Category — Walt Disney World

So far all three of the big theme parks are open today. Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal are operating as normal (Disney actually opened an hour early) with everything subject to changing weather conditions. Wet-n-Wild is closed and it’s probably not going to be much fun at any of the other water parks since they close quickly when extreme weather and lightning are near.

Most of the smaller attractions have closed for the day. Cypress Gardens, Kennedy Space Center, and Port Canaveral have announced closures for the day. If you have an airflight today, check with your air carrier for status. If you have to travel on the roads, drive carefully leaving extra distance between yourself and the car ahead of you. If the roads are flooded, do not enter standing or moving water. You don’t know if the road has been washed out our not.

As for the track of Tropical Storm Fay, it is over land and has shifted east now and weakened considerably from when it was in the gulf. It should be back in the Atlantic this evening sometime where it will likely strengthen a bit and then make a turn west back over land in northern Florida or Southern Georgia. The main result will be a couple buckets full of rain and some possible flooding.

Hopefully everyone prepared for a serious storm. It’s better to be prepared and not to have to act, than to have to act at the last minute with no preparations. Stay safe everyone!

Walt Disney World has announced that guests will be able to get in a few extra early hours at its parks before the worst of the Tropical Storm Fay is scheduled to hit. All four theme parks will open at 8 a.m., with DisneyQuest at 9 a.m. and the AMC Theaters at Downtown Disney at 10 a.m.. The movie theaters are a popular destination during stormy weather.

Remember not all ride operations and other show elements are guaranteed to be functional in bad weather, but the low in-park numbers should help make up for that. Most rides should be walk-ons. (Of course, that is if all the Osceola and Orange County school kids who get a day off don’t decide to go to the parks.)

SeaWorld has also chimed in that it will be open as normal tomorrow. However, Discovery Cove will not be open in the afternoon. Universal has also reported that it will be open as normal tomorrow.

Disney is ramping up its preparations for the arrival of Fay. So far, no announcements as to when or if parks are closing.  In the past Disney has chosen to be overly cautious when the resort was show to be in the path of an oncoming major storm. They will often close the parks in the morning with the option to open them later if the storm damage is light.

Stay tuned for further announcements later today either here or at The Orlando Sentinel.

Fantasmic! Meet and Greet

Originally uploaded by wallyspam

I just discovered Flickr user wallyspam. She has a real eye for some of the faces and characters that make Walt Disney World entertainment so special.

In this photo you’ll find a very special Fantasmic! meet and greet photo with 14 characters from the show’s finale. Check out the large size version where you can see how much detail goes into each costume even though the average guest will never be close enough to know the difference. I particularly like how some costume elements are exaggerated so they’ll stand out that much more from a distance.

For the next few weeks (through the end of August), the Magic Kingdom will have reduced parade offerings. There will be no SpectroMagic, instead there will be two showings of Disney’s Dreams Come True Parade, however both occur on a much shortened route. They’ll start in Town Square and then loop around the hub and head back down Main Street. The reason for this is a much needed replacement of the bridge to Liberty Square.

I would say expect everything to return to normal in September, but we’re beginning to hear of greater reductions in entertainment across nearly all the parks.

We already know about Fantasmic! going to weekends only. Now we’re hearing of additional SpectroMagic reductions and possibly reduced offerings for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Not sure if they can reduce either of them more and still attract guests to return the following years.

I also read on the Disney boards that ‘Four For A Dollar’ has been cut as the pre-show entertianment for Beauty and The Beast at DHS. The change is effective September 20th as per their Myspace page.

It’s really sad that Disney theme park management chooses to reduce rather than increase the special moments that makes Disney’s brand of magic so special when faced with tight times. If anything you need to do more to get the crowds to come back. I know it’s counter-intuitive, but that’s how you stand out when families are forced to make tough choices with their budgets.

A giant southwestern inspired A-frame in the middle of Florida swampland? Where else but at Walt Disney World. I did not know that “Tempo Bay Resort” was in consideration instead of “The Contemporary Resort” for that now classic, but FoxxFur of the Passport to Dreams blog, has the details.

The original 70’s aesthetic was a bizarre amalgamation of 70’s pop and Mexican hacienda, where dramatic reds, oranges, yellows and browns overflowed from every nook and cranny of the place, and Mary Blair’s ridiculously sublime mural in “The Grand Canyon Concourse” seemed to be the rationale for a strange Southwest aesthetic, crazy artificial trees which looked like twigs supporting a mess of broken stained glass, and the double-duty food court/arcade being dubbed the “Fiesta Fun Center”. I mean, really, the Fiesta Fun Center?

Over the years the Contemporary has moved away from the southwestern feel. A good shift, I think we can agree. Foxxfur explores that too.

The National Hurricane Center has officially named Fay as the 6th major tropical storm of the season. Right now Walt Disney World and the rest of Florida is in the 5-day forecast cone. Which means that sometime this coming Tuesday things could get a little rough around here.

One should never take lightly the powerful storms that can hit the south eastern United States. It’s best to be prepared and be safe. Extra water, flashlights, and food for a few days is recommended if you’re staying in the Orlando area. It’s also a good idea even if you’re staying on Disney property.

Past storms that came through, have shown that Walt Disney World is one of the safest places to be in a storm. Disney has been known to close the parks for the day if the forecasts shows a storm heading their way. They almost always have one or two parks open immediately afterwards, and since the storms keep off-site visitors away, guests staying on property typically have those parks to themselves.

In 2006 Disney implemented a Peace of Mind Tropical Weather policy for vacation reservations. If you feel this applies to you call your travel agent or Walt Disney World Travel Co. depending on who you made your reservations through.

Would you let a forecast hurricane keep you away from Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments.

The Walt Disney World Resort worked behind the scenes to carve itself an exemption to the recently passed Florida law that allows employees to bring a concealed weapon to work with them as long as it remains in the car. That exception was for employers who have explosive permits, which Disney does since they deal with fireworks nightly.

Not everyone was happy with Disney building in a loophole, not former cast member Edwin Sotomayor who is challenging the case in court, not the legislators who passed it, and not even the Attorney General who was taking his time deciding if Disney overstepped its bounds. Well, now you can count the Attorney General in the Disney column.

Disney just changed their internal policy so that the no-guns rule only applies to the Walt Disney World parks and resort property. Other Disney properties in the state, such as at Celebration, don’t regularly deal with fireworks and Disney will no longer prevent employees from bringing a gun to work as long as it remains locked away and out of site unless used in a lawful manner (which in Florida is a pretty liberal meaning).

Scott Powers at the Orlando Sentinel has more. But I will say that with the Attorney General taking Disney’s side, things aren’t looking good for former Animal Kingdom security guard Edwin Sotomayor. I hope he’s found a new job somewhere.

Over on the Disney Parks YouTube channel, voting is now open for the 10 finalists in the ‘Favorite Disney Parks Memory’ contest. Each finalist has a 1-minute video and the winner receives a dream trip to the Disneyland Resort and a night’s stay in the Dream Suite.

Get those votes in before September 9th.

Does that Dinosaur look hungry? He’s going to be housed inside a restaurant with his own name on the door and plenty of human sacrifices to fill his belly on a daily basis. Oh sorry, that’s the wrong memo.

That’s actually a photo from this morning of a two-story tall dinosaur being transported on a flatbed truck into Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney. The dinosaur will be featured inside a new restaurant, currently under construction, called “T-Rex: a Prehistoric Family Adventure.” Developed by Schussler Creative, Inc. and operated by Landry’s Restaurants, the 600-seat restaurant will feature dinosaurs, waterfalls, bubbling geysers and a fossil dig site. “T-Rex” will open in mid-October at Downtown Disney. As far as I know, no human sacrifices are scheduled.

(Photo courtesy Disney. Kent Phillips, photographer)