ZapperZ's and Philaduckia's Blog on everything Disney. We are Disney Vacation Club members, Walt Disney World Annual Passholders, and Disney Pin collector. All of them make for a very lethal combination! :)
Here's a bit of nostalgia from many years ago. It was still called Downtown Disney, and there was still Pleasure Island. This was in front of the Lego store.
I didn't take this one. This was taken by a cast member who was escorting us as we did the Wild Africa Trek at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Of course this is a photo over the crocs that you see during the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. It was such a fun thing to do, we'd love to do it again.
Missed posting a photo yesterday, so there will be two today.
Yesterday was May the 4th, with his the unofficial Star Wars Day for May The 4th Be With You. So the first photo is a Star Wars related one. This is from Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The second one is from Castaway Cay when we stop over twice during a DVC Member Cruise.
Didn't get to post a photo yesterday, so today, I'll post two.
First one is a blast from the past. I miss the Gates of Winter, and one can only hope that they'll bring it back in one form or another. Although, we the financial hit Disney is taking with the shutdown, who knows what will happen after this is all over.
The second photo is from Animal Kingdom Lodge. This was taken during one of our Wanyama Safari trip at that resort. Obviously, it was giraffe feeding time here.
Want something to keep you entertained while you are cooped up at home? Khan Academy and Pixar has themed up for a free online course on theme park design and imagineering. You can access the Imagineering In A Box course directly here.
I'm going to start posting a photo a day of Disney theme parks and Resorts (including Disney Cruise Line) during their shutdown, just to get some Disney Magic going. Here's my first one.
Rise of the Resistance attraction at DHS has finally opened (with some technical difficulties from the reports I read about last night's opening and press preview).
I must admit, somehow this reminds me of the Great Movie Ride married to Star Tours. I wonder how long before Disney starts to cut back on many of the cast members who are live characters on the attraction, and how frequent will the technical problems be that will shut down the ride.
This is our Jack Skellington tree for Halloween 2019.
We started off with a basic Jack Skellington tree that we probably bought at Walgreens from a few years ago. Then we added two sets of Jack Skellington head ornaments that we got from Hallmark. Those filled up the tree quite a bit, and this is what we end up with.
If you haven't seen it, here is a video of Epcot Forever on its opening night.
It isn't bad, and certainly not as disappointing as the show that replaced Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. I think die-hard Epcot fans will like it more than a casual visitor because of the nostalgia factor. So my guess is that the majority of Epcot's visitors will not be familiar with many of the tunes being played during the show. The overall music, though, is not as catchy and as spectacular/melodic as the original Illuminations - Reflections of Earth. But at least they incorporated, for my nostalgia benefit, snippets of Tapestry of Nations, which is my all-time most favorite Disney music.
There were anything spectacular with respect to the show itself, other than the kites. They were neat, but considering the number of cast members they have to employ during the show to do that, I don't see that one lasting for long, even if this is a temporary show. There are also a few "dead" spots during the show where nothing happens for several seconds. So the transition from one to the other was too obvious.
All in all, it isn't a poor replacement for Illuminations, but it isn't as good. Now they have an almost impossible task of coming up with something more spectacular next year when they replace this one.
If you haven't seen the Disney Park Blogs yet, here are the latest news on the Disney Cruise Line new ships and also the 2nd island in the Bahamas. The first of the new ship has been given the name Disney Wish.
But even more exciting, Joe Rohde is leading the design of the 2nd Disney island in the Bahamas.
Joe Rohde, whose
work includes the design of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Aulani, a Disney Resort
& Spa in Hawaii, has embarked on an in-depth cultural tour of The Bahamas.
With local artists and cultural experts, he has explored cultural sites across
New Providence and Eleuthera, from Junkanoo shacks to noted art
galleries.
Joe
points out that Disney will be directly involved in conservation efforts to
preserve and protect the environment and will be working with local
artists to create a unique destination that is rooted in Bahamian culture and filled
with Disney magic.
When I looked at the artist rendering of the new island, I noticed something in the background that looks like a zipline!! :)
Of course, one of the best thing about cruising with a Disney cruise ship is dinner at Palo, and having the ridiculously good and famous Palo's chocolate souffle. We never fail to get it, plus maybe another dessert as well (yes, I know that we were being pigs for having more than one dessert).
So it is nice that Disney Cruise Line has released a video on how to make their chocolate souffle. Maybe we can do this ourselves at home and don't have to wait till we get on a Disney cruise ship to have the pleasure of such a delicious treat.
For the record, here is a picture of the chocolate souffle that we had on the Disney Wonder during out Alaskan Cruise this past September, 2018.
