It seems that the surge of Covid cases in Florida and Orlando is levelling out which is good news, and it’s also been reported in the news in the last few weeks that as far as officials can tell there have been no Covid related cases linked to any of the theme parks or resorts. That seems to us that WDW and Universal and all of the other attractions in the area have taken the right steps in protecting staff and guests and it’s worked. All of the cleaning, deep cleaning, face mask policies etc all seem to have had the desired effect and we hope this renews confidence for people and gets them travelling back to the resorts and tourist areas.
In WDW news, over the last few weeks it has been reported that the scheduled closure and refurbishment of Spaceship Earth has been indefinitely postponed. Some of you might see this as a negative, but as we’re traditionalists we were disappointed that it was going to be refurbed and so we’re actually pretty OK with this refurb being on hold. If it means that it will be open when we go next year that will be a plus point for us. The new Mary Poppins attraction which was due to be happening in the UK pavilion at EPCOT has also been shelved. As only the concept art had been released, and no actual construction had started, it’s understandable that it is not even going to get started. Who knows what will happen in the future but for the moment with WDW’s revenue for this summer severely dented we can understand them pulling back on this project.
However, as the Tron and Guardians of the Galaxy construction was so far advanced those projects are continuing and in fact they are now completing some of the intricacies of the attractions, with the buildings and the track coverings. These rides both look epic from the concept art and the Tron ride at Disneyland Shanghai looks amazing. One of the positives of our trip being postponed is that these rides may well be open for our visit next Summer which we are excited about.
As we’ve reported there are no Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween parties this year, due to the need to keep crowds to a minimum, but as the first of these nights would have happened any day now in a pre-Covid world, we are waiting to see what WDW does in terms of decorating the parks for fall and Halloween. There are often spooky and fall related snacks and drinks, new ride overlays, decorations around the parks, and in particular there are usually Halloween specific parades and fireworks. As those are not due to happen this year because of the crowd situation and have been replaced with character cavalcades and random character photo opportunities, we have no doubt that WDW will be dressing Mickey and Minnie up in their best Halloween costumes and theming the character cavalcades accordingly. We hope so anyway! At least it will feel a little like Halloween for visitors that are in the park.
Also this week has seen opening dates for a few more of the WDW resorts, a few extra restaurants in Disney Springs (the Edison in particular is due to re-open – hooray!) and there has been the release of some new ears over the last couple of weeks too. We are absolutely loving the Tower of Terror ones, and also the new Lavender ones too. What a treat.
Finally in WDW news, the entrance to EPCOT has seen a little construction this week. The old plinths with the leave a legacy slides on them were removed some time ago, as was the fountain of nations and the stores around that area, being the Starbucks location, the Mouse Gear Store and the Character Meet and Greets. These were all moved to temporary locations and then of course everything went on hold. This week has seen the arrival of a new construction in the entrance area by Spaceship Earth. So far there are some gorgeous futuristic lucite pylons installed, which make up part of a fountain which should be completed fully later in the year. It looks awesome so far and if you want to hear an entertaining description of what it looks like please check out our latest vlog in which we talk like a couple of complete idiots failing to describe in any way shape or form what the actual construction looks like!
Onto Universal news. This week there has been an announcement that a couple of the newer resorts will close temporarily and re-open after 31 October. We assume this is due to low occupancy and we imagine that if you are booked into one of these reports Universal will move you to one of their open resorts. Park hours have also been reduced or amended slightly, again presumably as the summer season comes to an end and given the lack of international travellers to Florida right night this is the right thing to do. No more negativity – onto the fun good stuff.
There have been some awesome deals over the last couple of weeks for Florida residents, where they were being offered unlimited visits into the parks for the remainder of the year up to December 24th if a one day park ticket was purchased. If you live in Florida and didn’t buy one – are you mad!!! What a deal. An excellent deal we think, and a good strategy on the part of Universal to get “locals” into the parks. We hope ticket sales have been boosted by this. We also saw this week one of our fave vloggers Rixflix renew his annual pass, and bagging a deal that included a three park annual pass instead of a two park one, for less $. It seems that if you go down from premier passholder to a preferred one you can get a better deal, and given that some of the privileged passholder perks are currently not available – valet parking for one, the preferred pass fits the bill perfectly. With the option to upgrade at any time (if the valet parking comes back at some point). It seems there are deals to be had. You lucky Florida residents!
We have mentioned that Halloween Horror Nights is not happening this year sadly, but Universal have opened a HHN store. There has been long lines for the store – longer than some of the rides – and we are delighted that the merchandise is available to buy. There are some fab classic monster t-shirts and some HHN 30th anniversary stuff and some old favourites. It looks like a fabulous little store to look around. We are hoping that, as with WDW, they decorate the parks in a Halloween way, and put on some Halloween specific shows or character spots or floats, as we’re sure that a lot of folk will still want to visit the parks over the Halloween holidays even if HHN isn’t on.
Some exciting news this week – the opening of Central Park Crepes. Now they look like a real treat! Three savoury options and three sweet and all made fresh to order. We’re super excited about this and it will be change from us having to camp inside the France Pavilion at EPCOT at the crepe stand there – although we had probably better try both next time we visit just from a quality control and comparison point of view!
The new Jurassic World coaster creeps even closer to completion. The track looks all but finished now and the highest loop looks amazingly scarily high! So high in fact that this week an Osprey has arrived and built itself a lovely nest right at the top of the loop by the flag. Why wouldn’t you – good views of the surrounding area, no people too close by – an excellent spot. Hopefully the eggs will be hatched and the Osprey moved on before the opening of the coaster. the “rock” work and the ride theming are well under way now and it looks so exciting we cannot wait to see someone ride it and also ride it ourselves hopefully next Summer. Another little plus point for our delayed trip – 2021 is going to be epic (keeping everything crossed and holding our breath!!).
Elsewhere in Orlando Busch Gardens has announced this week that their Halloween celebrations – Halloscream – are taking place this year in a revised and safe form. So for Halloween fans out there it might be worth checking out their website to see what the plans are as we assume there’ll be restricted tickets issued. It’s a least some sort of Halloween option if you’re in the area.
Most of the attractions, restaurants, malls and venues in and around Icon Park, International Drive and the Orlando area around the theme parks are open and starting to see visitor numbers increase, which we are encouraged by. It’s small steps in the right direction and if we all play our part, washing hands, wearing a mask, keeping our distance etc, we will hopefully be out of this situation and things will continue to go in the right direction.
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So that’s our weekly roundup this week. Stay safe folks, hope your plans are all on track, stay safe and stay well and we will see you next week.
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