I came across this rumor recently (thanks to “The Epcot Explorer’s Encyclopedia” Facebook page) regarding the glass pyramids of Future World. Supposedly, the entire Imagination pavilion will close on Jan. 2nd 2014. The rumor states that Captain EO will close for good, but the store… Read More »Rumor Mill: Imagination Pavilion closing entirely in 2014?
As Walt Disney World moves closer to fully implementing it $2 billion Next-Gen technology MyMobile Magic, having high speed internet connection for your mobile phone becomes more important than ever. So I’m not at all surprised that Disney and AT&T have reunited in an agreement… Read More »AT&T Becomes Official Wireless Provider of Disney Parks
Disney World is expensive. Okay, so that’s not a newsflash or anything, but not everything at Disney World costs money. Some of my best moments have been on the cheap or pretty close to it. Sitting on a bench and people watching? Absolutely free and… Read More »Disney Off the Beaten Path and On the Cheap
Part of what makes a trip to the Magic Kingdom so, well, magical is all the little detail that goes into making it a transporting experience. Sure, there were never roaming horse drawn trolleys of signing and dancing folk back in the early 1900s, but… Read More »Main Street Trolley Show Gets Summer Update
We just posted our construction update for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train that featured the completed track, a few themed elements, and a lot of exposed steel. Now Disney’s Imagineers have taken possession of the first car destined to roll across those tracks. It’s still… Read More »First Car from Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Arrives at Disney World
Here’s the latest update from the last attraction scheduled to open in New Fantasyland – the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Construction is definitely moving along. More of back side, Prince Eric’s Village across from The Little Mermaid, is finished and detail rock work starting to wrap completely around the mountain. They’ve added the last piece of track and have begun working on some of the details around the track. That said there’s still a long way to go for a 2014 opening.
Don’t have time for a video? I’ve included some photos below the jump:
Read More »Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Construction Update – New Fantasyland
I did forget to cover one chapter of the Orlando theme park wars. I often see the question, why hasn’t Disney added Marvel characters to Disney’s Hollywood Studios yet? Disney has said they’re actively looking at ways to involve Marvel characters in the parks. They… Read More »Theme Park Wars Forgotten Chapter: The Marvel Universe
Concept art for Star Wars mini-park planned for Disneyland Paris
Orlando in the 1990’s was bookended by stiff competition between Disney and its rival Universal Studios. When Michael Eisner got wind that Disneyland’s cross-town rival Universal Studios was preparing to open in Orlando as well, he rushed the mouse’s plans for its own studio theme park into production, even opening a whole year ahead of Universal. Universal returned the favor by firing back with Islands of Adventure, which contained rethemed versions of the Beastly Kingdom attractions Disney had cut from its Animal Kingdom project just a year earlier. Universal even hired a lot of the Imagineers Disney had just laid off to help make IOA a quality theme park.
And then things calmed down for nearly a decade. Disney kept churning out new attractions (Expedition Everest, Toy Story Midway Mania to name two) while Universal Studios was the forgotten step-child in a larger corporation that was dealing with ownership and financial problems. Eventually that got all sorted out and two things happened that turned around the fortunes at Universal Orlando Resort.
First, Universal got the theme park rights to use the Kuka robotic arm roller coaster that everyone was excited about at IAAPA in 2004. Second, it was able to convince Harry Potter scribe J.K. Rowling that they would be better caretakers for her story than Disney. The Kuka robocoaster win had something to do with that, but Universal was also willing to give Rowling final approval on nearly every detail. Disney would not.