Disney has released a stunning video of the interior of the Be Our Guest Restaurant in New Fantasyland. The sound-bites are from Chris Kelly (Show Producer, Walt Disney Imagineering) and Tim Warzecha (Senior Project Manager, Walt Disney Imagineering):
This video is released today as Disney formally announced that Be Our Guest Restaurant, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Gaston’s Tavern, Ariel’s Grotto, and Under the sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid will not open until Holiday 2012. The Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station and the second Dumbo spinner will open July.
What’s the latest on the New Fantasyland project at the Magic Kingdom? I took plenty of photos during my most recent trip of the progress, so let’s take a look:
Snow White’s Scary Adventures is closed….
Walls go down to Sir Mickey’s
The Seven Dwarfs’ Mine is still open
Speaking of the Seven Dwarfs’, here’s the progress on the Mine Train
The Dumbo marquee was finally installed and the Timothy figure from the old ride is back!
The back of the sign is pretty neat
Work continues on the former Tigger’s Bouncy Place
Rumor is that Winnie the Pooh and Tigger will be doing meet and greets in this new spot
The facade of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid is looking great
More Mine Train
The second Dumbo spinner was testing all week, should be open any day now
Another look at Mermaid
Big Top Souvenirs still under construction
More Mermaid
The new Dumbo sign on a sunnier day…
The hose that the monkey uses to spray guests will go across the entire Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station
Guests have been ripping the handles off of the luggage near the train station
They aren’t doing too well
Some were completely ripped off
Hadn’t see this reference yet
The unlabeled structure next to Pete’s Silly Sideshow is coming along nicely
Pete’s Silly Sideshow progress
Another look at the mystery structure
Some new steel has appeared at the base of the Mine Train
Looks like one of the lower hills
A new stand-by wait sign up at the second dumbo spinner
An arrow was added to the construction walls so it is clearer to guests what is back in Storybook Circus
A day later and a primer coat of paint is going on the new covered area in the Pooh queue
The interactive queue for Dumbo was one of the most interesting parts of the New Fantasyland announcement when it was made back in September 2009. Well, we’re finally getting a look inside:
Upon entering the queue, guests will get a pager (no different from waiting for a table at your local T.G.I.Friday’s) that looks like a Circus ticket. While waiting for their pager to go off and their turn to ride, parents can sit and relax in the air-conditioning while the kids play under the big-top in a themed playground seemingly straight out of the Dumbo film.
The Dumbo interactive queue opens along with the second Dumbo spinner and the Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station in July.
WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and he has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us. Dueling Dumbos are flying, Casey Jr. is splashing and soaking, and whole lot is going on at the park, so let’s take a look:
Let’s get right to Fantasyland
Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train
More steel rises
Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid looms in the distance
The new Winnie the Pooh meet and greet is open, replacing Tigger’s Bouncy Place
Dumbo FASTPASS is running and at Philharmagic’s old machines
Another look at Mine Train
Mermaid rockwork extending down towards Storybook Circus
Big Top Souvenirs
We finally have dueling Dumbos!
Timothy now spins and moves on the sign
Only 30 minutes for stand-by… it’s working…
A large wall has appeared on the Mine Train structure
Back to Dumbo
FASTPASS return will skip the tent queue
Love the magic feather on the clock…
The old Dumbo is back as the new Dumbo! Wait… what?
“Transformers: The Ride was much better!”
No interactive queue today 🙁
A photo with two Dumbos? MIND BLOWN!
Disney released some footage of the dueling Dumbos for you to enjoy:
More Mine Train
Big Top Souvenirs
Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station is open
Casey Jr. got fenced in… apparently there were some safety issues with the water and guests climbing in
Other than that, the area looks great!
The animals spin and spray, much nicer than other water play areas
Poor Casey sits in a time out…
The attraction sign is pretty cool too
The backs of the 4 train cars have the years that each WDW park opened – 71, 82, 89, and 98
A nicely themed new merchandise cart sells fitting water-play merchandise
and hats…
This car will be the most popular with the fanboys… they will gather here and tell tales of Horizons
The area behind Casey still needs some work…
This PIXAR short reference was added a few weeks ago
You may recognize this emblem from Town Square Theater
Casey does look pretty great though
He even blinks!
This is always pretty disturbing…
Looking into Mermaid, you can see trees and ship wreckage are now visible
The new Winnie the Pooh meet and greet
Castle Wall construction
Mystery walls still up by the Carousel
Snow White is still closed… and it ain’t reopening anytime soon…
Only visible change is the missing attraction sign which we assume has gone to the archives
Dumbo FASTPASS, that way!
It isn’t going to open, so I’m not sure why he turned around…
If you haven’t exited by now…
Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo now share the Philharmagic FASTPASS distribution
The new signs are cool, and they give you the standby wait for each ride
More Castle Wall work
Vertical construction has begun on the old Skyway area
Looks like Rapunzel’s tower to me 😉
For the nerd in your family, anything on this shelf will do
The Crow’s Nest is closed! The sign is down… it would be a shame to lose one of the park’s oldest shops, formerly sponsored by Kodak…. We’ll keep an eye on this
Wendell!
Not sure what happened here
Skyway construction visible from across the park
Work continues on the Main Street Bakery
I still think this has something to do with Starbucks…
Package Pick-Up still behind tarps as well
As is The Confectionary and the Chapeau
Looks like the Snow White poster is finally down and now Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom has its own poster
Big Thunder Mountain is on the maps now… I can’t remember the last time that happened
WDWNT Reporter John Corigliano shot and edited a fantastic in-depth look at Dumbo the Flying Elephant in the Storybook Circus of New Fantasyland. This video is a must watch if you have yet to experience the new addition:
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…
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:
WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom on Friday and has a TON of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:
Flower and Garden Festival in bloom at Epcot
IF ONLY WE HAD XPASS!!!!
Queue modifications are done… it’s a completely different queue experience now…
Peacock
Cool graphics on the Epcot tip board
Enjoy Kim Possible while it lasts
Habit Heroes and the VISION House now on the list inside Innoventions East
Habit Heroes is still closed
I’m offended…
Work continues on the VISION House
Habit Heroes now has a sign on the entry wall
Goodbye
VISION House will be added soon as it opens in April
Phineas and Ferb now have an entire section at MouseGear
AGENT P!
The light-up Vinylmation lamps and Baseball figures now available
Let’s Go Yankees! (Personal bias)
These are buy 1, get 1 50% off
Shouldn’t the Knicks be on the bottom? (I actually am a fan… but I’m realistic)
Let’s go Dolphins! (Please pity me)
2012 dated Vinylmation
Zodiac series
Flower and Garden merchandise
Cool magnets
This is too cool…
If your imagination features Captain EO, seek help
Bambi’s Butterfly House is back
The play area for this year’s festival is called “Let’s Get Moving”
Chimpanzee is coming… before Earth Day?
Can’t imagine why they are changing this…
Exterior work continues at the Seas with Nemo and Friends
A new entrance being worked on, possibly for Turtle Talk
There’s a new path in the queue…
It leads to Seabase
The mural is surviving the work
A new company has taken over the chromakey photo area at Imageworks
It’s pretty empty right now
Amazing Pictures (who you may have seen at Universal Studios) is now here
Hey, why don’t we just start the demolition…
On to the Festival Center
The Flower and Garden, Food and Wine Festival?
A touch-screen map of the Festival available
Body Wars is back there somewhere
The Odyssey has been painted blue
Well, at least the roof
This exhibit is weird…
Tarps are now up for the Tutto Italia refurbishment
FREE SAMPLES!
Another play area
Let’s take a boat over to Studios
We can’t get enough of these
The outline of Roger Rabbit has seen better days
The entrance at Tower of Terror had some pavement replaced
The Star Tours name is on some of the merchandise tags now
On to the Magic Kingdom, Skyway demolition continues in Fantasyland
The Tigger Bounce area being removed from the Pooh queue
Yes, more Dumbo photos…
Storybook Circus sure is something at night
HA!
I love restrooms… there, I said it…
I’ll tell you what I don’t love… the Club 626 Dance Party
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
