Its appears that the vague tweet from Honda’s ASIMO the other day was a hint at his addition to the attraction…
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ASIMO can now be found in several vignettes along the ride path at the Autopia attraction. The changes come one year after Honda took over sponsorship of the attraction.
The previously announced Joffrey’s Coffee kiosk at the Magic Kingdom now has a name: Revive.
The Joffrey’s Coffee kiosk’s location near Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Stage.
Joffrey’s Coffee has confirmed our speculation that the construction near Space Mountain is for the new kiosk. Opening in March, the location will even offer a beverage exclusive to Magic Kingdom Park, the “More S’mores Latte”, made of espresso, rich chocolate sauce, sweet marshmallow syrup, whipped cream, graham cracker sprinkles and marshmallows. The new drink will be available hot or iced.
Our latest photo report brings us to the Magic Kingdom as many refurbishments and enhancements continue through the less busy weeks of the year.
Work continues on the Magic Kingdom monorail station (and it remains open thankfully).
Work continues on the Magic Kingdom train station.
The Emporium remains open while work is done to the exterior.
Sadly, the new paint scheme on the Tomorrowland rocks is already peeling.
There are now Toy Story Snuggle Snappers for sale.
Work continues on the rumored Joffrey’s Coffee location in Tomorrowland.
Just a few days ago, there was just a foundation behind those walls.
The Cool Ship has reopened, but the Cool Scanner remains under refurbishment.
The exterior painting on Space Mountain continues.
A look down at just the foundation for the coffee stand.
The Cool Ship is looking good after its short refurbishment.
Apparently, the guest relations location in Tomorrowland is still a thing, there was just no one working there the last time we visited.
Some Beauty and the Beast phone case designs can now be found at the D-Tech on Demand kiosks here.
As you can see, it was open again. I’m guessing they were understaffed the last time we visited.
The refurbishment of Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe is underway, with the restrooms closed for remodeling.
This kid asked me why the bathrooms are closed. I responded, “Kid, have you eaten here?”
I’m not sure if it was done recently, but I noticed the old multicolored covering on the benches was gone and there was a new paint scheme on the walls.
There is now a FuelRod kiosk inside of Cosmic Ray’s. The convenience continues to grow as you can find many of these in each park now.
The work on the exterior has many of the windows covered.
If you couldn’t tell, it is really dark inside right now.
The work outside is to add more covered seating areas.
I found the Beauty and the Beast MagicBand at the Magic Kingdom. It’s not the best one I’ve seen…
Bonjour Village Gifts is now selling tons of merchandise from the new movie.
Including the Belle doll which most think looks more like Justin Bieber in a dress…
I’m no fan of Pinocchio Village Haus, but closing at 6pm seems a bit early. Even the @WDWToday twitter account tweeted at 6pm the other day that you should go eat here, but it was closed already…
Pinocchio Village Haus is serving up flatbreads to satisfy all taste buds â no strings attached! #MagicKingdom pic.twitter.com/f5z4LFFucW
â WDW Today (@WDWToday) February 7, 2017
Inside, the electronic menu boards have been covered for a while, with these static signs placed over them for now.
There are now candy-filled lightsabers for sale at the parks.
Filled with off-brand M&M’s…
You can get blue or red, but clearly the red is more popular.
A new mug for sale in the Emporium.
I thought it was neat that it has an emoji of the castle underneath instead of the usual logo.
Pecos Bill’s has become my favorite quick service lunch spot over the last year. It seems this is where I end up every time there’s not something new to order elsewhere in the park.
The new kid’s nachos dish is a pretty good value, and you can load it up as much as you want at the fixin’s bar.
The taller trees on the riverbank were removed to help with the sight-lines for Tiana’s Riverboat Party.
As you can see, this new, smaller tree was just planted.
All sorts of emergency walkways and exits around the parks seems to be getting much brighter LED lighting for nighttime.
Seen here, the stairway at the dock is brighter than the lights on the Riverboat.
The nighttime lighting on the Tomorrowland rocks looks great as it reflects off the water and makes a wave effect.
New lighting was installed on the Progress City model along the Peoplemover and it looks great.
Just two days later, the entire Joffrey’s Coffee kiosk was there (sorry for the blurry pics, but best I could do).
The Wishes! poster acts as a decent reminder when you leave that you only have a few weeks left to see this legendary show.
Our first photo report of 2017 brings us to the Magic Kingdom to see the latest adjustments and merchandise additions around the park. Let’s jump right in, shall we?
Good morning Magic Kingdom!
They have slowly been repaving the area outside of Mickey’s Philharmagic over the last few weeks.
Some new Villains shirts available at Sir Mickey’s.
A new Belle shirt for sale as well.
Christmas stickers were being given out all around the park.
Liberty Square Market has started selling Muppets plush since the show is nearby. They can’t sell baked potatoes anymore, BUT LETS STOCK SOME PLUSH!
There has been a pretty vile garbage mound growing in the Rivers of America as of late…
Including some dead fish…
PADDLEFISH ANYONE?
If I haven’t mentioned it before, Pecos Bill’s has recently become my favorite counter service stop at the Magic Kingdom. The fajita dish is pretty good and offers more than enough food.
The bowl is pretty good as well, considering you can load it up at the toppings bar.
Christmas Party exclusive pins were being sold to the general public before the last party even happened. As I have complained before, they should at least wait until the final party is over…
We found some baby ducks hanging out by Tomorrowland. I’ve never seen them this late in the year.
“No, don’t eat the cigarette!!!”
Stitch’s Great Escape reopened for a bit every day to combat the crowds in the park. It actually was getting quite the line.
The walls that have been up since the rock painting began have now finally come down.
The decal over the entrance has been falling off for months, but I suppose there’s no reason to invest in something you are closing.
We pretty much just went in to say hello to Skippy who stayed over from the Alien Encounter attraction.
When seats are broken, you will sometimes still see these XS Tech “Temporarily Seized” seat covers.
The new customizable Star Wars name tags are also available at the Merchant of Venus, not just at Hollywood Studios.
They are now regularly handing out Zootopia stickers in Tomorrowland for some reason.
There its some heavy construction taking place near the Kingdom Cabanas adjacent to Space Mountain, not sure what for as of yet.
One of the first MagicBand 2’s available to guests is this “it’s a small world” 45th anniversary band currently available.
Our first photo report of 2017 brings us to the Magic Kingdom to see the latest adjustments and merchandise additions around the park. Let’s jump right in, shall we?
Good morning Magic Kingdom!
They have slowly been repaving the area outside of Mickey’s Philharmagic over the last few weeks.
Some new Villains shirts available at Sir Mickey’s.
A new Belle shirt for sale as well.
Christmas stickers were being given out all around the park.
Liberty Square Market has started selling Muppets plush since the show is nearby. They can’t sell baked potatoes anymore, BUT LETS STOCK SOME PLUSH!
There has been a pretty vile garbage mound growing in the Rivers of America as of late…
Including some dead fish…
PADDLEFISH ANYONE?
If I haven’t mentioned it before, Pecos Bill’s has recently become my favorite counter service stop at the Magic Kingdom. The fajita dish is pretty good and offers more than enough food.
The bowl is pretty good as well, considering you can load it up at the toppings bar.
Christmas Party exclusive pins were being sold to the general public before the last party even happened. As I have complained before, they should at least wait until the final party is over…
We found some baby ducks hanging out by Tomorrowland. I’ve never seen them this late in the year.
“No, don’t eat the cigarette!!!”
Stitch’s Great Escape reopened for a bit every day to combat the crowds in the park. It actually was getting quite the line.
The walls that have been up since the rock painting began have now finally come down.
The decal over the entrance has been falling off for months, but I suppose there’s no reason to invest in something you are closing.
We pretty much just went in to say hello to Skippy who stayed over from the Alien Encounter attraction.
When seats are broken, you will sometimes still see these XS Tech “Temporarily Seized” seat covers.
The new customizable Star Wars name tags are also available at the Merchant of Venus, not just at Hollywood Studios.
They are now regularly handing out Zootopia stickers in Tomorrowland for some reason.
There its some heavy construction taking place near the Kingdom Cabanas adjacent to Space Mountain, not sure what for as of yet.
One of the first MagicBand 2’s available to guests is this “it’s a small world” 45th anniversary band currently available.
While we still await the opening of Disney’s very first MARVEL ride attraction, the Iron Man Experience, the Stark Expo shop attached to the highly anticipated motion simulator ride has already opened to the public. Below we have some photos of the area to share with you, courtesy of TDRExplorer.
There is still no solid opening date for the attraction, but at least guests can shop at the adjacent Stark Expo shop, right?
The main marquee for the area is actually a giant screen. Currently, it plays a number of graphics that say “Coming Soon”.
The inside of the shop features tons of MARVEL character merchandise and plenty of images related to the upcoming attraction.
The attraction itself takes place in the city of Hong Kong, so it would need to be reanimated if it were to ever be cloned for any of the other Disney theme parks around the world.
The simulator vehicles fly side-by-side with Iron Man in many of the wall graphics.
The Stark Expo is a parody of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair which is a landmark moment in Disney Parks history, so it all kind of comes full circle with this being featured in a theme park.
The Moljinir of Thor and one of Iron Man’s repulser blasting hands on display in the shop.
As you can see in the video, there is also an experience where guests can digitally suit up as Iron Man and battle through the streets of Hong Kong.
Annual pass holders at Hong Kong Disneyland (called Magic Access Members there) can purchase the only piece of merchandise actually branded to the attraction so far: a limited edition junbo-sized pin.
Pretty neat, huh?
A little over a week ago, LED lighting was finally installed on the facade of Space Mountain in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. Pretty much every other version of the attraction on the planet has been using LED lighting for years now, but finally the Florida original shines brightly in the night sky.
The lighting is static, but changes to a different color scheme every 10 minutes or so. Oh, and it looks great just steps away from that shiny new Carousel of Progress sign which also has some nifty lighting:
So, what do you think of all this fancy new lighting in Tomorrowland?
Disneyland reporter Conner Purzycki brings us back to the Disneyland Resort for our latest photo update, looking at both parks as well as Downtown Disney. Let’s jump right in!
Construction continues on the Star Wars themed land for Disneyland Park, visible from the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.
The tram route around the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure is currently being reconfigured.
World of Disney is open while the facade is being refurbished.
The space next door to Jamba Juice is currently vacant, rumored to be home to Sprinkles, which will open in November.
Naples has blocked off an area for needed outdoor seating for guests.
Some work happening at the former House of Blues space, rumored to be an west coast home to The Edison.
Some work also happening on the bridge area.
Still unsure what will happen to the space next door to this Starbucks.
Let’s take a ride aboard the Disneyland Monorail.
The Hollywood Tower Hotel sign is gone, visible from the Monorail.
Even though Season of the Force is over, it should be returning in November, thus why all of the lighting and such was left up in Tomorrowland. Hyperspace Mountain will likely switch off with Ghost Galaxy until Star Wars land opens, so don’t expect to see regular Space Mountain anytime soon.
All of the Star Wars banners were changed over to generic Tomorrowland banners.
Some work is being done to the Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters FastPass area, which is also used for Star Tours FastPass.
A nifty, yet temporary, Tomorrowland sign replaces the one for the Season of the Force.
I’m honestly surprised that it isn’t flat.
Definitely prefer this to the 1998 signage.
Some work being done to the sidewalk on Main Street U.S.A.
Star Wars construction, as seen from Frontierland.
Work continues on the Rivers of America while its many attractions are closed.
The Columbia is getting ready to host the Pirates of the Caribbean in an updated Fantasmic!
A fangless, new-faced Mickey meets guests on Main Street.
The canon is missing…
The old Millionaire soundstage now sits vacant, but has seen better days on its exterior.
After 6 years, the backlot stage is finally coming down.
It might actually be nice to see this area back to normal, as ugly as it is.
As we reported last week, the Hollywood Tower Hotel sign is already gone from the Tower of Terror.
The attraction will close in January to become Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout.
To infinity and beyond!
A lot of guests are angry about this, personally, I still don’t think it actually matters, but to each his own.
Our latest photo report brings us to the Magic Kingdom on its 45th anniversary weekend, but changes in the park certainly didn’t stop for the festivities. Rapid progress on the look of Tomorrowland continues, Stitch’s Great Escape has closed, and OK, we have some duck pictures.
A special commemorative map was given out to mark the day.
The opening day resorts and the park also had complimentary buttons for guests.
The day began with a special welcome show at the Train Station:
Plenty of specialty merchandise was available (the line lasted over an hour at some points though).
The line wrapped around the Emporium and went down most of the street.
The main event of the day was a special anniversary ceremony at Cinderella Castle:
A special “Celebration Dog” was being served at Casey’s Corner:
Big Top Treats had some special candy apples.
Gaston’s Tavern and the Main Street Bakery were serving the infamous anniversary cupcake.
This time, guests could choose chocolate or vanilla cake.
The only piece of the open edition merchandise that came out on the 1st was this lanyard and pin set. That being said, most of the open edition items are currently sold out.
The Stitch related Tomorrowland murals in Merchant of Venus were covered up with giant Rogue One art when the merchandise was released (I’m sure it helps that Stitch’s Great Escape is now closed and only operates seasonally).
There’s a Tomorrowland mural under there, and no, it’s not by Mary Blair.
The Carousel of Progress finally got its new marquee sing, but you probably already saw that post…
The often congested Fantasyland bottleneck is now equipped with permanent signage for cast members to use. This only took 45 years.
Only 8 days before it happens, Disney releases a “Glowing Away Soon” shirt for the Main Street Electrical Parade. This shirt will be outdated in less than week. Why not put the final day on it? Oh, in case it gets rained out this weekend…
There is a fantastic photo-op at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe right now featuring Sonny Eclipse, “the biggest little star in the universe”.
After years of waiting, LED lighting was finally installed on the exterior of Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom and it looks fantastic!
Right after we reported that they were off, many interactive elements returned to the Magic Kingdom. The goodbye at “it’s a small world” was turned on, but has still been breaking a lot.
Starting Sunday, Stitch’s Great Escape now operates seasonally. The attraction will return for two short stretches at the end of 2016, but after that it should close to make way for a Wreck-It Ralph ride.
Work on the Tomorrowland rocks is wrapping up.
The new grass is still rough, but we probably need to give it some time to grow in.
The ducks decided it was ready for them.
The Magic Kingdom wildlife was being particularly photogenic.
Some extensive work is being done to the Express Monorail load platform at the Magic Kingdom, but the service remains open through the work.
Starting October 2nd, 2016, Stitch’s Great Escape at the Magic Kingdom will change to a seasonally operating attraction.
Stitch’s Great Escape will operate seasonally at the Magic Kingdom starting 10/2/16
The show will return for the busy 2016 holiday season for two periods, November 19th-26th, 2016 and December 17th, 2016 through January 2nd, 2017.
Walt Disney World has not offered a seasonally operating attraction in many years, not since the mid-2000’s when they would only open the Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot during the busy holiday season. Of course, the Wonders of Life was retired shortly thereafter. Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is the only attraction that was ever offered only seasonally to return to normal operation at Walt Disney World.
Stitch’s Great Escape is rumored to close permanently in the not-too-distant future to be replaced with a Wreck-It Ralph attraction. This seasonal closure could be used to start work on a new attraction inside the building.
