To be a Disney fan is to know true loyalty.
Those who follow the Walt Way love the brand to no avail—theirs is a fandom that will never end, no matter how many reboots and "live-action re-imaginings" they are forced to endure. If that isn't dedication, we don't know what is.
But being a Disney fan can also be a lot of work. With today's changing landscape, there is just so much to keep up with. Like these reboots and live-action re-imaginings! Every week, it seems, there's a new movie to get the real-people treatment, and each announcement brings casting rumors, teaser trailers and the like. It's basically a full=time job.
More confusing than seeing a human reenact the role of Lumiére and Beauty and the Beast is trying to keep tabs on all the changes over at Mecca, a.k.a. Disney World. There must have been something in the water in 2017, because the head honchos changed just about everything. Or so it seemed.
But never fear. Since we know you are busy people who are just trying to keep it mentally together at the holidays, we've pulled together all the major Disney World news from this year that you need to know for 2017.
You can get married in the park. You'll need a fiancé, of course, and presumably a crap ton of money. But once you get those two things, the wedding of your dreams will be yours. The bride will be able to arrive in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, and vows will be exchanged next to Cinderella's castle. It's pretty crazy. The best part? It will all go down after hours when the park is closed and all the rides are under the cover of darkness.
The park will be yours to conquer, and it's kind of carte blanche. We're talking making your grand entrance down Main Street, USA, or putting a DJ in Fantasyland. Start saving now.
The Guardians of the Galaxy ride will be open. Sure, we have to trade in the Tower of Terror to get it, but things change and this is going to be awesome. The ride will use the shell of the Tower of Terror, which will now be known as The Collector's Fortress. The premise is that you're in a giant power plant that houses The Collector's prized possessions from around the world. There will of course be characters from the movie and that now-familiar, occasionally nausea-inducing free fall experience. So definitely don't get lunch first. Look for the ride next summer.
Frozen: Ever After is finally up and running fully. This ride has been on the Disney parks docket since the summer, but it was a soft opening that came with all the expected issues. And...the lines. Oh, those lines. Poor, unsuspecting families were waiting up to 300 minutes (that's five hours) to see Elsa and the gang sing and dance while they floated by on old-timey wooden boats. We can't predict the future and say that the lines are going to completely disappear in 2017, but there's no way they can be that long forever.
Disney Dollars are still gone. Remember when Disney ruined all of our childhood memories and got rid of Disney Dollars? Yeah, we're still scarred, too. Expect them to be fully phased out in 2017, although technically since old dollars don't expire, they have to accept any bills you may have found lying around.
The Main Street Electrical Parade is but a distant memory. In Florida, at least. The awesome light show-meets parade, which has been illuminating Main Street for years, had its last run at HQ in October. They've promised that the event will be popping up at Disneyland in Anaheim early next year for a limited time, but even that will be fleeting.
Sleeping Beauty no longer has a castle in Hong Kong. You heard it here first: Hong Kong doesn't care about Sleeping Beauty. Okay, okay, so maybe that's a total exaggeration. But they definitely care about park upgrades and fancy new attractions more, which is why they're closing down the iconic castle.