Registration for the Walt Disney World Passholder advanced screening of the Tinker Bell movie will be opening on August 19, 2008. The four screenings will take place on September 27 and 28 at 10:00 AM & 2:00 PM inside the Magic Kingdom, inside the Exposition Hall. You can register for the event If you have a valid WDW annual pass at this link beginning on August 19th.
While we are still a little more than 3 years away from the 40th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Resort on October 1, 2011, there are many rumors of new additions to the Disney theme parks that are becoming more and more likely. We have already told you about the plan to renew classic attractions at the Magic Kingdom such as Space Mountain, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, The Enchanted Tiki Room, The Country Bear Jamboree, and the Hall of Presidents, as well as add a few new attractions such as a Little Mermaid dark-ride and some new nighttime entertainment offerings. Now details are emerging on some planned projects for Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios during the celebration.
By now, you are all aware of the world’s worst kept secret of Star Tours receiving its new story, queue, film, and store sometime in 2011, but you may not be aware of another film change that is now making the rounds. It appears that filming for the proposed “Soarin’ Around The World” film is set to begin soon and we can plan on seeing the updated Epcot and California Adventure E-Ticket debut sometime in late 2009/early 2010 if all goes according to plan. Epcot is also expected to be replacing Illuminations Reflections of Earth with a new show sometime in the 2009 and who can forget the still unofficial Monsters Inc. roller coaster that’s coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. With all these big-budget projects and the expected financial downturn that WDW is about to go through, it will be interesting to see what from this list actually makes it off the blueprints and into the parks.
Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information becomes available on these rumors as we get closer to Walt Disney World’s 40th anniversary.
According to our friends over at Screamscape, Mark VII Monorail Orange should be arriving at the Pongo parking lot sometime between Wednesday & Thursday this week. From there it will be moved via a crane into the Monorail Roundhouse early Friday morning. However, various other reports have said that Monorail Orange won’t be arriving at the Disneyland Resort until 2009, so it’s really anyones guess on this one.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest on Monorail Orange!
Various sources around the internet, including Laughing Place, have said that new versions of Star Tours & Soarin’ Over California have been given the go-ahead internally by Disney, but of course not yet officially announced.
The movie for Star Tours 2.0 should be about complete, seeing as it has been said that the attraction should be announced in the fall, for a grand re-opening in Summer 2009. Disney has applied for permits to shoot the new Soarin’ film, which should be a world based theme, & work should begin this fall for a late 2009 premiere. Both new films will be going to both Disneyland & Walt Disney World.
Disney hopefully should make an official announcement on both of these projects soon, so stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest!
UPDATED @ 11:00AM
We have a few more updates for you to the attractions refurbishment list. First up, over in Entertainment, for the week of August 25th, both Disney’s Electrical Parade & Fantasmic! will not be offered on the Monday through Thursday, due to a lot of kids being back at school. The following week, both will go on hiatus. Fantasmic! will return on November 7th, & Disney’s Electrical Parade will return in mid December.
August 17th will be the last day for the lovely Ariel’s Grotto meet ‘n greet. Work will then begin on changing over that area to Pixie Hollow for Tinker Bell & her fellow Fairies. So if you want your picture taken with Ariel in her Mermaid form, August 17th will be your last day to do it until 2010!
The New Orleans Square Railroad Station will close on September 2nd for repaving of the station & surrounding area (including the area in front of the Haunted Mansion). Trains will just go straight through that station, & continue on to Toontown. It’s due to re-open on October 17th.
Big Thunder Ranch will be closed from September 15th to the 25th (it originally was planned to be closed until the 27th) so they can add the Woody’s Halloween Round-up overlay. It will then be closed from November 3rd until the 20th for the Santa’s Reindeer Round-up overlay.
The previously planned Pirates of the Caribbean refurbishment that was to of gone from October 13th to November 14th seems to have been completely removed from the list.
A second Mark Twain Riverboat refurbishment will happen in November (the first is from August 25th-29th), from the 3rd to the 5th.
Finally for Disneyland Park, the new store, replacing New Century Timepieces will open September 30th, & the It’s a Small World Toy Shop will open before the attraction on September 28th. And over at It’s a Small World itself, the new flume has been painted.
One quick thing over at DCA, the Hyperion Theater refurbishment that starts on September 2nd, finally has an end date, that being December 18th.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for updates on all attraction refurbishments. And for up-to-the-minute information on the various refurbishments, be sure to check our Attraction Refurbishments page!
Various reports are stating the planned repaving of Main Street USA this winter will now last only 2 weeks, as opposed to the originally planned 2 months. Instead of repaving the whole of the street, only areas in dire need of work will be fixed up. Also, Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams may be getting new show stop music, as well as a few changes to the beginning of the parade to accommodate the new promotion for 2009.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today to find out what happens with Main Street’s pavement & Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams!
Some temporary changes to dining at the Magic Kingdom are coming during the busy free dining plan season. According to the DIS:
TOMORROWLAND TERRACE
On August 24, 31 and September 7 and 14, the Tomorrowland Terrace will be serviing a buffet dinner from 5:30 to 9:00pm. The menu will include Chimichurri Beef Loin carved to order, salads, pastas, and breads.
$35 for ages 10 and up, $18 for guests 3 – 9 which includes tgratuity. Guests on the Disney Dining Plan can use one table service entitlement when dining here.
DIAMOND HORSESHOE
On August 24 – 31 and September 13 – 25, the Diamond Horseshoe will be serving a family style dinner from 5:00 to 9:00pm. The menu will include roast turkey, carved beef, pork loin, mashed potatoes and more.
$28.99 for ages 10 and up, $14.99 for guests 3-9. Guests on the Disney Dining Plan can use one table service entitlement when dining here.
Disney officials have confirmed 3 new “attractions” for the Disneyland Resort, according to the OC Register. Mickey’s Fun Wheel (the re-theme of the Sun Wheel), Silly Symphony Swings (the re-theme of the Orange Stinger), & Pixie Hollow (replacing the Ariel’s Grotto meet ‘n greet) are all now officially coming to the Resort!
MICKEY’S FUN WHEEL: A Disney Imagineering official confirmed tonight that the Sun Wheel will join the attractions being changed in the Paradise Pier area of Disney’s California Adventure. The main change expected will be removing the current sun face in the middle of the wheel and replacing it with a Mickey Mouse face. The Mickey Mouse face is planned to be a classic wide-eyed Mickey Mouse.
SILLY SYMPHONIES: The Orange Stinger will join in planned changes for the pier-area — expected to change from the current Orange Stinger theme to a Silly Symphonies theme. Currently, the attraction is a swing ride inside a giant orange sitting lakeside and plans show that the building’s foundation will remain the same, while the orange and even round building are planned to change. The attraction will be based on the classic “Silly Symphonies” animations done by Walt Disney’s animation studio in the 1930s. The band leader, Mickey Mouse, is expected to be part of the ride.
TINKERBELL: A change is also planned for Disneyland, the Imagineering official said tonight. The current Little Mermaid meet and greet next to the Tomorrowland entrance is planned to be replaced by a fairy and Tinkerbell meet and greet. The area, as currently planned, will make guests feel like they’ve shrunk down to fairy-size and the path will be filled with pixie dust.
Disney did not give any official dates on when these refurbishments/additions are planned to take place. However rumors going around show that the Sun Wheel will close on September 11th, to be re-opened by the end of the year as Mickey’s Fun Wheel. Ariel’s Grotto should also close in September, & be re-opened as Pixie Hollow by mid-October, in time for the Tinker Bell DVD release. No strong rumors have surfaced yet on when the Orange Stinger re-theme will take place, but it should be sometime next year.
Stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest up-to-the-minute information on these & all new refurbishments & attractions!
Some Disney related news coming out of New York today, the Walt Disney World Company owned World of Disney Store in New York City may be on its way off of Fifth Avenue:
Walt Disney Co. announced Friday that it will not renew its lease for its World of Disney store at 711 Fifth Ave. when it expires in 2010 because of hefty rent increases.
The entertainment conglomerate notified its 220 store employees, called “cast members,” Thursday and Friday that it will be leaving its current 36,000-square-foot space, Disney’s only Manhattan location.
“The Disney Stores are going to be reviewing other potential locations in the Manhattan retail market,” said spokesperson John Nicoletti.
Speculation abounds for the company’s Big Apple relocation. Some in the real estate industry expect Disney to move to an even more tourist-laden area like SoHo or Times Square. The company formerly operated a retail store on 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, a space which has since become a Champs store.
Today is your last day to enter and win a 4 night/5 day stay at a value resort at Walt Disney World as part of the WDW News Today Magical Memories Contest sponsored by Magical Travel (pretty long name). Be sure to head on over to the WDW News Today Community Forums right away and enter before the deadline at 11:59 PM eastern time this evening. All you need to do to enter and win is register for the WDWNT Community Forums (if you have not already), enter in your most magical Disney memory in 250 or more words, and make sure your entry is in by the deadline. We will announce the 5 finalists on episode 54 of the WDW News Today Podcast, as well as episode 25 of the Disneyland News Today Podcast in the Town Square Talk segment.
For all of the contest details and to enter, go HERE. Remember, besides the grand prize, we are also giving away 4 Disney gift cards. Good luck and hope to see you at Walt Disney World!!!
