Here is the latest News From the World of Disney parks and entertainment including Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Cruise Line for December 29 – January 11.

Highlights from the World of Disney:

• More FastPass+ selections will be available to certain resort guests
• High School Musical 4 may be headed to a screen VERY near you.
• Citizen of Hollywood actress passes away.
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi reaches another milestone.
• Which Marvel Universe Superhero will be getting their own standalone movie?

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BREAKING NEWS

Club-level guests at certain Walt Disney World resort hotels will now receive three additional FastPass+ selections per guest. The features of the new offering include:

• Selections can be made 90 days in advance
• Selections can be made in more than one park per day
• One preferred viewing opportunity per day for a nighttime spectacular
• The cost is $50 plus tax per person per day.
• Guest must purchase a minimum of three days
• The resort hotels currently participating in the offering are Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort, the bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, Copper Creek Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge as well as various suites at the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. (Link)

WALT DISNEY WORLD PARKS NEWS

December 29 – Beloved Disney Citizen of Hollywood actress Stacey Fulford who played the character of Mimi Kaboom passed away. (Link)

December 31 – Just as the fireworks were signaling the end of the 2017 and the beginning of 2018, Disney announced their 18 reasons to visit a Disney destination in 2018. (Link)

December 31 – Another holiday, another capacity situation at Magic Kingdom Park. The park reached capacity at approximately 11:30am on Christmas Eve where Disney limited entries into the park. (Link)

January 1  – It appears the Festival of Fantasy Parade has moved back to it’s original time of 3:00pm after spending several months at 2:00pm. (Link)

January 4 – The menus for the 2nd Annual Epcot Festival of the Arts have been release. (Link)

January 5 – Disney is offering a special 3-day ticket for Florida residents through the month of January for $159. They are also offering a 4-day for $179. Tickets may be used on nonconsecutive days until June 24. (Link)

January 7 – Even though the NCAA Football Championship game didn’t take place until the next night, the University of Central Florida held a “National Championship Parade” for their football team. They claim their win over Auburn should have been the title game. Therefore, they are naming themselves National Champion and held a parade in Magic Kingdom Park. (Link)

January 8 – Nick Hilton has a GREAT weekend. On Saturday night, he proposed to his girlfriend at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. On Sunday morning, he became the first American to win the Walt Disney World Marathon since 2004. The women’s title went to Brazilian Giovanna Martins who won for the second year in a row and captured her record third Disney win. (Link)

January 9 – The 2018 Disney Parks Moms Panel has been announced. This year 11 new panelists and 29 returning alumni are currently taking guest’s questions at DisneyParksMomsPanel.com. (Link)

January 10 – Guests riding Walt Disney World’s Monorail Red between the Ticket & Transportation Center and Epcot got quite a surprise when the board never fully closed. (Link)

THE WALT DISNEY CORPORATION

December 29 – After donating $2 million dollars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Disney is now setting their sights on a literacy campaign. The “Magic of Storytelling” campaign will take place from 12/29/17 – 3/31/18. For every “shelfie” (a selfie from a book), book purchased from a selected retailer from an approved list, sweepstakes entry for an all-expenses paid trip to Aulani and every book read with the “Disney Story Central” app Disney will donate a book to First Book up to 1 million books. (Link)

January 4 – runDisney announced the first-ever Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon. Runners who complete the 13.1 miles by March 31 at a location of their choosing will earn a uniquely designed Star Wars-themed medal. (Link)

DISNEY CRUISE LINE

January 4 – Star Wars Day at Sea always has some great guest presenters and one of the biggest to announce for this season’s line-up is Warwick Davis. Davis, who played Wicketts the Ewok, will be cruising on March 17 – 24, 2018. (Link)

January 8 – The Disney Magic received a perfect score from the Centers for Disease Control’s 4th quarte cruise ship inspection. (Link)

January 11 – Disney Cruise Line’s Star Wars Day at Sea has begun for the 2018 season on the Disney Fantasy. (Link)

DISNEY MOVIE/ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

January 7 – Star Wars: The Last Jedi has surpassed the $1 billion mark internationally. (Link)

January 7 – Coco won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. (Link)

January 10 – FINALLY!!! It looks like Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will be getting her own standalone film. The indication came with when the studio hired a screenwriter. Up and coming writer Jac Schaeffer had been tapped to pen the script.  (Link)

January 11 – At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Disney has revealed more information about their upcoming foray into the streaming service business. The new services will feature 7-8,000 episodes of ABC-TV content, 3-4 original series and 3-4 movies potentially including High School Musical 4! No launch date or pricing was mentioned. (Link)

January 11 – Black Panther isn’t even being released until February 16 yet it has just set the record for most tickets sold in the first 24 hours of any other Marvel Cinematic Universe movie on Fandango. (Link)

REFURBISHMENTS

Refurbishments are now located on their own page.

CURRENT SPECIAL OFFERSThat’s all the news for now. Be sure to check back on January 26, 2018 for our next News From the World of Disney and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for breaking Disney news.

Sue Nowicki is an alumnae of the 2014/15 Disney Parks Moms Panel. She splits her time between planning her next Walt Disney World vacation and being team mom to ten high-energy volleyball players where she fills the roles of secretary, navigator, head cheerleader, treasurer, athletic trainer and team psychologist. You can follow her on Twitter @JazzinDisneyMom.

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