We’re happy to welcome WDWNT Reporter Zach Larson to the team with his first photo report. While it’s a bit late with how busy we’ve been at WDWNT, there are still plenty of newsworthy photos to share:
I love this shot….
In case you weren’t able to catch the Magic Kingdom pre-parade during it’s short run from January through October 2010, we’re providing a video of Disney’s Honorary VoluntEARS Cavalcade from Banks Lee. This video is embedded via the WDWNTube video site:
From the Disney Parks Blog:
When you walk into one of the newly renovated villas at Disney’s Old Key West Resort, you really notice a difference. I liked them before, but wow, they are really nice. The hardwood floors and whimsical window treatments caught my eye.
And I personally think they nailed it with the bedding. The warm colors are very elegant while still capturing the playful nature of Key West. The villas also have fancy new granite countertops, pretty new light fixtures and of course flat screen TVs. The housekeeping staff sure has fun creating the towel animals placed throughout the villas. Check out the images shot this week.
I spent a few days at Walt Disney World recently to experience the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I took plenty of newsworthy photos to share, so let’s take a look:
It’s the 15th edition of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot
I was at the Disneyland Resort this past weekend for D23’s Great Scavenger hunt, but also captured many newsworthy photos. This is a long one so get comfortable and get scrolling…
Starting off at DCA, the entrance is getting ready for it’s complete overhaul
Read More about Conner Purzycki’s 9/24/10 – 9/26/10 DLR Photo Report
With all the HUGE plans for change at WDWNT Network shaping up, we send our apologies to Reporter Cody Smith for our lateness in posting this report he took on Sunday at the Magic Kingdom:
Could it be? It is! The building for “Under The Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid” is beginning to take shape!
Read More about Cody Smith’s 9/26/10 Magic Kingdom (Fantasyland) Photo Report
I would like to welcome Max Guggenheim to the DLNT crew. He will be bringing us photos and videos from The Disneyland Resort. Max now brings us his first photo report from the Disneyland Resort…
Starting off in DCA, walls are up around the right side mural to prepare for it’s removal starting on Oct. 1st
An inside source has informed WDWNT that “Disney’s Honorary VoluntEARS Cavalcade” will have its final performance on Saturday, October 2nd, 2010, at the Magic Kingdom. If you are a Muppets fan, this will most likely be your last chance to see Kermit and Miss Piggy in the parks for a while.
The pre-parade was created for the 2nd year of the “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign titled “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day”. The promotion kicked off in January as an effort to get 1 million people to volunteer in their communites. It was such an unbelievable success that Disney ran out of the 1 million gifts (including free admission) in the Spring. The pre-parade was designed to showcase select volunteers visiting the Magic Kingdom that day as a gift for their service. The “Honoarary VountEARS Cavalacade” debuted on January 8, 2010.
Disney has not announced if or when a new pre-parade might debut.
WDWNT Reporter Josh Siegel scoured the entire Walt Disney World Resort on Wednesday to cover just about every construction project in progress and he has hundreds of newsworthy photos to share with us in this photo report:
Work continues on Pollo Campero at Downtown Disney Marketplace
From the Disney Parks Blog:
Since everything we do at Imagineering starts with the story, it probably comes as no surprise that one of the first things we set out to do with the new Star Tours show was to figure out when our story should take place within the Star Wars timeline.
The existing Star Tours show we internally refer to as “6.5,” since it takes place time-wise after Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Story development for the new show began “a long time ago,” back in 1998, and a story treatment from that year carries the title “Episode 7 – A Star Tours Classic” – referring to the Boonta Classic race that was to be the main feature of the show.
But by the time Episode I hit the screens, we were all anxious to know what would surface in Episode III that we might build on for the show. Naturally, we were then curious how Episode III would complete the series. In the end, after numerous discussions, we decided to place our storyline between the two sets of Star Wars trilogies, giving the project the working title “Star Tours 3.5.”
This time period gave our show team the ability to tap into the very best of the Star Wars characters and adventures. But turning the clock back also required some interesting changes for the Star Tours show. The Starspeeder 3000 would need to be an earlier model, the Starspeeder 1000, with a new pilot (especially since Rex, the original pilot, opens the original show saying it’s his first flight!)
Our design team created a new Tour Droid for the show, an AC Series pilot we dubbed “Ace,” with a personality as different from Rex as you can imagine.
We also created a new “spokesbot” for Star Tours, modeled after the WA-7 “Waitress Droid” from the Attack of the Clones. George Lucas suggested the name “Aly San San,” in reference to Allison Janney, the wonderful actress who provides the voice for this new character. We had a terrific time with Allison in the recording sessions for the show – she brought a lot of warmth and humor to the part.
These are just two of the droids you can expect to see in Star Tours “The Adventures Continue” next year. And in our next blog, I’ll tell you about a droid who really steals the show in the new attraction!
