By Robert Niles: In case you missed the announcement this morning, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train will open to the public on May 28. Fastpass+ reservations now are available via the My Disney Experience link on disneyworld.com. Given that Disney allowed invited reporters and fans to ride this week, one wonders if Disney's really going to keep the ride closed to the public for the next four weeks, or if May 28 simply is the first day for which you can make Fastpass+ reservations. Either way, if you're visiting the Magic Kingdom this month, you might as well "swing" by and see if the dwarfs will let you in.
It's time again for what's turned out to be Walt Disney World's annual offering of free Disney Dining plans with Walt Disney World on-site hotel vacations. This year's offer is available to Disney Visa cardholders now, and will open to the rest of the public on May 7. It's a free quick service dining plan for 3- to 14-day vacations at Value Resorts, and a free standard dining plan for vacations of the same length at the Moderate and Deluxe resorts, for the following arrival dates:
August 31 - October 3
October 26 - November 1
November 9 - November 20
December 12 - December 23
Port Orleans, All-Star Movies, Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation, Grand Floridian villas, and Fort Wilderness campsites are not included in the offer.
Disney announced today that the Festival of the Lion King show, which was kicked out of its theater at Disney's Animal Kingdom for Avatar - World of Pandora construction, will return to the park this June in a new theater in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom. In addition, Disney will offer a special, after-hours version of the Lion King story, "The Lion King Concert in the Wild," with a live orchestra and celebrity narrator, as part of a "Harambe Nights" hard-ticket event on Saturday nights from June 7 through August 9. Tickets start at $119 for ages 10 and up and $79 ages 9 and under, and include a street party and dinner buffet after the show, with beer, wine and drinks included.
Disney also revealed that the upcoming nighttime show at Animal Kingdom will be called Rivers of Light. No opening date yet.
Finally, Walt Disney World is bringing a version of Disneyland's popular Trader Sam's cocktail lounge to the Polynesian Resort, which will revert to its old Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort name next year as part of a major refurbishment of the resort. The Polynesian version will be called Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, though no specific opening date has been announced yet.
With the Mine Train opening this month, neither Walt Disney World nor Disneyland will have any major new theme park attractions planned until Avatar opens at Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2017, unless Rivers of Light opens before then. (We're not counting Festival of the Lion King as a new attraction — that's really more of a refurbishment.) The Disney Springs shopping and dining area that replaces Downtown Disney in Florida remains under construction for a 2016 completion, and renovation work continues at the Polynesian, but nothing's in the pipeline officially for the theme parks on either coast, save Avatar. We will see if Disney will continue to enjoy growing, record-breaking attendance at its theme parks by promoting itself as a lifestyle brand rather than offering new attractions for the next three years. If you forced me to guess, I'd bet that it will. What do you think?
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