Tom Corless’ 1/30/15 Epcot Photo Report (Recalled Mug, Frozen, New Merchandise, ETC.)

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

I visited Epcot on Sunday afternoon and have some newsworthy photos from my trip to share with you today:

 

Welcome to Epcot

The now-pulled Epcot Starbucks mug was on shelves when I visited Sunday

And it was never seen again…

A mug with a different color monorail will eventually be made

If you look closely, you can see construction vehicles out behind The Land at Epcot, rumor has it additional Soarin’ theaters may be constructed

The “healthy” food cart between The Land and Imagination! recently got a new menu

In Canada, the Lumberjack show is making some modifications for a log rolling act

The seating area from Brazil at the Food and Wine Festival was kept as a nice spot for guests to relax

The new group in Morocco was out as I passed by

Some walls are up in the gardens in Japan

New Disney villains pins recently were released

Also, this really neat Dug pin

The front section of the Puffin’s Roost, which was once the Frozen meet and greet, is once again shop space

No visible progress on the Frozen attraction

The future site if the Frozen meet and greet building

Walls up outside of the Mexico pavilion for some reason

Several new shirts can be found at MouseGear

This Minnie Mouse shirt was in the men’s section, which might be a first

Kid’s shirts

Several new iPhone 6 cases were released, all in new, slimmer packaging

The old packaging can still be found

Figment iPhone 5 case

I’m not certain, but these princess pillows looked new

 

A new popcorn bucket featuring Test Track is now available

No Vinylmation Day at 2015 WDW Trading Event GenEARation D np

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

Each year in September, Walt Disney World holds a weekend long, ticketed trading and merchandise event at the Epcot World Showplace. For years, it was pins only. Then, in 2010, they added Vinylmation to the the event. The following year, Vinylmation took over Sunday and was turned into its own ticked day. There will be no such day at the 2015 event titled GenEARation D.

GenEARationD_logoAccording to an official post on Disney’s Merchandise Blog:

The GenEARation D event will focus primarily on Disney Pin Trading. While you are welcome to bring Vinylmation figures to trade with other Guests, we will not be offering Vinylmation trading activities or selling Vinylmation figures at the event.

This is a huge and disturbing shift in the hobby. While many will rush to judgement and put the nail in the Vinylmation coffin, I’m not sure that death is eminent. This is however, very disappointing. With the lack of free trade nights at the parks, this was the one time of year, a large group of collectors, could really look forward to getting together and trading face to face. I will also miss the Vinylmation Talk that provided previews and months of content to discuss among the community. Many will miss the merchandise. I will not miss the trading with Cast Members at this particular event. I have said all along, that Vinylmation trading does not work the same way as pins, and that trade format for Vinylmation is just not as effective… as shown in the disinterest in standing in the lines for many attendees.

So what does this mean? That is a question we will be pondering online and on the Destination Vinylmation podcast for weeks to come, I assure you that. In short, I think this solidifies vinyls shift from its attempt to be the next “Pins” to being a boutique like art/souvenir item at the parks. Please leave your comments here in this post and we will share them on the next podcast.

Pins have made some significant changes as well including vouchers designating your number of trades and guaranteed pins that used to randomly placed on the boards. Read the entire Disney announcement here.

 

For all your Vinylmation news, please check out DestinationVinylmation.com.

PHOTOS: Trolley Car Cafe Starbucks Opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

Tom Corless was at the Trolley Car Cafe soft opening today and took a ton of great pictures! On the corner of Hollywood and Sunset at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the location officially opens on Tuesday, but today guests are able to enter by obtaining a voucher. Entry is via the patio on Hollywood Blvd., with the exit through the side door onto Sunset Blvd.

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The menu is a standard Starbucks menu.

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The interior theming is spectacular!

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The utensil dispensers even have a Trolley Car Cafe logo.

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Not only does the interior look great, the food does too!

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These are the vouchers you need to get in for the soft opening.  They are handing them out at random on Hollywood Blvd.

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The Trolley Car Cafe has several different logos, all of which seem well done.

Be Our Guest Restaurant Opening Lunch Reservations To All Guests, Food Pre-Ordering Available, Breakfast Coming Soon

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

So, for the past several months, guests who wanted to eat lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant in New Fantasyland either needed to be a resort guests with a FastPass reservation or arrive at the restaurant pretty early in the day to get a return time to eat at the establishment. Needless to say, the test was pretty disastrous, leading Disney to implement a new system starting next month.

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Much like a table service restaurant, Advanced Dining Reservations (ADR) will be available for the Be Our Guest Restaurant lunch by phone or through MyDisneyExperience starting February 25th. We assume this will be utilizing the established 180 day window for advanced reservations, but that has not been confirmed as of yet.

Guests will also be able to pre-order their food and drinks anywhere from 30 days to within 5 minutes of their arrival at the restaurant once they have a reservation, again via MyDisneyExperience. Pre-ordering isn’t necessary, you can still order at the restaurant as well.

Disney has confirmed breakfast will be added to Be Our Guest Restaurant as well sometime this year, but details on the counter service offering will be provided at a later date.

Walt Disney World Bus Wait Times Test Occurring Now; Guests Will Know When Their Bus is Coming

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

Over the past few months, select resort hotel bus stops around Walt Disney World have had LCD displays installed that should tell them the estimated wait until a particular bus is going to show up. While not fully functional as of yet, Disney is now testing recently-installed long range readers to see how long it takes for buses to travel between two points, in order to give accurate bus wait times to resort guests.

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The readers are tracking guests’ MagicBands, at least reading when the guest leaves the bus station at one point and then arrives at the next point.

The test is currently taking place between Disney’s Port Orleans Resort and the Magic Kingdom. Should the test be successful, a widespread roll-out of the system will take place, giving guests resort-wide accurate bus wait times.

RUMOR: Echo Lake Demolition Imminent? Are Gertie the Dinosaur and Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner at Hollywood Studios History?

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

It’s certainly no secret that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is on the verge of a major overhaul, and we’ve already heard several times from Bob Iger that a Star Wars land is on the way, but does that mean we will be losing two more Studios establishments to the construction zone soon?

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Rumors are swirling that the Echo Lake area may close to be demolished by March 2015. This would include the actual lake, Gertie the Dinosaur, and Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner, all opening day features of the Disney-MGM Studios.

The obvious thought would be that this would become part of the Star Wars themed land planned for the park, but it is unclear at this time. Similar rumblings have also claimed the adjacent Superstar Television Theater and ABC Sound Studio could be the next items to go come Summer 2015. Conflicting rumors have stated the Star Wars area would expand north and replace the Muppet-Vision area, but the removal of Echo Lake may save the Jim Henson creations from extinction.

Much is still unclear, but as we have been stating for several months now, it is clear that something BIG is up. We will provide any more information as it becomes available.

Tom Corless’ 2/6/15 WDW Photo Report (Hollywood Studios, New Resort Merchandise, Cornbread Waffle Sandwich, ETC.)

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

This week, I visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Old Key West, and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort to see what was new and exciting, so let’s take a look at the photos I took around Walt Disney World over the last several days:

No hat… just the Theater…

We should have an unobstructed view in a few weeks

The Trolley Car Cafe Starbucks opened this week, you can read all about that here

One of the carts near the Hat was replaced with this new shop with large luggage bags holding the merchandise

The TCM photo-op area at the exit of the Great Movie Ride is now under construction, marking the first work we’ve seen for the project

The kid’s menu at 50’s Prime Time Cafe features Miles from Tomorrowland

The show features a dad who works for the TTA, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority interestingly enough

The new Tower of Terror opene edition pins came out a few days early

New PIXAR starter pin set

Some new Villains bags were released

Pretty sweet Maleficent bag

New Toy Story MagicBand now available

Sunset at Hollywood Studios

Old Key West has some new resort merchandise

Over at Art of Animation, there’s a BBQ pork sandwich on cornbread waffles

I saw EasyWDW tweet about it, so I had to go try it

IT WAS DELICIOUS!

The waffles get cold quickly, so they make the waffle after you order it. It was worth the 3 minute wait.

Art of Animation also has new resort merchandise

New iPhone case, but only for the 5/5S so far

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Kid’s shirt

Crossbody bag

Some Cars Land merchandise has spilled over

 

KACHOW!

CONFIRMED: Walt Disney World Ticket Price Increase Coming This Month; 1-Day Tickets To Exceed $100

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

A few weeks ago, we told you that a ticket price increase was coming to Walt Disney World’s theme parks. Today, we have some more information that has leaked about the planned price hike coming sometime this month.

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According to sources, a 1-day Magic Kingdom base ticket will be priced at $105.00 (plus tax), while a ticket for Hollywood Studios, Epcot, or Animal Kingdom will be $99.00 (plus tax). All other ticket prices will be raised similarly, probably by the same increments as the last price change seen at the Disney Parks.

We still have no confirmation on the rumors of a water park-hopper ticket being added or the no-expiration option being removed, but we assume we will hear something once the ticket prices change.

The Disneyland Resort is expected to receive similar ticket price increases this month as well.

Dirk Wallen’s 2/10/15 Disney Springs & Flamingo Crossings Photo Report

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Downtown Disney (Disney Springs) and the future site of Flamingo Crossings this week and has some newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip:

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Signage is up for Sanuk in The Landing

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Signage up for Sound Lion as well

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Ape by Sunglass Hut has already opened

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The store specializes in sunglasses that are sportswear related

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A new section of pier being constructed in the Marketplace

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Construction has begun on the Town Center area

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The view of the construction from the Orange parking structure

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The first structure rising appears to be a pedestrian walkway over Buena Vista Drive

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The two hotels under construction at Flaming Crossings are coming up quickly

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Both hotels will open in 2016