27/05/18 Round-Up
Hey there, hi there, ho there! Another week’s gone by so time for an update.
 Main piece of news that has everyone buzzing is Galaxy’s Edge opening seasons are now confirmed. The Star Wars themed lands are coming to Disneyland, California in Summer 2019 and Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios in late Fall 2019. It was confirmed at last year’s D23 convention in California that Disneyland’s would open before WDW’s. Most likely explanation for this is so that the park has more time to work on the Star Wars hotel that will hopefully be accompanying it’s opening plus the fact that they’ve also had to build Toy Story land in that same park just 1 year prior, opening June 30th this year. Either way people are still excited for both land’s, as I am. I’m always excited for new experiences at the parks, especially as this one comes with Star Wars and innovative rides, I just hope that both the lands aren’t exact carbon copies of each other and that they do both have unique aspects about them.
In other news about Toy Story land that’s coming very soon, it’s been confirmed by the DSNY Newscast Twitter page that the Mr Potato Head animatronic is making its way back into WDW! This amazing animatronic is featured in both Disneyland, California and WDW’s Toy Story Midway Mania ride’s queue, until very recently. Disneyland’s ride is still running despite the area around it being re-themed to Pixar Pier, while WDW’s version was removed a few months ago since the part of the queue it was occupied in became a third track for the ride. The animatronic has been MIA since this and there had been no work on it’s return, however with the opening of Toy Story Land it would make sense to bring it back. No word however on where the animatronic will actually go but it will be a welcome return back to the usually long queue. I’m very excited by Mr Potato Head’s return since it was, still is, a revolutionary animatronic that really brings something to the ride. I have probably only actually seen him once though since I usually only go on Toy Story Mania when I have a FastPass!
In Disney movie news, it’s been confirmed that the next Star Wars spin-off movie is to be featured around the character of Boba Fett. This bounty hunter was first seen in Empire Strikes Back and has become a fan favourite over the years despite having quite a limited amount of screen time. James Mangold is said to be the writer and director is this already highly anticipated movie, having already done movies such as Logan and The Wolverine. Personally, I’m excited for any Star Wars movie that can expand that universe and it will be interesting to see how they can expand the character and give him his own storyline.
In more movie news, a new trailer has been dropped for Christopher Robin, a live action film that stars Ewan McGregor along with the classic characters that feature in Winnie the Pooh, also as their live action selves. A short teaser had been released earlier this year, but the drop of the trailer seems to have put the internet in a buzz, giving us our first proper look at the film. Christopher Robin is all grown up and has his own wife and child, but when Pooh stumbles back into his life and takes him back to the Hundred Acre Wood, Pooh and his friends decide to follow him back into the “real world”. Winnie the Pooh is my all-time favourite Disney character so anything related to him I will absolutely adore, and this is no different. I also love that Jim Cummings is voicing Pooh and Tigger since he had voiced both characters for a number of years now so it’s nice to see the continuity in that, and I’m just ecstatic about this film already!
Heading back to the Disney Parks now, 2 pieces of exciting news to come from Animal Kingdom. First, and most major, being that Donald’s Dino-Bash has now debuted in the Dino-land area of the park. Previously Chester and Hester’s Dino-rama, this re-theme seems to have worked out well for Disney, bringing Donald and all his friends into the fore-front. Featuring a new show (that unfortunately was cancelled on opening day due to inclement weather plus technical difficulties) and meet-and-greet characters, including some that you don’t normally see like Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad McQuack. There’s also Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Pluto, and an adorable Chip and Dale that are both dressed up as dinosaurs and are probably the cutest pair I have ever seen, they’re also nicknamed Chip and Dale-osaurous, please excuse me while I go and die from adorableness in the corner over there! I love that Disney have revitalised this land and I love the new meet-and-greets it offers. The second piece if news is that Pandora has now been opened for a year, which has arguably been one of the best lands in all the Disney Parks. With amazing immersion throughout the land and the revolutionary ride that is Flights of Passage, this land brought Animal Kingdom out in a new light, as it also became a night-time park at this time, and helped the park have one of it’s best years since its opening 20 years ago. To celebrate, Animal Kingdom has released an anniversary banshee, similar to what they did last month with having a 20th anniversary one of Animal Kingdom. This one is a gorgeous navy blue with purple and bright blue splashings everywhere. As much as I would love to get one of these, I can’t really justify spending $99.99 on it but I know some people wouldn’t hesitate to buy this.
Over to Magic Kingdom and the Incredible Tomorrowland Expo has begun over at, you guessed it, Tomorrowland! Featuring new stage shows, food, and meet-and-greets in the Tomorrowland area with the characters from The Incredibles it has so far proved fair to bringing in more people to that area of the park. This event will still be on while I visit Florida in summer, so I can’t wait to see everything in person, but I think it’s a good move by Disney to create more buzz for The Incredibles 2 and also gives guests the chance to get to know that characters again before the movie.
Across the world to a quite rarely talked about resort, Hong Kong. This resort is still relatively new having only been open for nearly 13 years but is quite small compared to it’s rival Disney Parks in Asia. It was confirmed a while back that Hong would receive a Frozen land among other additions in the distant future, these plans seem to have been fleshed out a bit now and have given precise year as to when they will open. A new stage show called Moana: A Homecoming Celebration debuted at the park this week and is said to define the park and give them something unique and different, good reviews for that so far. Originally slated to open later this year, the Antman and the Wasp ride is now being pushed back to 2019, it seems to be a re-theme from Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters to another shooter ride where you would shoot at Hydra swarms bots as Antman. Their new castle will be revealed in 2020, going from the original Sleeping Beauty inspired castle to one that is influenced by all 13 Disney Princesses. This is being done to again give Hong Kong a something unique as well as building a larger infrastructure to project images onto for night-time shows. 2021 will see Frozen land’s opening, now with different rides than originally were released. Still featuring a musical ride through Elsa’s ice palace, a rollercoaster ride similar to the Seven Dwarves Mine Train will also be coming to the park named Oaken Magic Sleigh Ride. I am very excited for this addition as it would give Hong Kong a ride that is already popular at the other resorts it’s at and giving it a fresh coat of paint featuring a new movie in its place. Lastly the Marvel themed rides will be coming to Tomorrowland in 2023. All of these announcements from this resort this week has gotten me interested in them again, mainly because I don’t find Hong Kong to be especially unique and not at the top of my list of parks to go to but giving them something new has definitely re-captured my attention.
 That’s it folks! Nice to see more than Disney Parks in the news here this week, even though the parks are probably my favourite thing to talk about! This week’s recommendation is actually a campaign. There’s a YouTube channel I adore called Defunctland where the host, Kevin Perjurer, takes the viewer through rides that are no longer in the parks and gives them everything they would need to know about it. As a person who loves the history of theme parks, especially Disney, I love this series. Perjurer is now written a book specifically on past rides at the Magic Kingdom and currently has a campaign on Indiegogo to fund the release of the book. The book is called “Defunctland: Guide to the Magic Kingdom” and although it has already hit it’s target it would be amazing to see them completely smash it since I am already unbelievably excited for this. The link is https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/defunctland-guide-to-the-magic-kingdom-youtube-books#/ and while you’re at it check out the YouTube channel also at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVo63lbKHjC04KqYhwSZ_Pg . I’ll see ya next week folks!
  Sources:
·      WDW News Today
·      The DIS
·      DSNY Newcast
·      Disney