Matt Paul has provided us with more pictures from his latest trip to the Walt Disney World Resort. Let’s see what happening at the world:
Guest Relations at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is decked out for the season
Since I always get yelled at by High School Musical fans for a lack of coverage…
we will fill our annual quota in two pictures
Here is another fantastic photo (and video) report by WDWNT Photographer Jose Eber from his latest trip to the world:
Refurbishments on the Fantasyland facades has now moved on to Pinnocchio’s Village Haus
Work is now 100% complete on the new Liberty Square Bridge, no more work in the waterways
Christmas has now taken over Main Street U.S.A.
Tinker Bell movie merchandise has taken over some of the windows
This window that was full of Year of a Million Dreams merchandise has been changed, the first piece of the celebration to disappear with just about a month and a half left in it.
Fresh paint going on another facade on Main Street
Moving over to Disney’s Contemporary Resort, the Contempo Cafe is now open
Here’s a video of the Cafe (boy is it loud on that floor now)
The Holiday napkins have arrived
New promotion, similar bag… 🙁
Continuing construction on the Bay Lake Tower addition
An arial view of the bridge
The lesser seen side of the Bay Lake Tower
Click the above image for a larger version
Here’s a video of the construction on the Bay Lake Tower Jose has taken
Chocolate Advent character with some awesome artwork
Same can be said for these holiday cards
We’ll end this report by looking at this cool recordable gift card holder, again featuring that artwork we love so much
Thanks for the update Jose!!!
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:
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
Here with his first photo report from the Walt Disney World Resort is our own Matt Paul, who spent yesterday visiting three of the theme parks. Let’s see what he found at the World:
Let’s begin at Epcot
The new IBM Thinkplace inside Innoventions is still coming soon
With the end of the Food and Wine Festival, this spot waits for its holiday display
This small area is still being worked on, perhaps for the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure
The Christmas display at the park entrance is starting to be put in place
A strange recycling bin now stands near the ramp to the Epcot Monorail station
Now we’ll move over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The final Super Soap Weekend at Walt Disney World will take place this weekend
The usual stage has been set-up outside the Sorcerer’s Hat
Because of the stage, the High School Musical show will be performing on the Streets of America
A lot has happened since we last looked at the American Idol Experience
All of the signage is up and the attraction is nearing completion
A large screen stands outside the Superstar Television Theater waiting for the first show to begin
The American Idol Experience sign
I think it looks great
The name of the theater is still way too cool 🙂
Matt thought this was a cool picture
Golden Age Souvenirs has closed again as it prepares for some American Idol merchandise
A new logo has appeared on the trampoline units for Block Party Bash
Finally, over to the Magic Kingdom
Here it is, the first of many Cinderella Castle Dreamlights photos for 2008
Even after seeing it in person, I can’t help but say “WOW”
We’ll end Matt’s report with a very cool 2008 holiday shirt with an awesome tag-line: “Joy from the World”
WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth of WDWCelebrations has provided us with another fantastic photo update from around the Walt Disney World Resort during his latest trip. Let’s see what’s new around the world:
The display in the window of the Toy Soldier store over at the United Kingdom pavilion has some new decorations
If you look at the blocks, they spell out Kim Possible
This is another element the country’s shops have added for the upcoming Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure game
Adam ran into a familiar face to those of you who used to visit the Adventurer’s Club at Pleasure Island. Most of the former PI entertainers have already been moved to other roles throughout the Resort.
Tarps are still up in Japan, always seems to be up in this pavilion
A quick look at the old Body Wars attraction exit inside the Festival Center, which closes again today until the beginning of the Flower and Garden Festival in 2009
The Kim Possible game displays are waiting for use inside Innoventions East and West and feature some new wanted posters of Villains from the show
Adam found something rather funny at one of the Food and Wine Festival kiosks
Hosted by Anheuser-Bush
Serving InBev’s (the new owners of the company) signature Stella Artois
Another piece that will be part of the Kim Possible Adventure for the China pavilion
On his way to the Magic Kingdom, Adam snapped some quick shots of continuing work on Disney’s Contemporary Resort
The Bay Lake Tower continues to take shape
The construction site is starting to get pretty clean
Over to the Magic Kingdom
The final strands of the Cinderella Castle Dreamlights have been put in place
The Hall of Presidents….
still closed until July 🙂
We’ll end this report with Adam’s best score to date on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (I didn’t have the heart to tell him how many times I’ve gotten the perfect score)
Thanks Adam!!!
WDWNT Photographer and Videographer Jose Eber has sent us a few pictures and videos of his observations from the last week at the Walt Disney World Resort:
This is the sign guests will be greeted by at the Hall of Presidents until next summer when the show returns
The Country Bear Jamboree has been opened from its refurbishment for a good week and is looking much better than it did just a few weeks ago.
While it awaits the ads for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the boards outside the Magic Kingdom feature this new artwork of Tinkerbell flying over the park
They are now distributing postcards promoting the upcoming Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort (without the bridge that will connect it to the main building)
The back features a short description
We’ll end this report with a video of continuing construction of the new Four Seasons Resort
An opening day Magic Kingdom park attraction will be closing forever on May 25, 2009. The Mickey Mouse Revue show that opened with Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971 and then moved to Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 will be closed down and replaced with the 3rd incarnation of the popular “Mickey’s Philharmagic” 3-D show. After almost 38 years in operation, the classic audio-animatronics Disney character show will be ripped out to make way for an attraction that was inspired by what it replaces.
While Tokyo is often known for spending a ton of money on attractions, it is worth noting that this is the first Fantasyland attraction being replaced in the park. They even still have the older version of the Dumbo attraction with fewer elephants and a very plain design.
While the show has been away from WDW for decades and only lasted 9 years in Orlando, I’m still a little saddened that I won’t be able to see this attraction whenever I manage to get over to Tokyo Disneyland. The official attraction page can be viewed HERE and the press release regarding the replacement HERE.
As we reported many months ago, the Hall of Presidents attraction at the Magic Kingdom will be closing tomorrow for an extensive refurbishment that will last through July 1, 2009. The Orlando Sentinel has released an article today that confirms the rumors we reported a few weeks back, that the Hall will be getting the great new audio system (along with a few other visual upgrades) that was just installed at the Country Bear Jamboree and will be installed over at Mickey’s Philharmagic (an attraction that is barely 5 years old) in January of next year. The piece also reports that George Washington will be getting a chance to talk when the show re-opens next summer, something we had not heard up until this point. Here is the entire article:
Barack Obama or John McCain — here’s one more issue for voters to consider: Which one would they rather listen to at Walt Disney World in the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents show? One of them will get to address visitors each day in the theme park once the animatronic attraction undergoes a renovation.
To make room for a new, robotic version of the 44th president of the United States, Disney will close the 37-year-old Hall of Presidents after today for an extended refurbishment. The show will stay shuttered for more than eight months so Disney can update the hall’s aging light, sound, mechanical, projection and show systems, just as the company has done in recent years with other “classic” Magic Kingdom attractions such as It’s A Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion.
“We’re about to get a new president. And so, since we have to shut down the show anyway to welcome No. 44, we’re going to take the opportunity to . . . refurbish the attractions and the facility and also kind of wave the magic wand around a little bit,” said Pam Fisher, senior show writer for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Updating a ’70s show
First envisioned by Walt Disney in the early 1960s, the show premiered when the Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. In an auditorium, visitors view a 10-minute, panoramic film of American history. The film projects, onto five screens, narrated images of paintings produced by Disney artists in the styles of American masters, from JohnTrumbull to Norman Rockwell. When the film ends and the screens rise, people see a large stage where life-size, robotic figures of every U.S. president are grouped, standing or sitting, for a roll call and a couple of speeches.
The show has always featured a speech by the Lincoln figure. In the 1990s, Disney began adding a second speech by the current president. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recorded their addresses, and Disney hopes to entice the next president to do the same.
“We’ll do everything in our power to make it so,” Fisher said. “We’ve been really lucky so far. It is quite an experience to arrive in the White House and actually be present when the president records his speech for the Hall of Presidents.”
When the show reopens next year July 4, a third figure, George Washington, will also be given a speaking part.
Like many Disney theme-park attractions dating from the 1950s through the early ’70s, the Hall of Presidents’ artwork was created by renowned Disney artists such as Herb Ryman, Sam McKim and John DeCuir. The 70mm film projectors will be replaced with digital-video projection systems, which should give the presentation fresh boldness and clarity, Fisher said.
All of the presidents’ faces were sculpted by Disney artist Blaine Gibson. But he’s 90 years old and, though he remains involved, he is handing off the job of sculpting the 44th president to protege Valerie Edwards.
Better view of presidents
The attraction’s technology upgrades should improve the view of Gibson’s (and Edwards’) work as well. As the narrator introduces each president, a spotlight shines briefly on that figure, which waves or nods. But the presidents are randomly arranged, the introductions pass quickly, and the spotlights flit about, so some viewers have a hard time following the progression. With LED lighting, 21st-century controls and a longer spotlight for each president, it should become easier for the audience to tell John Tyler from James K. Polk.
“That is my No. 1 dream and hope of the show: to make the introduction of the presidents easier to follow,” Fisher said. “We think that’s really the highlight of the show.”
Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information on the refurbishment of the Hall of Presidents continues to come in. Oh yeah, and have a Happy Halloween!!!
Walt Disney World has issued a press release, including pictures and a video, on the new Pixie Hollow meet-and-greet inside the Toontown Hall of Fame at the Magic Kingdom:
To celebrate the animated film “Tinker Bell,” Disney’s most famous fairy and four of her best friends are featured in a meet-and-greet experience in Mickey’s Toontown Fair at Magic Kingdom. To meet Tinker Bell and her fairy friends, guests enter a magical forest called “Pixie Hollow,” a special place deep in the heart of Never Land. Tinker Bell (center), made famous in the 1953 Disney animated classic “Peter Pan,” for her “hostess” role in Disney television specials and for “flying” above the Disney theme parks, is joined inside Pixie Hollow by four fairy friends: Iridessa (left), a light fairy; Fawn (second from left), an animal fairy; Rosetta (second from right), a garden fairy; and Silvermist (right), a water fairy. (Diana Zalucky, photographer)
