Today, Disney Parks announces three new character-involved entertainment offerings coming in the near future. 
The first changes involves Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from Disney’s newest movie: Zootopia. As of right now, guests will not be able to meet or take pictures with these animal favorites.. but they will get to watch them in Magic Kingdom’s daily street party. “Movie It, Shake It, Dance It, Play It” runs several times a day up and down main street and entertainment will be sacrificing Stitch and Genie to bring in our two newest friends. Fortunately, guests will still be able to meet Stitch, who will now be meeting at the front of the Magic Kingdom throughout the morning. Bringing in the Zootopia characters on a float is a good move for Disney but a bad change for guests. WDW is known for including rare characters in parades and dance parties as a cop-out for saying guests have the opportunity to “see” these characters without actually providing a meet and greet offering. Take Kristoff for example. Kristoff has been around for 2 years now and even with the amount of hype and demand for Frozen “stuff”, he has still yet to appear in a meet and greet setting (not even for hard-ticket events). Kristoff can be seen in the Christmas Parade, the Christmas Castle Lighting, on a daily basis at Hollywood Studios’ Frozen Sing-Along or at my next head-scratcher.
Kristoff and Olaf are heading to Blizzard Beach. Starting this summer, the reindeer man and comedic snowman will be hosting the inaugural “Fozen Games” at Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park. The duo is expected to lead two separate teams of people for a day full of Frozen activities. According to Disney Parks, games will include: Ice Pail Relays, Ski Pole Limbo, Slide Races and more. Olaf and Kristoff will be at the event for both the opening and closing ceremonies.. as well as select parts throughout the day to give updates on which team is in the lead. This seems like a plausible way to get more guests to the water parks for sure, but why haven’t the two arguably most rare and sought out characters made their way to a permanent meet and greet location. Yes, Olaf is coming to Hollywood Studios in May, but everything has been so uncertain as of late. Maybe things will clear up once the Norway pavilion’s facelift is complete with it’s Frozen additions. One thing I would like to add is: at least Olaf fits into the theme of Blizzard Beach; maybe a hint of more changes to come.
The third character offering announced seems like a great idea. While many fans are awaiting the arrival of Pixar’s sequel, Finding Dory, WDW is ready to bring that movie to life in the parks. Starting sometime this summer, “Turtle Talk” at EPCOT will feature characters from Pixar’s upcoming film. Crush will be joined by Dory, Hank the 7-legged octopus, Bailey the Beluga Whale and Destiny the Whale Shark. Some hidden characters also said to be included (maybe you’ll even find Nemo). I think this is a great addition for The Seas and hope it sticks around for a great deal of time.
I know I knocked 2/3 new offerings, but I really do love to see Walt Disney World announcing new things. Hopefully more announcements are just around the corner, we’ll keep you updated.