Harambe Nights Begins at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park

Hi everyone!

We attended the first Harambe Nights at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park and had a great time, you can find our review here!

 

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is officially open! Guests have been able to book the attraction with Fastpass+ for a while now, which greatly reduces the wait time in line. Check out our article, which also includes information on transferring from a wheelchair or scooter.

Universal’s Cabana Bay Resort is now open! The lazy river and standard rooms will open in June, but we enjoyed the night we booked to stay at the new resort. So far, I wrote up an article with my intial thoughts on opening day, and another article showing how Universal’s Cabana Bay Resort is not like Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. I will have a larger photo article next week. We also have videos embedded in the articles! We enjoyed meeting the Minions and Gru, they were an opening day treat!

We attended the first Epcot Illuminations Sparkling Dessert Party last month, featuring desserts inspired by several of the countries. We have a full review, along with a video showing the experience.

Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade debuted in March – it is an INCREDIBLE parade, we have seen it twice so far and I look forward to seeing it again. It’s been a long time since the Magic Kingdom has had a parade like this – we have 100 photos with video here! Belle and Beast head up the parade on the Princess float (below, left), which also features Elsa and Anna (below, right). Not everyone will see the Frozen sisters (Anna is in her coronation gown), as the float elements spin – one day I photographed Anna and Elsa, the next day Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen.

The most talked about aspect of Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade is the 26-foot high Maleficent dragon (below, left), which breathes fire! And the Mad Hatter adds a little levity to the procession (below, right).

Donald and Daisy join a variety of Disney characters near the end of the parade (below, left). The last float is this airship with Mickey Mouse waving (below, right)! Some of these photos were taken from the Fastpass+ section, which offers a view of Cinderella Castle.

One of the most satifsying events we have covered in a long time is “Extreme Village Makeover” at Give Kids the World. I volunteer there, and it was wonderful to see the new Memory Makers building that Disney built for the volunteers, familiies and expanded gift shop! Ty Pennington was on hand to help “move that bus”! Read about it here.

Denise