Adam Roth’s 6/23/12 Magic Kingdom Photo Report

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and he has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us. Dueling Dumbos are flying, Casey Jr. is splashing and soaking, and whole lot is going on at the park, so let’s take a look:

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Let’s get right to Fantasyland

Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train

More steel rises

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid looms in the distance

The new Winnie the Pooh meet and greet is open, replacing Tigger’s Bouncy Place

Dumbo FASTPASS is running and at Philharmagic’s old machines

Another look at Mine Train

Mermaid rockwork extending down towards Storybook Circus

Big Top Souvenirs

We finally have dueling Dumbos!

Timothy now spins and moves on the sign

Only 30 minutes for stand-by… it’s working…

A large wall has appeared on the Mine Train structure

Back to Dumbo

FASTPASS return will skip the tent queue

Love the magic feather on the clock…

The old Dumbo is back as the new Dumbo! Wait… what?

“Transformers: The Ride was much better!”

No interactive queue today 🙁

A photo with two Dumbos? MIND BLOWN!

Disney released some footage of the dueling Dumbos for you to enjoy:

More Mine Train

Big Top Souvenirs

Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station is open

Casey Jr. got fenced in… apparently there were some safety issues with the water and guests climbing in

Other than that, the area looks great!

The animals spin and spray, much nicer than other water play areas

Poor Casey sits in a time out…

The attraction sign is pretty cool too

The backs of the 4 train cars have the years that each WDW park opened – 71, 82, 89, and 98

A nicely themed new merchandise cart sells fitting water-play merchandise

and hats…

This car will be the most popular with the fanboys… they will gather here and tell tales of Horizons

The area behind Casey still needs some work…

This PIXAR short reference was added a few weeks ago

You may recognize this emblem from Town Square Theater

Casey does look pretty great though

He even blinks!

This is always pretty disturbing…

Looking into Mermaid, you can see trees and ship wreckage are now visible

The new Winnie the Pooh meet and greet

Castle Wall construction

Mystery walls still up by the Carousel

Snow White is still closed… and it ain’t reopening anytime soon…

Only visible change is the missing attraction sign which we assume has gone to the archives

Dumbo FASTPASS, that way!

It isn’t going to open, so I’m not sure why he turned around…

If you haven’t exited by now…

Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo now share the Philharmagic FASTPASS distribution

The new signs are cool, and they give you the standby wait for each ride

More Castle Wall work

Vertical construction has begun on the old Skyway area

Looks like Rapunzel’s tower to me 😉

For the nerd in your family, anything on this shelf will do

The Crow’s Nest is closed! The sign is down… it would be a shame to lose one of the park’s oldest shops, formerly sponsored by Kodak…. We’ll keep an eye on this

Wendell!

Not sure what happened here

Skyway construction visible from across the park

Work continues on the Main Street Bakery

I still think this has something to do with Starbucks…

Package Pick-Up still behind tarps as well

As is The Confectionary and the Chapeau

Looks like the Snow White poster is finally down and now Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom has its own poster

Big Thunder Mountain is on the maps now… I can’t remember the last time that happened

Menu Revealed for “Be Our Guest” Restaurant, Reservations Open August

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

From Pam Brandon on the Disney Parks Blog:

Braised pork for lunch and a grilled strip steak for dinner – Chef Michael Deardorff had a hard time choosing, but says those are two of his favorites from the new menu for Be Our Guest Restaurant in New Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom Park.

Guests can start making reservations in late August (we’ll let you know the exact date as soon as we can), with the restaurant to be open for the holidays.

Chef Deardorff has been at the helm in Disney kitchens for 25 years, most recently as part of the opening of the restaurants at Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawai’i. Now he’s back to open Be Our Guest, inspired by “Beauty and the Beast,” with three dining rooms and seats for over 500 guests.
“Lunch is quick service, but not traditional counter service,” says Deardorff. Guest-activated terminals make ordering a snap (there also will be traditional cashiers for cash orders and special dietary requests). You order, take a seat and lunch is delivered to your table – on china, not paper.

Back to the menu. “It’s all about simple, fresh ingredients,” says Deardorff. “Just like your favorite quick-service restaurants across Magic Kingdom Park, you’ll be able to enjoy sandwiches and salads at Be Our Guest Restaurant for lunch, but all with a twist that transports you to the French setting of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’”
There’s a little French bistro flavor with tuna Niçoise salad and a Croque Monsieur sandwich with carved ham, Gruyere cheese, bĂ©chamel and pommes frites (a fancy term for French fries). Or go for the carved turkey on a warm baguette with Dijon mayonnaise, or the grilled steak sandwich with garlic butter spread, both with pommes frites. Heartier fare includes braised pork that’s cooked for eight hours, and for vegetarians, there’s a loaded vegetable quiche or quinoa, shallot and chive salad.

Dinner is table service, with diverse starters such as a charcuterie plate with cured meats and sausages, mussels steamed in white wine, French onion or potato leek soup, and a salad with champagne vinaigrette. We’re intrigued by the salad trio with three mini tastes of roasted beet, raisins and orange; green beans, tomatoes and roasted shallots; and watermelon, radish and mint.

Entrées include a thyme-scented pork rack chop with au gratin pasta, rotisserie rock hen with roasted fingerling potatoes, pan-seared salmon in leek fondue, grilled strip steak with pommes frites, sautéed shrimp and scallops with veggies in puff pastry with creamy lobster sauce, and an oven-baked ratatouille.

Oh, and dessert – we vote for the cupcakes, strawberry cream cheese or triple chocolate. If cupcakes aren’t your favorite sweet ending, there’s a chocolate cream puff and a passion fruit cream puff.

For kids 9 and under, the lunch entrĂ©es include a carved turkey sandwich, roasted pulled pork, Mickey meatloaf, seared mahi mahi, or whole-grain macaroni topped with marinara and mozzarella. For dinner, it’s grilled steak, grilled fish of the day, whole-grain macaroni or grilled chicken breast.

“We think guests will be pleasantly surprised with the menu and the value,” says Deardorff. More updates soon!

Evilos to be at Designer Con

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Designer Con is a convention that incorporates everything in the world of design including apparel, plush, printing, sculpture, designer toys, and art ranging from fine to urban. At this year’s event in California, Evilos will once again have a ton of customs and figures for sale. Including the 12″ Mickey In Carbonite which will be on display and available for purchase a few weeks from now.

Jedi Mickey will be among the many well known customs on display and for sale by Evilos. 5″ Mickey In Carbonites will be $50 and Mickey in Carbonite Jr’s will sell for $20.

–

His DCON Exclusive will be an Alien Pin (No.7) that will be $15 and limited to 100 Signed and Numbered pieces.

Some of the Blind Bags Series 3 customs will be on display as well. Disney Store Artists Gerald Mendez, Erique Pita & Nacho Rodriguez are also scheduled to be guests at the event.

Visit http://evilos.com for more info on Evilos.

Designer Con General Info:

Pasadena California
Saturday November 3rd
9am – 6pm
Tickets are $5 Online and $7 at the door.
Evilos Booth #428 (See Map)

Photos & Video: Cars Wing Opens at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

Thanks to WDWNT photographers Jeff Lukas and Adam Roth, we have an in-depth look at the Cars wing of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort which opened recently. Let’s take a look:

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Welcome to Radiator Springs

Doc Hudson

Sheriff

Ramone

One building enters through Tow Mater’s junkyard

Flo

The Cadillac Range

The Cozy Cone office has restrooms

Another building enters through Casa Della Tires

Unlike in the movie, the sign spins

Luigi

Guido

The Cozy Cones are first-come first-serve cabanas

The back building is the Wheel Well Motel

Lightning McQueen

Sally

Fillmore

Sarge’s Surplus Hut

Sarge

The interior hallways look great

Hidden mickey in the carpet

A look inside the rooms

The sink area looks like a car wash

The table has a map of Route 66

Convertible sofa… GET IT?

Awww, Mater is sleeping

The Lion King wing opens August 10th

Rafiki!

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Back to Cars

Flo’s license plate

Ramone’s plate

Hidden car

Alright… that’s too cool

Looking back towards Nemo

Here’s a video of the new wing:

The Little Mermaid “Completes the Picture” at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

WDWNT on October 29, 2012

There was an interesting article in the latest cast member publication regarding the Little Mermaid wing opening soon at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. We thought you might like to see this:

Completing the picture
‘The Little Mermaid’ joins Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
BY DANIELLE IGLESIAS

When “The Little Mermaid” opened in theaters in 1989, it brought the classic musical fairy tale back to the Walt Disney Animation Studios and ushered in a string of films that marked the “renaissance” of Disney animation. Besides making a splash at the box office, the film chronicling a young mermaid’s dream to become part of the human world also gave young fans a new aquatic heroine to admire.

On Sept. 15, “The Little Mermaid” will do more than round out an already colorful hotel; it will introduce three buildings of 846 standard rooms and a new pool to Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, as well as mark the completion of a resort region that began nearly 10 years ago with Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Opened Dec. 14, 2003, Disney’s Pop Century Resort debuted as a larger-than-life tribute to the fads, phrases and cultural icons from the 1950s through the 1990s. So it’s fitting that the final buildings in the “pop art” region will pay tribute to such an iconic film from the late 20th century.

Unlike the family suites in the “Cars,” “Finding Nemo” and “The Lion King” wings of the resort, the standard rooms feature a more traditional layout that’s perfect for smaller families with ambitious little princes and mermaids of their own. They sleep up to four Guests and feature distinct themed dĂ©cor that will place them right into King Triton’s kingdom, with details like seashell chairs and a grotto in the shower. Sebastian and his undersea orchestra can be found in the courtyard where they prove that they’re devoting full time to floating at the Flippin’ Fins Pool. As the resort reaches completion, Rick Allen, general manager of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, has enjoyed hearing impressions from Guests and Cast Members.

“As each theme has opened, we have had so much fun hearing from Guests and Cast Members which is their favorite room, whether it be because it is their favorite movie or has their favorite character in it,” he said. “The Little Mermaid rooms will be a perfect addition with Ursula, King Triton, Sebastian and, of course, Ariel 
 . We couldn’t be more excited.”

Monorails Back on Track?

WDWNT on October 29, 2012

We found an interesting article at Vinylmation Kingdom today. According to their source, “some Monorails cast chasers will start appearing in trade boxes around the parks.” This would be a very interesting development since we were lead to think the Monorail series was discontinued after seeing this auction at Mickey’s Circus:

Three of the Monorails in the never released series seen above are said to be the Cast Chasers. You can see a picture of them and read the original article here.

At Mickey’s Circus, Disney would neither confirm nor deny the end of the Monorails series. My opinion has always been positive toward this new platform… if it was used correctly. As popular as the Cars franchise is, it seemed like an odd move making the first set entirely Cars themed. Don’t get me wrong, the artwork was fantastic and I picked up a few, but the set did not make as big an impact as a Disney Parks themed set would have. I would have also enjoyed some movie variety in a set. I would be thrilled to see this platform still used, even if it is just for some special combos, LEs and traders here and there.

Adam Roth’s 9/6/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on October 29, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot yesterday and has plenty of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

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The parks are dead

You can see FastPass+ installed at the end

Probably a 5…

FastPass+ installed at Tower as well

Ummmm….

The old Carthay Theater on Sunset Boulevard

Eat your heart out DCA

How am I supposed to take a shortcut through Starring Roles if you are fixing the path?

Heading into Magic of Disney Animation

John Lasseter in Wreck-It Ralph form

Fantastic video game humor on dispaly

Ha

Artists working hard on the new Ink and Paint Cells

There is a Fix-It Felix machine on display, although it is behind glass 🙁

The movie ads on the wall have been updated

Will do a barrel roll? OK, I MUST see this film…

The Animation Gallery still has railroad merchandise

As well as 40th anniversary and “it’s a small world” merchandise

Neat!

Work continues on The Legend of Jack Sparrow

Some strange white markings have appeared on the walls

I’m guessing these are supposed to be the dotted line on a treasure map, but it is too early to tell

I originally thought they might be markers for something, but I don’t think so

We’ll find out soon enough

A crane backstage for some reason

NO WAY…

Yep…

Wow, a TRON penny machine

This machine probably made more money than the movie did… ZING

Phineas and Ferb merchandise has taken over the old Loony Bin

Wait…

Yeah, that isn’t what that was meant for…

The smoking section near Star Tours is behind walls

This planter in front of Sounds Dangerous is also behind walls

American Idol Experience is ready for FastPass+

Moving over to Epcot, Adam was so excited about the blue vehicles at Universe of Energy that he couldn’t hold his camera still

The Test Track facade is getting ripped apart

Wow…

Food and Wine Festival preparations are well underway

After months of work, the La Hacienda fountain is out from behind walls!

Ummm, you’re in the wrong area, Italy is behind you…

AHHHHH!

Wendell from the Country Bears was out as well

“Am I early? “

Cool World Showcase shirt!

Some work being done near the waterway in the France pavilion

Work continues on what is believed to be a DVC booth near the Canada pavilion

More walls up near the Refreshment Port

KHALUA PORK SLIDERS! SOON!