Category: Other

More quick service options have become available at Walt Disney World in recent weeks. Among them is Lotus Blossom Café at EPCOT. This quick service restaurant inside the China Pavilion isn’t a shining star in the galaxy that is dining options at EPCOT, but it is a solid choice for familiar food. Our team revisited this location to see if its standard Chinese-inspired fare still blooms.

At Lotus Blossom Cafe, you’ll find simple choices and familiar Chinese fare. The café is entirely open-air which is very important for lots of guests right now. The lobby area is at the center to walk-up and place your order. Then there are two open-air and covered dining areas to either side of the lobby. Mobile ordering is not available at this location.

The menu at Lotus Blossom has been reduced, with the entrees being cut from six options to three. Our team selected the Orange Chicken Combo, which is a whopping $13.50, but does come with steamed rice, egg roll and steamed broccoli. This is a generous platter and could be shared by two people if they wanted to have room to explore other international cuisine. The orange chicken was crispy and the sauce had the right balance of sweet and sour. The egg roll is fantastic, as it is the same as what’s served at Joy of Tea. The broccoli, unfortunately, was cold and crunchy.

We have listings and ratings for all Walt Disney World restaurants, and our readers give Lotus Blossom Café an 82% thumbs up rating, which is below average. It is ranked number 73 out of 107 quick service options. As you can see there are plenty of better options out there, but if you want simple food with flavors you may be familiar with, then this is a good pick.

Are you glad Lotus Blossom Cafe has reopened? What’s your favorite spot for a quick meal at EPCOT?

The post REVIEW – Lotus Blossom Cafe Returns to EPCOT appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Dining, Epcot, disney dining, epcot dining, Epcot Restaurants

It’s the most wonderful time of year to visit Walt Disney World Resort, as the holiday season is in full swing across our Resort hotels. Whether you’re staying with us on vacation or just stopping by for the day, these fantastic locales are merry and bright with yuletide décor that enhances the stories they tell. 

From iconic Christmas trees to festive flourishes of garland adorning the front entrances and more, our resorts have decked their halls in celebration of the season for a fun holiday atmosphere. For instance, you can’t miss the massive and magnificent tree outside Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Or you can gaze in wonder at the tree stretching into the upper reaches of the soaring lobby at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. Traditional tunes and holiday melodies fill the air in the classic setting of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, as a talented pianist performs live music most afternoons and evenings in the lobby. And while you’re visiting one of these magical places, you may just spot a favorite Disney pal taking in the sights, as well.

The tinsel and trimmings make our resorts a wonderful way to check some names off your holiday shopping list, too. You’ll find great gift ideas for family and friends, especially anyone looking for an ornament from their favorite home away from home at The Most Magical Place on Earth. Resort gift shops offer exclusive pieces you can only find here! 

When it’s time to take a break from your merry-making, treat your taste buds with jolly specialties across our resorts. Holiday flavors of eggnog, peppermint, pumpkin, chocolate and more dance across the dessert menus at all our resorts throughout the season. May I suggest any of the following tasty morsels: 

The triple-chocolate Happy Holidays Grand Cake Pop from Gasparilla Island Grill at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

A Christmas Candy Drop from Le Petit Café at Disney’s Riviera Resort, filled with milk chocolate mousse, chocolate sponge, hazelnut custard and cherry reduction. 

Plant-based macarons available at The Artist’s Palette inside Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. 

Cookie Trees featuring stacks of vanilla cookies decorated with royal icing, mini-pearls and snow sugar, along with a delightful miniature Gingerbread Carousel with hidden Mickeys and a sugar replica of this year’s gingerbread pin from Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort. 

And speaking of sweets, our pastry chefs cooked up some holiday cheer this year for gingerbread fans with a lineup of delicious cookies, kits and more. Highlights include a classic Gingerbread Mickey available at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort’s BoardWalk Bakery and the Contemporary Gingerbread House Kit from the Contempo Café at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

You’ll find all sorts of other special gingerbread items available at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, and Disney’s BoardWalk Resort. If you aren’t staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel, a dining reservation may be required to park at the resort. Depending on the location’s capacity, guests without reservations may be redirected to park nearby and walk, or take Walt Disney World Transportation to the resort. 

To learn more about the celebrations happening all season long across Walt Disney World, check out our festive roundup here. And be sure to follow along with us here on the Disney Parks Blog as we bring you even more #DisneyMagicMoments from this holiday season! 

From our friends at disneyparks.disney.go.com

Filed Under: Hotels & Resorts, Walt Disney World Resort, Holidays, WDW

How it is December already? It seems like it was just May … for the last six months.  Anyway, wait times were low at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom today, and in the top 7 for the past month at Hollywood Studios. That’s even more surprising since Runaway Railway and Tower of Terror have taken steps to increase their hourly ride capacity in the last couple of weeks.  We received 119 actual wait times today, and we counted 478 of 500 guests (96%) following Disney’s mask guidelines in EPCOT.  Let’s do the numbers!

Magic Kingdom Wait Times

The most interesting wait time at Magic Kingdom today was probably Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’s average posted wait 54 minutes. Its 7-day average is 48 minutes, so today ranks #1 for this week. Its 30-day average is 47 minutes, so today ranks #4 for the past month. Its 365-day average is 51 minutes, so today ranks #84 for the past year. That’s a strong crowd for this time of year.  We received 6 actual wait times today at Big Thunder, and the actual wait averaged 79% of the posted wait time.

Hollywood Studios Wait Times

Slinky Dog Dash remains popular.  Slinky’s average wait time today was 76 minutes, two above its 7-day average of 74 minutes, so today ranks #2 for this week. Its 30-day average is 69 minutes, so today ranks #4 for the past month.

Rise of the Resistance had a rough middle part of the day, with a delay of almost an hour in calling boarding groups between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.  It’s unlikely they’ll get to 100 boarding groups today.

Animal Kingdom Wait Times

Slow day at the Animal Kingdom.  The busiest attraction relative to the past month seems to be Expedition Everest, which had an average wait time today of 38 minutes. Its 7-day average is 43 minutes, so today ranks #4 for this week. Its 30-day average is 36 minutes, so today ranks #12 for the past month. The good news is that the 7 actual wait times we got today for it averaged just 57% of the posted wait time.

EPCOT Wait Times

Great day to ride Soarin’.  Soarin’ had an average wait time today of 25 minutes. Its 7-day average is 53 minutes, so today ranks #6 for this week. Its 30-day average is 41 minutes, so today ranks #27 for the past month. We received 10 actual wait times today, and the actual wait averaged 91% of the posted wait time.  That’s pretty accurate for this ride.

The post Good Attendance at Studios – Disney World Wait Times for Tuesday, December 1, 2020 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Walt Disney World (FL), wait times

The rare treat of chilly weather has arrived at Central Florida. Well, it’s a treat for us Floridians. Not so much for those wanting sunny and warm Florida weather. So to help you warm up let’s look at the best places to grab a warm drink (besides Starbucks) at each Walt Disney World theme park.

To research this, one of the tools I used is the TouringPlans Menu Finder. I searched “coffee,” “tea,” and “hot chocolate” and referred to our team’s field research.

There is one Starbucks location in each of the four theme parks, with all your favorite Starbucks beverages. There is also at least one Joffrey’s Coffee kiosk in each park. Brewed coffee, hot tea, and hot chocolate are available at nearly every quick service restaurant and table service restaurant at all four theme parks.

At Magic Kingdom you can enjoy specialty hot tea at Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen.

Animal Kingdom has specialty hot tea at Yak & Yeti Restaurant. And if you really want something special, Tiffins has Press Pot Hot Tea. Finally, one of my favorite ways to warm up at Animal Kingdom is the Mustang Coffee at Nomad Lounge, made with Crown Royal, Brown Sugar, Butter, and Hot Coffee.

At EPCOT, because of the International Festival of the Holidays you have a few more options beside the standard hot beverages. At the Tea Garden at the United Kingdom Pavilion you can sip on a Twinings Christmas Tea Toddy (available with and without Drambuie Whisky). It’s served iced, but most likely the one with whisky will still warm you up.

You can get cozy with a Cocoa Candy Cane: Hot Cocoa with Peppermint Schnapps at Holiday Hearth, inside World Showplace. Another boozy hot chocolate option is at Holiday Sweets and Treats with Hot Cocoa with Assorted Alcoholic Cordials (Baileys Irish Cream, Frangelico Liqueur, or Fireball Cinnamon Whisky). And a traditional German holiday beverage, Glühwein: House-made Hot Spiced Wine, available at the Bavaria Holiday Kitchen is sure to warm you up.

Finally, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios there is not much outside of the standard Starbucks, Joffrey’s, and standard hot beverages at each quick service and table service restaurant. However, during the holiday season you can enjoy Hot Chocolate with your choice of Baileys Irish Cream, Red Stagg, or Stoli Vanilla Vodka. You can find this specialty hot chocolate at most quick service locations in the park, and it is available as an individual serving, or as a hot chocolate flight.

Do you like to visit Walt Disney World when there’s a chill in the air? What’s your favorite hot beverage to enjoy?

The post Where to Grab a Warm Beverage at Each Walt Disney World Theme Park appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Christmas, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Drinking, Epcot, Festivals, disney christmas, disney coffee, disney drinks

Disney’s Magical Express is one of the few things at Walt Disney World that are actually free! This complimentary transportation service takes guests and their luggage to and from the Orlando International Airport and Walt Disney World Resort hotels. Disney guests have enjoyed this perk for years; and for many, it’s part of that Disney World Vacation experience.

But like everything these days, Magical Express has had to adapt to our current global situation; and if you’re looking to use this complimentary service for the first time, or if you’re a regular user, there are some things you need to know.

There is No Luggage Delivery

Since Walt Disney World reopened in July and for the foreseeable future, Magical Express will not be providing luggage delivery for those arriving to and departing from Orlando International Airport. This means guests need to claim their luggage before heading to Disney’s Magical Express service located at the Ground Transportation Area in Terminal B, Level 1.

However, Magical Express bus drivers will load and unload all of your luggage on and off of the Magical Express motorcoach; and your Disney Resort will still store your luggage if you’re not headed directly to your room upon arrival. Disney Resorts will also still provide luggage delivery to your room as well.

There are New Line Procedures

When guests arrive at Magical Express service at the Orlando International Airport, Cast Members scan their MagicBands or check guests’ resort confirmation numbers before directing them to a line exclusive to their resort.

But just like the queues for park attractions these days, the lines for this process look much longer than they are for the sake of social distancing and due to social distancing markers placed on the ground.

In addition, I personally encountered a revised boarding process during my last experience with Magical Express. Once I was in my resort’s hotel queue and a bus had arrived for my resort, a Cast Member directed the family that was first in line to the bus before moving to the next resort’s queue. It wasn’t until a few moments later that the Cast Member then moved back to my line and directed the next family ahead of me. While the process seems puzzling and even a little frustrating (especially when you can’t wait to get there!), it appears the goal is to prevent guests from clustering when boarding the motorcoach.

Boarding Back to Front

For safety purposes, bus drivers are asking guests to board from back to front. This means if you’re one of the first to board a Magical Express motorcoach, you’re probably going to be seated towards the rear.

Seat Assignments & Staggered Rows

Since Walt Disney World’s reopening, Disney bus drivers have been assigning guests a numbered seat or numbered section on board to help with social distancing. This particular procedure is also being utilized for Disney’s Magical Express.

After the bus driver has loaded your luggage and confirmed your resort’s destination, they will assign you and your group a numbered row of seats. Those numbers, however, are posted under the bus windows so they may be hard to spot.

Also, during my most recent trip, the bus drivers appeared to be filling every other row on the bus similar to what some airlines were doing earlier this year. This means the buses are operating at a lower capacity, which is something to be aware of.

New On-Ride Video

Guests who take advantage of Magical Express on the regular are probably familiar with Magical Express’s on-ride video. For quite some time, it’s consisted of both classic and current cartoon shorts and behind-the-scenes segments showcasing the Magic Kingdom’s Festival of Fantasy parade, Happily Ever After fireworks, and Festival of the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom.

The problem? Festival of the Fantasy, Happily Ever After, and Festival of the Lion King are not currently operating, and many of the park’s other experiences have been altered. So for this unique time, a new on-ride video is being used. While many of the segments are now dedicated to promoting Disney+, it also includes a segment featuring Disney’s The Incredibles campaign educating guests about wearing masks and social distancing. It’s definitely something to have your kids check out so they’re prepared for what Disney is enforcing at the parks and resorts during this time.

Have you ever used Disney’s Magical Express? Are you planning on using it for a future trip? 

The post What to Expect Aboard Disney’s Reopened Magical Express appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com

Filed Under: Resorts, Transportation, Trip Planning, Walt Disney World (FL), Disney buses, disney magical express, disney resort hotel, disney resort hotels, Disney Resorts, Disney Transportation, disney world, luggage, Magical Express, Orlando International Airport, trip planning, walt disney world