WDWNT Reporter Banks Lee visited the Magic Kingdom yesterday and has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip:
Off to the Magic Kingdom
Read More about Banks Lee’s 7/19/10 Magic Kingdom Photo Report
DLNT Reporter Stephen Thomas was at The Disneyland Resort last Tuesday and has some photos to share with us. Photos include Cars Land, The Little Mermaid, and much more…
Mermaid building with its new arch
Jamie Nakagiri along with most of the WDWNT staff was at Disneyland for the 55th anniversary. Here is a photo report that spans the entire week of her stay at the resort.
World of Color still the talk of the town
Read More about Jamie Nakagiri’s 7/10/10 – 7/18/10 DLR Photo Report
From the Disney Parks Blog:
The new restaurant at the Italy Pavilion at Epcot, Via Napoli, will begin taking reservations Aug. 6 for Sept. 10, the official opening day. A “Grand Opening” celebration will be Aug. 5, but the restaurant will be in a “soft opening” walk-in phase with no reservations between then and Sept. 10.
More answers to reader questions from the last blog post:
- The restaurant is table service only, no quick service.
- Disney Dining Plan is accepted (one point per person per meal).
- The hottest menu item is the wood-fired pizza, and it comes in three sizes: individual; large with eight slices; and a “mezzo metro,” or half meter, that is 12 slices.
- There is one menu for both lunch and dinner. Average check is around $23.
- There are several vegetarian options, including the pizza Margherita, fusilli pasta in a Southern Italian-style pesto, salads, minnestrone and more.
From the Disney Parks Blog:
Perhaps you heard, there’s a new exhibit in the Japan Pavilion at Epcot and today we’re taking a quick peek inside on The Disney Parks Blog. It’s called Spirit Beasts: From Ancient Stories to Anime Stars and as you can see from the image above, it features some pretty mysterious creatures from traditional Japanese myths and artwork. Those creatures and their stories inspired some of the most popular modern-day characters of Japan’s manga comics and anime.
And that’s what the exhibit is all about — showing the connection between the historic and the contemporary. When I popped in this week, I immediately recognized some of the Japanese characters from video games and TV shows that my children still enjoy. I think you’ll spot them too.
You’ve got plenty of time to see it. Project Manager and Show Producer Wyatt Winter expects the exhibit to be on display for several years. Just walk to the back of the Pavilion and hang a left.
There is a new immersive experience heading to Animal Kingdom, from the Disney Parks Blog:
If you’ve ever wanted to venture off the beaten path and farther into the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expeditionsavannah, you’ll have a chance later this year. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park will be offering a new, immersive experience that’ll take a small group of Guests on personalized, guided treks along some unexplored areas of the Harambe Reserve.
During the excursions, you’ll be able to spend more time observing the wildlife on the savannah and have a chance to learn about the animals and their behaviors from one of our Disney guides. Adventurers will also trek through an undeveloped forest area of the Harambe Reserve and then board a unique vehicle specially designed for the rest of the quest.
Walt Disney Imagineers are still working on many of the details but we wanted to share the news with you first. Reservations for this specially priced tour won’t begin until later this year, so keep checking back for more details.
Sounds like this will be a great new way for select guest to experience this opening day Animal Kingdom attraction in a whole new way, stay tuned to WDW News Today for more information as it becomes available!
Chris and the rest of the staff all went to the MLB All-Star Parade at Disneyland on Tuesday and have some photos to share.
Ichiro Suzuki
Read More about Chris Lastrapes’ MLB All-Star Parade Photo Report 7/13/10
While most of the staff is out at Disneyland celebrating the resort’s 55th Anniversary we thought we would bring you another great wallpaper from Tim Goodchild with the mouse that started it all!
Thanks to the amazing talent and generosity of photographer Tim Goodchild of timgoodchild.com, we are able to provide these downloadable wallpapers for your computer monitor. Simply click the link corresponding to your monitor’s resolution, then save the resulting image file to your computer. We will have select wallpapers available for dual-monitor and triple-monitor setups as well.
We will try to present a new wallpaper image once a week. This week, it’s all the Mickey plush you could ever want:
1024×768
1280×800
1280×1024
1440×900
1680×1050
1920×1080
1920×1200
Dual Monitor 1024×768 = 2048×768
Dual Monitor 1280×1024 = 2560×1024
Dual Monitor 1680×1050 = 3360×1050
Triple Monitor 1024×768 = 3072×768
Triple Monitor 1280×1024 = 3840×1024
From the Disney Parks Blog:
It’s been 55 years since our gates opened. Fifty-five years of being a place of “joy and inspiration to all the world” – and we couldn’t be happier to share it with all of you. Here’s what’s in store for the week leading up to our anniversary on July 17.
- Special edition park maps will be available all week, and the image above is a sneek peek at what they’ll look like.
- Now through July 17, select Disneyland dining locations offer commemorative 55th Anniversary cakes.
- Select merchandise locations will offer 55th Anniversary candy packaging and cupcakes with the 55th Anniversary logo.
- On July 17 …
- At noon the dedication ceremony will take place in Town Square.
- At 4:15 pm join the cast in singing Happy Birthday to our beloved Disneyland.
- Check out the 55th Anniversary Art & Collectible merchandise event with artists Dave Avanzino, Jody Daily, Kevin Kidney and Noah will be held at The Disney Gallery from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
- Have you heard the buzz? It’s all in the bag … or that’s what I hear. Look for a special event taking place at Disney Vault 28 from 2 – 4 pm.
- Wear a smile from “ear to ear” with a special Mickey Mouse Ear Hat featuring premium embroidery that reads “D 55th,” July 17, 2010, available exclusively on July 17.
For more information on those last two items, look for special posts from Michelle Harker next week.
We hope you join us as we look back on more than half a century of achievements, and look forward to the next 55 years!
Most of the DLNT crew will be at Disneyland for the WDWCelebrations Event “Fifty-Five.” So stay tuned for video and a photo report of the anniversary day event.
It’s hard to believe it was three years ago today that I sat down and finally pulled the trigger on creating a Disney fan website, but it’s even harder to believe the world that surrounds myself three years after that decision was made. I had no idea or intention of creating a website, a podcast, and a brand that would be enjoyed by thousands. To be honest, I was happy to see just a few visitors trickle in every day.
WDW News Today was created to fill a niche that I wanted to see a fan site cater to: providing a little bit of Walt Disney World news and information each and every day. In 2007, this community was a very different place. The “big” sites updated their sites maybe once a week, twice a week if we were lucky. Everyday I would make the rounds, visiting the same bunch of sites, getting incredibly excited when one of them had even a minor update. It had always been obvious that Walt Disney World has enough restaurants, attractions, shops, resorts, etc. throughout its history to provide more than enough content on a daily basis. With that premise, WDW News Today was born. The initial response was trivial, most famously it was stated on a certain forum (that will remain nameless) that WDWNT “would not last more than 3 months.” I don’t think I need to tell any stories of what happened after this….
I’ll be the first to admit the site was very bad in the beginning. It was hideous, we didn’t have photo reports, and it really was just myself and a team of 4 or 5 people trying a lot of different things that mostly didn’t work. Things did get better, and I can’t deny that It has had more to do with the team that surrounded me here, rather than anything I did myself. I have been truly blessed to be connected to an incredible staff as we’ve grown over the past 3 years, a team that I not only consider to be my colleagues, but among my very best friends. This “family” that has been brought together by this crazy idea may be the greatest gift of the entire experience, a gift that is provided through your continued support of our work.
WDW News Today’s evolution into what is now the WDWNT Network has been an unpredictable miracle. The growing fan-base, as well as the growing staff of talented and devoted people, has forever changed my life for the better. The only way I can re-pay this gift is through hard work and keeping the promise I made on July 8, 2007, that “WDW News Today is a site created for you, the Disney World fan, and will be dedicated to educating and entertaining you about this magical place.”
I thought it might be fun to look back at our very first news posts that were made the morning after the site opened. It’s amazing how correct we were with some of the rumors mentioned below:
7/9/2007
The big news this week is the removal of the Epcot wand and the refurbishment of Spaceship Earth that both begin today. Expect the entire second half of the Spaceship Earth attraction to be completely different from the current version when it reopens in mid-November.
Over at the Disney MGM Studios, Toy Story Mania’s main building is shaping up nicely and should be complete by September with the attraction opening in Spring of 2008.
At Animal Kingdom, work on the Yak and Yeti restaurant is picking up pace as the rush is on to be finished by October. Don’t be surprised if the restaurant doesn’t open until November/December of this year. Also worth noting is the newly announced refurbishment of the Astro Orbiter in August. Some major interior updates are in store for the spinning planets as the idea is to get them spinning much to the speed they originally did.
Over at the Disneyland Resort, they have added a Project Tomorrow exhibit to Innoventions in Tomorrowland. The exhibit is somewhat similar to the Project Tomorrow exhibits at the exit of Epcot’s Spaceship Earth.
Pecos Bill’s Cafe in the Magic Kingdom has added four touch screen ordering systems for guests who wish to pay by Credit Card and those who have a Disney Dining Plan. Expect to see these changes in all WDW fast food locations by year’s end.
Today, the associated press had a story about the death of longtime Disney animator Art Stevens back on May 22. Art worked on Fantasia, The Fox and The Hound, The Rescuers, Winnie the Pooh, 101 Dalmations, Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, and Bednobs and Broomsticks before his retirement in 1983. He was 92 years old.
Well, thats it for now, but everyday we will have news updates and i will be sure to update news as it happens throughout the day every day. Thanks for reading the soon to be #1 source for Walt Disney World news! See ya real soon!
We continue our celebration tonight at 9:30PM ET at www.WDWNTunes.com with our annual live anniversary show. We hope you can join us for that. Again, thank you for your support and admiration over the last 3 years, I can’t begin to explain what it means to me. As long as there is a Walt Disney World Resort, we will continue “Bridging the Gaps Between You and the World”.
Tom Corless
Founder and CEO of the WDWNT Network
