The official Disney Parks blog has finally confirmed the long-rumored return of “Captain EO” to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. beginning in February 2010, but only for a “limited engagement.” The 17-minute, fan-favorite 3D film stars the late Michael Jackson in a sci-fi battle and will temporarily replace “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” in Disneyland. Unfortunately, [...]

The Grinch will take over Universal Orlando’s new official Facebook page to answer guests’ questions live this afternoon. The star of Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” will interact with fans and give them a humorous glimpse into the entertainment they can expect at Grinchmas – a live stage show at Universal’s Islands of [...]

Since 2002, Universal Studios has partnered with Macy’s to bring elements of the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to Orlando during the holiday season. In addition to shipping down memorable floats featured in the annual New York parade, Macy’s brings several of the giganic balloons that have made the parade so popular over the decades. [...]

It’s time again for our monthly update on the construction progress of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure. Here’s a quick video tour of what’s new since our last update, followed by some photos: As you can see in the photo above, some of the scaffolding has come down [...]

Disney has gone miniature-crazy as they release their third tilt-shift video shrinking Walt Disney World through a clever photography technique. This time, their cameras were set up at the Magic Kingdom, during the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade tapings, capturing the entire parade as well as performances by the Jonas Brothers, Kris Allen, Celine Dion, [...]

Photo by TouringPlansLast week, we told you about Disney testing a queueless meet-and-greet system in Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in which parents would wait in line while their children played in a playground until it was time for everyone to meet a character. Now it appears that testing continues this week but on a [...]

Chef Emeril Lagasse met fans and signed copies of his latest cookbook at Universal Orlando CityWalk on Dec. 14, 2009. The book signing took place in front of Emeril’s Orlando (his restaurant) in CityWalk. Emeril’s new cookbook, called “20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast” includes simple techniques and quick tips to create healthy meals for the family on the go. [...]

In Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom this week, a few of Disney’s Imagineers and cast members held a test at Pooh’s Playful Spot, the playground located across from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh dark ride. Pooh characters were made available for meet and greets, but new queueing rules were attached. Parents were instructed, [...]

After a couple of days delay, the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade television taping finished up yesterday at the Magic Kingdom. We brought you photos from the first day of recordings featuring Yanni and Kris Allen last Thursday, and the tapings were to continue the next two days, but Mother Nature had other ideas with [...]

The Winter 2010 issue of Orlando Attractions Magazine is now available for preview and pre-order. Feature articles in this issue include: • COVER STORY: A Whole New World Reimagined and expanded Fantasyland to deliver more magic than ever before. • Blast Off Into Superspace Disney’s Space Mountain reopens with new enhancements. • Star Tours II: [...]

“American Idol” winner Kris Allen and composer/pianist Yanni performed at the Magic Kingdom on Dec. 3, 2009 as part of this year’s taping of the annual Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade. Taping continues on Dec. 4 and 5 and will be aired on Dec. 25 on ABC. Here are a few photos of today’s performances, [...]

December is one of the best times to visit Orlando. Even though there’s no real snow, you’re sure to be able to get into the Christmas spirit with all of the festivities. Whether want to visit the Grinch, go ice skating, see thousands of dancing holiday lights, Orlando has you covered. Here are the events [...]

We previously told you about being able to virtually walk through the streets of the Universal Orlando Resort via Google Maps. Now SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego have also been captured by Google and are navigable via their Street View technology. From worldsofdiscoveryblog.com: Working with Google’s Street View team, nearly every inch of [...]

It was nearly two months ago that the sale of Busch Entertainment Corp. and its theme parks to The Blackstone Group was made public. Now a new name for the company has been revealed. “SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment” replaces “Busch Entertainment Corporation” with the closing of the sale announced jointly today by Anheuser-Busch InBev and [...]

The Universal Orlando Resort is running a contest in which you can win a trip to the grand opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure. The grand prize is a trip for four to Orlando to participate in the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter sometime in Spring [...]

For the 2009 Christmas season, Disney has installed into the Magic Kingdom’s Emporium windows along Main Street U.S.A. the long out-of-view animated window displays based on the holiday favorite, “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.” Six scenes tell the classic story of Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit and Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. These scenes were originally on [...]

Upon hearing of Space Mountain soft opening to guests yesterday after a seven-month refurbishment, I rushed over to the Magic Kingdom only to be denied a ride as the roller coaster was shut down for further maintenance and testing. I returned to the Magic Kingdom today at around 1 p.m. to find Space Mountain once [...]

At around 4 p.m. today, Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom reopened for the first time to guests since closing for refurbishment in nearly seven months. Still in testing, the classic roller coaster remained open for roughly two hours before being shut down once again due to technical difficulties. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance [...]

The official Disney Parks Blog has release a new image from within Space Mountain’s newly-updated queue along with new information surrounding the ongoing refurbishment of the classic attraction. Most importantly, Disney has now announced that Space Mountain will officially be reopening on Nov. 22. Soft openings have reportedly already begun with cast members and guest [...]

This holiday season, in addition to the return of SeaWorld Orlando’s annual Polar Express Experience make over of their Wild Arctic siulator ride, they’re adding three all-new shows: Winter Wonderland on Ice An all-new holiday-themed ice-skating show, Winter Wonderland on Ice, debuts on Nov. 27 at SeaWorld’s Bayside Stadium and will be performed on select [...]