Another week brings more surprises to Disney World!
Cinderella Castle
This week we learned surprising Halloween news, a new feature that will solve a major problem, and several new character meet-and-greets have returned! Let’s jump right in!
Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Disney announced this week that guests will be able to celebrate Halloween in EPCOT with Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit! We’ve seen a similar scavenger hunt in Disneyland — but now EPCOT gets a turn. This scavenger hunt will run from September 29th to October 31st during the 2022 Food & Wine Festival.
Halloween in Walt Disney World
Scavenger hunt game boards will be available at Creations Shop, Port of Entry, and World Traveler at International Gateway, and you can hunt for hidden pumpkins decorated like Disney characters!
Read more about the Halloween Scavenger Hunt here!
Car Locator Feature
If you’ve driven to Disney World, you’ve probably played the (not so fun) game of “where’s my car?” in at least one parking lot. But this week Disney could be solving this issue! A car locator feature will be coming soon to the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps, and it will let you select the car locator card on your home screen so that you never lose your car again.
©Disney
This new feature is expected to be available at Disney World this summer and at Disneyland later in 2022. Of course, you could always just write down or take a picture of your parking lot row number but sometimes we forget in all the excitement, so this could be really useful!
Click here to read more about the new car locator feature coming soon!
Character Meet-and-Greets
This week Peter Pan resumed meeting guests in Disney World — but it’s a little complicated. He’s scheduled to appear throughout the day near Sunshine Tree Terrace in Magic Kingdom, but we also spotted him roaming around Fantasyland.
Peter Pan!
He didn’t appear at his scheduled location at 12:10 (but to be fair, it WAS raining), and later we spotted him near Cinderella Castle too! So if you’re hoping to meet Peter Pan, keep your eyes peeled in Magic Kingdom — you never know where he might turn up!
Learn how the Peter Pan meet-and-greet works here.
In a surprise move, the Star Wars Launch Bay opened early in Disney’s Hollywood Studios! Although it was scheduled to open on July 17th, Darth Vader and Chewbacca were greeting guests on July 11th!
Current Star Wars Launch Bay Meet-and-Greets
So far, just Chewbacca and Darth Vader have returned (no sign of BB-8 yet), but we’ll be watching closely. They’re not yet available on the My Disney Experience app but they are supposed to be available for booking via Genie+ soon!
Check out all the photos of the Star Wars Launch Bay characters!
We were surprised to find Goofy meeting guests near Storybook Circus in Magic Kingdom this week! Goofy was dressed in his flight uniform and we saw some of his showtimes listed in the My Disney Experience app.
Hi Goofy!
Goofy was located near the tend outside of Pete’s Silly Sideshow in Storybook Circus, where other characters are also supposed to return for meet-and-greets soon. Check the app to see if Goofy (or another character!) are available in this location!
Check out Goofy in his flight uniform here!
Missing Cheshire Cat Tail
On a visit to the Cheshire Cafe in Magic Kingdom, we noticed that one of our favorite treats, the Cheshire Cat Tail, was MISSING from the menu! It was replaced by the Cheshire Cat Paw for $6.29. It looks similar to the Cheshire Cat Tail, but it’s not exactly the same.
Cheshire Cat Paw
This pastry was buttery and flaky and the hazelnut filling was the perfect amount of chocolate, though note that if you have a nut allergy you won’t be able to eat this. Still, it could make a great quick snack! We’re not sure if this could replace the Cheshire Cat Tail forever (😱) but we’ll be watching closely for any changes.
Read more about the tale of the missing Cheshire Cat Tail here!
Tower of Terror Sign
The iconic roadside Tower of Terror billboard was torn down overnight this week! This landmark was one of the ways many drivers marked their arrival to Disney World. In place of the sign are construction equipment and mounds of dirt.
The Tower of Terror sign is gone!
Disney has not yet shared their plans for this sign or a new replacement but we’ll be watching closely for more updates.
Read more about the Tower of Terror sign removal here!
And that’s all the surprising Disney World news of the week! Keep following along with DFB for more Disney news and updates!
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The Cheshire cat tail treat in the image you posted is the most pathetically small thing I’ve ever seen… Aside from the portion sizes at EPCOT’s festival booths.
What happened to the Cheshire Cat Tails that were actually a long pastry about 8 inches long?
We always notate where we park. Usually my daughter drops a pin on her phone. On our last trip we drove our F150 that has remote start and when we got in the vicinity of where we parked, I would start it and then we just walked toward the lights. Sure beats all the horns going off in the parking lot. And it was cool inside by the time we got to it.