This week in Passhole land…

The world of “passholes,” has had a busy few weeks. At Disney, California had the opening of Galaxy’s Edge, they announced a preview for the one in Orlando, and they also gave us an increase on all Florida annual pass-holder prices. Universal Orlando had Hagrid’s Magical Creatures motorbike adventure opening to amazing reviews, and they had to update their operating procedure for it. Busch Gardens has new animal encounters and Discovery Cove is offering a Florida resident discount now. Lets get into the details!

So for Disney, everyone loves Galaxy’s Edge in California. They had a system for return times for people staying on site and for people going to the parks during the first month that gave people four hours to explore the land. In Orlando, they announced they are going to schedule passholder previews for the top three tiers and will probably do something similar for the rest as well and announce it as we get closer to the opening date of August 29th. Personally, I cannot wait to see what we have in store. They also made an announcement that each pass had an increase overnight from between $9 for the water park pass to$225 for the Passport that covers California and Florida. The price change varies between what kind of pass you have, so go to Disney’s website and it will go into further detail about how much each pass increased.

For Universal Orlando, it has been a magical week. They opened to rave reviews on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. It has been opening with lines out to the Port of Entry and Seuss Landing with a 600 minute wait opening day. They had to make an announcement this week that they will no longer be opening Hagrid’s for the entire day and only opening it in the afternoon in order to make sure the ride maintains its performance because it is such sophisticated technology. Overall, people will have to be patient while they sort out the technical and weather factors for this coaster.

At Discovery Cove, Florida residents receive a 30% discount of their ticket if they book for 2019-2020 between now and June 30th. Visit the Discovery Cove website to book now and get more details on pricing. Busch Gardens Tampa has new animal tours as well. You can see the “Sloth Encounter,” which is a 30 minute tour and “Rhino Encounter,” which is a 45 minute tour. They now have 10 experiences for you to get up close with animals now and these new tours cost $59.99/ person. Book on Busch Gardens website or call 813-884-4FUN (4386) to get more details.

So as you can see, all of the parks have a lot going on and there is fun to be had by all! Thanks for reading my post and getting the updates. I cannot wait to review the rides for myself very soon! Until next time, see you in the parks!

Disney Updates park-wide and at Hollywood Studios

So this week Disney has unveiled a few new items and a few new rules that went in to effect. We learned that Hollywood Studios got a new logo and Toy Story Land will be getting a new restaurant which is exciting. Less exciting for some people are the bans that they put in to effect on May 1st. Lets dig in to these hot topics!

At Hollywood Studios we got a new logo for its 30th anniversary. Most people have been reviewing it as very plain and similar to a universal studios logo, which I can agree. It highlights Mickey Mouse which is nice and his art design is from the new ride coming soon called “Mickey and Minnies runaway railway,” BB8 from Star Wars which I am assuming is in honor of the new “Galaxy’s Edge,” and Woody from Toy Story which just had its land open in 2018. I think it is nice to go simple sometimes but perhaps they could have done more.

They also announced a new indoor restaurant in Toy Story Land called, “RoundUp Rodeo,” which had no official opening timeline yet. All we know at this point is that it will be air conditioned and will have a rodeo theme. It will also surround you with different toys and will have the same vibe as if Andy built it himself. I think it will be nice to have a place to get away from the heat while you are in there, but it will interesting to see how it filters crowds. Overall, we are just getting started so I am excited until I see otherwise.

Finally, we had 3 new bans go into effect on May 1st. Large strollers, bringing in outside ice in coolers and smoking are no longer permitted in any Disney parks anymore. Due to the safety and cleanliness of the parks for all guests, they felt these bans would make all guest more comfortable while trying to trek around the parks.

Personally I don’t smoke so that does not affect me though I can imagine the nicotine addicts having an issue and you can already see the out-pour of dislikes on this move throughout social media. The ice does not seem to be an issue really either and it is mainly so people cannot hide things under it, so I do not know many harsh responses to this and once again, I do not bring a cooler. Finally, the large strollers being banned makes me happy since people with them always run me over and I hated them, but people with big families are upset because they carried their kids and everything in them to survive the day. Its not all strollers, just the large ones where two kids could fit in them and they look like a wagon.

Overall, I think the parks are having some good growing pains. I like the idea of having a air conditioned section in Toy Story land and the logo may be mediocre but it ushers in the new era of Hollywood studios so I can deal with it. As far as the ban on ice I am okay with it and I feel for the big families on the stroller ban, but just pack differently and understand that its a safety concern when those huge things are lying around everywhere. Lastly on the bans, while I never felt like I smelled smoke outside of passing a smoking section, I am sure there were always a few people that went outside and perhaps other parks have a worse issue with this than ours. I feel for those with this addiction and I am sorry, but I think its just one more step in a cleaner Disney direction (along with the paper straws).

Well that is going to be it for this now. I am planning to do a review on Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival 2019 next week, so unless some news is released that trumps that, be on the lookout for that next Sunday. Until next time, see you in the parks!

A week in review: We have got a lot going on!

As a pass holder, there is no better time than when all of the parks have a lot of announcements to tell us about. This week, we had a coaster open at Busch Gardens Tampa, Universal announced creatures we will be seeing in their newest Harry Potter addition (Hagrid’s Magical Ccreatures Motorbike Adventure) and their christmas festivities, and Disney announced an update to the rivers of light show at Animal Kingdom and it is called: ‘Rivers of Light: We are One.” With so much going on, its hard to keep up!

As of April 19th, 2019, Busch Gardens Tampa now has Florida’s tallest launch coaster. With Tigris being officially open, it gives a unique experience for its riders. It launches you back and and then shoots you more than 150ft forward forth through the gate and takes you through its loops and twists at over 60 mph. I personally cannot wait to go tackle Tigris and feel the power and adrenaline coming from this coaster.

Now at Universal, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure has announced what creatures we will be introduced to. They have told us so far we will have Centaurs, Cornish Pixies, Fluffy the Three-Headed Dog, Devils Snare and also revealed what a Blast-Ended Skrewt looks like. The teases and information the teams at Universal are releasing just make it that much harder to wait until June 13th.

We have the dates for Universal holidays going on from Nov 16th to Jan 5th. Christmas in “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” will be transformed again into a wonderland of magic with the Christmas lights show in Hogsmeade and all of the christmas performances in Diagon Alley. We will also once again have Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s and everyone’s favorite mean one The Grinch will be back in his Who-liday spectacular; and of course Manheim Steamroller will be back to perform their amazing hits.

We also have Disney updating the Rivers of Light show to “Rivers of Light: We are One.” It will debut as an update tying in the original music score and some new themes to create a new arrangement. They are trying to go for a more emotional story that brings together the story of man and human. It is planned and set to release Memorial Day 2019.

As more things are revealed, I will keep you posted on all things new. As this busy week comes to a close, I appreciate you reading and look forward to my weekend at Epcot Flower and Garden Festival! I will review it next week and give you “the dish” on all things food and drink there. Until next time, see you at the parks!