Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train – Page 5

Jeff Lukas’ 5/5/12 Magic Kingdom Photo Report

WDWNT on December 31, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Jeff Lukas visited the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and has some great newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Welcome

We’re still letting the memories begin…

Work continues on the Main Street Bakery facade

Tangled characters meeting in Town Square until a new home in Fantasyland is ready

Pillow pets everywhere!

Still funny

Something for the ladies

That’s… different…

The Plaza Ice Cream Parlor is looking great following the refurbishment

Everything looks brand new inside

The Tangled meet and greet is being turned into the home for Merida from Brave

More steel rises for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster

What appears to be a large weathervane appeared on the roof of Maurice’s Cottage, Enchanted Tales with Belle

We just keep moving ours…

The second tent is Storybook Circus is slowly being covered

No more steel frames to see at Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

The Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station is coming along nicely

Just a peek over the walls and we can see Casey in all his glory! This looks fantastic for being just a water play area.

RFID FASTPASS scanner outside the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The crane, the crane!

Most of the framework for the Castle Walls is standing now

“I wonder what they are building…”

Stroller parking now happening outside of Village Haus

It’s been quite a shuffle the last few years

Some facade work happening on “it’s a small world”

Work continues on the former plot of the Fantasyland Skyway Station

Work is wrapping up on the Big Thunder Mountain refurbishment

Everything out in the queue looks good

Bigger changes are expected for the indoor queue, at the very leas most of it has been rebuilt

I know it’s blurry, but you can see that the railroad ties are back

The new track should be a nice adjustment

Oooooooo….

Booooooooo….

The Robo-News man in Tomorrowland returned to service recently

He looks brand new!

Some new shirts at Philharmagic, I LOVE both of them

This shirt has been around, but still cool!

Center Street looks great as does all of Main Street following the 3 years of facade work that has been going on

Zach Larson’s 5/7/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 31, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Zach Larson visited the Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Monday and has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Construction has gone vertical on the Disney Vacation Club wing of the Grand Floridian

Welcome to the Magic Kingdom

There are two of these posters in the tunnel now… not only is it not an attraction… but it has more posters than any others…

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom sign near Town Square Theater

Work continues on the Confectionary and Chapeau facades

Work still going on near the Main Street bridge

This new railing was installed during the work

Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to touch trash-cans?

Still not a whole lot of theme to this walkway between Tomorrowland and Storybook Circus

Work on the water tower at Fantasyland Station is complete

A look from the Barnstormer reveals that the second Dumbo spinner is nearing completion. We can also see the true height of the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train

The mountain of the Mine Train will be pretty tall

The second Dumbo is fully decorated

Workers on top of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

The covered part is the lift hill as the train will roll out of the mountain

Work continues on turning Tigger’s Bouncy Place into something else

Some tarps now up in front of the Castle Wall construction

A second set of walls now makes for a tight passage

They are working on the back end of the Village Haus facade now

It’s still quite a mess back here

Now “it’s a small world” has tarps up

Work continues on the former Skyway site

Next-gen FASTPASS testing at the Haunted Mansion

It will be interesting to see what this looks like when they are done

They were forcing guests down the graveyard side if you weren’t using FASTPASS, but you could still bypass the interactive queue

Work continues on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Everything looks fantastic!

GOAT!

Package Pick-Up still behind tarps

Awesome shot of the Avengerail in action… I hope you’ve seen the movie by now…

A look at the Grand Floridian DVC construction from across the water

They’ve installed a rocky shoreline

Moving over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it looks like the Sorcerer Mickey topiary is on the move again as walls are up

Stage for Star Wars Weekends is going up

Citizens of Hollywood recently had a character shuffle. This is the “new” Mimi Kaboom

Things got heated…

ACTING! BRILLIANT!

I don’t think the security booths are coming back…

Adam Roth’s 8/18/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 21, 2012

WDWNT’s diligent reporter Adam Roth was on the scene at Walt Disney World this weekend, visiting Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Adam took a number of newsworthy photos on his trip, so let’s take a look at what’s new and exciting:

Art of disney at Epcot recently was refurbished and is now open once again, now featuring the Castle Collection merchandise

Looks like they just cleaned up the place a bit

They did rearrange some shelves

Work continues to prepare a new entrance at the Seas with Nemo and Friends

This new wave awning replaces the plain umbrellas that had been here

Work continues on a new entrance, presumed to be a new queue for Turtle Talk with Crush

Work continues on what we believe is a DVC booth near Canada

Bistro De Paris is gone…

It will be replaced with a new restaurant from the same company after 30 years at Epcot

The bakery is also being expanded

Construction walls up inside the shop next door

Food and Wine Festival preparations underway

No more Vanity Fair, now the sponsor is Chase

Nice to know that the new patio at Tutto Italia can be enclosed in bad weather

This fountain outside of La Hacienda has been like this for months…

The new exhibit inside the Mexico pavilion seems to be just about finished

Donald was meeting guests inside

The Cool Wash by Test Track is still behind walls

Work continues on Test Track

Heading over to the Magic Kingdom, we can see Grand Floridian DVC construction

AVENGERAIL!

It now advertises the home video release of the film

It turned into a nice day

The Country Bear Jamboree is closing for a few months this week

Some people seem convinced the show will be shortened and some songs will be removed

Shaker says “Probably not”

Trixie would be sad…

Gomer is befuddled

Some people think Big Al will be cut… yeah, OK…

The Yankee Trader is now behind tarps as work continues on the new path and restrooms in Fantasyland

Next-gen FASTPASS looks ready to go at the Haunted Mansion

The store is open during this

A strange structure has risen on the Skyway site which makes these people angry at each-other…

Chubby Moonliner?

I’m not sure what that is supposed to be

Next-gen FASTPASS installed at Peter Pan as well

People like to lean on things

The castle walls are nearing completion

Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train construction

Work continues on Princess Fairytale Hall

Caught someone picking their nose… fantastic!

Just like in the concept art, Prince Eric’s castle is visible just over the mountain

Next-Gen FASTPASS at Winnie the Pooh

More grass appearing on the roof of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

Big Top Souvenirs

Next-Gen FASTPASS installed here as well

The presumed Humphrey the Bear counter service location through the trees

Looks like a sign will be installed soon

Another look at the roof grass…

Work continues on the Tomorrowland bridge

And the old Swan Boats dock

Infrastructure for the eventual move to RFID tickets is being installed at the Magic Kingdom entrance

Another look at Grand Floridian construction

Adam Roth’s 8/7/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 21, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney on Tuesday and has a ton of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Work continues on Princess Fairytale Hall

Castle Wall construction rolls on

Plenty of turrets installed now

The Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train is being enclosed

It may look like snow on top of Under the Sea, but they are actually installing real grass as they weren’t happy with how the green paint looked

You can actually see the entrance to Big Top Souvenirs now

The rock-work over the backstage entrance looks good

Let’s see how the Dumbo interactive queue is doing

Pretty cool system the Cast Members sue to track the capacity

It was pretty busy

My favorite part of this queue?

LED fireworks!

Looking beyond Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak…

The canopy is finished on what we expect to be a small food service location themed to Humphrey the Bear

A look back at Dumbo

The photo-op with the ride vehicle has returned

A quick stop at the Contemporary for our first look at the new RFID pay system where guests can use Key to the World cards by just pressing it up to the Mickey icon, provided a credit card is on file

Work continues on Splitsville, set to open in the Fall

Characters in flight is still down for maintenance

But in the meantime, you can buy merchandise to mark the day you didn’t ride it…

No Pleasure Island… No Hyperion Wharf…

Work continues on the new volcano at Rainforest Cafe

Looks like they are getting ready to install the “D-Tech Me” area

Cool castle mosaics available as part of the Castle Collection currently being displayed at the Disney Gallery in California

Thanks for reading!

Tom Corless’ 8/23-8/29/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 21, 2012

I visited the Walt Disney World Resort last week covering all four of the theme parks and I have plenty of newsworthy pictures to share, so let’s take a look at what’s happening around the Vacation Kingdom:

The Rainforest Cafe sign inside Animal Kingdom is still missing

Beastly Bazaar is closed to become a character meet and greet experience this Fall

Wreck-It Ralph has taken over the display at the exit of the Magic of Disney Animation show

Vannelope is voiced by Sarah Silverman

That cake looks so real…

The game Fix-It Felix is inspired by games such as Rampage and Donkey Kong

Ralph even started as a monster just like one you would find in Rampage

Niceland is the city in the game

Ralph and Felix

Hero’s Duty might end up being the darkest looking scenes in any Disney animated film ever…

Hero’s Duty is inspired by games such as Gears of War and Halo

Voiced by Jane Lynch

Sugar Rush is inspired by games such as Mario Kart

Looks like a possible villain to me…

They were painting the next Ink and Paint Cell to be released while I was there

A Hatbox Ghost big figure has been released

There’s also a new Stitch figure

For the first time in ages, the decorations in The Studio Store do not represent a single new film!

Nice to see the original intended decorations back for once

Banners for Finding Nemo 3D up

The LEgend of Jack Sparrow building was painted blue

Walls are now up near the front of the building

The menu has been drastically changed at Backlot Express

BUFFALO CHICKEN BREAST NUGGETS! AHHHHHHH!

Next-Gen FASTPASS preparations already made at American Idol

Moving over to Epcot, work continues on the new Disney Vacation Club booth near Canada

A strange wall has popped up in the queue for Journey Into Imagination

Possibly FASTPASS related?

The Kim Possible sign-up areas in Innoventions have been completely removed

While passing by on the monorail we could see that the new parking lot for the Grand Floridian DVC wing is almost complete

Moving on to the Magic Kingdom, the park is ready for Halloween

There is a new banner at the beginning of Celebrate a Dream Come True

I’m not sure when it happened, but Mickey and Minnie are in normal clothing on their float

The Junioe Jungle Boats outside of the Jungle Cruise have reportedly been closed permanently

Next-gen FASTPASS ready to go at the Jungle Cruise

Same at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Meanwhile, some rather drastic queue modifications have been made at Pirates of the Caribbean

There is now a point where the two queues meet

Work continues on the former Fantasyland Skyway site, soon to be home to a new walkway and restrooms

Thought this was an interesting shot as it gives you an idea of where the Mine Train will be as you walk into Fantasyland

Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train construction

The Castle Walls are nearing completion

Some work being done on the roof of Mickey’s Philharmagic

Most of the Snow White facade is now gone in preparation for Princess Fairytale Hall

Grass continues to be installed on the roof of Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

The signage has been installed on Big Top Souvenirs in Storybook Circus

I LOVE the popcorn lights…

FOOD!

Some new Space Mountain shirts are available

Moving back to Fantasyland, the lights were on inside the Castle Walls

Lights were on in the Beauty and the Beast area as well

They were testing lighting on the turrets of the Castle Walls as well

The Mickey-O-Lanterns are much brighter and actually flicker this year

Dirk Wallen’s 4/21-22/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 15, 2012

We welcome WDWNT Reporter to the team with his very first photo report, a quick look around the parks with some very newsworthy photos:

Work continues on the facade of the Main Street Bakery

The final eges of the rock-work on Under the sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid are rounded out

Work continues on what we assume will be a new Pooh meet and greet area in the former Tigger bounce area

The old/second Dumbo is taking a while to be installed

The rest of the land is taking shape, including more supports for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train

More of the Castle Wall frame has been erected

The basic shape is all there, so you can really get a feel for the layout of the land now

Over at Hollywood Studios, the queue at Disney Junior: Live on Stage is being repaired

The Splash fountain is back from refurbishment

Work continues on the new facade at the Downtown Disney Rainforest Cafe

I saved the Orange Bird for last… he’s back… and he has an attraction poster while not being an attraction

Yep, he’s on the sign…

An Aerial View of New Fantasyland Construction – July 2012

WDWNT on December 3, 2012

Scott Keating was once again nice enough to provide some aerial shots of the current New Fantasyland construction site after a few month absence, so let’s see all that has changed:

As you can see, everything but the Mine Train is nearing completion

If there was any doubts that the Skyway Station was going to become a Tangled meet-and-greet, the appearance of a tower frame has just about confirmed it…

The framework for Mine Train looks to be just about complete

The castle walls are taking shape

Just the three tent-like structures left to go in Storybook Circus, we expect these to open in the Fall/Winter

A look at Mine Train

As you can see, the beauty and the Beast realm is almost complete as paths and trees are already installed and all scaffolding is down. Trees are up in the Mermaid queue as well.

A closer look at the tents that will be Big Top Souvenirs, Pete’s Silly Sideshow, and a Humphrey the Bear-themed counter-service location

The concept art we say in 2009 is finally coming to life… Stay tuned…

First Look at Magic Kingdom Map Including New Fantasyland and Cast Member Costumes

WDWNT on December 3, 2012

So, we have a bit of a New Fantasyland exclusive for you today…

Here’s our very first look at what the Magic Kingdom map will look like in a few weeks when the next phases of the expansion open. Notice that the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train will be on the map despite not opening until 2014. Not earth-shattering news, but still kind of cool. Now let’s look at the cast member costumes that will populate the land:

Storybook Circus merchandise (Big Top Souvenirs)

Daytime busser and server at Be Our Guest Restaurant

Daytime and evening greeter at Be Our Guest Restaurant

Food and beverage (food carts and small vendors)

Fantasyland Forest merchandise (Bonjour Village Gifts and smaller locations)

Attractions (Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train)

Character Attendant (YES! No generic costume for this section of the park!)

While not our most exciting update on New Fantasyland, I’m glad to see thought going into cast costuming as many usually complain that they have gotten more generic over the years. These costumes will fit nicely into the land and I can’t wait to see them in-person! What do you think?

Tom Corless’ 7/25-26/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on December 3, 2012

I don’t often get to contribute with a photo report, but I took a short two day trip to Walt Disney World stopping at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom so I took some photos. Let’s take a look at a rare Tom Corless photo report:

Work continues on the separate entrance to Turtle Talk

One of the exhibits in the Turtle Talk pre-show is being fixed up

Some work happening between the Refreshment Port and the Canada pavilion in World Showcase

On to the Magic Kingdom, work continues on the former Skyway site, expected to soon be home to restrooms, a new pathway, and the Tangled meet and greet

The castle walls are coming along nicely

This section looks nearly complete

A beautiful lighting fixture has been installed in the passageway

If you were worried about being able to see the corner of the show building for Enchanted Tales with Belle, don’t be, they have covered it with rock-work

More castle wall work

The work to remove a planter in back of the Carousel is complete

The walls have expanded and scaffolding has gone up on the former Snow White’s Scary Adventures, soon to be Princess Fairytale Hall in late-2013

Despite 101-degree temperatures, construction workers are out and about

Work continues on the Seven Dwarfs’ Mine Train

Be Our Guest Restaurant off in the distance

More Mine Train

Heading into Storybook Circus, you get plenty of notice that Dumbo FASTPASS is available near Philharmagic

With a little paint, the facade for Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid will be complete

The backstage entrance is pretty much done

Big Top Souvenirs

I decided to check out the Dumbo queue

Pictures don’t do it justice, it’s really nice inside

Pull the string and it sets off LED fireworks!

This lights up above the box

Your “ticket”

Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak was awesome!

I took these photos early on Wednesday, but on Tuesday afternoon there was at least 100 guests playing in here

Even the little merchandise cart is intricately themed

These work walls have been here since Storybook Circus opened

I don’t think it is anything of substance as it is simply on the back of the storage shed for the Barnstormer trains

Adam Roth’s 5/19-20/12 WDW Photo Report

WDWNT on October 30, 2012

WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom this past weekend, so let’s take a look at his photos, including an in-depth look at the Fantasyland model now on display at Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream:

Darth Vader cupcake

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Adam had himself frozen in carbonite in the ABC sound Studio, former home of Sounds Dangerous

Pretty neat for $120

Star Wars Weekends merchandise is in the tent behind Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster again, Darth’s Mall

The huge Fantasyland model has moved in at One Man’s Dream

super cool

Princess Fairytale Hall won’t change the exterior of Snow White too much according to the model

A sign explains the model to guests

Some stuff isn’t labeled, like Triton’s Treasures, Ariel’s Grotto, and some minor facilities like restrooms, food stands, etc.

Some interesting points to note from this artwork:

Pete’s Silly Sideshow is the entire second tent towards the back and it appears it will remain a meet and greet experience only. We know Goofy should be there, but no other characters have been announced yet.
The unlabeled building next to Pete’s Silly Sideshow is probably the Humphrey the Bear counter service location that has been rumored, but again, we have no further confirmation.
You can make out the train lines that lead to the Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station if you look closely at Storybook Circus.
Triton’s Treasures (the Little Mermaid gift shop) does not appear behind the Mine Train anymore, so it may be gone from the plans altogether.
The unlabeled building between Gaston’s Tavern and Bonjour Village Gifts is a restroom facility.
You can see the track layout of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, including when it goes through the show building with the dark-ride type scenes.