New Images & Details on the Disney Skyliner; Grand Opening Gala on New Year's Eve at The Edison

New Images & Details on the Disney Skyliner:

Since the D23 announcement on the new Disney Skyliner coming to Walt Disney World, many have been wondering about the new transportation system. Well as part of the 12 days of Disney Parks Christmas, more details and concept art on the new transportation system traveling the sky from Disney's Caribbean Beach, Disney's Pop Century, Disney's Art of Animation, Epcot, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. 

Select Disney Skyliner cabins will have iconic Disney characters incorporated into their exterior design to give the appearance that a Disney pal is riding along with guests, such as characters from the ‘Fab Five,’ figures from Disney attractions, fan favorites from movies, and more.

International Gateway at Epcot:

The design of the Disney Skyliner station at International Gateway at Epcot will be inspired by the park’s nearby European Pavilions, and will be covered with metal and glass canopies, hand-painted murals and ornamental steel structures that harken back to the early 18th century Art Nouveau style. Guests traveling to Epcot via the Disney Skyliner will be welcomed to the park with a rare birds-eye view of World Showcase.

Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort:

The Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort station will be the hub of activity for Disney Skyliner. This station is inspired by the open air village marketplaces of the Caribbean and will showcase the nearby resort’s architectural detailing and color schemes. At this station, passengers will be able to transfer gondola routes to reach their destination, or are invited to sit and admire the waterfront resort setting.

Disney's Hollywood Studios:

The design style of the station at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will fit with that of the park’s main entrance and bus stations. Passengers traveling here from the Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort station can expect a new aerial perspective of the park’s iconic attractions, like The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Disney's Pop Century and Disney's Art of Animation:

Disney’s Pop Century Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will share a Disney Skyliner station that feels whimsical and contextual with both resorts. Upon departing the gondola station, Skyliner passengers will ascend over Hourglass Lake and enjoy a panoramic view of these two colorful resorts.

Stay tuned for future updates and an official opening date for the Disney Skyliner. 

Source: Disney Parks Blog

Grand Opening Gala on New Year's Eve at The Edison:

The Edison will host a Grand Opening Gala on New Year's Eve, an exclusive event for guests 21 and older, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Here are the details on the event:

The Edison at Disney Springs will host a dazzling gala Grand Opening on New Year’s Eve, showcasing its lavish Industrial Gothic-style, crave-worthy food and exceptional cocktails plus a truly spectacular lineup of world-class entertainment all within Central Florida’s newest entertainment hot-spot. The Edison’s doors will open at 7:30 p.m., allowing guests ample time to eat, drink and be merry, right up through a special midnight toast to ring in 2018. A fully immersive dining experience, The Edison features multiple themed areas to explore, such as the Lab performance space, The Ember Parlour, Telegraph Lounge, The Patent Office, The Tesla Lounge, The Radio Room, and the Waterfront Patio.

Tickets for The Edison’s New Year’s Eve Grand Opening are $150 and available to a limited number of lucky guests to purchase. The ticket price includes tray-passed hors d’oeuvres, live-action food stations and a wide selection of beer, wine and premium spirits from 8 p.m until midnight; plus, a selection of coffee, desserts and a celebratory midnight toast to ring in the new year.

A minimum age of 21 is required to attend this event. Guests arriving to The Edison Orlando are asked to adhere to our dress code.  Men may wear slacks, jeans or dress shorts.  No ball caps, sleeveless shirts or flip-flops are permitted.  Jackets are optional.

Tickets for the event, can be purchased on the Patina Restaurant Group website.

Disney Skyliner (Gondolas) Plus Minnie Vans Announced as New Transportation

We have talking about the gondolas coming to Walt Disney World for months and tonight during the Disney Parks & Resorts panel they were confirmed. The new transportation system will be called the Disney Skyliner.

The new transportation system will as previously reported connect Disney's Art of Animation, Disney's Pop Century, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the International Gateway at Epcot. 

As seen in the concept art above, the gondolas will feature many of our favorite Disney characters as we travel around the Walt Disney World Resort. Construction has already begun on the towers at each station location for the Disney Skyliner. It is expected to be completed by 2019. 

This wasn't the only new form of transportation that was announced during the panel as the new Minnie Van Uber-like service was revealed.

“Since we’re all about exceeding guest expectations and making every aspect of your vacation uniquely Disney, we’re creating a new point-to-point transportation service in a way that only Disney can do,” Bob Chapek, President of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts said.

The Minnie vehicles will take you everywhere you want to go at the Walt Disney World Resort, and you’ll ride in Minnie’s classic style, in a Minnie-inspired Chevy Traverse. This new Minnie Van service is expected begin testing later this month at Disney's Boardwalk and Yacht Club Resorts. 

The service will cost $20 per car per trip and once tested will expand to several other locations throughout Walt Disney World.

Source: Disney Parks Blog

"Don't Know Where I'm Going, Only Know Where I've Been." Trip Report Part 3

If you just finished up part 2 here is part 3 and the final part of my trip report. It may be two weeks since I returned from Walt Disney World, but I still can remember everything as if I just left yesterday. Anyway's here you'll see our last trip to Epcot and our day that seemed it wouldn't end, Star Wars Weekends review, and our last day in Disney.

Thursday:

I'm just going to start off by saying there will be no pictures from this day. It was a long day and I couldn't even begin to imagine this happening again ever. We began the day by returning to Epcot one last time. We made our way to our first fastpass in the Imagination pavilion where the first unimaginable thing happened.

 My sister and I got on Figment where they say watch your sunglasses there will be wind in segments. I decided to take my sunglasses off even though the other day I had worn them on the ride. I must have put them on my hat and forgot because they blew off my hat at some point in the ride and I lost them. We alerted cast members and they said unfortunately they couldn't retrieved anything until 7 that night when they did their final walkthrough of the ride. So to put in plain and simple I was miserable thinking I lost my favorite Oakley sunglasses. There is a happy ending however but more on this later. 

After our unhappy ride with Figment, my sister and I headed over to Nemo to meet my mother and father for our next fastpass. We enjoyed our ride with Nemo and friends and had some time before our last fastpass at Test Track. Looking for something to do we dropped off my medication at First Aid and then decided to go on Mission: Space. It had been a few years since we rode this attraction of course we decided on the light version. Then the next unimaginable thing happened my sister got light-headed towards the end of the ride. We left the ride and she sat down with my father in the shade and drank water while we went to ride Test Track.

Test Track of course was amazing, the updated version by Chevrolet is even better than its previous version. Being able to create your own car is awesome and I thoroughly enjoy going on Test Track. After Test Track we headed off to lunch at the Electric Umbrella. I of course had the same thing I had on Tuesday, the French Dip Burger again. With no fastpasses left it was time to enjoy one final walk through the countries before dinner at Via Napoli in Italy. 

As we walked through the countries we took one last visit to America and The American Adventure. I can't say how great this show is, it makes you really proud to be an American. We had a snack in Germany of curry and paprika kettle-cooked chips. I discovered the Werther's shop in Germany (yes I never knew it existed). We decided to return later to take some snacks back to our room. After walking through the rest of the countries we decided to visit Mexico and see The Grand Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros. It was time for dinner at Via Napoli. We all had pizza because I'm just saying very well could be the best pizza in Disney World.

After another delicious dinner, my sister and I ran over to the Imagination pavilion to see if they could find my sunglasses. We arrived right at 7:00, we alerted the cast member in front they said they would be doing their final walkthrough shortly and they would be looking for them. It seemed like we waited forever and after praying all day that they would be found a cast member came out with my sunglasses. I couldn't thank them enough, a big THANK YOU to the cast members who found my sunglasses in the Figment attraction. 

We made our way over to the Germany pavilion to pick out our snacks from the Karamell-Kuche, it smelled so heavenly. We decided on a caramel drizzled chocolate covered rice krispie treat (it was huge), chocolate caramel covered marshmallow stick, two bags of the popcorn, and a dark chocolate sea salt bar. We made our way out of the park and back to the hotel hoping to swim. The swimming was out of the question however my dad while taking a shower, the shower backed up and flooded part of the main room. If you want to hear more about what happened at the hotel read my review of our stay here. Everything was fixed and that ended the nightmare of the day.

Friday:

The day I had been waiting for all week had finally arrived. We were going to Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekends weekend 3. We all woke up early that day and arrived at the park just after 9:00. This is pretty good for us considering we couldn't get to the park before 10 any other day. 

The Chinese Theater was behind the stage but it still was nice to see it without the Sorcerer's Hat in front of it. We had some time before our fastpass at Tower of Terror so I decided to check out the show on the stage with the stormtroopers and the carbon-frozen Han Solo. Those stormtroopers are hilarious. 

On my way over to Tower of Terror I finally found the Tomorrowland pin, I had been looking all week for it. It was time to go on Tower of Terror and take a visit into the Twilight Zone. My sister can't go on this because of back problems but my mother and I go on this attraction every time we visit. It's my niece's favorite attraction. There is nothing like getting tossed up and down and not knowing what's going to happen each time you go on the attraction. Note: Rock N' Roller Coaster was down for emergency maintenance all week. While every other guest was waiting for the parade, we decided to head over to Darth's Mall to get some of the merchandise.

Before that though we stopped to see about the Frozen show if you didn't have a fastpass and stopped to see Lightning McQueen and Mater. This visit was exclusively for my youngest nephew who is obsessed with Cars. We finally headed over to Darth's Mall which is located in the old Backlot Tour area. It was a great area for it and themed amazingly. 

Inside the shopping area we entered the limited edition store first where I picked up the logo pin and the trilogy scenes pins from episodes four, five, and six. They are amazing and I am so glad I got them. At the time by the way you could walk into both store. We then headed over to Watto's Grotto where I picked up the Star Wars Weekend t-shirt and we all picked up some of the Star Wars cars for my nephew. They didn't have some of them so he is short a few for the complete set. It was a successful trip to Darth's Mall. 

My family and I headed over to the Muppets, it's a must do at Hollywood Studios if your a fan of the Muppets. After we got out of the show it was time to head over for our lunch reservation at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. This restaurant is hilarious, remember no elbows on the table and definitely no spitballs. I got in trouble with our waiter because my mother thought it would be funny to roll up her straw and place it in front of me. Anyway's for lunch I had Aunt Liz's Golden Fried Chicken. It was quite good. Another place that I wasn't going to have dessert but once again my arm was twisted and I couldn't resist, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake was calling me. It was so moist and rich I couldn't even finish it all, it was amazing though. 

After lunch, my mother and I went over to Star Tours for our fastpass. I couldn't be at Hollywood Studios and not go on this attraction, especially during Star Wars Weekends.  The ride takes you on a different tour every time and its just amazing since they updated it. We met up with father and sister afterwards and made our way over to the Frozen show. Now I know Frozen has gone overboard at the parks but the show was really well done in my opinion. Here are some pictures that I took from the show. 

After the show it was time to head over to Toy Story Midway Mania for our final fastpass of our trip. This is another must do at Hollywood Studios as it brings all your favorite Toy Story characters together in competitive multi-game attraction. I didn't do as well as I do on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin but it is still a fun ride.  Before the ride here were some Star Wars characters roaming through the park.

Anyway's after Toy Story Mania we headed over to One Man's Dream. This is one of my favorite shows in Walt Disney World. From all the pictures and dioramas before the show to the show and story of Walt Disney itself. It is just amazing and reminds that "it was all started by a mouse." The show lasts 20 minutes and after that it was time for dinner. We headed over to ABC Commissary to try something new out. That something new was the steak dinner that was a nice size 11 oz. New York strip steak served with broccoli and fries. Surprising for a quick serve dinner it wasn't half bad. For dessert I had the Darth Vader chocolate peanut butter cupcake, it was delicious.

Dinner was over and all we had left to do was The Great Movie Ride and then it was sadly time to say goodbye to the parks. The Great Movie Ride had just re-opened as it is now presented by TCM. Both the pre-shows, the queue, and the ending were re-done. The queue now has picture frames of movies that will change every few seconds to a different movie. There are new movie props in the lobby as well. The pre-show is a continuous show that runs almost 45 minutes long so you will never see the whole thing. The most shocking is now the hosts of the ride itself do not talk as much as the voice over by TCM host Robert Osborne. It was done over nicely and it was better. I believe though that some of the attraction itself could be re-done maybe add some more modern movies to the attraction. 

It was time to leave Hollywood Studios and head back to our hotel. We arrived back at the Art of Animation and decided to go swimming for a little bit. After swimming the realization was hitting us that we were going home the next day, so it was time to begin packing to go home.

Saturday:

It was going home day and it was depressing that we were having to come back to Pennsylvania. We woke up and had a small breakfast. We finished up packing in our room and went over to airline check-in to drop off our luggage.  After we walked around the resort and took some photos of around this beautiful place. I was really sad that we had to leave, it really was a great week. Here are some photos I took around the resort.

After leaving the room at 11, due to checkout we headed over to Animation Hall because we still had 3 hours before we were to be picked up by the Magical Express. In that time we visited the arcade for awhile before we had lunch. It was around 11:45 when we had lunch for the final time at Landscape of Flavors. I had a delicious chicken burger with bacon, pickles, mushrooms, and american cheese. Lunch was over and finally all our meal and snack credits were used up. We now only had about an hour and half before we were due to be picked up. We decided to look at our photopass photos to pass the time and it was worth it. A little after two the Magical Express came to pick us up and take us to the Orlando International Airport. 

Goodbye, Art of Animation and Walt Disney World = (

Once we got through the airport of course we had to take the tram over to the terminal and get through security. We got through security pretty quickly and went over to McDonald's to have a quick bite to eat before our plane left at 5.  We then headed over to our gate and shortly thereafter boarded the plane to come home. Thus, ending our wonderful trip to Walt Disney World and back to Pennsylvania. Overall it was a great trip, very relaxing and I can't wait to get back to my favorite place on Earth.

"Don't Know Where I'm Going, Only Know Where I've Been." Trip Report Part 2

Last week, we ended part 1 after my first full day in the park at Magic Kingdom. We now move onto Tuesday and Wednesday of the trip. So without further a do let's move into the next part of the trip report and create some memories.

Tuesday

It was Tuesday and we were going back to Epcot to enjoy the day. We just made it to the park for our first fastpass, Spaceship Earth, literally with just about 15 minutes to spare. We got in line to begin our journey to the future.

We had some time before our next fastpass at Figment, so we went to drop off my medication at First Aid. We decided to go into the past and learn about energy and dinosaurs at Ellen's Universe of Energy. This 40 minutes takes you into the past where energy began and even though most of the animatronics don't work or Ellen and the Elasmosaurus are missing, I still enjoy this attraction. After being cooled off in Universe of Energy it was time for a quick bathroom break. My sister and I headed over to Figment. This is one of my favorite attractions as Figment is one of my favorite Disney characters.

It was time for lunch at the Electric Umbrella. Now the Electric Umbrella is probably one of my favorite counter services in Disney World. You probably think I am nuts with how busy it is all the time. This time they have this French Dip Burger. It a 1/3 pound Angus burger with beef brisket, crispy onion straws, and muenster cheese served with grapes or fries. It is quite good and I enjoyed it not once but twice on this trip. For dessert they now have a chocolate cupcake that reminded me of a bakery that we have here near my house.

It was then time to head over to The Land pavilion and experience Soarin' over California. An adventure like no other, I love this attraction as it is my favorite attraction in Epcot. Hang gliding over California where you can literally smell everything like you really are hang gliding over California. Disney Imagineers are really amazing. After soaring over the west coast it was time to take a stroll around the countries for the afternoon before our dinner reservation at Coral Reef.

We first headed through Canada to enjoy "O Canada!" a fourteen-minute show hosted by actor Martin Short. This 360 degree circle theater has no seats so you must stand to enjoy the show. It was interesting as I haven't seen the show in quite some time. It was time to stroll the rest of the countries.

Now this is all leading up to Norway which as we discussed this week is under major renovation with the new 'Frozen Ever After' attraction coming to the pavilion.  I took some photos around Norway and of the walls  that are surrounding what is to the come of the area.

It was almost time to head over to The Sea pavilion for dinner but first it was time to stop at First Aid to pick up my medication. It was just about time for our reservation at The Coral Reef so we headed over for dinner under the sea. This is another restaurant that I hadn't been in years. For dinner I had the Grilled New York Strip Steak that is served with cheddar mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a bercy butter. It was delicious but that wasn't even the best part of the meal. The dessert was exceptional and simply the best dessert I had while there. I had the Turtle Cheesecake which is a caramel cheesecake in the shape of a turtle with hazelnut praline and chantilly cream. I raved about this dessert even when I came home. 

After dinner we headed over to The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Another one of my favorite attractions in Epcot, you get to dive into the big blue world. The seas pavilion is amazing and the aquarium with all the fish makes it that much better. We took some pictures in The Sea pavilion before we headed off to Mouse Gear. We planned on staying for Illuminations that night so we still had time before we stopped to find our spot for that. 

After a visit to Mouse Gear, it was time to head over to World Showcase to find our spot for Illuminations. I'm not going to go into great detail into this great show of fireworks and the reflections of Earth. I'm just going to let the pictures show how beautiful it is. 

That ended our day at Epcot, the next day we were heading back to the Magic Kingdom.

Wednesday

This was going to be our last day in the Magic Kingdom so besides our fastpasses that we had it was going to be kind of a relaxing day to enjoy the beauty of it all. We arrived mid morning and just all around took it easy that day. I don't have many pictures until later in the day. We headed over to the Haunted Mansion for a ride with our favorite ghosts. That ride never gets old and is a classic attraction that has to be seen every trip. We had reservations for lunch at Be Our Guest. I'm not sure if I like lunch or dinner better as we just had lunch there this trip. Dinner is great I know because the steak is perfect at dinner but lunch the carved chuck roast beef sandwich was delicious as well. 

After lunch we headed back over to the Mine Train for our first fastpass of the day. Again I say one of the best attractions imagineers have created. We then headed towards Tomorrowland for our fastpass with Buzz. I won again in this friendly competition of a ride. My family and I headed over to the Carousel of Progress for a mid-afternoon break. Before we headed to our last fastpass at Big Thunder Mountain. We headed over to Main Street to enjoy Festival of Fantasy parade one more time. 

The parade once again was wonderful but we still had one last fastpass at Big Thunder Mountain. We headed over to Frontierland for the "wildest ride in the wilderness." The Magic Kingdom has so many great and classic rides. It is simply one of my favorite parks in Disney World. After our wild ride it was time to head to Main Street and the Emporium before we headed off to the Polynesian for dinner. At the Emporium we picked up some souvenirs for our family and ourselves. It was getting time to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and head off to dinner.

We headed to the monorail to get over to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian, one of our favorite restaurants in all of Disney World. Now the Polynesian is one of my family's favorite resorts as we have stayed there multiple times when I was younger and most recently a few years ago as well. I knew about the renovations to the lobby are but I still miss the waterfall in the center. Maui, the Polynesian's official mascot has replaced it.

The Kona Cafe is amazing, the ginger-rubbed steak that has since been replaced on the menu was excellent. I have a new favorite dish though, the Pan-Asian noodles with chicken are quite delicious. My mother had the grilled New York strip steak with bacon molasses butter another very exquisite dish. My sister and father both had the grilled curry-crusted lamb chops. I was going to skip dessert but then I saw the Kilauea torte, my arm was twisted and I just had to have it. We decided to head around the resort and look around at all the new and exciting things at the Poly. A visit to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto was a must we couldn't get inside because of how busy it was. We decided to head outside to the Tiki Terrace out there. Another great job by imagineers on this bar/restaurant. 

After our visit to Trader Sam's it was time to check out what else the Polynesian had to offer. So I took a quick stroll around the resort and snapped some photos of the new pool area and the bungalows. After that it was time to go back to the Art of Animation to enjoy the pool. Here are the photos of what I saw at the Poly.

It was off to the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to catch our bus back to Art of Animation. It was a bittersweet day all capped off by swimming at our hotel in the Big Blue Pool I have one last photo a view of the bungalows at the Poly as a boat makes its way to the park from the Magic Kingdom bus area. It is beautiful and serene as your looking over the water to end the day at the parks.

This ends part 2 of my trip report and we are now half way through the trip with 3 days left. Be on the lookout for part 3 it will be up soon.