Tasty holiday treats
I recently posted a roundup on the ever popular souvenir t-shirts, but that’s not all that’s new at Walt Disney World. We’ve got hats, mickey ears, bow-ties, pajamas and more in this merchandise update. If you see something you like, be sure to check the Disney Store as they do carry some theme park merchandise these days.
When you head off to Walt Disney World the next time, will you remember to bring your iPhone? Don’t have one or don’t want to bring it with you? Don’t worry. You’re not alone, in fact smart phone adoption is still just above 50%. That’s… Read More »Disney’s Next-Gen Problem
Construction as of Dec 2011 Back in July 2011, Disney announced that a new concept in Bowling alleys would be coming to Downtown Disney in the former Virgin Megarecords Store location. It’s been mostly radio silence since then. For some reason this weekend TBO.com has… Read More »Splitsville to Bring Bowling to Downtown Disney
Jeff and Denise from MouseSteps, two of the nicest people you’ll meet at Walt Disney World, take you on a narrated trip through the newly opened Storybook Circus. Along the way they point out a lot of the details and take you on board both… Read More »Video Tour of New Storybook Circus
With Storybook Circus soft opening this week, it was a great time to get some unique shots of the New Fantasyland expansion construction. I didn’t get everything this trip, but there’s still a lot to see, so let’s get started:
A great view from the top of the new Dumbo spinner. Obviously, there’s a lot of work to do on the other side.
Zooming in a little bit, you see some of the support walls for the mountain that will presumably house the Seven Dwarves Mine Train roller coaster.
A little night work going on atop the high wall on the right of the picture above.
Another celebrity turns up just in time to post with a holiday themed Minnie Mouse. This time it’s supermodel-turned-entrepreneur Kathy Ireland posing with a St. Patrick’s Day-themed Minnie Mouse in the United Kingdom pavilion at EPCOT in Walt Disney World. Type-casting? Ireland is CEO and… Read More »Kathy Ireland at EPCOT with Irish Minnie
WDI model for Plectu’s Galactic Theater in the 2055 concept of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland Of all the lands at Disneyland, Tomorrowland has always presented Imagineers the most trouble. Work began 6 months late, and it almost didn’t open with the rest of the park in 1955.… Read More »Avatar on Hold? Tomorrowland Rising?
A new poster lays out current and future attractions, stores, and dining coming to Storybook Circus. I love that Humphrey the Bear is there. I wonder if he’s replaced The Three Little Pigs who were featured on previous posters.
Took a few days of vacation last week, but returned just in time for the Magic Kingdom to do a soft opening of the first small portion of the New Fantasyland expansion on Tuesday. Storybook Circus opened half of the relocated Dumbo – The Flying Elephant. The Barnstormer returned with its new Great Goofini theme, and the Fantasyland Train Station returned with new restrooms and a tribute to Walt’s past.
This portion of Storybook Circus was not supposed to open until March 24th or so. But hotel occupancy forecasts that revised the Spring Break crowd expectations upwards forced Disney to race ahead and open the attractions 12 days early. I must say that every cast member was up to the task and very helpful. Details are obviously still being worked out in a few places, but signs of fore-thought were abundant too. All in all a great effort and result from Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom.
There are so many great details, I took a ton of photos and still didn’t capture but a fraction. You may have already seen a few in my post made live from the park yesterday. I’m not sure how many parts this post will have, but I know it will be more than one. So let’s get to it.
Here is a sort of overview of what I saw today, we’ll come back in and fill in the gaps in future posts.
The first sign guests got that today would be different, was a new guidemap with an old image of Dumbo on the cover.
Inside, the map reflects the soft opened area of the New Fantasyland expansion. They even show only one side of Dumbo being open. However, #35 has a caveat.