Character Spot – WDWNT Archive

Dirk Wallen’s 4/23/13 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on June 4, 2013

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Downtown Disney, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom last week and has some newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

The Rainforest Cafe volcano is done

Tons of Marvel stuff in Once Upon a Toy

They also now have the Star Wars Droid Factory

Over at Epcot, work continues on turing Fountain View into a Starbucks location

The old Character Spot is still closed… at this point I’m starting to think it will become Starbucks seating…

Tarps are down at Mission: Space and the facade looks great

Tarps are up where Spice Road Table will be going in Morocco

A temporary stage up for Mo’ Rockin’

The waterfall at Maelstrom is being worked on again for some reason

Moving to Animal Kingdom, the Anandapur Ice Cream truck is gone

Work continues on the new home for Festival of the Lion King in Africa

Dirk Wallen’s 5/25/13 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on June 4, 2013

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Saturday and has some newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip:

Work continues on turning FountainView into a Starbucks location

The Epcot Character Spot is expected to return to its original location next week, but it looks like the entrance is moving over here

The Flower and Garden Festival is over…

No more butterflies…

The Lion King display was still up

Goodbye Oz…

Radiator Springs has been wiped from existence

The Monsters University display is gone

No visible progress on Spice Road Table in Morocco yet

At the Studios, the KODAK logo is gone from the film in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area

A large Etch-A-Sketch was installed in the Toy Story Mania queue recently. We expect this to interact with guests at some point soon…

PHOTOS & VIDEO: Epcot Character Spot Re-Opens After Several Months

WDWNT on June 4, 2013

Back in the fall of 2012, Epcot Character Spot closed for a lengthy refurbishment, but we were never given a date when it would reopen. At one point, the re-opening was set for March, but March came and went and the original location remained closed. Finally, the original Epcot Character Spot location re-opened this week with some major changes:

The entrance has moved to where the exit was previously

The queue is now in the former exit hallway where some strange blue flowers have been added

Mickey, Pluto, and Minnie were greeting guests today, it looks like Minnie and Mickey will always be there while the middle character alternates

Pluto’s backdrop features the Astro Orbiter, Monorail, and Soarin’

The last backdrop appears to be a space station

We also have a video walkthrough of the new Epcot Character Spot for you:

So, after being closed since the fall, all that really happened to the Epcot Character Spot was a new queue with room for a FastPass+ line and an enclosed area for three meet and greets. The reason they enclosed the meet and greet was so that guests getting in the line would not be upset if the characters they met at the end of the line were not the same as the ones they saw when they got in the line (the characters do tend to switch out quite a bit). Also, there is a wall separating the standby and FastPass+ lines, just to avoid angering guests who get in the standby line once FastPass+ begins running and lengthens the standby time for this attraction that currently doesn’t offer FastPass.

So, what do you think of these changes to the Epcot Character Spot?

Dirk Wallen’s 1/10/13 Epcot Photo Report

WDWNT on March 17, 2013

WDWNT Reporter Dirk Wallen visited Epcot earlier today to see the newly remodeled Boulangerie Patisserie in France and the IBM Think exhibit inside Innoventions, so let’s take a look at what’s going on around the park:

Guests with RFID tickets are using the new entrance area all the way to the right, meanwhile more of the new RFID scanners are being installed

Kodak picture spots are still up

Daisy got a new meet and greet backdrop near the front of the park a few weeks ago, it is pretty retro-tastic

Epcot Character Spot is still being remodeled

Preparations underway for the Flower and Garden Festival

The new IBM exhibit quietly opened today inside Innoventions

The new exhibit is simply called Think

A look inside

There is a theater portion to the experience, still doesn’t look like much

Habit Heroes is still closed

Work was completed on the FastPass+ entrance at the Seas with Nemo and Friends

Ready for use

Another Kodak Picture Spot

Boulangerie Patisserie has finally opened in its expanded new home

The new indoor seating area

Mmmmmmmm….

They have fancy gold trays…

More my speed… there is an assortment of Phineas and Ferb snacks now available around World Showcase

Holiday decorations are gone

Adam Roth’s 11/11/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on May 31, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited Epcot and the Magic Kingdom on Sunday and has a bunch of newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip, so let’s take a look:

Habit Heroes – still closed