Due to regular maintenance, the Speedway gas station located near Disney’s BoardWalk Resort will be temporarily beginning November 5th. The project is currently expected to take approximately two weeks to complete, with plans to reopen the station on November 19th.
During this temporary closure, the other Walt Disney World Speedway gas stations at the Car Care Center near the Magic Kingdom and the one across from Disney Springs will continue to be available.
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party returns to Magic Kingdom Park November 9, and this year Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom fans can pick up a special Carousel of Progress-inspired game card on party nights.
This year’s party-exclusive card, “Rover’s Christmas Carousel of Progress” features trusty companion Rover from Carousel of Progress. According to Imagineer Jonathan Ackley, Carousel of Progress was chosen to be featured on this season’s card “because Merlin is inspired by the Carousel of Progress’ celebration of human innovation.”
New for the Flurry of Fun this holiday season at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a selection of sweet treats at Fairfax Fare on Sunset Boulevard.
Guests will find three alcoholic hot chocolates for sale, in both individual servings or all together in a flight, as well as Red Velvet Whoopie Pies shaped like Christmas trees!
Hot Cocoa Flight ($11.00)
As pictured left to right, there’s a Hot Chocolate Martini made with Pinnacle Whipped Vodka, the Black Cherry Bourbon Hot Chocolate made with Jim Bean Red Stag Black Cherry, and Bailey’s Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate made with Bailey’s Irish Cream.
The martini tastes just like hot cocoa with a liquor, which is shouldn’t considering there is vodka in it. It’s fine and enjoyable, but nothing about it stands out. Meanwhile, the Black Cherry Bourbon was a bit of a disappointment. It lacked the kick you would expect from that name, and also had an almost chemical-like taste to it.
The Bailey’s Salted Caramel was outstanding however, so much so that we then bought the stand-alone version of it…
It is exactly what you would want out of it, with a strong salted-caramel and cocoa flavor is each sip, matched nicely with the accompanying Bailey’s. I would skip the flight and just get this one for $9.25.
Red Velvet Whoopie Pie – $4.99
They went a little heavy on the powdered sugar on ours…
Inside, it is basically just a red velvet cupcake with the cream cheese icing located between layers. No, this isn’t what most of the world would consider a whoopee pie, but in recent years, it is what Disney’s Hollywood Studios has come to call them. I have to say this because I was nearly ripped-to-shreds the last time I reviewed whoopie pies…
The cake was moist and the icing mixed well with it. If I wanted a cupcake, this is what I would get, but if I wanted an actual whoopee pie, I’d have to leave the park.
Over the next 24 months, the convention centers at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts will be transformed to make them even more appealing to meeting, conference, convention planners, and their attendees. Disney recently shared some new details on these two expansions.
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
Already underway, the expansion at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort will encompass several new features, including a two-story, grand lobby welcoming Guests; a 15-story tower overlooking Lago Dorado, the resort’s centerpiece lake; 500 new Guest rooms and concierge-level suites and services; and a new rooftop restaurant and lounge boasting panoramic views.
Additionally, the expansion brings a new boardroom, event lawn, and two multi-purpose meeting rooms—adding to the resort’s current 220,000 square feet of dedicated meeting, event and exhibition space. See concept art and more for these new features in the video below:
Each of the resort’s existing Guest rooms are also being fully re-imagined with new features and amenities that appeal to savvy business travelers, such as a new desk space, beverage station and more. When complete, Guests will be able to conveniently connect to other areas of the resort via a series of bridges and walkways that pass through an island oasis.
Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts
As part of Disney’s commitment to creating exceptional meetings and events, they are providing meeting planners and event organizers with even more resources to deliver on their goals by expanding the convention center and renovating the Guest rooms at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts.
A 28,000-square-foot expansion of the convention center at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resort will bring the total amount of flexible meeting and event space at this popular resort location to 100,000 square feet.
The new convention area will boast a 16,000 square-foot ballroom that can be divided into eight dynamic breakout spaces. The expansion will also include three pre-function areas and two distinct gathering rotundas providing unique networking spaces for attendees to relax and reconnect.
Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts also offers 1,190 newly-renovated Guest rooms, all located conveniently within walking distance of Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s BoardWalk entertainment district.
There are also many changes coming to Disney’s Yacht Club Resort’s dining options, including The Market at Ale & Compass, a re-imagined lobby lounge, and a new concept for the former Captain’s Grille. The new market offers a small merchandise area and 28 seats for casual dining. The Captain’s Grille will also become Ale & Compass Restaurant, featuring a transformed lobby lounge and a new interior that expands to 58 seats.
Hollywood Scoops on Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is now offering two holiday specials for the Flurry of Fun: an Apple Cranberry Cobbler and an Olaf Sundae.
Apple Cranberry Cobbler ($4.29)
The apple cranberry cobbler is quite good if you enjoy such things. It was served nice and warm in a metal tin, featuring a lot of apple with traces of cranberry, covered in breadcrumbs and icing. This was one of the highlights of all the new offerings we had at the Studios.
Olaf Sundae ($5.99)
The Olaf Sundae features cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream, decorated with chocolate chip buttons, chocolate straw arms, and an Olaf white chocolate decoration, all on top of a jelly-filled, powdered-sugar covered doughnut.
Once we hit the jelly, I enjoyed this more, but hard-packed ice cream on a pastry just isn’t as good as soft serve would be. Maybe a different flavor other than cookies ‘n’ cream would be better, but otherwise, this was pretty large for the price and probably something the kids would enjoy nonetheless.
Noah will be representing his new Disney Parks Edition “Kid in Me” artwork at Disneyana, Main Street USA, Disneyland Park on November 18th-19th, 2017, appearing from noon until 4pm on both days.
A fan favorite at Disney’s galleries, Noah will debut his newest pieces: “The 8th Wonder of the world…the backside of water!” and “Growing up…The wildest ride in the wilderness!”. Noah will also be bringing some of his most popular Disney artwork to share with guests on both days.
Born and raised in Orange County, California, Noah grew up to be one of the most well-known artists in the country and around the globe. He began his first company on his bike at sixteen handing out business cards to create art, signs and illustrations for local businesses. Noah spends his time creating lines of product for cruise ships, galleries, his clothing line and private commissions for collectors.
Here we are one year after the Presidential Election and the Hall of Presidents attraction at the Magic Kingdom still remains closed. In fairness, Disney said it would open before the end of 2017, however, that is looking less and less likely at this point.
According to guest relations cast members at the front of the park, the attraction is now set to open in “mid-2018”. When we reached out to Disney’s PR Department to clarify this, they stated that they had “no comment” on the time frame, even refusing to adhere to the pre-announced late-2017 opening. Cast members outside of the attraction are still saying it will open later this year, so I guess different departments have different answers at this point. Honestly, the bottom line is nobody knows.
Disney stated previously that the attraction would return as promised with Donald Trump in audio-animatronics form delivering a speech of some kind, as has been tradition in the attraction since the early 1990’s.
Tonight! The Math Game is back, we’re ranking every restaurant at Epcot, and the Hall of Presidents still isn’t open.
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.
Coming up on this week’s show:
A recap of the week’s news (with a WDWNT comedic twist)
An in-depth discussion ranking every restaurant at Epcot
The Wonderful World of Psychotic Comments
“WDWNT: The Math Game” for prizes provided by WDWNT: The App
And more!
We hope that you will tune in tonight at 9PM ET for another episode of WDW News Tonight!
If you missed last week’s show, you can watch it below:
The pretzel cart near The Great Movie Ride… I mean, the soon to be Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is currently serving two holiday offerings for the Flurry of Fun: a Winterberry Cooler and Sugar-Frosted Fruit Bites.
Look at the false advertising in this ad: the bag is overflowing with fruit bites. Just wait until you see what we got…
Yes, our bag is not overflowing…
Winterberry Cooler ($11.25)
If you’re looking to poison someone you don’t care for this holiday season, might I recommend the Winterberry Cooler? Winterberry is poisonous…
Warning: Although this shrub species is a good provider of wildlife food, its fruits are poisonous to humans. The attractive bright red fruit of winterberry is eaten by small mammals and more than 48 species of birds.
Besides the death part, the Cooler features a fruity, somewhat carbonated, artificially sweetened beverage flavor that is quite unpleasant. You wouldn’t even know there is alcohol in it, which is sad for the price tag it brings along with it. It was so tart and bitter, that it actually burns to drink it.
Sugar-Frosted Fruit Bites ($5.25)
First of all, you get just 4 of these tiny bites for $5.25, which seems a bit ridiculous. They are basically cookies with dried fruit in them, which isn’t terrible, but this serving size is a joke for the price.
Again, they aren’t terrible, but for this price, you could get something far more enjoyable from Trolley Car Cafe or Sweet Spells while you are at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
