Barnstormer – WDWNT Archive

Tom Corless’ 1/14-1/17/13 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on March 3, 2013

I know it is a few days late, but I decided that I should share some newsworthy photos from my last trip to Walt Disney World with you, so let’s take a look at a couple of interesting things happening around the resort:

The Epcot Center charm bracelet is now available

The “Oz The Great and Powerful” playground fro the Flower and Garden Festival is being constructed near Imagination!

The FastPass+ queue seems to be finished at the Seas with Nemo and Friends

Yes, the cut a hole in the mural…

The Main Street Bakery is closed until May to convert to Starbucks service

Tomorrowland Terrace has breakfast for now

FastPass+ scanners uncovered at Tomorrowland Speedway

Also uncovered at the Barnstormer

The umbrellas have finally arrived for the tables in Storybook Circus

The construction walls at the Grand Floridian now sport concept art for the Villas at the Grand Floridian

The FastPass+ scanners at Toy Story Midway Mania are tinker-toys!

The exhibit area at the Magic of Disney Animation now has a poster up for Frozen

There is also a poster for Planes

A Walt Disney World charm bracelet has also been released

There’s a ticket from 1981 on it

They also sell a large charm with this artwork

There is a Dumbo New Fantasyland board game out now

New magnet clips, including the Orange Bird

The kids cups at restaurants now match the light-up character they come with

A temporary banner has gone up at the Animal Kingdom turnstiles to let resort guests know they can enter here with their RFID tickets

Fab 5 figurines have been released, they are only $12.95 each

A new surprise release pin set has been started celebrating extinct attractions. The first pin is the Mickey Mouse Revue!

Zach Larson’s 5/7/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 31, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Zach Larson visited the Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Monday and has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Construction has gone vertical on the Disney Vacation Club wing of the Grand Floridian

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom

There are two of these posters in the tunnel now… not only is it not an attraction… but it has more posters than any others…

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom sign near Town Square Theater

Work continues on the Confectionary and Chapeau facades

Work still going on near the Main Street bridge

This new railing was installed during the work

Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to touch trash-cans?

Still not a whole lot of theme to this walkway between Tomorrowland and Storybook Circus

Work on the water tower at Fantasyland Station is complete

A look from the Barnstormer reveals that the second Dumbo spinner is nearing completion. We can also see the true height of the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train

The mountain of the Mine Train will be pretty tall

The second Dumbo is fully decorated

Workers on top of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

The covered part is the lift hill as the train will roll out of the mountain

Work continues on turning Tigger’s Bouncy Place into something else

Some tarps now up in front of the Castle Wall construction

A second set of walls now makes for a tight passage

They are working on the back end of the Village Haus facade now

It’s still quite a mess back here

Now “it’s a small world” has tarps up

Work continues on the former Skyway site

Next-gen FASTPASS testing at the Haunted Mansion

It will be interesting to see what this looks like when they are done

They were forcing guests down the graveyard side if you weren’t using FASTPASS, but you could still bypass the interactive queue

Work continues on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Everything looks fantastic!

GOAT!

Package Pick-Up still behind tarps

Awesome shot of the Avengerail in action… I hope you’ve seen the movie by now…

A look at the Grand Floridian DVC construction from across the water

They’ve installed a rocky shoreline

Moving over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it looks like the Sorcerer Mickey topiary is on the move again as walls are up

Stage for Star Wars Weekends is going up

Citizens of Hollywood recently had a character shuffle. This is the “new” Mimi Kaboom

Things got heated…

ACTING! BRILLIANT!

I don’t think the security booths are coming back…

Adam Roth’s 8/18/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 21, 2012

WDWNT’s diligent reporter Adam Roth was on the scene at Walt Disney World this weekend, visiting Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Adam took a number of newsworthy photos on his trip, so let’s take a look at what’s new and exciting:

Art of disney at Epcot recently was refurbished and is now open once again, now featuring the Castle Collection merchandise

Looks like they just cleaned up the place a bit

They did rearrange some shelves

Work continues to prepare a new entrance at the Seas with Nemo and Friends

This new wave awning replaces the plain umbrellas that had been here

Work continues on a new entrance, presumed to be a new queue for Turtle Talk with Crush

Work continues on what we believe is a DVC booth near Canada

Bistro De Paris is gone…

It will be replaced with a new restaurant from the same company after 30 years at Epcot

The bakery is also being expanded

Construction walls up inside the shop next door

Food and Wine Festival preparations underway

No more Vanity Fair, now the sponsor is Chase

Nice to know that the new patio at Tutto Italia can be enclosed in bad weather

This fountain outside of La Hacienda has been like this for months…

The new exhibit inside the Mexico pavilion seems to be just about finished

Donald was meeting guests inside

The Cool Wash by Test Track is still behind walls

Work continues on Test Track

Heading over to the Magic Kingdom, we can see Grand Floridian DVC construction

AVENGERAIL!

It now advertises the home video release of the film

It turned into a nice day

The Country Bear Jamboree is closing for a few months this week

Some people seem convinced the show will be shortened and some songs will be removed

Shaker says “Probably not”

Trixie would be sad…

Gomer is befuddled

Some people think Big Al will be cut… yeah, OK…

The Yankee Trader is now behind tarps as work continues on the new path and restrooms in Fantasyland

Next-gen FASTPASS looks ready to go at the Haunted Mansion

The store is open during this

A strange structure has risen on the Skyway site which makes these people angry at each-other…

Chubby Moonliner?

I’m not sure what that is supposed to be

Next-gen FASTPASS installed at Peter Pan as well

People like to lean on things

The castle walls are nearing completion

Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train construction

Work continues on Princess Fairytale Hall

Caught someone picking their nose… fantastic!

Just like in the concept art, Prince Eric’s castle is visible just over the mountain

Next-Gen FASTPASS at Winnie the Pooh

More grass appearing on the roof of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

Big Top Souvenirs

Next-Gen FASTPASS installed here as well

The presumed Humphrey the Bear counter service location through the trees

Looks like a sign will be installed soon

Another look at the roof grass…

Work continues on the Tomorrowland bridge

And the old Swan Boats dock

Infrastructure for the eventual move to RFID tickets is being installed at the Magic Kingdom entrance

Another look at Grand Floridian construction

An Aerial Look at New Fantasyland – March 2012

WDWNT on September 8, 2012

Courtesy of Scott Keating and scottkeating.net, we once again have some fantastic aerial photos of Fantasyland to share with you:

The base of the old Dumbo is still lingering, guess it isn’t that easy to completely remove…

A lot going on here: The bridge that will serve as the entrance to the Be Our Guest Restaurant is nearing completion, the Mermaid queue entrance is out from behind scaffolding and appears mostly complete with the exception of pavement, and we can now make out a distinguishable footprint for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train

Another angle shows that Gaston’s Tavern is far behind the other buildings in the village

We can now see where the Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station is going in Storybook Circus, but what lies beyond it in the tents is mostly a mystery…

Getting away from Fantasyland, the Big Thunder Mountain refurbishment rolls on with most of the queue being rebuilt, all track being replaced, and a visible fresh coat of paint being applied to the entire mountain

Work continues on the DVC wing of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Day or Night, Storybook Circus Illuminates the Magic Kingdom

WDWNT on September 8, 2012

Disney released some b-roll of the Storybook Circus in New Fantasyland today, offering a wonderful, high definition look at this recent addition to the Magic Kingdom:

Adam Roth’s 3/17/12 Magic Kingdom Photo Report

WDWNT on September 8, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam roth visited the Magic Kingdom on Saturday evening and has some great nighttime photos to share with us from his trip:

The Storybook Circus tents are completely empty

A look towards Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

Dumbo… AT NIGHT!

Barnstormer… AT NIGHT!

The LED lighting makes Dumbo look glorious at night

The popcorn lights around the attraction also look great

You DO need a Magic Feather

The eerie blue light in the Train Station is weird…

The screen based signage doesn’t blend well at night

Props from various Goofy shorts are in the loading area

Some others tie-into the posters and stunts outside

Goodnight Magic Kingdom

Robert Ashburn’s 3/13/12 Magic Kingdom Photo Report

WDWNT on September 8, 2012

Here’s a quick photo update from around the Magic Kingdom from a few days ago, courtesy of Reporter Robert Ashburn:

Grand Floridian DVC construction continues

Another new poster up at Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

Work continues on the Bakery facade

Storybook Circus has some great lighting at night

The blue light is a little strange… did Aliens arrive at the station?

The rocket has lighting to go along with the smoke

Someone got a new profile pic…

Another new poster popped up at the station

Dumbo looks fantastic at night!

Color changing LED lighting under the water really adds a whole new element at night

Just a friendly reminder… OR ELSE!

Guests playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

OK, if you have to wait in line to play, it completely defeats the purpose… you see your whole story play before you even get near the window, and to be honest, as fun as it is, it isn’t worth waiting any length for. Sorry, I won’t play when lines are like this… it’s not worth it for a screen…

Cool new Phineas and Ferb shirts

Some new shirts

A Dole Whip shirt? Really? It’s nice though…

Shirts for Churros and Turkey Legs, wow…

Oh, there you are Perry…

We might be here a while… you run ahead…

Even More Photos of the Opening of Storybook Circus

WDWNT on August 30, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth took a ton of photos of today’s opening of Storybook Circus at the Magic Kingdom. As if we didn’t have enough coverage today, here’s a whole lot more:

The entrance to Circus is still a mess of walls

Fantastic artwork up on the walls

Humphrey the Bear with a candy apple… I smell a new counter service loaction

Temporary carts from Main Street fill the walkway

There’s something weird about these outside of the area

Extended queue out for Dumbo

The Dumbo building is pretty awesome

Walls where the Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak is going soon

The tents are far from finished

The Barnstormer queue uses targets to cover guests

A Rocketeer reference? Or just a coincidence?

I see Imagineer hats…

Hidden Wiseacre Farm reference

Lit fuse

A lot of extended queue

WORLD’S COOLEST RESTROOMS

They look happy in their new costumes 🙂

Peanuts in the pavement…

Walls still up along the Speedway

Taking some publicity shots

A lot of work left to go on the tents

Dumbo is on the map now

Not only is Storybook Circus on the map, but the Castle Wall and the new Pooh facade made it as well

Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station is coming soon

First Look at Storybook Circus Without Construction Walls!

WDWNT on August 30, 2012

WDWNT reader Jessica Walker was nice enough to provide us with some photos she took at the Magic Kingdom yesterday. Just wait until you see these…

The Fantasyland Station looks just about finished

Some final painting and it should be ready to open!

Men at work

So the walls start coming down around this end of the Station… by the way, those are copper gutters… expensive stuff!

Imagineering gets ready to hand operations over to the Magic Kingdom

We can kind of see The Barnstormer from here…

OK! WALLS ARE DOWN! The Barnstormer queue is now located on this side of the building

The queue looks to have some great props of various Goofy stunts

A small poster next to the prop better explains the stunt

You can see a smoking rocket and other props strewn about

It looks like Goofy splattered paint all over the wood railings…

The back of the tower/lift hill

We can somewhat see something Goofy crashed through off to the left side of the building

I think they’re saying “We’re done!”

Construction walls already up near the tents which will open later this year

You can now see lights and canvas hung from the Dumbo queue which will open with Storybook Circus!

It’s almost time!

While a little further down the road, Belle’s Village is looking better and better every day

Prince Eric’s castle looks great too! Thanks for the photos Jessica!

More Photos of Storybook Circus with Construction Walls Down!

WDWNT on August 30, 2012

Well, everyone enjoyed the photos we shared yesterday so much that WDWNT reader Jessica Walker decided to take another pass at Storybook Circus from the Walt Disney World Railroad, and there was plenty more to see:

Most of the Fantasyland Station is now visible