MickeyBlog News Disney Fans Might Have Missed
Iron Man is lonely and trapped in outer space. Poor Ant-Man can’t even get into the Avengers complex. It’s been that kind of year for the Avengers. We’ll talk about them and quite a bit more in the latest edition of MickeyBlog News.
We’re Approaching ENDGAME
Let’s begin with the biggest Disney news of the week. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) officially began with the release of Iron Man in 2008. Almost 11 years later, Disney will close this chapter of the MCU with its next Avengers movie. This week, we learned the name of the film while also watching the first footage.
Yes, Disney unveiled a teaser trailer for Avengers: ENDGAME. I’d mentioned in last week’s edition of MickeyBlog News that The Lion King had recently become the second-most viewed trailer ever in terms of first 24 hours of streams. The standing record-holder at the time was Avengers: Infinity War.
Only a few days later, that information is already outdated. Avengers: Infinity War earned 230 million views in 24 hours, an almost incomprehensible number. Well, Avengers: ENDGAME absolutely crushed that total, claiming 289 million viewings in the same timeframe. I’m not going out on a limb here when I say that demand for the next Avengers film is outrageously high.
Unfortunately, you have to wait until April 26, 2019, to watch the full movie. In the interim, this teaser must tide you over. Already, the internet is hard at work trying to solve some of the mysteries of the clip. Who will rescue Tony Stark from being stranded in deep space? My guess is Valkyrie, although I wouldn’t put it past Iron Man to figure out a new rocket fuel source on his own.
And how does Ant-Man escape his mid-credits predicament from Ant-Man and the Wasp? Finally, why is Hawkeye dressed in the Ronin superhero costume? His family is okay, right? RIGHT???
If you’re an Avengers fan like me, the teaser for Avengers: ENDGAME contains just enough footage to frustrate you. Why can’t Disney release the movie like this week?!
By the way, ENDGAME wasn’t even the only MCU trailer released last week. It got somewhat lost in the hype for the Avengers, but the full trailer for Captain Marvel debuted the other day, too. By ordinary film standards, it performed extremely well.
The next Marvel release earned 109 million views in 24 hours, the #13 total of all-time. If anything, these stats demonstrate the scale of ENDGAME. The difference between #1 and #13 ever is 165 percent more or 180 million total views. ENDGAME has a legitimate chance to become the number one movie of all time, usurping Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
A Nifty Milestone
Have you ever stopped to wonder how many meals Walt Disney World serves in a given day? With 100,000 guests visiting the four parks each day, the number is staggeringly high. The massive demand for meals is why park planners introduced Mobile Ordering as a service last year. The company inspires to negate the amount of time that guests spend waiting in line. After all, a more efficient park experience for guests means more money and better efficiency for Disney, too.
While Mobile Ordering still isn’t what I would describe as mainstream yet, it reached an important milestone last week. The Parks Blog trumpeted the news that one million guests have ordered food via Mobile Ordering.
As is the case with most emerging technologies, these totals will expand dramatically in coming years. Word-of-mouth for Mobile Ordering is glowing to the point that many of the customers who use it once become addicted and prefer it to the standard way of ordering food. Waiting in line is for suckers, right?
Bthe way, the lucky family who placed the one millionth order received a surprise bonus. The Ramos family from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, received personal congratulations from Chef Mickey Mouse and some Walt Disney World Resort Ambassadors.
Plus, they got a $500 gift card good for future purchases on Mobile Ordering! Before you start to resent them for their good fortune, I’d like to point out that Winston-Salem is blanketed under a foot of snow right now. So, they’re not feeling very Disney right now!
The Garden Rocks More Than Ever!
Since 1994, the World Showcase has hosted a globally renowned event. No, I’m not speaking of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. Instead, I’m speaking of the original park expo that arrived a year and a half earlier, the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.
With the 25th anniversary of the event fast approaching, park officials have decided to go all out for 2019. To offer the greatest festival ever, they’re plussing several features from the event. For example, the popular Garden Rocks concert series will become a daily presentation in 2019. From March 6th through June 3rd, you have the opportunity to watch one or more of 270 concerts!
Disney has posted the Garden Rocks itinerary as it stands. Here are the dates with currently scheduled artists:
- March 9-10: Glass Tiger “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”
- March 17-20: Simple Plan “Welcome to My Life”
- March 28-29: Berlin featuring Terri Nunn “Take My Breath Away”
- March 30-31: The Smithereens (NEW to Garden Rocks) “Top of the Pops”
- April 3-4: Christopher Cross (NEW to Garden Rocks) “Sailing”
- April 5-7: The Spinners “Working My Way Back to You”
- April 12-13: Sister Sledge (NEW to Garden Rocks) “We Are Family”
- April 17-19: Sister Hazel (NEW to Garden Rocks) “All For You”
- April 20-21: Steven Curtis Chapman (NEW) “Cinderella”
- April 22-23: TobyMac (NEW) “The Elements”
- April 24-26: Lonestar “Amazed”
- April 27-30: The Orchestra starring former members of ELO “Evil Woman”
- May 1-4: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone “I’m Henry VIII I Am”
- May 5-7: Don Felder, Formerly of the Eagles “Hotel California”
- May 20-21: Colin Hay of Men at Work (NEW) “Who Can It Be Now?”
Depending on your age, you may recognize as many as six of those artists! Okay, I know most of them, but that’s mainly because of my wife, who will gleefully tell you that Colin Hay follows her on Twitter.
All kidding aside, the Garden Rocks concert series is amazing. The artists perform at 5:30, 6:45, and 8:00 p.m. each evening, giving you three opportunities to catch your favorite act.
Even when you can’t get a seat to these oftentimes sold out shows, you may still hear the music within a three pavilion radius at the World Showcase. No, you won’t get to stare lovingly into Terri Nunn’s eyes from that distance, but let’s be honest. There’s a good chance that you don’t know who Terri Nunn is anyway.
This Attraction Is a Beauty
Many of my friends are Disney fans, but some aren’t. I’m referencing the theme parks when I say this, as every sane person loves Disney movies and other forms of entertainment. Some adults don’t want to spend their vacations at Disney parks, though. Yes, that’s crazy, but it’s not our place to judge the high degree of wrongness of these individuals.
Instead, I find my non-Disney fans useful. Whenever they’re discussing something in the realm of theme park entertainment, I know that the subject in question appeals to everyone, not just those of us who are Disney diehards.
I mention all of this to say that something amusing happened the other day. Friends of mine who are barely aware that Disney has a theme park in Tokyo, Japan, shared links about an upcoming attraction there. The lifelike audio-animatronics (AAs) and unique ride carts dazzled them.
The attraction is an upcoming Beauty and the Beast ride. The official name is the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. I’d read details of it at the Japan Times the other day and thought it looked cute. To my surprise, my non-Disney friends started discussing the feasibility of a group trip to Japan in 2020, the time when Tokyo Disneyland will introduce their version of Beast’s Castle.
You can see the video and several pictures of the Beauty and the Beast attraction at the Parks Blog. You can judge for yourself whether it looks good enough for you spend the spring of 2020 in Tokyo. Let’s be honest, though. Assuming that you can afford the trip, ANY excuse is a good one to visit Tokyo Disneyland, arguably the best non-American Disney park in the world.