We hope everyone is well? It’s a bit of a limbo time here for us in the U.K. as we are still in the severe part of the lockdown. (I will personally do a dance and put it on our YouTube channel when this nonsense ends!!) We’ve not really been able to do what we normally do this time of year, like last minute shopping or drinks with friends, we all keep in touch with the normal what’s app groups and video calls and we are all helping each other out. But, enough of the “new normal” – let’s get onto our fave thing and one the place that keeps us sane! Orlando!!
We have been keeping in touch with lots of friends over in Orlando, watching vlogs and doing the social media stuff has really kept us happy. We are in particular loving the resort tours and the park ‘live vlogs’ that folks are sharing. If you love a really relaxing stroll with friends then just click and join any one of many vlogs that are happening almost daily. So far we’ve been watching Ear to Ear Magic (oh how we love Chris and Susan, and Chris eating cupcakes and their Christmas hats and ears), Rix Flix, Paging Mr Morrow and Super Enthused. Also not forgetting Resort Tv1. They all make you wanna run to an airport and book something! (Remember those days…..)
Some of the biggest news in the last few weeks is the ongoing rush of work at the Jurassic World Velocicoaster at Universal Studios. Man alive this looks stunning. It’s worth visiting for the level of detail alone. It’s like a huge film set plonked down in the middle of a park. After watching some of the coaster testing this past few days we can confirm this thing is gonna be awesome! From the “top hat” to the Immelmann turns you won’t know what way’s up. And there are some pretty rapid change of direction. We can see this coaster having a metal detector before it. Don’t think you’ll be allowed on this with a pocket full of change. Then planned opening date is Summer 2021, with a rumoured “May/Memorial Day” slot pencilled in?? We are NOT saying this is actually gonna happen, but that’s the strong rumour from the parks.
One little thing that is making us laugh on an almost daily basis is the running battle between an osprey and the staff building the Velocicoaster. For some reason the Osprey has decided the VERY top of the “top hat” is a near perfect place to build a nest. Each day he put twigs and branches up there…each day they come along with a crane and remove them. He’s not taking no for an answer. Life ‘really’ does find a way … if you want to see some stunning shots of this head over to @bioreconstruct on twitter, a fantastic place for all park shots and loads of awesome aerial views as well.
Over in the Magic kingdom the construction continues on the Tron Lightcycle ride, with the outside canopies still going up, and over in Epcot the Guardians Of the Galaxy ride “Cosmic Rewind” is still having work done. We are no nearer to knowing if these will be open in 2021 as planned, with strong rumours of a delay to very late 2021 or early 2022. This is a knock on of the pandemic. We’ve commented before that the construction at Universal didn’t seem to slow down that much compared to the work at WDW that stopped in it’s tracks for quite a while. Let’s get this straight we are NOT complaining! We would rather have a delayed coaster and everyone safe, than folks getting ill. We must say when the Tron coaster is open. It’s going to look out of this world. Literally. If you want to see this for yourself hop over to YouTube and look at Shanghai Disney. When the new ride is open its gonna light up the park!!
The other big news this week was the arrival of the new show barges for the new nighttime spectacular called “Harmonious”. These have unfortunately caused a bit of an uproar because of the size of them. Unlike the old show barges they will permanently “live” the World Showcase Lagoon. Lots of folks are complain that they will spoil the view across to all the pavilions, and judging by the size of them we can sorta see why they are complaining. They will be running them as fountains/water features to disguise them during the day, but this will still detract from the stunning views across the lagoon because they are pretty huge. We’ve understand one of the reasons why they are staying in place is that its cheaper to do it that way than have to have them taken in and out every day for the show. Well, we’ll see… I personally think that enough folks will complain and they will have to start moving them before and after shows again. That remains to be seen.
We noticed over the last few weeks that more and more restaurants are re-opening in and around the parks and at other tourist attractions in the area. This is a really good sign that things are “maybe” picking up foot traffic wise. The Crystal Palace is about to re open in the M.K. That’s a quite large restaurant that will be serving soon but still no sign of Casey’s Corner opening yet though?? Even Universal have been re-tasking the food trucks from the HHN (even though its wasn’t a HHN) these have been placed in the parks selling various delicious seasonal snacks. THE big news at Universal was that Monsters Cafe has re-opened, as normal with a limited menu, but folks are getting more and more choice each time so its a good thing to be happening. Universal parks have also reached capacity for the last few weekends which is excellent news. Of course the “capacity” number includes all guests staying in any Universal resorts, who may or may not be in the actual parks, but they are taken account of, so it’s always worth booking a night or two at a Universal Resort during busy seasons to guarantee you can get into the theme parks any time you choose rather than having to leap out of bed at the crack of dawn to guarantee entry.
The last few nights we’ve been watching a few vlogs from Jackie @Superenthused and @rixflix all about the Orlando Informer meet up. We must say this looks super fun. It’s an after hours event that gives you access to BOTH Universal parks and unlimited food and soft drinks. Food and roller coasters????!! Count us in! These normallly start at “park close” (about 8ish) but as an event ticket holder you can get early admission from about 3pm (this means you pay for your own food till the separate event starts). Imagine having ‘walk on’s” to Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket and Hagrids!?!?! Bonkers. The event goes on until 0130 in the morning (ooh that’s passed our bed time). BUT theme parks in the dark – brilliant.
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