MickeyBlog News for December 18th, 2023
This past week, Disney Springs suddenly opened a restaurant we’ve awaited for a while.
Also, the company revealed new details about the 2024 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival and an upcoming but classic Disney resort.
We’ll talk about these two stories and much more in MickeyBlog News.
Introducing the New Cabins at Fort Wilderness
A few months ago, the Disney Vacation Club announced it would add a new property at an old place.
The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Lodge will replace the former dwellings here with entirely new facilities.
In other words, Disney has demolished the old cabins that have resided here for decades.
Imagineers are currently replacing these old buildings with entirely new cabins that will walk a fine line between the classic vibe and modern amenities.
This past week, Disney released new photos of the upcoming cabins. Let’s just say that you’ll love them.
The best description I can give is that the new rooms look like improved versions of the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.
Don’t get me wrong. Those villas are bigger and more secluded, but Disney has taken the best ideas from them.
Then, Imagineers translated the concepts to the new cabins.
For example, you’ll notice bunk beds in some of the artist’s renderings. They mirror the ones at the Treehouse Villas, only with an improvement.
Anyone who has walked around those suites is acutely aware that the bedrooms can be a bit claustrophobic.
With the cabins, the bunk beds are right by a door you can leave open, which opens the entire interior as an east-west walking path.
In fact, this design mirrors one you may recall: the rooms at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Disney has replaced quasi-sci-fi aesthetics with rustic ones, but it’s the same basic concept.
That’s the other part that bears mentioning here. You’ll still enjoy the same raucous campground lifestyle here.
The images show people having a picnic and grilling and even riding a golf cart. It’s gonna be the perfected version of the Fort Wilderness you’ve always known!
Welcome to the Festival!
I must confess that I’m really looking forward to the 2024 EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival.
Sure, this exhibition is always my favorite at EPCOT, but 2024 will offer a bit more intrigue.
With the introduction of Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana and World Celebration Gardens, nature features more heavily at the parks.
Will Disney do anything different to elevate the festival now that we’ve got daily competition from other lush foliage?
I suspect Disney will be more interested in augmenting the existing festival. There’s no point in messing with perfection, after all.
Still, I’m curious to see whether Disney connects any of the newly available dots.
Well, we’ll find out earlier than ever, as EPCOT just announced the 2024 dates for the Flower & Garden Festival.
This year’s event starts on February 28th. Even though we’re only talking about two days earlier than in 2023 (next year is a leap year), it somehow feels soon.
Now, we’re starting in February rather than March. It’s part of Disney’s new tactic to get to the good stuff as quickly as possible.
We already witnessed it with Halloween and then Christmas decorations. We’ll get it with EPCOT’s oldest festival in 2024 as well.
Oddly, Disney hasn’t announced an end date yet. You’ll have to stay tuned for that one.
Welcome to the Summer House on the Lake
I was just discussing how Disney has been full of surprises over the past few months. And we’ve got another one!
After months of discussion regarding when the newest restaurant at Disney Springs would open, it suddenly did without any real fanfare.
We heard rumors of a soft opening, and that’s exactly what happened.
Some of our reporters gleefully rushed to the new place to evaluate all the goodies on sale here.
You can read our glowing review here. Our staff even compared its quality to Gideon’s Bakehouse, which is the highest praise we can offer.
Of course, you can eat more than sweets at the breezily named Summer House on the Lake. So, that’s a point in its favor.
Also, I’m so indescribably charmed by the name of the place. Doesn’t it set such a mood in your head?
Disney Miscellany
I realize you’re busy with holiday preparations, but we’ve got a few more stories to cover quickly.
First, the weather forced the cancellation of Disney Jollywood Nights, which is quite the rarity for a Disney after-hours event.
Florida has definitely had a rough weather weekend.
In Mobile Ordering news, Disney changed one simple thing, but it’s oh so long overdue. Yes, you can finally change item quantities!
At Magic Kingdom, many of us have wondered whether an annual tradition would continue.
Frontierland often closes up shop for a time during the winter. Historically, Disney did this to refresh Splash Mountain.
With that attraction permanently closed, we weren’t sure what would happen in the area.
As fate would have it, Disney will still give Big Thunder Mountain Railroad some renovations early in 2024.
If you’re ever looking for the loneliest spot at Magic Kingdom, it’ll probably be this spot while the roller coaster is offline.
Speaking of refurbishments, we know when Haunted Mansion at Disneyland will close to roll back its holiday overlay.
The mystery involves how long it will stay closed. Remember that Disney is adding new amenities and an entirely new store in 2024.
So, you may want to ride Haunted Mansion Holiday a lot over the next month. You don’t know when it’ll be back.
Circling back to the weather, Disney’s Blizzard Beach just can’t catch a break.
First, the park closed due to inclement weather. Then, it had to shut down after only being open for two hours due to frosty temperatures. I blame Olaf.
Okay, that’s all the big stuff for this week. Enjoy the holidays, my many loves!
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