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Magic Kingdom to Serve Adult Drinks Starting This Fall

Magic Kingdom Beer

Snuck in at the bottom of a blog post on the Disney Parks Blog is a huge piece of news. When the Beauty and the Beast themed Be Out Guest restaurant opens as part of the New Fantasyland expansion it will serve beer and wine as part of its dinner menu. Outside of private parties, this will be the first time alcohol has been served at the Magic Kingdom, breaking a tradition that goes back to an edict from Walt Disney himself.

Walt did not want adult beverages served at Disneyland. He didn’t think it belonged in a family theme park. He did allow beer at the Holidayland corporate party pavilion, but it was outside the berm. Even then, the park had repeated issues with guests leaving for lunch and then re-entering a few sheets to the wind. Before Walt died, he did approve alcohol sales at Club 33, but went pretty far to make it a private club where the day guest would not be able to get served a drink.

We know that Walt was still against general sales of alcohol in his parks because of his attempt to build a second theme park. After Disneyland was a success, Walt looked east for a great place to build another park. After a lot of research, Walt settled on St. Louis, but when city founders insisted that Walt allow Annheuser Busch to sell beer in the park, Walt declined to build there. Instead he headed south for a little crossroads he remembered from an earlier trip to Florida – Orlando.

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New Fantasyland Minisite Hides Mystery

Walt Disney World is attempting to drive up a little virtual excitement for New Fantasyland via a new micro-site. The site claims there is a curse preventing all the information about the new land from being revealed and a hero is needed to remove the… Read More »New Fantasyland Minisite Hides Mystery

Fantasmic! To Replace Standing Terrace With More Seats

With Fantasmic! and other nighttime shows at Walt Disney World providing over 350 jobs for the local economy, Disney invited a few of us out to meet some of the talent folk behind the show. While there we also sampled some cupcakes and learned about… Read More »Fantasmic! To Replace Standing Terrace With More Seats

Magic Kingdom Photo Update – Part 2

Magic Kingdom Fantasyland Update - Gaston's Tavern

In part one of this week’s Magic Kingdom Photo Update, we explored the changes installed in Fantasyland since our last visit. Today we spend a bit more time in Fantasyland before venturing out to Storybook Circus and beyond. Let’s get right to it:

Above and below we peek over the walls to see some of the fantastic detail work done on the roofs and facades in Gaston’s Village. I can’t wait to get over there and explore it myself

Magic Kingdom Fantasyland Update - Gaston's Village

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Interview with Page Pierce, VP at Disney’s Golden Oak Development

You know you’ve always wanted to live in a Disney theme park, admit it. Well, you can’t quite move into Cinderella Castle, but Disney’s Golden Oak development is the next best thing. The luxury home complex is situated right on Walt Disney World property and… Read More »Interview with Page Pierce, VP at Disney’s Golden Oak Development

Magic Kingdom Photo Update

prince eric castle in new fantasyland

We’re back from the Magic Kingdom with another photo update. We check in on the progress around New Fantasyland, spot a number of new refurbishments going on in and around the park, and look at a few outstanding maintenance issues. Once again, based on the feedback from the last update, we are again using Google+ Hangout to record this video. It’s best viewed on full screen:

If you want to take a closer look at any of those photos, you can view them on our Google+ photo album.

Below the cut is a video Disney World created to inform its cast members about the Storybook Circus and New Fantasyland expansion. It contains some amazing footage from the other side of the construction walls and inside the rides and restaurants.

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DreamWorks Announces Plans for 2nd Theme Park, This Time Near Disney in Shanghai

Last month a DreamWorks Animation ‘theme park’ was announced as part of a shopping and entertainment complex that is under construction at the Meadowlands site in New Jersey. This DreamWorks location would be small, about 15 acres, and part of a larger complex. It’s not… Read More »DreamWorks Announces Plans for 2nd Theme Park, This Time Near Disney in Shanghai

Mysterious Illness Breaks Out on Animal Kingdom’s Wild Africa Trek

If you had the pleasure of going on the upgrade experience ‘Wild Africa Trek‘ at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in June or July, you might have taken home an unwelcome guest with you. The Orange County Health System and Walt Disney World report that a stomach… Read More »Mysterious Illness Breaks Out on Animal Kingdom’s Wild Africa Trek