WDWNT Reporter Zach Larson roamed all over Walt Disney World last weekend and has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us of all the latest happenings:
New clothing at Hollywood Studios features characters with clapboards
I was visiting Walt Disney World for the premiere of PIXAR Pals: Countdown to Fun and “Let the Memories Begin” last week and managed to find some time to take some newsworthy photos, so let’s take a look at what’s new around the parks:
We begin at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Gnomio & Juliet was going to be a Disney movie, now it’s just a Disney promoted movie…
The PIXAR Pals: Countdown to Fun parade debuted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Sunday, January 16th. To say that reviews of the “new” parade have been negative would be an understatement. Imagine Block Party Bash at full speed, without guest interaction, without a number of floats, with horrible choreography, and with the toy block floats repainted to look like blocky explosions, cheese, & balloons. Oh, and I almost forgot to loop one of the songs from the PIXAR Play Parade. Can you imagine it? Neither could we, but that’s what is now running at 3:00PM everyday:
Rumors are still circulating that Disney is waiting for some Play Parade floats to arrive in Florida for the Spring, and we certainly hope these rumors are true. If not, one of the shortest and worst received parades in Disney history may have you squeezing in another ride on a DHS favorite instead of waiting for a parade.
The Block Party Bash came to an end on January 1st at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The parade/show was just approaching it’s 3rd anniversary at the park, debuting in March 2008 after a run at Disney California Adventure from May 2005 through January 2008. Luckily, Banks Lee was there for the final performance and captured it on video for all of us to enjoy:
Now that Block Party Bash is gone, we can turn our attention to the upcoming “PIXAR Pals: Countdown to Fun”. The new parade is scheduled to debut on January 16th, but as always, we can expect some early performances at some point in the days before the official first performance. There has been a lot of speculation as to what floats will be included in the parade since the announcement. We expect to see the existing Block Party Bash floats that carry characters from “A Bug’s Life”, “Monsters Inc.”, and “Toy Story”, but what are the floats carrying characters from “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille”, and “Up” going to look like? Here’s our theory:
Either Walt Disney World has built a new float for “The Incredibles” or we can expect to see these floats make their way to Florida from California Adventure this week
Construction and new float height requirements are being cited for the removal of the PIXAR Play Parade from DCA, and this is one of the taller floats, so it would make sense to send it to the Studios.
The “Ratatouille” float was the tallest in the parade and was only used during busy Summer months, so we can assume we will see this at DHS
The “Up” float is another mystery, but the little seen pre-parade float from California in 2009 seems like a candidate
Another question is the parade soundtrack. Yes, we can expect to hear the PIXAR Play Parade main theme and the songs that were in that parade to play along with characters from “Ratatouille”, “The Incredibles”, “Monsters Inc.”, “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life”, but what about “Up”? These characters were never in that parade, so we should expect to hear something new for Carl Fredrickson and the gang. Again, this is all purely speculation at this point but are the most likely outcomes for this new parade we’ll see at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2 weeks. Stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information becomes available on the “PIXAR Pals Countdown to Fun”.
A visit to Walt Disney World is always the best way to ring in the New Year, and this year it is certainly no different. The parks are pulling out all the stops as far as live entertainment, so even if you’re stuck in a giant crowd of people, you can fill your day with something other than long attraction wait times. Here’s the line-up:
Magic Kingdom
While not listed by Disney, don’t miss the Celebrate the Season castle stage show, and the Club 626 Dance Party & Totally Tomorrowland Christmas in Tomorrowland.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Epcot
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon
At Downtown Disney and Disney’s BoardWalk
Cirque du Soleil at Downtown Disney
DisneyQuest at Downtown Disney
Atlantic Dance Hall at Disney’s BoardWalk
There are also some very special dining opportunities available for New Year’s Eve:
La Hacienda de San Angel at Epcot
Bistro de Paris at Epcot
California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort:
WDWNT’s Jason Diffendal was visiting the Walt Disney World Resort earlier this month and has some news-worthy photos to share with us from during WDWCelebrations‘ Holiday Hoopla:
The Epcot Christmas Tree
Read More about Jason Diffendal’s 12/1-12/5/10 WDW Photo Report
WDWNT Reporter Zach Larson was on hand for WDWCelebrations‘ Holiday Hoopla event last weekend at the Walt Disney World and has some photos to share with us:
Make sure to pick up your Disney snuggies!
WDWNT Reporter Cody Smith visited three of the Walt Disney World parks on Thursday (including Animal Kingdom) and he has a number of newsworthy photos to share from his trip, so let’s take a look:
The giant Mickey wreath is back on Disney’s Contemporary Resort
WDWNT Reporter Banks Lee visited three Walt Disney World theme parks on Wednesday (take a WILD guess which one he did not go to) and took plenty of photos to share with us in a lengthy photo report:
The gingerbread house is up and open at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is back at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this year with a few new additions and some changes:
-In between some of the dance sequences, a staged radio interview with the creator of the spectacle, Jennings Osborne, takes place
-One building has a falling snow effect in the windows, you’ll see this in our video during one of the dance sequences
-Two new sequences starring characters from the Disney Channel original series “Phineas and Ferb” have been added. In the first, Phineas and Ferb fix some technical problems with the lights and then have them dance to “Christmas is Starting Now” from the Phineas and Ferb Christmas Special. The second skit has Dr. Doofenshmirtz attempting to take over the display before being foiled by Perry the Platapus.
WDWNT Reporter Banks Lee brings us a video of the Spectacle with all of these new additions, courtesy of the WDWNTube:
