John Corigliano’s WDW Photo Update 8/31-9/1/08

WDWNT on September 2, 2008

WDWNT is back from the not-so-crowded Walt Disney World theme parks with another fantastic photo report. Let’s take a look at all the newsworthy happenings from around the world:

Starting at Disney’s hollywood Studios, this special stage has been set up for the Night of Joy events

Construction on the American Idol Experience

They are painting the entire building in a new blue color-scheme

This is where the old poster that featured a few ABC shows such as Good Morning America used to be.

A few color changes on the tower.

Not sure what this is, signage perhaps?

A few more of the statues have been removed.

We expect this exhibit to make a move to somewhere else in the studios soon…

A Bolt billboard up in Animation Courtyard.

As previously reported, Single Rider has been removed from Toy Story Midway Mania.

The current Cars character meet-and-greet by Pixar Place…

The new meet-and-greet being constructed where Al’s Toy Barn was. Looks like it will have some pretty cool, recognizable, movie inspired theming. 

A nice looking Tapestry Woven Throw.

And here’s a new Disney’s Hollywood Studios Tapestry Woven Throw.

You can’t see it all that well in this picture, but the Osbourne lights are starting to be put up.

You can get a better look at the lights in this picture.

The Muppet Vision 3-D balloon is still down on the Streets of America.

More painting on the opposite side of the American Idol Experience building.

The limo is back up on the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster sign.

The attraction was closed for 4 hours due to technical difficulties… A rare sight indeed!

Moving over to Epcot… Innoventions might as well be called Construction Land, as there have been so many new projects going on there lately.

This is where the IBM exhibit used to be.

The IBM logo is still there.

We’re less than a month away from this year’s Epcot International Food & Wine Festival!

Another rare sight, the Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood outside the American Adventure!

This sign at Soarin’ could use some fixing up.

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Halloween Decorations are now up at the Magic Kingdom

New statues around the hub on Main Street U.S.A.

They even light up in certain places at night

Banners up at the majestic train station.

Banners on the side of the Exposition Hall.

The Exposition Hall.

City Hall.

Work is still being done on these columns outside the Emporium.

Halloween decorations inside the Emporium.

Very, very short wait times for the Magic Kingdom

The off-season is here

The Liberty Square bridge is one again open to guest flow & parades. It looks pretty good.

However work is still going on in the water beneath the bridge.

New concrete in Liberty Square

The Liberty Bell is behind walls.

They’re working on wiring by & beneath the McDonalds Fry Cart in Frontierland. It’s been going on for 7 months now.

They have repainted the castle stone wall above Snow White’s Scary Adventures (the light tone wall). It looks much better in my opinion.

Same work being done on the Mickey’s PhilharMagic facade.

A funky new Mickey Mouse shirt.

A cool new shirt for the 15th anniversary of Nightmare Before Christmas.

Construction on the new north wing of the Contemporary Resort.

And to cap off this photo report, a billboard advertising T-Rex (and new employees) on the way to Walt Disney World.

Christmas in July

WDWNT on July 30, 2008

As the central Florida temperature approaches 90 degrees outside, Cecil Gordon of Walt Disney World Holiday Services touches up the face of a six-foot-tall angel tree-topper July 30, 2008 inside one of the resort’s holiday warehouses in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The angel will be placed on the top of the giant Christmas tree at the Epcot theme park during the holiday season later this year. Gordon and his colleagues are currently on round-the-clock schedules behind-the-scenes at Walt Disney World Resort, decorating more than 1,500 Christmas trees, unpacking more than 15 miles of garland, testing dozens of snow machines and repainting hundreds of animated and static holiday scenes that will be seen by guests all across the 40-square-mile resort. Gordon, from St. Mary, Jamaica, has worked for Walt Disney World for 19 years. (Garth Vaughan, photographer)

WDW Holiday Line-up Takes Shape

WDWNT on July 7, 2008

Here is a press release with all the events and their running dates for the 2008 Holiday Season at the Walt Disney World Resort:

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Walt Disney World Resort blings in the holidays Nov. 10 with sparkling, jewel-like crystals adorning the iconic Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom – a glistening light-show spectacular signaling the beginning of Disney seasonal merriment. By late November, festivities will blanket the Vacation Kingdom as Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney take the wrappings off their own Santa sleighfuls of yuletide gaiety.

But guests can get in the spirit beginning Nov. 10 by beholding the 200,000 twinkling lights of Disney’s newest holiday tradition – Castle Dream Lights! – in Magic Kingdom. Donning their holiday finest, Cinderella and friends take to the Cinderella Castle stage daily for a dream-come-true, light-the-night moment.

Nov. 10 also marks the first of 18 select evenings when Magic Kingdom hosts the long-running Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. During this popular special ticket event, guests are treated to “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade,” “Holiday Wishes-Celebrate the Spirit of the Season” fireworks spectacular plus special holiday-themed shows featuring Disney characters decked out in their seasonal finest, carolers, festive tree lightings and more.
The “Once Upon a Christmastime Parade” celebrates the festive moods of the season with dancing snowflakes, marching toy soldiers, horse-drawn sleighs, enchanting floats and spirited characters all proceeding through the streets of the theme park in a merry and melodic cavalcade.
During “Holiday Wishes-Celebrate the Spirit of the Season,” the radiant castle beams brightly as the evening is magically capped with festive fireworks orchestrated to classic holiday tunes.
Favorite attractions also are open throughout the evening, and while forecasters predict the first snowfall of the season will swirl a winter-like effect down Main Street, U.S.A, guests can take heart: there’s hot cocoa and cookies to add a warm spirit, plus apple slices and apple juice as the perfect trimming for a not-to-miss outing for the whole family.

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party dates are: Nov. 10, 11, 14, 16, 20, 21, 30; Dec. 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19. Advance tickets and information are available now at disneyworld.com/holidays or by calling 407/W-DISNEY.

Holiday Allure Galore in Store
Walt Disney World Resort unwraps more wintertime wonderment throughout property beginning Nov. 28. Here’s the lineup:
Epcot Presents Holidays Around the World – International holiday traditions unfold throughout World Showcase Nov. 28-Dec. 30 when storytellers portraying cultural icons of the season – such as France’s Pere Noel, Italy’s LaBefana and America’s Santa Claus – spread messages of goodwill. Nighttime sparkles with a luminous light bridge adorning the breezeway to World Showcase Plaza, where guests can see a magnificent holiday tree. And to cap off the day, Epcot’s kaleidoscope of lasers, lights, fireworks and music – “IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth” – takes on a spirited holiday finale.

Candlelight Processional at Epcot – A heartfelt holiday tradition led by a mass choir and 50-piece live orchestra showcases the reason for the season Nov. 28-Dec. 30. Staged at America Gardens Theatre at 5, 6:45 and 8 p.m., Candlelight Processional features a celebrity narrator who retells the joyous Christmas story. The narration is interspersed with memorable music. Performances are included with Epcot admission. Special dining packages that include preferred seating for this beloved event also are offered by calling 407/WDW-DINE.

Scheduled celebrity narrators include (subject to change):
11/28-30 John O’Hurley
12/1-3 To be announced
12/4-6 Brian Stokes Mitchell
12/7-9 Virginia Madsen
12/10-12 Monique Coleman
12/13-15 To be announced
12/16-18 Chita Rivera
12/19-21 Abigail Breslin
12/22-24 Steven Curtis Chapman
12/25-27 Edward James Olmos
12/28-30 Marlee Matlin

The Osborne Family’s Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Bathed in bulbs of brilliance, New York Street glows with millions of dancing lights and animated displays in a revered Disney holiday tradition Nov. 28 through Jan. 4, 2009. Amidst gently falling snow, guests will bask in the glow as twirling carousels, melodic angels, colorful wreaths, marching toy soldiers and Santa and his reindeer move to high-energy music and 3-D effects, creating a dazzling symphony for the senses. This enchanting spectacle results from a crew of 18 electricians working some 14 weeks using six miles of rope lights, 84 angels and 66 snow machines.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom – “Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade” gets a holiday makeover Nov. 28 through Jan. 4, 2009, when it is magically transformed into “Mickey’s Jingle Jungle Parade.” This rompin’ spectacle is a theatrical showcase of characters with whimsical floats and puppetry with a holiday world-beat twist. Guests also can meet Disney characters decked out in their holiday best at Camp Minnie-Mickey which also features live seasonal entertainment, holiday photo opportunities and decorative Christmas trees.

Festival of the Seasons at Downtown Disney– There are enough toys to fill up Santa’s sleigh at stores such as Once Upon a Toy, World of Disney, Team Mickey’s Athletic Club and the LEGO Imagination Center. Guests can finish their holiday shopping at this one-stop mecca featuring something for everyone on their list – Basin bath and body shop, Arribas Brothers, Disney’s Days of Christmas holiday shop, Fuego by Sosa Cigars and more – and enjoy the dazzling light display and holiday décor that adorns the Downtown Disney streets Nov. 28-Dec. 24, 2008.

Christmas Podcast Coverage Now Available

WDWNT on December 25, 2007

You can now download episode 23 of the WDW News Today Podcast for live (well, sort of) coverage of the first annual Christmas Podcast Parade from the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The parade features appearances by Judi Dench, Amy Adams, Roz, Tom Corless, Steve Swanson, John Corigliano, Brian Sommer, Luke Manning, Nick McLamb, Larry Mongello, Jason Diffendal, Adam Roth, Rascal, The Muppets, Mickey, Minnie, and many more!!! So tune in for Magic, Music, and Mayhem on this most festive of occaisions.

To hear WDWNT’s audio coverage of this special event, subsribe to the WDW News Today Podcast on Itunes, click this link or, if you do not have Itunes, go HERE to download the show after its release.

WDWNT Gains Exclusive Rights to Broadcast Parade

WDWNT on December 24, 2007

LAKE BUENA VISTA,  Fla.— Move over Regis and Kelly, a new Christmas Day Walt Disney World tradition has begun. While the long running Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade taped in early December airs on ABC this Christmas morning, another parade will be making its way down Main Street U.S.A. at the Magic Kingdom. The first annual Christmas Podcast Parade will be broadcast live from Walt Disney World on Christmas day, but it won’t be on any television station. The parade’s creator, Tom Corless, has received the exclusive rights to broadcast the parade on episode 23 of his popular WDW News Today podcast. “Being the creator of this new parade, I felt that I should be the only one airing it, plus, no television channel wanted a parade full of internet stars”, said Corless.

While many people are not aware of the stars of this particular parade, to thousands of Disney fans, they are pseudo-celebrities. Jason Diffendal, Adam Roth, Luke Manning, Steve Swanson, Tom Corless, Brian Sommer and John Corigliano are among the notables from the Disney Online Community to have their own float in this holiday parade. Another star of the community will be taking hosting duties, but he will only be the co-host of a podcasting newcomer, Larry Mongello. McLamb of the Disney News Weekly Podcast gives most of the spotlight to Mongello, who is looking to step out of his brother’s shadow. “With all of my brother Lou’s success, its been hard for me to find my spot in this community”, said Larry. Well, Larry will not have to share the fame this time around, his brother Lou could not make it to the parade due to a scheduling conflict.

This upstart holiday event has garnered some major attention from some big stars, and some people are even looking at this as an opportunity to save face. While Amy Adams and Roz appear in the parade to bask in their fame, Spaceship Earth narrator Judi Dench and Walt Disney Imagineering are using this chance to win over the people. Siemens and WDI have spent the last 6 months working on Spaceship Earth at Epcot as well as a corresponding float for this parade. Judi Dench will ride upon this float in an attempt to gain some good publicity for the attraction, which has been the butt of many jokes over the last few weeks since reopening from its lengthy refurbishment.

Will Larry Mongello become the next big star in the Disney Online Community? Will Disney fans learn to communicate with the new lackluster Spaceship Earth? Will John Corigliano wake up in time for the parade? The only way to find out is to tune in to episode 23 of the WDW News Today podcast on December 25th, 2007 for the First Annual Christmas Podcast Parade live from the Walt Disney World Resort.

To subsribe to the WDW News Today Podcast on Itunes, click this link. Otherwise, go HERE to download the show after it’s release.

Ring in 2008 With A Bang

WDWNT on December 24, 2007

Reported by WDWmagic:

This years Magic Kingdom new Year’s Eve show is set to be one of the biggest and loudest ever at the Magic Kingdom. It features all new firework design by Walt Disney World’s Brad Cicotti, who has designed Magic, Music, and Mayhem, the Peace on Earth tag to Reflections of Earth, Epcot’s 25th birthday tag, and the 4th and New Year’s Eve shows at Epcot. This years show will feature a full 360 degree perimeter firework display, including fireworks launched from the island in the Seven seas lagoon. Each perimeter location around the park will be firing 50 shells – the largest ever for a Magic Kingdom show! Enjoy the show!

Behind The Scenes: Deck The Resort

WDWNT on December 20, 2007

Back from an extended hiatus is columnist Sparky LD. Good thing too, because our resident Walt Disney World Cast Member is here just in time to talk about the magical holiday season at WDW. So grab some cookies and cocoa, and enjoy another Behind The Secens look from Sparky.

Hey there everyone, back again with another Behind the Scenes look into the Walt Disney World Resort. Since Christmas is only a few days away, let’s use that as our topic for discussion.
Christmas at the Parks is an amazing site. Not only is it beautiful, but how much of it there is and the amount of time it takes in preparation and installation is a modern marvel. A crew of 25 or so work year round in the Holiday Services Warehouse to put together all the trees, garlands, wreaths, and other decor. The Holiday Services Department is responsible for the 4 theme parks, 20 some resort hotels and Downtown Disney. Once Christmas is over, they begin on next year’s displays right away. The Warehouse has racks and racks of ornaments, garlands, tinsels, toppers, etc. These “elves” are also responsible for store window displays around the entire WDW property.
The week before the Christmas season starts, small decor begins to go up. The larger stuff goes up mainly overnight, which doesn’t happen often anymore. Usually the larger stuff will go up over two nights.  Crews of 75 or so install the decor after hours. The Christmas season gobbles up about 3,000ft of garland, 4 million strands of lights, over 2,000 wreaths, more than 1,000 Christmas trees varying in height from 2ft to 80ft, over 1,000 yards of fake snow sheeting will be used, and over 200,000 ornaments will be used for decorating. Not to mention that new castle lighting this year, takes up another 200,000 strands of LED lights, a little over 4000ft of control cable, 300 strobes, and over 10,000 yards of fishing net.
During the Christmas season, certain Cast Members are decked in holiday costumes as well as shows and parades with holiday costumes. There are over 2,500 pieces of holiday costuming used throughout the season. Not to mention the new talking character heads that are used in 3 different shows. You now have Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip, Dale and Pluto talking, winking, and more in “Cinderella’s Holiday Wish”, “Celebrate the Season”, and “Mickey’s Twas the Night”.
You can’t forget the holiday fireworks, “Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season” and “Holiday Illuminations”. Holiday Wishes uses the same bunkers as regular Wishes, but they add an extra touch. On certain nights they fire the show with a 180 degree pyro on both sides of the castle. Pyro fires from not only behind the castle, but the left and right sides. This is accomplished by flat bed trucks with pyro bunkers on them that are driven out on the road surrounding the park. They used to do a full 360, which still happens on the rarest of occasions. For that a site on an island in the Seven Seas Lagoon is used as well as other various flat bed bunker trucks. Holiday Illuminations uses all the launch sites for the normal show, plus 1 extra barge and 55 extra launch tubes.
Christmas at the Walt Disney World Resort is the most magical time of year where anything can happen.  From all of us here at the Walt Disney World Resort, and from everyone in the the Parade and Technical Services Department we wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

The Management That Stole Christmas

WDWNT on July 24, 2007

Here we are in July, and already there is loads of news on the upcoming Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parties. In addition to the entertainment changes we have already announced here on the site, the free photo that was a staple of the event for many years is now not only a thing of the past, but now it seems party guests may have to shovel out for full price photos. A very merry Christmas from Walt Disney World Management!!!