Animal Kingdom to Open New Table Service Restaurant Soon

Another article that I found on my favorite site for WDW news, WDWMagic, says that a new table service (sit down) restaurant is coming to the Discovery Island area, opening in 2015. The article can be found here.



This is great news, as Animal Kingdom really only has a handful of sit down restaurants to choose from (Rainforest Café, Yak and Yeti, and Tusker House) to choose from, compared to the numerous options at the other three parks. I just hope that Pizzafari doesn't lose too much of its sitting area, since I love eating there and enjoy all of its various rooms for dining. They are all so wonderfully decorated.

I wonder what kind of restaurant it will be. Hopefully whenever my next trip is after this year it will be open for me to try it!

In other news, apparently Anna and Elsa from Frozen are going to be among the topiaries at Epcot's Flower this upcoming spring. Because we really need more seasonal Frozen stuff in the parks.

Next thing you know they'll rename Blizzard Beach...

Should Magic Kingdom's Be Our Guest Restaurant Offer Breakfast?

An interesting rumor/possibility was metioned on WDWinfo.com, a site which has discussion forums called the DisBoards that I visit semi-frequently, not too long ago about Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom might start offering breakfast as soon as next year.




There would be pros and cons for this, but overall I would love to see it happen. I would actually like to see lunch become a sit down meal (right now lunch is counter service and dinner is table service) as well putting three times as many ADR's (advanced dining reservations for my non-Disney obsessed readers) up for grabs. Anyone who has tried to get ADRs for this place knows they are hard to get; we were able to get them for my trip this past May but were unable to get one for this upcoming trip in December even several months out.

The cons would be that those that wish to enjoy the counter service lunch would likely no longer be able to do so. It would be impossible to keep lunch counter service if both breakfast and dinner become table service due to timing issues. Well too bad. There are more than enough counter service meals available at the Magic Kingdom, but more table service meals would be welcomed.

All and all, I'd love to see breakfast added to Be Our Guest!

Walt Disney World: My Top Five Rides and Attractions for the Whole Family

Toy Story Mania Entrance at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Disney World is a great place to take the family for an awesome vacation. Many of the rides there, however, are aimed or only "ride-able" by certain people, especially when it comes to height considerations. Other rides and attractions that everyone can experience sometimes are sort of corny (i.e. Country Bear Jamboree) or are really aimed at very young demographics (i.e. Disney Junior: Live on Stage).

In all of the trips that I've taken, I've figured out where all of the attractions fall on the demographics spectrum. Here are my top five rides and attractions that can be enjoyed by just about any demographic. To fall into this list, these attractions must not have a height requirement.

5) Spaceship Earth- interactive finale and I felt compelled to include at least one from each park

4) Mickey's Philharmagic-best of the 3d shows on property, musical and always fun to watch

3) Kilimanjaro Safaris- who doesn't love seeing the animals?

2) Toy Story Mania!- overrated attraction overall in my personal opinion, but probably the best family ride on property

1) Pirates of the Caribbean-best "dark ride" that is aimed at everyone...pirates are just cool!

Scene from Pirates of the Caribbean

Feel free to comment if you disagree or have other attractions I might have missed!

A Disney Birthday and Flame Tree BBQ Refurb

Everyone who knows anything about Disney knows of the famous quote "It was all started by a mouse". Well today, that certain mouse celebrates his 86th birthday today. Actually, his female companion does as well.

Of course I'm referring to Mickey Mouse and his "girlfriend" Minnie Mouse. The duo made their debut in the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie, and we've all loved them ever since.

In other Disney World related news, Animal Kingdom's Flame Tree Barbeque restaurant will be closed for the first part of next year for multiple improvements. Stinks for anyone taking a trip then. The food there is really good for anyone that hasn't been; I can't wait to have some next month!

Epcot's Holidays Around the World: Entertainment Changes

Photo courtesy of WDWMagic.com 

Looks like the entertainment changes that occurred at Epcot earlier this year aren't all. Some holiday changes are here as well. Allears.net has a great blog article written about it here

Basically Mexico's Los Tres Reyes, Morocco's Taarji, and China's Monkey King are being replaced by musical acts (Mexico and China) and a new story teller (Morocco)

I have to say that it's interesting that they are mixing up the storytelling lineup too. My mom is always the one that is more into catching all of them, so hopefully she will be happy to see something new. I'm kind of bummed that the Los Tres Reyes from Mexico are apparently not there this year, but oh well.

Some have been skeptical that a lot of the recent entertainment changes were cost-cutting moves, but I have to say that these seasonal "replacement" acts, at least in China and Mexico, likely cost Disney more than what they replace.

I look forward to seeing the new acts in four weeks! :)

Magic Kingdom Hours Change for Much of December

So we have some more extended hours news that impacts my upcoming trip...the Magic Kingdom will start opening at 8am every morning starting December 13th until after the new year (regular 9am opening commences, at this time, on Saturday January 3rd, though this could change). New December hours can be found here:

This is both good and bad news to some people.

 It's great for early risers, as they can hit the park an hour early and beat the "we don't wake up early on vacations" crowd. On several days (12/18 and every day starting 12/21 through 1/1) this means On-Site resort guests can enter the Magic Kingdom at 7am. It's also an extra hour of Fastpass availability for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train and the Anna & Elsa meet and greet, both of which are hard to get.

It's also bad news to some. People that scheduled 8am reservations at MK's restaurants in hopes of getting to walk down an empty Main Street will no longer have that opportunity. It could be an indicator of higher crowds, especially starting this change as early as 12/13 (I'm not surprised at all that Christmas week changed).

One other possible negative side effect of this change that most people wouldn't think about is that this will add additional wear and tear on the aging Monorail system that Disney really needs to fully refurbish but are putting off as long as they can.

When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, the park was open from 10am-6pm daily. Now on a couple of days (12/21 and 12/26), the Magic Kingdom is essentially open from 7am-3am thanks to Extra Magic Hours. While the monorail often operates on a standard schedule to allow for maintenance, and usually no longer runs during evening EMH, Disney keeps the monorail open the full time during the busy Christmas season. We are now looking at basically a 6 or 7am to 4am operating schedule.

Simply put, the 43 year old Monorail system really was not designed for running 21-22 hours a day. No wonder the monorail always has a lot of downtime in January.

For those such as me that will be visiting WDW between 12/13 and 1/2/15, hopefully the positives of the hours change will outweigh the negatives.

My Thoughts on Adding Capcity to Existing Attractions

According to numerous sources, both Soarin' at Epcot and Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios are adding a third theater and track, respectively, in the near future. These are two very popular attractions that tend to have LONG lines. Multiplying capacity by 1.5 should help with the lines of both of these attractions, right? Plus it would be easier to just make a portion of the attraction Fastpass only, right?

Well sure. The thing is, I view this as a poor solution to a bigger problem. These two parks (Epcot and Hollywood Studios) lack "headliner" attractions. Epcot really only has Test Track and Soarin', while Hollywood Studios has TSM, Rock n' Roller Coaster, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, the latter two of which are not suitable for younger children.

If lines are long at some of your headliners that are not exactly that new anymore, maybe it's time to build some new attractions instead. And no, sticking two singing princesses and a talking snowman in the Norway ride does not count.

 I hope that the Pixar Place expansion in Hollywood Studios fixes this problem in that park, and once Avatarland/Pandora is done in Animal Kingdom then Epcot's Future World is due for a major overhaul. Ellen's Energy Adventure needs to be refreshed soon...Alex Trebek won't even be hosting Jeopardy anymore in a couple of years...

Have a great day everyone!