Skip to main content

Ears the News with Richard



The hugely popular 'Be Our Guest Restaurant’ in the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland is carrying out another round of FASTPASS+ testing during the next few days. Guests have been preselected from those staying at select resorts, and will be invited to try the FASTPASS+ reservation system for lunch.
Selected guests are going to be given the chance to choose an arrival time for lunch online, and even choose items from the menu prior to their arrival. This will all be done on a website, similar to the new FASTPASS+ system that is already in testing with guests. Once the arrival time and menu items have been selected, the guest will arrive at the designated time, check in and pay at an express location, take the magic rose to the table of their choice, and the food will be delivered.

A new set of “My Disney Experience” inspired guide maps will be coming to all Walt Disney World properties on 3/3/2013. The new and improved maps have a similar look to the electronic “My Disney Experience” apps and website, using similar icons and artwork. The new maps will be available at the four theme parks, water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports, and Downtown Disney.

MyMagic+ “Touch to Enter” has now been added to Typhoon Lagoon water park. As in the main parks, the introduction of the RFID “Touch to Enter” is being installed in phases, with the second half of the turnstiles now being converted.

If you have a trip coming up in the next couple of months, keep a close eye on the park hours. The operating hours for March and April have been extended for most days at the Magic Kingdom, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Additional parades and performances of Fantasmic! have also been added

It is a new week of Limited Time Magic and the 'Original Boy Band' the Dapper Dan’s take center stage at the Magic Kingdom. You can catch them on Main Street USA several times each day through until 3/3/2013. After singing a few of the old classics, the Dan’s turn to some more modern tunes.

Video from WDWMagic

Epcot's Mission: SPACE is beginning an exterior refurbishment. The attraction remains open as normal but the exterior is being covered in a construction scrim.

Disney is rolling out some system fixes to the in-room WiFi service at all resort hotels. Apparently some issues with dropped connections had been identified and the system update addresses that, with the hope of delivering better internet performance to the rooms.

The second phase of the MyMagic+ “Touch to Enter” turnstiles are now open at the parks. 50% of the turnstiles have now been converted to the naew “Touch to Enter” RFID system. Resort guests, and those using newly purchased tickets are now using this system. As expected, guests are moving much quicker through these new turnstiles compared to the old insert ticket system.


The check-in location for the Wild Africa Trek at Disney's Animal Kingdom has been moved to the Kilimanjaro Safaris FASTPASS distribution area. It was previously located behind the Dawa-Bar area. This is fueling the rumors that the construction for a new Festival of the Lion King Theater will start soon.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

House of Blues Brunch

Brunch is probably my favorite meal to go out for, and Disney Springs has some hidden gems in the brunch department. House of Blues offers weekend brunch with one of the best deals on property, bottomless mimosas!  If you’re up for it, House of Blues offers a laid back atmosphere with live music for brunch. It is available Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm, with the full menu available after 12pm. We were sat in the back room where we couldn’t see the stage but could hear it and it was a great vibe!  Bottomless mimosas and coffee were the popular choice for beverages, but they also offer a variety of brunch cocktails and other options. Bottomless mimosa! We were a party of 8 and hungry, so we started with an order of nachos from the lunch menu and they were a HUGE portion, so glad we had a lot of people to share them with.  BBQ Nachos - Four cheese sauce, avocado, roasted corn salsa, pickled red onion, tomato, Memphis BBQ sauce, cilantro crema, cotija cheese. Chicken, Brisket or Pul

Giovanni's Table on Liberty of the Seas

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has wonderful specialty dining options on all of their ships.  They all have some variety of an Italian restaurant and I've tried Jamie's Italian on the Symphony of the Seas and now Giovanni's Table on Liberty of the Seas. The restaurant is located by the Windjammer Buffet, tucked off to one side as you enter the area.  Once inside, the atmosphere is dark and cozy, very different from the buffet hectic world outside the doors.  There is an open kitchen along the one wall and windows along the other.  The restaurant is a set upcharge, and then you can order whatever you want from the food menu that is to your liking throughout the meal.  Giovanni's is actually undergoing some changes on a lot of RCCL ships, but Liberty hadn't had those changes yet so it was still the "old" one, which was fine by us. We had an amazing meal here, and wouldn't hesitate to come back again on a future cruise.  You might see Giovanni's Kitchen

5 Ways To Get Psyched For Your Disney Trip!

Hey-Howdy-Hey, Disney Guys and Gals!      Is anyone familiar with Barney Stinson's "Get Psyched" Mix? Anyone? How I Met your Mother Fans? Ok, great! So you totally get where I'm going with this! If you have no idea what I am talking about, you can watch a clip  HERE!  Basically, the theory is that no matter what's going on in your life, you can get yourself psyched up and ready for something awesome to happen, all by listening to the right piece of music. Playing off of that theory, I feel that one of the very best things about a Disney trip is actually  preparing  for it, or getting psyched! You can have a whole bunch of crappy stuff happening in your life at the time, but if you have a Disney trip on the horizon... even if it's 564 days away, you have something to look forward to and enjoy preparing yourself for. In fact, many Disney fans, (myself included), pretty much get from one day to the next by preparing for upcoming trips. You may even book a ne