MickeyBlog News for January 20, 2020
The Walt Disney Company opened four new attractions this week plus a new festival. Also, a guest broke something, and another accidentally brought something at the parks.
Oh, and the Academy Awards snubbed the most successful animated movie ever. It was a full week for Disney news. Let’s bring you up to speed.
Rise of the Resistance Debuts at Disneyland
A few weeks after its Walt Disney World equivalent, Disneyland finally introduced its second Star Wars attraction. The Anaheim version of Batuu opened Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, causing quite a ruckus with the locals.
At Disneyland, guests had never utilized anything like the Digital Boarding Group system until now. Culture shock set in immediately when guaranteed boarding for the ride sold out in less than two minutes. That realization annoyed guests on its own.
However, the sellout wasn’t even the worst part for these Star Wars fanatics. Many of them had stayed up overnight, camping near the gates in anticipation of the big moment. Disney followed the same procedure as at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
So, Disneyland didn’t start the Boarding Group lottery until 8 a.m. A technical glitch with the Disneyland app knocked many die hard fans off the system. By the time they got the app working again, tickets were gone. The park also distributed Backup Boarding Groups. These lasted for about 10 more minutes before selling out, too.
Yes, several Disneyland and Star Wars fanatics camped out at the park to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Then, they watched their hopes die in a matter of minutes when all digital tickets for the day sold out. That’s pretty rough. Still, this turn of events demonstrates the unprecedented demand for Disney’s latest, greatest attraction.
Festival of the Arts Opens
Epcot’s newest festival has returned for the fourth consecutive year. Since 2017, the Epcot International Festival of the Arts has catered to patrons of the, well, arts. During this event, Disney returns the beloved food kitchens to the World Showcase. But this festival features more than delightful food.
During the Festival of the Arts, Epcot displays countless works of art in all formats. A stroll through the park rewards guests with some of the most beautiful and Instagram-worthy sights anywhere. MickeyBlog visited on the first day, and you can watch the video here.
https://www.facebook.com/MickeyBlogCom/videos/790604094683522/
When you watch the clip, you’ll want to visit Walt Disney World this winter. You have from now until February 24th to attend. You probably should speak with a MickeyTravels agent to set up a trip PRONTO!
Disney Academy Awards Nominations
This past week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) revealed the 2020 nominations for the Academy Awards. In a way, this announcement confirmed Disney’s instincts in purchasing most Fox assets.
When Disney announced its intent, I commented that Fox Searchlight mattered a great deal. This studio has earned a reputation for producing indie films that gain awards season attention.
Sure enough, Jojo Rabbit attained six nominations, including a Best Picture nod. As a reminder, Disney has never won the category of Best Picture. It’ll have two chances this year, as Ford v Ferrari also received a nomination.
Overall, Disney gained 23 nominations, easily the best total for the studio in recent memory. Of course, a company with seven different billion-dollar films should receive awards season attention. In truth, Disney suffered a few disappointments here.
Avengers: Endgame, the most popular movie of all-time, only received one nomination, which is infuriating. In a surprising development, AMPAS lauded Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker more by giving it three mentions. Toy Story 4 was the only other Disney release to receive multiple nods. And that brings me to the jaw-dropper.
The most significant overall snub for this year’s nominations is Frozen 2. It only received mention once in the category of Best Song. However, it did NOT earn a nod in Best Animated Feature Film.
Toy Story 4 stands as Disney’s only hope of winning the category this year. AMPAS voted for Netflix titles Klaus and I Lost My Body instead. And that’s outrageous.
New Epcot Shows
This past week, Epcot guests discovered a ridiculous amount of stuff to do. In addition to the festival, the park unveiled three new attractions.
At The Land pavilion, a movie called Awesome Planet debuted. Modern Family’s Ty Burrell narrates the film, and he’s partially in character.
Rather than playing Phil Dunphy, the real estate agent, he’s the “planetary realtor” for Awesome Planet.
Meanwhile, the France pavilion has introduced Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along. And this production harbors a surprise twist. Disney’s created new animation for the story and twisted the premise so that LeFou brought Belle and Beast together. That’s reason enough to watch, right?
You’ll find the third new show at the Canada pavilion. Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360 dazzles with its technical wizardry. You’ll admire the beauty of our northern counterparts in this production. The Circle-Vision 360 effects display the technology’s innovations over the past decade. It’s definitely a show to watch during your next Epcot visit.
Guest took Excalibur at Disneyland
I want you to imagine something. Think of yourself standing in front of the proverbial Sword in the Stone at Disneyland. Now, picture a muscular dude walking up to the stone. Then, think of the confusion it would cause if that guy pulled Excalibur out of the stone.
Photo: https://hiveminer.com/Tags/disneyland%2Cexcalibur/Timeline
I’ve just given you a mostly accurate depiction of something that happened at Disneyland the other day. A first-time Disney guest embraced a friend’s dare to remove the sword from its regular position. The man mightily tugged at Excalibur, accidentally breaking it in the process. So, cast members had to tape off the stone until they could find a viable Excalibur replacement.
Magic Kingdom gun – guests behaving badly week at MBN
I guess we just finished Guest Behaving Badly Week at Disney theme parks. For the second time recently, security officials apprehended a guest trying to bring a gun into a park. Last time, a sketchy dude tried to slip his firearm past the metal detector at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Photo: MyNews13.com
The most recent attempt sounds like an innocent mistake. A couple visited Magic Kingdom with their four-year-old child and 15 of their closest friends. So, they obviously didn’t want to endanger anyone. Instead, the man realized at the security checkpoint that he’d accidentally brought a gun to the park.
The weapon he’d purchased for his wife was still in her purse, which was inside her backpack. The mortified couple explained the situation to Disney officials, and the situation resolved itself without incident.
In fact, no arrests were made. The security staff merely confiscated the gun, as they determined that the issue was wholly unintentional. That must have been an awkward moment for the couple, right?
