MickeyBlog News for January 2nd, 2022
Welcome to 2022, which has to be vastly superior to 2021 and 2020…pretty much by default.
This week in MickeyBlog News, we lose a bus ride but gain a water park. Also, COVID has turned plaid, and a Hollywood icon passes away at 99.
Welcome Back!
When Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park closed in March of 2020, nobody expected it to remain offline for two years.
At the time, optimists like me foolishly believed that we could control the pandemic and get Walt Disney World up and running in six weeks or so.
Yes, I’m an idiot.
More importantly, when Walt Disney World did reopen after four months, it didn’t come back with any water parks.
Questions remained about how to operate such places safely during a pandemic.
Disney wouldn’t operate a water park again until February of 2021. At that point, demand wasn’t high anyway.
So, Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park reopened, but Typhoon Lagoon remained shuttered.
Even now, that statement remains correct. Disney hasn’t had a need to run two water parks since the pandemic’s beginning.
However, Blizzard Beach now requires its annual maintenance. For this reason, Disney closed the water park today after 11 months of operation.
Simultaneously, Typhoon Lagoon has reopened after an unprecedented 22 months offline.
Apparently, not much has changed during the interim, as Disney had its construction crews working elsewhere.
Still, Typhoon Lagoon will come with a couple of new features.
The water park’s restaurants have added Moana-inspired Dole Whip character cones and customizable Dole Whips! What more could you need?!
Who’s had the special Dole Whip at Typhoon Lagoon today? #DisneyWorld https://t.co/dYLj51yGBP
— Cristine Struble (@CristineStruble) January 2, 2022
Magical Express (Partially) Ends
On New Year’s Day, more happened than some meaningless bowl games.
After more than 15 years, Magical Express closed at Orlando International Airport.
Well, I should say that it partially closed. Through January 10th, Disney will continue to provide Magical Express service to guests departing the resorts.
However, the days of Magical Express transporting you from the airport to Walt Disney World have ended. And yes, this has me singing Boyz II Men.
At the start of 2021, Disney dropped the bombshell announcement that Magical Express would end on New Year’s Eve.
Since then, management has recognized that it was hanging some guests out to dry. So, it extended the back half, the Tragical Express, for another 10 days.
After that, we’re all on our own. MickeyBlog has chronicled the debut of a new service, Mears Connect. It started on January 1st.
For those who don’t know, Mears always provided the underlying transport for Magical Express. Disney simply licensed it.
Now that the parties have parted ways, Mears has removed the Disney name but kept the underlying premise of convenient airport transportation.
Another new competitor in the field, the Sunshine Flyer, will debut on February 1st. We interviewed one of their executives last week.
Please remember that you can also use ride-sharing services or other transportation (including limousines!) for your airport travel needs.
Frankly, there’s an option to fit any travel budget. Still, I’m really going to miss those Disney cartoons and trivia questions while riding to my hotel.
The COVID Update
On Christmas Eve, Universal Orlando Resort took the unexpected step of reintroducing face-covering policies for indoor attractions, shops, and restaurants.
Yes, park officials took this step during Christmas Week, the most popular tourist period on the theme park calendar.
This fact alone tells the whole story about the current COVID struggles in Florida.
Universal has acted like the wild west compared to Disney. So, if the local competitor has strengthened its mask policies, you can imagine where Walt Disney World stands.
Alas, this situation appears stagnant for several more weeks. We’d shown signs of Disney relaxing its policies.
Now, Florida has suffered through the worst outbreak thus far. On December 10th, the state’s average daily COVID cases were 1,857.
By December 20th, the number had risen to a still modest 7,068, but that belied the situation a bit. On that date, Florida reported more than 18,000 new cases.
Since then, the state has reached the point where a negative COVID test seems like a surprise. I’m not joking. Here are the past few days of cases:
- December 23rd – 32,869
- December 24th – 31,683
- December 25th – 21,040
- December 26th – 17,955
- December 27th – 29,059
- December 28th – 46,923
- December 29th – 77,848
- December 30th – 76,392
- December 31st – 56,865
Yes, Florida somehow spiked from roughly 18,000 new cases daily to 78,000 in a period of 72 hours. Getting a hospital bed in Florida right now is highly challenging.
Meanwhile, holiday events up to and including New Year’s Eve have increased the odds of additional outbreaks in early January.
So, I’d expect Walt Disney World’s current face-covering policies to remain until mid-February at the earliest.
Miscellaneous Disney News
I know that we’re all still in holiday mode from our New Year’s Eve festivities. So, I want to be brief, but there are still a couple more things to know.
First, Bob Iger’s storied tenure at The Walt Disney Company has officially ended.
As of now, Susan Arnold is the Chairperson of the Board, while Bob Chapek is CEO. How these two people work together will determine much of Disney’s success in 2022.
Finally, in heartbreaking news, Betty White passed away at the age of 99. A Hollywood celebrity and national treasure, the actress starred in many Disney projects.
In fact, arguably her most famous role was in The Golden Girls, an ABC Studios production. It aired on NBC, though.
I recently suggested that everyone watch Prep & Landing on Disney+ as a holiday treat. She provided the voice of Ms. Claus in Operation: Secret Santa.
White earned the title of Disney Legend in 2009 and provided voice work for several films and TV shows like Toy Story 4 and Ponyo.
If you’ve never watched this clip, it’s proof that even Betty White’s co-stars couldn’t keep a straight face around her:
Rue McClanahan’s face is all of us. Rest in peace, Ms. White, and thank you for decades of uproarious laughter.