Good morning, this is the one and only Nana! I hope everybody is having a great week!
This week was busy! The Super Bowl parade in Magic Kingdom was on Monday; I had to go even though I am not an Eagles Fan (GO Pack GO!) Every few minutes, fans screamed “E, A, G, L, E, S, EAGLES!” It’s been five years since the Super Bowl victory parade was held in Magic Kingdom, so it’s sort of rare for us to see the parade. But now I have a HOPE that the Green Bay Packers will do great and make it to the parade at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom in the future.
Anyways, let’s start our Hollywood Studios loop.
Good Morning from Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been popping recently! The park hosted a “Villaintines Day” on February 13, but I was off and sleeping until noon… and I was like, “OH MY GOD.” Other than being a manager here, I am a character meet-and-greet specialist. I must see them!
At Mickey’s of Hollywood, a magical new collection is available, but the Sorcerer’s Hat packable tote bag is sold out.
Today, I felt a little like doing things a little differently, so I made a turn down Sunset Boulevard and started that way instead of going to check AT-AT first. At Tower Hotel Gifts, they’re still selling third-party merchandise.
There is no change at the former Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy, soon to be the new Villains show venue. I still remember when it was Club Disney, they had couches, you could dance with characters, and were able to buy snacks and drinks… It was a great place to chill.
I didn’t see anything going on outside of the building. I assume they are working on the inside since “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” will open this summer…
It is possible that Disney might have seen Nana’s Princess Diary?! Last week, they only had five Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster designs, but now there are four new designs available to choose from at Rock Around the Shop.
Did you know that Hollywood Studios has a Paradise Pier billboard on Sunset Boulevard?
Paradise Pier is my forever home. (Yeah, I know it’s gone, and now it’s Pixar Pier.) My family made trips to Disneyland Resort before Disney California Adventure opened, and every time we drove by, my mom and grandma said they were “really excited to see the new park.” I didn’t get to go to DCA until 2009, and my grandma made it to DCA for the first time in 2017. (Yeah, my mom hasn’t visited yet.). The night view of Paradise Bay still takes my breath away. It’s absolutely my favorite area in a park.
At Beverly Sunset Boutique, they have Florida Natives Figment and Orange Bird available now for the Create Your Own Headbands.
Also, Inside Out shoulder plushes are here too! They only have Anxiety, Anger, and Joy, though.
After that, I left Sunset Boulevard and walked to the other side of the park. My AT-AT was fine but Star Tours was down.
I’ll miss you, MuppetVision…
In Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Rise of the Resistance is still offering a single rider line; however, our cannons are still not working. Only Batuu West’s cannons are working.
Random find of the day: this Star Wars mug. It is not new, but Tokyo Disneyland will start selling it this April!
Recently, I’ve seen lots of Disney Store Japan’s merchandise, like the Sakura collection, at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort. They are finally sharing some cool merchandise.
I didn’t see much stuff in Galaxy’s Edge, so I walked into Toy Story Land. We’ve been updating readers on lots of seating area construction. Today, I discovered the scrim that used to cover the Cowboy Cookin’ Set mural is gone and now you can see the full mural!
Not sure what kind of a toy this is. Andy’s mom bought him something that contains “franks, fire, skillet, ladle, cookin’ pot, coffee, jerky, two cups, and steak.” An emergency BBQ set? Or, Molly’s pretend BBQ toy set?
The other side of this area is still blocked off with scrim.
Ariel is still missing from the former “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” theater, no updates there.
Speaking of Ariel, did you see Ariel and Eric’s meet and greet yesterday?
On the backdrop, Eric wrote “To Ariel, From Eric.” What a lovely couple!
I had to go to Disney’s Riviera Resort, so I took the Skyliner.
I love this little artistic tunnel. Every time I walk through here, I take pictures of the mosaics, even though it’s not my first time seeing them.
I didn’t see anything new for Riviera merchandise. Artist Mickey was the only keychain they had today.
I took a bean juice break and checked all social platforms for what’s going on in Walt Disney World.
I didn’t see anything new or crazy, so I took a bus to go to Magic Kingdom. Why do I go to Magic Kingdom, you ask? BECAUSE I WANT THE CAROUSEL POPCORN BUCKET!!!
I have been collecting popcorn buckets for a long time, I don’t know when this became my thing… In my current eyesight, I can see at least 25 buckets. (I am writing this in my living room.) More buckets are in boxes and on a shelf in my bedroom. WDWNT reporters each have their own collections — Ashton and Ali like to collect ears and Little Words Project bracelets…
Anyway, I wanted to get it so I took a bus and went to Magic Kingdom.
Hello from Magic Kingdom!
Magic Kingdom was busy since the Festival of Fantasy Parade was about to start. I love watching the parade, and I wanted to watch it! But today I have an important mission. I was not even sure the new bucket was still available. I was walking toward the Hub to check like a madwoman (as usual).
At the popcorn cart on the right side of the castle, I see lots of guests have multiple buckets, but I didn’t see Cast Members handing out buckets to guests… A guest asked about the bucket and I heard, “We sold out at this location, the other side might still have some.”
SOLD OUT?? EXCUSE ME?? NANA PANIC 😱 We (Nana + the guest who got told they were sold out) made our way to another side.
We were met with a long line!!!! But it seemed like they still had them. There were about 20-25 people in line.
I saw piles of boxes and each box only contained eight buckets, and only 40 boxes total! Easy math, 8 x 40 = 3250 buckets! Wow!
Also, I saw guests with GIANT shopping bags from Tokyo DisneySea and Primark. The bucket purchase limit is two per guest per transaction, but somehow they bought a lot. They must have a big family and all their kids, cousins, aunts, and uncles wanted these buckets. So dedicated and very thoughtful of them.
This was Nana’s head. FULL OF ANXIETIES.
I saw Cast Members keep opening the boxes and taking out the buckets… DEAR FIGMENT, PLEASE LET ME BUY!
Figment heard me and a Cast Member handed me a bucket in exchange for $30.
NANA GOT ANOTHER POPCORN BUCKET!!!! And I got to see the Festival of Fantasy!
GUESS WHAT? They are missing one of our precious Jubilation! floats from Tokyo Disneyland.
So all the characters who are on that float were walking, and the VIPs were wearing their normal costumes today! Lots of surprises!! My brain was not ready.
To be honest, the Jubilation! float that was missing today, which is the Pinocchio float, was missing on Monday, too. As a former Tokyo Disneyland girl, I am concerned about it. Hopefully, the float will come back soon.
I got my bucket and got to see the parade, I was pretty fulfilled. So I took a bus back to Hollywood Studios. Today was another magical visit!
But one thing… Where I parked today (apparently Jessie 202-ish) didn’t have the row number written on the ground, I couldn’t find my car. (The picture above was taken when I left my car.)
So please Mr. Bob Iger, let me put the row number on the ground, so I can find my car next time I park at Hollywood Studios. I don’t even ask Disney to put them on, I would do it if you could let me. Respectfully, Nana.
Anyway, I had a hard time finding my car in the 88-degree weather. Florida summer is on the way back, but I’m assuming there are a few more days of Fake Florida Spring then we will be back full-throttle to the summer. Are you guys excited about FLORIDA SUMMER 2025?
Thank you for reading all the way here. I hope you’ll have a magical week, and see you real soon!
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