EPCOT CommuniCore opening, New DCL ship, and DVC Member sailing dates

This week, Sue and Peter discuss all the latest Disney news, including the Anaheim council approval of Disneyland Forward, more closures related to Tiana's Bayou Adventure, EPCOT opening the rest of their construction this summer, a 2025 DVC Member cruise, a new DCL ship announced with name and theme, and more! N137 My DVC Points is proudly sponsored by: DVC Resale Market - Industry Leader in DVC Resales DVC Rental Store - DVC Point Rentals Monera Financial - Exclusively Financing DVC Contracts Patreon supporters in the My DVC Points VIP Producer Club. Vero Beach Character Breakfast returns  Starting April 20th, the character breakfast will return to Winds and Waves at Disney's Vero Beach Resort every Saturday. This breakfast was a regularly scheduled event prior to COVID, but now will return with a new menu. Goofy and Pluto will be making the rounds in their beach gear while guests enjoy tasty menu items like “Banana’s Foster French Toast” and “The Treasure Omelet”. Breakfast hours are from 8 AM to noon and are now available for booking.   Source: Disney Parks Blog $2 Billion Disneyland Forward Project passes Anaheim planning board approval On March 11th, the Anaheim Planning Commission voted 5-1 to approve a proposed $1.9 billion expansion plan for Disneyland Resort known as "DisneylandForward". As we’ve discussed before, the plan would expand both parks around the Disneyland hotel while also adding new parking and highway access ramps. It also includes potential for more hotel rooms as well as 150 new DVC rooms.  Source: DVC news Critter Country closing at Disneyland May 1st  Critter Country at Disneyland will be closing temporarily starting May 1st to finish the construction of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, including the addition of two new themed stores. Among the changes, “Ray’s Berets” will replace “The Briar Patch” as a place for Disney apparel and toys and themed to Ray the firefly and his family. “Louis’ Critter Club” takes over the left half of Pooh Corner with more apparel, accessories, home decor. Disneyland’s Tigger Tails will remain. The Winnie the Pooh attraction will be closed during this time as well, but no changes to the attraction are expected. The Hungry Bear is expected to remain open.  Source: Disney Parks Blog DVC Member Cruise announced for 2025  Disney Vacation Club announced the 2025 Member Cruise, a 5-night cruise on the Disney Dream featuring a stop at Cozumel, Mexico, a day at Castaway Cay and two days at sea.  Booking will begin on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 10:00am Eastern Time. No pricing has been announced yet. In order to book a DVC cruise, members are required to qualify for Membership Extras. Only qualifying points can be used to book the member cruise and at least one member must book with points. Cash rates will also be available. Source: Disney Vacation Club website, DVC News Eighth Disney Cruise ship announced Disney Cruise Line has announced the newest cruise ship to be added to its fleet, the Disney Destiny. The ship, sister to the Disney Wish and Disney Treasure, will have a “Heroes and Villains” theme, drawing on the legacies of beloved Disney stories, characters and theme park attractions. Onboard, guests will encounter both heroes and villains. Source: Disney Parks Blog EPCOT CommuniCore Plaza opens with special Encanto concert The re-imagining of EPCOT will finally be complete with all the construction walls down and the full opening of the CommuniCore Hall, Mickey and Friends character greet and the new CommuniCore Plaza Stage. This area will be the home base for EPCOT's festivals, and as a celebration there will be a new limited-time show “¡Celebración Encanto!” from June 10th to September 6th. The show will run several times throughout the day and will include opportunities to sing along with favorite songs and see Mirabel and Bruno. Source: Disney Parks Blog My DVC Points is an awesome community of DVC members. Our positive, respectful, and authentic conversations about Disney Vacation Club designed to help people make informed and educated decisions about what's best for their families. Our content focuses on a Disney Vacation Member lifestyle. We cover everything from buying, selling, renting, picking your next resort or Disney restaurant. Our conversations start on the My DVC Points Podcast and DVC Newscast and continue on our Facebook Group and our live shows multi-streamed to Facebook and YouTube. Please download our smartphone app. Play Trivia with us every Friday night at 9 PM Eastern at Mouse Quiz! It takes an awesome community of DVC members to produce our content. We're always recruiting people to help research, produce, edit, or join our shows to share their stories. We've had over 200 DVC members on our podcasts and live shows. Please consider supporting our show through our VIP Producer's Club at Patreon.com. "Our Team Will Podcast for Dole Whips" Chad Pennycuff on the My DVC Points Patreon Program