Back in April, The Disney Blog enjoyed a pre-opening tour of the Disney’s Art of Animation Lobby from Walt Disney Imagineer Gary Hoffman. The lobby, aka Animation Hall, as you will hear, is designed as the pre-show for the greater hotel. While the central focus… Read More »Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – Lobby Tour
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:
Read More »Pirates of the Caribbean Queue at Magic Kingdom Gets Makeover
Had a fun little experiment this weekend. I turned my camera’s time-lapse video feature toward Space Mountain and created this short little experimental video. It actually turned to be not all bad, so I thought I’d share it here. What do you think? Would you… Read More »Space Mountain – Fast Forward
The latest tour de force from the amazing Passport to Dreams website is a thorough examination of Snow White’s Scary Adventures at the Magic Kingdom. From a reconstruction of the 1971 version to the influence it had on the 1983 remake of Disneyland’s Fantasyland, this… Read More »Postmortem on Snow White’s Scary Adventures
After an accident with a similarly constructed attraction, the Downtown Disney Balloon ride “Characters in Flight” has been closed for inspection. The accident yesterday at Ocean Park, Hong Kong, injured four on the SkyStar balloon and one of the ground after a 3 meter gash… Read More »Characters In Flight Balloon Ride Closed at Orlando’s Downtown Disney
We’ve looked at Dumbo’s New Interactive Play Queue (twice) already this week, but it’s time to venture out into the rest of the park to check on the progress of other projects. Be Our Guest has revealed its menu and will shortly be taking reservations,… Read More »Magic Kingdom Update (Continued)
The Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station has officially opened at the Magic Kingdom and with it arrived a circus of fun to Storybook Circus. The Water Play area contains playful camels (what is it with Imagineering and spitting camels?), monkeys, elephants and giraffes who splash along with guests. Joining Dumbo, the Flying Elephant and Barnstormer featuring Goofy as the Great Goofini in Storybook Circus, Casey Jr. is the most recent phase to open in Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland expansion.
I got to spend a few minutes watching my son run through the area and was impressed with the variety of methods for getting wet while exploring Casey Jr. During the hot months it will provide a great way to cool down and during the cold months it will still make a wonderful photo opportunity. There is a big problem with a lack of shade between Casey Jr and the Storybook Circus bathrooms. With the sun beating down it was pretty hot even with the play zone just a few feet away.
The astute observer may have caught that each car has a number on its back. Those numbers, 71, 82, 89, and 98 stand for the opening years of the four Walt Disney World parks. I haven’t yet noticed any Hidden Mickeys, but I thought that was a great tribute.
More photos of the water play area below the jump
Read More »Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station Imports Watery Fun to Storybook Circus
Five-time Nascar Champion Jimmie Johnson visited Walt Disney World on Wednesday. While there he got a ride in a Mickey Mouse golf cart, took a few swings on the golf course, and teamed up with kids racing their wooden cars at ESPN Wide World of… Read More »Nascar Champion “Five Time” Jimmie Johnson visits Walt Disney World