New Images And Descriptions From “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

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StarWars.com has released brand new images, as well as character, planet and vehicle descriptions, from it’s data banks for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”.

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REVIEW: ABC Commissary Dinner at Hollywood Studios Introduces New Menu & Food Delivery; Could It Be Good?

As we reported last week, the ABC Commissary at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has started a new dinner service with a new menu and the added service of your meal being delivered to your table after you order. Yesterday was the first day of the new dinner service, so we decided to head over and try it out.

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The dinner service begins at 3:30pm and it is denoted as a different service on the menu board outside of the restaurant.

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It wasn’t terribly busy when we visited, but this entire area can be filled with a queue of guests at times.

ABC Commissary Dinner Menu

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The new dinner menu is largely different from lunch, but includes the chicken and ribs combo platter which moved over from Fairfax Fare and the Mediterranean Salad that is also available here for lunch.

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A selection of appetizers are available as well.

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The Autumn Harvest Cupcake is still available here if you are looking for it. 

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Some alcoholic beverages available as well. If you want to see the full menu including all drink options, you can check it out here.

Food Delivery Service

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After a guest orders, they receive a Table-Tracker device (which is now used at many Disney World establishments, including Captain Cook’s and more). The table-tracker links to the receipt, so there is some correspondence between your recipe and the device you place on the table.

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You simply place the tracker on the table and your food and drinks will be brought to you when they are ready. While the tracking seemed to work perfectly as the server certainly knew where we were, it did take nearly 20-minutes. Now, this was the first night of the new dinner service, so I am more than willing to give them time to figure things out. Regardless, I was so happy to not be standing at the counter waiting, that it wasn’t a big deal to me. That being said, if you are on vacation and have some FastPass reservations to make, I can see where waiting 15-20 minutes could be frustrating. I’m sure they will figure it out in the weeks ahead… well, I hope…

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The cast member who brought the food was nice enough to bring a selection of condiments and some plastic silverware wrapped in a napkin, which is a nice touch for a counter service restaurant.

Now on to the real story, how was the food?

Cheddar Jalepeno Poppers ($5.49)

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When I read the description of the new Southwest Burger, I was excited about the Cheddar Jalepeno Poppers, but I wasn’t really in the mood for a burger and I’m slightly adverse to avocado spread in quick service form. When I saw these offered as an appetizer, I immediately knew I was ordering them. They did not disappoint.

A look inside a Cheddar Jalepeno Popper

A look inside a Cheddar Jalepeno Popper

Now, I have expressed my love for spicy food items on this site before, and because of that, I have ordered similar items t0 these at many a restaurant over the years. That being said, these types of snacks have always been disappointing, whether the cheese inside tasted bland or the peppers inside were a little off in flavor. None of those problems existed here as these Poppers had a perfect consistency, a good cheddar cheese flavor, and were perfectly accompanied by a ranch dipping sauce.

Mediterranean Salad ($9.99)

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Mixed Greens, Tomatoes, Onions, Peppers, Kalamata Olives and Feta Cheese tossed in a Greek Vinaigrette and served with Hummus and Pita Chips.

This salad was pretty solid. The feta cheese gave it a nice flavor and everything tasted fresh. The hummus and pita chips were particularly good, which is good to keep in mind as that is also offered as its own side dish if you wish.

Chimichurri Steak ($17.49)

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Sirloin Steak topped with Chimichurri Sauce and served with Fire-roasted Corn Medley and Steak Fries.

I want to start with my favorite part of the meal: the steak fries. While these are no longer located at The Plaza Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom, they are back in all of their glory here. I would stop here just for a side of these. They are painfully simple, but a million times better than the regular fries at all of Disney’s other counter service establishments. 

The corn medley is good and the steak honestly wasn’t awful. It was a little hard to cut with a plastic knife, but the flavor was solid, certainly better than most other counter service steaks I’ve had at counter service establishments. They did bring me hot sauce along with the steak (without me asking for it), so take that for what you will.

Lemon Pepper Salmon ($14.99)

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Seared Salmon served with Cous Cous and sautéed Green Beans.

The seared salmon is phenomenal. Great flavor and a generous portion that won’t make you feel horrible about your counter service decisions. The couscous and the green beans are both solid side options as well.

Overall

While ABC Commissary more often than not is a restaurant that I tell guests to avoid, I think the new dinner service is a vast improvement and makes the location a much more viable option when visiting Hollywood Studios. If you absolutely do not want to eat at a table service restaurant for dinner in this park, I think ABC Commissary is where you will want to go if you don’t just want chicken breast nuggets or a hamburger.

It is certainly better than Fairfax Fare’s new tex-mex menu, superior to counter service pizza, and more interesting than anything you can order at Backlot Express currently. While I enjoyed the new menu at Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner, the ABC Commissary meals will offer you much larger portions with real sides that will make for a filling and enjoyable dinner. For a few bucks more, I would just go to 50’s Prime Time Cafe or the Sci-Fi Dine-In, but if that isn’t an option, you may want to find yourself here for dinner. But not lunch, you still probably shouldn’t do lunch…

ABC Commissary accepts the Disney Dining Plans and also currently offers a 20% discount for Walt Disney World Annual Passholders.

REVIEW: Germany at Epcot Now Has Jumbo Pretzels Bigger Than Your Head

If you ever thought that the already huge pretzels sold in the Germany pavilion at Epcot were just not big enough, do we have some great news for you today…

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The carts and counter service location in World Showcase’s Germany pavilion are now selling what they call a Jumbo Pretzel, which comes out to about $10.00 with tax. How can a pretzel be $10 you ask?

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It can be $10.00 when it is this big. Just how big is this? To give you a better idea of the size of this monstrosity, please check out the video below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdVKjCkEtOM]

Who would need a pretzel this large? Well, in my experience, pretzels are often a shared snack between groups of guests, so selling a giant one isn’t that crazy. Sadly, I feel the same about this pretzel as I do about the smaller version that they once sold here. It is fairly bland and mostly flavorless, even with copious amounts of mustard, and I imagine the only way to enjoy one is to ensure that you are buying it when they are fresh out of the oven.

Well, based on the size of these, it is nice to see that the show building for the Rhine River Cruise attraction is being used for something, even if it is just dough storage… This is a joke by the way.

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Personally I would stick with the cream cheese or Mickey Mouse pretzels sold elsewhere around the Walt Disney World Resort, but if you need this much pretzel, you now know where to find it.

Adventurers Outpost and Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom Now Closing Early

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is altering the operating hours of two of its attractions over the next few weeks.

Kali River Rapids will be open from 10AM-5PM on December 4th-17th, 10AM-7PM on December 18th-24th, and 9AM-7PM on December 25th-31st.

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The Adventurers Outpost (the only standard meet and greet which offers the pair together, by the way) will now operate from park open until 4:30PM daily. 

It is unknown if these changes will continue into the new year and if the imminent debut of Rivers of Light will bring these attractions back to their old original operating hours.

Expanded Bus Service Coming to Disney’s Port Orleans Resorts

To make it more convenient for Guests that wish to travel in and around Disney’s Port Orleans Resorts, a dedicated internal shuttle is now available daily beginning at 6:30AM. The shuttle services all resort bus stops (which includes French Quarter and Riverside South, West, North, and East) until 12:30AM Sunday through Thursday and until 1AM on Fridays and Saturdays.

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In addition to that, the morning bus service at Riverside was recently modified. During the morning peak periods (about 8-11AM) at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort Riverside, Disney will now send two Magic Kingdom buses to pick up resort Guests. One bus will pick up Guests at Riverside West, North and East and the second bus will pick up Guests at the South stop.

This change will reduce wait times for Port Orleans Resort Guests at the South stop and allow Guests from West, North, and East to head directly to the park without having to make the additional stop.

‘Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series’ Announced

Last night at the Game Awards 2016, Telltale unveiled an all new adventure game set in the Guardians of the Galaxy universe.

https://https://youtu.be/Koy_e_ipwng

 

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series will release in 2017 on consoles, PC, and mobile. Although specific consoles haven’t been mentioned yet, it is safe to assume the game will be coming to PS4 and Xbox One at the very least. The season will be told in five episodic adventures, which can be downloaded individually, or purchased on a retail disc that will include episode one and require owners to download newer episodes as they release. Telltale is the team behind many immensely popular episodic adventure games such as The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Tales From the Borderlands, and Batman.

It is unclear if the game will stay true to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or follow a story of its own, as most Telltale games tend to do. The developer’s CEO Kevin Bruner had the following to say, “players will take on multiple roles within the ragtag band of heroes, and take the pilot’s seat in directing their escapades around the universe.”

Rumors of this game started emerging a few weeks ago, but now we have confirmation. Marvel and Telltale announced their partnership last year, and until the rumors began, many speculated the game would be Avengers related.

BREAKING: Walt Disney World Adding Express Bus Service for a Price

Walt Disney World is introducing Express Bus Transportation beginning December 7th, 2016.

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Priced at $15 per person per day ($24 per person for multi-day use), Express Bus Transportation will pick guests up from inside of the Walt Disney World Theme Parks and then utilize backstage areas to reach destinations faster. The busses only provide service between the 4 theme parks. Annual passholders and cast members can only purchase one-day service.

The service operates from 10am until park close and busses will be at each station every 30 minutes. Each park has a kiosk where guests can be picked up and dropped off:

  • The Magic Kingdom – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin exit area
  • Epcot – East of Spaceship Earth
  • Disney’s Hollywood Studios – adjacent to Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster Courtyard
  • Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Near Kilimanjaro Safaris entrance

Guests can purchase the upgrade when they purchase tickets or can visit a guest relations location to add it on.

No further details are available at this time.

PHOTO REPORT: Disneyland Resort 12/2/16 (Railroad Bridges Installed, Star Wars Land, New Security Checkpoints, Paper Bag: The Ride, ETC.)

Disneyland Reporter Conner Purzycki brings us back to the Disneyland Resort to see all that is new and exciting in his latest photo report. The Rivers of America are taking shape quickly, the tarps are growing on Tower of Terror, and a security shake-up of massive proportions is underway at the Resort, so let’s check it all out!

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The Disneyland Resort  has also introduced a preferred parking program. That being said, parking this far away from the parks does seem a bit insane for the price being charged.

Star Wars Land

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Construction continues on the Star Wars themed land for Disneyland Park, visible from the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.

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Just below Big Thunder Mountain, you can get your first glimpse at the new train bridge (in white) for the Disneyland Railroad, which will take it past some waterfalls on the mountainside hiding the Star Wars Land from view.

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A closeup also reveals some of the man-made rockwork around the bridge.

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We can see more rock-work taking shape just on the other side of the ridge.

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While the new Rivers of America area is speeding along, work has pretty much stalled on the rest of the site.

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Security Changes and Area Enhancements 

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The terrible colored tile in the Mickey and Friends parking structure is finally being replaced with some more pleasant brick flooring.

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New security checkpoints beyond Downtown Disney are being constructed, but still no word on when they will be completed. There is also a new tram stop being built.

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It seems the new security checkpoint will be temporarily set up here until a more permanent solution is built.

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To the fencing class teacher who has a free ad in the background, you can send that payment via check or PayPal.

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Hopefully the finished product will look better than this…

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Fences will ensure that guests who have not been screened can not enter.

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Downtown Disney

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This thing sis a Christmas decoration in Downtown Disney… we think…

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More fencing up for another checkpoint near the Disneyland Hotel.

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More Christmas obelisks… Please don’t send hate-mail.

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The outdoor seating area at Tortilla Joe’s is finished.

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Walls are up around the former House of Blues, which picked up and moved to the nearby Garden Walk mall. Last we had heard, a version of The Edison might find its way here.

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Sprinkles opened recently with an awesome Tower of Terror costume on the front if it…

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Work continues to add Curl Surf and Pandora shops nearby.

Disneyland Park

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Mickey Mouse was out and about, meeting guests in Town Square.

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Set-up for the Candlelight Processional is nearing completion behind the train station.

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A Moana meet and greet has opened at the Aladdin’s Oasis area.

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The Jingle Cruise has returned for 2016.

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Work continues to get the Rivers of America ready for its Summer 2017 return, including the rumored enhancements to Fantasmic.

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Disney California Adventure

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It’s Christmas on Buena Vista Street.

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All of the staging for the various nighttime parties that were held in the park over the last 6 years is now gone from Hollywood Land.

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Sadly, the Sorcerer Mickey Mouse fountain was paved over at some point.

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More scaffolding is going up on Paper Bag: The Ride… I mean the Twilight Zone Tarp of Terror. 

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The attraction will close formally after the new year, but work has already begun for the conversion into Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout.

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The Festival of Holidays booths may be a bit expensive, but they are popular with guests.

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Conner does us proud with the customary garbage can picture of the food he ordered.

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If you thought Epcot price was bad, take a look at the slider price in California…

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2017 merchandise has started to arrive at stores around the resort.

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A selection of California Adventure merchandise was recently released as well.

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And it features the Hollywood Tower Hotel…

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The grizzly bear outside of Grizzly River Run has a giant holiday sweater and it lights up at night. This is the #1 reason I am visiting DCA next week.

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We conclude our report with a look at the holiday decor inside Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.

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The annual gingerbread display is amazing, as always.

Additional Star Tours Destinations Returning Soon at Walt Disney World

Last year, when the Jakku and BB-8 sequences were added in celebration of the release of Star Wars – The Force Awakens, those coordinates became locked at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland’s versions of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. Starting soon, those 2 sequences will be randomized like all of the others in the attraction.

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Beginning December 18th, 2016, the Kashyyk, Hoth,  and Tatooine sequences and the hologram transmissions from Admiral Ackbar, Yoda, and Princess Leia will be available once again, with Jakku and BB-8 added into the randomized scene process.

This will likely last until scenes from Episode VIII are added to the attraction in late-2017, so enjoy it while you can.