Disney to Open New Theme Park in Abu Dhabi

This blog largely focuses on Walt Disney World, as opposed to the Walt Disney Company at large.  In most cases it's because that's the area that I'm most familiar with, but it also has to do with the fact that corporate Disney news can be so vast and I wanted to keep the focus of this blog more localized.  

However, sometimes big news comes along having nothing directly to do with WDW and it still warrants a post here.  Today's big news is one of these.  Disney dropped a bombshell this morning, announcing a joint venture with the entertainment company Miral to build a new Disney park in Abu Dhabi.  This post will take a look at the announcement and try to figure out the why and why now of this groundbreaking news.

Disney World News Round Up March 2025

 

Disney was busy this morning, putting out bits of information on various things coming to their resorts in the (near) future.  We'll take a quick run through of all of this various news and throw in some commentary where it's needed.  

First there are a few discounts coming this year.  Starting tomorrow (March 27), you can get 50% off kids tickets for visits from 5/27-9/20.  There's also a three day, three park ticket starting at $89 for visits from 4/6-9/22 (notably the ticket does NOT include admission to Magic Kingdom - just the other three parks).  Then there are the "traditional" discounts that pop up from time to time - free dining for four night or longer stays on select dates between 6/29-12/22.  And there are room only discounts of up to 30% for select visits from 8/1-10/11.  You got all that??

Virtual Queue to End at Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Disney dropped some big news yesterday - the virtual queue system (VQ) that had been in use on both Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot are coming to an end on February 25.  This post will talk about what that means for each of these rides and parks specifically, as well as whether this is a good thing for guests and the future of VQ in general.

If you're not already aware (though if you're reading this, you probably are), a VQ is a system that Disney (and other theme parks) use in place of a standby line, usually on new/incredibly popular attractions or attractions that have reliability issues.  When a VQ is in place, there is no standby line at all - this means that a guest can't wait for hours to ride one of these attractions, even if they were so inclined.

Tumbleweeds: A Changing Frontierland

 

Walt Disney World is starting to undergo some major refurbishments that will change the landscape of its parks, hopefully for the better, for many years to come.  A lot of this has been talked about for the last couple of years, most notably at the recent D23 event where some of the biggest projects were officially confirmed, including a Villains Land at Magic Kingdom and Tropical Americas replacing Dinoland at Animal Kingdom.

One of the bigger surprises announced there was a new Cars themed mini-land in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom.  The good vibes turned a little sour after it came out a little while later that this would be replacing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.  I won't rehash all of that post here, but suffice it to say that my reaction (and that of many others) was negative, as we will be losing a place of calm tranquility in the midst of the world's busiest theme park.

Holiday Crowd Levels 2024

 

We're back, and today we're taking a look at wait times and crowd levels over what is typically the busiest week of the year for Disney, the week between Christmas and New Year.  In this post, we'll pull up the raw data and compare these numbers to last year.  We'll also see if we can figure out whether the recent trend of "soft" crowds at Disney World carried over to the busiest time of year.

I want to define what I mean by "soft" (with those heavy air quotes).  The overall trend for Disney World in terms of wait times in 2024 was down compared to the previous year.  As always, when you visit, how prepared you are, ride down time, weather and just plain bad luck can impact your particular trip.  I'm not saying your individual experience is any less valid - if you went during a school break, for example, and found the place bustling with people, that doesn't mean it didn't happen.  We can only focus on attraction wait times, which is the best indicator of crowds, even if it is imperfect.

Muppet & Monster Mayhem at Hollywood Studios

 

Art courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

Disney dropped an announcement today that's really two announcements in one, and for many people, this is a "good news/bad news" situation.  The bad news section is the long rumored replacement of MuppetVision 3D at Hollywood Studios with the new Monsters Inc. mini-land that was announced back at D23.  The other half of that is that the Muppets will be "taking over" the Rock N Roller Coaster in the same park.  We'll talk about all of this here.

First, as far as MuppetVision 3D is concerned, the writing was on the wall for a while.  The Monsters Inc. land was announced at D23 but noticeably absent was a location as to where it would go in the park, and the concept art did nothing to clarify that.  Rumors began soon afterwards that it was going to replace the Muppet show that was there.  The other option seemed to be the (mostly vacant) Animation Courtyard, and the word at the time was that Disney hadn't made up their mind yet as to the location.

Quiet Spots at Walt Disney World

If you've ever been on a Walt Disney World vacation (and it's likely, if you're reading this), you'll know that there's not a lot of peace and quiet when you're at the parks.  Your resort can be peaceful, especially at night (this was one of my knocks against the Boardwalk, as it's often bustling even late into the night) but the parks are always full of people, even on a "slow" day.  What if you need to take a breather and just have some time to yourself?  Is that even possible at the parks?

I got to thinking about this question recently, and I think the answer is yes.  At least, I've found a few secluded places to just get away from it all while still enjoying the ambient atmosphere of being at Disney World.  None of these are particularly "interesting" in the strictest sense; if they were, they wouldn't be empty!