Cirque Du Soleil – La Nouba Offering Two Special Ticket Discounts

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

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La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil announces two new special offers
Families with kids and Florida’s hospitality employees can each save with new ticket packages

La Nouba Discounts

La Nouba Discounts

Save 50% on Kids Tickets Now

Families can save big on La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil at Disney Springs now through Dec. 16 with half off tickets for kids nine and under. With the discount, kids’ tickets start at just $24. The offer gives families one more reason to see the stimulating show that combines acrobatics, dazzling choreography, vibrant music and whimsical characters.

For more information or to book, please visit www.lanouba.com. Offer requires the purchase of at least one adult full price ticket. Tickets and seating are subject to availability. Offer is not valid for previously purchased tickets, gift certificates or combined with any other discounts.

Florida’s Hospitality Employees Save on Thursdays

Starting Oct. 4, La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil will give Florida’s hospitality employees a chance to save up to 36 percent on show tickets every Thursday night through Dec. 16. Employees who work in hotel lodging, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise line and restaurants can take advantage of the discount for themselves and up to five guests. Discounted ticket prices start at $48 (category 3).

Hospitality employees can book the offer at www.lanouba.com. Hospitality employee ID or paystub required. Tickets are available for sale beginning Sept. 19 for Thursday night shows Oct. 4 – Dec. 16.

PHOTOS: Magic Kingdom 45th Anniversary Merchandise Release Announced

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort celebrates its 45th Anniversary on October 1, 2016 and Walt Disney World is celebrating with two merchandise releases filled with vintage-style goodness.

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Many of the logo products, including apparel, open edition pins, home goods and more, will be released in select locations at Magic Kingdom on September 22. The suggested places to check for these logo items include the following locations:

  • Main Street, U.S.A. – Emporium
  • Tomorrowland – Mickey’s Star Traders
  • Storybook Circus Area – Big Top Souvenirs
  • Frontierland – Briar Patch

Two Dooney & Bourke handbags premiered on the Shop Disney Parks app on September 15. Guests may also find them at the Emporium on Main Street, U.S.A. starting September 22.

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Disney will be releasing several items on October 1 at the Emporium. Guests and Annual Passholders will find “I Was There” shirts. They will also have a limited edition pin (edition size of 3,000), and a limited edition retail MagicBand (edition size 4,500).

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Across the street at Uptown Jewelers on that day, guests will find a commemorative 45th Anniversary dangle charm by PANDORA Jewelry.

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Finally, guests can visit the Disney Parks online store from October 1-9 to find limited release t-shirts celebrating the 45th Anniversary. Several of the shirts will feature classic attractions that have been at Magic Kingdom since 1971. Please allow 3-5 weeks for delivery. To order these shirts, please visit DisneyStore.com/ParkEvents.

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So, who’s going to the Magic Kingdom on October 1?

VIDEO REVIEW: Tom Attempts Ratatouille Hide & Squeak Scavenger Hunt at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

Part of this year’s Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is a scavenger hunt featuring Remy from Disney-PIXAR’s Ratatouille. The offering was introduced last year during the event as something new for children to do as their parents ate and drank their way around the world, so I figured why not record a couple of full grown adults trying to complete something meant for children. Here’s what happened…

BREAKING: FuelRod Service at Walt Disney World Expanding to 25 Kiosks Due to Overwhelming Guest Demand

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

When we broke the news of the addition of FuelRod service to the Walt Disney World Resort a few months ago, the overwhelming response to the post was a pretty good indicator that guests were receptive to the idea. Well, due to what sources inside the company are saying is an “overwhelming response to the program”, FuelRod will be expanding resort wide over the next few weeks.

Two FuelRod kiosks now stand inside Curtain Call Collectibles at the Magic Kingdom

Two FuelRod kiosks now stand inside Curtain Call Collectibles at the Magic Kingdom

If you are unfamiliar with what FuelRod is, you will want to check out my review of the product and guide to how it works.

According to FuelRod employees, 15 additional FuelRod kiosks will be added resort wide. So far, we have seen 3 additional machines added to the Magic Kingdom, doubling capacity at Town Square Theater/Curtain Call Collectibles, the Tomorrowland Light and Power Co., and Big Top Souvenirs (locations who already had kiosks but simply added a second this week).

S second FuelRod kiosks lies steps away from the first at the Tomorrowland Light and Power Co.

A second FuelRod kiosks lies steps away from the first at the Tomorrowland Light and Power Co.

Another 12 of these FuelRod machines are now going to be added to the other parks, as Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom all have just one FuelRod kiosk each. Epcot will be adding at least 4 more kiosks, but we were unable to get information on how the rest of the new kiosks will be distributed, but they should be arriving soon enough.

FuelRod kiosks hold 75 fully charged FuelRods inside of them, but then need to be manually refilled by a FuelRod agent throughout the day as the stock is depleted. The existing kiosks needed to be refilled several times a day at Walt Disney World, a problem FuelRod never experienced at any of their other locations around the country. The Fuel Rod agents typically run around Walt Disney World, from machine to machine, refilling them. The agent we spoke to seemed overwhelmed with the workload as the kiosks only hold so many FuelRods and each of the existing 13 machines needed to be refilled at least more than once a day.

The addition of 15 more FuelRod kiosks will bring the total at Walt Disney World to 25, up from the original 10. We will provide an updated list of locations once it is available.

PHOTO REPORT: Epcot 9/22/16 (HP Blasts Out of Mission Space, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, ETC.)

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is now in full swing and the park is packed full of guests ready to sip and stroll their way around world. Meanwhile, the last of the HP references is removed from Mission: Space, new merchandise continues to roll out around the parks, and the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom have come to the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

Welcome to Epcot

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The 2016 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival has begun and will be running at the park through November.

New Merchandise

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A new Minnie Mouse retail MagicBand is for sale resort wide.

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A series of new, awfully generic men’s shirts are for sale in MouseGear.

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Some rather strange character t-shirts with Walt Disney quotes on the back were released recently.

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Each one has a different Walt Disney quote on the back.

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HP Finally Blasts Off From Mission: Space

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The HP logo has finally been removed from the screen at the exit of Mission: Space, replaced with a staticISTC logo flying through space.

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The MagicBand interactive Mission Roster at the exit of the attraction has been turned off, replaced with some video clips from space missions accompanied by famous space exploration quotes.

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Annual Passholder Glass

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Annual passholders who visit Epcot 3 times during the Food and Wine Festival can get this really nice glass for free just across from Colortopia in the former Vision House location.

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There are no stamps required this year, just go to the park 3 times during the event and then get you ticket scanned at the redemption center.

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Sorcerers of the Epcot

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Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards are available at Epcot now, and I’m not entirely sure why.

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Metal keys with Star Wars characters on them are now for sale alongside the attraction keys inside the Art of Disney.

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New Celtic Rock Band Coming to Canada at Epcot This Fall

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

According to Le Journal de Montreal, a highly acclaimed new band is coming to the Canada pavilion at Epcot for a limited time.

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After presenting concerts in Quebec and Europe this summer, Celtic rock band Bodh’aktan will perform for two periods of 20 days at Epcot in October and January. Bodh’aktan will be performing 20 minutes every hour, five days a week, as part of this contract. Disney wanted the band to sign a 6 month contract, but they declined as they did not want to be that far from their families for that long of a period.

While not a permanent replacement for the revolving Canada stage, it should be an enjoyable temporary offering. Alberta Bound will be working at the Mills Stage until that time. The Holiday Voyageurs will perform during Holidays Around the World in-between these two 20-day stands.

New Monkey Species Being Added to Maharajah Jungle Trek at Animal Kingdom

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

A new species of Monkey is coming to the Maharajah Jungle Trek walk through exhibit at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.

Lion-tailed macaque coming to Animal Kingdom

Lion-tailed macaque coming to Animal Kingdom

An area of Maharajah Jungle Trek has been behind walls for several months now as a new home is built for these creatures, the lion-tailed macaque. The monkeys have been living backstage already for several months now. They have also been added to the attraction signage recently.

Updated sign outside of the Maharajah Jungle Trek

Updated sign outside of the Maharajah Jungle Trek

The exhibit under construction

The exhibit under construction

The exhibit will be home to three females and one male of the species. Here is some background information on these particular monkeys:

The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus), or the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.

The hair of the lion-tailed macaque is black. Its outstanding characteristic is the silver-white mane which surrounds the head from the cheeks down to its chin, which gives this monkey its German name Bartaffe – “beard ape”. The hairless face is black in colour. With a head-body length of 42 to 61 cm and a weight of 2 to 10 kg, it ranks among the smaller macaques. The tail is medium in length, about 25 cm, and has a black tuft at the end, similar to a lion’s tail. The male’s tail-tuft is more developed than that of the female.

Gestation is approximately six months. The young are nursed for one year. Sexual maturity is reached at four years for females, and six years for males. The life expectancy in the wild is approximately 20 years, while in captivity is up to 30 years.

Disney Considering Annual Pass Blackout Dates After New Attractions Open

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts guest surveys often have some interesting questions for guests. Remember when they asked about a possible Uber style service? Or how about the infamous $15 resort fee? Well, now they are asking some annual passholders about the possibility of blackout dates after ride and shows open up and what they might do if they were not allowed into the parks after the debut of something new.

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It would be intriguing to see what such a rule might do to the already confusing annual pass pricing structure at Walt Disney World, but this is still a very blue sky concept at this point.

Walt Disney World Quietly Disables MagicBand Interactivity on Rides

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

Over the last few years, we have slowly seen Walt Disney World install screens at many of its theme park attractions for new interactive elements that would utilize the technology in a guest’s MagicBand. Many of these effects were eventually turned on, such as the Hitchhiking Ghost scene at the end of the Haunted Mansion, the “it’s a small world” finale where guests would receive a customized farewell, and the Mission Roster at Mission: Space at Epcot. Quietly over the last few weeks, many of these effects were turned off.

The now-retired effect on The Haunted Mansion

The now-retired effect on The Haunted Mansion

Is Disney finally throwing in the towel on these elements? It is uncertain, but all of theme being turned off simultaneously certainly means that they are up to something.

Some of these changes were deemed controversial by fans. The personalized tombstones that the ghosts would carry in the Haunted Mansion finale were called hokey, the “it’s a small world” goodbyes considered forced, and overall many guests felt like Disney was shoving it down their throats that they had the technology to put their name (and where they live) on a screen. Personally, I thought at least a few of them were clever, but agree there was likely too many of them present.

Guest names would show up as "it's a small world" would say goodbye in various languages to them using RFID technology in the MagicBand

Guest names would show up as “it’s a small world” would say goodbye in various languages to them using RFID technology in the MagicBand

Similar effects were also installed at several other locations but never turned on. For example, screens inside Star Tours and the Hollywood Brown Derby at Hollywood Studios were simply never used. Another set of screens at Cover Story on Hollywood Boulevard were turned on for about 2 weeks before going back to being just static images again.

The Mission Roster at the exit of Mission: Space was turned off for the first time this week since it was installed. A short ISTC video with famous quotes about the exploration of space plays now:

Perhaps Disney will be upgrading these systems and they will be returning soon, but for now (or possibly forever), don’t be surprised if you don’t see your name in lights at your favorite Walt Disney World locale.

BREAKING: Stitch’s Great Escape To Operate Seasonally, Permanent Closure Imminent

WDWNT on September 26, 2016

Starting October 2nd, 2016, Stitch’s Great Escape at the Magic Kingdom will change to a seasonally operating attraction.

Stitch's Great Escape will operate seasonally at the Magic Kingdom starting 10/2/16

Stitch’s Great Escape will operate seasonally at the Magic Kingdom starting 10/2/16

The show will return for the busy 2016 holiday season for two periods, November 19th-26th, 2016 and December 17th, 2016 through January 2nd, 2017.

Walt Disney World has not offered a seasonally operating attraction in many years, not since the mid-2000’s when they would only open the Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot during the busy holiday season. Of course, the Wonders of Life was retired shortly thereafter. Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is the only attraction that was ever offered only seasonally to return to normal operation at Walt Disney World.

Stitch’s Great Escape is rumored to close permanently in the not-too-distant future to be replaced with a Wreck-It Ralph attraction. This seasonal closure could be used to start work on a new attraction inside the building.