Our latest photo report takes us to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, to see what is new and exciting for this park in transition…
The Hollywood That Was
Heavy demolition continues in the Hollywood Studios parking lot as they prepare to expand and reconfigure it ahead of Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land opening.
The stage in front of the Chinese Theater was gone for a few days, but sadly they could not figure out a roll-away stage to replace it, so the old one is already back up.
New trees were planted on Hollywood Boulevard for some reason. They are much smaller than those they replaced.
Rather than bore you with the same content twice, be sure to check out our photos of the latest progress on New York Street and Star Wars Land in photos here, or you can just check out the video below.
We Are Reporting on Packaging Now…
The packaging for the various Chip and Dale Snack Co. products was changed, and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
New versus old in a side by side comparison.
The vegetable chip packaging was also updated.
Get Your Licks on Route 66
A Cars 3 cupcake is now available at most counter service locations at Hollywood Studios.
We got it and decided we needed to take this cupcake out for a photo shoot. My life now consists of cupcake photo shoots and pretzel packages.
It wasn’t the worst cupcake I have ever had, but I prefer chocolate in my desserts. That being said, it pretty much tasted like strawberry Nesquik that was turned into a cake, which isn’t a bad thing.
WARNING: The white chocolate Lighting McQueen may be hard to break…
Cruzin’ into PIXAR Place
Cruz Ramirez from Cars 3 is now meeting guests towards the end of PIXAR Place.
The awning isn’t very conducive to early morning photos…
Cruz looks pretty cool up close with the metallic paint job.
This and That
The Express Transportation stops all have the bus times posted now, a nice offering.
Disney World is somehow able to sell this Thor mug in the parks, I’m not sure how as items like this weren’t allowed before. Disney Springs and the resorts are typically where you would have to go for stuff like this.
Some new items for pets now available in the Disney Tails line.
Limited edition Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 3 MagicBands for sale.
A new Lion King MagicBand 2 for sale.
There is now a hard plastic version of the Haunted Mansion wallpaper phone case available.
A growing trend is Disney moving away from the “Disney Parks” branding on items. This will make it hard to tell what is park exclusive and what may also be at your local Disney Store. This is a real shame for guests who want to bring something unique home. Hopefully this doesn’t mean we will see less park exclusive items as well.
There are ads for PizzeRizzo plastered all over the Muppets Courtyard area now.
Seems odd to heavily advertise a restaurant that’s only open for lunch…
More Cars 3 Stuff
One Man’s Dream is currently home to the Cars 3 preview.
There are Cars 3 advertisements everywhere outside of the exhibit…
Inside, guests see a small exhibit very similar to what used to be displayed for new films over at the Magic of Disney Animation.
There was a curtain up when we visited. This has since become a merchandise stand…
Some of the art and displays around the final rooms were changed as well.
Star Wars props were replaced with Dr. Strange.
The Music of PIXAR Live! – A Symphony of Characters
We did the dining package for The Music of PIXAR Live! – A Symphony of Characters, which is running 3 shows a night through the summer. The dining package was a great deal for the food alone, never mind our seating which was dead center. That being said, if you don’t wish to buy one, a FastPass can yield you a very similar seat.
A nearby merchandise cart.
PIXAR Live takes over the Theater of the stars in the evenings.
This is also now the FastPass entrance, but it was just dining package earlier in the run.
Thankfully, the benches are padded for this 45-minute show. Still, it hurts after about 30-35 minutes…
FastPass has two center rows available just in front of the dining package, but to the left side of the theater is plenty of great FastPass seating.
Here are the two FastPass rows in the middle, with the dining package filling the space behind. Get here early if you want to sit dead center without a dining package. While the show is long, probably too long for most kids to enjoy, it is something unique and certainly worth seeing.
Disney Movie Magic
Very quietly, Disney debuted a new nighttime projection show at Hollywood Studios, taking place at 9pm nightly, 30 minutes before Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular.
While it is sans-fireworks, the show includes Walt Disney and a jaunt through the history of live action films from his studio.
If you are a Disney fan, which I assume if you are reading this, there will undoubtedly be a scene that grabs your attention, whether it is TRON, Mary Poppins, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange, Indiana Jones, or Pirates of the Caribbean. Cult classics like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Black Hole also make short appearances.
If you had some doubts that the original theme of the park would be lost, this show does offer a sign that some of the old vision will remain. I think it’s a pretty good sign when the park’s dedication speech is in a new nighttime show…
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I think That Darn Cat and The Apple Dumpling Gang also have scenes in that projection show. I hope it’s still there in October. It’s too bad the stage is back out front – they should do away with that Star Wars stage show and just have the characters appear in front for meet’n’greets. It’s funny that Josh seemed to not like that McQueen cupcake and you liked it okay, with the Strawberry Quik-like taste (which my husband would really love).
Are the new Chip & Dale snack bags not resealable? Will i have to eat the whole bag of trail mix at once?! lol