Ten Reasons to Get Excited about Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World theme parks will finally reopen on Saturday.
Disney fans have anticipated this moment ever since Coronavirus forced the parks’ closure.
Now, we’re ready and anxiously anticipating the triumphant comeback.
Here are ten reasons to get excited about the reopening of Walt Disney World.
The First Sight of Cinderella Castle
Cinderella Castle already embodied the best parts of Disney park visits.
Whenever we catch a first glimpse of the castle, we know that the Most Magical Place on Earth is ready to make our dreams come true.
However, this next visit will be even better.
While we’ve been away from the parks, Imagineers have worked hard to perfect Orlando’s most beautiful sight.
Cinderella Castle features new, bright colors that will grab your eye from a distance and draw you almost unconsciously to it.
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The Smell of Main Street
Once you’ve given in to the siren song of Cinderella Castle, you’ll enter the park.
The instant that you do, the aromatic scent of Main Street, U.S.A. will remind you why you love the place.
The purpose of this themed land is to make everyone feel at home in a throwback town.
Walt Disney wanted Main Street, U.S.A. to feel timeless and serene.
By adding a bakery on the first block, Imagineers found a way to improve the sensory experience and foster a welcoming sense of comfort and peace.
A Joyous Splash
You may not have noticed since you’ve been trapped inside for several months, but it’s summer!
July in Florida means heat, but Disney long ago unearthed the best way to beat it.
At some point, you’ll ride Splash Mountain. When you do, you’ll bask in those few moments when the water drenches your clothes.
The attraction will cool you off like nothing else. Plus, you’ll want to ride it now.
Disney will soon re-theme Splash Mountain, making your next visit possibly your final opportunity to head over to the Laughing Place.
Watching Mickey and Minnie Mouse
Disney won’t host regular character meetings until Coronavirus subsides.
However, this decision doesn’t impact your ability to watch your favorites.
Beloved Disney characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse will roam the parks, performing in ways that you’ve never seen before.
To maintain social distancing, Disney will use a different approach. These characters won’t have a set schedule.
You never know when you might see a costumed cast member putting on a show for guests.
Keep your phone handy to capture all the special moments that will never happen again.
Frolicking Animals
You won’t spend all your time at Magic Kingdom. Two parks will return on July 11th, and you’ll want to visit both.
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, one of your first stops should be Kilimanjaro Safaris.
The heart and soul of Animal Kingdom, this attraction will transport you through several natural habitats.
During your ride, you’ll realize something. The inhabitants have spent all their lives watching humans come and go.
In your absence, they’ve missed the show, as park guests are like Netflix to the animals.
Your next Kilimanjaro Safaris ride will be unlike any other that you’ve had before or ever will again.
A Faraway Planet
In recent years, Imagineers have gotten into world-building.
Disney’s construction team has built two full civilizations at Walt Disney World.
At Animal Kingdom, you can celebrate the return of the park by going off-world.
Pandora – The World of Avatar is arguably the greatest Imagineering triumph of the 21st century, and it beckons you to return.
You’ll want to explore the lands and then experience both the attractions.
Best of all, this goal should be easier than usual since Disney’s restricting attendance during the pandemic.
Any day that you ride Na’Vi River Journey AND Avatar Flight of Passage is an unforgettable one.
Foods and Wines
Even during a pandemic, Disney parks are full of surprises.
When EPCOT reopens on July 15th, it’ll come with a bonus.
The 2020 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival will start early this year!
The idea seems fair since the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival ended prematurely.
You can still check out some immaculately sculpted shrubberies at the France Pavilion, but the cuisine is decidedly Food & Wine Festival-style.
The food booths will open on July 15th, but Disney hasn’t said whether the new QR Scan system will be in place. I strongly suspect that it will.
Stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel
Disney’s Hollywood Studios also returns on July 15th.
When it does, you should head straight to the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
Imagineers rarely create attractions for non-Disney intellectual properties.
However, when they had the chance to build a Twilight Zone-based attraction, they relished the rare opportunity.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror embodies everything great about Disney theme parks.
Imagineers took a longstanding concept, the drop tower ride, and turned the entire premise on its head.
Rather than build a drop tower, they chose to break an elevator, making it dangerously unsafe…or at least seeming that way.
Best of all, the abandoned Hollywood Tower Hotel building will remind you that nobody has mastered the art of theming like Disney.
Star Wars Land
The other planet on display at Walt Disney World also happens to be the newest themed land.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge thrusts guests into a believable village on the outskirts of the universe.
At Black Spire Outpost, you can unlock plenty of hidden secrets. Of course, you can give Stormtroopers a hard time if that’s your hobby of choice.
The level of detail on display at Star Wars Land is unlike anything that Disney has ever done before.
You will forget that you’re at a theme park while you’re on the planet of Batuu.
Board a Runaway Railway
The highlight of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is its latest attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
However, the newest ride at Walt Disney World isn’t there. Less than two weeks before Disney’s Hollywood Studios closed, this attraction debuted.
I’m speaking of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, the long-awaited, highly anticipated replacement for The Great Movie Ride.
On this ride, you enter a cartoon. No, it’s not a dream sequence.
You board a railway car that crashes into the animated realm where Mickey Mouse cartoons are real.
The Disney theme park empire is 65 years old, yet no Mickey Mouse-based ride existed until 2020. That’s reason enough to want to experience it.
We’re very excited about Walt Disney World reopening. How about you?