Last year Planes took flight into the theaters, but before its debut, Disney was already well underway into developing a sequel to it, Planes: Fire and Rescue, which will be released on July 18. Just like with all previous Disney films, a special display for the film is found in the waiting area for the show Drawn to the Magic at the Magic of Disney Animation building in Disney's Hollywood Studios. Below are some pictures of the display:

The first Planes film surprised me, and from the exclusive sneak peek at this past D23 Expo, this one appears to be more promising than the first!

Last year Planes took flight into the theaters, but before its debut, Disney was already well underway into developing a sequel to it, Planes: Fire and Rescue, which will be released on July 18. Just like with all previous Disney films, a special display for the film is found in the waiting area for the show Drawn to the Magic at the Magic of Disney Animation building in Disney's Hollywood Studios. Below are some pictures of the display:

The first Planes film surprised me, and from the exclusive sneak peek at this past D23 Expo, this one appears to be more promising than the first!

As Disney Springs is well underway, several new shops and restaurants have been getting closer and closer to their opening dates. Two Starbucks have been in the line up for about a year now and one of the Starbucks, a quick grab and go location in Downtown Disney Marketplace, has opened as of 2 o'clock today! Here are some pictures of the new location:

As you can see the location is located between the main entrance of World of Disney and the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutqiue entrance. With prime real estate located directly across from the stage on the Marketplace side, this Starbucks should be a hopping place!

Last year Disney introduced a new activity on Easter Weekend, Epcot's Egg-stravaganza! The idea was fairly simple: guests picked up a map of World Showcase, along with 12 stickers, and would search for 12 eggs found in each of the World Showcase countries (including the Outpost)!

Due to the activity being popular, Disney brought back the Egg-Stravaganza this year for 10 full days! I made the trek around the world today and here are some pictures of this year's Egg Hunt!

Donald Egg in Mexico

Dale Egg in Norway

Figment Egg in China

Thumper Egg in the Outpost

Goofy Egg in Germany

Perry the Platypus Egg in Italy

Mickey Egg in The American Adventure

Daisy egg in Japan

Chip Egg in Morocco

Minnie Egg in France

White Rabbit Egg in the United Kingdom

Pluto Egg in Canada

Completed Map!

After completing your map, guests are invited to stop by Disney Traders with it. Here they can choose between one of six eggs to bring home! The options are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Chip, or Dale! Here is a shot of the Donald one I chose:

Donald Egg

Overall, the experience was a lot of fun, although fairly easy to find! Just like the temporary Muppets Most Wanted game in World Showcase, the Egg-Stravaganza is a great way to visit this section of the park in a unique way! You can pick up your map through Sunday at several stores in Epcot for only $4.95!

Just a few weeks ago, Muppets Most Wanted enter the theaters and has been the #1 Comedy in America since its release! Epcot has now joined the fun by adding an interactive game throughout World Showcase to get guests more excited about the film!

Guests are invited to join the MBI (Muppets Bureau of Investigation) as they search for the criminal Constantine! Guests can go on two missions. One that takes them through the United Kingdom, France, and The American Adventure, and another that takes them through Germany, Italy, and also The American Adventure.

At each station a check in point is established where MBI agents receive another clue to help them crack the case. New signs and interactive objects have been added to enhance gameplay, and of course, after you complete your mission, you get free things!

Check in Spot

Wanted poster in the UK

A fun interactive location in France!

Your MBI badge!

Freebies!

Overall, the game is very simple and each mission can be completed in easily 20 minutes or less. However, it is definitely worth a try next time you are in Epcot!

 

Ever since I released my second book, A Closer Look at the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, one of the most popular details brought to my attention deals with a Hidden Mickey in line for Under the Sea! An Imagineer went all out in figuring out how the sun would align with two walls at noon on Mickey's birthday (today).

With the sun aligning with the two walls the following image appeared on a wall within the queue:

And a quick video:

 

Coolest Hidden Mickey ever? I think so!

 

A little over a month ago I posted a picture of a new wall found within the Magic of Disney Animation (taking up my favorite section, "Sound Stage") Today the walls came down to reveal a brand new Minnie Mouse meet and greet area. While I would have preferred a location for a rarer character, the meet and greet queue and area is extremely well done! Just take a look at the pictures below!

No real indication that this is a Minnie meet and greet

Minnie Poppins

Casamousa

Nice reference to the classic short, Runaway Brain

Lots of references to the Enchanted Tiki Room

Once inside, Minnie's room is filled with awards, pictures, and more fun finds!

Some of Minnie's awards

Minnie during a shoot

Minnie and me

This is just a handful of the finds found at this new meet and greet area! This Friday during our Fun Find Friday we will be taking an even closer look so make sure to check it out!

Today, in honor of Friday the 13th, Disney hosted one of their most unique Limited Time Magic events to date. In honor of the spooky day, Hades hosted a dance party in front of the Sorcerer's Hat while some of his villainous friends did meet and greets near Echo Lake.

We got in line for a mystery villain about two hours before the arrived and waited for almost three hours until we finally met Shan-Yu, the villain from Mulan. Each line rotated between two different villains (with three lines altogether). Our line rotated between Shan-Yu and the Evil Queen. The other two lines rotated between Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Jafar from Aladdin. While the final land rotated between Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons and Maleficent! Here are pictures of some of these villains:

In addition to the characters, a special Villainy in the Sky fireworks show was presented in front of the Sorcerer's Hat. The entire show is presented below (you can skip to about the two minute mark when the fireworks actually begin):

Video streaming by Ustream

Overall, the event was amazing although very crowded! It would be great for more villains events in the future. Due to the popularity, I'm sure it did give Disney thoughts about the often rumored Villains Theme Park!

A few days ago the walls came down for the new Princess Fairytale Hall which will be opening up next Wednesday (September 18th). While I couldn't take a look inside, the exterior gives us a glimpse of what's inside!

If you take a close look you may notice little shields along the border of the exterior. There are eleven altogether (one for each princess). Here is a look at the shields:

Ariel, Pocahontas and Belle's shields along with one of the two Fastpass+ entrances!

Regular entrance, Aurora and Cinderella's shields

Mulan, Snow White, Tiana, and Jasmine's shields

Merida and Rapunzel's shields with the other Fastpass+ entrance

The experience will give guests a chance to meet either Cinderella or Rapunzel (each who will be accompanied by another princess). The experience begins on the 18th! Who is excited?

Another Limited Time Magic debuted at the Magic Kingdom today! While the majority of the Limited Time Magic's haven't been as great as I would have hoped for them to be, one that always brings a smile to my face is Long Lost Friends Week! The scenario is pretty simple. Disney allows guests to participate in meet and greets with characters that rarely make appearances anymore! For this week there are four films represented: Robin Hood (which is making its second Long Lost Friends week appearance), Chicken Little, Princess and the Frog, and Song of the South!

While the return of Robin Hood, the Sherriff of Nottingham, Friar Tuck, and Prince John is nice, I had already met them earlier this year so I decided to meet up with the other three!

Chicken Little and Abby Mallard were great to meet! They simply posed for pictures, although I did let Chicken Little know that the sky was indeed falling which caused him to look up in fear!

I then headed over to the Princess and the Frog area where Louis was doing meet and greets by himself. Slightly disappointed, due to the fact that I heard Facilier would be there as well, I got in line. Luckily, Louis had to go blow his horn and when he returned ten minutes later, Dr. Facilier, aka, the Shadow Man, was with him! Facilier told me to stop by his office for a potion. He just wasn't allowed to discuss it with me with others around.

The final meet and greet, and easily the best, was with Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Rabbit! Brer Bear stepped right up and continuously shook my hand which prompted Brer Fox to grab my other hand and start shaking it. Then Brer Fox began to shake Brer Rabbit's hand with his other hand and Brer Rabbit began to shake Brer Bear's other hand. After lining up to get our picture I asked if Brer Fox had been behaving himself to which Brer Rabbit shook his head no. To get some pay back he put Brer Bear directly in front of me in the picture (as seen below). Luckily, Brer Rabbit began to jump around in front of Brer Bear until he was distracted and looking down Main Street.

Overall, I love when forgotten characters come back for meet and greets! It gives guests a unique chance to remember some of their forgotten favorites. Plus, the fact that each character comes with a unique autograph card makes this Limited Time Magic one of the best in my opinion! Now I've got to head off to Splash Mountain to see if my three favorites are going to meet me like they said! Have a Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah Day everyone!

May 4th has always held a special place in the hearts of Star Wars fans around this planet for years. Due to the date sounding much like the famous phrase, May the Force be with you, the date has always been celebrated in fun and unique ways. This year, Disney decided to celebrate this unofficial holiday with a one day Limited Time Magic event that would even make Jabba the Hutt excited.

Today I ventured over to Hollywood Studios with hopes of the fun surrounding me and was severely disappointed when I first arrived to find out that Star Tours hadn't been working all day long and the cast members had no idea when the problem would be fixed. Luckily, there was more to the day than just Star Tours. New decorations adorned the Star Tours area for today only:

While walking around more and more Star Wars characters began to walk around the area making it almost feel like we were headed to Mos Eisley for a drink at the cantina:

For past Limited Time Magic events, guests had the chance to meet different Disney characters. Due to the popularity of these exclusive meet and greets, autographs were strictly forbidden, but autograph cards were handed out. Today was no exception for guests that wanted to meet Jedi Mickey, Princess Leia Minnie, Stormtrooper Donald, or Darth Goofy:

Eventually Star Tours reopened. One of the main draws for this event was the fact that throughout the day random characters from the Star Wars universe would ride Star Tours. One of the ultimate goals I've had in my Disney life is to ride an attraction with a Disney character. Today, that dream finally came true. While going through the Fastpass line I noticed some Jawas ahead of us and realized we had a good chance of being one of the lucky few to be onboard with Star Wars characters. And sure enough, the one Jawa boarded in row one, while another went in row two, with me sitting in row three.

To say it was unbelievably amazing would be an understatement. The Star Wars and Disney nerd in me couldn't keep still as the Jawas overreacted to everything on screen. When the Rebel Spy was shown onscreen the desperately looked around for them, when Yoda appeared they began to pump their arms up in celebration, and whenever we went into hyperspace they'd throw their hands up in excitement. Overall, it was an amazing experience. Afterwards I got my picture taken with them and watched the two slowly meander their way back to Tatooine Traders.

Highlight of my life!

While there was a lot to do throughout the day, Star Wars day didn't end there. The day concluded with special fireworks over the Sorcerer's Hat. Here is a video of the entire fireworks presentation, which starts about five minutes in. Enjoy!

Video streaming by Ustream 

We hope you can join us. Until then, May the Fourth Be With You...always.

Yesterday while at Disney's Hollywood Studios I made my regular stop inside The Magic of Disney Animation. The room near the Drawn to the Magic show always features artwork and models from the newest Disney animated films. Throughout the past several months artwork depicting Wreck-It Ralph could be shown along with descriptions of the characters and lands we now all know and love.

Sometime in the past few days the room transformed from a Wreck-It Ralph theme to a Monsters University theme! While the room isn't as detailed with descriptions as it usually is (probably due to the fact that we already know the characters), the artwork is there to help us get excited about the upcoming film! Here are pictures from the new display! Enjoy!

A possible professor?

Student Life

Greek Life

Campus Life

Today I finally had a chance to run over to the new Tangled Restrooms over in Fantasyland, and all I can say is my mind was absolutely blown away by this amazingly detailed area! Below are pictures (and some descriptions) of the area! Enjoy!

The womens restrooms are under the main archway

I'm malicious, mean and scary..

At the entrance to the Mens Room

Maximus makes an appearance!

The central plaza rockwork resembles the sun pattern on the lanterns

Flynn's Satchel

Maximus has been here!

A nice area to charge your phone sits off to the side

The best addition to the area!

There are ten of Pascal's friends hiding in the entire area! Here are pictures of each! If you want to find them yourself, I suggest you skip this part!

A view of the old walkway into Liberty Square form Fantasyland!

Today was the first day of the 2013 Flower and Garden Festival which is celebrating it's 20th year this year! Here are just a few of the pictures I have taken today (with some descriptions)! Enjoy!

Donald, Daisy, and Badminton greet guests at the entrance to this years Festival!

Buzz Lightyear hangs out in front of Mission: SPACE

Where the old Pixie Hollow area sat, Radiator Springs now resides

It's the Circle of Life!

Monsters, University greets guests at the entrance to World Showcase

Only time I'll allow trolling on my website

A dragon! A dragon! I swear I saw a dragon!

Germany has a miniature Flower and Garden Festival occurring!

Snow White and all Seven Dwarfs

Lady and Tramp greet guests in Italy

Lotso!

Belle and Beast

The enchanted objects from Beauty and the Beast sit on the waters edge

So this is love

Winnie the Pooh and friends

Peter Pan stands triumph atop a building while Hook is pursued by Tick-Tock

Inside the Festival Center, located in the old Wonders of Life pavilion, guests can attend different seminars. One of the greatest sections of this area, is a look at Disney Legend Bill Evans!

A few weeks ago I discussed the special Limited Time Magic event known as Long Lost Friends Week. During this week guests were given the chance to meet characters that are rarely found in the parks anymore. It was a great event and one that got me excited for future weeks dealing with Meet and Greets.

This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, Disney is hosting True Love Week! While the Disney Princesses are regular meet and greet characters, the princes, for the most part, are absent (even ones like Charming and Beast who actually made their princesses the royalty they are today). To make up for that, and give the princesses a chance to be with their loved ones for this special day, the Disney Princes are joining the Disney Princesses for this week only!

Today I woke up bright and early and rushed on over to Town Square for the opportunity to snap a few shots with some of these often forgotten heroes. The three couples, which were all surprisingly chatty, were Cinderella and Prince Charming, Aurora and Phillip, and Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (or Eugene as he introduced himself).

After pointing out to Prince Charming that it was good to hear him speak more than a few lines he explained he was grateful for the meet and greet so people would know he had a voice.

Phillip took full advantage of the fact that guests were actually meeting him for a change. He was a chatterbox and his constant gabbing almost put Aurora to sleep again!

Rapunzel and Flynn were a lot of fun, as usual. It got to the point where we tried to find Paschal and Flynn began to shake the flowers shaped like a heart behind us. He wasn't there.

In addition to these three couples, guests could also meet Mary Poppins and Bert in Fantasyland. Also in Fantasyland guests had the opportunity to get a picture in front of Cinderella's pumpkin coach as well! Both lines were fairly long for both of these. If you do get a chance to stop by before True Love Week ends, I highly suggest getting a Fastpass for the Princess Meet and Greet instead of waiting in the regular line (which got up to 120 minutes yesterday).

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Late in 2012 I was extremely excited about the special theme for Disney parks in the year 2013: Limited Time Magic. The concept? Each week a different themed event will be occurring in the Disney parks and it will only last for one week only. Sounds pretty cool, right?

Well, honestly, the first few weeks I was fairly disappointed with the themed weeks. Celebrating the New Year every hour in Tomorrowland was slightly disappointing and the Canadian meet and greet was good, but too random. This past week however, we got our Long Lost Friends week and I have to say I couldn't be happier.

The concept of the week was guests would have the chance to meet characters who are rarely in the parks anymore, if ever. While the lines were insane later in the day (when I could typically go) I did get a chance to run over yesterday morning to meet the characters I didn't get to meet earlier in the week. So which characters were there? Take a look below!

The best part about the themed week was Disney's response to it. Due to its popularity there will most likely be at least one more Long Lost Friends week at some point during the year and rumors have already begun to be heard on Hunchback of Notre Dame or Hercules characters, or even everyone's favorite rabbit, Oswald! If any of these characters do show up, believe me, I'll be one of the first ones in line!

With Wreck-It Ralph coming to theaters this weekend, Ralph and Vannelope have made their way over to The Magic of Disney Animation building at Disney's Hollywood Studios for a new meet and greet opportunity!

The line takes guests through Game Central Station. While going through, guests can see what the video game characters can see from their point of view of being inside the game!

Entrance to the line

The dreaded Cybug!

Fix-It Felix Jr. and an out of order game (from in the game!)

The update board on past games has some very clever shout outs!

Moore is a nod to Rich Moore, director of Wreck-It Ralph while JL is a nod to John Lasseter

Overall, the Meet and Greet area is very well themed and the character interaction was very well done! Make sure you go meet these two great characters on your next visit!

Just two days ago we reported additions to Storybook Circus, but at the time Pete's Silly Sideshow was unfortunately still closed. Today the new character meet and greet area opened giving guests a new opportunity to meet Minnie, Daisy, Donald, and Goofy (in their alter ego forms!)!

In front of the entrance you can find Pete leaning against the Melody Time Brass Horn Band machine. Upon the machine you can find two references to former Disney films. Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom, Disney's 1953 short cartoon which also was the first CinemaScope short cartoon has a nod on the top of the machine, while the name of the machine itself is a nice nod to Disney's 1948 animated feature film, Melody Time!

After entering the tent you can find signs for Minnie and Daisy (if you go through their line on the left) or Goofy and Donald (line on the right) describing what is in store for you!

Daisy and Minnie

Donaldo and Goofini

After passing the signs you enter inside of Pete's mouth (this reminds me of the creepy clown slide at the Boardwalk) where the characters await!

On the left you will find Daisy and Minnie!

Madame Daisy Fortuna!

Minnie Magnifique!

On the other side of the line you can meet up with Goofini and Donaldo!

The Great Goofini!

The Astounding Donaldo!

Overall, the character interactions were great, however, Donald and Goofy really got into their roles of not being themselves, but Goofini and Donaldo while Minnie and Daisy mainly just gave hugs and kisses and posed for pictures. I spent at least five minutes with Goofy as he showed me everything there. With Storybook Circus finally being complete, I can honestly say that I love it! It has become one of my favorite sections of Magic Kingdom with Dumbo's lit up fountains to the detail inside of the Big Top! There is so much to see and the detail is incredible! I love it!

Storybook Circus almost doubled in size two days ago. Today was my first chance to head on over there and see the new additions to this extremely detailed area!

This giant banner found in the Fastpass machine area shows the final product of Storybook Circus!

Let's start by taking a look at the new shop, Big Top Souvenirs!

Entrance from the front

Entrance from the side

This new shop, which has a very similar feel to the old Toontown Hall of Fame tent, continues the circus theme! The center piece brings back the popular short cartoon character, Humphrey the Bear and his treat stand!

The top looks like an actual big top!

The different sections of the store are set up to look like animal carts. My favorite is the refrigerator is the Penguins home!

The floor is one of the coolest parts of the shop! Extremely detailed!!!!

The new Cast Member costumes for the section!

While the shop sells the typical merchandise of any other Disney shop, the look and feel truly makes you feel like you are at the circus! Just outside of the back door is my favorite part of the expansion so far, however. The Magic Kingdom has never had an area where guests can just simply sit back and relax at...until now!

The area features a pretzel and hot dog cart

The outdoor seating section has tables meant to look like trampolines!

The better portion of the section is actually located inside near the new Fastpass machines for Dumbo and The Barnstormer!

Fastpasses for Barnstormer? YES!

While the Fastpass machines aren't anything to get excited about, the chairs in the area definitely are! Found around typical picnic tables are different benches and stools. Some of the stools are actually "buckets" flipped upside down with each bucket belonging to a different Disney character that makes their home at Storybook Circus!

Al Gator (Fantasia), Donald, and Practical (as in Pig) are just three of the characters with these awesome chairs!

Unfortunately, Pete's Silly Sideshow isn't open yet, but according to the Cast Members, it should be open in the coming weeks! Here is a shot of the entrance for this character meet and greet area!

Today I checked out the new Perry the Platypus game in World Showcase after attempting to do so the past few days. Your secret agent mission starts at the same starting point as Kim Possible used to. Our agent put us under an umbrella while pointing out that we were "under cover" and prepared us for our mission. He asked for my last name and the rest of the time my phone referred to me as Agent D!

I was given my phone and the mission was underway!

My mission took me to France where Phineas and Ferb just happened to be on vacation as well! Unfortunately, Dr. Doofinshmirtz was also in the area trying to woo a lady who he talked to on the phone. Much like the television show, the storyline between our battle against him and Phineas and Ferb's trip to a museum went hand in  hand!

Much like Kim Possible, the game was very interactive with the surroundings. A lot of the old interactive sections were open as well including the old smell test in France!

While the majority of the interactions are the same, there was one addition that was extremely cool! I give you, zip-lining Perry!

While most things have been updated for the new adventures, there was one mistake that I'm sure they are still working on. At the end of the mission you are instructed to put your phone away and the following picture shows up:

As you can see the old KP (Kim Possible) logo is there!

Overall, the game was entertaining, but a lot more time consuming than Kim Possible was. It was cool watching a brand new storyline for Phineas and Ferb right there on the phone, but at the same time the story does take up a lot of time at some points. While it's great to get a full story, it's also too bad since guests have to put aside even more time than usual for gameplay.

I do recommend checking it out. Like Kim Possible, it allows you to explore the countries with a different intention!