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Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Interactive Queue

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We talked a bit about Disney’s new idea of improved scene one guest experiences during our first look at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train interactive queue. These additions to the guest experience don’t just make waiting in time less boring, they transform the interaction all together.

Take the new Dumbo attraction. The play environment is friendly for kids of all ages and Disney has found that some families return to the attraction later in the day, just so the kids can experience the play zone again. In essence, it’s like its own attraction. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad recently had its own queue re-envisioning. It drastically updated the story Imagineers are able to tell and added a new variety of interaction as well.

With Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the audience is in the middle of those two attractions. As such, the interactive experiences are more a mix of the above some great Disney scene ones.

We were able to sneak back into the queue during a rainstorm and get some daytime shots and footage from the interactive elements.

I found at least one ‘easter egg’ in the gem sorting game. There’s a bar of soap, which we know the dwarfs don’t like, so when you touch it, it squirts off the screen. Cute.

There are also a few more photos below the jump.

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Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Interactive Queue at Night

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train standby queue features three interactive games you can play while passing the time. Projects like these are considered part of the Next-Gen technology that’s being introduced with MyMagic+.effectiveffe The first element is a trough game where you sort gems by… Read More »Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Interactive Queue at Night

All the Walls are Down at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – April Construction Update #3

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All the Walls are Down at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train giving us our best view yet of the queue area, and finally revealing all the exterior track on the roller coaster. Sounds like a good excuse for our third update this April.

There was still quite a bit of finishing and touch up work going on. Among some painting and landscaping, Imagineers were tinkering with the new interactive queue elements and the ubiquitous on-ride photo was being installed while we were there. Cast members are telling guests it will open sometime next month. However, media have been invited for a ribbon cutting ceremony to be held on May 2nd. Everything is subject to change, of course.

There are a few elements around the track that have me worried. It looks like they’ve jury-rigged evacuation lighting around part of the track. They might have to make that more permanent before it can open to guests. But the good news is they have been testing the coaster with people, and even filmed a commercial recently.

Here’s some video taken of newly opened areas:

I hope they’re able to open it soon, it looks amazing. Head below the jump for a huge gallery of photos of the newly exposed areas.

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Pirates of the Caribbean Queue at Magic Kingdom Gets Makeover

The other day I was at the Magic Kingdom and it started raining cats and dogs. I was just finishing lunch at Pecos Bill and didn’t want to run through the rain, but I remembered you can actually walk from Pecos Bill all the way to Pirates of the Caribbean under cover. Even better, with everyone else holed up waiting for the torrential down pour to stop, I pretty much had Pirates to myself.

There’s a good reason to check out Pirates these days as the queue has been getting some upgrades done to it. There is a popular rumor of an interactive game called “Pirates Adventure: Jewels of the Seven Seas” that will let you use an RFID device to interact with elements in and around Pirates. Construction walls have been up in the queue for over a month.

When walking through the queue this time, I noticed that Disney has unveiled the first of the new theme elements. It looks like the idealic Caribbean castle the queue winds through is under attack. Cannon ball impacts have added new damage to the walls, there are even a few spots whee the cannon balls are still stuck within the wall.

While the project isn’t complete, I can get on board with this sort of plussing the story. I can’t wait to see what else is unveiled in this makeover and if the interactive game elements are added as well.

A couple more photos below the jump:

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Dumbo The Flying Elephant Queue Lounge

I’ll be heading out to the beach at the Polynesian tonight to watch the Magic Kingdom’s 4th of July Fireworks show one day early. It’s become something of a tradition with the Frost family. The sound is piped in, there’s no crush of the crowds,… Read More »Dumbo The Flying Elephant Queue Lounge

Inside Dumbo Interactive Play Queue

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We visited the Magic Kingdom yesterday morning and were fortunate enough to get an opportunity to explore the new interior queue portion of Dumbo The Flying Elephant. When you approach Dumbo the left side is now the Fastpass Queue and the the right side is now the Standby. Fastpass machines are currently located over at Mickey’s Philharmagic, so plan for that as you head toward Dumbo. But keep in mind that Fastpass does not include access to the new indoor play area.

The queue was short when we entered the standby side, so we were given the option of just heading right on to the spinner or taking a break in the play area. We choose the play area and were given a restaurant style beeper at the podium. The cast member there has a control that says how many are in the play area at once (looked like a limit of 150 when we were there) and lets them monitor the average amount of wait time.

When you enter the queue there are circus style benches for adults to sit on while the kids run around and play. The center ring is for toddlers (2-5) and the outer play structures are for older kids (4 – 8). Many of the elements generate sound effects and the background music is periodically interrupted by announcements from Timothy Mouse.

We were in there for about 5 minutes when our beeper went off. As you might expect many parents were having trouble rounding up the kids to head out and get on the spinner. My son enjoyed the play area so much that after we got off Dumbo he wanted to go back and play some more.

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