News

Magic Kingdom

Liberty Square Riverboat will be down for another refurb from Aug. 4th – Aug 10th.

With Snow White’s Scary Adventures now closed, Disney has released the opening timeline for the upcoming Princess Fairytale Hall. This meet and greet is expected to open in late 2013.

The Magic, The Memories, and You Summer Edition has now started showing.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has reopened from it’s refurbishment. Not a lot has changed except for wider pathways, a little air conditioning, and some boxes that are expected to be used when Next Gen comes into play. Also, the track appears to have been smoothed a bit.

The Country Bear Jamboree will go down for a refurb from Sept. 1st – Oct. 17th.

Epcot

New for this year’s International Food and Wine Festival will be two booths, a Terra booth, featuring vegan food options including Trick’n Chick’n Curry with Basmati Rice and Chili Colorado with House-Made Chips and Cashew Cheese and a Florida booth featuring Florida Shrimp Ceviche with Fire Roasted Vegetables and Crispy Plantains. Also new for this year, on Wednesdays, Marketplace Chef Tours will be given with a walking and tasting tour where guests will be able to taste five marketplace dishes and 5 marketplace beverages, while learning tips and tricks from the chef’s themselves. Also, the Festival has been extended by 1 day, now lasting until Nov. 12th.

A new exciting adventure surrounding the upcoming hit movie Brave has made it to Epcot. Going on now and ending July 8th, the park will be hosting Brave – The Highland Games Tournament which will be located on the pathway between Future World and World Showcase. The games will include a Haggis Flip, a Cake Toss, archery, and sand castle display, a playground area, free wi-fi and more. It will be open from 11 am – 7 pm.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

The American Idol Experience will have a short refurb from June 14th – 15th.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

A party called the Sundowner Celebration, began this week at DAK. This event is expected only last until June 30th, with events taking place in Harambe Village, Discovery Island, and Asia. The party begins after the parade ends and will last until the park closes. Events that will take place during the event include food demonstrations, a wine walk, games for kids, street parties, and DJ dance parties.

Disney Resorts

After years and years of waiting for the Pop Century Legendary Years without them actually coming to fuition…Disney finally opened what is now known as the Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. This week, the Finding Nemo section opened, with the Cars section to open next on June 18th.

General WDW News

Ticket prices have gone up at WDW. A one day adult ticket will now cost $89, up from $85. In addition, Disney is now offering a combined Park Hopper and Water Park Fun and More option for $79. Finally Annual Passes saw a large jump for adults and children making the total $574 for all. For more info on this, check out my TouringPlans.com post with the specific details.

Rumors

Fantasmic could be seeing a major redo in the near future. If it does happen, expect it to go down for at least a year. (This rumor has been on and off for a while now, so take it with a huge grain of salt.)

News and Rumors are gathered from various different sources. All rumors are rumors and are to be taken as such.

Rikki Niblett is a co-host of the Be Our Guest Podcast, a blogger for TouringPlans.com, and runs the blog, A Disney World After All.