the left of the stage in front of the attraction. The T-shirt is $27.99 and the Tervis is $19.99.
Merchandise is also available at Mickey’s of Hollywood, which happens to be the only location for the Annual Passholder exclusive items.
The AP shirts and ornaments are behind the register at Mickey’s of Hollywood.
The passholder shirt is priced at $27.99.
The ornament is $14.99 and is also a passholder exclusive.
There is supposed to be a Great Movie Ride hat, but it is not yet available.
The Universe of Energy merchandise is available at MouseGear in Epcot.
The Universe of Energy AP shirts are priced at $27.99 and the AP ornament is $14.99.
The hats are $23.47.
Non-passholder shirts are priced at $28.16 for some reason.
The ornament is an AP-exclusive and is $14.99.
The Tervis is $19.99.
There is a fantastic LE 3000 Universe of Energy pin at Pin Central for $15.99 also.
Some of this merchandise will be available online at DisneyStore.com starting August 10, but we do not yet know if all of it will be available online.
Beginning January 1st, 2018, the Fantasmic dining package at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be removing appetizers from the offering at the Hollywood Brown Derby and Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano.
Beginning January 1, 2018, Fantasmic! Dining Packages will include:
One entrée, dessert and nonalcoholic beverage at select full-service restaurants or one buffet (where applicable)
One voucher for guaranteed seating at Fantasmic! in a reserved area
The new pricing will be…
Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano
Lunch/dinner – $42 adults; $18 children (plus tax and gratuity)
Hollywood & Vine
Breakfast (Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dine) – $41 adults; $24 children (plus tax and gratuity)
Lunch and dinner (Minnie’s Seasonal Dine) – $59 adults; $35 children (plus tax and gratuity)
The Hollywood Brown Derby
Lunch/dinner – $62 adults; $22 children (plus tax and gratuity)
While the Brown Derby and Mama Melrose’s are $3 cheaper, that obviously doesn’t make up for the loss of an appetizer in price. Hollywood & Vine’s pricing for the package is remaining the same.
Beginning October 1st, 2017, the Star Wars Guided Tour at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will shift to take place in the early morning and afternoon. Guests will still be able to enjoy reserved viewing for Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular at the end of the night, but the dessert party will no longer be included on the tour.
As a result, the price of the tour is being reduced from $121.12 to $99 per person, which includes tax.
Star Wars: Launch Bay is expected to close earlier in the evening starting October 1st as part of budget cuts at the park, which could be a reason for some of these changes.
Our latest photo report brings us to Epcot as we countdown to the extinction of the Universe of Energy, the start of the Food and Wine Festival, and the relaunch of Mission: Space…
If you open the front door to the space, you are greeted by a screen telling you that it is closed and will not reopen.
We have a video and photo tour in case you never were able to experience the Siemens VIP Center:
VIPs of course could get “back-doored” onto Spaceship Earth.
The Siemens and Disney contract is set to expire September 30th, 2017, so expect the references to the company to vanish and Project Tomorrow to close by then.
Feel The Flow, Here We Go…
With the Universe of Energy closing forever on August 13th to make way for the Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster ride, Disney has stationed a PhotoPass photographer outside of the building.
As we near the closing, guests are certainly showing up in larger numbers to say goodbye…
The bridge from Odyssey to Mexico has seen better days…
The repainting of the exterior of the Mexico pavilion continues, but apparently Disney isn’t happy with what they did. Above, you see blue paint starting to ascend the structure last week.
This week, the blue paint moving upwards on the structure vanished.
Work continues on Choza Tequila, now set to open during the Food and Wine Festival.
Some lovely new booths for the festival have popped up, like this one in Africa.
This new Italy booth is rather nice as well. Don’t forget that the Festival kicks off August 31st. And no, that’s not a typo… and I’m upset that it’s not (I don’t want to stand outside and eat hot food in August).
Club 33 preparations have moved into the lobby of the American Adventure.
The Chat Lounge will not return to the Food and Wine Festival this year as a result (also, it appears Chase is no longer a sponsor anyway).
The Torii Gate in Japan was repainted recently and is looking great!
The remodeling of the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan continues…
The pearl jewelry area in the store was moved to a new location that is quite nice.
A new jewelry area has opened further into the store.
They were sold out of Yunker, probably because we ate it on the last WDW News Tonight.
Over in MouseGear, there is some new apparel to be found.
The Electric Umbrella has begun to offer mobile ordering.
Push and Pull
In what is becoming a more regular occurrence, we witnessed monorail teal getting towed through Epcot a few days ago…
MakingStarWars.net has viewed potential theatrical posters for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”. These posters below are not the actual concept art but sketches that MakingStarWars.net editor Jason Ward and Sharna put together based on the concept art that they had actually seen. MakingStarWars.Net has a very good track record, especially when it came to providing information for “The Force Awakens” and “Rogue One” before both of these movies were released. And so far it seems like everything that MakingStarWars.net has mentioned about “The Last Jedi” has been confirmed by “The Last Jedi” teaser trailer and photos that were published in Vanity Fair.
The first potential theatrical poster does not really reveal anything shocking. It shows Snoke, his guards, Kylo Ren, Luke, Rey, General Leia, Finn, Rose (that could be Poe though), R2D2 and Chewbacca, and C3PO and BB-8.
Now this one below seems like it could be a big deal. We have all the villains present, and front and (almost) center in this poster is Luke Skywalker. The teaser trailer seems to hint that Luke is not the same Luke we knew by him saying, “I only know one truth: It is time for the Jedi to end.” Also the teaser poster shows half of Luke’s face and half of Kylo Ren’s face bathed in the color red. Red signifying The Sith and The Dark Side. In the image below we have Luke, Snoke, Kylo Ren Captain Phasma and Snoke’s guards. And if you were fortunate enough to see the image of Snoke that leaked onto the net before Disney had it pulled down, Snoke does appear to resemble Luke. The sketch below of Snoke is almost spot on when compared to the leaked official image of Snoke.
Could Snoke be a clone of Luke? Could Luke be working with Snoke? Does Luke know that The Empire may have somehow cloned Luke to use for their own purposes? Some how Luke’s light saber was found on Bespin where he lost it. I’m sure his hand was not far behind and that could be the source that provided his DNA for cloning. And they have cloned a lot of people before in Star Wars. We’ll just have to wait and see on this one. But I’m pretty sure that we wont have to wait for Episode IX for Lucasfilm to reveal all of the good stuff. Like “The Empire Strikes Back”, “The Last Jedi” will shock Star Wars fans with huge revelations. Rumor has it that, “The Last Jedi” may even top Vader revealing that he is Luke’s father. But I doubt that one.
So what do you think? Is Luke going to give Rey and The Resistance more trouble than they were expecting? Should Rey have just left Luke alone on Ach-To? We’ll find out soon enough!
The first official “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” teaser poster revealed at this year’s Star Wars Celebration:
The Void announced today that their newest hyper-reality experience, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, is coming to Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts later this year.
This first-of-its kind Star Wars experience is being produced by the world-class teams at Lucasfilm and ILMxLAB in collaboration with the team at The VOID. Soon you’ll have the opportunity to step beyond reality into a galaxy far, far away!
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will plunge guests directly into the iconic Star Wars galaxy. They will move freely throughout the untethered, social, and multi-sensory Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience in a way that allows them to interact and engage with friends, family and Star Wars characters. This ground-breaking experience will open to the public at two new VOID Experience Centers at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season.
“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusion, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it’s what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”
Vicki Dobbs Beck, executive in charge of ILMxLab, said, “At ILMxLAB, we want people to step inside the worlds of our stories. Through our collaboration with The VOID, we can make this happen as guests become active participants in an unfolding Star Wars adventure. By combining Lucasfilm’s storytelling expertise with cutting-edge imagery, and immersive sound from the team at Skywalker Sound, while invoking all the senses, we hope to truly transport all those who experience Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire to a galaxy far, far away.”
“Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire marks an important milestone in the continued expansion of The VOID, which also joined the 2017 Disney Accelerator earlier this year,” said Cliff Plumer, CEO of The VOID. “Through the power of The VOID, guests can now experience the magic of Star Wars firsthand.”
American Idol will begin its search for hopefuls at Walt Disney World before debuting on ABC this Fall.
American Idol will kick off open auditions at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. The iconic American Idol bus will roll into Disney Springs for auditions taking place on THURSDAY, AUGUST 17. Idol-winners Jordin Sparks, Kris Allen and Ruben Studdard will make a special appearance and greet lucky audition participants during the kickoff celebration of the search for America’s next superstar.
Think you could be the next American Idol and are interested in attending this open audition with American Idol producers? Here are some important details: Early arrival is encouraged. Parking will be available beginning at 4 a.m. at the surface parking lot on the West Side of Disney Springs, near House of Blues and Cirque du Soleil. (No overnight camping, please.) Registration begins at 6 a.m. and closes at 12 p.m. (or sooner, due to capacity). Due to venue capacity, Disney Springs can accommodate a total of 4,000 audition participants. The auditions will begin at 8 a.m. and will take place outdoors, therefore it’s advised to bring water, sunscreen, and a hat.
All singers must be at least 15 years old to audition. Pre-registration is encouraged. To pre-register and for more information, audition details, locations, full eligibility requirements, submission forms, and terms and conditions, visit americanidol.com. Those auditioning can bring one guest to accompany them and the guest must be over five years old.
When the bus rolls away at the end of the day, Central Florida hopefuls will still have the chance to become a part of Idol history by auditioning via the American Idol pop-up audition kiosk, which will be at Disney Springs on FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 through FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15. During regular Disney Springs operating hours, visitors can create and submit their very own audition video at the kiosk.
Join former Imagineer Brian Collins & WDWNT.com’s Tom Corless on Tuesday, August 8th at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to say farewell to The Great Movie Ride.
As an Imagineer, Brian worked on scripting & staging for The Great Movie Ride. You’ll hear about his work, the ride’s original concepts, & other behind-the-scenes stories. We’ll begin with dinner (Dutch treat), then hold a discussion/Q&A session, followed by a final journey through The Great Movie Ride. Attendees get a special signed keepsake & 25% of all ticket sales will be donated to Ryman Arts in Marty Sklar’s name.
Tickets are on sale now at this link and are $20 a person. Event starts at 6:30pm. Space is extremely limited.
