This week at Walt Disney World, Disney confirms low attendance at Walt Disney World, the Festival of Fantasy parade gets a seasonal change, plus Disney Springs sees two new openings and a closure
Outside Walt Disney World, Universal announces two more haunted houses for Halloween Horror Nights, plus SeaWorld continues to grow its attendance year over year!
1. Festival of Fantasy switches to holiday schedule next week.
The 3:00 parade has become such an institution at the Magic Kingdom that Disney even created a line of merchandise themed around the classic tourist question “When is the 3 ‘o clock parade?” However, beginning on August 16th, the Festival of Fantasy parade will move to 2:00 PM, where it will stay through the Halloween and holiday season while events like Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party rule the schedule and put a strain on entertainment during the day.The parade will eventually return to 3:00 PM sometime net year.
2. Future World pathway to close next week
Image: Disney
Due to ongoing construction in Future World the pathway between the area right behind MouseGear and Future World East will temporarily be closed for expansion beginning August 12 for the northeast section, and August 15 for the southwest section.
3. Attendance confirmed to be down so far this year at Walt Disney World
Disney confirmed this week that attendance at Walt Disney World was down this summer, though they declined to say how much, which likely means the number is pretty big. And though Disney blamed the Disneyland attendance dip on the Annual Passholder blackouts happening due to the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, they also blamed the east coast attendance crash on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge as well, saying that guest surveys suggested that many were deferring their visits to the Walt Disney World Resort until after this new land opens in just a few weeks on August 29th.
4. Reservations now available for select experiences inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
Image: Disney
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is currently in the thick of Cast Member and Annual Passholder previews for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and with only a few weeks to go before the official opening of this new land, they have announced that, much like the version of this land in California, there will be a strict reservation system in place for some of the locations at the east coast Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, including Oga’s Cantina, Droid Depot and Savi’s Workshop. You can learn more about these experiences here.
5. NBA Experience at Disney Springs now open
Image: Disney
The NBA Experience at Disney Springs is now open, after several years in development. A ticket to NBA Experience will be all-inclusive, and will allow guests to access every activity inside this entertainment complex. In addition to being able to experience whatever they want, whenever they want, guests will also be able to return to favorite areas and experience them over and over again if they wish. Some of the options will include:
- A slam dunk challenge, where guests can change the height of a standard 10-foot hoop to as low as seven feet to perform their own superstar moves – captured by burst photography.
- An activity that tests shooting skills with spots on a court that light up as guests move from one location to another attempting to sink as many shots as possible in 15 seconds.
- A way for guests to see how they stack up to some of the world’s best basketball players by measuring their vertical leap, wingspan, shooting and dribbling.
- Personalization for various activities with guests’ names and associating the activity with their favorite NBA or WNBA teams.
- Real-time technology to aggregate statistics of NBA and WNBA games and players for continuous updates, while leaderboards will track top NBA Experience performers throughout each day.
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6. Curl at Disney Springs closing forever this week
Image: Disney
Curl by Sammy Duvall, a surf shop found in Disney Springs’ West Side, will close its doors forever on August 15, 2019. First opened in 2007 in Downtown Disney’s Pleasure Island, Curl is one of the longest-standing non-Disney retail locations at Disney Springs, but unforutnately it looks like this retail location has reached the end of the line.
7. Ample Hills Creamery expanding to Disney Springs
Image: Disney
And speaking of Disney Springs, it has been announced that BoardWalk favorite Ample Hills Creamery will be opening a brand new location at Disney Springs’ West Side. This location will offer handcrafted ice cream and mix-ins (like brownie bites, oatmeal lace cookies and butter pecan brittle) similar to what is available at the Ample Hills Creamery located at Disney’s BoardWalk.
8. Two more houses announced for Halloween Horror Nights
- Us: This house based on the 2019 blockbuster film from Jordan Peele will allow guests to walk through the Wilson family beach house and Santa Cruz Pier, where they might spot a familiar character outside of the Fun House. Guests will also venture through the unnerving tunnels that stretch for miles deep below America and come face-to-face with “The Tethered” – a group of terrifying doppelgängers of every living man, woman and child in the country.
- Graveyard Games: In this original house, ghosts of every shape and form will rise from their tombstones to exact their revenge as guests try to escape the maze of crumbling tombstones and mausoleums. Skeletal beings, ghastly apparitions and vengeful spirits will try to drag guests to the grave. And in the end, guests will find out what happened to those who set out to deface the cemetery.
9. SeaWorld reports attendance growth
Image: SeaWorld
Though attendance at SeaWorld parks saw steep attendance declines from 2013 through 2017, it looks like SeaWorld’s recovery, which began in 2018, is continuing into 2018, as attendance once again increased year over year, hitting 6.5 million visitors, a 0.8 percent increase from the same quarter last year. So far, for the year, SeaWorld parks have had 9.8 million visitors, which is also up from 2018 as well.
