High-Performance Karting from the Richard Petty Driving Experience has just been added to the line-up of car-themed fun for the June 2-3 event.

This karting experience is designed to challenge your driving skills in a high-action race environment, with the goal is to score the best lap time in your racing group. The offering, which will be set up in Parking Lot “K” at Downtown Disney, will cost $20 (plus tax) per person and is open to licensed drivers age 16 and older. Each additional ride is $10. All participants must sign a waiver, and closed-toed shoes are required.

Hours of operation are the same as the Car Masters Weekend event hours, 9:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. (Activity is subject to change).

Basin, the bath and beauty shop at Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World Resort, recently reopened after a refresh that included the addition of an oversized sink where as many as eight guests can simultaneously try out the all-natural salt body scrubs. The new Basin centerpiece is topped with a Mickey Mouse that was carved from a 250-pound block of soap. Here's a tour through the refreshed location.

Join Joey Lawrence, star of ABC Family's Melissa and Joey, as he gives us the inside scoop on his love of Disney•Pixar Cars and walks us through his vision of "cool" cars! An avid cars fan since he was a boy, Joey's"kid" inside can't resist customizing his RIDEMAKERZ car with fierce exhaust pipes, fiery decals, and custom rims!

Also, a new Magnetron kiosk has now opened in the former Hair Wraps location at the Marketplace.

Jennifer Fickley-Baker recently headed backstage to learn more about the performers in "La Nouba" by Cirque du Soleil at Downtown Disney. There, she met Anna Cueller, Captain of the Silks, who her a thing or two about aerial ballet, one of the many amazing acts performed in the show.

Ridley Pearson returns to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Thursday, January 26. He will be signing all four books from the “Kingdom Keepers” series from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Writer’s Stop. His newest book, “Kingdom Keepers V: Shell Game,” will be published this coming spring. Devon Burch, Merchandise Special Events Manager, told me that Ridley will be returning in March for an early release event for this book. Stay tuned to ArtofDisneyParks.com for additional details.

On Saturday, January 28, Emma Walton Hamilton will be appearing at Once Upon a Toy in Downtown Disney Marketplace. She was the co-author, along with her mother Julie Andrews, of the “The Very Fairy Princess.” We will also have the newest book in the series “The Very Fairy Princess Takes The Stage.” She will be signing books and meeting with fans from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

What says “holidays” better than laughter? At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, laughter will ring out thanks to a special family comedy show scheduled for a limited run at the ABC Sound Studio (theatre) in the heart of the park.

From December 25 through December 31, “The Comedy Warehouse Holiday Special” will present the best of improvisational comedy as performers – including alumni from the Comedy Warehouse on Pleasure Island – take suggestions from Guests and add their own brand of humor, right on the spot.

The performers hilariously reinvent holiday classics based on suggestions they solicit from the audience, including holiday songs, stories, poems and movie scenarios. Show times (subject to change) are 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 4:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. daily.

”The Comedy Warehouse Holiday Special” is included in park admission.