MickeyBlog News for March 4th, 2024
If you weren’t paying attention to Disney news this past week, you missed a LOT!
Walt Disney World offered a spectacular amenity for 2025 visits, while EPCOT introduced the world to its latest festival.
We’ve got an exciting week of MickeyBlog News!
2025 Disney Vacation News
I realize that March just began, but Walt Disney World has already updated its vacation offerings for 2025.
Earlier this week, Disney opened bookings for next year.
In the process, park officials provided a tremendous benefit to those of us who plan early.
On the one hand, we can already go ahead and book our hotel rooms for previously announced 2025 events like runDisney.
Somehow, this early bird booking advantage for alert Disney fans isn’t the best part, though.
Starting next year, Disney will add a new amenity for guests staying at official Walt Disney World properties.
On the day that you check into your hotel, you gain free admission to one of Disney’s two water parks.
The Disney Parks Blog suggests that Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon and Disney’s Blizzard Beach will both be eligible for this perk.
As such, I presume that Disney intends to operate both of them simultaneously for the first time in five years.
That part is merely my speculation, though. The fact is that on your Walt Disney World arrival date, you enjoy free water park admission!
The retail price for single-day water park admission is $74 per person plus tax.
So, that’s a $150 amenity for a traveling couple, and the value increases for every additional member of your party!
Disney has altered one aspect of a 2025 booking. The resorts will alter their cancellation policies for Room Only reservations.
In 2025, Disney will require an eight-day cancellation, which is still quite reasonable for the hospitality industry.
In layperson’s terms, once you book a Disney hotel room, you have until eight days prior to your visit to cancel without being billed.
You can and should speak with a MickeyTravels agent to learn more about the 2025 changes.
Remember that their services are free to you!
The Flower & Garden Festival Arrives
Over the past two weeks, I’ve mentioned how early EPCOT started its festival work.
Even though the 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts was ongoing at the time, work began on the next thing.
Now, the 2024 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival has started, and MickeyBlog reporters covered the entirety of it.
Seriously, our impressive staff blanketed EPCOT to bring you all the news you needed about this year’s festival.
We provide you with the first look at the menu and prices for 2024. And we posted pictures of the festival map itself at EPCOT.
Once we went live on Wednesday morning, we posted this year’s Passport and added crowd shots of the opening day excitement.
We even took you inside the tent at one of my favorite annual parts of any EPCOT festival, Butterfly Landing.
Our staff quickly honed in on arguably the best snack of this year’s Flower & Garden Festival. And we showed you some great topiaries.
Of course, I know what you’re really wondering. How is this year’s merchandise?
Well, we’ve got an Orange Bird Lug bag that’s flying off the shelves.
To a larger point, Florida’s Orange Bird is clearly the star of the season, with many pieces of merchandise highlighting that kawaii face.
Meanwhile, cornhole fans are incentivized to finish this year’s Scavenger Hunt. The prizes will warm your heart!
If you’ll check our festival coverage, you’ll find reviews of all this year’s Outdoor Kitchens, too.
We tracked plenty of hits and very few busts this time, which is a better ratio than usual. Well done, Disney!
In short, if you were on the fence about visiting during the 2024 Flower & Garden Festival, it’s definitely worth a trip!
Disney Miscellany
We’ve got a couple of other park updates at least somewhat connected to the festival.
For starters, the beloved train village at the Germany pavilion has added a Flower & Garden tribute.
At Living with the Land, Cast Members have playfully added a few picnics. The latest one celebrates The Little Mermaid.
You’ll also find a PhotoPass prop as a photo op. It features…a basket of oranges. As a University of Tennessee fan, I love this.
Of course, the festival’s arrival hints that Easter is right around the corner.
Disney knows this and has already brought back the Grand Cottage at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.
Before then, we’ll enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day holiday.
So, MickeyBlog compiled a foodie guide for the upcoming event. Eat, drink, and be merry, my friends!
Disney also performed some subtle quality-of-life updates at the parks.
For example, Disney’s Hollywood Studios added a new 2024 park map.
However, the change that many of you will appreciate the most involves My Disney Experience.
When you load the various park maps, you’ll notice that water bottle refill locations are now visible!
Future Disney vacationers won’t remember a time before they could digitally map their way to a water refill.
The rest of us will remember the dark days before this past week, though. This one was long overdue, Disney.
At EPCOT, Soarin’ Around the World has finally returned after a prolonged absence.
As part of Disney100 and other events, park officials brought back Soarin’ Over California for a limited time. And that time is over.
In case you’re wondering, Disney didn’t change anything about new-old-new Soarin’.
Finally, Mickey’s of Hollywood has revealed the new cash register area…and you’re gonna love it.
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