Interesting Disney News - Week of April 11th

Interesting Disney News – Week of April 11th

by EECC Travels
in Uncategorized
on April 18, 2016

There were several very interesting news items that were released this past week! So I am going to cover two in this post instead of just one!

First… The update of FastPass+ on the MyDisneyExperience app.

I am very, very, very happy about this!!! No more finding and waiting in line at a kiosk to make additional FastPass selections… You can just open the app on your phone, and viola, your next FastPass awaits!!! This is fantastic as on our last trip, we spent 15 minutes in line at a kiosk in Magic Kingdom and that was in January in the off season. Sometimes waits for these during peak times were very long indeed.

The other important change is that not all three initial FastPass selections need to be made at the same time… or in the same park! Previously when making the initial reservation for your first three FastPasses of the day, they had to be all chosen at the same time and be all at the same park. And, all three had to be used (or expired) before a fourth one could be chosen. For our family, this was never a problem, because we don’t park hop. But for those who do, this is a blessing!

Official post from Disney:

Guests can choose individual FastPass+ experiences and times. You can now select available experiences one by one for the times that best meet your needs for a more customized selection.

Guests are able to make one, two or three advance FastPass+ selections. You will continue to be able to make up to three FastPass+ selections in advance. However, if you’d like to be able to select just one or two, you are now able to do that, too.

Guests can make an additional FastPass+ selection via MyDisneyExperience after redeeming the first three. You are now able to make selections for an additional FastPass+ on the MyDisneyExperience mobile app, in addition to the FastPass+ kiosks located throughout the parks. Once you’ve used the fourth FastPass+ selection, you are able to select another, and so on — all on the go.

We are committed to helping all our guests further customize their experience and making it even easier to create unforgettable memories with their families and friends. We appreciate the guest feedback that enables us to continue to enhance our offerings.

Second… And the one I am most excited about… Star Wars Land ground breaking!

I love this photo Disney released of the Star Wars characters ‘helping’ with the construction!!! Ground was official broken at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World and at Disneyland on Thursday, April 14th. Both parks will have lands that span 14 acres and are estimated to open in 2018. We are hoping Disney will do for Star Wars what Universal did for Harry Potter – a fully immersive land full of details – and I am sure they will do just that!

Our family has had a recent discovery of Star Wars, so this is very exciting for us. I have three boys ages 15, 12 & 12, and up until recently Star Wars was of no interest to them at all. Strange you say! I know! Jason loved Star Wars as a kid and had all of the toys meticulously arranged in his room – figures in fighting stance and all. But for some reason, it just never clicked with our boys. When we went to Disney World in September, I signed Cameron & Colby up for Jedi Training Academy just because I thought it would be a fun experience. Cameron loved it, see the picture below of him fighting off Darth Vader, but Colby not so much. So the new movie comes out in December and we decided we couldn’t go see it because the boys had not seen the other movies and it would not make sense to them. So we started watching the six movies beginning with Episode 1. It was a slow process and took us until February to finish them, but by the end Colby was hooked!!! Now he even speaks Yoda, go figure. He said, “Mom, why didn’t you make me watch these before our last trip? I would have fought Darth Vader then!”

So we are VERY excited to see the beginning of Star Wars land! There are a lot of changes happening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and I have decided that I will take the stance that it is all for the better! Jason and I said our goodbyes to Streets of America on our trip in January, and that area will be missed, but this land will be just FANTASTIC!!!

Official post from Disney:

As we first told you in August, Star Wars-themed lands are coming to Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Recently we featured BB-8 and R2-D2 as they explored two mysterious locations, and many of you guessed correctly that they had discovered the construction sites for these all-new, immersive themed lands!

Today, we’re excited to celebrate the official groundbreaking at Disneyland park in California and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida with this exclusive 360-degree photo, produced with help from our friends at Littlstar, from the 14-acre construction site at Disneyland park. Take a look below, and keep a sharp eye out for some of the unique resources that are being brought to the project.

In these all-new lands, guests will be transported to a never-before-seen planet inhabited by humanoids, droids and many others. Star Wars-themed lands will be the largest-ever single-themed land expansions at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Keep an eye on the Disney Parks Blog as we continue to keep you updated on the progress of these galactic expansions.

I can’t wait to see what happens this week!!!