The last day of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train event, we attended a breakfast presentation of “Around Our World.” The presentation formerly known as “What’s new, what’s next” lays out recent changes and upcoming projects at Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line & Adventures by… Read More »“Around Our World” Presentation Video – What’s new and what’s next
For all the craziness that goes on in the parks sometimes, it’s important to remember that Walt Disney World is part of the Central Florida community. As such it has made great contributions to many non-profits in the area, but the one that moves me the most was the amazing job the company did at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. They’re not stopping with the Walt Disney wing either, The Walt Disney Company just presented a $3 million gift to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children to help fulfill a critical need in the treatment of young patients at the hospital’s Bert Martin’s Champions for Children Emergency Department & Trauma Center.
The gift will enable the purchase and installation of a new 3T MRI machine that will serve as a critical first step in the treatment of children in need of emergency and trauma care in addition to supporting other key pediatric programs at Arnold Palmer Hospital.
“Our friends at The Walt Disney Company have been great partners to Arnold Palmer Hospital since the day we opened our doors almost 25 years ago,” said John Bozard, president of the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation. “We’re delighted that our partnership continues to this day as we look for new and innovative ways to extend our patient-centered philosophy and heighten the care we provide for children.”Read More »Disney Contributes $3 Million to Child Emergency Care at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando
Tomorrow morning I’ll be climbing 126 steps to a height of 80 feet to experience Ihu’s Breakaway Falls. Orlando’s tallest, steepest and only multi-drop tower slide of its kind opens officially May 9. But I’m getting a preview tomorrow. The question is, am I brave… Read More »I’m about to Drop In On Ihu’s Breakaway Falls
This post brought to you by Christina Wood of Pixie Vacations, the preferred Disney vacation travel planner of The Disney Blog. As you probably know by now, Disney has announced free dining for the fall of 2014. As usual, Disney fans are in a complete… Read More »The Pros and Cons of Free Dining.
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.
A new featurette for Disney’s Maleficent takes an in-depth look at the title character and her adaptation from storybook, to animation, to feature film. This second featurette includes footage from the film while also discussing Angelina Jolie’s version of the famous character with cast and… Read More »New Maleficent Featurette Dives Into History of Title Character
Walt Disney Imagineering is famous for their project documentation. The archives are full of great concept art, construction photos, and documentation from most of the major builds over the last 50+ years. But my favorite of these has to be the time-lapse video.
This short time-lapse video shows the construction of most of New Fantasyland, including Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Definitely worth expanding it to full-screen to view:
Interesting how construction on the coaster itself didn’t actually start until about half-way through the video.
Below the jump, I have an interview with Bruce Vaughn, executive vice president at Walt Disney Imagineering, and Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, as they talk about how Seven Dwarfs Mine Train fits into New Fantasyland and how excited the Imagineers are to finally have it open to the public on May 28th.
Read More »Time-Lapse Video of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Construction
As the Disney representative mentioned in our video interview, many of the Star Wars weekends premier theatre experiences are now available on the Fastpass+ system. It also looks like Darth’s Mall might have a Fastpass+ line too (it was visible, but not available for reservations when I last checked). What she didn’t mention was that they’ll all tier 1 offerings.
This means you’re limited to one Star Wars Weekend show Fastpass+ entitlement a day. I totally understand why they did this. There is very limited seating inside the Premier theater and only a portion of those will be Fastpass+ seating. So one show a day without the wait seems reasonable. It’s tough to pick just one, but I understand.
If there are two shows you really want to see, and are only here for one weekend, you’ll have to use your Fastpass+ allotment both days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
However, there are some complications for locals and off-site guests that result from including Star Wars Weekend Fastpass+ in with the regular system, that I don’t think Disney has quite worked out yet.
Read More »Star Wars Weekends Talks and Shows Available for Reservation via Fastpass+