Though the most shocking news out of Walt Disney World over the past few days has been the malfunction and “unanticipated downtime” at the newly-opened (but now temporarily closed) Disney Skyliner system, but even though this incident made headlines and national news, some other weird things have been happening at the Disney parks that we can’t help but wonder about
1. Epcot Forever delayed, and then cancelled on Tuesday October 8
Image: Disney
Just a week after it debuted, on the evening of Tuesday October 8th, guests visiting Epcot were notified just before the new Epcot Forever nighttime spectacular was due to start that the show was being delayed due to unspecified technical difficulties. And then, less than an hour later, Disney confirmed that the show had been cancelled for the evening.
No reason was given for the cancellation, and weather should not have been a factor, as conditions were fair enough for other nighttime spectaculars (and it didn’t seem windy enough to affect the kites that are a part of this show).
Image: Disney
This is of course the second major attraction that opened over the past seven days to go down before its one week anniversary, but hopefully, whatever the problem is with this show, Disney can get it fixed before tonight’s scheduled performance of Epcot Forever.
2. Primeval Whirl is back in operation as of Saturday, October 5th
After an unexpected (and unexplained) four month refurbishment, Primeval Whirl unexpectedly reopened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom over the weekend. This was especially surprising considering Disney’s official attraction page for this ride was recently updated with a “Temporarily Closed” notice, which is the same status that the long-closed Stitch’s Great Escape had on its attraction page as well, and we’re pretty sure that attraction is not going to be opening back up ever again..
Now while the attraction has been open over the past few days, we don’t actually know how long this attraction will continue operate regularly, as Disney’s official Primeval Whirl attraction website still says “no times available” for this ride during the month of October, and no FastPass+ reservations are available at all for Primeval Whirl at all. However, at least for right now, this ride seems to be operating, seemingly against all odds, so if you’re a fan, you’ll definitely want to visit soon just in case it closes again for seasonal operation.
3. Disneyland prepares to phase out paper FastPass once and for all
Image: Joe Penninston, Flickr (license)
Though paper FastPasses have been gone from Walt Disney World for many years, at Disneyland, the free paper FastPass option still exists as a free option for guests to use. However, earlier this week it was revealed that Disney will be testing out a new system that will be all-digital, and will (eventually) get rid of paper FastPass at Disneyland Resort once and for all.
The project, which will begin testing in Tomorrowland next week, will allow guests to book all of their Tomorrowland attraction FastPasses from special touch screens kiosks in front of the Tomorrowland Theater.
Image: Disney
And of course, if this test goes well, Disney will be able to roll these FastPass-equipped kiosks out to other lands around the resort and remove the traditional paper FastPass machines as the physical FastPass system is completely phased out at Disneyland.
This digital system will likely compliment the paid digital MaxPass system, which allows guests to pay $15 and book FastPass reservations on their phone, with the digital kiosks becoming the new “free” option at Disneyland once they are rolled out on a large scale.
