With the extended Halloween season wrapped up and the end-of-year holiday season looming, there’s just enough time to wedge in a theme-park Thanksgiving fest.
We won’t go all pilgrim or canned cranberry on you. But here are 10 things, in no particular order, from Central Florida’s theme parks and attractions for which we’re grateful. Bring your own cornucopia.
• We’re glad that Epcot’s Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana attraction, which officially opened in October, hasn’t been too crowded or too deserted during our visits. Looking forward to more nearby additions in the near future.
• Anticipation grows for Disney Jollywood Nights, a new holiday event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that debuts Saturday. It sounds jazzy and, dare we say, adult? (Translation: Adult beverages.)
• It’s nice to see SeaWorld Orlando recycle its Turtle Trek, a film-in-the-round attraction, into an educational and conservation effort involving coral rescue. Also, manatees are nearby.
• Baby animals such as the sawfish pups at SeaWorld, crocodile hatchlings at Gatorland, young flamingos at Discovery Cove and cotton-top tamarin monkeys at Disney’s Animal Kingdom continue to delight.
• At Icon Park, we like looking up at the colorful light show on the Wheel and down at the families on the central lawn.
• It’s exciting to peek — even through the airborne lens of others — at the ongoing construction of Epic Universe, the theme park slated to debut in 2025. (Other construction to watch: Penguin Trek, a roller coaster set to roll out in spring at SeaWorld, and Magic Kingdom’s transformation of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, scheduled to open in late 2024.)
• A trio of Hollywood Studios sites still bring top people-watching angles: Baseline Tap Room, a shady bench on Sunset Boulevard and all around the massive Millennium Falcon at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
• We enjoy the mix of big brand-name stores alongside unique and rare establishments at Disney Springs and Universal CityWalk, not to mention the former’s Orange Garage.
• On days that we can’t just face heights or spills, we appreciate Islands of Adventure’s viewing areas for Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.
• E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios. That’s it. That’s the item. E.T. Adventure. Welcome home. You’ve arrived.
Pass the pumpkin pie. Then we’ll pretend we don’t see those Christmas trees for another week.
Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Threads: @dbevil. X/Twitter: @themeparks. You can subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.
Theme Park Rangers Radar: Holidays on horizon, ‘N Sync at Epcot, cashless SeaWorld
