Mar 24, 20234 min read

Disney News RoundUp - March 2023

With a few updates coming shortly at the parks, it's time for another news roundup! In this post, we'll be talking about two new character meet & greets, two new dining experiences, a new merchandise location, and some changes to festivals and fireworks.

Character Meet & Greets

Moana and Mirabel are coming to the parks. Moana will be meeting guests on Discovery Island at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Her appearance in this particular park is lending some credence to guest theories that Dinoland U.S.A is soon to be replace with a Zootopia themed land and a min-Moana zone. How Moana goes with Zootopia, I'm not sure. But I do hope to see Heihei, if that's the case.

Mirabel, meanwhile, will be making appearances throughout 2023 in the Enchanted Garden area of Fanstasyland in the Magic Kingdom. It's so exciting to see more characters!

Dining Experiences

Disney just announced that a popular restaurant called Summerhouse is coming to Disney Springs in late 2023. This restaurant will be right on the water and feature three patios for outdoor dining. The menu is supposedly "California Fresh" cuisine.

Photo copyright Summerhouse

But more immediately, a new Quick Service spot will be opening near Tron in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom, called Energy Bytes. We're really excited about this one because the menu ranges from donut holes and strawberry mochi, to iced Joffrey's coffee, to dumplings. The dumplings, in particular, sound out of this world with two flavors announced: Buffalo chicken, and beef and broccoli. There will also be a cold drink called the watermelon refresher which will have flavors of yuzu and ginger which sounds just perfect for a hot day. We're really excited about this unique menu in Tomorrowland, which is an area that sorely needs it.

Dumplings at Energy Bytes - photo credit Disneyparksblog

Merchandise

The Tomorrowland Light & Power company gift shop has gotten a new name... and has probably also gotten a lot busier. It was previously the exit for Space Mountain, and now will serve as a double exit for both Space Mountain and Tron Lightcyle Run, so expect a steady stream of people.

However, it has a new name, the Tomorrowland Launch Depot, and new Tron-themed merchandise, including a "merchandise experience". Disney has introduced several merchandise "experiences" over the past decade, including building a lightsaber or droid in Galaxy's Edge, and adopting a banshee or creating your avatar in Pandora. Now, in Tomorrowland, guests can create a "program" which will result in a customized action figure and an identity chip that can be used to personalize additional merchandise.

We think the experiences are a neat idea for the super fans out there, but we're honestly more excited by the "Life on the Grid" collection of apparel with features both casual, but futuristic tees, and light up merchandise like jackets. We're looking forward to seeing a bunch of guests wearing their lit up clothes walking around Tomorrowland at night - how cool would that be?

Photo credit: Disneyparksblog

Festivals and Fireworks

The 50th anniversary celebration is winding down at Walt Disney World, with the last day being March 31st, and we can honestly say it was magical. But that just means it's time to ramp up the 100 Years of Disney celebration at Walt Disney World (which is already going strong at Disneyland California). EPCOT will be the home of this celebration at Walt Disney World. We have yet to see what merch, foods, and other changes will come to Walt Disney World, but after the amazing 50th celebration, we're excited. This celebration will run from April 2023 through the first part of 2024.

In Fireworks news, EPCOT is bringing back EPCOT Forever on April 3, 2023, to replace HarmonioUS. For those who haven't been party to the drama, it goes like this: A few years ago, Disney replaced Illuminations, the nighttime show that had been running since 1999. They had dreams of a huge new show, but needed time to get it all in place, so in the meantime, they created a show called EPCOT Forever that drew heavily on the nostalgia of the original music of EPCOT. EPCOT Forever was replaced with HarmonioUS on October 1, 2021, and while a good show, HarmonioUS drew lots of criticism, not least of which because of the huge barges that obstructed views across the World Showcase lagoon during the day. The other complaint was that the music really didn't have an EPCOT feel having been drawn entirely from animated movies.

So, this is somewhat surprising that a show that was meant to be an interim show is now coming back to EPCOT basically immediately. It will, once again, be an interim show as a new fireworks experience is already in the works, and we'll share more details as they come to light. What we know of the new show so far is that it will feature pyrotechnics, laser lights, and water.

And that's a round up! What news are you most excited about? Tell us over on our Facebook page, where you can follow us to see when new articles are posted each week. Until next time...