Our good friend Denise over at Mousesteps.com has a new photo update from Walt Disney World featuring pictures of the newly remodeled Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom Lodge construction, and much more. To see the full update, go HERE.
For those of you who are interested, complete coverage of the March 4 re-dedication of Spaceship Earth presented by Siemens at Epcot is available over WFTV. Their coverage of the event includes a full article and video of the small, unannounced ceremony from Tuesday.
The currently under rennovation Wolfgang Puck express location at Downtown Disney’s Marketplace is nearing it’s re-opening on March 6 and appears to be almost complete. While the interior changes remain a mystery, it is now clear that the building now envelopes what was the outdoor seating area. This may be nice during bad weather, but a problem this particular restaurant has always faced is a small number of seating. This place can become quite busy and sometimes even expands into the generic Downtown Disney seating area across the way. My only hope is that this refurbishment has added seating to what is one of my favorite places to grab a quick bite at Walt Disney World.
While not happening (yet) at the Walt Disney World Resort, I thought I would bring in some exciting news from the Tokyo Disneyland Resort. The Enchanted Tiki Room show in tokyo Disneyland Park will soon become the Enchanted Stitch Room. The attraction is currently closed overseas for the changes and when it re-opens, the attraction will be similar to the Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management in that a Disney animated film character will invade the classic attraction. Stay tuned for more info on this weird developement that may impact Walt Disney World in the near future.
Here is what we missed during our short downtime:
-Splash Mountain is once again operating at the Magic Kingdom. The ride was not suppose to re-open until February 18th.
-The Earful Tower at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is recieving its new logo:
Hi Definition Video (720p): Â Click Here
-The Pirate and Princess Parties at the Magic Kingdom may be recieving a new name in the near future, Mickey’s Pirate and Princess Party.
After a short period of closure this week, Spaceship Earth at Epcot has re-opened with an enhanced descent portion.
-The descent now features some triangle panels that light up above you (again matching the panels on the outside of SSE).
-A new video has replaced the stars and trivia segment while you wait for your future to be created on the touch screen.
-The interactive map has returned, and now adds your ride photo to the giant globe in the Project Tomorrow post show area.
-There are some new kiosks near the globe that are not yet operational, but once they are, you will be able to email photos and even the “your future” video from the attraction to anyone.
We will obtain some pictures of these updates as soon as we can, but as you know, we are having our own refurbishment problems.
Staff member Jose Eber has provided us with some live updates from the Walt Disney World Resort:
-Monorail Black returned from its refurbishment today. The monorail now has the four central handrails much like the other ten monorails which have already received the renovations. Monorail Red headed in for refurbishment today and is the last to recieve the modifications.
-The Earful Tower at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has received a glossy black finish on its ears and should receive its finishing touches any day now. The Animation Archway at the studios should receive new signage around the same time.
-The new marble tile at the Grand Floridian should be installed in the next 1-2 weeks.
-In what has become a frequent occurence, Space Mountain broke down and went out of commission at about 11:45 today. One wonders how much longer the big refurbishment for the Magic Kingdom attraction can be put off.
A press release on an exciting new weather safety exhibit coming this summer to Epcot’s Innoventions can be seen at this link. This is yet another part of the complete overhaul of Innoventions exhibits that we mentioned a few months ago here on WDW News Today. We will have more information on this upcoming exhibit as it becomes available.
Be sure to check our attraction closures page to see the huge number of refurbishments taking place now or soon at the Walt Disney World Resort, as well as the dates during which these select attractions will not be operating. Among the latest refurbishments announced are for Peter Pan’s Flight and Minnie’s Country House at the Magic Kingdom.
Laughingplace.com has some excellent pictures and video from the revised Playhouse Disney Live on Stage show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Check out their coverage at this link.
The completely new version of the show that has been performing at the Studios for about 6 years, now features characters from Playhouse Disney shows such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh. The new show began performances yesterday after being closed for a little less than a month.
According to some of our sources here at WDW News Today, the permit filed for “Imagination Demolition” is only part of the routine refurbishment now going on inside Epcot’s Imagination pavilion. However, we are still hearing that some of the folks from Walt Disney Imagineering are using this opportunity to survey and plan future attraction development inside the building. While a new attraction may or may not be on the near horizon, there will certainly be something new to see in the Imagination pavilion within the next 3-4 years. Stay tuned to WDW News Today and the WDW News Today podcast this week as more information becomes available.
