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(ORLANDO, Fla.) — A new roller coaster has been unveiled at Walt Disney World — Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
The family-thrill attraction matches the “grandiosity” and fun of the hit Guardians of the Galaxy movies and involves new innovation from Walt Disney Imagineering with 360-degree rotation to show guests all the action.
It also features the first reverse-launch on a Disney roller coaster aboard and is one of the largest fully enclosed coasters in the world.
Riders can expect to crank up an awesome mixtape aboard a starblaster and blast off on an awesome intergalactic chase through time and space featuring the legendary cosmic outlaws — Rocket, Groot, Drax, Gamora and Star-Lord (a.k.a. Peter Quill).
The fully-enclosed and immersive ride is located in the park’s newly renamed World Discovery neighborhood — the first ‘other-world’ showcase pavilion at EPCOT.
The ride follows a story of Eson — a Celestial that has been watching Earth for eons and intends to use the Cosmic Generator to jump back in time and change the course of humanity.
Nova Prime Irani Rael commands her top officer, Centurion Tal Marik, to contact the Guardians of the Galaxy right away and ask for their assistance. As the Terrans evacuate the ship via Starjumper shuttles — small escape pods that launch from the Starcharter cruiser — the Guardians arrive to reprogram the Starjumpers so guests can help them track down Eson in an intergalactic chase.
The new attraction officially opens on May 27 at Epcot as part of the park’s multiyear transformation.
(NEW YORK) — When the Volkswagen ID. Buzz goes on sale in the U.S., consumers may be seduced by the microbus’ nostalgic design and electric powertrain. They may also become enamored with its three passenger rows.
“It’s a family hauler, a people mover … a majority of our buyers will probably be coming from mid-size or large SUVs,” Jeffrey Lear, product manager of electric vehicles at Volkswagen of America, told ABC News. “We know this from doing research — families want three rows.”
He added, “Three rows were a necessity.”
Only the U.S. version of the ID. Buzz comes with three rows that can seat seven. Americans have been increasingly asking for larger SUVs that can accommodate their active lifestyles and growing families and carmakers are listening. Many have expanded their lineups to cater to this “supremely important” segment, according to Ed Kim, president and chief analyst of AutoPacific.
“The fact that there are so many three-row SUV entries in the marketplace is really a reflection of millennial consumers needing a large family vehicle,” Kim told ABC News. “Millennials are approaching their peak income years. If you’re not playing in the three-row space, you’re not addressing a huge part of the marketplace.”
Three-row, mid-size SUVs are replacing what families drove years ago — the minivan, according to Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver.
“The minivan segment has been declining steadily and that space has been picked up by all the three-row SUVs and crossovers,” Quiroga told ABC News.
German carmaker BMW found new customers when it introduced its three-row SUV, the X7, in late 2018.
“A little more than half of the customers who are buying the X7 are not previous BMW owners,” according to Michael Baxley, U.S. product manager at BMW. “The X7 has been very successful.”
Last month BMW showed off the 2023 X7, which now features a redesigned dashboard and center console, a new curved display and a revised kidney grille. The 48-volt battery-assisted hybrid technology in the new inline 6-cylinder and V8 engines improve performance and efficiency, said Baxley. What hasn’t changed? The capacious cargo space. The X7 offers 33.3 inches of legroom for third-row passengers – “plenty of room for most adults,” he noted.
Three-row variants in the full-size SUV segment total about 70% of sales. Mid-size SUVs with three-rows account for 10% of the U.S. vehicle market, up from 6% in 2016, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power. That percentage is likely to rise as capacity constraints from the global chip shortage ease, he said.
“The real truth is that we may not have reached true potential,” Jominy told ABC News. “Three-row SUVs can do everything a two-row can but just much more. It’s a critical segment to be in.”
Land Rover and Jeep have recently launched three-row SUVs to steal sales from competitors. The 2023 Range Rover, Land Rover’s flagship luxury SUV, will now be sold with a seven-seat configuration — an addition specifically designed for U.S. customers.
“The U.S. market will be one of the largest for this seating configuration and addresses the top request from owners and shoppers,” Rob Filipovic, director of product planning at Jaguar Land Rover, told ABC News. “While the U.S. did request a seven-seat variant on the previous generation, the platform did not support the premium expectation of comfort and space expected on a Range Rover. With the New MLA-Flex body architecture, the requirements were designed from the start, resulting in no compromise for all passengers.”
Filipovic said he expects the longer wheelbase Range Rover with three rows to make up 30% of sales. And adults seated in the rear can travel comfortably: The third row easily accommodates a 6-foot-tall individual, he said, and there are HVAC vents, charging ports, heated leather seats and LED lighting.
“When the third row is folded, it provides the largest trunk behind the second row that we have ever had on a Range Rover,” he added.
Jeep now offers three SUVs with seating up to eight: the Grand Cherokee L, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Kim of AutoPacific said the move was necessary to stay competitive.
“Given how important three-row SUVs are, it’s actually amazing Jeep has had incredible growth over the last 10 years without one,” he said.
Jeep spokesperson Ron Kiino said the addition of three rows has increased Grand Cherokee owner retention.
“The Grand Cherokee L has boosted Grand Cherokee sales … 2021 was the best sales year in total and retail sales for the Grand Cherokee since 2000,” he told ABC News.
He added, “Customer response has been extremely positive.”
According to Kiino, the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer offer best-in-class overall passenger volume (179.2 cubic feet) and third-row legroom of 36.6 inches.
Adults, however, will have to squeeze, bend, squish and contort their arms and legs to sit in some three-row SUVs.
“There’s a massive amount of variability and diversity in three-row spaciousness,” said Kim. “In the Mitsubishi Outlander and Volkswagen Tiguan — you really couldn’t fit anyone more than 10 years old back there. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L — adults can easily be comfortable in a third row for hours.”
Jominy argued that the third row was designed specifically for young children.
“Most adults would never for a second ride in the third row,” he said. “In a lot of cases they’re temporary or an expansion row. In fact, for many automakers, even if you get leather seats, the third row is vinyl. There is no expectation that an adult will ever sit back there.”
Kia and Toyota are also bolstering their three-row offerings. The third-generation Toyota Sequoia will be available this summer with a twin-turbo V6 hybrid powertrain and a sliding third row with an adjustable cargo shelf system. The feature allows the third row to slide with 6 inches of adjustment range, according to Toyota.
Kia, which has won industry awards for its Telluride SUV, revamped the 2023 model to include two new trim levels, a larger navigation screen and new exterior and interior package colors. Seventy-five percent of Telluride buyers are new to the Kia family, according to the Korean automaker.
Kim said automakers could do even more to boost sales of these prodigious vehicles: Build electric ones. The Vietnamese automaker Vinfast is entering the U.S. market with a three-row EV called VF 9. The only other three-row EV available right now is the Tesla Model X. The ID. Buzz goes on sale in the U.S. in 2024.
“Three-row SUVs are unrepresented in the electric vehicle market,” Kim said. “Young people with families and who are really into tech would be interested in buying an EV.”
Could Americans’ obsession with jumbo SUVs also signal the arrival of four rows?
“If you don’t need a steering wheel [in an autonomous vehicle], you can potentially turn the front seat around and have a couple of rows in between,” Jominy of J.D. Power said. “But I don’t see four rows ever being a thing.”
Kim pointed out that Kia sells a four-row Carnival minivan in South Korea. “That actually exists,” he said.
(PHILADELPHIA) — A Philadelphia-based vegan food company is accusing Dunkin’ and Beyond Meat of stealing its slogan.
The donut chain and the plant-based meat giant partnered a few years ago to create a vegan breakfast sandwich which was sold in Dunkin’ stores.
According to court documents obtained by ABC News from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Vegadelphia claimed Dunkin Brands Inc and Beyond Meat Inc collectively “knew about this federally registered trademark on information and belief when they adopted the indistinguishable ‘great taste, plant-based’ slogan for a celebrity-laden national advertising campaign supporting their Beyond Sausage meat substitute menu item.”
Vegadelphia said in the complaint it has used its original slogan since 2013 and that the result of Dunkin’ and Beyond’s “illegal campaign” caused a “profitable shift of Dunkin’s marketplace positioning, expansion of its nationwide overall sales, increase in customer purchases per visit, growth of Beyond’s base of repeat customers, and improvement of Dunkin’s share price, greatly enhancing the goodwill of both companies.”
The breakfast sandwich in question, made with Beyond Meat products, launched in 2019 but other media outlets including Reuters, note that the chain dropped it from most of its store menus last year.
A representative for Dunkin’ told ABC News the brand does not comment on pending litigation. Beyond Meat did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Vegadelphia also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plant-based company, founded in 2004, sells its meat alternative beef and chicken products along the East Coast and at El Meson Sandwiches restaurants in Puerto Rico and Florida.
On top of the alleged slogan imitation, Vegadelphia claimed that advertisements for Dunkin’ “used placement and imagery in their branding” that it called “nearly identical” to its own. “The overlap in font style, stacked text, and even sunray background imagery, is beyond coincidence,” the complaint said in the court document.
According to the lawsuit, Beyond Meat applied for and was denied a trademark in 2020 almost identical to “great taste, plant-based” by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office based on a likely confusion with Vegadelphia’s trademark.
Vegadelphia asked the court to block Dunkin’ and Beyond Meat from using the slogan and requested an undisclosed amount of money damages.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. employers added 428,000 jobs to their payrolls in April, the latest figures released Friday by the Labor Department show.
The increase marks the 12th straight month of job growth above 400,000.
The biggest gains in employment last month occurred in leisure and hospitality (78,000), manufacturing (55,000) and transportation and warehousing (52,000), according to the Labor Department.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 3.6%.
(NEW YORK) — As Mother’s Day weekend approaches, moms across the U.S. are speaking out about issues they say affect American families the most and the changes they hope to see as the midterm elections this November draw closer.
Mothers are sharing their stories and experiences in video messages that will go live online Saturday in an event dubbed MOMibuster (a portmanteau for “mom” and “filibuster”), organized by the social welfare organization MomsRising Together. The organization will release the videos with over 80 other organizations, featuring mothers, parents, caregivers and advocates. MomsRising is also rallying supporters to call elected officials, write letters and lend support for key issues like paid family leave, affordable child care, maternal health care, home care and more.
The pandemic has placed even greater burden on mothers. A 2021 analysis from the Center for Global Development showed that women were three times more likely to provide child care than men during the pandemic.
More women and mothers also left the workforce during the pandemic, a phenomenon some have called a “she-cession.”
The cost of child care also remains an economic hurdle, exceeding many Americans’ budgets.
Good Morning America spoke to several moms who opened up about the challenges they face and the issues they say need more attention.
Key issue: Affordable child care
Cassie Williams, 37, is a mom to 5-year-old son, James, and 1-year-old daughter, Sydney. Williams and her husband, Brandon Williams, moved in 2019 from Georgia to Michigan to expand their family, she said.
The move was due in part to what Cassie Williams said is the high cost of living and “astronomical” cost of child care in the Atlanta area where they used to live.
“It was more than our mortgage and it made more sense to pack up our entire lives and move close to my retired mother, who could help provide us child care,” Williams told GMA.
“My husband I both work full time,” Williams, who currently works as a rights and licensing specialist at an ad agency, said. “My mom babysits my youngest. When my husband’s and my schedule overlap, which is about four days a week, it saves us probably over $1,000 a month,” Williams said.
“I would love to see a return of the expanded earned income tax credits,” Williams added. “Those are really helpful to my family in the transition out of the pandemic, and it’s been just a setback to lose them. When I heard about this opportunity to have my story heard by people in Congress, I was eager to jump at the chance to do that,” she said.
Key issue: Better health care and support for providers
For Jessica Aguilar, every day is unpredictable. She’s a suicide prevention instructor but her work schedule depends on her family’s schedule, she said.
The single mom is the mother of two boys: 10-year-old twins Luis and Christian, who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as mental health issues. Aguilar says she is her sons’ main advocate, making sure they receive the therapies they need. But, according to Aguilar, the services they currently receive are not enough to prepare them for independent living when they become adults.
“I want to see my kids have a good life,” the 40-year-old told GMA. She also lamented the fact that her state, North Carolina, does not have Medicaid expansion.
“There’s a big gap for a lot of families — they can be on Medicaid but can’t afford insurance,” she said.
Aguilar said she’s had to adapt and navigate complex systems to get her children the care providers they need regularly. Another issue she says she’s noticed is a shortage of trained care providers. She says wages for trained professionals are often low and that some positions can pay less than what a fast-food restaurant worker earns.
Key issue: Community investment and support
Jovanna Archuleta is a mother of two: a 17-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. She is also New Mexico’s assistant secretary for Native American early childhood education and care, and lives on the Nambe Pueblo reservation.
She says she knows firsthand what it means to lack support as a mother.
“I was 20 when I had my first baby and there was no child care at that point. In order for me to get a higher education, I had to remove myself from my community and move to the city for almost five years,” Archuleta told GMA, adding that she moved to Albuquerque for school.
Child care is just one of the many issues Archuleta said she hears about when she travels to other reservations and talks to local tribes and communities.
“When we listen to families or when we have talked to tribal leadership, the need for child care is huge,” Archuleta said. “The need for just overall support around mental health is huge as well, especially as we’re coming out of this global pandemic. The mental health piece is probably the biggest piece we continue to hear.”
Archuleta also said it’s important that there are those who address issues around child care and mothering who come from the communities they serve.
“I think it’s being able to incorporate the language and the culture. That’s another big topic that constantly or consistently comes up,” Archuleta said.
“With the generations that are coming up within our communities, we have that ability now to preserve language, to preserve culture, and in some cases, in some communities, revitalize language and culture.”
Key issue: Paid leave
During the pandemic, graphic designer Mary Catherine Starr launched an Instagram account called Mom Life Comics which has quickly grown with nearly 200,000 followers.
“It was just a place where I wanted to connect with moms and really share the challenges of motherhood in kind of a funny way,” Starr told GMA.
Starr, a mom to a 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, said she often hears from moms from around the country and even in other countries, relating to her comics about motherhood. Aside from affordable child care, one of the most urgent issues for mothers is lack of paid leave.
“I think moms feel very alone and very left behind by society, by government, by our communities, and … a lot of women feel that they’ve been kind of left behind by their partners, as well. And I think that it all comes back to, at least from my experience, it starts on day one of becoming a parent and it starts with parental leave,” Starr said, something she said should be available for both parents.
“If a mom is home with the kids from the very beginning, if she gets much more maternity leave and the father doesn’t get much paternity leave, from the very beginning, mom figures out how to do things herself and dad doesn’t and that dynamic just grows and grows as the kids get older and the mom is doing more and more,” she added.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that the federal government will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years.
His remarks on economic growth came ahead of the Federal Reserve announcing a hike in interest rates Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to manage soaring inflation.
“Bringing down the deficit is one way to ease inflationary pressures in an economy, where a consequence of a war and gas prices and oil, food, and it all — it’s just a different world right this moment because of Ukraine and Russia,” Biden said.
Inflation is a big political problem for him and fellow Democrats ahead of the midterm elections as Republicans try to capitalize on soaring energy prices.
“For all the talk the Republicans make about deficits, it didn’t happen a single quarter under my predecessor, not once,” Biden said. “The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic, snd it’s gone down both years since I have been here. Period. There are the facts.”
Biden’s remarks from the White House come after the Treasury Department updated estimates this week to project that the U.S. deficit will fall by over $1.5 trillion this year, a revision from the $1.3 trillion projected in Biden’s budget.
He credited the American Rescue Plan for growing the economy, though that relief bill has also been criticized for contributing to current inflation problems.
“Looking ahead, I plan to reduce the deficit even more which will help reduce inflationary measures and lower the cost for everyone’s families,” Biden said, as he tries to revive a stalled legislative agenda in Congress.
A White House official said, “This deficit reduction is occurring because the robust economic recovery means earnings and incomes are higher, which is increasing revenue, and because the Administration is winding down emergency spending.”
“There is no reason why a billionaire should be paid a lower tax rate than a teacher or firefighter,” Biden said Wednesday. “That is a sharp contrast to what’s today’s Republican Party is offering.”
Raising a plan released by Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, Biden blasted what he called “this ultra-MAGA agenda,” which he said would raise costs for Americans families.
The budget deficit fell by more than $350 billion in Biden’s first year, according to the White House, but with inflation at a 40-year high, Republicans are hitting Biden on the economy as the 2022 midterm election cycle kicks off and Americans are still paying more at the pump.
In an effort to manage inflation, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise the short-term interest rate by a half-percentage point Wednesday — double the usual amount and the sharpest rate hike since 2000, meaning it will soon cost Americans more to buy big-ticket items like cars and homes.
The annual deficit has expanded to around $3 trillion due to the pandemic’s blow on the economy, with the gross national debt surpassing $30 trillion for the first time earlier this year. Former President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut in 2017 has added more than $1 trillion to the debt by some estimates — a point Biden hit head on.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday in an effort to help battle inflation.
The increase is expected to be half a percentage point.
So what does this latest hike mean for you? ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis appeared on Good Morning America Wednesday to break down how the increase could impact markets and your bottom line:
(NEW YORK) — This week, Skims, Kim Kardashian’s “solutions-oriented” brand of underwear, shapewear and loungewear, launched The Adaptive Collection for people with limited mobility.
The collection includes four pieces, all within the Fits Everybody wider range: an adaptive scoop bralette, thong, brief and boy short. Each piece comes in four different colors and sizes from XXS to 4X.
Moreover, these pieces all have added hook and eye closures “for added accessibility of dressing,” Skims explains on their website.
Stefanie Schaffer, 25, is one of the models featured in the Skims campaign for this collection. Schaffer lost both of her legs, sustained a spinal cord injury and paralysis, a traumatic brain injury, and suffered multiple broken bones and failing organs in a 2018 boating explosion, she says. She now has two prosthetic legs.
Since the accident, Shaffer says she has found new activities, like hand cycling and Nordic sit skiing, and has “been determined to make the most of what happened to me and live my best new life.”
She also recently signed a modeling contract which led her to “a dream” shoot with Skims, she says.
“From the moment that I was booked for the shoot, the entire Skims team was so professional, and so considerate, making sure they took all of our accessibility needs into consideration,” she adds. On set, “they made me feel beautiful and confident and worthy of being there.”
“A brand like Skims releasing an adaptive collection is so important!” Shaffer says, considering their influence on the industry. “So this was saying to us that being disabled doesn’t mean you have to compromise. You don’t have to miss out on shopping at your favorite brands because [Skims] can see that [you’re] valued and taken into consideration.”
Schaffer says her favorite pieces include the boy short and the briefs, and she adds that the hook and eye system on the sides of the underwear make them easy to take on and off.
People may not realize how tiring day-to-day tasks are for those with physical limitations, Schaffer says.
“Sometimes I’ll be exhausted just from getting clothes on for the day,” she notes. “So even just these basics of bras and underwear being easier, is like, such a relief. Serious props to Skims for this.”
In its launch email to customers, Skims says that this adaptive collection is “just the beginning,” and they “want to offer more solutions to more people.”
(NEW YORK) — In 2021, more than 47 million Americans quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – the most resignations on record. As resignation rates remain high in early 2022, in what has been since deemed by some as “The Great Resignation,” many are wondering if there is a shift in the way Americans are viewing work.
Desmond Dickerson, the Director of Future of Work Marketing at Microsoft, describes himself as a futurist. He said that pandemic remote work was just a “kickstart” to The Great Resignation.
“If you’re leaving the job previously [before the pandemic], that means uprooting,” said Dickerson. “But now all that needs to happen is that you toss one laptop to the side and then bring in a new one… So that barrier to entry for transitioning to jobs has changed.”
The pandemic radically changed how Americans work. Many turned homes into offices and some frontline workers began risking their lives for a paycheck. After the federal government spent nearly $2 trillion in a COVID-19 relief package, the economic rebound from the pandemic accelerated.
Although some businesses are now booming, they are having to fight hard to keep employees.
In late 2020, Anthony Klotz, an associate professor of business at Texas A&M, said he saw The Great Resignation coming. During the pandemic, he says he noticed four signals: a backlog of resignations, widespread burnout, people reevaluating their relationship with work and, finally, the opportunity of remote work.
“Once the threat of the pandemic started to lift, it made sense to me that many of these individuals would enact their plans to quit their jobs… People reevaluating what work meant to them,” said Klotz. “It seemed like there was a big disconnect there between what employees, what workers wanted and what organizational leaders were hoping would happen coming out of the pandemic.”
Dickerson said that the shift in mentality is evident in new job postings.
“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen remote work go from the margins into the mainstream, and the data on LinkedIn is showing us that one in seven jobs that are being posted right now have a remote or hybrid work component,” said Dickerson. “In March of 2020, that number was 1 in 67.”
While some are able to work from home, frontline workers continued to work in-person during the pandemic in order to keep grocery stories, restaurants and hospitals running. Overall frontline work pays less than the remote jobs from home and many frontline workers became fed-up because they felt like they were being unfairly treated, said Klotz.
“It’s really interesting for the individuals who have in-person work that are not able to switch to remote work,” said Klotz. “I think those individuals felt especially unfairly treated by the pandemic because not only did they have to work in-person, but they also saw another half of the population who are working remotely.”
From 1980 to 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute, there has been a continual increase in pay rates of high earners, graduates and professionals but low earners remained flat.
Nicholas Bloom, an Economics professor at Stanford University, said that the job market has now shifted and front line workers have more of a say.
“For the first time, maybe in decades, [historically low earners] can say, ‘Look, I can quit my job easily, find another job and get a pay increase at the same time,” said Bloom. “And in fact, that’s why they’re quitting. People aren’t quitting, mainly because they’re dissatisfied with their current jobs, they’re generally quitting to get another job.”
Bloom said that the flexibility of finding a new job also applies to remote workers and employers are adding permanent remote work or hybrid options to hire and retain talent.
“Nobody I talk to is thinking of going back. I’m not aware of anyone who successfully got professionals back five days a week. I just don’t think it will happen,” said Bloom.
According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, 53% of people surveyed said that they are putting more focus on their own mental health and wellbeing.
Dickerson said remote work has allowed people to do so.
“Organizations and leaders need to be very intentional about how they’re building this new future of work,” said Dickerson.
Before the pandemic, it was assumed that remote work would lead to unproductive results, but since then critics have been proven wrong, according to Klotz. The tricky thing is that although people can still be productive from home, some companies can still argue the value of face-to-face interactions.
”We’re in a bit of a golden age of business experimentation,” said Klotz. “The exciting thing is that the nine-to-five work week is not going to be replaced by some other single type of work arrangement. What it’s being replaced by is an almost infinite number of work arrangements.”
As people begin to adjust to things like hybrid schedules – a mix between in-person and remote work – the pandemic has opened the door to a massive shift in how companies work with their people as individuals.
“I’m regularly cautioning companies to avoid making decisions just among senior executives,” said Bloom. “We see quite large variations in how much people want to work from home, by age, by gender, whether they have kids, by race, by commute, time, by disability status.”
Klotz said he believes that even before “The Great Resignation,” a conversation of work-life balance was already happening just below the surface.
“It gives us this opportunity to really question the fundamental way that we were working with employees in 2019 and say, ‘How do we fix this to hopefully lower these turnover rates back down to where they were maybe 10 years ago or so?’” said Klotz.
