MickeyBlog News for November 27th, 2023
Disney theme parks just experienced a chaotic week.
In Orlando, Thanksgiving Week ended with the start of a beloved festival. Meanwhile, Disneyland suffered an odd mishap.
Let’s talk about a memorable Thanksgiving Week in MickeyBlog News.
The Festival of the Holidays Begins
How was your Thanksgiving?
MickeyBlog tracked some large crowds at the parks, and we spent part of the week eating Thanksgiving Dinner at the perfect location.
Alas, our turkey glow was short-lived, as our tireless park reporters spent Black Friday not in stores but at EPCOT.
Our dedicated team brought live coverage from the 2023 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, an event that is somehow better than ever this year.
I’m not even joking here. This year’s festival has a little bit of everything.
We captured photographs of all the charming new event merchandise.
Then, we visited Figment and marveled at the brilliance of his festive winter outfit. Figment is having a strong year at EPCOT!
Then, we took time out from sampling all the Holiday Kitchens to spot all the hidden Olaf locations.
Our reporters also took note of the ever-popular gingerbread display that’s now posted at the American Adventure pavilion.
While there, we listened to the Voices of Liberty and then made our way to meet Santa at EPCOT! PS: You can find him at Magic Kingdom now, too!
As has become the norm at MickeyBlog, our staff saved you lots of trouble by sampling all the wares at the Festival of the Holidays.
Our marvelous reporters particularly enjoyed:
- An Adorable Macaron
- A Decadent Funnel Cake
- The Holiday Cookie Stroll
- Holiday Hearth Desserts
- The Perfect Drink to Wash Everything Down
- Refreshment Port
- This Plant-based Dish
Frostbite Slushy
We also discovered an exclusive treat for annual passholders and several other treats we enjoyed.
You should read our Festival of the Holidays section for more reviews. Note: they aren’t all positive!
A Disneyland Accident Injures Three
Photo: Disney
I’ve covered Disney for about a decade now, and I’m happy to say that I can count incidents like this on one figure.
Sadly, something unfortunate happens at the parks, though. This time, Disneyland guests watched the unexpected happen.
Turbulent winds in Southern California wreaked havoc at several locations, and one of the places was The Happiest Place on Earth.
The strong winds caused a lamppost to collapse on Main Street, U.S.A., just as the park opened on Monday, November 20th.
Three people standing in the area weren’t able to avoid the lamppost’s sudden fall.
Disney treated two of them for minor injuries, and they remained at the park.
Disneyland Train Station
The other guest was less fortunate. That individual required hospitalization for more serious injuries, the extent of which remains unknown at this time.
Disney couldn’t have anticipated this accident, nor could anyone else in the area.
Gale force winds proved so strong that a person flying a solo commuter plane had to stop his vehicle and exit.
As the pilot examined the plane, the wind tipped it over! That’s how powerful these gusts were.
Photo: Travel + Leisure
In fact, the Magic Mountain Trail, a sensor in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Santa Clarita, recorded a wind force of 130 miles per hour.
The wind’s velocity may have been even higher. We’ll never know because the wind gauge broke!
alltrails.com
For this reason, I’m thankful that the Disneyland accident wasn’t even worse.
MickeyBlog’s thoughts are with the three victims of this incident, especially the one who required a hospital trip.
The Indiana Jones Update
Photo: Walt Disney Company
Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro performed an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this week.
As part of the discussion, the reporter challenged D’Amaro about some of his recent Destination D23 comments.
Photo: Disney
Specifically, D’Amaro indicates that the foreshadowed Indiana Jones experience at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is ‘where our heads are.”
The “our” in this conversation is Disney’s strategic planning and Imagineering teams.
Photo: Dr DIsney
D’Amaro adds, “We’ve got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks.”
The head of Disney Parks later confirms that “we are absolutely serious” about the proposed $60 billion park expansion.
Photo: skillastics.com
Then, he makes this perplexing statement: “As we make our way through some of these ideas, some of them will become real.
“(And) we’ll say that’s specifically what we’re going to do, but I want our guests to be on the journey with us.”
In other words, D’Amaro expects the various D23 announcements to come into being. However, he isn’t confirming anything just yet.
Instead, D’Amaro wants fans to experience the highs and lows of the process just as the Imagineering team does.
Indiana Jones Adventure Sign
I’m not sure any of us need that stress in our life, but let’s presume for now that Indiana Jones Adventure is coming to Animal Kingdom one day soon.
So, you better ride DINOSAUR as much as you can while you can! Barring something unforeseen, it’ll likely get replaced since Indiana Jones Adventure uses the same tech.
Theme Park Miscellany
Last week in this space, I was fairly harsh on Disney Jollywood Nights, which suffered a rough opening night.
Some of the methods in place that night created side issues such as overcrowding.
So, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Disney officials have done exactly what you’d expect of them.
These dutiful strategists took a hard look at what went wrong and adjusted some of the herding techniques to avoid overcrowding.
A couple of these solutions are subtle, such as the addition of new characters interactions during Jollywood Nights.
More importantly, Disney switched after-hours event wristband distribution from the Mickey Shorts Theater to Grand Avenue, which has really helped.
Jollywood Nights
Also, for those who were complaining on opening night, The Tip-Top Club has added more bartenders and tables, thereby solving that problem completely.
The other park note this week happened at Walt Disney World. Disney Genie+ returned to its highest prices ever, and guests didn’t care.
Photo: Park Savers
The Park Hopper version of Disney Genie+ still sold out twice this week.
During Thanksgiving Week, Disney Genie+ is just the cost of doing business for most park guests.
Photo: THIERRY CHESNOT/GETTY IMAGES
Finally, I want to highlight a current Hulu+ deal you may have seen.
Right now, new and returning subscribers can sign up for the service for just $0.99 per month for a year.
Photo: Hulu
All in, that’s $11.88 for the service from now through December 2024. That’s basically the price of a hoagie in exchange for a year of Hulu.
Since Disney+ will add a Hulu tile in a few days, you’re getting ahead of the game by signing up for the service now while it’s dirt cheap.
In fact, you can get Disney+ AND Hulu for a year for $2.99 a month. That’s the price of one dinner for two for a full year of streaming!
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Feature Photo: (Matt Stroshane, photographer)
