It's time for the Frog Family's weekly roundup of Disney and Orlando theme park tidbits from the interwebs.
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This week’s highlights:
For those of you looking forward to some galactic fun, 'Star Wars' Weekends are just around the corner. This week, Disney unveiled this year's logo, which will see our friend Mickey paying tribute to the 30th anniversary of 'Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. We also learned this week that Ray Park, who portrayed Darth Maul on the silver screen, will be one of the celebrity guests in the first two weekends.
- In case you missed it, Disney made a major news yesterday, announcing plans to transform Downtown Disney into Disney Springs, a shopping, dining and entertainment destination roughly double the size of the existing area. Mommy Frog could hardly contain herself when she heard there would be even more shopping options!
- Parking is a popular topic surrounding Downtown Disney, just ask our Facebook followers, and the Orlando Sentinel reports that two parking garages with a total capacity of 6,000 vehicles will be built during the expansion.
Mice Chat has done an extensive review of this year's Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival, which it says tops previous festivals with the addition of the garden marketplaces.
- Universal Studios continues to whet our appetites -- especially Tad's -- for Transformers: The Ride's summer debut. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee have begun daily meet and greets for guests inside the park.
- In more Transformers news, Orlando Attractions Magazine reports that the outside of the building housing Transformers is just about complete, minus the ride's signage.
- Orbitz named Orlando the nation's top spring break destination for 2013. If you're going between now and mid-April, it's a good time to review our survival guide.
Visitors to Disney’s Hollywood Studios® can once again reserve seats to Fantasmic from March 25 through April 4 when they order a boxed dinner.
- SeaWorld Orlando unveiled its lineup for Viva la Musica, and Daddy Yankee will kick off this year's concerts on April 13. We've got the full list of performers in our look at SeaWorld & Busch Garden special events for 2013.
I leave you with a scrumptious treat to mark the upcoming holidays at Disney’s Hollywood Studios®: This yummy St. Patrick's Day cupcake. (Click the link above to see the "Easter bunny.")
That’s all for this week. Until next week, happy planning!
— Leap