A Blog About Disney Stuff

Planning a trip to Disney World looks a little different these days; and since new situations call for new tools, the TouringPlans Lines app (the highest-rated Disney World app in iTunes and Google Play!) has received a major update improving those features users love! And yes, that includes creating your own customized Touring Plan. That’s why today I’m going to show you how to create a custom Touring Plan using the new and improved Lines 2.0!

So let’s start with the app’s homepage. Upon opening the app, users can check out handy crowd level forecasts and daily park hours.

And at the bottom of the main page, you will find a toolbar with an icon to the left for Plans. This is where you’ll access your customized Touring Plans when using the app; but first, we gotta make one! So let’s keep scrolling, shall we?

Here towards the bottom of the homepage is a button to Create New Plan. That’s what we’re going to select today to create a new Touring Plan through the updated app.

Now once we select that option to Create New Plan, what’s pictured below is what you should see.

This is where we can name our plan and then select which park and what date our Touring Plan is for. There’s also a handy option to toggle your preferred walking speed and whether you prefer waiting over walking or vice versa.

Now if we keep scrolling to the bottom of this page…

…we then need to select the start time for our Touring Plan and for when we intend to finish. You can also choose to use park open and park close.

After saving, we then should see what’s pictured below. This is where you can select which attractions you want to add to your Touring Plan, including how many times you want to ride!

This means if you want to ride Astro Orbiter five or six times during your day, you can! The app will let you do you and live your best Disney life, just without wasting time in line.

Another helpful feature is the option to select More Attraction Details under the attraction title. This will reveal our ratings for each attraction plus height requirements.

Also, for a little extra help, you can also select the three lines in the upper-right-hand corner of the page. This will allow you to filter each park’s attractions as seen below.

Now the picture below is what you’ll see if you select the Meals icon at the top of the screen. Here you can add your dining reservation times and even what snack kiosks or popcorn carts you plan to check out to your Touring Plan! Plus, you’ll get an idea of the cost along with our rankings and reviews. Take a look!

Also, if you select the icon for Breaks, you can schedule in what time you prefer to get off your feet and for how long. Oh, and for optimal accuracy, the app has you specify whether you’re taking a break in the park or leaving the park for a midday rest.

Now once you’ve added all of your attractions, dining times, and break times, you will notice mustard-colored squares underneath each attraction you chose. Be sure to take a moment to read them as they are helpful notes about what to expect from each attraction’s social distancing measures.

Now it’s time to optimize!

Selecting the button to Optimize at the bottom of the page sends your plan to the TouringPlans software where it will be organized into a customized plan to save you and yours the most time in line!

The best part? If your plan changes during your day at the park, you can use the app to make adjustments on-the-go! Optimizing those changes will update your Touring Plan so you can continue saving time in line.

But if you prefer to utilize out one of our pre-designed Premium Plans, and you’re a TouringPlans subscriber, you can find them in the app too! Just select plans from the main toolbar and then the three horizontal lines in the upper-righthand corner.

So that’s how to make a Touring Plan using the new and improved Lines 2.0 app. Be sure to give it a try for your next Disney World vacation in order to save time, skip the lines, and to experience as much magic as possible!

Also, check out the video below for a video tutorial for how to create Touring Plans using the Lines 2.0 app.

Video: How to Create a Touring Plan in Lines 2.0

Have you checked out the new Lines 2.0 app? Let us know in the comments!

The post How to Create Custom Touring Plans Using the Lines 2.0 App appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Beyond the Parks, Lines 2.0, disney world, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, lines 2.0, Magic Kingdom, Magic Kingdom Touring Plans, touring plans, walt disney world

Spooky sweet treats can be found all around Walt Disney World right now. One of the best ways to enjoy all the tasty fun is to do your own crawl around the monorail resorts. Our team recently did their own monster mash monorail crawl to scope out all the Halloween treats.

Disney’s Contemporary Resort – Halloween Cupcakes

Over at Contempo Cafe you can enjoy monstrous treats with a view of the monorail. Our team tried out the Monster Cupcake, with confetti cake and Candy Bar Custard. As cute as this cupcake is, the Candy Bar Custard’s texture didn’t thrill us. There are two other specialty cupcakes available here too. Each one is $5.99 and available for mobile ordering.

Disney’s Polynesian – Halloween Treats

Hop on over to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Captain Cook’s for two more thrilling Halloween treats. The Minnie Mouse Halloween Cupcake is a hit for chocolate lovers. A chocolate cupcake is filled with Rocky Road filling and topped with buttercream frosting. It’s a marvelous Minnie Mouse creation.

There’s also the Mike Wazowski Dome Cake, a double chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache and buttercream frosting. Lots of sugary sweetness in this one–even the double chocolate cake is on the extra sweet side. We preferred the Minnie Mouse cupcake to this one. Each one is $5.99 and available through mobile ordering.

A Trio of Halloween Treats at Disney’s Grand Floridian

Over at the grandest Disney resort of all, Disney’s Grand Floridian, there are three Halloween treats to finish up our monster mash monorail crawl. Head to Gasparilla Island Grill. We’ll go from zero to hero, starting with the Zero Dog Bone Eclair, in honor of Jack Skellington’s ghost dog Zero. You can skip this one: the eclair was soggy and not very flavorful, a pass for $5.49.

Minnie Mouse gets her own cupcake here at the Grand too, a chocolate cupcake with Cookies and Cream filling, enrobed in chocolate ganache. A chocolate candy witch hat and two cookies for ears top it all off. This is a strong contender for the best cupcake on the crawl, at $5.99.

Our team’s favorite food find of the monster mash monorail crawl is the Jack Skellington Pumpkin Spice Cake Pop. If you can’t get enough pumpkin spice in your life, this is the treat for you. A simply sweet jumbo cake pop is packed with pumpkin spice flavor and enrobed in white chocolate ganache. For $7.99 it is a little pricey, but large enough to share with 2-3 people.

Treat yourself to a TouringPlans Subscription and you won’t miss a beat on your Walt Disney World vacation. Our Lines app includes ratings and rankings of all Walt Disney World dining options, including all three spots featured here in our monster mash monorail crawl.

Have you ever done your own monorail crawl? Tell us about it in the comments. 

The post Do the Monorail Monster Mash – A Halloween Treats Crawl appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Dining, Dos and Don’ts, Halloween, Resorts, Snacks, Transportation, disney desserts, disney halloween, disney halloween treats, Disney Snacks, disney’s contemporary, disney’s grand floridian, disney’s polynesian, jack skellington, Minnie Mouse

We’ve been highlighting our touring plans which reflect the changes and closures due to social distancing measures and closures due to the ongoing pandemic. Today we move on to our Disney’s Hollywood Studios one-day plan for parents with small children. This plan includes rides that rank high with preschool and grade-school kids. Thrill rides, such as Tower of Terror, are not included. If you are going to use this plan in the park, be sure to arrive at the park at least 40 minutes early and then immediately get in line for Slinky Dog Dash after the park opens.

STEPS
1) Slinky Dog Dash Head to Toy Story Land and ride Slinky Dog Dash. Slinky Dog Dash is a long outdoor children’s roller coaster designed to look as if Andy built it out of Tinkertoys. The trains are themed to Toy Story’s Slinky Dog. As for intensity, it’s something along the lines of the Magic Kingdom’s Barnstormer or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train—lots of turns, dips, and hills but no loops or high-speed curves—and not nearly as rough as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This ride ranks high with all ages.
2) Eat lunch Eat lunch if you’re hungry. If not, eat after riding Runaway Railway.
3) Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The Runaway Railway ride places you in the center of one of the modern Mickey Mouse cartoons. The premise is, of course, that you’re on an out-of-control railroad car, courtesy of Goofy. You careen, gently, through ten large, cartoon show scenes, from tropical islands, to cities, to out-of-control factories. In each scene, Mickey and Minnie attempt to save you from disaster, with mixed results. Note: Unless you plan on being one of the first people in the park, Runaway Railway will instantly have a high wait time. If this happens you should save it for later in the day, or ride it before the park closes.
4) Muppet*Vision 3D   See MuppetVision 3D. Muppet*Vision 3-D provides a total sensory experience, with wacky 3-D action augmented by auditory, visual, and tactile special effects. If you’re tired and hot, this zany show will make you feel brand-new. Arrive early to enjoy the hilarious video preshow.
5) Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Experience Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Rise of the Resistance is an innovative attempt to integrate at least four different ride experiences— trackless vehicles, a motion simulator, walk-through environments, and even an elevator drop—into one of Disney’s longest attractions ever. Note: To ride you must join a Boarding Group that will be “called” at a later time that day, when you are allowed to get into line and wait. This is analogous to a same-day FastPass+ for an unknown time window. Use the My Disney Experience app to join a Boarding Group. Eventually you’ll receive a push notification or see that your Boarding Group is “now boarding” via in-park status screens. You must do this first thing in the morning when the park opens or at a second opening of Boarding Groups at 2 p.m.
6) Toy Story Mania! Go back to Toy Story Land and ride Toy Story Mania! This is an interactive shooting gallery much like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, but in Toy Story Mania!, your ride vehicle passes through a totally virtual midway, with booths offering such games as ring tossing and ball throwing. You use a cannon on your ride vehicle to play as you move along from screen to screen. Unlike the laser guns in Buzz Lightyear, however, the pull-string cannons in Toy Story Mania! take advantage of CG image technology to toss rings, shoot balls, even throw eggs and pies. Each game booth is manned by a Toy Story character who is right beside you in 3-D glory, cheering you on. In addition to 3-D imagery, you experience vehicle motion, wind, and water spray. Ride only if the posted wait time is at an acceptable length. If not, save it for the very end of the day.
7) Alien Swirling Saucers   Take a spin on Alien Swirling Saucers.   Alien Swirling Saucers is themed around Toy Story’s vending-machine aliens and their obsession with The Claw. About a dozen ride cars move, whiplike, in a figure-eight around two circular tracks embedded in the ground. The ride experience is actually much milder than the Magic Kingdom’s Mad Tea Party.
8) Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Take flight on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Smugglers Run lets guests fly Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon, the “fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.” Guests approaching the attraction will see a life-size Millennium Falcon parked outside the spaceport. On board each rider is assigned his or her own station— a pilot and copilot up front to steer around obstacles and activate the hyperdrive, two gunners in the middle to shoot down enemy fighters, and a pair of engineers in the rear to repair the ship when the pilots and gunners mess up—and computer-generated scenery is projected on an ultra-HD dome outside the windshield. After Smugglers Run, explore Galaxy’s Edge if you haven’t already done so.
9) Eat Dinner Eat dinner and then ride anything else you may have missed, or use the time to do any repeat rides.

There’s no FastPass+ being offered at this time so you’ll have to do only stand-by lines. Don’t forget, you can customize and optimize this or any of our other touring plans using our personalized touring plans creator on the site or in our mobile app, Lines. Be sure to check out our other touring plans that will help you save time and money in Walt Disney World.

The post Disney’s Hollywood Studios One-Day Touring Plan for Parents with Small Children: Updated for COVID-19 Closures appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

From our friends at touringplans.com
Filed Under: Trip Planning, Walt Disney World (FL), touring plan

Playdate to be Hosted by Ayesha Curry and Will Feature A Day’s Worth of Activities for Fans of All Ages

Trailer for the Disney+ Original Short “Once Upon a Snowman” to Globally Debut During the Digital Event

Global Celebration of All Things Frozen to Also Include New Product, Retail Promotions, a Frozen Fashion Week and More

GLENDALE, Calif.— One year since the global phenomenon of Disney’s “Frozen 2” and its retail event took fans by storm, Frozen Fan Fest is back with exclusive content, digital adventures and new toys, apparel, games, books and more inspired by the internationally acclaimed films from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

This year, the highlight of Frozen Fan Fest will be an engaging Virtual Playdate hosted by chef, two-time New York Times best-selling author, entrepreneur, television host and producer, Ayesha Curry, that will air on October 18. The digital event will be available for one day only, offering families the ultimate “Frozen 2” experience all from the comfort of home. With a robust schedule of new and curated content, immersive activities and more, participants will also get an exclusive first look at the trailer for “Once Upon a Snowman,” the new short from Walt Disney Animation Studios, which debuts on Disney+ on October 23.

“I’m thrilled to join in on all of the Frozen Fan Fest fun as the host of the first-ever Frozen Virtual Playdate,” said Ayesha Curry.  “We are big fans of Frozen 2 in our home, and I love that the film celebrates the importance of family, which is something that’s deeply important to me.  I’m overjoyed to be a part of an event that offers families a fun a way to spend quality time together, all while enjoying the magic of Arendelle in their homes.”

The Playdate line-up will include activities appealing to Frozen fans of all ages, such as a sing-a-long,  choreographed dance lesson, an American Sign Language tutorial of “Show Yourself,” and the unique opportunity to learn how to draw Olaf with Trent Correy and Dan Abraham, the directors of “Once Upon a Snowman.” Additional segments will feature new apparel, fashion accessories, bedding, toys, costumes and more from Hasbro, Jakks Pacific, H&M, Hanna Andersson, Party City, Franco Manufacturing, shopDisney.com and the LEGO Group. Guest appearances will include social influencers and Frozen fans, as well as stars from Frozen: the hit Broadway Musical North American Tour,

Radio Disney’s Cameron McLeod and Jason Maybaum from Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home.

“Since audiences were first introduced to the kingdom of Arendelle seven years ago, Frozen has become universally beloved,” said Kareem Daniel, president, Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing. “As fans around the world continue to seek out ways to step into this iconic story, we are thrilled to expand this experience – meeting consumers where they are by bringing new products and digital content to life for families at home.”

Frozen Fan Fest also kicks off today, October 12, in EMEA with a “Frozen Fashion Week,” a series of short fashion shows that spotlight all-new footwear and apparel, culminating in a full fashion show on October 18. Complete with imaginative vignettes and never-before-seen styles that lean into key elements of the story and its characters, portions of the fashion show will air as a part of the Virtual Playdate on October 18.

Beginning today, fans can visit www.disney.com/FrozenFanFest for a full schedule of events, downloadable activities and more. The Playdate will start at 9 a.m. PST on October 18 and will be available for one day only. Additional information can be found by following #FrozenFanFest.

About Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing 

Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing (CPGP) brings the magic of The Walt Disney Company’s brands and franchises—including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more—into the daily lives of families and fans around the world through products and experiences across more than 100 retail categories from toys and t-shirts to apps, books, video games, and more. A division of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment, CPGP’s global operations include: the world’s largest licensing business, one of the biggest children’s publishing brands, a leading licensor of interactive games across platforms, Disney store locations globally, and the shopDisney e-commerce platform.

About Frozen

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated feature “Frozen” launched a worldwide phenomenon in 2013, earning more than $1.27 billion in global box office and receiving the Academy Award®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA® Award for best animated feature. Its Oscar®-nominated sequel, “Frozen 2,” was released in 2019 to more than $1.45 billion globally, and the two films stand as the highest grossing animated films of all time globally, showing the power and broad appeal of this beloved brand. The films are directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, written by Lee and produced by Peter Del Vecho, and are renowned for their award-winning music by songwriters Kristin Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and composer Christophe Beck. The “Frozen” soundtrack, featuring the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go,” is quadruple Platinum with over 10 million units sold worldwide and spent 33 weeks in the top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, including 13 weeks at No. 1, while the chart-topping “Frozen 2” soundtrack, featuring the Oscar-nominated standout “Into the Unknown,” was recently nominated for a Billboard Music Award. “Frozen The Musical” played on Broadway from 2018 to 2020, embarking on a North American tour in 2019 along with several upcoming worldwide productions, and “Frozen” characters can be seen throughout Disney Parks & Resorts in both attractions and live stage shows. On Disney+, fans can catch up on “Frozen,” “Frozen 2” and dive deeper into the world with the Disney+ original docuseries “Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2,”“Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” and the upcoming “Once Upon A Snowman” animated original short.

About Frozen 2

Why was Elsa born with magical powers? What truths about the past await Elsa as she ventures into the unknown to the enchanted forests and dark seas beyond Arendelle? The answers are calling her but also threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she’ll face a dangerous but remarkable journey. In Frozen, Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In Frozen 2, she must hope they are enough. From the Academy Award®-winning team—directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, producer Peter Del Vecho and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez—and featuring the voices of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen 2 opened in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22, 2019.

About Walt Disney Animation Studios

Combining masterful artistry and storytelling with groundbreaking technology, Walt Disney Animation Studios is a filmmaker-driven animation studio responsible for creating some of the most beloved films ever made. Located in Burbank, WDAS continues to build on its rich legacy of innovation and creativity, from the first fully-animated feature film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to 2019’s Frozen 2, the biggest animated film of all time. Among the studio’s timeless creations are Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia. 

 About Disney+

Disney+ is the dedicated streaming home for movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more. As part of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment, Disney+ is available on most internet-connected devices and offers commercial-free programming with a variety of original feature-length films, documentaries, live-action and animated series and short-form content. Alongside unprecedented access to Disney’s incredible library of film and television entertainment, the service is also the exclusive streaming home for the latest releases from The Walt Disney Studios. Visit DisneyPlus.com to subscribe and/or learn more about the service.

Media Contact

Jackie Feldman
Senior Manager, Licensing and Franchise Communications
Jackie.Feldman@disney.com

The post DISNEY CELEBRATES THE RETURN OF FROZEN FAN FEST WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF FIRST-EVER FROZEN VIRTUAL PLAYDATE appeared first on Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

From our friends at dpep.disney.com
Filed Under: Consumer Products