Bitesize Orlando March 2024 – Issue 33

Welcome to Bitesize Orlando March 2024 edition; your bitesize news update from everything happening in Orlando the past few weeks. Last month’s update was a little light on Disney news but this month Disney appears to be waking up from its Bob Chapek-induced slumber with some exciting rumours and rumblings. But before we get to that a few updates on what’s been happening with the website because it’s been a busy month behind the scenes.

I have been spending a lot of time updating old content as well as working on digitising the latest version of my Orlando holiday planning guide. There’s still a long way to go but I am happy with how its been progressing.

As I am building out the new guide I want to create tools that will help you with your decision making. Part of the new planning section is a basic spreadsheet that helps you compare the costs of various accommodation options. If you are planning your next Orlando holiday and are feeling overwhelmed with accommodation options please download an Excel version of the hotel costs comparison spreadsheet and give it a try. Filling in all the fields will give you a true cost comparison of staying in various accommodation options.

My Orlando Attractions Selector tool has been updated with all the new attractions which are opening this year while removing some old attractions I now know won’t be returning. If you want a tool that shows you all the Orlando attractions in every park without opening multiple websites please check it out. You can filter attractions by theme park, rider height, indoor or outdoor and more. If you’ve never been and are feeling a little overwhelmed with everything you can do it will help you narrow down your choices.

I have also spent a little time updating all the attractions pages on the theme park websites removing old attractions and adding in new attractions for 2024 so that you will know the minimum rider requirements when they open.

As you can see it’s been a busy month behind the scenes but I won’t be stopping there. I am away from the middle of April for 3 weeks but I want to use some of that time to update my attraction tick lists with all the new 2024 attractions plus build a downloads hub into my planning page so you can get all the information from one central place.

We are just a few days away from Star Tours – The Adventure Continues receiving another milestone upgrade with the addition of new locations and characters from Disney+ streaming hit “The Mandalorian”.

Star Tours was an opening day simulator attraction in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, then known as “Disney MGM Studios”. It has been one of the most popular attractions in Disney’s Hollywood Studios since 1989. Disney originally closed the attraction in late 2010 and opened in May 2011 in order to upgrade the simulator motion bases (Hollywood Studios has six simulators). The new simulators use Dolby 3D high definition screens and audio with additional special effects that go with the new action sequences which were filmed in mid-2009.

This latest addition won’t close the attraction, the same motion simulators are being used but it will align the story of Star Tours with one of Disney+’s most popular streaming original series. Have a look at the teaser above. The addition of these new locations means that the attraction will now feature over 250 storyline variations meaning no second ride will be the same.

The new locations debut simultaneously in the attraction on April 5th at Hollywood Studios, Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

Disney has just updated the website and My Disney Experience app making advance dining reservations much easier to search for than it was previously.

Now, when searching for dining availability you can filter by your meal type; breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

The app and website now show up to 10 days of availability at a single restaurant with one search. Previously you had to search day by day, a long and laborious process but it appears Disney has been listening to our pleas and complaints about the system.

If you change your mind or your plans change most (but not all) dining reservations can be amended or cancelled up to two hours before you arrive thanks to an update late last winter. Always know the terms for the restaurant you want to book before you book it.

If quick service meals are more your speed you can filter your search to show the nearest restaurants to your location within the parks (but, like much of the functionality of the MDE app, you need to approve location access for this enhancement to work.

Over in Disney’s Typhoon Lagon water park, the popular “H20 Glow After Hours” parties have been confirmed to return this summer.

The separately ticketed event will operate on 18 select nights between May 25th and August 31st. The event turns Typhoon Lagoon into a beach bash extravaganza with an energetic atmosphere set to pulsing waves and pulsating beats.

Join some of your favourite Disney characters at some high-energy DJ dance parties. For the first time this year Typhoon Lagoon’s cabanas will be available for rent during the event.

Your entry includes surprise character appearances, complimentary towel rentals, complimentary ice cream treats, soda drinks and popcorn. Exclusive glow-themes food and beverage items can be purchased separately.

Check out the official After Hours page on the Disney World Website for dates, times and more information. You can book your space by calling Disney World direct on 0800 0850582. You cannot book Magical Extras online from the UK (yes, it’s a ridiculous rule). If you wish to book online you will need to use a VPN.

Finally! A drone show is heading to Disney World. After the popularity of Disneyland Paris’ drone shows over the past couple of years many observers thought Disney would import the technology to Orlando but it has taken longer than many had hoped.

It may not be the headline show you had been hoping for in the Magic Kingdom but “Disney Dreams That Sour” will debut in the summer of 2024 at Disney Springs as a free evening “perk” for visitors. To me, this seems as though Disney is testing the waters for the popularity of a full-on drone show in Orlando.

Although technical specifics haven’t been released, it is highly likely Disney are once again working with Dronisos, the world’s leading company of mass-scale drone technology who also happen to have opened their US office in Orlando recently.

Dronisos were the technical brains behind Disneyland Paris’ Electrical Sky Parade, a homage to Magic Kingdom’s sorely missed Main Street Electrical Parade. Hope is still high that a version of that show could debut at either Magic Kingdom or EPCOT sometime in the future. Until then we have “Dreams That Sour” to look forward to this summer.

“Disney Dreams That Sour” will showcase Disney stories with state-of-the-art drones choreographed to create designs in the sky and paired with a “soaring” musical score and memorable movie quotes. It will run nightly over Disney Springs Lake from May 24th until September 2nd.

The oh-so-long-in-development CommuniCore Plaza will finally open to guests on June 10th following a 5+ year development and construction phase.

The opening of CommuniCore Plaza brings an end to the diluted EPCOT 2.0 transformation that saw multiple attractions and experiences announced for EPCOT’s Future World half of the park at Disney D23 in 2019 before COVID scuppered plans and crowds and ultimately led to a far inferior version of what was hoped/expected. Nothing ever truly dies at Imagineering so, hopefully, some of the plans of the past will see fruition in the future.

In the meantime, following its debut with the outdoor plaza space in June, CommuniCore Hall will host a limited-time Encanto show, “¡Celebración Encanto!”.

The interactive sing-along experience will be played multiple times daily until September 6th.

Moving forward CommuniCore Hall will be home to iconic EPCOT festivals and celebrations in a permanent indoor space allowing your family to rest and recharge year-round. Also part of CommuniCore Plaza, Mickey & Friends will be a permanent indoor meet & greet experience.

CommuniCore Plaza and CommuniCore Hall with the Mickey & Friends Meet & Greet space will join World Celebration Gardens and Dreamers Point which opened in December 2023 and Journey Of Water Inspired By Moana which debuted in October 2023 to bring together the new World Celebration and World Nature neighbourhoods of the former Future World half of EPCOT.

Could Disney use the opening of CommuniCore Hall and Plaza to Debut a brand new summertime festival while scaling back the Flower And Garden and Food and Wine festivals due to diminishing returns? The wording on their press release definitely leaves room for more information in the coming weeks.

“And that’s not even mentioning the more food and beverages and more entertainment to come … but we’ll have more details for you soon.”

Official Disney World announcement of CommuniCore Plaza opening

Rumours are swirling and this only adds fuel to that fire. We are potentially only a few weeks from finding out.

This news is not as sexy as a new ride or confirmed land but it will make your stay more pleasant and, hopefully, hassle-free now that Disney has invested in 90 new low-floor Gillig buses for its large transportation fleet.

The new buses join 400+ already in service. Some may be to replace ageing stock but Disney hasn’t released a net figure for replacements or permanent additions.

If you’ve been standing in a queue for a bus to MagickKingdom at your hotel and seen 4 buses for Animal Kingdom go by empty you will know the frustration of the past. Disney is investing in new infrastructure to cut down on these friction points. They are small pain points that take some of the lustre off your day or add to frustrations at the start.

I’m not saying that at certain times you won’t have to wait but the waits have been noticeably shorter recently plus there are far fewer hire buses being used.

Disney World transportation gets a bad rap a lot of the time, like many other parts of the business under the Chapek era, it was understaffed and underfunded which Disney is now trying to rectify. The 6,000-plus transportation cast members as a whole do a fantastic job of keeping Disney World moving 365 days per year.

The new buses will also be sporting new character wraps, a popular feature of Disney World’s bus fleet for years. Look out for Ratatouille and Zootopia which joined the fleet this last week. Joining them in the coming weeks are new wraps featuring 101 Dalmations, Orange Bird, Chip ‘N’ Dale, figment and more.

Historically, the Cabins At Disney’s Wilderness Lodge has been a moderate-level accommodation. Fort Wilderness is one of the largest resorts in Disney World with a range of accommodations from Hotel rooms in the main lodge through 400 cabins and 800 campsites for all manors of party sizes.

Set in 750 acres of cypress pine forest a short boat ride from Magic Kingdom, a stay at Fort Wilderness feels a world away from a traditional Disney World vacation.

Disney began converting some of the existing Cabins At Disney’s Wilderness Lodge to Vacation Club properties. DVC properties are traditionally classed as deluxe level accommodations with enhanced extras included in your stay namely Extra Evening Hours at either Magic Kingdom or EPCOT on select weekday evenings.

Disney will keep a small stock of traditional cabins while converting a larger portion to DVC cabins throughout 2024. When booking your accommodation you will now see 2 types of cabins. Standard cabins will remain a moderate level accommodation but the DVC converted cabins will be reclassified as deluxe villas with access to the Extended Evening hours perk at whichever park is offering it.

You can book one of the new level cabins from the 27th of September using cash (it’s July 1st when using DVC points) but only “Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort – A Disney Vacation Club Resort” will have the new Deluxe Villa level categorisation, “The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort” will remain a moderate level resort.

It’s been a busy month for Universal. Our first bit of news concerns the rapid construction around ET Adventure in Universal Studios Florida.

Woody Woodpecker’s Kid Zone officially closed at Universal Studios Florida on January 16th 2023. In the intervening 15 months we have seen rapid construction and the announcement that Universal are transforming the area into a mini Dreamworks land featuring Shrek, the Trolls and Kung Fu Panda.

Earlier this month Universal shared new concept images for the new land and also announced that it will be opening this summer, a few short weeks from now.

Trolls Trolercoaster is an existing classic children’s figure-eight roller coaster repainted with refreshed theming elements and a new Caterbus ride car.

Nearby Poppy’s Playground, full of climbing and bouncing structures for the smallest adventures will be shaded from the harsh Florida sunshine under a 20-foot-tall mushroom.

Panda Village takes over the former Curious George splash play area at the back of the area. Panda Village is Po’s ancestral home. Po Live! will be an interactive meet and greet with Po via a digital screen and Po’s Kung Fu Training Camp will feature wet and dry play areas

Walking into Dreamworks Land you enter Shrek’s Swamp Meet with Shrek’s iconic tree house stump as a centrepiece but the concept art also shows Shrek’s Swamp For Little Ogres play area to the left with the Trollerocaster looming skywards at the back.

The queue area for Universal Studios’ most derided attraction, Fast & Furious: Superharged has typically been used as a house in previous years’ Halloween Horror Nights events. The attraction would operate during the day but be closed during Halloween Horror Nights events.

A recent rumour starting to spread is that Universal will look at closing Fast & Furious: Supercharged completely for an extended period of the Halloween Horror Nights event later this year, most likely from August through to November.

Closing the attraction entirely from the summer through to winter could allow for a larger haunted house to be erected with more detailed sets while also trimming a little from the operating budget without it affecting visitors’ overall opinion of the park seeing as so few people ride the attraction.

Fast & Furious: Supercharged isn’t necessarily a bad attraction, it actually works quite well as part of Universal Studios Hollywood’s world-famous tram tour, just like Konfrontation as part of the same tour.

As a stand-alone attraction, it adds nothing new and is inferior in almost every way compared to the stand-alone Kingfrontation at neighbouring Islands Of Adventure despite the ride systems sharing many similarities, even more so now that Kingfrontation has gotten rid of the 3D film.

The writing could well be on the wall for Universal Studios Florida’s famously least well-received attraction even if this rumour remains just a rumour. The large attraction footprint and intricately detailed warehouse-like queue would be better served as something else entirely.

Both Universal’s US parks have introduced a new event, “Butterbeer Season”, exclusively for the Wizarding World areas of each park.

If you are visiting this month, expect to enjoy an extended range of butterbeer treats and flavours including a butterbeer flavour ice lolly which joins butterbeer fudge and potted cream.

Opening day attraction ET Adventure will be closed for 10 days during May for routine maintenance. The outside of the building received some TLC as part of the overall area construction taking place for Dreamworks land.

During the May closure the internal sets and ride mechanics to receive some much-needed TLC so the attraction can continue to entertain visitors, hopefully, for many more years to come.

The biggest news was left until almost the end of the month when Universal Orlando Resort dropped the next introductory video for Epic Universe, this time focussing on How To Train Your Dragon – Isle Of Berk. The headline attractions are:

• Hiccup’s Wing Gliders – A thrilling family multi-launch rollercoaster
• Dragon Racers Rally – A Gerstlauer Sky Fly attraction with independent thrill level control
• Fyre Drill – Orlando’s first splash battle water attraction
• Viking Training Camp – A multi-level play area for children of all ages
• The Untrainable Dragon – A Broadway-style show inspired by “Untrainable” at Universal Beijing
• Haddock Paddock – Meet your favourite dragons including Toothless

Those who have been following construction like I have will already know the new family-friendly land will be home to a fantastic family multi-launch coaster and Broadway-style. The level of detail Universal is aiming for with this land will rival Super Nintendo World. Check out the animated flythrough of this incredible-looking land below.

For those interested in a deeper dive into the officially released details of the land I will update my Epic Universe overview page over the next couple of days with all the new announcements including the full 6-minute video reveal of the new land.

Local news channel Fox 35 has uncovered plans for a massive 77-acre entertainment and hotel complex on the I-4 and US192 interchange near the main Disney World entrance. The land is currently owned by Orlando Sun Resort & Spa but has been derelict and abandoned for over a decade.

According to Fox 35, Miami-based property development group The Meyers Group submitted a planning application under the title of “Ovation” earlier in March to Osceola County planning officials outlining proposals for a 4-acre pond, 3 hotels with a combined 675 rooms as well as over 700,000 square feet of shopping, dining and other entertainment space including a 175-foot-tall Ferris wheel. Check out the news bulletin below.

That’s it for another packed news update this month. I will be out of the country from mid-April with limited internet coverage so April’s update may be a little late but I will do my best to get it published on time. Have a great month.