Theme park and attraction news, rumors and videos.
The pandemic forced the cancelation of the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort’s annual Food & Wine Classic, but the resort has just announced a replacement food and drink series coming Saturday nights this fall.
If you’ve ever made the trek across a Walt Disney World theme park to check walk-up availability at a table-service restaurant only to find there’s a two-hour wait, we have good news. My Disney Experience has been updated with a new function that enables guests to search the app for restaurants with immediate walk-up reservation availability.
Walt Disney World’s theme parks have been open for nearly a month now and Disney has been regularly making operational modifications to everything from health and safety guidelines to ride procedures to dining offerings in the parks. This has now extended to park hours, with Walt Disney World’s website showing reduced opening hours across all four parks beginning Sept. 8.
Disney has continued to expand and modify health and safety protocols implemented across Walt Disney World. Disney has now updated the Walt Disney World website to state that guests will now undergo a temperature screening before dining at a table-service restaurant at a Disney resort hotel.
Walt Disney World began a phased reopening of resort hotels on June. 22, but has made it clear that all reopening plans are subject to change. Proposed reopening dates have now been pushed back or postponed indefinitely at a number of Walt Disney World Resort hotels.
Just as health and safety guidelines and recommendations continue to be modified and updated by local government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Disney has also been regularly adding clarification to their policies on face coverings for guests and cast members at Walt Disney World at Disneyland Resort. As Scott Gustin first reported, Disney has added additional clarification to their mask guidelines, specifying that “face coverings containing valves, mesh material or holes of any kind are not acceptable face coverings.”
The Halloween hits keep on coming today. This morning, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood both canceled Halloween Horror Nights 2020. According to the OC Register, Disneyland has now canceled its after-hours Halloween event, Oogie Boogie Bash, due to ongoing coronavirus concerns and the uncertainty surrounding the theme park’s reopening, which is pending guidelines from state and federal authorities.
After twice delaying the release of the live-action version of “Mulan,” which was originally scheduled to hit U.S. theaters on March 27, Disney has announced that they’re pressing pause on sending the movie to theaters indefinitely. The film’s release was previously pushed to July 24, then to Aug. 21.
Downtown Disney, Disneyland Resort’s shopping and dining district, began its phased reopening on July 9. Just as Walt Disney World has recently issued clarification on guidelines for face coverings, the Downtown Disney District has also tightened up requirements, limiting when guests are able to remove masks.
When Walt Disney World reopened its theme parks on July 11 and July 15, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios was the only attraction to offer guests a Virtual Queue in lieu of a standby line. On Thursday, in a post on the Disney Parks Blog, Disney announced an update to the Rise of the Resistance Virtual Queue procedure that will take effect Friday, July 24.
