Category: Disney

GMA Disney Wish Cruise Giveaway

GMA Cruise Giveaway
©GMA

Good Morning America and Disney Cruise Line are partnering to make your family vacation wish come true, aboard the enchanting all-new Disney Wish. 

5 Grand Prize Winners will each receive a 3-night Bahamian Disney Cruise Line vacation for 4 people aboard the Disney Wish, including a 1-night stay at a Walt Disney WorldⓇ Resort hotel prior to cruise.
Vacation to be taken between June 28-July 2, 2022.

Enter for a chance to win a cruise on one of the first sailings! Read all the details and enter here:

For an exclusive first look at this gorgeous ship, check this out:

Mask mandates lifted on many cruise lines

Mask

As a follow-up to my post the other day about Disney Cruise Line lifting their mass mandate, it looks like most other cruise lines have also lifted their mask mandates.

Of course, this could also change anytime so make sure to check the policy for your particular cruise line at the time when you’re cruising.

I found this article from Cruise Critic that has a good summary of the requirements for most of the cruise lines out there. Credit goes to them.

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!

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Some indoor masks optional for Disney cruise guests

Disney Cruise Line has changed their masking policy. Effective March 11, 2022, guests will no longer have to wear masks in all indoor locations. Below is the exact text from DCL’s Health and Wellness page.

For sailings originating from the US beginning March 11, 2022, face coverings will be optional in most indoor locations throughout our ships. Guests ages 2 and up, including those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, will still be required to wear face coverings in the Walt Disney Theatre. Guests under 5 years of age who are currently ineligible to be vaccinated will be required to wear face coverings in Youth Activity spaces and in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique; and, while not required, we continue to strongly recommend these Guests wear a face covering in all other indoor locations.

As always, read the full Know Before You Go pages for DCL before you book and as you lead up to your cruise. Things can change anytime.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat about cruising or if you’d like me to help book your next cruise. My recaps from our recent cruise in Dec 2021 are in the Trip Recap section.

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+

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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

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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

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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!