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
- "Are we there yet?" "How much longer?" "Are we stopping at South of the Border"? "Hoppy Hoppington has in-car Wi-Fi. Why doesn't our car have Wi-Fi?" Ah, the joyful sounds of the frog family road trip. LEGOLAND Florida has introduced an app that makes that journey entertaining and educational! The Quest To LEGOLAND game is a new GPS adventure for mobile phones. Kids play as a mini-figure and do mission-based activities, answer trivia and learn about the areas they travel through. The LEGOLAND Florida Blog has a video that demonstrates this unique road trip game.
- CALLING ALL LOS ANGELES PARROTHEADS—Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will put on an invite-only concert at the new Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville at Universal City Walk in Hollywood. Grab your aloha shirts, grass skirts, inflatable palm trees and register here.
- Great news for lovers of creativity—the Epcot International Festival of the Arts will return in 2018. This festival celebrates the arts in its many forms—food, music, art and performance! We have a YouTube Playlist featuring footage from the 2017 festival. Get in the mood with this video!
- The Orange County Resister shared a sweet story of Disneyland Resort VoluntEARS, Girl Scouts of Orange County and other community members coming together to build a playground in Anaheim.
- As you know, we're big fans of Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort. IT WILL BE EVEN BETTER WHEN ROBOTS DELIVER TOWELS TO YOUR ROOM. Universal is testing Relay room-service robots at the hotel. These industrial robots are already being used at hotels across the country. No word on how long these tests will last, but I for one welcome our toothbrush-delivering robot servants.
- Theme Park Insider visited the Red Rose Taverne at Disneyland for a review of this 'Beauty and the Beast'-inspired restaurant re-theme.
- Any Tampa-area residents looking for summer vacation activities for their tadpoles? Consider letting your wild animals loose at Bush Gardens Resident Camp. Campers will get up-close with park zookeepers, chefs, animals and theme-park thrills. This sounds way more fun than my time at band camp!
- Mardi Gras is in full swing at Universal Studios Florida. The park posted on one of my favorite activities—dining. Click on through for An Insider's Look at Universal's Mardi Gras French Quarter Food and Drink. I wonder how this food will look .... insider my belly! Insider. "Inside of"? Are you with me?
- Disney's Animal Kingdom is holding another Earth Day event. Party for the Planet, presented by Disneynature will run April 21-23. Full of educational experiences and Earth-Day theming, this is a great event to celebrate mother nature.
- Soft openings appear to be underway at Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios Florida. Known as "technical rehearsals," these unannounced openings let the operations staff work out any kinks ahead of the official opening April 6.
- With Pandora: The World of Avatar opening May 27, we're slowly starting to see more images of what's in store for Disney's Animal Kingdom guests to discover. Disney's latest video includes peeks into the land's amazing landscape, as well thoughts from Avatar's creator, James Cameron. Also—WHOA THAT NA'VI SHAMAN.
- All aboard! Miss Adventure Falls, the new family raft-style slide at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is scheduled to open March 12.
- The frog family has already purchased new swimsuits (Great deals at Frog Topic if you're in the market) in anticipation of Universal's Volcano Bay. We're excited to try all the water attractions and experiences when the park opens May 25. The Universal Close Up Blog posted a great "How To" article on the parks TapuTapu Wearable, the device that will let you interact with water features and checks you into the Virtual Line for attractions.
That’s it for the theme park news this week. Have a great weekend!
Hoppy planning!
