Disney Parks & News: Tangled Bathrooms Open at Magic Kingdom; Epcot Festival Finally Blooms

by Leap on March 8, 2013

Hi there! We do a roundup every Friday of the most interesting news surrounding Disney and the Orlando theme parks. If you’re thinking about a trip to Disney World, we post news, tips and information to this blog throughout the week. If you’re ready to plan your trip, we recommend you start with our planning pages.

OK, let’s get started!

The much-anticipated opening of the Rapunzel bathrooms at Magic Kingdom happened this morning. Here is a pic of the fantastically Tangled-themed area!

Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival opened this week to much fanfare, especially with the arrival of the garden marketplaces. The Orlando Sentinel took the opening as an opportunity to do a little comparison to Epcot’s sister festival, Food & Wine, and of course, dished on the food offerings.
Speaking of food, Disney is offering Flower & Garden-themed mini gift cards that will make it much easier to visit those marketplace kiosks. The mini card has all the functionality of a regular gift card, but you can wear it on your wrist -- no need to fumble for your wallet. For the budget conscious -- that's us! -- we like being able to set a spending limit in advance.
While you can't purchase it yet, on display at the festival is the brand new collection of Disney-inspired handbags and accessories from Vera Bradley. Here's a look at the Mickey and Minnie-inspired patterns that will appear on items this fall.
Last bit of Flower & Garden news I swear, but Mommy Frog and I got a real kick out of watching what happens when a Captain Hook topiary comes to life!
This Saturday, LEGOLAND's Water Park reopens for the season. If you want to have fun in the park AND stay cool, we recommend the LEGOLAND & Water Park Combo ticket! We're selling single and two-day tickets.
Earlier this week, LEGOLAND Florida released a new ‘teaser’ video about the theme of its coming land. I made Tad watch it last night (after his homework was done), and he was indeed intrigued by the mystery energy source. His unofficial guess -- as well as a few others' -- is that it’s going to be based on the Legends of Chima.
One Florida TV news station went inside the secret planning room for SeaWorld's Antarctica, digging up new details about the coming combination penguin exhibit and attraction.
We mentioned last week that Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which is set to open next year, is accepting reservations. This week, Orlando Informer got a few more details about the resort. One is that it's going to have its own bowling alley!
Behind the Thrills went inside Supply Vault, the Transformers gift shop that has opened inside Universal Studios ahead of the coming 3-D ride, to check out the wares.
As mentioned in Tad's post on all the experiences coming to the theme parks in 2013, the Kinsey Collection opens today at Epcot. The Disney Parks Blog has a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibit, which celebrates 400 years of African-American achievement.