The Earful Tower, one of the long-standing icons of Disney’s Hollywood Studios dating back to 1989, will be removed in the coming weeks.
The area near the Earful Tower is going to become Toy Story Land, meaning the tower would be “visually intrusive” to the story of the land where guests are shrunken to the size of a toy.
Disney has not announced if they will move the Earful Tower, but they have officially stated that it will be removed soon.
If you are planning to meet Darth Vader, you had better do so soon… for your sake.
Kylo Ren will begin meeting guests at Star Wars Launch Bay at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Park in February 2016, replacing Lord Vader. Chewbacca will continue to be offered on the light side for meet and greet opportunities. No word was given on who will meet guests waiting in the special Disney VISA card experience come next month.
Construction is currently wrapping up on the Town Center area of Disney Springs, but one structure from the concept art that we still haven’t see rise upon the site is the water tower bearing the Disney Springs name. Now, this could all be a big coincidence, but it does seem a bit odd that as Disney is about to build a new water tower, another one that has stood for 27 years is coming down. Based on the amount of recycling we’ve seen from Walt Disney Imagineering the last few years with larger props from extinct attractions, I can imagine a scenario where the Disney Springs water tower is built from the remains of the Earful Tower.
I took a quick trip to Epcot one evening last week and I took a few newsworthy photos to share, so let’s see what’s new and exciting at WDW’s second gate:
I like the colder weather, so the 60 degree nights in Orlando lately have been wonderful
It looked like they were finally doing some work inside the former VISION House at Innoventions. Habit Heroes quietly closed 3 days after this photo was taken, completely unannounced.
With Innoventions West gone and now two exhibits closed in Innoventions East, we really need to wonder if this is the end of the exhibit space.
Innoventions West is slowly being converted to more and more meet and greet space, I can’t iamgine what they will do with Innoventions East at this rate.
The holiday decorations are slowly vanishing around the parks
Managed to get a ride in on Test Track…
Here’s my car…
Scaffolding up in the China pavilion amidst a lightsaber battle
I had dinner at KAtsura Grill in Japan, really one of the better counter service restaurants at Epcot.
The off season has begun, as you can tell by this picture was taken at 7:30PM
If you are looking for the old celebration buttons, they are still around at various merchandise locations, but you might want to hurry up before they are gone
New Women’s Princess t-shirts on sale in MouseGear
As part of the show’s ongoing evolution, La Nouba by Cirque du Soleil has introduced two new acts recently: B-Boy, commonly referred to as breakdancing, and Aerial Bamboo, a technique mastered by only a handful of performers worldwide. The acts join the recent additions of uproarious clowns and a breathtaking juggling rolla bolla act.
For the first time in any Cirque du Soleil show, a B-Boy trio is featured in their own electrifying act. B-Boying is a physically demanding form of dance, in which performers execute acrobatic tricks and moves, including flips and spins, to music. The La Nouba artistic staff scoured the globe for its three inaugural B-Boys: Josh Ortiz (“Incredible Josh”), Jean Carlos Lloret (“Bebo”) and Dmytro Li (“Flying Buddha”). The three hail respectively from the Bronx, N.Y., the Boston area and Ukraine and are performing together for the first time. All three have been dancing since their youth and bring their own unique styles to the act.
Performing their act for the first time in the United States, Russian couple Alexander and Ekaterina Abramov bring the rare performance of Aerial Bamboo to the La Nouba stage. An art form originating in China, Aerial Bamboo involves a pole-shaped apparatus suspended from the ceiling, with attached loops used for a variety of tricks and stunts. Originally, the pole was made of bamboo, giving the craft its name, but is now made of stainless steel. The act requires extreme trust as for most of the performance, Ekaterina is held only by Alexander – his arms, his feet and even his teeth – as he himself hangs by his feet or arms high above the stage.
To seamlessly integrate the new acts into La Nouba, the show brought back original choreographer Debra Brown, original composer Benoit Jutras and original lighting designer Luc Lafortune to apply their individual crafts and create original Cirque du Soleil acts unlike anything audiences have ever seen before.
To preface my review, I had actually never been to La Nouba. It’s one of those things we had talked about going to see at least a hundred times, but we had just never managed to go see it. Also, I’ve never seen a Cirque show in-person before, but I am familiar with what they are.
In short, I was really blown away. The new acts were great and the show overall was very enjoyable. In fact, the new Aerial Bamboo act was my favorite part of the entire show. It’s definitely not something I personally would see every trip to Walt Disney World, but if you haven’t made time to see La Nouba, you really should. I think it’s a really nice way to cap off an evening at Disney Springs and I can’t imagine a scenario where you would be disappointed.
WDWNT Reporter Drik Wallen and myself both took trips to Disney Springs yesterday and have some newsworthy photos to share with you, so let’s take a look:
Work continues on the Town Center and the new bus loop
Planet Hollywood has closed for its makeover into the Planet Hollywood Observatory
Concept art for the Town Center up on the walls
Star Wars Valentine’s Day pins are out
Some new(ish) phone case designs available from D-Tech on Demand
From the porch of Morimoto Asia, you can clearly see the Town Center construction
Restaurants cover the boardwalk around the north edge facing The Landing, just past all of the main “mall” buildings looming in the background
The Ganachery is now selling Star Wars Chocolate Bars
Things are pikcing up at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as it embarks on a 25-acre expansion finally after many years of waiting. I decided to go check out what’s new and exciting at the Studios and I have pictures of what I found to share with you today:
Started the day with breakfast at Starring Rolls
GUYS< JUST LIKE IN THE COMMERCIAL! Seriously though, they had to give the Stortroopers handlers as guests apparently were harassing them
One Man’s Dream is now temporarily home to a Zootopia preview
The preview is really cute and does a great job selling guests on this new Disney animated film
Guests can also get complimentary rabbit or fox ears
The Osborne Lights are completely gone as of the publishing of this photo report
By Friday, this was gone
The former Phineas and Ferb and Cars meet and greets are now behind walls
Pizza Planet and the adjacent restrooms closed, but they got some really funny New York themed construction walls
A lot of fun jokes here
The Sorcerer Mickey meet and greet in sound stage 4 received some permanent signage recently
These new open edition birthstone pins were released this week and are proving very popular. January is sold out right now…
The look fantastic and come in nice gift boxes
Hadn’t seen this UP MagicBandits set yet
A ton of new Hollywood Studios merchandise has been released recently including a girl’s shirt…
A boy’s shirt…
This children’s hoodie…
There are shirts for adults too
Another new set of his and her shirts
These new open edition character heart pins are pretty neat
The Made with Magic mouse ears have a new look, much improved in my opinion
Walt Disney World is shaking up the theme park chain of command a bit in order to streamline operations and cut down on managerial middle-men.
Guest Service Managers will now be referred to as Guest Experience Managers. These managers will be in charge of the attractions, food and beverage, and merchandise sectors of each land. The next step up is the General Manager executive position, with the GM overseeing the entire land. These General Managers are just below the Vice President of each park. The goal behind this restructuring is that a front line Cast Member is always just two steps away in the chain of command from the GM.
A Disney spokeswoman said the reorganization will not include layoffs or added jobs. The restructuring also applies to Disney Resort Hotels, Disney Springs, and Disney Sports divisions.
With the work on the 25-acre expansion of Disney’s Hollywood Studios picking up, we decided it might be a good time to start a regular video series documenting the changes as they progress for the park. We will still continue to provide photo reports as well, but an overwhelming number of survey responses asked us to do more of these updates in a video format. In a way, this is kind of a test, so let us know what you think in the comments or on social media so we can improve this series for you. Without any further adieu, here is our very first Disney’s Hollywood Studios Expansion Update:
