Author: touringplans.com

If you’re a Starbucks fan you absolutely must visit the Trolley Car Café at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. For many Disney and Starbucks fans it is their favorite café at Walt Disney World. Each year this Starbucks location offers seasonal treats for the holiday season, in addition to the classic holiday coffee creations.

Indulge your sweet tooth with a Red Velvet Whoopie Pie. The classic Red Velvet flavor, with a hint of chocolate, is great. The filling is not as thick as traditional cream cheese, so that may throw off Red Velvet traditionalists. The festive sprinkles are a great touch.

The Chocolate Chestnut Pinecone is a returning favorite for the holidays. We wish the chestnut flavor was just a little more pronounced to set this treat apart, and that may be because we secretly miss the roasted chestnuts they use to give out at Disney’s Grand Floridian (sigh). Overall the chocolate flavor and the texture are fantastic. Both treats are picture-worthy and sure to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Have you tried either of these seasonal sweet treats yet? What’s your favorite thing to order at Trolley Car Café? 

The post REVIEW – Perk Up Your Holidays with Seasonal Treats and Drinks at Trolley Car Café appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Christmas, Hollywood Studios, Snacks, disney christmas, disney desserts, disney starbucks, hollywood studios christmas

Crowds returned to Walt Disney World today after a couple days of rain and before Eta heads over Florida on Thursday.  Happy Veterans Day, everyone!  We’re also testing new infographics for individual park attractions – leave a comment below with your thoughts on this new format.  Now let’s do the numbers!

Hollywood Studios Wait Times

Today was the second-busiest day of the past month at Hollywood Studios! Here are the wait times:

If you’re planning on visiting Walt Disney World this holiday season, you’ll need a special tool at your side. Subscribe today and get our Lines app too.

Rise of the Resistance is having a very good day of operations, too!  Only one minor delay in calling boarding groups, about 30 minutes just before 3 p.m.  Other than that, a solid day’s work at Rise.

Magic Kingdom Wait Times

Magic Kingdom wasn’t as busy, relatively speaking, as the Studios.  And compared to historical averages, the park’s average posted wait times ranked as the 129th-highest of the past year.

Animal Kingdom Wait Times

Animal Kingdom was also busy today, no doubt people wanting to see TriceraTop Spin one more time.

EPCOT Wait Times

And EPCOT had its second-busiest day of the month, opening to high wait times that subsided later in the day.

The post Crowds Return! – Walt Disney World Wait Times for Wednesday, November 11, 2020 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Trip Planning, Walt Disney World (FL), disney wait times, walt disney world crowds

I’m not one to care much about souvenir popcorn buckets, but when it comes to Halloween and Christmas holiday editions, I make an exception. We shared pics of these two popcorn buckets on our social media channels recently and there was such a reaction we thought we’d share a little more info, in case you missed it.

Last year a green Christmas tree popcorn bucket was released at Walt Disney World. It features Mickey Mouse holding a present wrapped in yellow with a red bow. The tree is adorned with translucent colored ornaments and bulbs, and a yellow star sits on top. Inside the bucket is a button to turn the bucket’s light on which lights up the star and shines down into the bucket to illuminate the ornaments. Last year’s green Christmas Tree bucket was found just a few days ago at the Canada Pavilion at EPCOT. The best part about getting a popcorn bucket at the Canada Pavilion? It’s the only place where you can get maple popcorn!

This year’s bucket is very similar, but is a white base instead of green. And it features Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse in red and white attire, each holding a candy cane.  Both buckets are $25.00, and includes a serving of popcorn which is normally $6.25. You can get refills of popcorn in any souvenir bucket for $2.00.

This year’s white Christmas tree bucket was spotted at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you’re visiting Walt Disney World this holiday season, make sure you have holiday magic at your fingertips. Become a TouringPlans Subscriber and gain access to our Lines app. Our Lines app users save 2-3 hours on average per day in the parks, so you’ll have more time to savor the magic of this festive season.

Which design do you like better?

The post Comparing Souvenir Christmas Tree Buckets at Walt Disney World appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Snacks, popcorn buckets

Last year we saw the debut of holiday decorations in every land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Although the entertainment has been temporarily paused this year, the decorations throughout the entire park have returned. From Discovery Island to Dinoland U.S.A. and even Pandora – World of Avatar, every land inside Animal Kingdom shows its festive side this time of year. Let’s take a stroll around the entire park, from day to night, to see all the unique holiday decorations. All photos taken by Ivonne on our team (@servoisnaked on Twitter and Instagram).

• Discovery Island decorations are inspired by cold weather animals
• Pandora’s decorations are inspired by the ex-pat humans now living on this alien world
• Dinoland USA’s decorations are zany and bright
• Harambe Market’s decorations showcase how real villages in Africa are often decorated using recycled materials
• The Asia section celebrates Diwali, the Indian festival of lights

If you’re visiting Walt Disney World this holiday season, make sure you have holiday magic at your fingertips. Become a TouringPlans Subscriber and gain access to our Lines app. Our Lines app users save 2-3 hours on average per day in the parks, so you’ll have more time to savor the magic of this festive season.

Which land is your favorite at Animal Kingdom this time of year?

The post PHOTOS – Disney’s Animal Kingdom Has Holiday Decorations in Every Land appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Christmas, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Holidays, animal kingdom christmas, disney christmas, disney christmas decorations, walt disney world christmas

The Magic Kingdom is full of holiday treats this time of year. And with Florida’s sunshine it’s a fun time to indulge in some festive ice cream treats. Our team tried two of the seasonal soft serve desserts available at Magic Kingdom for this holiday season.

Up first, over at Adventureland’s Aloha Isle, we tried the Pistachio Chai Tea Float. If you’re looking for something festively different, you don’t want to miss this. Pistachio is a common flavor of gelato and glaces in Italy and France. It’s nice to see Magic Kingdom getting a little adventurous in Adventureland with this flavor. The Chai tea flavor and the Pistachio pair well for a holiday treat that has a nice balance of sweet and warm spices. It is topped with a small Red Velvet Cake Pop Ornament, which is tasty (as long as you like Red Velvet of course). This float is so great to have as another option besides peppermint, chocolate, gingerbread, or caramel for the holidays. It’s priced the same as a Dole Whip Float for $6.49.

Over in Tomorrowland at Auntie Gravity’s Galactic Goodies is a milkshake that has so much going for it, but falls short. The Just a Dream Away Milkshake is named in tribute to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. You can almost think of this as a Churro milkshake, salted caramel milkshake with a silver sugar churro. There are galactic glittery sprinkles atop a little dollop of whipped cream that add a delightful touch.

The disappointment our team had with this shake, besides the $8.49 price tag, is the flavor did not live up to the hype. We barely detected any salted caramel flavor. Instead our serving of the milkshake tastes like non-dairy whipped topping, but somehow not in a good way. Maybe it was because this was one of the first days of the festive food offerings at Magic Kingdom, and practice was still needed. The little churro itself had decent cinnamon flavor, but the best part of it – the crispy, chewiness, is lost by being dunked into the shake. For the price we would prefer to just get a warm, fresh churro instead.

Do you like to try the various treats for the holiday season? Which of these festive soft serve treats sound best to you?

 

The post REVIEW – Two Soft Serve Holiday Desserts at Magic Kingdom – One’s Naughty, One’s Nice appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Magic Kingdom, Snacks, disney christmas, disney desserts, disney ice cream, magic kingdom christmas