Dirk Wallen’s 11/3/14 WDW Photo Report (Walls Down at Disney Springs, New Concept Art, Big Hero 6, Christmas Merch, ETC)

WDWNT on November 25, 2014

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Disney Springs, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot this week and he has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us in this HUGE photo report, so let’s get started:

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Plenty of roadwork still to be done for Disney Springs

A new piece of elevated track is rising on the West Side, between Splitsville and Wolfgang Puck

We now know this large building with be the Boathouse

Disney announced this new restaurant concept last week

They wasted no time in adding ads to the walls for the restaurant

Concept art for the façade of the Boathouse

The small waterside park in The Landing opened this weekend

A nice little area for relaxing and live entertainment

Some of the buildings are out from behind construction walls in The Landing

New concept art for the area now on construction walls

There is a giant inflatable Baymax from Big Hero 6 on the West Side…

These storefronts in The Landing are just about done

The bridge in the Marketplace is also nearing completion

Two small, temporary stores operated by Something Silver opened by Fulton’s recently

The Marketplace bridge with the Rainforest Café façade refurbishment in the background

Shifting gears, Christmas merchandise has invaded the resort

Ornaments

Some Star Wars holiday pins were released

Plenty of Big Hero 6 merchandise is available around the resort

2015 calendars available

New “I Conquered” shirt

Iron Man and Captain America shirts

New Star Wars character glasses

New Darth Vader t-shirt

Some new merchandise was released at the Art of Animation Resort

Over at Epcot, walls finally came down around the area that was closed when a water main was hit after the Flower and Garden Festival

No visible progress at Norway’s Frozen attraction

We tweeted these weeks ago, but if you haven’t seen, some new retro EPCOT Center merchandise has been released

A quick stop at Animal Kingdom reveals work walls near Pangani Forest and Kilimanjaro Safaris

No visible changes at AVATAR, it’s impossible to see from inside the park

Moving to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, work continues on Starbucks and the Trolley Car Café

Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey…

Big Hero 6 merchandise carts replace the Frozen carts

Banners up in the Animation Courtyard

Work has finally begun on the Big Hero 6 meet and greet inside The Magic of Disney Animation

Big Hero 6 billboard by The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow

Let’s journey inside the new Wandering Oaken’s

Purchase with purchase Frozen bag available

Jim Shore has released some Frozen statues

Osborne Lights are ready to go

No more Backlot Tour…

Africa Expansion Announced for Animal Kingdom, New “Harambe Marketplace” Counter Service Restaurant Coming in 2015

WDWNT on November 25, 2014

In the midst of all of the work happening at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, we finally know what’s happening behind those constructions walls in Africa:

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As you have probably seen if you’ve been by Mombasa Marketplace and the entrance to the Wildlife Express Train, construction work is taking place and even more new structures are under way. The Africa Marketplace, as the new area will be known, will open next Spring and expanded merchandise offerings, offer an alternate pathway to travel to Asia and a new quick service restaurant. The quick-service restaurant, the Harambe Marketplace, will feature a number of different food offerings at walk-up windows. This themed colonial-era marketplace will offer produce and raw goods that come straight from Harambe by train. Based on Guest feedback, you’ll see plenty of shade to enjoy while guests relax and eat during their visit.

Tom Corless’ 9/30/14 WDW Photo Report (Big Hero 6 Art, Backlot Tour, Rivers of Light, New Frozen Merchandise, ETC.)

WDWNT on October 24, 2014

It was quite the busy weekend at Walt Disney World, so I managed to visit all 4 parks to see what was new and have a ton of newsworthy photos to share with you in today’s report:

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The Studio Backlot Tour closed forever on Saturday

A Big Hero 6 exhibit can now be found at the Magic of Disney Animation

Moving over to Epcot, menu changes have been made a the Electric Umbrella

I decided to try the French Dip burger

It was surprisingly good!

I also tried the Pumpkin Macaroon from the France ice cream parlor and it was amazing.

Over at the Magic Kingdom, this low clearance was added in the bus stop to ensure busses go the right way through the loop

The awning on the boat dock at the entrance was replaced, it’s now red instead of green

The latest progress on the hub at the Magic Kingdom

The Astro Orbiter reopened this weekend, but you can read more about that here

The leave-your-phone charging stations in Tomorrowland have all been closed, the test period came to an end and we’ll now have to wait to see if it was a success and is brought back

New Space Mountain ladies’ shirt

New men’s “I conquered Space Mountain” shirt

This artwork was previously on a black t-shirt and slightly different

Dumbo character sketches are now being sold at Big Top Souvenirs

New Beast plush for sale at Bonjour Village Gifts

Instead of selling generic items, there is a now a Beauty and the Beast shield toy

If you don’t have a FastPass for it, prepare to arrive at Be Our Guest at park opening to get a return time to eat lunch there or you’ll be turned away

Even more of Sir Mickey’s has been taken over by Frozen merchandise, even Ariel merchandise got pushed out

Some new Frozen artwork for sale

A two-sided Olaf ceramic ornament was just released

Queue work continues at Peter Pan’s Flight

We thought it would only be at Disneyland, but the Zero popcorn bucket was released at the Magic Kingdom! It costs over $13 but has a light-up nose feature

Strange new t-shirts…

LOVE this new sweatshirt!

Odd new Magic Kingdom shirt

Simple, but nice

Halloween 2014 Duffy

Some of the Haunted Mansion 45th anniversary lithographs have made it to Florida

An awesome new print by Alex Maher

In preparation for “Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It!”, video screens are being installed on the floats

Moving over to animal Kingdom, it’s still a mess

At least all of the construction walls are decorated now

The UP meet and greet has seen better days

“it’s tough to be a bug” re-opened this weekend

Most of the nets installed to protect guests from falling particles have finally been removed from the queue

There are still nets by the base of the tree, not sure if these will stay here

work is picking up on the new nighttime show, Rivers of Light

The Everest shrine is behind walls and probably will be until the construction is done in late 2015/early 2016

Since one of the Wilderness Explorers’ answers is behind walls, they made a copy and placed it on the walls

The walls wrap around most of the river

We can peek through and see that the construction vehicles are already in place, ready to start working on the show and viewing area

Some sort of new structure is going up by Flame Tree Barbecue

An Oswald Christmas ornament was released

9/16/14 Walt Disney World Photo Report (Rivers of Light Construction, AVATAR, Polynesian DVC, Magic Kingdom, ETC.)

WDWNT on September 30, 2014

WDWNT Reporters Joe Hogarty and Dirk Wallen have been busy visiting the parks this week and have some great photos from Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom to share with us, so let’s take a look:

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Work continues on the Disney Vacation Club wing at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

A look at the current progress on the bungalows

Work is also continuing on the hub project at the Magic Kingdom

The Halloween statues are finally in the hub for this year

Meanwhile, the permanent hub statues have been removed for future construction, but should return next year

Olaf? Kind of looks like Dilbert…

The crane is up behind Cinderella Castle installing Elsa’s magic…

They finally installed a permanent sign telling guests they can see Anna and Elsa in the parade if they don’t want to wait forever

The former Seven Dwarfs Mine shop is still behind walls

The Astro Orbiter wraps up its refurbishment on September 27th

The Disney Vacation Club booth in Tomorrowland is behind walls, hopefully for some fresh paint since bulldozing this would see the removal of the last former ticket booth left inside of the park

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Joe Hogarty visited Animal Kingdom to check out all of the construction happening there

Discovery Island is still quite a mess as they build a new breezeway for easier exiting from the new nighttime show, Rivers of Light

You can see workers out fixing the Tree of Life during the park’s operating hours as they race to meet deadlines

Some of the walls will be up for a few months, so Disney has done their best to make them a good photo-op in some areas

“it’s tough to be a bug” is still closed until September 27th

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Walls up by Flame Tree Barbecue

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Another look at the work on the Tree of Life

Construction has begun on Rivers of Light, the new nighttime show for the park

A large viewing area will be constructed along the section of the Discovery River that separates Dinoland and Asia

It will be at least a good 18 months until you can get those glamor shots of Everest again thanks to the construction walls

But, there’s quality photo-ops like this one…

No Dream Builders signs being used here, “Disney’s animal Kingdom is about to show a whole new side”

There are a lot of walls…

These walls appear along the Theater in the Wild stroller parking path in Dinoland

Another look at the home to Rivers of Light

Shall we peek into AVATAR-land?

Nothing too exciting yet…

Dirk Wallen’s 8/28/14 WDW Photo Report (Animal Kingdom, All-Star Resorts)

WDWNT on September 5, 2014

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s All-Star Music Resort earlier this week and has some newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look at what’s new:

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The Tree of Life behind walls as work is being done to repair it and prepare for the new nighttime lighting that will illuminate the tree in the evening.

A new pathway is being cleared out behind Disney Outfitters, likely a new path to help guests exit faster when leaving after Rivers of Light

The path will cut straight through to the other side near Flame Tree BBQ

Walls are also up at Flame Tree BBQ

“it’s tough to be a bug” is closed for a few more weeks until work is completed at the Tree of Life

The new path around the marketplace in Africa is also still behind walls

We can see cranes, but not much else happening over in AVATAR-land

The food court at All-Star Music is getting an overhaul, so you can either dine in the temporary dining location or grab a bus to All-Star Movies

The temporary dining location is in the arcade

Show Times Released for Festival of the Lion King in the New Harambe Theatre

WDWNT on June 29, 2014

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Festival of the Lion King will be reopening on Sunday June 1, 2014 in the newly built Harambe Theatre in Africa at Animal Kingdom. Just like in it’s previous location, shows will run every hour on the hour beginning at 10:00 am.

Shows will run until 7:00 pm on all nights except for Saturdays when they close early to prepare for the hard ticket event Harambe Nights. On Saturdays the last performance will be at 4:00 pm. On Thursday June 5th shows will also end early (last performance at 4:00 pm) for a final dress rehearsal.

VIDEO: Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade Emotionally Closes 13 Year Run at Animal Kingdom

WDWNT on June 29, 2014

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On Saturday, May 31st, Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park concluded 13 years of daily entertaining guests at the park. The parade is going away to accommodate a fair amount of construction around the park, both for infrastructure guests won’t really see and for the Rivers of Light nighttime spectacular that will debut before AVATAR opens in early 2017.

We recorded 2 angles of the parade, when it first stepped-off and began its final performance and again when the parade concluded and returned backstage for the very last time. Enjoy:

VIDEO: Festival of the Lion King “Roars” Into New Harambe Theatre at Animal Kingdom

WDWNT on June 29, 2014

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On June 1st, 2014, Festival of the Lion King at Disney’s Animal Kingdom returned in a brand new venue, the Harambe Theatre in Africa, behind the Dawa Bar and Tusker House Restaurant. WDWNT Reporter John Corigliano was on the scene to get video of the show:

Not much has changed in the show, but the new lighting and such makes a big difference. Festival of the Lion King was moved to accommodate the construction of the AVATAR themed land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, set to open in early 2017.

Cameron Speaks – Pandora: The Land of AVATAR? Most Advanced Audio-Animatronics Ever?

WDWNT on June 29, 2014

“It’s going to be called, I believe, Pandora: The Land of Avatar”

AVATARart

James Cameron recently spoke to the media at the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival about the upcoming “AVATAR Land” project for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. According to /Film, he had the following to say:

It’s going to have floating mountains. It’s pretty cool. I’ve seen the model and the design work the Imagineering people have done is spectacular. They’ve got a quarter inch to the foot scale model of the whole park and I’ve looked at all the sight lines…it’s not a park, it’s a land within the park but a land is not just a ride. There will be several rides and a number of other attractions. It’s really just a place you’re gonna wanna go and hang out. It’s gonna be gorgeous. Of course it’s gonna be gorgeous at night and they’re using every new trick, every new bit of technology that they’ve created.

The animatronics for the Na’vi characters are gonna be fantastic. For example, their early animatronics would use 12 axis of motion and I think the most they’ve ever done was 32 axis recently. I think they’re up to 64 just in the face of the Na’vi characters. So it’s gonna be remarkable. They really see it as a major, major attraction.

If what Cameron says is to be believed, we may be in for something really special…

The AVATAR area at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is scheduled to open in early 2017.

6/16/14 Walt Disney World Photo Report (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs)

WDWNT on June 29, 2014

In an effort to best keep you updated with what is going on at Walt Disney World, we will be providing a comprehensive photo report every Monday. Should we attend anything of note during the week, we will of course continue to post videos and smaller photo reports on other weekdays, but Monday will offer the largest and most detailed on a weekly basis. With that being said, let’s dive in and see what’s new as of June 16th, 2014:

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Avatar construcvtion is in full swing at Animal Kingdom and you can clearly see the cranes over the tree-line from the parking lot

A Lion King musical “ocarina” mug is now for sale at the Harambe Popcorn cart

It comes with sheet music to show you how to play a few Disney songs

Some work happening by this gate between Africa and Asia

Walls also up by Creature Comforts on Discovery Island

Moving on to Disney Springs, work continues on Food Truck Park on the West Side

More of the elevated area that is supposed to be abandoned train tracks has appeared in the park area

A soccer store called United World Soccer has opened on the West Side, just in time for the World Cup

The store was quite busy on Saturday, but it was Car Masters Weekend

Pleasure Island continues its conversion into The Landing

Construction finally happening in the old Harley-Davidson location

The waterway between Pleasure Island and Marketplace is behind walls, also, one of the old PI train ticket booths is gone

Work continues outside of Fulton’s and Portobello

The latest progress on the new Marketplace bridge

The area between T-Rex and the LEGO store is a mess right now

Reminds me of 2010 at Disney California Adventure

The former site of Pollo Campero

Looking towards World of Disney

If you go this way, you will be funneled into LEGO

A look at the lake from the LEGO area

I hit Marketplace Co-Op to pick up some things and also tried my hand at creating a phone case. The process is fairly simple…

Moving over to Epcot, removal of the Flower and Garden Festival is still taking place… more on that later…

The Odyssey is actually open and hosting World Cup viewing all-day long

Come on in!

The interior is nicely decorated

There’s even a physical board they will update through the rounds of the World Cup

Tables and chairs are set-up inside, but there are also some cushy leather chairs in the first two rows in front of the big screen

The side pockets of the room are also filled with chairs and smaller screens

Some modest food offerings inside as well

There’s even a store filled with Epcot World Cup merchandise!

So, where the butterfly garden was located, apparently the workers hit a water main and now the entire area is being excavated…

No Figment comics remaining at Imagination!, they sold out pretty quick

As a result of the damaged water main, the Imagination! waterfall is off

Some ponds in the area have been drained as well

Olaf carrot cake cupcake for sale at the Main Street Bakery

There’s also a Frozen cupcake

We had dinner at the Be Our Guest Restaurant last night…

It had been a little while since we had been here, but the menu again had some new additions and price hikes

The current kid’s menu

The grey stuff is now offered as a dessert, served on top of a chocolate cake. It was still delicious!