All Disney Parks Are Open!
For the first time since January of 2020, all Disney theme parks around the world have reopened. The Walt Disney Company celebrated this achievement with a video:
Of course, Disney also announced plenty of other terrific news, including return dates and details for the various fireworks presentations at Walt Disney World. Let’s take a quick look.
Fireworks Come Back in July!
I indicated five days ago that I had heard fireworks presentations would return in July.
Disney has exceeded my expectations by rushing the process. Many insiders believed that fireworks would return on or after July 4th.
Well, we’re getting them even earlier! Fireworks come back to Walt Disney World on July 1st!
Happily Ever After will make its triumphant return at Magic Kingdom on July 1st.
This fireworks presentation turned four years old in May, although it hasn’t run for over a year now. It’ll finally be back in two weeks, though!
Thus far, Disney has only commented on its July plans for Happily Ever After. Magic Kingdom will host the show at 9:15 p.m. nightly in July.
Simultaneously, Disney has altered its July park hours at Magic Kingdom. From July 1st through July 10th, the park will close at 11 p.m.
Yes, that’s two hours later than it had initially listed. So, if you’re visiting in early July, your trip just got that much better.
From July 11th through July 31st, Magic Kingdom will close at 10 p.m. Based on these changes, the truncated park hours appear to be a thing of the past.
Updates Regarding Harmonious and Rivers of Light
At EPCOT, park officials announced the expected strategy. Harmonious isn’t quite ready yet.
So, EPCOT Forever will operate at 10 p.m. nightly throughout July. I presume that it’ll remain as the nighttime presentation until October 1st.
If I were an EPCOT strategist, I’d debut Harmonious in time for the 50th anniversary celebration.
However, this new show could feasibly start even earlier — like late August or September — to assure no hiccups occur once crowds increase in October.
Disney has announced that EPCOT will close at 10 p.m. throughout July to accommodate the later start time for EPCOT Forever.
You may recall that Disney finally gave up the ghost on Rivers of Light at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
In the process, nighttime park visits have waned, as Animal Kingdom has opened at the break of dawn. Then, it has closed at 5 or 6 p.m. on most days during the pandemic.
While Disney made no mention of a replacement nighttime presentation, it did just add an hour at the end of an Animal Kingdom day.
Starting on July 4th, the park closes at 7 p.m. You’ll get to enjoy Pandora – The World of Avatar later than at any point since March of 2020.
This solution remains imperfect, though. The sun sets around 8:25 p.m. in Orlando in July, negating some of the beauty of bioluminescence.
Disneyland Paris Reopens
The video I posted at the start of this article reflects a seminal moment for Disney workers.
Disneyland Paris reopened this morning, June 17th. In the process, it became the final Disney theme park to return to operations after the pandemic.
While Disneyland Paris had previously reopened, a French outbreak forced a prolonged closure. In the interim, the other Disney theme parks had all returned.
Here’s a Reuters video of Europeans joyously celebrating their return to Disneyland Paris:
We’ve come a long way since the days of “Cultural Chernobyl” outcries, haven’t we?
Now that Disneyland Paris has reopened, all Disney theme parks are up and running.
The last time that all six Disney parks operated on the same day was January 24th, 2020. If that doesn’t make you feel better about life, I don’t know what will.
The Walt Disney Company has officially survived its greatest challenge to date!
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