Disney World News: Slow Splash Mountain Reimaging, Purchase Limits, Figment Fab 50!
We’re back with a weekend Walt Disney World news & rumor roundup. This post shares a purchase limit on 50th Anniversary & Halloween merchandise, Figment’s Fab 50 statue, and the latest official update on Splash Mountain’s Princess and the Frog reimagining.
Per “tradition,” we’ll start with the latest release of new and extended operating hours, which just missed making the cut for our last update. All four theme parks have had hours for another week added to the DisneyWorld.com park hours calendar. The current calendar now runs through October 30, 2021. Here are the hours for most dates within the month of October:
- Magic Kingdom: 9 am to 9 pm
- EPCOT: 10 am to 10 pm
- Hollywood Studios: 9 am to 9 pm
- Animal Kingdom: 8 am to 7 pm
- Blizzard Beach: 11 am to 6 pm
- Disney Springs: 10 am to 11 pm (11:30 pm on Fridays & Saturdays)
As a reminder, Magic Kingdom closes at 8:30 pm on Disney After Hours Boo Bash nights that are after September 5. That event runs from 9:30 pm to 12:30 am up until that date, and from 9 pm until midnight after that date. Otherwise, no hours changes or extensions to report this week, save for a continuation of Epcot’s 10 am opening times and 10 pm closings daily during the month of October. This was an inevitability with both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Harmonious debuting on October 1, as part of the World’s Most Magical Celebration. (See our Guide to Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary for more details.)
Next, we have more dates for the Extended Evening Theme Park Hours that will allow eligible guests to experience select attractions, shops, and dining after regular park hours–in select theme parks on select nights.
Current Schedule for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours*
Date | Theme Park | Extended Hours |
Mon, Oct 4 | Epcot | 10:00 PM – midnight |
Wed, Oct 6 | Magic Kingdom | 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM |
Mon, Oct 11 | Epcot | 10:00 PM — midnight |
Wed, Oct 13 | Magic Kingdom | 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM |
Mon, Oct 18 | Epcot | 10:00 PM — midnight |
Wed, Oct 20 | Magic Kingdom | 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM |
Mon, Oct 25 | Epcot | 10:00 PM – midnight |
Wed, Oct 27 | Magic Kingdom | 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM |
Guests staying at Value Resorts or Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World are not eligible for the Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. The Extended Evening Theme Park Hours perk is available to guests staying at Deluxe Resorts, Deluxe Villas, Disney Vacation Club units, or other select hotels (as of now, that means Swan & Dolphin or Shades of Green).
One such hotel that’ll be eligible for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours is the Walt Disney World Swan Reserve, the debut of which has been slightly delayed. Swan Reserve is now scheduled to open in late September 2021. Per the Swan & Dolphin: “Construction delays have shifted the opening from original target date and any guests with reservations impacted by this delay will receive communication directly from the hotel for alternative accommodations within our resort complex. More details on the opening will be shared as they become available.”
We had dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse last night, and got a good look inside while driving past the Swan Reserve on Epcot Resorts Blvd. While the exterior looks like a dull office building, there are some gorgeous details and light fixtures on the inside. There’s also a decent amount of work that needs to be done, but late September seems reasonable. We’ve noticed huge crews on-site lately and significant week-to-week progress, so here’s hoping!
Within the last several days, both Halloween and pre-celebration 50th Anniversary merchandise has been released at Walt Disney World. On any big merchandise release date, eBay pirates dock their ships and storm the stores.
If you’ve never experienced this, I cannot overstate how unpleasant it is. For some perspective, I’d rather watch back to back showings of Beauty and the Beast: Sing-Along than visit the Emporium on a morning when coveted new merchandise is released. (In fairness, I find the Emporium unpleasant even on a good day, and generally dislike in-store shopping.)
Normally, Walt Disney World has purchase limits of 10 items per person. (I have no clue whether these are even enforced.) However, for both of these new collections, Walt Disney World has implemented a strict limit of two items per guest. This is presumably due to the supply chain woes and merchandise shortages discussed in Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary Merchandise Collection Info–empty shelves but fully stocked eBay stores would be a “bad look” for Disney.
Regardless of the reason, this is a huge step in the right direction and something we hope to see continue. I want to be more optimistic about this, but the pirates code is more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules. Plus, pirates are incredibly resourceful and clever. They’ll probably find a way around this.
Disney Legend Tony Baxter has revealed that Figment is part of the “Disney Fab 50 Character Collection” that you’ll soon find across the four @WaltDisneyWorld theme parks during “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” starting October 1 #DisneyWorld50 pic.twitter.com/X1ORlVYZLi
– Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) August 13, 2021
I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, as my grandma would say, but I’m actually mildly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really looking forward to the Figment statue and will spend way too long obsessively photographing it. But with 50 statues, it was a foregone conclusion that Figment would be among the characters featured. What I was really hoping for was a Figment and Dreamfinder statue.
With that out of the way, it’s awesome to see this announced by Tony Baxter–making it far and away the best Disney Fab 50 character reveal to date. I also appreciate that Baxter made a point of saying he holds a special place in his heart for the original Journey into Imagination. He hasn’t minced words about his disappointment about the current incarnation of the attraction and desire to redo Journey into Imagination, restoring the ride to its former glory.
Other statues revealed this week were Stitch, Dumbo & Timothy Mouse, Flounder & Sebastian, and R2-D2. (We shared the full list before that in our last WDW new & rumor roundup.) It would be nice to see more theme park specific characters going forward. Maybe Sonny Eclipse and Big Al, at the very least?
Also in Epcot, Scuba Mickey has made appearances in the Living Seas aquarium sporadically this past week. There’s no schedule for this and certainly no guarantee you’ll see him (to the contrary, the odds of that seem very low), but it’s nevertheless worth popping into the Living Seas and asking a Cast Member if Scuba Mickey is making appearances that day.
At the very least, more people asking signals to Walt Disney World that there is “guest demand” for this character, and maybe he’ll be out more frequently. See our Epcot Report: Magic 360 & Scuba Mickey for more photos and videos of his appearances on World Oceans Day!
Early last summer, Disney announced that Splash Mountain will be rethemed to the Princess and the Frog at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Not much was revealed about the new ride; just that it will pick up this story after the final kiss, and join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance.
Disney has been silent about the project since. The company has not released an official timeline for either Magic Kingdom or Disneyland, additional concept art, or any additional teases that would typically accompany a project actively in development. It wasn’t mentioned in last year’s holiday specials or anywhere else, to my knowledge.
Until now. During a recent appearance on the Orlando Sentinel‘s Theme Park Rangers podcast, Magic Kingdom Vice President Melissa Valiquette suggested that it could be years before the Splash Mountain reimagining is completed at Magic Kingdom. “When we are reimagining a new attraction or a new area of our parks, this can be a lengthy process. There’s a lot of work that goes into it,” she said.
“I’m in a lot of meetings right now around Splash Mountain, and of course, our guests haven’t seen any changes yet. That’s going to take some time,” Valiquette continued. “The sequence of these things is that sometimes the decision can be made many many months, even years, before any of that will be seen onstage. So it’s going to take us a little bit of time to reimagine Splash Mountain.”
Valiquette continued: “I can tell you behind the scenes that terrific work has been done including some selections around music around animatronics, and it is really an inspiring story.”
Disney Imagineers “have created something that I believe will capitalize on what was already special about the ride Splash Mountain, but will turn it into something that our guests will really cherish for generations into the future. This is one example of something where our guests are going to have to put a bit of trust into us, for a bit, because we promise not to let you down, we’re going to deliver a wonderful attraction that is inspiring and beautiful and worthy of Princess Tiana,” per Valiquette.
Readers have asked for rumors or insight about timeline for Splash Mountain, and I’ll copy and paste what I’ve said in past comments: the only thing I’ve heard—months ago—is that the plan was to reimagine Splash Mountain at Disneyland first, with Walt Disney World’s going down towards the end or even after that project.
Even at that point, it sounded like the timeline for these projects was years out. I’d be surprised if Walt Disney World’s Splash Mountain closes during Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebration (which runs through early 2023), but again, things could change and priorities shift.
The only thing I’ve heard about the Splash Mountain reimagining is that very vague and potential sequence of the two projects. The timeline is a complete guess on my part, more what I’ve surmised from the lack of rumors than any actual rumors. (Sometimes, the absence of information is itself illuminating.)
Normally, one year after the announcement of a project with this scope and scale, there would be no shortage of rumors. Various third party contractors and vendors would be involved (a common source of leaks) and permits would potentially be filed–there would be rumblings and insight to be gleaned. Not all of it would necessarily be accurate, but there would be something. The lack of all of that suggests to me this project is not particularly far into development, and the announcement was made earlier than normal. I wouldn’t read anything else into that–this feels more like the prolonged Pandora project than Disney’s America in terms of what’s (not) happening.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about all this Walt Disney World news? Excited for the Figment Fab 50 statue? Have you seen Scuba Mickey at Epcot in recent days or weeks? Pleased that Disney has finally instituted a purchase limit, or upset that this will stymie your swashbuckling? Expectations regarding the Splash Mountain reimagining timeline? Keep the comments civil, as this is not the place for politically-charged arguing, culture wars, antagonism, personal attacks, or cheap shots. We will be heavy-handed in deleting any comments that cross the line, irrespective of viewpoint. You are not going to change anyone’s mind via the comments section on this blog, nor are you going to change Disney’s priorities. If you wish to shout your outrage into the internet abyss, that’s why Facebook was invented.
I am so happy when I see an email from your blog Tom. I look forward to your insight and I trust your information regarding all things Disney. Keep up the good work and don’t change a thing. Rick can go elsewhere for his information.
I sincerely hope that the slow walk, despite what they say about “exciting” plans, for Splash Mountain is due to at least someone with adult-level thought processes realizing what a rebranding would mean: The wiping out of the largest source of exposure of African-American folktales in the world.
Song of the South was ahead of its times, a celebration of African-American heritage in 1946. But too few people are able to put things into perspective, and what was ahead of its time for 1946, is far behind the times now and has been for some time. Whatever you may think of Song of the South, Splash Mountain stripped away the frame work of the movie, and went purely to the source material: The folktales of African-American slaves. The collected tales would prove to be quite influential, being a major source of inspiration for A.A. Milne, among others. Yep, Winnie the Pooh and his talking stuffed animal friends were at least partially inspired by these collected African-American folktales.
For tens of millions of people each year, Splash Mountain is the ONLY exposure they will ever have to those folktales. Keep up with the plans to reskin it, with a theme from a very nice movie, and that heritage will be lost. So, in the drive to cancel a movie that has been deemed racist, tens of millions of people will never be exposed to the folktales of African-American slaves. And that is an unintended consequence that will resonate in a negative way with continued consequences.
Tom, I know you don’t have a crystal ball, but could you guesstimate if/when Disney will announce discounts for annual passholders for the 50th like they did for the 40th? I remember for the 40th they gave 20% off all food and merch, plus other discounts that we didn’t really pay too much attention to because we’re DVC members too. Thank you in advance!
Hey Tom,
Is it possible to date your posts? I often find myself reading articles without having any idea how relevant the info still is (obviously this is a new post but you get what I’m saying). It would help a lot I think.
Thanks!
I am in complete agreement re Figment! I hope they do a full refurb and restore it to the original ride. It grabbed me so fully when it first opened and while I still ride it every time, it’s not the same. Sometimes that can be ok, if something is done significantly better, but this wasn’t 🙁 They need to bring back the song throughout and bring back the magic. It’s sad to me when they let rides like this and It’s a Small World go for what seems to be a reason of it’s old/outdated. People don’t get to experience the magic the way it was meant to be.
Do you think that the extra evening hours for eligible guests will be a permanent thing? Some of my favorite park memories are from when the parks stayed open until 12 for everyone or at least for all resort guests. I can only go in the summer right now and it is so much nicer at night. Deluxe resorts are not really an option most of the time. I am wishing for regular evening hours for all to come back.
We stayed at the Yacht Club this past weekend and Crew’s Cup didn’t have the burger you raved about, but those truffle fries, so good. Server said they were temporarily streamlining their menu. Also, was curious about the closure of MK last Saturday night from 6:00 pm on. We were about to park hop from Epcot to MK and the guy who works at the monorail said that somebody bought it out for the evening.
@Paul – I regularly build Marriott flags. They still have the requirements for outdoor activities on a lot of their flags, but the sports spaces are typically being replaced with larger outdoor patio spaces. More economical to build/upkeep and help keep guests on property from an Owner’s perspective.
This huge delay on SM (following the very hasty announcement last year) makes it hard not to look at this somewhat cynically; despite their claims I now feel very confident this was not remotely planned to happen until circumstances forced their hand (for understandable reasons!) – in terms of WDW projects it is one of the least important from an operational perspective even if it’s critical from a reputational one.
I must also add my praise from Canada. I look forward to your well-written, intelligent blog all the time. You are an invaluable source of information for us and help us know what to expect for our October trip. I don’t know how you got this gig, though. If you get paid to do this — WOW, good for you for landing this! If you just do this for fun and because you love Disney — WOW, good on you for sharing this and following your passion! (And also, you must be REALLY good with money to afford your travels.) 🙂
Part of me wishes they had waited to announce the change to Splash Mountain until it was just weeks from closure. The on line discourse around the change has been – – – unpleasant.
I saw a listing of 50 characters for the statues through one outlet, but my trust in that particular outlet is weak. In this case I’m hoping they’re wrong, because they left out Jiminy Cricket which would be an absolute shame. Jiminy is easily a top 10 Disney character historically, starring in 2 big screen releases that pre-dated the advent of home video and in scads of memorable television specials and educational shorts. While Wishes was clearly long in the tooth and behind the times technologically, I really miss the place it gave Jiminy’s warm presence in Magic Kingdom.
Just chiming in to reiterate what so many others are saying here… You do excellent work: it is thoughtful, thorough, intelligent, regularly funny, and always always appreciated! Don’t change a thing! Many thanks from a Canadian reader. 🙂
I am reading this blog for years from the Netherlands and loving – no, CRAVING – it. As a huge Disneyphile since my first visit to Disneyland at 4 years old (I am 57) and now living in Europe, I read your blog every day and immerse myself in the Disney experience. I bought the restaurant guide and read it as though I am there! You guys satisfy my Disney urge and actually make me jealous at times :-). Of course I can go to Disneyland Paris – and I have been there 24 times – but DW is what I miss. Keep doing what you are doing!! And thank you!!
To those who would complain about a carefully researched blog…that is absolutely free to the reader…1st world problems. Tom and Sarah, you guys are thoughtful, respectful, thorough and I look forward to reading this every day. I hope to see you in the park someday. As a former Michigander myself, you are living my dream!
Wow Rick is having a bad day… Ignore him Tom! I have been waiting for your article on Figment 🙂 I read some other Disney blogs but yours is far and away my favorite! You and Sarah keep up the good work!
I think it would be nice if guests could enjoy Splash Mountain for the beginning of the 50th celebration and have the new Princess and the Frog attraction completed right before the end of the celebration. I love Splash Mountain but my family and I are really excited for the change too. Especially my daughter!
Ditto Matt’s thoughts on your writing style and commentary. I definitely also prefer your consolidation of the more important stories, unlike other websites
Tom, your writing style and well thought out commentary is what makes this my favorite Disney news site. Many others post an article every 20 minutes updating us on every bit of minutiae happening anywhere on property. That has its place but your articles are the ones I save to sit down and read with a cup of coffee. Ignore Rick and his short attention span and keep up the good work.
Tom–kind of an unusual question. When you first reported on the Swan Reserve years ago I think I remember that you noted that it was built on the tennis courts of the Swan and Dolphin. You went on to observe that removing tennis courts (and perhaps active sports in general ) was part of a larger trend in the hotel industry. I’ve always wondered if you had any more information on that trend? Love the blog! Thanks.
Rick seems suitably outvoted, but I’ll chime in anyway – this blog is wonderful just the way it is. I can find succinct WDW news anywhere on this vast internet. I am a daily reader of this blog specifically BECAUSE of the style of writing, with insightful commentary, great photos, and some chuckles.