Disney News

Back in April, Disney Parks announced plans for the addition of a Starbucks® location to each of their six U.S. Theme Parks inside the Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida and the Disneyland® Resort in California. The first of these locations opened as the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Café this past June inside Disney California Adventure® Park.

Next year, locations will open at the Magic Kingdom® Park and Epcot® in Florida. The Main Street Bakery will close inside the Magic Kingdom® Park in January 2013 and will reopen after refurbishment in the early summer. While the location will reopen as a Starbucks® location, it will keep the name and theming that we have all known and loved over the past 41 years. In addition to Starbucks® signature beverages, many guest’s favorites will still be available inside the bakery. In Epcot®, the current Fountain View Ice Cream location in Future World will close in March 2013 and reopen midsummer as a futuristically-themed Starbucks® location.

Friday night, the Magic Kingdom® Park in the Walt Disney World® Resort held their first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party for the year. Guests who attend this year’s special-ticketed event are able to receive an exclusive holiday Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card.

The card features Prep and Landing’s Wayne and Lanny. The Ornament Barrage card can be obtained by guests attending the party by showing their party ticket and wristband at the Main Street Firehouse. It is the second of a series of special Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Party cards, with the first being “Chip ‘N’ Dale’s Bag of Tricks” from the 2012 Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

The Walt Disney World® Resort will host the 37th Festival of the Masters this weekend in the Downtown Disney® Area. Sponsored by Michaels, the open-air arts festival presents guests with the works of over 100 award winning artists – including photography, jewelry, sidewalk chalk art, and much more.

Events planned for this weekend include:

• Various hands-on activities for Guests of all ages and interests – including “Make It Take It” crafts, a do-it-yourself fashion show, and the “Michaels Master Mural” where guests can help in creating a mosaic-like mural and an 8-foot tall LEGO Hulk figure
• Artist appearances
• Live musical performances at various venues including House of Blues®, Bongos Cuban Café® and Raglan Road™ Irish Pub and Restaurant
• Live performances from La Nouba™ by Cirque du Soleil®
• Unique shopping opportunities—from fine art to Disney collectibles

The Festival of the Masters runs Fri (11/9) and Sat (11/10) from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Sun (11/11) 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The event and parking are complimentary.

This Friday, the holiday season will officially start at Disney’s Hollywood Studios® when The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is lit for the first time this season! Included with standard admission to the park, the show has become a holiday tradition since 1995. The simply breathtaking seasonal display is made up of more than 5 million glittering LED Christmas lights that Disney Imagineers have perfectly synchronized to holiday music.

The Walt Disney World® Resort has announced that this year, Santa Goofy will join the fun inside his very own Winter Wonderland. This area will serve as a meet and greet area during The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Also added this year is an eighth song for the lights to sync to, a special arrangement of “Winter Wonderland” by Creative Entertainment Music Director Dan Stamper.

If you’ve never seen The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, it is something that you must do! Pictures are not able to truly capture just how amazing it is. It will run Nov. 9 through Jan. 6.

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As the holidays quickly approach, we start to feel a real “crunch” in our wallets. But Disney Cruise Line® has released a promotion that will allow you to plan your upcoming vacation at sea right now without tying up too much of your holiday funds.