What's New at Walt Disney World?

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UmbrellaFish
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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https://insidethemagic.net/2020/03/ice- ... vt75dPQjK0

Ample Hills, the ice creamery with locations throughout Disney property has declared bankruptcy (no connection to Coronavirus)

There is a location at the Boardwalk where I worked and I ate there several times. I remember they could not sell their speciality Star Wars ice cream tubs— eventually the just gave it out to cast members for free for different celebrations/recognitions— when I left there was still a trove of that Star Wars ice cream in storage— and I mean, they had been doling out this stuff to cast members all the time, and we were welcome to grab more than one tub at a time. It wasn’t bad, I think it had been priced too high. The dark chocolate Dark Side ice cream was really delicious.

EDIT: All construction projects at WDW are delayed

https://wdwnt.com/2020/03/breaking-all- ... -concerns/

People were acting like the parks would reopen in two months and all the new attractions would be ready to open— some people even suggested Disney use the time to refurb everything, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Construction workers aren’t immune to Coronavirus! Glad they have cancelled the projects but I hope these people will continue to be paid.
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

Post by blackcauldron85 »

^ So you're not a Tower of Terror fan, I take it?

I'll probably try Tron once + see how I feel; Manta @ Sea World was scary & awful for me- you're on your tummy for the whole ride, and I couldn't breathe. Tron shouldn't be that bad, hopefully, since you're not on your tummy...still worried though.

A carousel with screens seems like an awesome idea!

I've somehow never heard of Ample Hills. Bankruptcy doesn't always mean closure, so fingers crossed!!
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Oh, dear God no. I can do the Tower of Terror but a lot of times I would just sit it out while my friends went on. The theming makes it even worse— it’s so creepy and when I do ride it, I actually keep my eyes shut the whole time. I just can’t handle it. The Christmas before last, I went to Hollywood Studios with my roommates because we all happened to be off and we weren’t blocked out of HS. My roommate had the really lovely idea to bring a big bag of mini candy canes which he handed out to all the CM’s working on Christmas Day. Well, this time I agreed to do Tower of Terror and of course he gave them all candy canes and when we got off, the CM asked us if we wanted to go again— of course, I had to say yes, I wasn’t going to pass up a Magical Moment, but my stomach dropped way too many times that day haha.

The worst part for me is the theming and the time you can see out the windows on the rest of the park so I’ve always wondered if I went to Anaheim if I could handle the GOTG overlay better...

I hope you end up liking Tron and that it is comfortable for you! I’m sorry Manta was such an awful experience for you, I’ve never been on it but there is nothing worse than a theme park ride where you’re actually scared for your safety.

When I was there, I think the Boardwalk Ample Hills was the only location— there’s definitely another one on Disney property, just recently opened maybe? but I think it’s either in Disney Springs or maybe even Downtown Disney in CA.

EDIT: Looks like there’s another Ample Hills set to open in Disney Springs, but the Boardwalk location is the only one currently operating on Disney property.
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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^ Maybe opening the new location will help them with their bankruptcy? I'd think Disney Springs gets more foot traffic than the Boardwalk?

Hmmm, I haven't thought about how different the CA ToT is, but I'm sure I went on it when I visited in 2008...
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Cirque Du Soleil Lays Off 95% of Employees Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic; “Drawn to Life” Premiere at Disney Springs Delayed Indefinitely
https://wdwnt.com/?p=275875
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Walt Disney World Annual Passholder Not Allowed to Cancel Payments Despite Losing Work Due To Coronavirus Pandemic
https://wdwnt.com/?p=276255

I'm in the camp of pausing payments while the park is closed, at least for those people who ask. Maybe make them jump through a hoop if Disney is being "that way," but if the parks are closed, they should be accommodating...
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Whoa whoa whoa!

BREAKING: Permits Filed for Stitch’s Great Escape Demolition, Work Slated to Begin On Rumored “Wreck-It Ralph” Attraction at Magic Kingdom
https://wdwnt.com/?p=276378
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Disney Extends Closures For Disneyland, Walt Disney World Parks; Will Pay Workers Through Mid-April
https://deadline.com/2020/03/disneyland ... 202894549/

They better keep paying those cast members!
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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blackcauldron85 wrote:They better keep paying those cast members!
:up: :up: :up: :up: :up:

People’s lives and livelihoods are the most important thing to protect here, but I cannot believe I’m living in a time where the phrase “All American Disney theme parks are closed indefinitely” is a true statement. What?!?!?
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Rumor is just about everything that wasn’t already off the ground is getting defunded and potentially cancelled— UK Poppins, the Epcot “Internet” play zone, Spaceship Earth overhaul (will be scaled back for a refurb), even the Star Wars hotel. GOTG, Ratatouille, and Tron are still a go. Moana might be cheap enough to survive. Hearing conflicting things about Harmonious— it’s either being fast-tracked or delayed, but probably scaled down either way. More rumors that undisclosed plans for the 50th are being scrapped with the public unawares.

Most of this I would have guessed myself. The only surprises to me are the defunding of the Star Wars hotel and the potential green light on Moana— but there is precedent for Disney abandoning a constructed hotel and I could believe that Moana would be a relatively cheap way to exploit a hot property. I’d be shocked if Harmonious is pushed back past WDW’s 50th, though.

Also, I’m sad I may not get to see my friend depending on how much the virus shakes up Disney’s international programs. He was set to come this summer and stay for a year, but I’m not sure if that will happen now.
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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:o :shock: :( I would have assumed that the Star Wars hotel is too far as far as work on it goes to cancel... but you're right, it wouldn't be a first. Bummed about that. Not that I have $ to stay there, but I'd like to at least visit.

We still don't know exactly what the Mary Poppins attraction would be, right? So maybe it'd be salvageable?

With everything else announced at D23, surely when they are ready to add new things back into the Parks, they'd use some of those ideas...right!?!
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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blackcauldron85 wrote::o :shock: :( I would have assumed that the Star Wars hotel is too far as far as work on it goes to cancel... but you're right, it wouldn't be a first. Bummed about that. Not that I have $ to stay there, but I'd like to at least visit.
I thought the same thing, but the logic is that the hotel is the kind of ultra luxe extravagance that people won’t be able to pay for with an economy in recession. To be clear, nobody said it was cancelled, but the money allocated to it is going to other projects now and the hotel is on the back burner. Money could go back in and construction could resume at some point.

I’m in the same boat as you— never ever could stay there and with the cruise ship on land model and ultra immersive theming I’m not sure we’d even get to visit it like we can the other resorts? Idk— but I was looking forward to watching rich/crowd funded YouTubers experience it haha.

blackcauldron85 wrote: We still don't know exactly what the Mary Poppins attraction would be, right? So maybe it'd be salvageable?
No we still don’t but the sources on Disboards are saying Poppins was having issues even before this so it might have been easier to just axe it, I guess. On the bright side, since we don’t know what was going in, if it doesn’t happen we don’t have to mourn it! I will be sad if they completely axe the Cherry Tree Lane expansion— I don’t know if that’s attached to the axing of the Poppins attraction or not...
blackcauldron85 wrote: With everything else announced at D23, surely when they are ready to add new things back into the Parks, they'd use some of those ideas...right!?!
I’m new to the parks fandom and don’t know as much history as I should. I recently saw again some concept art for New Fantasyland when it was going to have a whole Pixie Hollow and an “Enchanted Tales with Belle” experience with Aurora and Cinderella. Obviously they were never built, but maybe they turned into Princess Fairytale Hall and the aforementioned Belle experience— maybe Pixie Hollow was downscaled into the Tink meet and greet on Main Street. I don’t know... maybe the ideas will be completely scrapped, or maybe they’ll be retooled, or maybe they’ll come back exactly as promised.
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Disney bought more land near Magic Kingdom:
https://www.slashfilm.com/disney-buys-m ... n-florida/
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Non-essential executive, salaried, and non-union cast members are being furloughed soon, but their health insurance benefits are continued to be paid by Disney. Union cast members- negotiations to come.

https://wdwnt.com/2020/04/breaking-disn ... ed-states/

And important information for Passholders:

https://wdwnt.com/2020/04/breaking-walt ... -closures/
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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My cast member friends on Facebook say that all non-salaried cast members (excluding those on internships and Disney programs) are protected under the union even if they do not pay union dues so hopefully they will all receive very good protections and benefits.
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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^ Wow, that's wonderful news!!!! Sucks for those not covered by the union, though, the salaried people...
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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blackcauldron85 wrote:And important information for Passholders:

https://wdwnt.com/2020/04/breaking-walt ... -closures/
It's not entirely clear to me how many days will be added to my AP. My AP is to expire April 25th.

So do I get the days added WDW was closed up until April 25th or even beyond that if they stay closed for longer?

Sigh... We were supposed to arrive last Monday and staying until April 25th, with plans made for Mardi Gras at Universal, me and my partner's birthdays at Disney and Easter plans with friends. It's been a pretty hard blow to had to have canceled this trip. Having autism, I understand why we had to cancel, but it was hard to register we actually weren't going. Had to "reprogram" my brain so to speak

We're now hoping to be able to go in September or October for the Halloween season... But we'll see.

Let's first see how the world will survive this.
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

Post by blackcauldron85 »

Khonnor, are you on a monthly payment plan for your AP, or did you pay it all up front? If you paid it all up front, they're going to extend the amount of days for as long as the parks were closed. So if the parks are closed in total 3 months, and your pass was supposed to expire in April, it'd now expire in July.

If you're on a monthly payment plan, there are two options: a)if you made any payments from March 14 to April 4, those will be refunded. But your pass will expire on April 25. Or b)I would advise calling the Passholder Support line at 407-939-7277; since they are saying you can postpone your payments from April 5 through however long the parks are closed, and "the pass will be extended the number of days the parks are closed." I think the default option is the first, to have people's passes expire, they just won't be charged. So if you want to extend the length of your pass, you should give them a call.


In happier news!!!:
Permit Suggests Plans for Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” Restaurant Coming Soon!
https://insidethemagic.net/2020/04/perm ... urant-ba1/

Bummer it'll be at a Disney Vacation Club resort-- will they let a non-DVC member in to eat? I know that when I lived in Orlando, I had wandered around DVC resorts, but for parking purposes, etc., I hope they let non-members eat there!
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Disney is saying Journey of Water inspired by Moana is opening in 2021...!

https://wdwnt.com/?p=278653
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Re: What's New at Walt Disney World?

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Disney is sending all the Cultural Representatives home and they are canceling all domestic and international Programs with start dates through early June.

https://twitter.com/DisneyInterns/statu ... 72960?s=20

I figured this was coming but this news still makes me very sad. :( I think this also implies that the US parks will be closed at least partly through June.
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