The characters that made the Walt Disney Studios lot worth walking through all summer have moved indoors. That was always the plan, and it was always going to leave a gap. Since the courtyard opened in May, guests have encountered Rapunzel, Stitch, Chip ‘n’ Dale, and others roaming the area with no set locations, which is a genuinely different experience ...

Nobody plans a Disney trip around hot sauce packets. But condiments are one of those small things that people notice immediately and feel strongly about, which is why Disney changing them tends to generate more conversation than the size of the change warrants. A ketchup dispenser swap gets a hundred comments. A napkin redesign gets noticed. These are the details ...

Here is a take I will happily defend. The EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival is the best festival Disney runs. Not the most popular. Food and Wine wins that easily, and it is not close. Food and Wine has the bigger crowds, the longer run, the deeper menu, and the cultural weight that comes with thirty years of history. ...

Indiana Jones Adventure is one of the few attractions where the ride system itself is the headline. Most Disney attractions move you along a fixed path at a fixed speed in a calm manner. This one does not. The enhanced motion vehicle used in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye bucks, lurches, and pitches, shaking up guests in a not-so-calm ...

EPCOT hasn’t been the easiest park for young kids in a few years. Yes, there are playgrounds during certain festivals, but there’s nothing really permanently built for kids to play in. This is when I really start to miss Innovations because it was such a great area for kids to play and explore. That is not a criticism so much ...

There is a specific sequence Disney follows before an attraction opens, and people who follow the parks closely know it by heart. Construction walls come down. Signage goes up. Landscaping appears seemingly overnight. Then, at some point in the final stretch, cast members start walking inside. That last step is the one that matters, because cast member previews are not ...

Trash cans are not something most people plan a vacation around. But at Walt Disney World, they have always mattered more than they should. The classic cans were designed to disappear into whatever land you were standing in, painted and shaped to match Adventureland, Tomorrowland, or the Africa section of Animal Kingdom. Guests noticed them without noticing them, which was ...

Opening day should be the best day. That is the whole appeal of showing up on day one of an EPCOT festival. The menus are fresh, nobody has reviewed anything yet, the merchandise is fully stocked, and you get to be the person telling everyone else what is worth ordering. Plenty of guests specifically plan trips around opening day for ...

Halloween has completely taken over the theme parks, and we are only in late August. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has been running at Magic Kingdom for weeks now, with multiple nights already sold out. Oogie Boogie Bash is underway at Disney California Adventure. Halloween Time officially kicked off at Disneyland Resort on August 21, which means Main Street, U.S.A. is ...

Last week, I wrote about what is happening to Walt Disney World’s hotels. The short version is that the whimsy is going. One resort at a time, the heavily themed rooms are being replaced with something cleaner, calmer, and considerably more neutral. Muted palettes. Simple lines. A framed character silhouette where a full mural once stood. It looks nice. It ...