Epcot Rumors

Since there seems to be an uproar in the online Disney community over the last 24 hours, I thought I would address the two biggest Disney World rumors floating around:

– It is being rumored that the new narrator for Spaceship Earth at Epcot will be famous actress Judi Dench. This is the first name other than Patrick Stewart that I have heard, so it seems there is a good shot at this being true. If so, this will mark the first female narrator for the attraction. I will try and gather more information on this before next week.

– One of the oldest rumors in Disney history has risen from the dead once again. The rumor of a Mt. Fuji roller coaster coming to the Japan pavillion at Epcot has once again made it’s annual appearance. I have not heard anything on this project in many years and would be really surprised if logistics would allow this to happen now. I will be talking about this rumor in more depth on our next podcast. Until then, stay tuned, and probably be careful of what you read. LOL

WDW Rumors

-The Jungle Cruise will not see any refurbishment until the motion picture is released a few years down the road.

-The interactive Kim Possible game is set to return to Epcot in early 2008.

-The Wonders of Life pavillion is set for demolition in the summer of 2008.

-The refurb of the Imagination attraction at Epcot will be the park’s next project following the re-opening of Spaceship Earth.

-Toy Story Mania’s many problems during development appear to have been fixed. The attraction now has an opening time frame from May-July of 2008.

-Animal Kingdom will be getting a new parade in 2008, however, it remains a mystery if it will be a day or night parade.

Tusker House Re-Opens

In case anyone forgot, the Tusker House has re-opened in Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. For breakfast, a full character buffet with characters such as Goofy is now offered. For lunch and dinner at the re-designed restaurant, a full buffet without characters is available. Before it’s extensive closure, the Tusker House was a counter service dining location.

Future Of The Studios

By the time the Disney MGM Studios becomes the Disney Hollywood Studios, it’s name will be the least of what is different. Already announced is that both the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage and Journey into Narnia attraction will go through extensive changes early in 2008. “Playhouse Disney Live on Stage!” will be closed from January 2-27 to add some new show scenes starring characters from more recent Disney channel programming. Journey into Narnia will close from January to May of 2008 to accomodate Toy Story Mania construction and changes to update the tour for the next upcoming Narnia film. These changes come in addition to a new parade (Block Party Bash debuting in March), a new show in the ABC theater, a new High School Musical show, and the all new Toy Story Mania attraction; all of which are currently or will be running by the end of the summer of 2008. While some say January 7th will only bring a new name to WDW’s 3rd theme park, so much more is on the horizon.

Concourse Steakhouse Closure

The Concourse Steakhouse on the Grand Canyon Concourse of Disney’s Contemporary Resort will be closed Permanently on May 11th, 2008. It is unclear at this time if the new restaurant called ‘The Wave” will be open by then. We will keep you up to date on this as more becomes available.

Prime Time Dining

Collin Korb is back with his latest dining review from the Walt Disney World Resort!!! This time, Collin takes a time machine back to the 50’s to visit the Prime Time Cafe at the Disney MGM Studios and his most recent dining experience there. Enjoy!!!We braved the weather today; it was wet and rainy all day.  We had slept in a bit and then braved inch-deep water in our flip-flops with our cheap ponchos.  We wandered the park all day and waited until early evening to eat. We decided to catch Rock N’ Roller Coaster and  The Tower of Terror before dinner! We arrived at the restaurant at 6:00 p.m. We had reservations so we thought we were set-well we were-sort of.  We put our name in and confirmed our reservation.  The place was packed because late-comers were trying to find a dry spot to eat. Naturally the place was at capacity and taking no walk-ins,  so we were lucky.  We waited for about twenty minutes and did not hear our name so we decided to sit at the bar and have a drink.  We had a 14 year old with us so we took it easy.  The bartender, Eric, was the only one to notice the 14 year old’s “First Trip to Disney” t-shirt, he said congratulations and handed her a first timer button too! She was thrilled, especially when her Shirley-Temple was on the house! I enjoyed a local brew and my girlfriend also had a Shirley-Temple.  It had been about forty minutes now so I checked; they had called our name, my FIRST name. Oops.  Well, they apologized and we were seated within about ten minutes. 

When we were seated our server “Uncle Dave” was very prompt.  We were on the dining plan and so we ordered onion rings, fried herb cheese, and I had a Caesar salad.  All of these came out within ten minutes.  Uncle Dave then took our orders.  My girlfriend and I enjoyed pot-roast while the 14 year old ordered grilled chicken.  Uncle Dave was very pleasant; he reminded us that we needed to make sure to eat our vegetables!  Dinner arrived in a timely fashion and we thoroughly enjoyed the entrees.  Once we ate our vegetables we decided to order dessert.  The girls ordered sundaes and I had the apple cobbler.  Delicious!  All of the portions of each section of the meal were outstanding and they tasted great.

 Perhaps the best part of the meal was the ambiance.  The restaurant, in classic Disney style, was decorated just like scenes from my grandparent’s house or those in period movies from the 50’s.  Old televisions, clocks, seating, rugs, drink mixers, dining tables, music and television clips were everywhere!  The only thing missing were people running around in Buddy Holly style glasses.  We found the experience to be very positive in spite of the delay.  This was easily remedied when the meal and all of its servings were excellent.  We will surely visit the 50’s Prime Time Cafe again. 

Yak and Yeti Now Open

The Yak and Yeti Restaurant and Yak and Yeti Market have both opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. While reservations can not be made until December 3rd for those planning to eat there from January 4th on, the restaurant and quick service dining location are now open. We will have more info and pictures on this later today.

Until then, feel free to discuss the new restaurant HERE

Cinderella’s Holiday Wish

It appears that the new Cinderella’s Holiday Wish show has debuted at the Magic Kingdom already. The show has recieved excellent reviews so far and will be performing nightly at 5:45pm on the castle forcourt stage until early January 2008.

A Video of the show can be seen at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fns1pw4f6Zc

Laugh Floor Moving Up

The Laugh Floor at the Magic Kingdom has recieved a brand new pre-show. More details on the new enhancements can be seen on Micechat HERE.