By Grant Duvall

Greetings once again from Florida! This time I'm here to talk about several new offerings at Walt Disney World.

I went to check out the new Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy show. This is nicely located next to Rock and Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios. This is a nice all ages attraction that is perfect for little ones to do while their older family members are hanging out with Steven Tyler. This is allegedly a temporary attraction, but knowing how long the temporary Little Mermaid show and the temporary Beauty and the Beast show have stayed for it would not surprise me if this becomes a more permanent fixture in the park.

The show continuously runs, much like the Little Mermaid or Muppetvision, so you'll only have a maximum of 15 minutes in line. Once you are let in you sit wherever you would like on a bench and wait for the fun to begin. A life sized Lightning animatronic that is incredibly well done is set in front of large screens that wrap around the audience as he shows how to train for a race. Of course, this doesn't go as plan and one of the villains shows up and challenges him to a race. There are some smoke effects and loud noises, but for the most part, this is a nice attraction for anyone. I am not a fan of the Cars franchise and I enjoyed it. For being a 12-15 minute show in an area devoid of things for little kids to do, this is a welcome addition.

Elsewhere at the Studios is a Dumbo display in the One Man's Dream building. You can see a life sized Dumbo and then see the trailer. Near where the old entrance to Toy Story Mania used to be is an Incredibles event where guests can see the Incredibles and meet Edna Mode in the old Woody and Buzz meet and greet area, complete with Incredibles super suits to look at. This area wasn't very impressive but I sense that this will change any time there's a new Pixar movie. There was also a show featuring the Incredibles but this was designed for little ones so I didn't stick around for too long.

After that, I checked out Epcot's 2019 version of the Flower and Garden Festival. There wasn't much new at this one this time as many of the topiaries are recycled over and over, but there were a few new ones. The usual food stands are there, although I feel that the food at Flower and Garden is less interesting than the Art festival or Food and Wine. There are concerts daily, however when I went it was John Michael Montgomery who isn't exactly my cup of tea so that didn't work for me this time! Overall though it's a nice relaxing event if you would like to look at topiaries and stop and smell the roses.

On a side note, the Guardians of the Galaxy ride building is taking shape and is massive. You can actually see all the way through what was Ellen's Energy Adventure and it is incredibly surreal.

Overall, Disney has a nice new addition with Lightning McQueen, an okay temporary one with Edna Mode, and welcome returns of Flower and Garden.

Creepy scale 1-10---1. Unfortunately none of these offerings were creepy at all but are nice additions.

More Pictures:

Walt Disney World Spring Update

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