Disney Imagineers just shared with us some pictures of some of the detail work done on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster. It does not give us to much hints on what it looks like but it is very interesting to see how much detail they put into it. Here is the link to the picture gallery.
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Disney just released a video of the new floats for ‘Festival of Fantasy’ parade arriving at Magic Kingdom sometime last night. It is not clear when this parade will debut but probably sometime late this spring or early this summer. Here is the video of the floats arriving at The Magic Kingdom.
Can you believe it? It has been a little over a full year since New Fantasyland had it’s grand opening December 5, 2012. (interesting to note it would have been Walt Disney’s 111th birthday) And in a matter of months the largest expansion in the history of Magic Kingdom will be completed! So lets stop and take a moment to look back over the history of this momentous expansion.
Across the five years it took the Imagineers to developed New Fantasyland, the expansion under went numerous amounts of changes, some of which have completely change the look of the expansion. One of the biggest changes in the history of New Fantasyland came with the addition of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster, so lets take a look at what it would have looked like. ‘Old New Fantasyland’, as we will call the designs of New Fantasyland before the addition of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster, consisted of: Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Dumbo, Pixie Hollow, Cinderella Chateau, Hundred Acre Wood, Aurora’s Cottage, Mickey (Barnstormer), a meet a greet in a forest clearing and much more. Here is a link to the blue-print of what it would have looked like.
Cinderella’s Chateau would have been an immersive, hands on meet and great, similar to Enchanted Tales with Belle. You would be able to meet Cinderella in her childhood home and you would encounter the step-mother, step-sisters and the Fairy god-mother. Your little knights will have the chance to be knighted and your princesses would help the Fairy god-mother transform Cinderella’s dress for the ball.
In Aurora’s Cottage you would have the opportunity of meeting Aurora and her three Fairies in their cottage in the woods, it would have been allot like Cinderella’s Chateau. But this time you would make birthday cards and help the fairies throw a surprise birthday party for the princess.
Pixie Hallow was intended to shrink the guest to the size of a pixie and you could experience their world form the view of a fairy. As well there would be a themed play ground and a meet and great were you could meet the Pixie’s them selves. Here is some concept art of what the attractions would have looked like.
When the Imagineers presented their designs of “Old New Fantasyland” to Tom Staggs (Chairman of Walt Disney Company Parks and Resorts) he asked them if their was any attrition or something of that sort that they wanted to building but could not for some reason. And they decided the the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster was definitely the one they wanted. Tom Staggs approved it and they started working on developing the ride. Funny thing to note the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster was one of the first ideas they came up with but they had no idea how to execute it so they left it and move on. But they went back and pulled out their old designs and know in matters of months the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster will be opening up, with it’s totally unit ride design that has never been done in the history of amusement parks.
After the addition of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster they had to do some moving around to fit it in and so they dropped Cinderella Chateau, Aurora’s Cottage, Hundred Acer Woods(they moved part of it across the path in front of the line up and redid the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh line up) and Pixie Hallow. In addition to that they had to do some reorganizing in Story Book Circus. At one point instead of having the two big circus tents and Casey Jr. Splash N Soak in Storybook Circus they would have had an enlarged meet and great area that seams to be inside of a forest clearing. In addition an attractions that was assumed to be called ‘”Cheese” the mouse attraction’ but that idea was dropped and the current design for the expansion was developed. Here is a link to a picture of the dropped character meat and great area and the ‘”Cheese” the mouse’ attractions. As well as all of this Disney added a Tangled themed restroom area on your right hand side (if you were heading toward Liberty Square) or basically were the old Skyway stations and stroller parking was and Princess Fairy Tale Hall in the old Snow White Ride.
So lets move on from the past of Fantasyland Expansion and talk about the impact this expansion is having on the Magic Kingdom. So like I said earlier the Fantasyland Expansion will double the size of Fantasyland, but I did not say by how much; at the completion of the expansion it will have added eleven acres to the existing ten acres so by that Fantasyland will quite literally have doubled it’s size! “This is the largest expansion of the most popular land in the most popular theme park that we have, so excellence was the only option.” said Jim MacPhee(senior vice president of Walt Disney World Parks), “We first began talking about this project five years ago, so its been a labor of love for some time. We have over 1,300 construction workers here for about three years. Almost 1,000 cast members were involved in one way or another, between Imagineers and teams from food and beverage, merchandise, attractions, horticulture, management and highly skilled maintenance positions.” As well as impacting the Magic Kingdom in size it also costed a hefty price to build. Disney would not say how much it costed but Dennis Speigel (president of International Theme Park Services Inc) estimates the price tag “is exceeding $600 million.”
So to finish it off New Fantasyland comes with a legend! Lets stop for a moment while I tell this story. “Once upon a time, we had a great need for stories and there was a wonderful land were all these stores actually took place. But as we grew older our childhood dreams changed from wishing upon a star to wanting to grow up. And so we did, soon evil villains took the chance and placed a cures on this land by taking one cymbal from every story. They tool a feather from an elephant that taut him to believe in himself, a rose from a beast that showed him that even a beast can find true love, a antler to remind us the importunes of humility, a trident from a mermaid that showed her a new dream,”(Fantasyland Story) and an apple from Seven Dwarfs that showed us the power of jealousy. Slowly we forgot these story and quickly evil villains seized the opportunity and put a curse on the lands. The curse blocked the lands from our vision and “they hide it within a crystal ball,” were it has been hidden for years. The lands have always excited there all along but know we have a chance to save this land by traveling through them and unlocking their meaning.
But some of us have all ready gone and concurred some of these stores and liberated them from their cures but their is one last land that is held down by the darkest and strongest curse by far. This land is symbolized by an apple and is in the heart of this once forgotten enchanting land. If it is unlocked the crystal ball will be shattered for ever and all that will be left is a shield that ones held all the symbols; and it will be a reminder to us that we must always believe in dreams.
This last curse will summon all of the warriors around the world to come and help brake it. The only way to brick this curse it to have faith and trust that dreams really do come true. Once the curse is broken the once forgotten lands will be awakened and a land that seams to only be in our greatest dreams will be reveled. Welcome to New Fantasyland, the enchanted forest were dreams come true!
Construction and preparations for the Downtown Disney Expansion, Disney Springs, has starting to pick up speed. A barge-based crane has arrived at Downtown Disney Village Lake to begin construction on the causeway, formally known as Market Place Causeway. The causeway will be connecting Rain Forest Cafe to the area near Lego Store, it is scheduled to open up sometime in early 2015.
Walls are up near the Fulton’s Crab-house for the development of The Land an area that will be taking up the space were Pleasure Island is currently. The Land is scheduled to open up sometime late 2014. For picture of the construction on the Market Place Causeway and on The Land check these links: Market Place Causeway and The Land.
Hey everyone, check out this behind the scenes video clip were Disney Imagineers take you behind the scenes and show you a bit of what they are preparing for this totally new parade! As well they will be talking a bit about the design process, some of the problems they ran into, and of course about the story behind the parade: Building the ‘Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade’ for the Magic Kingdom
Hey every one, Disney just release three commercials promoting their new MyMagic+ system. In the commercials they explain a bit about what it is and what you can do with it: Fastpass+, MyMagic+ and Memory Maker. I will be posting a post in the near future going through and explain every thing you need to know about the MyMagic+ system. But these commercials give you a pretty good idea what they are.
Hey everyone! Let’s turn our attention to Animal Kingdom know! A lot has happened since the last time we talked about the park, for example Camp Minnie and Mickey is now closed and Avatar Land has official began constructions!
January 5, 2014 was the last day of Camp Minnie and Mickey, the camp ground has been running for the past 15 years, since the opened of the park on April 22, 1998. It is closing do to the construction of Avatar Land. The characters will be moved across the park (list of were the characters have moved is bellow) and Festival of the Lion King is being moved to a new theater in Harambe, it is closed for know but will be opening up summer 2014.
Already Moved
From January 6 2014
If you want a last look at Camp Minnie and Mickey check out this link for pictures and video of the camp ground.
The day after the camp ground closed construction walls went up over night barricading the walkway to Camp Minnie and Mickey and they are moving full speed a head on construction for Avatar Land. It is expected to open up sometime in 2017. Disney and Lightstorm took part in an a opening ceremony, on Jan. 10, 2014, of the beginning of the Avatar Land construction. Check here for pictures and a video of the ceremony.
That is it for now but be sure to check back soon for update information about Avatar Land.
“It is kind of fun to do the impossible.” Walt Disney
All rights reserved for the picture above to WDWRNews.
Hey every one, let’s check in with Epcot.
Well Epcot has been pretty quiet this month, except the Moroccan pavilion just opened up their newest restaurant, Spice Road Table. The new restaurant serves Mediterranean small plate food inspired by spice trade between Asia, Northwest Africa and Europe, as well as wines, beers, special drinks and desserts.
The concept of Spice Road Table is that the small dishes allow you to eat as much or as little as you feel like. The portions are so small that you will have to order serval plates per person and depending on how much you eat you might be still hungry at the end. But the beauty of it is that you can have a taste of a wide verity of dishes. It seams like a good concept, for some people fined Disney meals to big for them because Disney tries to cover a wide range of appetites. For a first hand review and pictures of spice road check this link.
In additions to Spice Road Table opening Epcot’s Frozen meet and great in Norway Pavilion is know extended until January 31, 2014.
That’s it for Epcot for now.
“The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.” Walt Disney.
All rights receiver to the picture above to WDWRNews.
Hey every one! Let’s stop in and take a look at what is happening at The Magic Kingdom. 
Now that the holiday season is finished, Disney is busying themselves with their post holiday season routine of cleaning up, refurbishing and preparing for the spring break. Cranes arrived on January 13 and will be there until the end of March, 2014. They are starting to take down the Dream Lights (on Cinderella’s castle) and do some refurbishment work on the castle while they are at it. Work is scheduled to happen between 11:30pm and 7pm daily.
January 4, 2014 was the last chance to view Magic Kingdom’s ‘Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade’, which opened on January 23, 2009. It played twice a day, once at 12:30pm and the other at 3:30pm. It is closing to make way for the new ‘Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade’ which will debut this spring, 2014. One of the new floats for this parade is a Maleficent inspired float. This float is staring a Steampunk-inspired dragon that is 35ft long and 26ft tall, it was designed with Michael Curry, who previously worked on Epcot’s Tapestry of Nations parade, and ‘Finding Nemo – The Musical’. For pictures of this new float check this link.
A lot of reworking and closures of different shops and a restaurant across Magic Kingdom is taking place. One of the first ones is Cosmic Ray’s outdoor patios will be turned into an indoor patio because during the summers months it is too hot for guests to sit outside. Work began on the week of Jan. 6, 2014 and will be re-opening sometime February 2014. As well, Heritage House shop, just outside of the Hall of Presidents has closed permanently and will be opening up as a MyMagic+ center, which allows guests to book FastPass+ reservations and get help from Cast Members. On top of that, Seven Dwarf’s Mine shop, in Fantasyland, is closing early January, 2014. It is not clear yet if it will be reworked into a gift shop for the upcoming ride, Seven Dwarf’s Mine Coaster, or if it will become something totally different. For an update about the Seven Dwarf’s Mine Coaster check my latest post about it.
The following parks’, Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom regular and Extra Magic hours have been extended for most of the days in February and March 2014. The entertainment line-ups have been extended as well.
FastPass+ has been installed at the Magic Kingdom and they are removing the old FASTPASS system. I will be making a post in the near future about exactly what FastPass+ and MyMagic+ is, as well as what you need to know about both.
Aladdin and Jasmine meet and greet relocated to Adventureland Veranda porch while Agrabah Bazaar will be undergoing refurbishment from February 13, 2014 to February 14, 2014. For the full list of refurbishments check my latest Refurbishment’s post.
So that’s it for now at the Magic Kingdom, but don’t forget to check back next month for another blog post about the Magic Kingdom as well as other stuff that is happening at Walt Disney World Resort.
“All our dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” by Walt Disney.
All rights reserved for the picture above to WDWRNews.
Walt Disney Imagineers just released a behind the scenes video were Walt Disney Imagineers Ben VanBeusekon (Field Art Director – Character Paint) and Mary MacEachin (Walt Disney Scenic Artist) tells us about their designs process and all the work that goes into making the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster train cars. As well as some real life footage of the trains racing through the track and some unseen before animate clips and illustrations. Click here to watch the behind the scenes video and here is a illustration from Disney Parks Blog.
DPNews 
