Pure Enchantment Goes Dark

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

When major construction begins on the Liberty Square bridge this August, Spectromagic will be getting a two week vacation. While Spectromagic will not be performing at the Magic Kingdom from August 15 to the 29, there will be two showings of the park’s daytime parade. The Disney Dreams Come True Parade will be running two performancesduring this time, one at 3:00pm and another at 7:00pm, on a new parade route while Spectromagic sits in the parade warehouse and awaits the completion of the work on the bridge that connects Liberty Square and Main Street. Stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information on these changes becomes available.

Dateline Disneyland Picture Update

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

Let’s take a look at some various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from this week’s Dateline Disneyland on MiceAge:


All of Innoventions, including the new Innoventions Dream Home, is now finally open!


Would you believe that Innoventions actually has a line!?


Tom Morrow still greets guests on video & as an animatronic…


… Not sure how this will work with all the new stuff


From Tom, you apparently go on to a mini-game show about ABC TV shows (no prizes awarded, of course)


The inner walls are lined with various murals featuring past & present Tomorrowland icons


From there you finally enter the Innoventions Dream Home! Check the Dateline Disneyland article for a full photo guide of the new Dream home (way too many pictures to share here). The link is at the top of this post


You exit the Dream Home through the Elias Family Party Tent…


… And then you go up the stairs that take you to the Segway Experience on the 2nd floor


Here’s a look at the placing of the new Wall-E meet ‘n greet in Hollywood Pictures Backlot


These sponsor themed ads are apparently new

Be sure to check the Dateline Disneyland article for, as I said, many more pictures of the Innoventions Dream Home, as well as a look at Toy Story Midway Mania, the Grand Californian Expansion, & new posters inside the Disneyland Hotel! The link is at the top of the post.

Dateline Disneyland Picture Update

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

Let’s take a look at some various things going on through-out the Disneyland Resort from this week’s Dateline Disneyland on MiceAge:


The latest map covers, promoting the Summer of Hidden Mysteries & Toy Story Midway Mania


The latest attractions at the Resort are promoted in the inside flap

Adventure Roadmaps are given to guests at the parking lot toll booths, as part of the TSMM/Honda Pilot cross promotion


Really easy trivia questions to answer as you make your way around DCA, & then send it in for the sweepstakes


Toy Story Midway Mania now being promoted at the Mickey & Friends Tram Station


As mentioned yesterday, the Green Army Men are in the Esplanade letting guests know that Toy Story Midway Mania is in fact in DCA, & not Disneyland


Guests can climb into this Honda Pilot & check it out, much like with the post-show at Test Track in Epcot… “DCA or Bust!”


Toy Story **cough Midway cough*** Mania ad in the Esplanade


This toy Spring Action Shooters, that a certain Staff Member of DLNT badly wants, are now available in the Midway Mercantile


Even though the Innoventions Dream Home is now proclaimed open, regular guests can not enter it. I presume all guests must still enter through the exit of Innoventions. Be sure to check out this Dateline Disneyland update (linked at the beginning of this post) for many “up above” pictures!


The Tomorrowland/Fantasyland smoking area has finally been moved from by the Tomorrowland Train Station…


… It’s now the back half of Fantasia Gardens


Work is finally going on at the old Seasons of the Vine theater

Review of the New Monorail

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

From the OC Register:

At about 5 p.m. today the first members of the public boarded the new Mark VII Monorail at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland station.

While some people who went on the first red monorail trip seemed to think it was just another monorail, some guests were thrilled to be on the new train.

“It was air conditioned and it was pretty,” said 8-year-old Bethany Masten from Sacramento. Masten and her family were on the first public trip with the new monorail.

Disney marked the arrival of the new monorail train with signs throughout the park. And the monorail features more than just the red sides, blue glass windows and blue-lighted floors and seat backs. The train’s message also reflects the new train.

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome aboard the monorail 7,” the speakers sounded on each ride around the park. Later, the recorded message says, “You’re riding on the new Mark 7 Monorail, the latest-generation Disneyland monorail.

“I have no other monorail experiences to compare this to, but this train looks pretty futuristic,” admitted 38-year-old John Sturgeon. This was the first visit to Disneyland for Sturgeon and his family who came to the park from Silver City, New Mexico.

On that same, second ride for the public, was Catherine Keene of San Diego. She admitted that she made her group wait for the new train, which she said looks much cooler than the old train and that also rides more smoothly.

“We saw the red monorail driving along the tracks all day. It looked so pretty and new, so we all wanted to ride on it,” Keene said.

On a ride around the track with a monorail driver, Scott Kea, he said that a few things have changed for the drivers. He said the new train has more cameras, the ability for drivers to talk to specific sections of the train and a “cushier” seat for the driver.

While some guests did not know about the new train, Michael Villanueva, a 29-year-old from Brentwood, was excited for the new train. As he walked up on the monorail platform he said of the old-style monorail train “that one’s boring, I want to go on the new one.”

Villanueva said he’s been waiting for the red monorail to open. He saw the monorail testing earlier in the day, but when he saw signs announcing that guests could go on the monorail he said he ran to the monorail station in Tomorrowland.

“I was like ahhhhhh I have to ride on the new monorail,” he said.

Disney Spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said the red monorail’s soft opening means it will be open off and on throughout the weekend. She did not know when the monorail would begin full-time operations for park guests.

A History Lesson

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

Here is a short time line explaining the history and many developments in audio-animatronics technology over the years:

Early 1950s
Walt Disney purchases a mechanical bird while vacationing in Europe. The souvenir becomes the inspiration for Audio-Animatronics technology.
1951
Work begins on “Project Little Man.”  Roger Broggie and Wathel Rogers, pioneers in Audio-Animatronicstechnology, create a miniature figure that is programmed with cams, cables and tubes to mimic tap-dancing routines performed by the late Buddy Ebsen.
1963
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room opens at Disneyland.  It’s the first show to feature Audio-Animatronics technology.
1964
The world’s first fully animated human figure, Abraham Lincoln, debuts at the New York World’s Fair in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.  The figure causes a sensation, not just with the audience, but with Disney Imagineers, who were able to complete the figure in half the time they anticipated.
Audio-Animatronics figures are also in three other World’s Fair shows designed and produced by Disney: Carousel of Progress (featuring figures animated using a programming harness, a precursor of today’s motion capture systems), Magic Skyway and it’s a small world.
1964
Two Audio-Animatronics birds, Robin and Umbrella, appear in “Mary Poppins.”  Walt Disney reinvests profits from the film to create MAPO, an organization within Walt Disney Imagineering dedicated to creating and innovating Audio-Animatronics figures.
1965
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln – featuring the Audio-Animatronics figure of Abraham Lincoln (actually, a duplicate since the original was still performing at the World’s Fair) – opens at Disneyland.
1970
Audio-Animatronics technology enters the computer age with the use of DACS (Digital Animation Control System), a computer-controlled playback system for Disney shows and attractions.  Imagineers also begin using the Anicon-Animation Console – for animating and programming figures.
1989
The first A-100 Audio-Animatronics figure, the Wicked Witch of the West, debuts as part of The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) in Walt Disney World Resort.  A-100 figures incorporate compliance technology that gives the characters more fluid and realistic movements.
1992
Pirates of the Caribbean opens at Disneyland Paris.  Attraction features sword-fighting pirates figures.
1998
Hopper, the grasshopper from the Disney•Pixar film “A Bug’s Life,” is the most sophisticated Audio-Animatronics figure produced to date.  Featuring 74 functions, the character appears in “It’s Tough to be a Bug!”
2002
The first portable, all-electric Audio-Animatronics figure, Meeko, the raccoon from the Disney animated film “Pocahontas,” appears.  He’s in a basket carried by Pocahontas.
2003
The first totally autonomous Audio-Animatronics figure, Lucky the Dinosaur, makes his debut, at Disney’s California Adventure.
2006
The yeti, a major element of Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, is the largest and most powerful Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Standing more than 18 feet tall, the thrust of the yeti’s arm has the equivalent amount of force as a 747 jumbo jet.
2007
The Muppet Mobile Lab, featuring Muppets Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker, marks the first time that free-roaming Audio-Animatronics characters can interact and converse with each other, as well as with guests they encounter along their way.
2008
Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story Mania! at both Disney’s California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios marks the first time that anAudio-Animatronics figure features lips with such a wide range of lifelike movements, can remove and re-attach a body part (his ear) and has digitally animated eyes that can look directly at the particular guest with whom he is conversing. Also, since Mr. Potato Head has more lines of dialogue than any Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering, it has required more programming hours than any other figure.

MintCrocodile’s DLR Pictorial

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

Staff Photographer MintCrocodile is back with a look at the latest happenings around the Disneyland Resort:


A these 2 lines new?


New sign for the Art of Disney at the exit of Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years


The Dream banners are back


Monorail Red is finally taking guests


Speaking of stuff that finally happened… SPACE MOUNTAIN IS CLEAN!


This is where the tree in New Orleans Square that fell was a couple of days ago


Looks like Single Rider is now operating over at Toy Story Midway Mania

You can find more of Mint’s pictures from his latest visit to the Disneyland Resort here!

Monorail Red Will Open to the Public Tonight!

WDWNT on July 4, 2008

From the OC Register:

Disney’s Monorail Red (or Mark VII) will open to the public this evening as part of a “soft opening.”

Disney Spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said this afternoon that the new monorail train will be open on and off again throughout the weekend.

The Mark VII line of trains (three in all) will slowly replace the current monorail trains. The red monorail is the first to roll-out and the blue train arrived a few weeks ago. No word yet on when the orange train will arrive at the park.

CHECK BACK tonight for an update and photo slide show of the new trains in action.

The public launch of the new red train with blue glass windows was expected to be in late February. But, testing and adjusting the monorail to work perfectly has pushed the opening back again and again.

The biggest change to the monorail trains is in the look: The first electric cars have blue glass and red stripes that change color in the sunlight. The next two cars will be blue with purple glass and orange with blue glass.

Bench seats will face the windows, allowing visitors a full view of the parks, Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel. The capacity and speed will remain the same.

The Monorail started in 1959 as part of Disneyland’s first expansion and the track was extended to the Disneyland Hotel in 1961 to a length of two and a half miles.

For three years, Disney Imagineers have been working on the train upgrades.

Cut-Outs or Virtual?

WDWNT on July 3, 2008

Last night I was watching Toy Story 2, & during the Woody’s Roundup TV show part of the movie, I noticed something I had seen before in Toy Story Midway Mania:


In case you didn’t realize, those are the virtual prizes that you can win in Toy Story Midway Mania

Just an interesting tidbit I thought I’d share with y’all!

More From Screamscape

WDWNT on July 3, 2008

Here’s a little bit more from Screamscape, this time on some Disneyland Park rumors:

2008 – It’s A Small World Rehab – Rumor – (7/3/08) According to Screamscape sources Disneyland is moving ahead with a scaled back plan to renovate Small World by adding in a few Disney character figures into the mix in appropriate scenes. If it’s anything like the new Hong Kong version, I’m sure the changes will be welcomed by the time opens and nothing to worry about.

Late 2009 or Early 2010 – Star Tours 2 – Semi-Confirmed – (7/3/08) The latest buzz on Star Tours 2 is that the project is now looking at a Fall 2009 opening date due to some project delays, but it’s still very possible for it to slip back to early 2010.