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Magic Kingdom Update – Fast & Furious

Big news in this weeks Magic Kingdom Update. NextGen makes its next big leap into the parks, new Fantasyland grows taller, and Big Thunder Mountain rebuilds, plus other great stories. So let’s get to it.

New signs have been installed in Town Square and Liberty Square directing guests toward the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game stations.

Of course, it helps if the sign points in the right direction. This one would send guests out of Liberty Square, back toward Main Street. I guess they’d get there eventually.

As you may have heard, the NextGen Fastpass+ experience has begun testing this week. It’s a temporary test to try a few ideas about the system. A few selected guests are given a card with an RFID chip in it and a fixed itinerary of rides and attractions to enjoy. Each ride on the Fastpass+ network has a terminal at the entrance of the queue and at the merge point.

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Be Our Guest restaurant – Video of Inside the Ballroom

The Beauty and the Beast themed Be Our Guest restaurant promises to add a whole new dimension of immersive story telling as guests get the chance to be right in the memorable ballroom scene where Belle and the Beast danced together from the classic Disney animated film. Here’s a sneak peek inside the Be Our Guest ballroom with a look at the Chandeliers that will occupy much of the overhead space in the room.

The three chandeliers hang in the main dining room, the largest measuring twelve feet in length and eleven feet across with 80 lights and 100 large crystals. The two smaller chandeliers on each side measure 9.5 feet in length and eight feet across with 50 lights each. The trio of chandeliers are inspired by ones seen in the dining room in Beast’s Castle.

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Test Track Re-invisioned Puts You In The Computer

EPCOT’s re-imagined Test Track attraction will put the guest inside a computer as they partake in a digital test environment from the queue, through the ride, and even into the post ride experience. Modern day automotive design relies on computer aided-design significantly more than it did when they original blueprints for Test Track were drawn up. Now that Chevrolet has become the attraction’s new sponsor Disney is taking the opportunity to update the experience to a new concept.

Guests in the queue will be able to make design choices for their car based on the four qualities of Capability, Efficiency, Responsiveness, and Power. After they experience the attraction they will be able to compare the results of their choices with other people in their car.

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What’s Next for Disney Parks

Update: Clarified which attraction opening dates were announced for later this year. This morning I attended the annual What’s New, What’s Next presentation for Disney Parks. Among the presenters were Meg Crofton, president of Disney Parks and Resorts, Chris Beatty, lead Imagineer on the New… Read More »What’s Next for Disney Parks

Interview With Steven M. Barrett, Author of Hidden Mickeys

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Steven M. Barrett, Author and Mouse Hunter

If you’ve been to the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World, or even on a Disney Cruise, chances are you’ve seen people walking around with a bright yellow book and a tendency to periodically stop and stare at rather obscure signs, windows, and random bits of architecture. Those folks are hunting Hidden Mickeys. Be very, very quiet.

The book in question is by Steven M. Barrett, and is part of his popular series titled Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to (insert Disney location here)’s Best Kept Secrets. There’s also an app for that!

Each book offers a number of Hidden Mickeys for Disney guests to search for on their visit. What is a Hidden Mickey? “A partial or complete image of Mickey Mouse that has been hidden by Disney’s Imagineers and artists in the designs of Disney attractions, hotels, restaurants, and other areas. These images are designed to blend into their surroundings. Sharp-eyed visitors have the fun of finding them.” — from Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Disneyland Resort’s Best Kept Secrets, Chapter 1 “Hidden Mickey Mania”

Barrett has been canvasing Disney parks (and ships) to track the elusive Hidden Mickeys for over 20 years. He’s found a few.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Barrett via Skype about his books, the website that they have spawned (HiddenMickeyGuy.com), and life as America’s most-celebrated Hidden Mickey hunter.  Read More »Interview With Steven M. Barrett, Author of Hidden Mickeys

Magic Kingdom Update – New Fantasyland and more

Time marches on and summer is almost here. That means it’s time for another photo update from the Magic Kingdom. Disney continues making real progress toward opening the rest of Storybook Circus and, hopefully, parts of Fairytale Forest (of whatever they’re calling the new section these days).

It’s a long update today, so let’s get right to it, then, shall we. The Bakery facade remains shrouded along with two buildings in Town Square. I’m glad they’re doing the facade refurbishments, but it has been taking a long time.

Rapunzel is now doing meet & greets next to Town Hall. Her old place near Fantasyland is being converted for the Scottish Princess Merida. I think they should have had a cage match with the winner earning the best location.

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Disney’s Hollywood Studios Photo Update

If I had to rank the four Walt Disney World parks just in frequency of my visits, Disney’s Hollywood Studios would place third. It’s not that I don’t enjoy being in the park, it’s just that the things I do enjoy always sends me walking from one side of the park to the other based on the show schedule, fastpass availability, and availability of decent counter service with air-conditioned seating. The haphazard nature of DHS’s pathways are an artifact of its status as a working studio during its initial years. But this park is top of my list for a drastic new series of placemaking.

Alas, my armchair Imagineering will have to wait for another day, today I have a photo update capturing a few of the changes since my last visit.

We’ll start our tour at The Magic of Disney Animation, which now features this Campus Map. Note how it shows that guests can now skip the movie to get into the main building. It also specifically lists the characters inside by name. So it looks like it will be a while before we see a replacement for Winnie The Pooh. Important to note if an autograph with Winnie the Pooh is a must. You can avoid the crowds at the Magic Kingdom and get it at DHS.

The biggest change inside the Magic of Disney Animation was the updated Animation Gallery. A new exhibit called ‘Setting the Scene’ has been installed. You can still see some of the Academy Awards Disney has won, but everything else is changed.

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Disney World Merchandise Roundup

Yesterday we shared a new kitchenware and dish set for sale at Walt Disney World, but that isn’t the only bit of new merchandise to show up at the parks. Here are a few more things that caught my eye as I wandered around the parks.

Of late, Disney has been making easy to find the new stuff by grouping it together with other ‘New Arrivals.’

I’m seeing a lot more clothing where the Mickey Mouse element is woven into the pattern. Let’s you were your Mickey clothing without having to have a cartoon on your shirt. I like that idea.

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