99 Days: 2017 Edition

I enjoyed the blog-post-a-day for the final 100 days of my last Disney countdown, so I'm going to give it another try!

Today is double-digit day, a momentous occasion to be sure. I think I'll celebrate by purchasing tickets to the Secrets of the Empire hyper-reality experience for the Saturday we'll be down there. I was looking on the sales website and one of the time slots is already sold. Now, there are A LOT of time slots, they book every 15 minutes, but still I don't want any surprises.

This whole booking/reserving things month in advance strikes some as weird. It works for me as planning is a lot of the fun in my case and this makes the vacation-spirit fill my life for  along time before the vacation truly begins. My parents are down this week and asked if we'd like to go to Disney World with them sometime in 2019. That's over a year away and the planning gears are already chugging away in my brain. With Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opening sometime in 2019, this trip will benefit from as long range as plan as I can make. I'm looking forward to it :-)

My Favorite New Stuff Of 2016

We were lucky to be able to experience a lot of the newest offering around Walt Disney World on our fall trip last year. We missed Disney Springs entirely, but we did hit each of the parks. Here's a run-down of what we saw.

Magic Kingdom

I think we only got to experience two really new things here, but they were both glorious. The Muppet show in Liberty Square is a must-do. It's perfectly Muppet-esque. The show is funny, the Muppets look exactly as you'd want and expect and it was carried off flawlessly. The setting is great, right in an open courtyard area, and you can sit yourself down on the wall surrounding the Liberty Tree and have a terrific view. We loved it.

MUPPETS!!!!!!

We also got to try the newest table-service restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, the Jungle Navigation Company Skipper's Canteen. This place is themed perfectly to the 1920s-30s era of adventure in far-flung lands. We ate in the main dining room, which was great, but next time I'll request the Adventurers' Club room, which is even better. The menu is a bit different, but for us that's a good thing. We enjoyed pork, chicken and fish all cooked very well and presented in unique ways, especially the fish which was a whole deep fried lion fish with spines and all poking out and its little fishy face looking right at you. This place is really worth a try if you are looking for Magic Kingdom dining options. And now it even serves beer! So go ahead and give it a shot :-)

The waiting room at Skipper Canteen is even cool

Epcot

Not a lot new here, especially since we decided not to even attempt the new Frozen ride. We did, however, really love the new Soarin' movie, so much so we rode it twice in a row. We also got to see Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker on their Mobile Muppet Lab. Apparently this is headed for Hollywood Studios sometime, but wherever it ends up, you need to track it down. It's a hilarious interactive show with, again, very Muppet-y looking Muppets. I just can't get over seeing these guys in the parks. Love it.

Hollywood Studios

With so much of the park closed and under construction, this one is getting a lot of shade thrown its way. We had a good day there, though. We enjoyed all the Star Wars stuff immensely, from the March of the Stormtroopers to the Chewbacca greet. They may seem like little things compared to a Star Wars Land, but they were some of my favorite things on our trip.

Animal Kingdom

This was my favorite. And none of the highly anticipated things, like Avatarland and Rivers of Light, were open. The thing is, they've begun leaving Animal Kingdom open into the evening hours, after dark, and it's the best thing ever. The nighttime safari was great! It's quiet and just different enough to be a lot of fun. Plus, we got to see the male lion roaring at the fireworks going off in another park, which was thrilling. But the entire atmosphere of Animal Kingdom at night is the real draw in my opinion. People left in the afternoon, so the place was empty. No lines for anything at all. We did Expedition Everest several times in a row with no wait. But just wandering around that place at night is great. It's the best-themed park Disney has, I think, and it becomes absolutely magic after dark. We were so very impressed.

Nomad Lounge bar

Oh, and we ate at Tiffins, which was spectacular. It's not cheap, but the food and service are some of the best I've experienced on the Disney property. Next trip I hope to spend more time in the attached Nomad Lounge, which looks across a river at the forthcoming Pandora.

I know there are some biggies planned for 2017, the opening of Pandora chief among them, but I'm wondering what else we'll see. Some of the coolest things from 206 were quietly introduced without a lot of pre-opening fanfare, like the Muppets in Liberty Square. Here's to 2017 bringing more of that!

15 Days: Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!

We never got to see the Osborne Family Christmas Light Spectacular (or whatever it was officially called), and that kind of bums me out because it was apparently a real experience. But with the Streets of America giving way to Star Wars Land construction, the Osbourne lights had to go. And the people were sad, particularly on Twitter.

Until yesterday! Then Disney blew up Twitter with the announcement of a new holiday show for Hollywood Studios, and the people rejoiced. Especially on Twitter.

The new show, called "Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM," replaces the Galactic Spectacular and begins November 14 running through the holiday season. It is in the same vein as the Star Wars show, with a combination of pyrotechnics and projections on the Chinese Theatre, and it looks AMAZING! It's based on the elves, Wayne and Lanny, from the Prep and Landing specials with appearances by Mickey and friends, the Nightmare Before Christmas gang and more.

No telling if this will last long enough (meaning doing it again next year or maybe even into 2018) for us to experience it, but it's great seeing Disney keeping what looks to be a great Christmastime offering at Hollywood Studios.

20 Days: Star Wars Land Ride Details

Photo Courtesy of slashfilm.com

A long and very detailed article on slashfilm.com is filled to the brim with rumored details of Star Wars Land, especially the Escape the Stormtroopers Battle attraction. Now, this is specific to Disneyland in Anaheim, but I'm thinking the attractions at Disney World will be very similar if not the same.

The entire land will be themed to a degree not seen in Disney or any other theme park. Take that, Universal! The article descibes it as more like a Renaissance Fair than a theme park. I can't wait to just walk around.

But the stormtrooper ride really grabbed my attention. Apparently it will involve moving guests through several stories of the ride building and having them actually leave the trackless ride vehicle to run away from approaching stormtroopers before boarding another later. This has got to be hugely complicated, but I'm believing the story because I think Imagineering simply has no choice than to one-up Potterland.

Rumor has it the attraction will use more than 100 animatronics. For reference, the Disneyland version of Pirates of the Caribbean has about 75. Combine that with recent animatronic advances coming out of WDI and we are looking at a potentially mind-blowing experience.

I can't wait!

86 Days: Great Movie Ride Rumor Mill

This has certainly been  a time of change, both confirmed and rumored, for Disney's Hollywood Studios park. I'm over-the-top thrilled about Star Wars Land being constructed and I'm also looking forward to the expansion of the area around Toy Story Midway Mania into a Pixar Land (including a Slinky Dog Coaster, which looks too cute). I've written about the coming PizzeRizzo restaurant to a re-imagined Muppets Square as well. Now we hear changes are in the works for the very center, if not the center point, of the park.

The rumor is the Great Movie Ride will be leaving the Chinese Theater to be replaced by The Great Mickey Ride. The Great Movie Ride is sponsored by Turner Classic Movies but that sponsorship will end in the next few years. Word is, and it appears this way to me, Disney is trying to replace properties it does not control (many of the movies portrayed in The Great Movie Ride are not Disney-owned) with Disney stuff. Also, in all of Disney's theme parks, Mickey has never had an attraction of his own. And after all, it WAS all started by a mouse, right?