Category: Cities

EPCOT Food & Wine Festival dates announced

Epcot Food and Wine Festival

The EPCOT Food & Wine Festival at Disney World will take place from July 14 – Nov 19, 2022.

There will be food from the countries of the World Showcase and many other booths around the park. Specific booths and menus haven’t been released yet, but it seems they add more every year.

The Eat to the Beat Concert Series will return with performances on select nights. The star-studded lineup has something for every taste—from pop to country to R&B and more. These shows are held in the America Gardens Theater and are included in your EPCOT ticket. No need to buy a separate ticket, but seats can fill up fast, so line up early!

There will also be plenty of additional activities and merchandise if past festivals are any indication. We love these EPCOT festivals. It’s always fun to try new foods and activities there.

Concerts

More details will be released as it gets closer, but I wanted to let you know about the new dates ASAP in case it affects your trip planning.

Here is the official Disney site for this festival if you want to follow along. They will add more details here.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about these festivals or need help planning your trips.

Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights

Halloween Horror Nights

Universal Studios Orlando has confirmed that their super popular Halloween Horror Nights event will be back better than ever this year! It will take place on select nights between Sept 2 – Oct 31, 2022. Tickets are on sale now!

If you don’t know, this is an after hours, separate ticketed event that takes place at the Universal Studios park. It is a haunted house, frights and gore type event, so not for the feint of heart. There will be 10 haunted houses, 5 scare zones, 2 live shows, and of course, themed foods and merchandise.

If you want to get an idea of what the frights are like, search for some videos from prior years on YouTube. Definitely make sure you know what it entails.

For more details, check the official Universal site for this event:

This is a very popular event, and certain days, such as Halloween, will likely sell out quickly. Buy your tickets soon on the Universal site above if you’re planning to go.

Washington DC cherry blossoms are peaking!

Jefferson Memorial cherry blossoms
Jefferson Memorial – Tidal Basin
©NPS

It looks like the famous Washington DC cherry blossoms are about to start blooming this weekend! Peak bloom is forecasted to be from March 22 – 25, 2022. These beautiful trees around the Tidal Basin area are an iconic symbol of spring. This is the 110th anniversary of the gifting of these trees from Japan.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is back in person this year, running from March 20 – April 17, 2022. There will be performances, foods, and activities for all ages. Key events include the Cherry Blossom Parade on April 9th and Petalpalooza on April 16th, a family friendly day of performances and activities culminating in fireworks over the Capital Riverfront.

  • Opening Ceremony: Sunday, March 20, 2022
  • Kite Festival: Saturday, March 26, 2022
  • Parade: Saturday, April 9, 2022
  • Sakura Matsuri – Japanese Street Festival: Saturday, April 9 – Sunday, April 10, 2022
  • PetalPalooza: Saturday, April 16, 2022

The entire festival season season has been known to draw millions of people to the city in past years, and peak bloom week and the parade weekend are especially busy, so plan your trip accordingly if you plan to go.

Here are some resources to help plan your trip:

If you can’t travel to Washington DC, there are several virtual ways for you to join in the fun.

If you would like to chat about planning a trip to Washington DC for the festival or any other time, feel free to contact me. We’ve been to DC area and the Smithsonian museums many times.

Nighttime Spectaculars Returning to Disneyland

Exciting News!!

On April 22, 2022, the “Main Street Electrical Parade” and “Disneyland Forever” fireworks spectacular will return to Disneyland park, and “World of Color” will return to Disney California Adventure park. “Fantasmic!” is preparing for its return to Disneyland park on May 28, 2022.

Fireworks

Upon its return, the “Main Street Electrical Parade” will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. In honor of this milestone, there will be exciting new elements, including a new finale with scenes from stories such as “Encanto,” “The Jungle Book,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Aladdin,” “Coco,” “Mulan,” “Brave,” “The Princess and the Frog” and more.

Parade

“Main Street Electrical Parade” and “Disneyland Forever” will be available for a limited time at Disneyland park. When “Disneyland Forever” fireworks spectacular comes back on April 22, it will run weekends only (Friday through Sunday). “Mickey’s Mix Magic” will present its high-energy, projections-only show during the week (Monday through Thursday) until late spring. At that time, “Disneyland Forever” fireworks will then run nightly in the summer. “World of Color” and “Fantasmic!” will return to their regular schedule upon reopening. Check your Disneyland app for showtimes.

World of Color

Hopefully, you can catch these nighttime shows when they return!

©Disney

Disneyland California Adventure Food & Wine Festival Starts March 4th

The California Adventure Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland’s California Adventure Park is starting on March 4, 2022 and will go through April 26, 2022. This will be a celebration of California’s incredible bounty with vibrant cuisine, entertainment and more.

Festival foods

There will be outdoor food and drink kiosks, cooking demonstrations, mixology classes, live entertainment, activities for the little ones, and of course, plenty of merchandise.

During this festival, the Soarin’ ride will have a limited time return to Soarin’ Over California! Be sure to catch that!

Soarin

For details on this festival, view this Food & Wine Festival page:

This festival may be shorter than the one at EPCOT, but there are still many unique things to explore. Let me know if you want me to help you with your Disneyland trip.

Pics ©Disney

EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival Starts March 2nd

Coming soon! The EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival at Disney World will be starting on March 2, 2022 and go all the way until July 4, 2022 this year! This is much longer than usual.

We love this festival! The most unique feature of this festival is the awesome topiaries. There are so many incredibly detailed and life-like floral topiaries of Disney characters and various other objects all around the park. They are amazing! If you go, definitely go around to find them all.

Another favorite is all of the different food kiosks with such creative foods and drinks to try. It’s fun to go with others so you can share a little something from each kiosk. There’s no way you can eat everything yourself, at least not in one day. Check out this Food Kitchen page for a full list of the offerings.

The Garden Rocks Concert Series is also returning to the America pavilion theater with a long lineup of artists. View the concert lineup here.

Concert series

There will also be scavenger hunts, cooking demonstrations, a butterfly house, play areas and other activities for the little ones, and of course, plenty of merchandise. For more details, view this page for the festival:

There’s no shortage of things to do at EPCOT for the next few months. Hopefully, you can make it to Orlando to check it out. Let me know if you want me to help you with your trip.

Pics ©Disney

Park Ticket Discount for SoCal Residents

©Disney

Southern California residents can purchase a special 3-Day weekday ticket with admission to 1 park per day (no hopping) for as low as $67 per day. They are valid for select days from Jan 3rd – May 26, 2022, subject to park reservation availability. You need to live in zip codes 90000-93599, and provide proof of residency, including valid government-issued photo ID, for purchase and admission.

For specific details on this offer, read this Disneyland SoCal Offer page.

Ride Changes in Genie+

©Disney

UPDATE 07/24/2024: The Genie+ service has now been retired at Disney World in Orlando. View my Lightning Lane page to learn all about the new service. The Genie+ functionality at Disneyland California remains the same, just renamed to Lightning Lane.

From Feb 25 – Aug 7, 2022, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios, Frozen Ever After at EPCOT, and Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom will be a part of the Disney World Genie+ choices instead of the Individual Lightning Lane choices.

This might add some more value to your Genie+ purchase if you intend to ride these. However, it could also change your Genie+ strategy as far as what order to get which rides. Plan ahead!

For more details on Genie+, check out my previous blog post:

Feel free to comment below or email me if you have any questions. It all sounds very confusing, but not too bad when you go to use it. We had a chance to try it out on our last trip. I’ll write about it in our Dec 2021 trip recap.

Livestream of Final Disney on Broadway Concert

©Disney

February 21, 2022 is the last night of the EPCOT Disney on Broadway concert series from the Festival of the Arts at Disney World. Disney Parks has announced that they will livestream this last concert on their “Disney Parks” YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok channels at 8pm ET.

The concert series usually has two performers, but this special last performance will feature four performers who have sung in Disney musicals on Broadway – Ashley Brown (“Mary Poppins”), Josh Strickland (“Tarzan”), Kissy Simmons (“The Lion King”), and Michael James Scott (“Aladdin”)!

Set a calendar remindar to tune in! Should be awesome!

Disneyland Toontown Closing Date Announced

©Disney

Last November, Disney announced that the entire Toontown area in Disneyland, California will be renovated to “feature new play experiences, as well as open, grassy play spaces for everyone to unplug”. Yesterday, they finally gave the specific date when it’ll be closing for this renovation work – March 9, 2022.

It will reopen approximately Spring 2023, no exact date yet on the reopening. However, it will reopen with the new Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride, like the one at Disney World.

If you want more details on what the new Toontown will be like, check out this article from Disney Parks Blog:

So, if you want to visit Toontown one last time in its current state, go before March 9th!