Looking for merchandise to help you feel all sorts of warm fuzzies? We spotted some new merchandise this week that has you covered.
First up is a “Disney Critters” Spirit Jersey. This gray spirit jersey with Walt Disney World in pink has some special friends adding to its charm.
Characters include Flit and Meeko (from Pocahontas), Tod (from The Fox and the Hound), and other woodland creatures from films like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White.
Also now available is the latest Dooney & Bourke pattern, called “Mickey and Minnie Mouse Love”. This pattern features a classic-style Mickey and Minnie in love, along with red hearts and pink Disney icons all on a pale pink background. The handles for the tote bag and satchel are brown. The satchel is $268, the tote bag is $298, and the wallet is $158. The satchel and tote are currently available on shopDisney.
Do any of these new releases tug at your heartstrings?
The drink selection has not changed much at the 2021 EPCOT Festival of the Arts compared to last year. Still, there’s plenty of adult beverages at available at this EPCOT festival. Here’s six of the cocktails available starting near the Canada Pavilion and going to the Japan Pavilion. Some are hits, and some are misses. Here we present these six in order of preference of Ivonne on our field research team.
Passion Fruit Daiquiri at Vibrante & Vivido Studio Kitchen
Masu Sake at Goshiki Studio Kitchen
Cold Fashioned Coffee Cocktail at World Showplace
Classic Sidecar with a Chocolate Twist at Masterpiece Kitchen
Marlin Blackberry Hard Cider at Mosaic Canteen
Frozen French Martini at L’Art de la Cuisine Française
Passion Fruit Daiquiri at Vibrante & Vivido Studio KitchenMasu Sake at Goshiki Studio Kitchen
Ivonne’s favorite was the Passion Fruit Daiquiri at Vibrante & Vivido Studio Kitchen. It had a great blend of sour and sweet, making it a refreshing frozen drink. The Masu Sake is a festival classic. Clean, crisp sake is served in a traditional wood cup, with your name in Japanese. Not only do you get to enjoy some sake, but you get a nice souvenir too.
Cold Fashioned Coffee Cocktail at World ShowplaceClassic Sidecar with a Chocolate Twist – Masterpiece KitchenMarlin Blackberry Hard Cider at Mosaic CanteenFrozen French Martini at L’Art de la Cuisine Française
The Cold Fashioned Coffee Cocktail at World Showplace is a heavy and rich drink, with a distinct flavor. It packs quite a punch. The Classic Sidecar with a Chocolate Twist at Masterpiece Kitchen is another festival staple. Although it is premixed, the blend of Courvoisier, Cointreau, and Lemon Juice make this a strong and classy drink, and the chocolate twist is a unique touch.
The two big misses of the drinks Ivonne tried was the Frozen French Martini at L’Art de la Cuisine Française and the Marlin Blackberry Hard Cider at Mosaic Canteen.
The French Martini sounds great on paper with Grey Goose, Vodka, Chambord Liqueur, and POG Juice. POG is Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava juice – a popular blend in tropical drinks. But, Ivonne reports the drink did not have a distinct flavor and seem quite weak compared to the other beverages. In addition, it has one of the higher price points.
The Marlin Blackberry Hard Cider at Mosaic Canteen is a simple choice if you’d rather stick to ciders and beers. It is very sweet, especially when compared to your average cider.
One of the fun things about our team being at Walt Disney World daily is the ability to notice changes big and small. At Hollywood Studios we noticed new plexiglass at two attractions yesterday. Disney has been adding plexiglass to certain attractions and other places to increase capacity. This may or may not mean that the overall park capacity will increase. It could just be a tactic to reduce the amount of long extended queues throughout the parks.
At Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster our team noticed new plexiglass in the loading area. This could potentially cut back on the extended queue that can sometimes spill all the way down Sunset Boulevard.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster PlexiglassRock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Plexiglass
At Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run there is new plexiglass in the ride vehicle itself. Now more than one party can be loaded into the same ride vehicle. But, our field research indicated that they would prefer to not combine parties and was accommodated easily.
The plexiglass is in between and behind the two gunner seats. This means the two engineer seats have plexiglass in front of them. The pilot seats do not have plexiglass behind them.
It may feel like there is plexiglass everywhere. So let’s cleanse your visual palate with some lovely photos of nighttime at Hollywood Studios from last night.
Brown Derby Exterior at DuskEcho Lake in the EveningEcho Lake in the Evening
What do you think of these changes to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Millennium Falcon?
Did you know you can make your own art at the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts? You can visit the Spin Art booth, located near the Pop Eats Studio Kitchen, at the top of World Showcase. Here you can create your own painting using a bicycle! Ivonne and I went earlier this week to experience for ourselves. We think this is a great activity and a fun way to make a memory during your Walt Disney World vacation.
Spin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – Pricing
Here’s a summary of the Spin Art Experience at EPCOT
The experience is $19 for a painted canvas you create.
You can have it framed for $6, making the total $25.
The bicycle is sanitized in between every use.
You can select up to four different paint colors.
Guests peddle the bike to spin the canvas slowly or fast to create different patterns.
An additional guest in the party can squirt the paint onto the canvas, or the Cast Member can help.
The entire experience takes about 15 – 30 minutes depending on how detailed you want your art to be.
It takes about 30 minutes for the paint to dry.
You can let your art dry there at the kiosk and retrieve it later in the day.
Spin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – Sanitizing BeforehandSpin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – Sanitizing BeforehandSpin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – Sanitizing Beforehand
We paid upfront; there is a regular Disney register, so credit cards and MagicBands are accepted. When we visited, their register was down so they walked us to another nearby festival kiosk to ring us up there.
If you are by yourself a Cast Member can help you as it does take one person to peddle the bike and another person to squirt the paint as the canvas spins. The Cast Members we encountered were very helpful and asked lots of questions on Ivonne’s preferences so they could help make the art to her liking.
Spin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – The ProcessSpin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – The Process
This is such a fun activity for couples and families. You can work together to create a fun piece of art. We witnessed one family before us having lots of fun together, and a young princess dressed as Elsa waited patiently to have her turn after us. After you’re satisfied with your creation you can leave it at the kiosk to be displayed for a bit to let it dry.
Spin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – Finished ProductSpin Art at EPCOT Festival of the Arts – Finished Product
The Cast Member will ask for your name and phone number so they can contact you if you do not come back to the kiosk to pick it up. The kiosk is open during regular park hours.
What do you think of the Spin Art experience? Would you give it a try?
This week SATURDAY SIXtakes a look at WHAT’S NEW at the Universal Orlando Resort! While it is fun to cover the “Big Picture” of theme park resorts, we here at the SAT SIX believe it is the “little things” that keep us coming back year after year. Today we’re going to take a stroll around the Universal Orlando Resort to check out some of the new things that have appeared over the last couple months, starting with…
# 6 – Wizarding World Pressed Pennies!!!
Regular readers of this fine blog series know that we consider pressed pennies to be one of our favorite theme park souvenirs. Over the years we’ve done articles on the great designs at Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and Disneyland (who, it should be noted, are the worldwide leaders in collectible coins). While pressed pennies have been ubiquitous in the theme park universe since the 1990s, only recently have lands started opening up without these fan friendly machines. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Pandora, and Galaxy’s Edge all made their debut with a huge merchandise component, but none of them offered pressed penny options.
In the last two years, things have started to change. Back in 2019, the first pressed penny machine made its way “through time and space” to appear in Windtraders, the gift shop for Pandora: The World of Avatar. At the end of 2020, pressed pennies finally came to The Wizarding World.
There are three different machines at Universal which offer Wizarding World pressed coins, each with their own unique designs. One machine is in Islands of Adventure, one in Universal Studios Florida, and one in Universal CityWalk.
WWoHP pressed coin machine in IOA.(photo by Hedgehog’s Corner)WWoHP pressed penny machine, located in the main gift shop at the front of Islands of Adventure. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
Unfortunately, for collectible coin aficionados like myself, The Wizarding World machines eschew two of our favorite parts about pressed pennies: putting your own penny in and cranking that lever until your design pops out. The “new and improved” machines, which are taking over almost all pressed penny machines at every theme park, don’t even take pennies, only cash money or credit cards.
WWoHP pressed penny designs available in IOA. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
While the days of going through your own change to pick out the good pennies from the dirty ones are gone, the good news is that the pennies which come out of these machines look fantastic.
WWoHP pressed pennies from IOA. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
Potter fans have a lot of options with coin designs.
WWoHP pressed penny designs. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)WWoHP pressed penny machine in the main store of Universal Studios Florida. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)WWoHP pressed penny designs available in USF. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)Sample of the WWoHP pressed pennies at USF. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)WWoHP pressed pennies from USF. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)WWoHP pressed penny machine in Universal CityWalk. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)WWoHP pressed penny designs in CityWalk. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)Universal CityWalk WWoHP pressed pennies. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
Speaking of merchandise, while Disneyland Annual Passholders got some pretty bad news this week, APs at Universal Orlando keep getting some great stuff, including this month’s free button and magnet.
UOAP swag. (photo by the SAT SIX’s favorite hand model, @caitlizgrace)
# 5 – Window Tribute to Blain Kern
Many theme park fans know about the window tributes on Main Street USA in Disney’s Magic Kingdom here in Florida as well as the ones out in Disneyland. In the theme park world, being immortalized on one of these windows is one of the highest honors are person can achieve. What’s lesser known is that the Universal Orlando Resort also pays respect with their own version of “Main Street Windows” at both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. We’ve been planning an article spotlighting these various windows for a long time, but we have covered the window for David Codiga that guests can see in IOA’s Port of Entry. Late last year, another window design was added in Universal Studios Florida paying respect to Blaine Kern.
Kern Studios is the group behind Universal Studio Florida’s incredible Mardi Gras floats. As theme park fans, we are blessed to be surrounded by amazing design work almost everywhere we go, with almost never knowing who was behind it. For example, one of my favorite lobby designs at any theme park hotel is the outdoor area at Loews Royal Pacific Resort featuring playful elephants in the water. This area was created by Kern Studios. The stunning hippocampus electrolier chandelier that hangs in the lobby of Disney’s Boardwalk Resort? Kern Studios created that too, along with other elements at Walt Disney World and Give Kids the World Village.
The Kern Studios window at night. (photo by @bioreconstruct)
# 4 – Spoiler Alert: Dippin’ Dots are NOT the Ice Cream Of The Future…
…well, at least not Universal Orlando’s future.
For years Dippin’ Dots have been a great snack option at the Universal theme parks, with several dedicated stands at both IOA and USF. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and Dippin’ Dots are now out and Universal with all the various locations being repurposed to sell other snacks.
Hollywood Or Bust snack and beverage, formerly home to Dippin’ Dots in USF. Now you can get nachos or churro bites. (photo courtesy of Inside Universal)
One thing I love is when theme parks have their own exclusive item that you can’t get anywhere else, and Volcano Bay had their own flavor of Dippin’ Dots with Berry Breeze. We’ll follow up what happens with this stand once Volcano Bay reopens later this year.
We’ll miss you Dippin’ Dots… you were a real one.
# 3 – New Snacks
At the end of 2019, Green Eggs and Ham completely overhauled its menu and went with one based around tater tots and themed cans of Who Hash. The quick service restaurant, which for years was closed except for the rarest occasions, also became pretty much an “every day” place you could go to and order from as both the tater tot dishes and Who Hash cans were an immediate hit with guests.
Recently a new tater tot based dish made its debut with Brisket Philly Tots.
Brisket Philly Tots – shaved brisket, onions, peppers, and white cheese sauce served over tater tots.
Green Eggs and Ham. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)Brisket Philly Tots. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)Brisket Philly Tots. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
Review? They taste fantastic, although you also can’t go wrong with the Pizza Tots or Buffalo Chicken Tots either. Pound for pound, Green Eggs and Ham has one of the strongest menus for any quick service at Universal.
Brisket Philly Tots. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)Brisket Philly Tots. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
Late last year a food truck at Universal Studios Florida changed over to a menu offering funnel cakes. I think it is clear that every theme park needs a funnel cake food truck. Maybe even more than one. One in each land sounds good.
Funnel Cake food truck menu. (photo by @hedgehogscorner)
Chicken and Waffles is becoming a staple at many restaurants, and the Fried Chicken Funnel Cake has similar qualities. Sweet and savory combined in one gigantic serving.
Fried Chicken funnel cake. (photo by @hedgehogscorner)Fried Chicken funnel cake. (photo by @hedgehogscorner)
# 2 – Attraction Updates
We are in “unprecedented times” at the Universal Parks, and some rides remain closed outside of the busiest of weeks. While Fast & Furious – Supercharged has reopened at Universal Studios Florida, attractions such as Storm Force Accelatron in Marvel Superhero Island, Poseidon’s Fury in Lost Continent, and Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl in Springfield USA remain closed on most days.
You will generally find stilt walkers around the area of Lost Continent to interact with.
Stilt Walkers. (photo by @HedgehogsCorner)
Love the design of this character.
Stilt walker in Lost Continent. (photo by HedgehogsCorner)
January usually means closing water rides at Disney and Universal to get their annual maintenance done. Both Jurassic Park River Adventure and Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges at IOA will generally follow each other in closing to give guests the option to ride one while the other is down.
The exit of Jurassic Park River Adventure empties out into a gift shop. The area where guests would walk through exiting the ride has been closed off.
Jurassic Park gift shop. (photo by @Hedgehogscorner)
# 1 – VelociCoaster Lighting Package
We are getting ever closer to the opening of VelociCoaster in Islands of Adventure. Recently, Universal gave everyone a closer look at the ride vehicles. Not only do the coaster trains look sharp, but the lighting features on them really make the ride pop.
Photograph copyright Universal Orlando.
With the VelociCoaster currently in testing, photographers have been able to get some great photos of the lighting features during sunset and at night.
Tracer Lighting. (photo by @bioreconstruct)VelociCoaster. (photo by @bioreconstruct)
A look at how the tracer lighting on a VelociCoaster train turns into view at the highest track, the top hat.
VelociCoaster. (photo by @bioreconstruct)VelociCoaster. (photo by @bioreconstruct)VelociCoaster. (photo by @bioreconstruct)
The VelociCoaster station has also been shown to have interesting lighting features.
VelociCoaster station. (photo by @bioreconstruct)VelociCoaster station. (photo by @bioreconstruct)
So there you have it: The SATURDAY SIX check’s out What’s New at the Universal Orlando Resort!See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! articles covering the latest from the Disney Outlet Stores. You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).
If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following:
