With The Great Movie Ride closing on Sunday, August 13th, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is adjusting some operating hours for attractions and dining inside of the park this weekend, August 12th and 13th.
Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream will operate from park open until park close both days.
For The First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration is adding a 9:30AM show.
The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is adding a 10:45AM show.
Opening this Fall, what remains of New York Street at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will become Grand Avenue, a representation of modern day Los Angeles. Situated in the former home of the Writer’s Stop will be the Baseline Tap House, a new bar and lounge just steps away from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. This week, the facade of the Tap House was revealed and lampposts are going up on the new street:
The former Writer’s Stop now has a brick facade.
Lamps have been installed all around the area, likely meaning it is not far from opening.
Gary Sinise will not be returning as CAPCOM in the relaunched Mission: SPACE attraction at Epcot when it returns August 13th, a role he has had in the ride since it opened in 2003. American actress Gina Torres will replace Sinise in completely new attraction pre-show videos.
Gary Sinise essentially playing his role from the film Mission to Mars in the spiritual sequel, Mission: SPACE at Epcot.
Gina Torres has appeared in many television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (as Nebula), Xena: Warrior Princess (as Cleopatra), the short-lived Cleopatra 2525, Alias (as Anna Espinosa), Firefly (as Zoe Washburne), Angel (as Jasmine), 24 (as Julia Miliken), Suits (as Jessica Pearson), The Shield (as Sadie Kavanaugh), and Westworld (as Lauren). She starred opposite Chris Rock in the feature film I Think I Love My Wife, as Carla in the independent film South of Pico, and she reprised her Firefly role in its feature film sequel Serenity. Since 2011, she has had a main role on the USA Network series Suits as Jessica Pearson. She and real-life husband Laurence Fishburne played a married couple on the NBC television series Hannibal.
Actress Gina Torres
You can always relive the classic pre-show experience and attraction through our video below:
As promised, DisneyStore.com today is selling the limited release t-shirts celebrating the closing of the Universe of Energy and The Great Movie Ride. You can click here or any image below to buy these items. The shirts are available until August 17th online.
The Great Movie Ride Farewell Tee for Adults
The Great Movie Ride Farewell Tee for Adults – Annual Passholders
The Great Movie Ride Farewell Tee for Kids
The Universe of Energy Farewell Tee for Adults
The Universe of Energy Farewell Tee for Adults – Annual Passholders
Expanding for a longer-than-ever 75-day run, the 22nd Epcot International Food & Wine Festivalreturns to Walt Disney World Resort from August 31 to November 13, 2017. The Disney Parks Merchandise team has developed more than 75 items celebrating the many ways guests can sip and taste their way throughout Epcot.
“Each year we look forward to designing artwork for [Epcot International Food & Wine Festival],” explained Creative Manager Doug Strayer. “The art includes nods to Epcot’s 35th Anniversary on October 1, and beloved characters like Figment and Remy. As cast members, we love this event as much as our guests. It’s fun for us to see guests at Epcot wearing the artwork we created.”
Disney Creative Group artists Richard Terpstra, Susan Foy, Dave Holbrook, and Brian Blackmore contributed to this year’s assortment. Their artwork was compiled into a style guide which merchandise product developers referenced when creating apparel, pins, home décor, accessories and more.
Fans of Figment will be delighted to find several new items featuring the lovable purple dragon. Doug said the 1980s-looking Figment artwork was inspired by a classic Epcot attraction.
“During the design phase, we kept referencing the Kitchen Kabaret attraction once located in The Land Pavilion. That food-themed show included the song ‘Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit,’ which we couldn’t get out of our heads [laughs]. We liked the show’s art style, so we combined it with a stylized Chef Figment. It’s a fun way to salute the heritage of Epcot.”
Another nod to Epcot’s heritage is found within the Passport collection. Look carefully to see stamps containing World Showcase marketing artwork from 1982.
The Brews Around the World collection returns this year with new designs by Susan Foy. Look for the artwork on apparel and drinkware, including a new stainless steel growler and baseball cap with a bottle opener.
For the first time, Disney is introducing an “Eat to the Beat” concert T-shirt with a World Showcase-inspired guitar graphic.
Dooney & Bourke handbags with Figment and World Showcase graphics will also be released during the event. Annual Passholders will also find a specially designed Dooney & Bourke handbag along with several other Passholder Exclusive products such as pins, salt and pepper shakers, and accessories.
Finally, guests can help Remy as he ventures around Epcot to collect the ingredients for his signature dish with Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak scavenger hunt. This year, guests will have 15 spots to look for Remy in World Showcase and Future World.
Look for these items at the Festival Center located adjacent to Mission: SPACE, and at select merchandise locations throughout Epcot. Select items will also be offered on Shop Disney Parks app and the online store.
End your magical day with delectable desserts, VIP fireworks seating and some Frozen fun.
The celebration begins at World Showcase Plaza East, an exclusive setting for Guests of the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party. Here, you can enjoy sweet treats, specialty beverages and prime seating along World Showcase Lagoon—with clear views of IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, the nighttime fireworks spectacular at Epcot.
The bountiful dessert buffet features sweet and savory options, which may include:
Olaf’s warm double-chocolate s’mores pudding cake
Elsa’s warm cottage pudding with salted caramel glaze
Hand-dipped vanilla bean ice cream
Wandering Oaken’s éclairons
Hans’ key lime tarts with red glitter glaze
Living Rock crispy bonbons
Anna’s blue velvet cupcakes
Kristoff’s no-sugar-added lemon curd with blueberry
Sven’s fresh fruits and berries
Grand Pabbie’s winter-spiced snack mix
Duke of Weselton’s cheese fondue served with country bread cubes, broccoli and grilled flatbread
You can raise a glass of your favorite beverage to toast your day of theme park adventures—and the enchantment to come. Drink selections may include:
“Melted snow” and other non-alcoholic beverages
Summertime cocktails, like margaritas and piña coladas
Beer and wine
After IllumiNations, you’ll be escorted to the Norway Pavilion, where Guests of the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party will experience the popular attraction Frozen Ever After—a musical boat-ride adventure through the wintry world of Arendelle.
The price for the party is up a bit from the former offering, with an adult ticket priced at $79 (ages 10 and up) and children $47 (ages 3-9), both including tax and gratuity.
We decided to go give the event a try as it seems to be quite popular, being sold out more often than not. Being the summer season, our venue for the drinks and desserts was moved indoors to the Norway lounge above the Frozen Ever After attraction. Typically, this portion is held outside where guests will also watch Illuminations: Reflections of Earth.
Regardless of weather, event check-in is held just outside of the attraction.
Just off to the left of the attraction entrance, you’ll find the check-in spot. If weather is bad, this is also where you will head to enter the Norway lounge where drinks and desserts will be. Otherwise, you’ll head over to the space towards the front of World Showcase.
Once upstairs, we checked in to receive our assigned seats and are then lead to our shared table.
The podium had menus for both food and drink.
Tables are broken up by number and are lightly themed with Frozen character lanterns. Guests receive special glasses to wear during the fireworks that turns bursts of light into snowflakes. This is especially fun for the kids, also any 3-something Disney bloggers that may be in your party.
I was pretty excited to attend inside of the lounge as it is a fairly pleasant atmosphere. Sure, as a fan of EPCOT Center, I love these musty old lounges, but I think it fits this party quite well.
The dessert spread is pretty adorable and everything is themed well enough.
The blue velvet cupcakes certainly worked better as snowflakes rather than being associated with gangsters, as they were at our Great Movie Ride event…
The prescreens of fruit wasn’t odd, but the fondue area left me scratching my head a bit.
While the Star Wars and Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam Dessert Parties both have warm, non-dessert food, it didn’t feel as out of place as the bread and broccoli here. I’m not really complaining because it was fine, but most guests are probably ready for dessert at the dessert parties.
I probably could have spent the night at this pudding station and been quite happy with what I had paid to attend this. Elsa’s warm cottage pudding with salted caramel glaze is very good, but Olaf’s warm double-chocolate s’mores pudding cake steals the show, especially with a scoop of ice cream.
The not-advertised frozen caramel corn seemed fun, but wasn’t all that exciting to eat. I was ready to write this off until we had a similar offering at our Great Movie Ride event and it was ten times better there. Perhaps we just had a bad batch at Norway, but on the off-chance it might be as good as it was on August 11th at GMR, give this a try.
A selection of non-alcoholic drinks are available as well.
Here’s a closer look at some of the desserts:
The bar is capable of making 3 specialty beverages, but they also have a large selection of beer and wine.
The non-alcoholic drink station has two specialty offerings as well. They were both pretty enjoyable.
The advertised “melted snow” was nowhere to be found, but we tried all of the other specialty drinks.
The Pina Colada was good, although I always find it weird when this isn’t a frozen drink.
The margarita was fine as well, nothing special though.
The Sangria was way too sweet.
The desserts were pretty fantastic overall. Here’s a breakdown:
Elsa’s warm cottage pudding with salted caramel glaze (with the hand-dipped vanilla bean ice cream)
Wandering Oaken’s éclairons
Anna’s blue velvet cupcakes
“It’s Fine”:
Hans’ key lime tarts with red glitter glaze
Living Rock crispy bonbons
Grand Pabbie’s winter-spiced snack mix
Sven’s fresh fruit and berries
Nitros frozen caramel corn
Don’t Bother:
Kristoff’s no-sugar-added lemon curd with blueberry
Duke of Weselton’s cheese fondue served with country bread cubes, broccoli and grilled flatbread
I would come back just for the chocolate s’mores pudding cake…
I’d still give the popcorn another shot…
Obviously, the entire event takes place outside if the weather is nice, but in this case, we were then whisked outside to our private viewing space for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.
The viewing area was big enough and not overcrowded, and offered a pretty good view of the show. This area is located just to the left of the FastPass viewing area, in front of the small gift shop that flanks that side.
After the show, we were held for a few minutes while guests were leaving the park, and then it was on to Frozen Ever After.
We followed the guides past Mexico and into Norway, to the entrance of the attraction.
Once inside, we found that the standby queue had already been emptied for the night. I expected we would wait a few moments to board just because of the size of our group, but we literally never stopped moving once we entered the building and were on the ride in under a minute. I was very impressed.
I’d love to complain that this is another money grab event and that it is wildly overpriced and that no one should do it, but the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party doesn’t necessarily feel like a waste of time. The food lineup was very good, the drinks were solid, the view of IllumiNations was enjoyable, and the wait to ride Frozen Ever After was nonexistent, which in the end, is the entire point of this thing. If you can get a FastPass for Frozen Ever After, you really don’t need to do this, but if you want to enjoy bottomless desserts and drinks for a bit, watch IllumiNations without fighting a crowd, and don’t wait to wait to ride this, then the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party is a no-brainer. Families who are looking for more Frozen stuff to do should absolutely attend this, and if you really want the perks I listed above, you should as well, but otherwise, this isn’t something any other guest should go out of their way to do. That being said, there’s more than enough of the aforementioned families and guests to fill this event every night, and that’s why the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party is still pretty hard to find availability for.
The Frozen Ever After Dessert Party at Epcot is a solid upgrade over the Sparkling Dessert Party that opens the event up to more guests and makes seeing IllumiNations and Frozen Ever After a breeze. Oh, and did I mention the chocolate s’mores pudding cake?
Many have been asking, besides the Baseline Tap House, what is the purpose of the Grand Avenue area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? It’s a fairly big parcel and nothing more than this bar and lounge has been announced for it. What else is going in there? Well, the answer is the only dedicated queue space ever built for a land.
Grand Avenue stands before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in the former New York Street area. Photo by @bioreconstruct
Based on the absolutely monstrous demand that there is to see Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, this giant street will act as a queue just to enter the area. Guests will be able to exit to Grand Avenue or Toy Story Land, but entry to Toy Story Land seems unlikely for the opening months (maybe even years) of the Star Wars themed land. This info comes directly from an Imagineer working on the Florida version of the Galaxy’s Edge project.
So yes, there will be a theme park land at Hollywood Studios that is just queue space and a bar essentially.
While Grand Avenue opens this Fall, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will not be completed until mid-to-late-2019 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
It appears that Disney is eyeing the possible addition of a table service restaurant to their value resorts at Walt Disney World.
According to sources, the parking lot between All-Star Music and All-Star Movies will become home to a new table service restaurant, likely buffet style. With hotel occupancy expected to be on the rise in a big way by 2019, it is believed that the counter service restaurants at the 3 All-Star Resorts would be even more overwhelmed than they are now and some guests staying at these hotels would rather skip the lines & craziness in favor of a buffet style dining experience.
Of course, this project is just in the planning stages and has not been approved as of yet, nor has any construction begun. If the project is to happen, we expect it to be given the green light sooner rather than later though.
Today, Disney shared an update that will very soon give you a thrilling, up-close look at what’s to come at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The One Man’s Dream attraction is currently being reimagined into Walt Disney Presents, which like its predecessor, will continue showcasing historic items from Walt Disney’s history, such as sketches, photos and storyboards. Walt Disney Presents will also act as a preview center where guests explore what’s next for the park. Starting in mid-September, you’ll be able to view concept art, ride vehicle maquettes and a never-before-seen model for Toy Story Land. A portion of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge model also will be on display, as well as concept art for the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction.
The attraction will also continue to host greetings with characters like Star-Lord and baby Groot, plus special sneak previews of upcoming Disney films.
