Robert Ashburn’s 4/12-13/12 Epcot & Magic Kingdom Photo Report

WDWNT on April 19, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Robert Ashburn visited Epcot and the Magic Kingdom this weekend, and he took plenty of photos from both parks to share with us:

Test Track graces the maps during its final days

You still have a month to check out the Flower and Garden Festival

Habit Heroes and the soon-to-open VISION House on the signage inside Innoventions

Still closed…

The VISION House still behind walls

Opens April 22nd, but we’ll have media coverage beginning April 21st

Habit Heroes and VISION House are both not on the wall yet

The ImageWorks at Imagination! looks empty since the new company took over

Amazing Pictures is now in charge of this photo location

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Work continues on the facade of the Seas with Nemo and Friends

This seperate and elevated piece of pavement will take guests to a new queue area for Turtle Talk

A new whole in the facade will be the entrance for Turtle Talk

Inside the queue, a new enclosed area is visible, this will be the Turtle Talk queue

Today was the last day for the original Test Track, it closes tomorrow for refurbishment

MouseGear has an entire section of Phineas and Ferb merchandise

An interesting new shirt

Sorry Oswald, but I like the classic character shirt…

Pretty cool!

Some new shirts with a tropical theme

The “unfriend” shirt is pretty brilliant

A new EPCOT Center shirt

The Southwest Black Bean Flatbread is a fairly new offering

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Moving to the Magic Kingdom, the tarps on Center Street are gone

It looks great

Plaza Ice Cream is back after a lengthy refurbishment

The menu is pretty much unchanged, but the interior was spruced up

A short line for Sorcerers? Wow…

The new menu at Sunshine Tree Terrace

The torches were turned back on after years of just sitting there, which is a very good thing to see

The flash shows the great job they did repairing the facade

The Avengerail passing through the Contemporary

Journey Into Imagination with Figment Gets Some Upgrades? Really?

WDWNT on May 26, 2011

It may be very hard to believe, but Walt Disney World poured some money into Epcot’s long troubled Journey into Imagination with Figment attraction. The ride has been so well known for malfunctions over the last few years that some guests started making a game of counting them (OK, that was us). In the following video, you’ll see short explanations of what’s new or fixed in the attraction. It may be hard to believe, but nearly every effect in the ride is back in working order, or dare I say, looking better than ever:

If this was not enough, the temporary walls blocking guests from now closed Kodak exhibits in Imageworks have been made a little more permanent. A “Simon” type game has been installed on these walls for guests to play:

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With rumors having circulated for years that this attraction was in for a major overhaul, we have to wonder if these upgrades mean than this attraction will be with us for a little while longer. While the attraction does look the best it ever has, it still is only drawing small crowds and it probably still not going to be a guest favorite. Only time will tell what is in the future for this attraction, so stay tuned to WDW News Today as more becomes available on this breaking story.

Imagination Pavilion Lights the Night Sky Again

WDWNT on December 18, 2010

Long time visitors to Epcot may remember that the large glass pyramids of the Imagination Pavilion used to change between a variety of colors. In more recent years when major changes were made to the pavilion, the nighttime lighting was changed to an orange glow. Just this week, the original color changing lights were brought back:

Imagineers stated at the opening of Captain EO in July that it was the start of much bigger things for the Imagination Pavilion. Maybe this is just another step toward something else…