Hey guys,

Hope you've had a great week. It's so hard to believe it's almost Thanksgiving time, isn't it? Things are so weird and I know everyone is struggling to figure out what makes sense for them with the holidays in general. I hope with all of that extra stress you're taking some time to give yourself a break and not have the same expectations you may have had in years past. I feel like it really helps to just remember what a rough year this has been, and feeling any sort of peace and calm in your life right now is a win. :-)

Some fun news for this week including the return of Park Hoppers, three restaurants reopening soon, Epcot project news, and a new (high-speed) way to travel to Disney World is in the works!

 

We got some exciting news this week that Park Hoppers will be returning to Disney World on January 1st, 2021. Disney just announced they will officially bring back the ability to visit more than one park per day. Here’s how it will work with the new Park Pass system:⁣
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You will still need to get a Park Pass for your first park of the day, and you’ll need to have entered that park before you can visit another. ⁣
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In order to still maintain capacity limitations park hopping will only be available after certain hours each day- to start with it’ll be anytime after 2 pm (they may change or adjust these by park later). ⁣
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Once you have entered your first park with your Park Pass you can then visit another as long as the Park Hopping hours have started, so after 2 pm until park closing time. ⁣
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So if you get the Park Hopper option on your tickets, or you have an Annual Pass you’ll be able to move to other parks later in the day. ⁣
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This also confirms what we’ve been seeing, that the parks really clear out as the day goes on, in a way they didn’t before. So you’ll be able to get a Park Pass for Animal Kingdom and spend the morning there, then hop over to Epcot anytime after 2pm and finish up the evening there. ⁣
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This allows you to get so much more value out of your park visits since some parks close much earlier than others. And is also great for ones who really love certain parks during the day and others in the evening. ⁣

They also said they will be bringing back park-to-park transportation options too. So monorail, bus, boat, etc will be available as normal to get you from park to park during the day. 
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Exciting news and great to see that they found a good way to bring back this option while still keeping capacity down and utilizing the new Park Passes. ⁣

D23 had a virtual event with a focus on Epcot updates. In summary, they confirmed many plans are still on track despite Covid related delays including Remy's ride, Guardians Coaster, and the new nighttime show Harmonious. What was new was they revealed the Harmonious show barges would be staying out in the Lagoon permanently and during the day they'll be used as fountains. See the concept art above. What they did not mention at all was the Mary Poppins attraction in the UK, so the rumor is that this project may be shelved for now but nothing has been officially said yet. Good recap of all the details from the event here. 

New restaurants re-opening at Disney World: Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom will be reopening on Dec. 13th for a family-style meal with no characters. Reservations open Dec. 1st. Woody's Lunchbox in Toy Story Land on Nov. 25th and Tomorrowland Terrace at Magic Kingdom opens on Dec. 17th. Details here. 

Imagineer Joe Rohde has announced that he will retire from the Walt Disney company after 40 years. He started when he was 25 years old and says this is a good time for some new adventures and stories. You can check out his statement here. 

Grand Floridian walkway is open: Now guests can walk from the Grand Floridian resort to Magic Kingdom. This is a great addition and will cut down on monorail and boat congestion as well as give another option if one of those goes down or is backed up with lines. Since Polynesian was already connected to Grand Floridian by a walkway, it also means you can walk from Polynesian to Magic Kingdom too. It'll be a good walk,  but doable for sure. 

Brightline Train coming to Disney Springs: Just announced there will be a train station built at Disney Springs for the high-speed Brightline train. This will provide a convenient travel option between Walt Disney World Resort and Brightline stations at Orlando International Airport (OIA), Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach along with future stations underway in other parts of Florida. This may be a great option in the future to get from the airport to Disney property. Find more details here. 

McDonald's has Disney World happy meals with the cutest toys- I'm not a McDonald's fan but I may have to make an exception for these adorable happy meals. Check out the details here and get them through Dec. 14th.



If you missed it:

Disney confirmed capacity increase: In an Investor earnings update, Bob Chapek confirmed that the parks are now at a 35% capacity compared to the 25% when it first reopened. While we can all tell there was an increase, it's still not clear how they go about calculating these numbers and what they're based on. They also reported their losses this year as well as being booked to 77% of the current available capacity for the rest of the year. 

Foodie Guide for all the holiday treats and drinks in the parks and Disney Springs can be found here. 
 

Nov. 6th- Dec. 30th: Holiday season begins with decor, merchandise, food, and beverage appearing in all four parks and Disney Springs.  Nov. 22nd: Final day for Epcot's Food & Wine Festival  Nov. 27th-Dec. 30th: Epcot's Festival of the Holidays  Jan.8th-Feb. 22nd: Epcot's Festival of the Arts