With Barack Obama set to visit Walt Disney World later today, Disney was nice enough to provide some historical video of former presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr., and Gerald Ford during their visits to the Vacation Kingdom:
While the new Disney Vacation Planning DVD didn’t offer much new information on New Fantasyland, there was one interesting piece of concept art and a new description for one of the smaller additions:
“The Casey Jr. water play area will feature water squirting from playful monkeys, elephants, and camels as Casey lets off billows of nice, cool steam.”
From the look of the concept art provided, guests will get to pose for photos with Casey Jr. in the midst of a wild water play area. While it may not be an E-ticket, the attention to character detail shown in the concept art has us pretty excited for this little corner of Storybook Circus.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – June 7, 2012 – Disneyland Resort today welcomed a new Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop to Disney California Adventure park. The new location – the first to open inside a theme park – features Ghirardelli’s world-famous hot fudge sundaes and decadent chocolate products, and represents another milestone in the expansion of Disney California Adventure.
“As we celebrate the culmination of our resort expansion, we are thrilled to welcome Ghirardelli, and to make this unique chocolate experience available to our park guests,” said George A. Kalogridis, president of Disneyland Resort. “Ghirardelli is a perfect fit for our newly reimagined Disney California Adventure, as we both share a rich California heritage.”
The new soda fountain and chocolate shop is located in Pacific Wharf, the San Francisco-inspired area of Disney California Adventure. Guests can visit the location to enjoy treats including sundaes, shakes, and floats, plus a delicious assortment of chocolates and beautifully wrapped gifts. Each guest can enjoy a complimentary sample of the signature Ghirardelli Squares® chocolate.
“We are excited to partner with the Disneyland Resort to open our Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop in Disney California Adventure,” said Martin Thompson, President and CEO of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. “Consumers associate our premium brand with high quality, delicious chocolate and now they will have the opportunity to enjoy both our intense, slow melting chocolate and our decadent ice cream treats inside the park. Our rich heritage began in California 160 years ago this year and opening this store in Disney California Adventure is a perfect way to celebrate.”
Disneyland has released some more photos from inside The Carthay Circle Theater and they are stunning…
One of our WDWNT Reporters visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios earlier tonight to see the one-night-only performance of the “Rock The Night” fireworks spectacular, which turned out to be a slightly altered version of the usual New Year’s Eve show. Enjoy a complete video of the show:
The show was an attempt to get guests away from the Magic Kingdom for the day while President Obama visited. Disney’s Hollywood Studios would typically run Fantasmic! in this situation, but it is currently under refurbishment, so running this show was the only other option. Guests seemed to have a great time, so I would deem this a very successful temporary replacement.
The Land Pavilion at Walt Disney World opened just about 35 years ago with Phase 1 of the rest of Epcot Center on October 1, 1982.
For some undefined reason, this is my favorite pavilion in all of Epcot. It is not the most exciting. It doesn’t have the best food. And it is home to one of the longest wait times and hardest to get Fast Passes in all of Walt Disney World. But I enjoy the Living with the Land boat ride.
It’s a nice relaxing trip through the greenhouses when the rest of the park is hot and in a rush. I enjoy Soarin’. Not as much as most, but the imagineering behind the ride system make it a special experience. I enjoy the smells of the food court. Not sure why, but the mixture of whatever they are cooking up makes me hungry every time. But most of all, I enjoy the sights. The greenery lining the entrance is inviting. The walls, ceilings and carpets are full of color. And then of course, there are the 4 seasons balloons…
And this is were Caley Hicks took her inspiration when designing the 9″ Park 9 The Land figure.
It is a remarkable figure, brilliantly illustrating summer, winter, fall and spring as seen on the four hot air balloons that hang high over the food court. Caley was able to incorporate all the features of each balloon including the bird on summer and butterflies on fall.
For me it’s the colors of this building that stay ingrained in memory and the colors here seem spot on.
The 9″ Park 9 Epcot, The Land figure will be in stores on July 20. The edition size is 1000 and the retail price is $44.95.
Now for a bit of history about The Land. The pavilion underwent a gradual refurbishment beginning on September 27, 1993. The pavilion’s main attraction, Listen to the Land, which took guests on connected boats through various exhibits within the pavilion, reopened mostly unchanged as Living with the Land on December 10, 1993.
The Kitchen Kabaret another of the pavilion’s original attractions featuring an Audio-Animatronics presentation about nutrition, closed on January 3, 1994. It was replaced with a new show titled Food Rocks, which featured some of the elements from the original show with an updated presentation intended to be more modern and appealing to younger audiences. Food Rocks has since closed down to make room for “The Land”‘s newest attraction, Soarin’. Soarin’s massive movie screens and ride mechanics required the construction of a large physical addition to the pavilion itself.
Symbiosis, the last of “The Land”‘s three original attractions, was closed on January 1, 1995. This attraction, which was a cinematic presentation that discussed both the positive and negative aspects of human relationship with the land, eventually reopened as Circle of Life, a new film featuring characters from The Lion King.
Between 2004 and 2005, the pavilion underwent its second major refurbishment. It received a new color scheme and foliage. The walkways and stroller parking to the pavilion’s entrance were redefined and widened. All of the carpeting in the pavilion was replaced, and the main food court was completely redesigned. The pavilion’s signage was updated, incorporating the new color scheme, new typography, and a modernized logotype.
Former Attractions:
Listen to the Land (October 1, 1982 – September 27, 1993)
Kitchen Kabaret (October 1, 1982 – January 3, 1994)
Food Rocks (1994 – January 3, 2004)
Symbiosis (October 1, 1982 – January 1, 1995)
Current Attractions:
Living with the Land (December 10, 1993–Present)
Soarin’ (May 5, 2005–Present)
Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable (January 21, 1995–Present)
Behind the Seeds Tour
Current Dining:
The Garden Grill Restaurant
Sunshine Seasons food court
Take an In-Depth Look at Cars Land in our latest video:
Inspired by Green Builder Media’s VISION House demonstration home series, the experiential exhibit will highlight the major themes of whole-home automation, energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor environment quality, security, multi-generational design, and durability. Visitors will learn that each house is a set of interactive systems, and that proper management of those systems will maximize comfort and minimize operational costs.
WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot on Friday and has some noteworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:
One of the rock arches is being rebuilt in the Oasis
Major reconstruction
Could we refurb this please?
This water fits the theme, but it is disgusting…
Waterfalls running at Everest
Is this photo from 1971?
The steam is still working
Well, he moves more than Harold…
The new Disney Vacation Club logo is everywhere now
On to Epcot where the old Alfredo’s facade is being ripped apart in the long-delayed remodeling of Tutto Italia
This makes me want to cry…
The quick serve window is open at Via Napoli to accommodate guests
Mmmmmm…
More and more of these new directional signs showing up in Future World
The Seas mural is being repaired
Sleepy cuttlefish…
I think they sponsor a golf event of some kind… or am I confused? 😉
How different will this look come October?
This board could use a good washing
Cast Members wrote on some props, probably will be replaced in the refurb
The heat chamber is rumored to be leaving
As is the cold chamber
And those robots might actually be turned off permanently
Plenty of the Chevy cars out there now
These diplays aren’t super-new, but they are all Chevy-related
From Shawn Slater on the Disney Parks Blog:
One of the true delights of the recent holiday season at Disney Parks was a special segment during our evening projection show, “The Magic, The Memories and You!” The faces of Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom Park and “it’s a small world” at Disneyland park were transformed into gingerbread masterpieces, brightly colored packages and palaces of ice.
Well if you enjoyed that, our Creative Entertainment team has another treat in store, just in time for Valentine’s Day! A new show segment is set to debut Feb. 1, inspired by some of the most romantic moments in Disney animation. Cinderella Castle and “it’s a small world” will be covered in red roses for one sequence and turned into a beautiful, star-filled sky for another. During part of the show, spectacular stained glass windows will grace the façades, depicting the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and Belle.
One of my favorite moments comes when the king and queen from “Tangled” appear on a balcony, lifting a single lantern to the sky for their missing daughter. It’s soon joined by hundreds of others, creating a magical sight sure to draw “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! Of course, the most heart-warming part of any segment of “The Magic, The Memories and You!” is the images of our guests, captured by Disney PhotoPass photographers during the day and incorporated into the show each night.
The romance segment is planned to run as part of “The Magic, The Memories and You!” through mid-April but we’re not stopping there. Wait until you see “it’s a small world” as a sand castle in a segment we’re working on for summer. It’s chock full of detail… right up to the point where Goofy rides a wave across the façade, washing it all away to reveal… well, I don’t want to spoil all the surprises!
