Weekend Update – Free Ticket Contest, Tokyo, News/Rumors, Fireworks!
Last weekend we were wrapping up a holiday weekend visit to Walt Disney World where we photographed fireworks on four consecutive nights thanks to the Limited Time Magic “Salute America” event. This photo was shot on the last night of our visit, when I managed to grab a spot right in front of Partners and use my new Zenitar 16mm fisheye and Nikon D600 to take the photo above. Also got to see the fireworks at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the first time in years; it was a surprisingly awesome show. Stay tuned for more of these fireworks photos as I continue to play catch up…
We’ve already had a few blog posts about our visits to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon from this recent trip. It sounds like they helped convince several of you to visit the water parks. We’re glad to hear this, as the water parks are some of Disney’s finest design work. If you haven’t checked out those posts yet, head back to the home page and take a look! Even if you don’t normally care for water parks, fans of the “Disney Details” owe it to themselves to visit Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.
Contest!
Our friends at Undercover Tourist have been so gracious to provide us with 2 Walt Disney World 5-Day Park Hopper Tickets for giveaway! As always, we highly recommend Undercover Tourist for all of your Walt Disney World ticket purchases. They’re an authorized third party ticket broker, and in many cases, significantly cheaper than buying tickets directly from Disney. They’re who we bought our tickets from long before this blog (before we got APs).
Enter the contest by signing-up for our newsletter. If you are already signed up for the newsletter, you’re already entered to win. The contest closes next Sunday night at midnight, so sign up before then! We will select one random winner to receive both tickets, and announce that winner in our July Newsletter! We reserve the right to disqualify from the contest anyone who signs up for the mailing list with email addresses.
Tokyo Trip Report
Lots of you have asked about it, and the Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report is NOW LIVE. Click here to read the report!
Since there isn’t much Tokyo Disney Resort trip planning info online, we’ll be doing a bunch of focused single-subject articles in addition to the report itself. Our goal is to convince you all to visit the amazing parks in Tokyo, and perhaps convince the Japan National Tourism Organization to cut us a lucrative sponsorship deal. We really appreciate your sharing of these posts to help us achieve this noble goal! 😉
Since we know a lot of you probably don’t care about Tokyo, it won’t be a complete “Take Takeover” on the blog. We have a lot of posts in the pipeline, and for most, it’s just a matter of finding the time to write them. If you have any suggestions, we’re more than happy to hear them. A lot of our blog posts here are directly inspired by questions that are frequently asked to us!
Other Blog Updates
A couple of recent topics that you should check out if you’re planning on enjoying fireworks in the parks this summer are our Best Disneyland Fireworks Spots and Best Magic Kingdom Fireworks Spots. Both have maps and sample photos from select locations.
We also updated our popular iPhoneography Tips and Photography Reviews articles this week based on some new products released in 2013. If you are in the market for some new toys, check these out.
News & Stuff
MiceChat had a new update last week with a variety of rumors concerning Disneyland Resort, some of which we hear are very close to becoming realities…
The Jungle Cruise at Tokyo Disneyland is slated to close in early 2014 and reopen in the fall after an extensive refurbishment which will bring new effects, a new soundtrack, and a special night version reports Inside the Magic.
Rumors are swirling that Journey into Imagination is going down this winter for all of 2014 in what is expected to be a serious overhaul that will spell the end of Captain EO and also a fourth version of the Journey into Imagination attraction, according to trusted insider WDW1974 on the WDWMagic forums.
Passport to Dreams had a great article this week on the problems facing Walt Disney Imagineering when designing Tomorrowland’s architecture.
Guy over at TouringPlans had some more fun videos this week, including a look at the shockingly good “Mickey’s American Streetbeat” at Epcot.
Disney Photography Blog had a great look at some “Photography Dos and Don’ts” with which I totally agree, even if some of my personal preferences differ (of course, variety is the spice of life).
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That’s it for this update! To follow our adventures, find us on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Flickr!
Your Thoughts…
Have any comments about this update? Thoughts on all of the big rumors about things coming to the Disney theme parks in the near future? Any article suggestions? Share in the comments!
WDW1974 IS NOT A TRUSTED INSIDER! HE’S A BIG FAT LIAR WHO OBVIOUSLY HAS NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN HATE, HATE AND HATE SOME MORE! AND HE’S A DIRTY COWARD TO BOOT!
Absolutely love your photos! Thanks for all the great information. I signed up for the newsletter and the link in the email took me to your page. Was that correct? Just wondering as there wasnt a message that said subscription confirmed. Thanks.
It should be confirmed!
Saw Captain EO for the first time in over 20 trips to Epcot last week. Would not waste the time to see it again and quite frankly I am surprised it has lasted this long.
Love your blog Tom and thanks to your many photography tips I actually got some pretty decent wishes pics last Friday!
Jenny
Signed up and waiting for the verification email. What a great giveaway! I would definitely love to win those tickets, we will be going on our Disneymoon at the end of October and that would definitely help!
Ooh boy would I love to win those tickets! I booked a trip for August never really intended to have enough money not to cancel it. This would definitely make me change my mind and maybe even let my husband come!
Unpopular opinion, but I love Captain EO and will be sad to see it go. That said, I would gladly sacrifice it to the Altar of Figment.
Are there any written rules about the ticket giveaway (tickets are non-transferable, one entry per household, etc)?
Only to the extent of what’s written above.
What a great giveaway! I’m hoping to convince the man in charge to let me take our 6 year old on a trip this November. Free park tickets would sure help sweeten the pot! Now I just wish your blog and photos weren’t so awesome and you didn’t have so many followers entering to win! Oh well…on to reading about Tokyo!!!
Loved reading your first instalment of the Tokyo trip report! Can’t wait to read the rest!
I signed up and have been waiting for verification of my email, but nothing has arrived.
Try checking your spam folder.
Same I suscribed and never received anything. Nothing in the spam folder to.
Awesome! Signed up and reading the Tokyo trip report. Would love to checkout Disney Sea at some point. Many have said that it is the best of all Disney parks.
I heard about new RFI technology coming for Resort Mugs. The technology will only be active for your length of stay to stop people from bringing mugs from a previous stay. Have you heard anything about this? We always get new mugs when we stay on so this does not affect my family but I know people it will affect. Not sure how it will be policed without people getting embarrassed……..
I assume it will work the same way the mugs at the water park work. If your cup isn’t valid, the dispenser simply won’t work. I see a lot of people online getting worked into a lather over this “issue,” but it doesn’t really register as a blip on the radar one way or another for me. I don’t care about the moral side of it, and I think there are far greater pressing concerns at WDW. Just my personal take…
Do the park hopper tickets in the give-a-way have expiration dates?
Thanks for for the end of captain EO and the current figment.
It just seem that whole area could be used for something much better than what it is right now ( and the traffic flow in the area seem to also indicate that people aren’t flowing to Epcot for those attractions ).
Don’t be thankful yet–it’s just a rumor at this point. It is long overdue, though!
Thanks for the rumor roundup. I skip most of WDW1974’s posts because I don’t care for the tone. but am Imagination refurb is most welcome news. It sounds like some major capital is being spent if all the rumors come to fruition. Here’s hoping it all happens.
Well, regardless, he knows his stuff and is very well connected. Here’s hoping he’s right on this one!
Agreed on both points. I’ll stick to reading your summaries!
I’m looking forward to the Tokyo report as well.
Can’t wait to read your Tokyo report!
That passport to dreams article is absolutely amazing.
Also- your above fireworks photo has to be one of your best ever… I love the perspective!
I don’t know if you’re a regular reader of P2D, but it’s one of the best Disney websites on the web for thinking fans. Totally different in nature than this site, but I really love it. Makes me feel like taking the theme parks so seriously isn’t such a bad thing. There’s definitely an art to the parks, and I love reading blogs that focus on the appreciation of theme parks as an art form.
Loved the page very informetives and kind tour of secretes