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 Park News - (2/10/10) You can sneak a peek at the newly finished rehab on the Crystal Palace over at Orlando United.
(2/1/10) A new construction photo update from the Magic Kingdom can be found at Orlando Park News. There is a look at Splash Mountain’s rehab, the ongoing rehab on the castle and even a look at the inside of Space Mountain with the lights on.
(1/31/10) MouseSteps has posted new pictures showing off the inside of Space Mountain where the new “post show” area now finally seems to be complete. Of course the final area on the lift is pretty much just as it was before… with new flat screen TVs and cameras instead of the old tech. Go on to Page 3 and you’ll also see that some kind of rehab is taking place at the Ferry Boat dock as well.
(1/29/10) Take a peek at the current rehab projects going on at the Magic Kingdom over at MouseSteps.
(1/21/10) A few new pictures of the Cinderella Castle and hub waterway rehab can be see at Orlando United.
(1/18/10) A new construction update showing off the rehab work taking place at the Magic Kingdom can be found at Orlando Parks News.
(1/15/10) As strange as it sounds, a ‘performance artist’ will be attempting an 11 hour ride on the Carousel of Progress today. This is an unofficial event, not tied to Disney in any way. Of course, I’m not sure why 11 hours on the CoP is special, since I’m sure your average Cast Member pulling an over-time shift has already done this very thing many times over by now.
(1/14/10) Some pictures of the current refurbishment taking place to Cinderella’s Castle can be seen at Orlando United this week. Westcoaster has also posted a look at the Magic Kingdom this week as well.
(1/12/10) It seems a new “mini” parade was launched this past week at the Magic Kingdom featuring The Muppets. Pictures of the parade were posted to DizFanatic by “Hanna” and can be seen here.
(1/8/10) A few new pictures from the Magic Kingdom and more can be seen this week at MouseSteps.
(1/5/10) The Crystal Palace is currently closed for refurbishment and has been walled off. You can see some pictures of it posted to Mouse Steps and Orlando United. From what we were previously told, it will remain closed until February 15th.
(1/4/10) Pictures from the Magic Kingdom’s New Year’s Eve fireworks show can be seen at Orlando United.
(12/14/09) A few hundred guests were trapped on the Walt Disney World monorail system over the weekend when both beams that run to the Magic Kingdom lost power at about 1:10am Sunday morning. According to the Orlando Sentinel a hard drive failure caused the system to shut down for the next several hours. The problem was fixed and the system back up and running by 7:45am, just in time for Sunday’s guests to arrive. .
(12/2/09) A German tourist has been arrested after making a false bomb threat during a visit to the Magic Kingdom park. While going through the bag-check point outside the park he apparently made a comment about having two bombs in his backpack.
(10/22/09) Screamscape has heard a new rumor that something spooky may be cooked up over at Tom Sawyer’s Island next fall. Anyone know more?
Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
Nothing is known at this time.
2010 - Main Street Electrical Parade & Summer Nightastic - (3/3/10) Walt Disney World management has now settled on June 6th through August 14th as the run of Summer Nightastic, which will include the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade and the new fireworks show.
(2/11/10) Walt Disney World made a few surprise announcements late yesterday, two of which will affect the Magic Kingdom this summer. Starting in early June the park will see the return of the updated Main Street Electrical Parade as it ran at Disneyland last summer. In addition to having some new floats that it didn’t have the last time it ran at Walt Disney World, the floats have also been upgraded with new LED lighting and even the soundtrack has been given an upgrade. The Wishes fireworks show will also go on hiatus in favor of a new Summer Nightastic fireworks show.
2011-2013 - Fantasyland Expansion & Little Mermaid - (2/16/10) To clear things up, I’ve been told that the previously rumored construction walls between Toon Town and Fantasyland are actually backstage and not on the public pathways.
(2/10/10) Insiders tell us that a new chain link fence went up Tuesday around the parking lot behind Fantasyland as they prepare the site to begin work. Another reader also tells us that a couple of blue construction walls have started to go up on the pathway between Toontown and and the Pooh meet ‘n greet area. (Update - More readers sought out these new blue walls and were unable to find them...)
(2/4/10) I’m not sure if the artwork is online anywhere yet or not, but I’m told the new Spring 2010 issue of D23 Magazine has some all new concept artwork of the Fantasyland remodel that looks great. A few items mentioned within… much of the new expansion area, beyond that new back castle wall, is now being called Fantasyland Forest. Since most of this area will be built on solid ground, and not on top of the Utilidor system, they will actually be able to plant real large trees and create real water systems to make it more natural looking, something that couldn’t be done before.
Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid will be built within “a highly detailed rockwork grotto behind a fully rendered version of Prince Eric’s castle”. The new Beauty & The Beast area will have three elements, the first of which is Enchanted Tales with Belle. Guests will enter Maurice’s cottage and step through an enchanted mirror to be transported to The Beast’s library for an interactive storytelling session with Belle. There is also the Be Our Guest Restaurant where you can dine in one of three different rooms from Beast’s castle (one is the Ballroom), and outside will be the Belle’s Village area that will include Gaston’s Tavern.
Dreams Come True with Cinderella will take place within the Tremaine Chateau from the film and the guests arrive to visit Cinderella right when her dress transforms from rags into a ball gown before your eyes. A Birthday Surprise for Sleeping Beauty will be in Briar Rose Cottage just as Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are preparing to celebrate Briar Rose’s birthday.
Dumbo’s Circus is the name of the Dumbo the Flying Elephant’s new home that will include the twin side-by-side Dumbo attractions (aka: Dueling Dumbos) along with an indoor, air-conditioned circus tent themed queue. The indoor queue will be a fully “immersive circus enviroment inside Dumbo’s Big Top”. Guests will play along with sideshow acts and carnival midway games while they wait. The current Goofy’s Barnstormer coaster will be rethemed to the new Dumbo environment and given a new clown theme.
Imagineering is carefully planning everything that will happen here in the new Fantasyland to use as a template of what to do at all the other Fantasylands around the world. Currently everything mentioned above is expected to be ready by Fall 2012, however the 4th mini-land, Pixie-Hollow, is slated to open a year later in 2013 as part of Phase-2.
(2/1/10) I’m told that at some point during the Fantasyland renovation the Railroad will also be shut down for a couple of months to allow for a rebuild of the Toontown station, as well as give them time to perform some much needed work to the rest of the line’s tracks where needed.
Currently it seems that those backstage parking areas have already been shut down to CMs. Look for a few minor public areas to begin to close down as early as late March.
(1/31/10) Screamscape sources tell us that starting February 1st the early prep work for the massive Fantasyland update will begin, starting with the closure of the management parking lot area just behind the Ariel Meet & Greet area to make way for office trailers and such. Construction in the guest areas isn’t likely to happen until sometime after the busy Easter holiday period is over.
(1/22/10) Take a look at this 3D Model showing off the new revised Fantasyland project posted to Stitch Kingdom. There are a few big changes made to the model from the artwork that leaked out over the summer. For starters the location of Dueling Dumbos has been moved to the space between the Tomorrowland Speedway and Goofy’s Barnstormer. The new Pixie Hollow area has been moved to where Dueling Dumbos was going to go, but also seems to have a new ride which they describe as a Fairies themed version of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree where guests are pulled along in carts by giant mice. The outside of The Little Mermaid looks great, and so do the various other buildings all around to house the various Princess’ meet & greet attraction areas. However it looks like the latest addition to Fantasyland, Pooh’s 100 Acre Wood, will be removed as it is no where to be found in the new model.
(12/17/09) According to an article posted in the Winter 2009 DVC magazine, they claim that Ariel’s Undersea Adventure ride will be ready to open on both coasts by 2011. Given that the California site has been under construction for some time and Florida has yet to break ground, I do find this hard to believe, but time will tell. The article also mentions that the first half of the Fantasyland makeover will be ready by 2012 (Fantasy Forest… aka the Princess Meet & Greet area) and that the Pixie Hollow area will be ready by 2013. I’m guessing the new version of Dumbo will also be ready by 2012.
(12/15/09) Disney has announced that they will begin work on the massive Fantasyland remodel starting in Spring 2010, and that the project is expected to take four years to complete everything. No word on just how soon the first new sections or attractions may be ready to open however.
(9/21/09) Some may have noticed that the Carousel is still next to Dumbo in the new concept artwork released by Disney last week. According to AmusementInsider the reason for this is that the artwork was not intended for the Magic Kingdom, but rather created awhile back as a proposal for Tokyo Disneyland, so don’t take anything you see in that one picture too seriously.
In other news, while most people were happy to see Disney renovating Fantasyland and Toontown Fair into something new, there are some out there who have grown fond enough of Toontown Fair that they don’t want to see it vanish at all and have created their own online Petition against this plan.
(9/14/09) Disney confirmed those previously leaked plans to expand and double the size of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom over the weekend at the D23 Expo. They say the project will be open in two phases, with the first opening in 2012 and the rest finished by 2013. Once completed the new and improved Fantasyland will feature mini-lands to be themed to four key movies where the kids can meet and greet with the princess and associated characters from Beauty & The Beast, Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The Beauty & The Beast area will also feature two new eateries: Gaston’s Tavern and a large 552-seat Be Out Guests restaurant. Of course the highlight of the entire expansion will be the new Little Mermaid dark ride
which they promise will be an E-Ticket you wont want to miss.
Phase two will involve the revamping of a large section of what is now Toontown to become Pixie Hollow, though they gave no major details here as the design work is still ongoing for this section. As previewed in the leaked plans, Dumbo will be moved over into the Toontown area where it will be doubled in size (two rides) to create what has already been nicknamed Dueling Dumbos. The new version of Dumbo will also have a queue enclosed under a three-ring circus tent that promises to be full of interactive games and fun, so you wont even know your waiting in line while you are in there.
While Toontown Fair will be no more, the plans do seem to indicate that Goofy’s Barnstormer will remain in place and it has been said that Mickey & Minnie’s houses will be moved to a new location somewhere else in Walt Disney World. Check out the video below of the announcement. You can also find even more great screen shots showing off all the new concept artwork shown at the D23 Expo for Fantasyland over at Amusement Insider.
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