Hi there! Welcome to our weekly roundup of the most interesting theme park news around the Walt Disney World Resort, the Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and other theme parks.
Here are this week’s theme park highlights:
- Walt Disney World has removed "Do Not Disturb" signs from rooms at four of its resort hotels, allowing hotel maintenance and housekeeping to enter daily. The change took effect last week at the monorail resorts — Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, Disney's Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort. Disney is evaluating whether it will extend the changes to its other hotels. A hotel staffer must knock and identify him or herself if entering with the new "Room Occupied" signs.
- There are new destinations on deck for the Disney Cruise line in 2018, which will make first-time visits to destinations in Italy and Ireland during the summer and to Bermuda and Quebec City, Canada in the fall. It will continue to make hoppy visits to favorite destinations such as the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Alaska and more.
- Rose Bowl teams No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Georgia met up for a little pre-game ceremony at Disney California Adventure earlier this week. After the pomp and circumstance, players and coaches had a little fun Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! Not having as much fun as other players, perhaps, is UGA running back Nick Chubb, whose nearly every expression was captured as he rode.
- The Orlando Sentinel recounted the journey of one walrus calf, who was rescued earlier this year off the coast of Alaska. He was sent to SeaWorld Orlando when it was determined he would not survive alone in the wild. He now has a new best friend, another calf named Ginger. Both now call Wild Arctic their home. Awwww.
- Whether you're celebrating the new year in the parks or not, you can ring in 2018 with the live stream of "Fantasy in the Sky" fireworks from Magic Kingdom. It all begins at 11:45 p.m. EST Dec. 31.
- Last but not least, from our Frog Family to yours, we're wishing you a Hoppy New Year!
That’s it for the theme park news this week! Have a great weekend.