I definitely recommend arriving to EPCOTon the Monorail when the Flower & Garden Festival is underway. It’s gorgeous from above and on the ground. (Click for Larger.)
I was out of town for the opening of the 2012 Flower & Garden Festival at EPCOT. But finally made it over for a quick jaunt around the park on Monday. I only had time to hit the highlights and, while there’s technically a bit less this year than last, what they did install is amazingly beautiful.
Looks to be something of a butterfly theme this year. The new larger butterfly tent is back too. (Click for Larger.)
Sorcerer Mickey graces the entrance. (Click for Larger.)
With Part three, we’ve reached the end of this week’s Magic Kingdom update. See part one and part two if you missed them. But there was some breaking news today about New Fantasyland that will help fill up our calendar over the coming months.
First Disney World announced the closing date for Snow White’s Scary Adventures in Fantasyland. May 31st is the final day to ride this 1971 original attraction. It will be replaced later this year with “The Princess Fairy Tale Hall.” Snow White will still have a presence in the park when the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opens in late 2013 or early 2014. I’m very sad to see the dark ride go, particularly to make way for a meet and greet, but I am excited about the new roller coaster.
Another major timeline update was released today. The plan has always been to open New Fantasyland in stages, even Storybook Circus will open in stages. But now we know that late in March 2012 Storybook Circus will open with one of the two new spinners at Dumbo, the Great Goofini (formerly Goofy’s Barnstormer) and the Fantasyland Train Station. This should help with the flow around Fantasyland and add some much needed kid friendly attractions back into the mix at the Magic Kingdom as summer approaches.
Notice the trees. These new skinny trees replaced the more round ones that have been there for at last 8 years. It’s definitely a different aesthetic, doesn’t look as ‘home town’ as I would hope.
Facade work is still going on here and on the Main Street Bakery.
We’ve started our tour of the Magic Kingdom in part one of this photo update, but today we get to see even more. Let’s get right to it.
Yeah, so this still happens. When is WDW going to do something with all these bricks? They’re starting to age poorly. Might be time to gear up for a 50th anniversary effort to replace the bricks with new ones… with RFID chips in them so you can find your brick by pointing your phone at it.
Click to embiggen. Not too much more demolished here, except for one unfortunate change.
When I’m visiting the World, I do try and keep an eye out for what’s new. But it’s more than just construction and repairs, it’s merchandise too. The last few weeks at the Magic Kingdom has brought out a bunch of great new collectibles and apparel. Here are a few of the pieces that caught my eye. I think you’re really going to like my ‘Find of the Week.”
First up is a cute Saint Patrick’s Day outfit on Duffy the Bear. Say what you want about the merchandise team manufactured character, he has a good fashion consultant.
Mickey, on the other hand, while always cute, definitely eeds some fashion help in this un-inspired piece.
A lot more merchandise below the fold, including the ‘find of the week’. Come and see:
In part one of this week’s update we visited The Main Street Firehouse which has its firefighter badges back, Storybook Circus which is moving steadily toward a spring opening, and then the construction across from Peter Pan where new restrooms will go. We’ll pick up right there, remember the photos have larger versions if you click on them…
This brown wall is where a second access to Fantasyland will be located. I’m a bit unclear how traffic patterns are going to work in this area with the haunted mansion queue often taking up this whole space in the summer. But I’m sure they’ve thought of that… right?
That foliage clearing has made the pet cemetery decidedly less spooky.
Have a long update from our visit to the Magic Kingdom this weekend. So long it’s going to take at least two posts (Update: here’s part two) to get it all in. Nearly every pic has a larger version if you click on it to help you see the detail since some of the photos are taken from a distance due to construction walls and what not.
There are still many tarps and bridges under construction around the park. I didn’t take new photos of Main Street or Adventureland, but there is still work under way in both locations.
Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom was option for play testing again today. They continue to refine the check-in process. Remember to bring your Sorcerer’s Key along with your deck. You an ask for five cards for every member with a valid admission, but they default to just give you five cards per party. While it’s still only on the ‘easy’ level, if you have a 4-10 year old this is a lot of fun. For older kids (adults too) it’s a great collectible. Addicting, really.
The good news is that the Firefighter patches have been returned to the FireHouse.
Quite a few new pieces of merchandise in the 2012 line of Walt Disney World merchandise has been introduced into the parks. We’ve got pictures of that, plus a few other fun or bizarre, as the case might be, additions to the shelves.
At the Magic Kingdom, they continue to make shifts in the product line up inside the main street shops (rendering that nice new map and directory they had recently produced obsolete), in fact the Trophy shop finally got its sports related merchandise (and other men’s attire) back after a long run of Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse related women’s apparel and accessories. I think this is a home run.
Yesterday we saw a few of the changes coming to the Magic Kingdom in part one of the update. Today we dive deep into Fantasyland and the expansion we’re all waiting to explore. Dumbo’s courtyard home is almost a memory now. The construction walls now… Read More »Magic Kingdom Weekend Update – Part II
