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:
- Oh boy! After a multi-year break, Mickey's Soundsational Parade is back at Disneyland! The fan-favorite parade has returned with two new floats in honor of Mickey's 90th birthday extravaganza as part of the Get Your Ears On celebration. Check out Tad's toadally awesome video of the full parade!
- On the opposite coast, a familiar face is back in action at Walt Disney World. The Maleficent float has returned to the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom after a brief hiatus for a safety refurbishment. Imitating the dragon form of its Disney villain namesake, the float experienced a fire-breathing malfunction and went up in flames in May (thankfully, no one was hurt). Welcome back, Maleficent!
- A new Disney Princess Adventure Breakfast is coming to Disneyland! The Napa Rose restaurant at the Grand Californian Hotel is now accepting springtime breakfast reservations for the new experience, featuring story time, keepsakes, a photo op, and of course, a delicious three-course breakfast with princesses such as Belle, Tiana, Ariel and Jasmine. Lily cannot wait to go!
- Laissez les bons temps rouler! Universal Studios Florida has announced even more good times coming to Mardi Gras, taking place from Feb. 9–April 4, 2019. Two new acts have been added to the frogtastic concert lineup: Bazzi and Sabrina Carpenter. The menu for the event has also been released, full of delicious cajun eats just waiting for foodie froggies to devour.
- Wakanda Forever! To commemorate Black History Month, AMC and Disney have teamed up to provide free screenings of "Black Panther" at select AMC theaters from Feb. 1-7, 2019.
- What could make SeaWorld Florida's Seven Seas Food Festival even more hoppin'? 90s night! En Vogue, Flo Rida, Coolio and 98 Degrees, among others, will be joining forces for a night of toadally rad jams. I Love the '90s night will be taking place on March 10. The festival, including the concerts, are included as part of your park admission, so get a jump on grabbing your SeaWorld Orlando tickets today!
- Play for all! More than 300 volunteers from the Disneyland Resort, the city of Anaheim, Anaheim Family YMCA and the community joined together to build the 11th Disney-sponsored KaBOOM! playground in Anaheim in just six hours. The playground is the first ramped playground in the city for children with disabilities, and also features unique equipment and accessibility features that allow children to play together regardless of ability.
- Are you ready for some football? Leap cannot wait for the big game this weekend. NFL stars Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants and Phillip Lindsay of the Denver Broncos paid a visit to Star Wars Launch Bay at Disney's Hollywood Studios during NFL Pro Bowl week. We're anxiously waiting to hear which team will tell us they're "going to Disney" this weekend! (#DisneyParksLIVE will be live streaming the Super Bowl Player of the Game Celebration Parade on Monday, though time, date, special guest and even location are TBD based on the big winner: if the Rams win, the celebration will be taking place in Disneyland Park; if the Patriots win, the celebration will be taking place in Disney World. Stay tuned!)
That’s it for the theme park news this week! Have a great weekend.
Hoppy planning!