Our own Adam Roth of WDWCelebrations has provided us with a short photo report looking at the refurbished Fuel for Thought exhibit at the exit of Test Track at Epcot:
Not all that much has changed here since the walls went up
They cleaned up the exhibit quite a bit, certainly more floor room now
You can get an inside look at how Hybrid vehicles from GM work
Over at The Land, they are preparing for a new exhibit.
Disneyland’s latest official podcast is quite a treat. It features a look at all of the new & upcoming attractions to the Disneyland Resort in this last leg of 2008. Covered are the Blue Sky Cellar, High School Musical 3: Right Here! Right Now!, Pixie Hollow, the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, & Holidays at the Disneyland Resort.
My favorite part of this video was the portion on the “re-awakened” Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, that actually shows some of the Imagineers working on some of the show scenes for the walkthrough. The Holidays at the Disneyland Resort portion has a look at the new lighting for this year on Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle & the Main Street Christmas Tree.
You can watch the video bellow:
We here at WDW News Today would like to welcome Steve Wieczorek to the staff as another official WDWNT photographer. His first photo report for us comes from the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of the year:
Nutcrackers around Town Square.
Disney actually does celebrate Thanksgiving!
And now look at Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade.
The new Santa float in the parade this year
Cinderella Castle all lit up is a great spectacle at the end of Main Street.
A few shots from Holiday Wishes.
Gotta’ Love that shot
We’ll end Steve’s photos with Goofy as Santa Clause at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe.
Before we end this photo report, here are a couple of pictures from Jose Eber of a new holiday throw available for purchase at the Resort:
The first look at the new Main Street Christmas Tree & lighting of Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle for this year is given by Access Hollywood. They featured a great segment on this tonight, & it’s now available to view on their website for those of you who missed it. You can watch that video HERE.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (November 11, 2008) – When it comes to celebrating the magic and sparkle of the holidays, there’s no place like the Disneyland Resort, the Merriest Place on Earth. From November 21 through January 4, the annual Disneyland Resort holiday celebration will be more dazzling than ever.
Guests will enjoy the return of the holiday’s most popular offerings as well as be immersed in new entertainment at both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure parks.
Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle, first introduced in 2007, will be decorated even more elaborately this holiday season with additional snowdrifts and icicles. After dark, a sensational new holiday lighting and special effects show will carry the magic of the holidays from the Castle all the way to the Christmas Tree in Town Square. And, for the first time in 53 years, the Christmas Tree will be completely artificial, which enables Disneyland to present a holiday light show like no other with more than 62,000 energy-efficient LED lights.
The Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle presentation unfolds throughout the evening in three acts, each of them featuring a touch of winter snow on Main Street, U.S.A. The finale of the show includes the legendary “Believe … in Holiday Magic” fireworks show, which takes guests on a journey of sights and sounds of the season and ends with a touching rendition of “White Christmas” along with a climactic snowfall swirling down on Main Street, U.S.A., “small world mall” and New Orleans Square.
New this year, just in time for the holidays and for the first time in seven years, guests will walk through the iconic home of Sleeping Beauty. A “reawakened” Sleeping Beauty Castle show tells the story of “Sleeping Beauty” in a style reminiscent of the Disneyland Castle walkthrough of earlier years, but enhanced with 21st-century special effects.
Themed entertainment, sparkling decorations and tasty treats add festive warmth to holiday fun at both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Guests can also book guided holiday tours that provide expedited entry into the “it’s a small world” holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday, VIP seating for the Disneyland “A Christmas Fantasy” parade and entertaining information about the history behind Disneyland holiday traditions. For information and reservations guests can visit Disneyland City Hall or call (714) 781-4400.
Other returning holiday favorites at Disneyland park include:
The Downtown Disney District and the Disneyland Resort hotels will join in the merriment with twinkling lights and ornaments, special entertainment and holiday dining.
Just in time for the holidays, new entertainment comes to life in both parks. At Disney’s California Adventure, the daily “Pixar Play Parade” is joined three times each day by performances of the energetic, traveling rock and dance concert show, “High School Musical 3: Senior Year – Right Here! Right Now!” Also new to Disney’s California Adventure is the Blue Sky Cellar, a Walt Disney Imagineers’ workshop that offers guests a preview of new attractions coming to the park over the next few years.
At Disneyland, in addition to the reopening of the doors to Sleeping Beauty Castle, guests have a new opportunity to explore the world of Tinker Bell inside Pixie Hollow, a magical place where visitors meet “Tink” and her pixie friends.
Expanded hours at both Disneyland Resort theme parks will extend the holiday fun. For more information about holidays at the Disneyland Resort, and to send Disneyland Resort e-card holiday greetings to friends and relatives, visit www.disneyland.com/holidays.
I’ve been hesitant to post the following news since registration for this event has closed once already and could close again at anytime. The event I’m speaking of is a 25 minute Walt Disney World Annual Passholder only tour of the Superstar Television Theater at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, home to the upcoming American Idol Experience attraction. The tour is happening at various times during the day on December 14th, 2008 and the following times are still available as of this reports posting:
Updated at 6:15 PM EST on 11/14- every half hour from 3:30-7:30 PM now remaining
Space is limited and filling up fast, so if you are interested and can attend, you should rush over to disneyworld.com/passholder and sign up under “News & Upcoming Events”. The American Idol Experience attraction is expected to have full Annual Passholder previews sometime in January 2009 and open to the public the following month.
Walt Disney World Tickets seem to have switched to a new, more durable texture than the paper tickets that most have used to enter the WDW Theme Parks and Water Parks in the past. Here is a special video from our own Jose Eber showing us just how durable these new ticket media are:
I have 2 pieces of news for you that I wanted to bring out in one post. First off, as was expected (we just didn’t know when), the Main Street Christmas tree has been installed in the park. This year is the first year a fake tree is being used, due to the new LED lights that have been installed in the tree to go along with the Sleeping Beauty Castle Lighting Show.
The 2nd piece is a rather shocking piece. Captain Jack Sparrow has been cut as a meet ‘n greet character in the park, which basically means that after November 15th, you’ll no longer be able to meet with Jack anywhere in Disneyland. I find it quite odd that if they’re trying to conserve money by cutting characters, that they cut Jack first, who seemingly is one of the more popular meet ‘n greet characters at the Resort. Again, this could just be a temporary thing, so be sure to stay tuned to Disneyland News Today for the latest.
This just in from the Walt Disney World Resort:
November 12, 2008 – Marking a first in both the travel and mobile industries, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Verizon are teaming up for a multi-year relationship designed to enhance the guest experience – before, during and after guests arrive at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. This alignment allows guests to have a personal tour guide right in their wireless phones along with reliable new services at the parks. Early next year guests will also use Verizon Wireless’ technology when experiencing Disney’s Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, an ultra-interactive attraction coming to Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort.
“With more than 90 percent of families bringing a mobile phone into our Parks, our objective was to enhance the magical Disney experience through innovative wireless technology,” said Jay Rasulo, Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “Imagine receiving up to the minute tips on special Park activities with just the touch of a button or receiving a call from Buzz Lightyear welcoming you to the Magic Kingdom.”
Beginning next year, guests will be able to access an array of features on their Verizon Wireless phones while at the Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort to help them make the most of their Disney experiences. Planned services include an exclusive mobile application that will give guests with Verizon Wireless service the ability to easily locate shows, restaurants and the Disney characters anywhere inside the Parks; get real-time attraction availability information; access mobile games; receive messages from characters and more. Verizon Wireless is also continuing to invest in its wireless network from coast to coast, and the relationship with Disney means the wireless users will benefit from further enhancements to the Verizon Wireless network in the Parks.
John Harrobin, senior vice president of digital media and marketing for Verizon, said, “All of our efforts focus on one goal: making the Disney experience even better for our customers. There are few life experiences that are more memorable than visiting a Disney Park, and now guests with Verizon Wireless service will unlock even more magic from their visit – by navigating the Parks easier and faster with instant access to key information such as ‘Where’s Mickey now?’ and other special features – even when they travel home and share their experiences with family and friends.”
In addition, guests visiting Epcot in Walt Disney World Resort in early 2009 will be among the first to experience Disney’s Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. An ultra-interactive attraction, Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure invites guests of all ages to team up with members of Team Possible to save the world from various comical villains and their mad inventions. Armed with an official Verizon Wireless “Kimmunicator,” guests will use these handheld devices to help maneuver through the mission. The interactive wireless theme park game was inspired by Disney Channel’s Emmy® Award-winning animated series, “Kim Possible.”
While Verizon Wireless customers will have exclusive access to an array of enhanced features, Disney and Verizon are also working to ensure that some mobile information such as dining locations, show times and locations will be available to all Parks visitors, regardless of their wireless company.
Additional details will be available next year as the companies expect to add a suite of services and functionalities to help guests at Disney Parks have the most magical experience. For more information about Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, visit www.disney.com. For more information about Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.
Disney Parks and Resorts – Taking Guests to New Frontiers
The agreement between Disney and Verizon is another step in a series of new initiatives that highlight the latest technologies from Disney Parks and Resorts with a continued focus on improving guest experience and providing immersive entertainment. Disney Parks and Resorts continue to exemplify how technologies can be used to build new connections and redefine how guests plan and enjoy their vacations. From the time guests begin planning their vacation using Walt Disney World Resort in 3D on Google Earth or tuning into Disney Travel on Demand, the experience is designed to make their lives easier. Guests can take their vacation experience to a new level with Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, an interactive wireless theme park game for families, and by personalizing and sharing their Disney experiences when they return home, using DisneyLink, a desktop application.
Now I can’t say we haven’t discussed some of these ideas for a while, but we weren’t always expecting Disney to align with Verizon for this content. Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today as we gather more information on this breaking news.
For our second photo report of the day, here is Jose Eber with a photo update taken earlier this afternoon:
Christmas banners at the Magic Kingdom parking entrance
This very cool picture is appearing everywhere this year
Decorations near the Magic Kingdom entrance
The Santa Clause meet and greet area
Is it really that soon?
Now lets move over to Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Construction on the Bay Lake Tower
Work finishing up on the Contempo Cafe
The new counter service dining spot will open on Saturday
Here is the menu:
Flatbreads
Cheese, Pepperoni, or Marinated Beef with oven roasted Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese & Arugula
Salads Tossed To-Go
Caesar Salad, Chicken Chop Salad, Roasted Curry Vegetable and Bulgar Salad, or Steakhouse Salad
Cold Sandwiches
Multigrain Turkey BLT or Stacked Salad
Kid’s Picks
Cheese and Pepperoni Pizza, Mini-Turkey and Cheese Sandwich, Chicken Nuggets, or Hamburger
Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today for more on this new dining location as it becomes available
