Disney World News & Rumors: Pirates League Closing, More Star Wars Changes, Preview & More
We’re back with another round of news & rumors from Walt Disney World, with a look at what’s coming, going, and being improved at Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and beyond. Naturally, that includes another update to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride protocol. We also have a couple of other tidbits that relate to Disneyland and Disney Cruise Line.
Let’s start in Disney’s Hollywood Studios with the announcement that a sneak peek of the new Disney-Pixar film Onward will begin playing in the Walt Disney Presents theater on February 7, 2020. On that same date, the preview will also debut in the Tomorrowland Theater at Disneyland. Guests aboard Disney Cruise Line can also catch this preview during select sailings in February and early March.
During our Disney Cruise Line sailing last month, there was already an extended trailer playing constantly on in-room televisions. Perhaps the incessant playing of that colored our perspective, but we’re skeptical. It just feels like a DreamWorks animated film. Hopefully that doesn’t turn out to be an accurate assessment, as we’re really excited about the slate of original material this year from Disney. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a Pixar trailer didn’t accurately reflect the actual movie…
Next up, Walt Disney World has announced that the Pirates League will close on July 27, 2020. This seaside hideaway is in Magic Kingdom adjacent to Pirates of the Caribbean, and offers guests of all ages a “swashbuckling pirate transformation” that can include a hairstyle, facial makeup, and other special treasures & accessories. Guests may also choose a head-to-toe mermaid makeover.
For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Pirates League originally offered as, essentially, a counterpart to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. It opened at a time when Walt Disney World was big on the pirate/princess dichotomy. It opened 11 years ago, after the Pirate & Princess Party summertime hard ticket event was abandoned.
We have no firsthand experience with the Pirates League, but reader feedback about it was generally positive, and the location appeared at least reasonably popular. Prices were generally more reasonable than Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, with a wider range of options and a fun show component, as well. It’s unclear what is motivating the Pirates League closure, or if Walt Disney World has different plans for this location.
Continuing in Magic Kingdom where the Splash Mountain refurbishment is ongoing.
This annual project started earlier this month and is scheduled to conclude on February 27, reopening the following day. This is pretty typical of Splash Mountain refurbishments, which often seem like they’re more about not operating the attraction during the coldest time of the year than refreshing it.
This year seems to be a different story. During our day in Magic Kingdom, we noticed scaffolding around the first lift hill, where roof-work is being done. Elsewhere, there’s rock-work being replaced, repainting, and a flurry of activity from construction workers–and that was just what we could see!
Hopefully, a lot is happening inside the show scenes of Splash Mountain, too. Our last time on the attraction, things were looking a bit rough, with visible grime and several non-moving effects. Even so, Splash Mountain is an exceptional attraction, but when it’s looking good and everything is firing on all cylinders, this is one of Walt Disney World’s absolute best rides.
Work also continues on the aesthetic refresh of Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. This has been ongoing for the last year-plus, with the main changes thus far being the removal of the Tomorrowland ’94 ornamentation, some new (more colorful) paint, and the new entrance archway.
We described some of these changes and the problems with the land’s identity crisis in our The Trouble with Tomorrowland post last year, so we won’t rehash that here.
In addition to more new paint and signage, the ongoing work right now is the removal of fins along the PeopleMover track (each of the scrims in the photo above is covering a fin).
We’re cautiously optimistic about this work. The ’94 look definitely needed a refresh, but we hope this isn’t simply a bland look with clean lines. Some new visual details and focal points would be ideal–hopefully those are yet to come.
The new M&M’s Store is coming to Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, and we have new concept art and details to share. The M&M’s Store will replace the current location at Florida Mall, and will be located on the West Side of Disney Springs in the former location of Curl, across from the House of Blues.
The M&M’s Store will be an immersive experience for lovers of the M&M’s brand, filled with color and fun. It will contain walls of colorful chocolate M&M’s candies, and thousands of pieces of merchandise–like exclusive shirts, oven mitts, cooking utensils, and more. This is one of several additions coming to the West Side of Disney Springs this year and in 2021.
An M&M’s probably isn’t the most exciting news to you (or maybe it is?!), but I think it’s at least somewhat fascinating. One goal of Disney Springs is to target big-spending international visitors, many of whom also make trips to local malls and fill suitcases on thousands of dollars of merchandise in the process.
This is one reason why there are so many quintessentially American brands at Disney Springs, and others that appeal to international tourists. (I’m personally surprised that Disney Springs never got an Apple Store.) I’m not entirely sure if M&M’s qualifies, but it seems like a good fit, regardless.
Finally, what would a Walt Disney World update be without something from Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?! About half of our new posts seem to be about this blockbuster new attraction, primarily because things keep changing so regularly.
The latest update is that guests will now be given a return window of either one or two hours via the My Disney Experience app when notified that it’s their turn to board Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. No explanation has been given as to when it’ll be one hour or when it’ll be two hours.
We heard from readers over the weekend with evening return times that they only had one hour, and we personally experienced the one hour window at Disneyland last week with a low-numbered boarding group that was called almost immediately when the attraction began operating. (See screenshot below.)
A return window of one hour at the beginning and end of the day would make the most sense, and would help with crowd control and more predictable lines/wait times for the attraction. Personally, we hope this doesn’t spread to the middle of the day, as that would make Park Hopping to Epcot more difficult.
As always, Cast Members will work with you if you have a conflicting ADR or FastPass+ reservation. It’s also unclear if the shortened return window is even being enforced. (Currently, if the attraction breaks down, unofficial policy is that guests can return at any time.)
Additionally, Walt Disney World has been surveying guests to see if they prefer the virtual queue/boarding pass system, FastPass+ and a standby line, or only a standby line for the attraction. While there have been guest complaints about the virtual queue, there are complaints about literally everything Disney does–even closing Stitch’s Great Escape generated complaints.
We hope Walt Disney World sticks with the current system, and that surveyed guests realize the alternative is worse. Does anyone really want to spend 4+ hours in a standby line, enduring a breakdown (or two) in the process after failing to get a FastPass? (Those will mostly be scooped up before the 60 day mark by guests with week-plus on-site hotel reservations and those staying Club Level who pay extra for the longer FastPass+ window.)
That wraps up this Walt Disney World update. As always, consult our Ride Guide & FAQ for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance for ROTR101. A few days ago, we once again updated that with new info and more answers to questions readers that were frequently being asked by readers in the comments. It should cover pretty much everything you need to know about the popular new attraction.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of this Walt Disney World news & rumor round-up? Hopeful that the Splash Mountain refurbishment will result in the attraction looking great–and every effect working? Optimistic that the Tomorrowland overhaul will give the land a bold and fresh visual identity, or concerned it’ll look overly bland? Thoughts on the M&M’s Store? What about the latest changes to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
So sad to hear Pirates League is closing. I have fond memories of my now 16 year old as a little man who turned into a pirate and was announced as William Coleflint with a boisterous announcement from a pirates league cast member. What a great memory! I thought it was a great option as well for young ladies who longed for action and adventure than what BBB provides.
Thanks for all the updates on Star Wars Rise and everything else!! I look forward to your posts daily….especially since we will be traveling there next week!!! . I do have a question about the boarding pass system. I am aware that all members of my party need to be within the park in order to get a boarding pass, But how does it work with a large group. We are traveling with eight people, all of which are linked via my Disney experience but on three different reservations….what will this look like for us?
As long as you’re all linked, that should be all you need. Though, you may want to do a practice run in the morning this week to get familiar. Just open the MDE app when Hollywood Studios opens, then click the Find Out More button for Star Wars and hit Join Boarding Group. This should show you everyone you’re eligible to claim a boarding pass for. As long as all names show up, you’re good to go.
Make sure you have the entire party on your list as if you were getting a Regular FastPass. If you can book a FastPass for the entire party , you will be good to book a boarding pass for the entire party. If not, make sure you get everyone linked ahead of time and practice again with a FastPass. Only one person will need to do the process.
My son & daughter both did the Pirate’s Boutique on a visit back in 2012 and they cast members did a really nice job on the makeup/costuming. I guess the Pirate thing has run its course! Of course, they’re both high school age now and not really interested in such things.
We stay in Disney Hotels every year. Even so, we have never been able to score a fastpass for Avatar for one person. In 2019 we decided to be at the Park before rope drop. We were there before 8AM for a 9AM opening. We were allowed into the park about 08:15. We stopped at a second rope before we could get in to Avatar. At 9AM, that rope was dropped. We noticed that the wait times were already posted at 90 minutes, Our lone rider got in the line and met us at the exit in 30 minutes. Mission accomplished.
I don’t understand how they get the times they show at opening time, especially since it seems well known most of the times come from data from the guests in line. As in, the time is updated based on how long someone just spent in line and has nothing to do really with the actual current line.
Oh well, that’s cool that the person in your group got to experience it and was done in 30 minutes and not 90!. I know if you want to get a FP for FOP, you’ll have to stay several days and do animal kingdom a few days into your trip, similar to being able to get a FP for Slinky or 7 dwarfs mine train.
We rode Rise of the Resistance during marathon weekend. We got up at 5 am with a 2 and 5 year old as well as grandma and made it to HS by 6 am. We got boarding group 55 at exactly 7 am and were able to rope drop all 3 Toy Story attractions before 8 and ride Tower and Rock n Roll by 10. It was nice to be able to allow the kids to stroll around the park and play rather than waiting in line for the ride. The virtual boarding pass system was awesome.
I totally agree. I love that I was able to score a boarding pass just by being there at 7am, and loved that we were able to do major rides while waiting to be called, instead of standing in line. WAY better than those hard to get Fast-passes. I also like them pager system they have for Dumbo in MK. Would be nice if Smugglers Run gave you a pager so you could explore SW land while waiting.
Ooh, that would be nice. Oh well, at least FP’s start soon for Smuggler’s Run. That will make it a bit better, at least for those who can score one.
As someone who has been monitoring the RoTR “stuff” from afar but yet to experience it, I hope they stick with the virtual queue (maybe making minor tweaks for DAS, etc.).
I get the virtual queue is imperfect, but so is life.
If they get rid of it and add FastPass+…You aren’t going to get a FastPass+ for it because they’ll be gone before your booking window. Your kids are still going to want to ride it without a FastPass; have fun.
If they go standby only and/or you don’t have a FastPass+…You will still have to get to the park super early; then you will fight a stampede of stressed out humans to get to the attraction to wait in line (rope drop FoP or SDD lately?).
There is no magical solution where guests get to roll up in the middle of the day after little Jimmy and Susie had a refreshing night sleep and walk on the attraction in 20 minutes. I have young kids and I get waking them up early isn’t super fun. It’s also something you have to do for things like flying, which is demonstrably less awesome than a day at the Disney parks.
The virtual queue is innovative, and sometimes innovation rubs a little wrong at first. The current system is essentially giving guests a fourth fast pass to the most popular attraction. It doesn’t even favor onsite guests.
If it goes, the complaints for the alternative will be worse.
I agree with all of this! Going in a couple of weeks and I for one am excited that the virtual queue means I can do other things in the park rather than waiting in a multi-hour line for a single ride. (That said, I would wait standby if I had to. I wanted to go last year and delayed the trip until all of Galaxy’s Edge was open.)
Tom, do you think City Works in Disney Springs will open this week, in time for the Super Bowl?
I would prefer fastpass and here’s why. Under the current system, I can do everything right: drag my kids out of bed at the crack of dawn, get to the park early, deal with all the misery of the rope drop crowds, and crash–the app freezes at the wrong moment and I get a backup group that does not get called with my kids are standing there shattered that they missed out. At least if they do fastpasses, I will know before the trip if we got one. If so, great. If not, I can brace my kids in advance for the fact that we won’t be able to ride it and not have to go through all that effort just to be disappointed on the day of.
Plus, now that the one hour window is in effect, I can’t risk scheduling an ADR outside of HS that day or going back to the resort, which means being stuck in my least favorite park all day.
I think it would great if they could combine the two. Offer FastPass+ in advance, but do the virtual queue system for people who don’t have a FP+ and need to “wait in line” the day of.
This is exactly what I would hope for; a sort of hybrid FP+, with no standby. Say half of the availability distributed through FP+ in advance, and the rest assigned as boarding groups the day of. As a family that will never head to a park at 7am, at least with this setup we’d have a chance as getting fast passes once we’re in the park, just as do now with the dragon ride at Animal Kingdom, Slinky Dog, and Seven Dwarfs. At least this way there would be a chance of being able to ride the attraction, of which right now there is zero for us.
We’re heading to Disney World next month and plan to kick off our trip at Magic Kingdom. We’re staying at an off-property resort, so had plans of arriving well before the park opens in order to rush over to Seven Dwarf’s Mine (much like we plan to do at Hollywood Studios with Slinky Dog Dash) but just noticed it an early magic hour day! Sadly, our days are pre-arranged, so switching parks isn’t an option. Do you mind explaining what we’ll be faced with? I’m assuming we won’t be able to queue on Main Street, but still hopeful 🙂 P.S. We LOVE your blog!
I did the same thing – planned the Magic Kingdom day for same day as an early magic morning. Fortunately we’re staying on site, and our magic kingdom day is later in the trip, so I’m not worried about 7 dmt as I’ll definitely be able to get a FP, I’m just concerned about other fantasyland lines right at 9. I wonder if people who do these events will head over to their breakfast as soon as the park opens at 9 or if they wait til closer to 10 when the breakfast is about to close before leaving the rides.
As for your question about queued up, from what I’ve heard, they rope off the pathway to fantasyland and let people with the special event pass through, everyone else just lines up behind it until they allow the rest of the guests to pass when the park opens. You don’t get a place in line for the ride there, but the closer you are to the rope, the closer you are to the ride. Still have to beat everyone else to the ride entrance, though. Good luck!
When you’re in the park that day just keep refreshing the app to change your existing fastpasses. Even just sit down somewhere for 30 minutes and just keep refreshing. And when you use up your first three just take what you can get for the next closest time slot and just keep refreshing that change it and see what comes up. You may be surprised by what comes up. Also sometimes it helps to just look for fastpasses for two people. I know if your traveling with more than one child that doesn’t help because then someone gets left out but depending on your travel party it could work.
The one thing that the virtual cue does not take into account are those individuals with disabilities. This is so surprising as Disney is exceptional with regards to disabilities. My husband is disabled and there is no way to get his body moving at that early hour, let alone all of the additional issues he has associated with his disability. I do not want to ride without him, so I am stuck until they make some other type of arrangements for the ride.
We did Pirates’ League a few years ago with my son and nephews. They loved it – it’s such a great memory of our time at Disney. The cast members who did the makeup were really fun, and the kids kept laughing at their special “pirate names.” It provided a good alternative for boys and girls to the Princess-themed things.
I’m kind of bummed they’re closing Pirates League. It was a nice alternative to the boutique, when it was full or we wanted to do something different. For those kids who don’t want to be princesses I hope they give them an alternative.
My boys will be sad to have never tried Pirates League, but I’m hoping that HS will have a Star Wars themed dress up place as an alternative. Do you think they may end up doing something like that?
If you have, say, a FastPass for Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster and an ADR for Mama Melrose, and you’re called for your boarding group, is it best to hope for mercy from the cast members at Rise of the Resistance or better to hope for mercy from the cast members at Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster and Mama Melrose?
Not based on personal experience but I would head to Rise of the Resistance and ask for mercy elsewhere. Of the 3 that has the highest demand and least wiggle room, where as it seems they’d be much more likely to bend the rules at the coaster or the restaurant, both of which accept walk-ups (unlike RotR currently).
The problem with virtual queue is everyone must be in park before logging in to get a spot. That’s fine if you are with a small group of adults. With a larger family vacation group and wide age range staying on the Disney property it would be more friendly for one person to go over and get the passes rather than everyone getting up at the crack of dawn to get into park before or at opening. Better yet as a Resort perk it would be nicer to allow the guest to get a boarding pass from his/her room while getting ready for the day.
While it might be more friendly for one person to grab a boarding pass for a large group, it also wouldn’t be as fair. I recently made it into Hollywood Studios with a 5 person group including an infant and a grandparent before 7 am just to make sure we got a boarding pass and while difficult, it’s not impossible. Even if someone doesn’t like the system, it is the fairest across the board to guests staying on and off property. I basically made sure to stress to everyone in my group that if they want to ride the ride, they have to be willing to make the effort, including helping with getting the baby ready to roll at 6 am. And if someone doesn’t want to prioritize RotR, that’s fine too and they can wait for their next trip, whether it’s stand by, pastpass or whatever else might be available.
I highly doubt the My Disney Experience app could handle even half of the resort guests trying to book a boarding pass at the same time. And when it crashed the first cast members people would complain to would be hotel staff, who I’m sure have no control/say over anything attraction related.
I agree that the current system is ultimately the most fair. Obviously there are more than enough people willing to get up for park opening, which is why even backup boarding groups are gone within 30 minutes of becoming available. It keeps people out of multi-hour lines (I can’t imagine it would be any easier keeping a kid happy in a 4 hour line than it would be getting them up for park opening) while still giving you some level of control over whether you get to ride. The other options all have just as many if not more issues when you scale them up to the level of demand this attraction has.
My guess is that this is similar to restaurants that don’t let you save a table until all members of the group are there. They don’t want scarce capacity to go underutilized if they call your group and not everyone is there.
Another reason is that at least they can force you to commit to HS that day. Otherwise you would have resort guests attempting to get boarding passes every morning and just skipping it if they don’t get a good number and trying again the next day. Plus that would completely cut out anyone that for financial reasons (like myself) could not afford to stay on property and spend $300/night on a room. This way you have to commit to HS and you don’t have people bogging down the system with no intention of going on the ride or even showing to the park if it doesn’t fit into their plans.
I have stayed in Disney resorts several times and never have I paid $300 or even $200 a night. For those of us who live out of state and only get to Disney maybe once a year it would be nice to have another option to get a boarding pass. I plan which park I will be in at least 60 days out. So it is not a lack of commitment. I have never just gotten fastpasses when I did not intend to be in that park. I am not real excited to have to be in the park before it even opens hoping that my phone is fast enough just to have a chance at getting a boarding pass. I guess I am just not a gambler. I am a planner.
Agree that even though it’s not perfect, it’s far better than the alternative. Look at Flight of Passage over at Animal Kingdom – Fastpass is rarely an option unless you are staying at a Disney hotel as it is grabbed up far in advance, so that leaves waiting in a standby line for hours on a busy day. I would rather try to get there early and find a boarding pass than to wait in line for hours.
I prefer the “Jetsons” look in Tomorrowland. Having lived through that time when things seemed to be looking forward, I kind of miss that clean, crisp look to the future. Watching that show made me look with great anticipation to the future. Who knew…
I, personally, had a blast with the virtual queuing system in Disneyland this past week. It was an adventure, finding the right spot (opposite the Pirates entrance scored for us twice), manically clicking links in the app and squealing with delight at seeing our boarding group. BUT, it’s not really fair to essentially block an attraction to all but the earliest rising, time.gov tracking, blog junkies who know how to navigate the system. Then again, each time I try to reason through a different queuing and/or distribution option, I come back to this feeling like the most fair and pleasant experience overall. I LOVED being in a queue without actually BEING in a queue. Switching this to the FastPass booking process would basically mean that only resort guests would ever get to ride, handing out return times to guests who present themselves at the queue would create overcrowding in GE.
Ultimately, that’s the rub. There is simply far more demand than there is ride capacity–every approach is going to have its share of losers.
The current system is not ideal for everyone, and there are theoretical improvements that could be made, but I don’t think any of them work as a practical reality. It favors tourists who are willing to get up (relatively) early, and I think skewing towards that demographic is probably ideal.
Any other alternative system is going to have more downsides. I don’t think people realize how miserable standby would be for this attraction given the intense demand AND the fact that it’s breaking down so regularly. (I speak from experience–I’ve sat on the ground in that queue several times for ~70 minutes!) It would be one of those “we didn’t realize how good it was until it was gone!” type of things.
We were at WDW in mid December this year for a week. In that week we were able to ride Rise of the Resistance 3 times. The first time was a planned 4:30 AM Uber trip and staying in line till the gates opened at 6:30. That time we were able to secure Group 15 and had our group called no less than 5 mins after being in the park. The second and third times we were at HS shortly after 7:00 AM openings and were able to get a boarding group of 50-something and 90 something respectively.
I personally think the virtual queue is a GREAT system to be used. It worked well for us without any hiccups. In fact, the two later boarding groups we had allowed us to jump on the Gondola and head over to Epcot to walk around, ride Soarin’ and Test Track and then head back on the Gondola when our boarding group was called.
I actually would prefer they add the Virtual Queue as a compliment so FastPass+ in the future.
yeah i still haven’t figured out what they are going for with tomorrowland. i cannot see a theme.
Two possibilities:
1) Reversion to a mid-century, Space Age and Googie aesthetic. Ideally, this would incorporate new ideas and architectural details.
2) Eliminating everything added during the 1990s, but without a new, unifying style. Instead, more of a blank slate that doesn’t clash with TRON.
Personally, I hope it’s #1 and not #2.
I hope it is number one as well!