The pricing on the Express Bus Service at Walt Disney World has been raised.
As of today, the service is now $19 for the day and $29 for a week.
For more information and an in-depth review of the Express Bus Service, please check out our previous post on it.
Disney has wasted no time in clearing buildings and land for the massive expansion of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. As announced last week, the project includes the addition of 15-story tower, additional parking, the remodeling of all existing rooms, and (most exciting to me, at least) a new rooftop restaurant on the tower.
As soon as you enter the resort, you are greeted by construction fences.
It’s not the prettiest day outside, but when you are covering demolition, does it matter?
The Cabanas 9B building is being demolished to make room for the 15-story tall tower, which will be filled with upscale rooms and feature a rooftop restaurant with fireworks views.
It’s a good thing we got there when we did as more fences are being installed to obstruct the view of guests.
Disney hasn’t leveled many hotel rooms in the last 45 years. Only the old north wing of the Contemporary comes to mind, and it too was replaced with a 15-story tower…
You guys might want to remove 9B from here…
I would almost say it doesn’t ruin the picturesque views, but the water barriers see to that.
The tower should connect to the lobby about here, but it is unclear if check-in will remain where it is now.
These windows should eventually be replaced with a hallway connecting to the new tower.
This will all be very different soon… stay tuned for more updates on the expansion of Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.
Recently, we told you about an all-new character dining experience coming to Trattoria al Forno at Disney’s BoardWalk. Today, Disney is sharing more details on the “Bon Voyage Breakfast at Trattoria al Forno”, which will have the opportunity to meet beloved Disney characters including Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel and Prince Eric.
Breakfast will begin with your choice of a mixed berry parfait or fresh fruit salad and a frying pan of pastries featuring braided breakfast bread and clam shell pastries.
“Shipwreck al Forno”
Calzone with scrambled Eggs, Soppressata, Bacon, Sausage,
Blend of Cheeses and Sunday Gravy
“Golden Frittata”
Prosciutto di Parma, Piquillo Peppers, Green Onion,
Pecorino Romano and Roasted Potatoes
“Tangled Eggs”
Tomato & Basil Scrambled Eggs,
Fresh Mozzarella, Sunday Gravy and Roasted Potatoes
“Two Eggs Poached Under Water”
House-made Fennel sausage, Parmesan, and Sunday Gravy
over Golden Polenta and Toasted Ciabatta
“Tower of Pancakes”
Seasonal Buttermilk Pancakes with Bacon or Sausage
“Royal Breakfast”
Oak-Grilled Steak, Cheesy Egg Torte, Asparagus,
Crispy Onions and Roasted Potatoes
“Swimmers di ‘light’”
Smoked Salmon Egg White Omelet with Spinach, Mushrooms,
Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Roasted potatoes
Kids will enjoy their choice of a Mickey Pancake, Mickey Waffle or a “Little Royal Breakfast,” which will feature an egg, bacon and toast. Breakfast will also include your choice of non-alcoholic beverage such as coffee, tea juice, milk and soft drinks. Mimosas, a Peach Bellini, cappuccino, press pot coffee and more will be available as an additional charge.
The character dining experience will cost $34 for adults, $20 for children. Please note: Disney Characters join guests for breakfast only. Character appearances are subject to change.
Reservations are now open for dates beginning April 2, and can be made by calling 407-WDW-DINE.
For guests wanting to create a magical keepsake of the memories made on your vacation, Disney’s PhotoPass at Disney Springs now allows you to put your little princess right into her favorite Disney fairytale. The personalized storybook features your child in her favorite story with over 24 pages of magic. Your child can be included in stories such as Frozen, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid after taking part is a special photo shoot with PhotoPass photographers.
Curret themes princesses can choose from are Anna, Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, Elsa, Mulan, Rapunzel and Snow White. For more info, you can visit the Disney PhotoPass Studio at Disney Springs, located in the Marketplace section.
*The Personalized Storybook photo session is only for guests age 14 and younger. This product is only available at the Disney PhotoPass Studio at Disney Springs, and a specialized, same-day photo session is required. Photos taken during the Personalized Storybook photo session can only be purchased as a complete storybook and cannot be reproduced individually. Personalized Story photos will also not be associated to your PhotoPass account and are not included in any Memory Maker products.
It seems as though the Epcot International Festival of the Arts will return in January 2018.
No exact dates are available yet, but Disney has confirmed that the event is returning starting in the first month of next year. It is no secret that the Festival exceeded all expectations, proving to be quite popular with guests in 2017, the inaugural season.
It is rumored that the event will take place daily, not just on weekends in 2018, but Disney has made no announcement as of yet.
For an overview of the entire event (so you can start planning for 2018), please check out our exhaustive review and guide.
The following aerial satellite images of the Star Wars and Toy Story Land construction sitesat Disney’s Hollywood Studios comes to us courtesy of NearMap. The latest images were captured on January 24th, 2017.
The below overall shot gives you a good idea of the scale of the project. Despite the fact that the walls at the end of PIXAR Place show art for Toy Story Land, that site is actually part of Star Wars, with the Toy Story area contained behind Toy Story Midway Mania.
In the north-west corner is the large building that will contain all the “back-of-house” needs for the Slinky Dog Dash rollercoaster. What will be the load station is just to the right of it in the picture. To the south is the ride mechanism for Little Green Men Swirling Saucers. We can make out the interlocking tables that will take the saucers on a double figure eight pattern on one of two separate systems, just like Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree at Disney California Adventure.
Not much has changed in Star Wars Land, just more land preparations for the two attractions.
Below, a closeup of what should be the site for the “Battle with the First Order” attraction.
Below are some nifty sliders where you can see the progress made between September 19th, 2016 with January 24th, 2017:
Star Wars Land will open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2019, while Toy Story Land is rumored to debut in 2018.
While many guests still enjoy traditional in-room dining, consumer preference for quick and casual dining is on the rise. To address the evolving needs of Guests, beginning February 7th and running through April 1, a new option added to in-room dining programs, Express Fresh, will be piloted at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. This pilot will complement the existing in-room dining program by offering select quick and casual meal options to Guests.
The meals are presented at the Guest’s room door in disposable containers and no set up is required. Disney is stating that the meals will arrive within 30 minutes of ordering as the menus are comprised of quick-to-prepare items. Express Fresh will be offered in the menu guides as a separate insert along with the traditional in-room dining options.
If you have ever visited Amorette’s Patisserie at Disney Springs and looked into the display case of all the delectable confections, you will see that each handcrafted dessert is a remarkable piece of art. All new cakes are first sketched on paper. After the sketch has been drawn, the extremely talented cake decorators will then bring the sketch to life, just as the inanimate objects in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are brought to life in the movie. The video below from the Disney Parks Blog shows one of the pastry artists creating an Enchanted Rose Cake inspired by the live-action film “Beauty and the Beast.”
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The Enchanted Rose Cake is now available at Amorette’s Patisserie. Dome cakes can be pre-ordered by calling (407) 934-3500 or by visiting the shop at least 72 hours in advance.
Introduced in December, Disney today has announced that the theme park entry lines exclusive to Walt Disney World annual passholders at all 4 theme parks will be staying a little while longer.
Disney has stated that they will now remain through the Spring at least, with no exact end date given.
As we had speculated, the official opening of Pandora: The World of AVATAR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be May 27th, 2017.
This was announced this afternoon on the company’s earnings call.
