Hi there! Welcome to our weekly roundup of the most interesting theme park news around the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and other theme parks.
This week’s theme park highlights:
- Gather the tadpoles and huddle up around the laptop! Disney will live stream "A Frozen Holiday Wish" tonight at 6:15 p.m. eastern as it happens in front of Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. "A Frozen Holiday Wish" is a new show, featuring Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf. It begins with Queen Elsa using her magical powers to turn the castle into a glittering ice palace and debuted earlier this week.
- Hiro Hamada and his robot Baymax are headed to Disney Parks this weekend for meet-and-greets with guests! At Disney's Hollywood Studios, you can find them at The Magic of Disney Animation. At Disneyland, you can catch them in Tomorrowland near the Starcade.
- For those of you headed to Disneyland soon, the teriyaki street dog at Award Wieners at Disney California Adventure was inspired by the streets of San Fransokyo, the fictitious setting for "Big Hero 6." The teriyaki-glazed, all-beef dog is served on a garlic chive roll. Wasabi mayonnaise, and a ginger, carrot and cucumber slaw tops it off.
- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party kicks off tonight at Magic Kingdom. If you haven't already, be sure to check our guide to this year's party, which includes details on the special characters headed to the party. Like Jack Skellington in his Sandy Claws suit, Scrooge McDuck and Santa Goofy. Oh, and don't forget the princes along with their princesses! We're jealous of all of you who snagged tickets to tonight's sold-out party, but there are still tickets available to many more!
- Harry Potter film favorites Robby Coltrane, Michael Gambon, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps and Evanna Lynch (that's Hagrid, Dumbledore, the Weasley twins and Luna Lovegood) are set to appear the second "A Celebration of Harry Potter" Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, 2015 .
- A stranded baby California sea otter that SeaWorld San Diego has taken in has been thriving in the care of animal specialists at the park. She is currently at the nursery, where she feeds on marine mammal milk formula and solid foods.
- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... at least it's about to at Downtown Disney, where brand-new holiday decorations will soon be on display. There will be sky-high trees, oversized snowmen and thousands of ornaments, many hand-made out of found objects. You can catch them all during Festival of the Seasons on Nov. 14 through Dec. 30.
- Last but not least, we stumbled upon this UK-based site that makes custom skins for your MagicBands. As Tad likes to say, so cool!
That’s it for the theme park news this week. Have a great weekend!
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If you’re thinking about a trip to Disney World, make sure to check out the other news, tips and information we post to the blog throughout the week. If you’re ready to plan your trip, we recommend you start with our planning pages.