Attention Space Rangers, there’s a new drink that you have to try! A Buzz Lightyear Frappuccino!
This out of this galaxy drink features a mix of vanilla, blackberry and matcha, very delicious and refreshing and a great option if you want to get something other then coffee.
You can take a closer look at it in our Instagram video below. We like how it features Mickey Mouse enjoying his walk on a tropical beach. It certainly makes it a cheerful Disney Tervis tumbler to own!
It’s vanilla ice cream milkshake mixed with wildberry syrup and has marshmallow on top with the cake pops. Also, it costs $15 for the Wildberry Cake Pop Shake. You’ll want to save room for this incredible dessert!
Let us know in the comments if you plan on trying this stunning dessert!
Marvel Fans Are Calling for Sebastian Stan to Earn an Emmy for his Performance in Episode 4 of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘. There is no denying, the MCU its filled with acting powerhouses such as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman and more. Now with the premiere of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we get to see actors Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in a bigger spotlight. Fans are already calling for Sebastian Stan to earn an Emmy for his latest performance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 4 opening sequence.
Sebastian Stan deserves an Emmy for that opening. Wyatt Russell deserves respect for how well he's playing such an intensely complex and tormented character. This show is fueled by pure character and I am HERE for it.
After a months-long national search, Universal Parks & Resorts has selected a developer to design, build and manage an affordable housing community near the International Drive corridor – an area identified as high priority by Orange County’s Housing for All Task Force.
This is a first-ever approach that brings a theme park entertainment company and its pledge of land and creative resources together with an experienced affordable housing developer to find a unique solution to one of Central Florida’s most pressing issues. The scope and scale of this initiative are expected to reach near-record levels for affordable housing communities across the nation.
Wendover Housing Partners, based in Altamonte Springs, will bring Universal’s vision for affordable housing to life on a 20-acre site Universal has pledged for the initiative. The community will include 1,000 high-quality apartments as well as 16,000 square-feet of retail space, with construction expected to begin in late 2022.
Ownership of the site has been transferred from Universal to a not-for-profit established by the company called Housing for Tomorrow whose role is to oversee the initiative and make sure it remains true to the original vision. Housing for Tomorrow will retain ownership of the site and serve as Master Developer – entering a $10-a-year/55-year lease for the property with Wendover. Housing for Tomorrow’s charter states its mission is: “Providing and preserving housing for low- and moderate-income people that is safe, secure and affordable in perpetuity.”
As master developer, Housing for Tomorrow will set guidelines for the community and will work with Wendover and Orange County to move the plan forward. Wendover will seek its own financing for the project.
Universal Creative – the group within Universal Parks & Resorts that designs and builds theme parks, theme park attractions and hotels will work with Wendover on the overall plan for the new community.
Affordable housing communities typically rely on a mix of resident income and rent levels – using higher rents to offset more affordable rents. This development’s size and a stipulation that at least 75 percent of its apartments be dedicated to affordable housing means this community will add affordable housing to Central Florida housing market at near-record national levels.
The agreement between Housing for Tomorrow and Wendover will require Wendover to oversee the community for at least 55 years, creating a long-term commitment to the community and its residents.
The agreement will create an annual certification process that allows Housing for Tomorrow to ensure key guidelines regarding the right mix of residents, amenities and quality of life are met in all the years to come.
Wendover was selected from five finalists by a Universal selection committee that included key Universal team members and community representatives. A total of 17 developers submitted initial proposals.
Wendover Housing Partners has been building, financing and managing affordable housing communities for families and active seniors for more than 30 years. As one of the Southeast’s premier affordable housing and workforce housing companies, Wendover has built a portfolio of affordable and mixed-income developments to create housing opportunities in a variety of economically and socially diverse neighborhoods.
“This is an unprecedented partnership between a major company in the community and a private developer to work together to design a community that is close to where people work, filled with amenities that they want and with rents they can afford,” said Jonathan L. Wolf, founder and CEO of Wendover Housing Partners. “We see this as a model for the rest of the country to show how this type of partnership can be used to address the critical need for innovative affordable housing solutions.”
“Affordable Housing is one of our community’s biggest challenges and we want to be part of the solution,” said John Sprouls, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Universal Parks & Resorts. “We have brought people with the right expertise together with land to create a new affordable housing community – and a new approach to this issue. Wendover’s willingness to enter a long-term commitment, its experience with affordable housing in our state and its solid financing model will help us make sure we succeed.”
“As Co-chair of the Housing For All Task Force that Mayor Demings created, we learned there was no single solution to the affordable housing crisis in Orange County. The commitment Universal Studios has made is a great example of how our business community can be part of the solution,” said Terry Prather, Chief Operation Officer of Lift Orlando and a member of Universal’s Housing for All Committee.
“I was thrilled when Universal stepped up to help solve our affordable housing crisis,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings. “When public and private organizations, and the government, come together great things happen. This housing initiative is a primary example of such collaboration.”
“This is a compelling answer to what Mayor Demings and our affordable housing task force called for as we worked to solve our community’s affordable housing crisis,” said Victoria Siplin, Orange County District 6 commissioner, whose district will include the new community.
Criteria used to select Wendover included:
Community Resident Focus: a commitment to resident satisfaction
Community Design and Development: a commitment to high-quality, livable, design
Community Operation and Maintenance: a commitment to an affordable community that offers a high quality of life
Development Organization: a commitment to a high-quality team to develop and manage the new community, demonstrated expertise in affordable housing and a track record of success
Development Financing: commitment to a sound financial plan to cover both the development and long-term sustainability of the community
Universal Orlando Housing for All Committee Vision Statement
We believe access to affordable housing is a human right. We strongly support the findings and recommendations of Orange County’s Housing for All Task Force. We will play an active, leadership role in helping our community move solutions forward.
We are creating a community where residents will be the priority
We will create a neighborhood that inspires and enables personal growth and is a place where residents are proud to live
We will value and prioritize diversity and inclusiveness – by all and for all
We will create and embrace a new kind of public-private partnership dedicated to innovation on behalf of our residents
We will search out national best practices that will help guide us – and we will create new national standards and best practices when we see opportunity
Raising Cane’s is exploring the Orlando area for its next 2 locations, sources are saying. The Loop West Shopping Center in Kissimmee and near Lake Nona at Narcoossee Road and Vickrey Place may be the lucky winners. This will mark the 4th major food franchise expanding to the Central Florida area. White Castle is set to open any day. Portillo’s and Cowboy Chicken are under construction.
The chain — which offers chicken fingers, fries, Texas toast, coleslaw, and drinks — has roughly 500 restaurants nationwide. The first Raising Cane’s opened in 1996 by Todd Graves (Founder, CEO, Fry Cook & Cashier) is an inspirational story of hard work and a self-starter. Working 90 hours a week at an oil refinery. Then working 20 hours a day as a fisherman in Alaska to make enough money to start the business. Returning home to open his first “mothership” location by the LSU entrance. Doing all the renovations himself.
Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover has started testing again! We were at the parks yesterday and we were able to catch a glimpse of it in action. What we captured was the cars moving at full speed, and the turntable working as it should. This means we are hopefully closer to opening this beloved ride soon.
We have been covering this closure for refurbishments since the beginning. Most recently Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMove was scheduled to open April 4, 2021, it was pushed back again and now it shows May 1, 2021. All of us here, along with many fans, are hoping to maybe see a soft opening prior to May 1st.
A colorful new dress has twirled into the Disney Dress Shop! The bold new Play In The Parks Disney Dress has a retro style and fun miniature park icons also dance along with the stripes.
This dress is a sunrise of colorful stripes! Stripes of coral, buttercup, sage, and also deep-sea blue lay in a diagonal pattern on a retro silhouette! A zippered front with a vintage collar and cap sleeves finish off this look for a very 50’s vibe. The icons are a lot of fun! The park landmarks, characters, and attractions are tiny, but also a lot of fun to explore.
The back has teal embroidery with a classic Walt Disney World block logo, that also says Plan In The Park underneath. It almost reminds me of a Spirit Jersey on the back too!
For the finishing touch, the coral banded dress is also cinched off with a deep-sea blue belt! The belt is also accented with a yellow buckle and grommets to match the colors in the dress.
As we’re all excited by Disneyland Resort’s announcement regarding the opening of Avengers Campus on June 4, 2021 at Disney’s California Adventure, construction continues to bring even more Super Heroes to Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris with the upcoming Avengers Campus.
In celebration of the 29th anniversary of Disneyland Paris, Ambassador Giona got a chance to catch up with Vice President of Shows, David Duffy. Check out the video below to learn more about David’s career journey and the exciting new developments underway for the highly-anticipated reopening of Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be reopening at the end of the month. Before the parks reopen, Disney will be launching a new website for guests with vacation packages that include hotel reservations and theme park tickets. The website will allow guests to print tickets, gift cards, and transportation vouchers at their convenience.
Guests will be provided a secure link via email or on their Disney account prior to their hotel arrival. Disney will no longer be manually packaging and delivering entitlements like park tickets to guests’ hotels in advance of arrival.
Guests with travel packages for April 29, 2021 and later will begin receiving communication regarding these changes five days prior to their hotel arrival. This new distribution process will be included in booking online at Disneyland.com and via phone.
Universal & Brightline are at an impasse after the latest round of meetings on April 8, 2021. The standoff comes down to money, as is always the case. At stake are the numerous visitors expected to ride the Brightline train with only 2 stops locally. Disney Springs area, which is scheduled to be built in a future expansion, and the main stop at the Orlando International Airport.
Brightline’s position is “We have explained the ramifications of that in terms of cost [and they are] understanding of that,” said Michael Cegelis, executive vice president of rail infrastructure for Brightline, at the presentation. “There’s a recognition of that. The quantum of it is still being reconciled. We did have a reconciliation meeting yesterday, a lot got accomplished. We owe Universal Studios and their consultant some additional cost information, so we are providing it or may have provided it already.” No other information was forthcoming.
Universal’s response was more direct, “We have talked with Brightline and do not feel they have done the due diligence required for a project of this magnitude,” Universal spokesman Tom Schroder told Orlando Business Journal. “At the moment, there is significant disagreement about what is right for our community — with us and many others believing the International Drive corridor needs to be part of the plan.”
Let’s try and break this down into real-world talk. Universal wants a stop on I-Drive. Especially since the newest theme park Universal Epic is being built right off that road, and they want people. Also, many of the business owners along the I-Drive corridor want a stop. In a previous quote to Orlando Business Journal “With millions of visitors to the I-Drive corridor, over 75,000 employees and over 20,000 residents with over $2 billion of future projects planned to date, a mass transit from [the Orlando airport] to I-Drive is imperative to best service our community and continue the economic growth of our entire region,” Maria Triscari, president and CEO of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce.
People = money. Simple as that. No word on if Universal & Brightline can come to terms on a financial deal for the I-Drive stop.
Disney has not made any statements regarding these talks. They are the 500lb gorilla in the room. They wanted a stop, they got a stop. Now can Universal and I-Drive Owners convince Brightline it is in their best interest to make another stop in the area?
