Mike Ellis

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WDW 50th Anniversary Changes

Hey everyone, I’m Mike, she’s Sophie, and that’s Brenda, and We’re on the Road with Mickey! This is Season 2, Episode 10 for March 8, 2021, and our feature topic today is the WDW 50th Anniversary Changes! This week, we’re talking about some of the changes that we can expect to see in time for the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World! We hope that this gets you excited about a possible trip to Walt Disney World for the 50th Anniversary! Grab a drink, relax, and join us as we talk about all the things that we came up with! Here’s our rundown of what we talked about:

• Cheddar from the Big Cheese
  • Mike: Over at Disneyland, on March 13th there is going to be a “Reopen Disneyland” rally. It will start at 8AM outside of the Disneyland Resort. Safety guidelines to be followed include masks on at all times, six feet social distancing, and sanitizing your hands frequently.
  • Sophie: As we reported back on December 28th in our podcast “Looking ahead to 2021”, Blizzard Beach reopened yesterday, March 7th! Looking at the website, one day tickets for Blizzard Beach run just $69 dollars, so if you are interested, the pricing isn’t terrible for a day of water park fun! Blizzard Beach was open yesterday from 11AM – 6PM.
  • Brenda: Over on Instagram, Zach Ridley shared a video and some images of the nighttime lighting for the Main Entrance Plaza for Epcot, including imagery of Spaceship Earth. It is so cool looking, check it out! https://www.instagram.com/p/CL-jVVKhajk/
  • Sophie: The Flower and Garden Festival started last week on March 3rd, and there is some really awesome merch to go with it! It looks like there are four five main themes to the merchandise:
    • Hello Sunshine featuring the Orange Bird
    • Grow Imagination featuring Figment
    • Grow Kindness featuring Minnie Mouse
    • Can You Dig It featuring Mickey
    • Cool as Can Bee featuring Spike the Bee.
  • Mike: As part of the Flower and Garden Festival, the Egg-stravaganza Scavenger Hunt is returning to Epcot starting on March 19th! Purchase a map for $7.99 plus tax, then hunt for hidden eggs featuring Disney characters. When you find them all, return the map for a “sp-egg-tacular surprise!”
  • Brenda: Lastly, over at the Imagination Pavilion you can find creatively placed fountains. They are known as the “Jumping Fountains” because they jump from one to another periodically. Well, since the closure in March 2020, they have not been working — until last week! This is a small detail, and easily overlooked, but if you are looking for a place to just relax for a bit, this little section might be just the spot for you!
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• Feature Topic: WDW 50th Anniversary Changes
  • When is the Anniversary
    • October 1st, 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney World with the first park, the Magic Kingdom.
    • Disney has announced that the celebration of the 50th Anniversary will start on October 1st, and continue for 18 months. This is big news because it means that the celebration will continue for a good while so that those that can’t get to Walt Disney World right now will still have an opportunity to celebrate in the future. If Disney sticks to the 18 month timeline, that would take the celebration until March 31, 2023.
  • Changes coming to EPCOT
    • Main Entrance changes
      • The music — it’s uplifting, it’s energizing, it reminds me in some ways of the incredible music you find in attractions like Soarin’, like it’s taking you into areas you never thought of. It makes the blood flow. You can listen to it over on YouTube: NEW EPCOT Entrance Area Loop (2021 – Present) – YouTube
      • The Light Ribbon — incredible! More information from Imagineering: “At more than four football fields long, this light ribbon has been present since opening day, but was originally lit by hundreds of fluorescent tubes in solid colors. Now we’ve updated it with highly energy-efficient, programmable LED lighting with nearly 3,000 individually controlled points of light that blend together to create color gradients and patterns.”
      • The new flagpoles — twelve flagpoles to reflect both the origins of Epcot and what is believed to be the future of Epcot as the new Neighborhoods come into play.
      • And don’t forget about the new fountain! We touched on that previously, but wow what a fountain!
    • The Four Neighborhoods
      • World Showcase
        • Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
        • HarmoniUS Fireworks Show
      • World Discovery
        • The Epcot of Tomorrow at the Odyssey Events Pavilion
      • World Celebration
        • Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
      • World Nature
        • Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana
  • Changes coming to the Magic Kingdom
    • Interestingly enough, the only brand new attraction coming to the Magic Kingdom is the TRON Roller Coaster, and that isn’t going to be open in time for the 50th Anniversary. It looks like that will be open sometime in 2022.
    • As far as attractions are concerned, there aren’t a lot of changes; what we are seeing is Disney’s attention to detail. Things like the new paint colors to reflect the 50th anniversary color scheme, refreshing of attractions with new paint and other touches, and things like that.
    • The Hall of Presidents is being updated for the new president.
    • The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover is still being worked on — it shows unavailable through May 4, 2021.
    • The Walt Disney World Railroad is currently closed because of the work being done for the TRON Roller Coaster. We have no idea on when it might be able to open up, but at this point I’m guessing it will be when TRON opens.
  • Changes coming to the rest of Walt Disney World
    • Hollywood Studios
    • Animal Kingdom
    • Lastly, Brenda shares her vision for the celebration on October 1 and beyond if she was the planner, weird as it may be.
• This Day in Disney History for March 8
  • Birthday for Bruce Broughton, born on this day in 1945
• Disney Who’s Who Character:
  • Bagheera from The Jungle Book
• Walt Disney Quote
  • “Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.” -Walt Disney
• Coming Next Week: Our Top Ten Rides at Disney!
• Sponsorship
  • On the Road with Mickey is sponsored by Pixie Vacations by Mike Ellis and Tech Solutions NC.

As always, thank you for listening. We are having a lot of fun talking Disney, and I’m glad you are enjoying it as well! Remember, you can reach us in many ways — first, by email to info@ontheroadwithmickey.com. Second, you can leave us a voicemail at our voicemail box 919-799-8390. You can also talk to us on our Facebook Page, On the Road with Mickey or in our On the Road with Mickey Group. Feel free to join us! Have a great week, and we’ll be back to talk with you again next week!