Surprise visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom tonight! Can you guess why?

Rivers of Light begins previews tonight. Show time in 15 minutes! ​

Rivers of Light merchandise available at Disney's Animal Kingdom. ​

Flowers float along the water. It's almost time!

Rivers of Light is now shorter than an earlier preview we saw of it. It's a beautiful show and a lovely fit for DAK. ​

Glad to see that Rivers of Light has a more prominent finale now. The technology used in this show is amazing to see. ​

Thanks again to both Renee and Chris for the awesome preview of the newest Disney show. 

We hope you enjoyed it, and if so, please share!! 

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​Security Changes
 
Disney has beefed up security and has managed to clean up the congestion that park goers have been encountering around the entrances.
 
The checkpoint off of Harbor has not changed so there is no update but you will notice some major changes as seen below.
 
The checkpoint that used to be between the tram drop off and the ticket booths have been moved entirely. If you are coming from the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure, you will encounter the checkpoint prior to boarding the tram in what used to be the employee parking lot just outside of the parking structure.

​If you are coming from The Disneyland or Paradise Pier hotels, you will encounter a checkpoint prior to entering Downtown Disney by the Earl of Sandwich (picture 3). Another has been added by the Downtown Disney Parking Lot by ESPN Zone (picture 4). Finally, another by the entrance from the Grand Californian into Downtown Disney (picture 5).
 
These changes have allowed entry into the park from the east side to be a much simpler and quicker process. Aside from the relocation of these checkpoints, the additional metal detectors keep things moving much quicker.

​Empty Park
We had the benefit of attending the park on two of the wettest days in the park. Below are some of the pictures that show a ghost town (for Disneyland) of a park.
 
What once used to be stroller central, has now become a clear view to the Carrousel.

Even the Disney Vacation Club Booth gets a color makeover for the event.

Thanks again to Chris for the awesome Disneyland pics. Hopefully more Disneyland updates will happen soon as well as some Star Wars Land updates. 

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Walls are starting to show up on Justice League

Most of the side walls are up, the back wall is totally up and the front wall is getting close to being done. We'd anticipate all of the walls being done by this time next week. 

Doesn't look like any re-painting has been done on Riddler's Revenge yet, but the gas station is gone, which is interesting because in some pics sent to us from The Coaster Guy it was repainted last week. Not sure what happened that caused the change. 

Last week it was there and re-painted (thanks to The Coaster Guy for allowing us to use this pic) 

On the back side not much work on the beer garden yet 

The eateries are getting some nice freshening up, hopefully inside and outside. 

An overhead view of the area 

Not much change on JB's yet 

Lots of drywall ready to go up 

The area where the tree was in front of Scrambler has been paved over 

Hopefully these trees aren't next 

Moving on, some ground work being done in front of Twisted Colossus, the "store" is gone as well. 

In preparation for a SF Corporate event this month, some Fright Fest decorations are coming back. They will be showing off Fright Fest and Holiday In The Park for the event. 

Batman is still running one train as the other is in refurb, it looks like some of the new'ish paint is coming up. =( 

Apocalypse is still closed although there's no sign outside stating that it's closed for refurb. 

Likewise, Tatsu is still closed with a sign that says "Temporarily Closed". 

Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update, we hope you enjoyed seeing the progress on Justice League. We're hoping for another construction tour in the very near future. 

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Happy Lunar New Year!! 

It's the year of the Rooster 

New characters this year are Tigress and Po from Kung Fun Panda.

Tigress is ready to fight, Po is just Po. 

For fans of the films there are a few Easter Eggs 

Once again you can leave a message in one of the trees, a great touch that we did. Sadly not in Mandarin. We're a bit rusty. ;) 

Mandarin Megatron is back and awesome as ever. 

Sorry your store got torn down Woody (more on that below) but it's always great seeing you out in the park. 

Moving on. There are no major new attractions coming to the park this year, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a plethora of smaller projects going on at the park right now.

Cartooniversal has been completely removed as we showed you in our last update, but we figured we'd take a closer look this time since crowds were light. 

Taking advantage of these views that we won't get to see forever. 

In addition, Waterworld is closed for refurbishment. 

Some cement work going on outside of Shrek 

It was an absolutely beautiful day to take in the Studio Tour

From the tour you can see all the work being done to add in the 4th Starway escalator 

If you haven't seen Kubo yet you really need to. It's so amazing. 

Boo, no HHN maze. :( 

We saw this a LOT during our Tour. This was the busiest I'd seen the lot in years. So much so that our tour really only lasted about 35-40 minutes. 

Not much change in the former location of Stage 28 

Production stuff 

Sorry for the weird shot here, wasn't expecting Jaws to be closed, but here it is. If you look at the details you can see the shark fins and more. Looks to be a pretty extensive refurb which is odd because it just had one maybe 1 1/2 years ago? 

Moving back to the park, work continues for the new Starway 

Which means an update for the Mummy Lockers to make room 

One last note, they are doing some work on the stage in Hogsmeade. 

As always, we absolutely love seeing the characters at the park. 

Bello!! 

"There's nothing better than a cigar lit with a hundred dollar bill!" 

It was a beautiful chilly day in the park which of course meant Hot Butterbeer!! 

This was also our first chance to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey with the 2D 120 Frames Per Second and we LOVED it. Absolutely no nausea for any of us, the sets and screens blended perfectly and it was a great experience. I love that they are making little tweaks to improve an already amazing ride experience. 

Out in CityWalk, work continues on Margaritaville. 

Do have to say, the sign is in a weird place, you really can't see it until you are right in front of it due to the iFly right next to it. But we do hope the restaurant does well. 

Finally some work being done on Voodoo Donuts!! 

We can't wait for this to open!! 

Now that the Christmas Tree is gone we can see the full outside of the new Universal Cinema. It looks amazing!! 

Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update, we hope you enjoyed it. 

Be sure to plan some time to check out Lunar New Year. It runs now through February 5th. You can find out more information about the event here. 

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​Some highlights from the announcement, you can see the entire article here:

• A peek at life, and death, in a late 19th century Colorado mine will be among the attractions for visitors to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park starting this summer.
• The Caverns have been digging the final few feet of a 120-foot shaft in an area of the park below the main visitor center, restaurant and theater building that will become the new Haunted Mine Drop thrill ride.
• The ride will be similar to Disney’s Tower of Terror and other amusement park drop rides. The Mine Drop is different in that it will have a relevant historical theme and will actually be underground just like a real mine shaft, explained Caverns Adventure Park owner Steve Beckley.
• The ride is being designed and built by renowned thrill ride enthusiast Stan Checketts of Utah. Checketts also built the giant swing and zip line ride at the Caverns, as well as notable attractions like the Stratosphere Tower Big Shot in Las Vegas.
• The Haunted Mine Drop will welcome visitors as if they are coming to work at the mine for the first time, but the orientation is given by a couple of ghosts.
• Inside will be more ghoulish images, skeletons and such to round out the thrill.
• The park is working with St. Louis-based Creative Visions for the hologram imaging that will be featured with the mine ride. Company mastermind Mark McDonough has developed characters for theme parks, museums, zoos, aquariums, haunted attractions and amusement centers around the world. The company’s client list includes Universal Studios Theme Parks, SeaWorld, Knott’s Berry Farm, MGM Grand Adventure, Six Flags and David Copperfield.
• The new Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park ride is part of a larger investment of some $2.5 million into park improvements for the coming year that will include a new pathway loop connecting the Mine Drop ride to the lower cave tour area and back up to the top of the park.

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A look at the new stands that were added a few weeks ago (pictures below). This is the area where the Orca's would hang out backstage near the underwater viewing area. This is where you can come and watch them while the old stadium is being remodeled. 

No "show" here obviously, but the trainers talk about the amazing animals. 

Work going on in the stadium area 

There are two "Presentations" per day. 

Let's move on and take a quick look at the area for Electric Eel 

An aerial view of the area. Going to be pretty close to the front of the park. 

They've begun the remodel of Shamu Stadium just a day after the last show

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