Showing posts with label fantasyland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasyland. Show all posts

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Counting to the Magic: 36 Days

Riding Dumbo is an experience everyone must have once, no matter how old you are.  It is just a classic attraction that is at the heart of a Disney vacation.  And if that side of it doesn't appeal to you, how about that this is the only attraction that can give you a decent view over that large fence into the dirt piles of the Fantasyland Expansion?? Maybe that aspect will be more appealing to people, as I know it is appealing to me!  Here are a few of the pictures I snapped when my sister and I went on Dumbo in August:







I am so excited to see the progress that has been made in the last year!!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Weekly DDL Post

This week's Disney Driven Life article is all about the Fantasyland Refurbishment! See what kind of updates have been going on by reading the article.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, I tell the new story behind the new name of the Carrousel in Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland. I also give you a little history behind the name "Carrousel", so to read up on some history, check out the article!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Driven Life, I go over some of the recent closures and closures to come throughout the Walt Disney World property! Check it out at http://thedisneydrivenlife.com/archives/3418

Saturday, April 10, 2010

DVC Webcast convincing me yet again!

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am very interested in the Disney Vacation Club, learning as much as I can about it so that I may purchase in the future! Where I get a lot of my information is from DVC Webcasts.

Last Tuesday, I viewed another one of the great webcasts called "Disney Traveler". It was presented by the DVC and was advertised to teach us about the DVC program and to give some info on what is going on in the parks.

As I waited for the show to begin, Disney jazz music and pictures from Disney flashed on the webcast screen. When the show began, our host, Mary, talked about how vacations were used a lot to celebrate milestones. She also mentioned about how a Disney vacation always feels so rushed because you want to fit everything in, but with a DVC purchase, you will be able to relax on your trips because you know you will be coming back again and again.

Another host talked with an Imagineer about the Fantasyland Expansion. He talked a lot about the plans, nothing new except for one thing I did not realize; in Belle's Cottage, you will walk through a mirror to get to Beast's castle. I thought that was pretty cool. He also mentioned that the Little Mermaid attraction coming to Fantasyland was also going to be in California Adventure. Opening is still predicted for Fall of 2012.

The webcast then interviewed some people about their DVC experience and talked about the international trips you can take with DVC. I must admit that I like that you can use your points to go anywhere! They then went into detail about DVC, including prices and the point system.

I was very excited that one room that they showed us was a 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas! In just 2 months, Chris and I will be there! *pauses while calming down from excitement* Anyway, one new thing I learned about DVC was that you could send a grocery list to the DVC and they will shop for you and deliver the food to your room for a $6 delivery charge plus the cost of your groceries.

At the end, they discussed the Disney Cruise Line, how the points can be used there, and even showed concept art for the new ship, Disney Dream. They showed the AquaDuck ride through!

The total webcast lasted 45 minutes and was quite entertaining as well as informative. You learned a lot about DVC and, if I wasn't a poor college student, I would have bought that night!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Weekly DDL Post

We are slowly getting things back to normal here at The True Disney Fan and with that comes the weekly post from the Disney Drivel Life site! This week's post, coincidentally is about how things are anything but normal in the Magic Kingdom, especially near the area of Fantasyland! Possible sightings of the beginning of the highly anticipated overhaul! Check it out!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 in Review

What a year, what a year!!! This has been a huge year in the World of Disney (and no, I don't mean the store). This year has brought us what I would like to call "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

"The Good": One huge good thing I would say would be the introduction of D23. This club was a great addition to the Disney Company. While I do believe that the club is slightly overpriced, I believe the perks that you get from a membership are completely worth it. In connection with D23, the major D23 Convention in September was another "Good". The experiences provided at that convention had never been seen before from Disney and there were some amazing announcements, including some of the other "Goods", including then announcement of the Fantasyland Overhaul, Star Tours 2, Cruise Line Announcements and so much more! This convention had many exciting and big pluses for this year.

This year's celebration and promotion "What Will You Celebrate?" seemed to come as a good success to Disney. Not as big as the "Year of A Million Dreams" maybe, but it still seems that many took advantage of the Free admission on your birthday or at least the "Birthday Fun Card". As for this coming year's celebration, "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day"...Well, I'll get to that in a little bit.

I continue with the good by mentioning the return of The Muppets to popularity! From being a part of the new Disney celebration, to the rumors of a future refurb of MuppetVision 3D, to their hilarious Youtube videos, you cannot deny that the Muppets are back and ready for action! Definitely what I would call a "Good".

My final mention is the return of hand drawn animation to the Disney Company with the movie release of The Princess and The Frog. This movie not only brought back an art thought lost by computer animation, but also brought a new princess to the collection to be loved by all!

"The Bad": In some way, this category should be called "The Tragic". Many tragedies befalling the Disney Company this year. They say that things come in 3's and that was certainly proven over the summer! First was that terrible monorail crash that killed a driver named Austin right after the 4th of July. A few weeks later, we had the sudden death of an actor named Mark Priest, who died after a fall he had while doing the Pirate Tutorial in Magic Kingdom. The third would be the accident during the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular practice that killed one of the actors of that show. Three tragedies that hit the company in less that 2 months.

Unfortunately, this would not be all of the deaths that the Disney family would have to endure this year. The final blow for the year came just a mere 2 weeks ago with the death of the beloved Roy E Disney. Crucial in many decisions in the Disney Company since the death of his uncle and father, Roy cared deeply about the family business and took pride in seeing that Disney kept the quality it has always been known for. He will be sorely missed.

The safely of the transportation has been questioned this year in Disney. Between the monorail crash, bus problems and a total monorail shutdown just the other week, it has many people worried, wondering if it is alright to use and questioning whether it is worth using. I personally think such issues can happen to anyone and it is just a bigger deal because it happened to Disney.

"The Ugly": There were some pretty ugly things that happened in regards to Disney, though we hate to admit it. The first would be the collapse of Stitch's Supersonic Celebration in Tomorrowland. While Stitch is cute and fluffy (though I know some people that would disagree on that), his show that lasted a mere 6 weeks is what I would definitely call "Ugly". They did not plan well for the show and spent a lot of money on something that will probably not get used often. A big blunder on Disney's part.

Another "Ugly", also from Tomorrowland, would be the new audio for the Tomorrowland Transit Authourity. The Space Mountain Refurb went pretty smoothly from what I know, but all did not go well with the TTA. The audio has been changed with a new voice and new sayings. The audio has been described by many as just downright boring! There is no talk whatsoever in Space Mountain and the famous reference to Tom Morrow has been cut completely, angering many veteran guests. It's really a shame.

The final under the "Ugly" category is Captain EO. Well ok, this is more of a personal preference for the "Ugly" category...let me explain. I do not know much about Captain EO, what I have seen seems very cheezy, I am not sure it will really work for today's audience and the only reason they are bringing it back is because of the outcry that was given for its return after Michael Jackson's death. I personally find this a ridiculous reason to bring back an attraction. There was no outcry for the Walter Cronkrite audio for Spaceship Earth after his death, why bring this back?

This finally brings us to the future segment:
What Awaits us in 2010???


What will happen with Captain EO: They are closing Honey I Shrunk the Audience in California on the 4th of January to bring this back in February and I cannot wait to see what happens to this attraction. It is suppose to only be a limited engagement...it will be interesting to see exactly how limited.

The fate of Sounds Dangerous in Hollywood Studios: This is pretty self explanatory. An attraction on seasonal operation, closed for 11 months and opens just in these last 2 weeks planning to close again on the 2nd of January...why waste the space on it? If you are going to close it Disney, just do it! There are not too many people who will miss it, honest!

Studio Backlot Tour: This is supposedly going down for refurb in February to reopen again in March, but there are many rumors flying around that when it does go down, it will not come back. Ideas and concept art for a Monsters Inc. roller coaster have been circulating for a while online and it is utterly convenient that Backlot happens to be located smack at the end of Pixar place.

Fantaslyand Overhaul: Yea, we know, its happening, but when?? I would absolutely love to see a timeline for this. It is just a little broad for people when you say by 2012. I know I would like to know what will be closed, if anything, on my trip in June. The railroad is scheduled to be closed in 2010 for a few months because of this overhaul, but we don't know when yet. Will I be able to see Mickey and Minnie's house for the last time on my trip in June? Even just a brief idea of what is going to be tackled first would be great to have!

Marvel/Disney: I did not put this acquisition in the 2009 part because I am not honestly sure if this is good, bad or ugly. I will be very interested to see if anything happens with this combination in 2010.

Monorail/Transportation Safety: I will assume that Disney is and will be taking a good hard look at what happened this year in the way of Transportation around the park and will look into some safety features and updates that are needed to ensure that calamities like this year do not happen again.

So much of this and more is to happen in 2010, the only word of advice that can be followed is words from the great Walt Disney himself: "Keep Moving Forward!"

Thank you all so much for reading this blog and giving me the feedback that you do! It really makes it enjoyable to write and I hope you will continue to come here to The True Disney Fan for Disney news in 2010!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Announcements that Shook the Expo!

Was that another earthquake in California????? Oh no, it was just some MAJOR announcements by Disney at the D23 Expo this past weekend!!!! There were so many announcements that I don't think I will be able to cover them all, but I am going to cover as many as I can right here.

Fantasyland Expansion- By far one of the biggest announcements at the entire Expo! As rumored across the internet for the last couple months, the major Overhaul and remodel of WDW's Fantasyland has been officially confirmed! See my blog written on August 10th called "Fantasyland Overhaul" for a few images of the blueprints. For all of the wonderful concept art images, check out the video here of the announcement at D23 or here for all of the individual concept art pictures. The only visible change from the leaked blueprints to the concept art is the location of Dumbo and Pixie Hollow. They moved Pixie Hollow back while moving the Dumbo are closer to Tomorrowland, which makes sense because of the phase schedule. The entire project is expected to be done in 2012 with the exception of Pixie Hollow which will be completed in 2013.

Star Tours II- This popular attraction will be closing in October 2010 to reopen in 2011 with an all new video and in 3D! This new video will feature pod racing as well as other scenes that are in the first 3 movies in the saga (so the 3 newest movies for all you non-Star Wars people).

Hong Kong Additions- 3 more lands are coming to Hong Kong Disneyland by the year 2014. They are Grizzley Trail (reminds me of Frontierland and includes a roller coaster that goes backwards), Mystic Point (an entire area that is themed around a Haunted Mansion like attraction) and Toy Story Land (features attractions from the famous Disney/Pixar film). All three lands will be to the south of the current Adventureland and on the other side of the Railroad tracks.

Cruise Line Additions- Starting in 2011, DCL will be offering cruises to Alaska on the Disney Wonder. Cruises will depart from Vancouver, BC on a 7 day cruise up to Alaska. DCL also announced 2 new ship being built, the Disney Dream, which will have its maiden voyage in 2011, and the Disney Fantasy, sailing off in 2012. Both of these new ships will hold 50% more people than the original ships. For more information, see the article on the D23 Official website here.

Muppet news- So much going on with the Muppets! Halloween special next year, tons of new online videos including a cooking show with Cat Cora, Muppetvision 3D getting remastered in Disney Digital 3D, Statler and Waldorf writing a book, Whatnot Workshops coming to WDW and DL, the "Mobile Electric Mayhem Band"......They are back baby!!!

Movie Previews
Princess and the Frog- December 11, 2009

Toy Story 3- June 18, 2010

Rapunzel
- Coming Late 2010

Winnie the Pooh Movie- New Hand Drawn Movie coming out in 2011

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides- Coming Summer 2011

Did I miss your favorite announcement from D23? Please send me an email or leave me a comment and let me know!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Fantasyland Overhaul!

I have seen way to much information on this and news like this is not what I usually put up on my blog, but this is just waaaay too huge and interesting to ignore!

It looks as though Disney is looking at doing a major overhaul of the Fantasyland area of Magic Kingdom. The supposed plans expands the size of Fantasyland to about 3 times its current size, including taking over the majority of Mickey's Toontown Fair.

The plans include rides themed around several princesses, including Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella as well as a play area and meet-and-greet associated with Pixie Hollow. New food areas are also being added; one that seems to be much talked about is a Gaston related Table Service.

Some of the current rides will be staying, including the Carousel, Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. Dumbo will also be staying, but moving from its current location behind the Carousel to around the current location of Mickey's House. Dumbo will also be getting major additions to it, including a second ride area and an interactive queue.

Several small mercantiles also look to be in the plans, one including a book store that could possibly be themed around the book seller in Beauty and the Beast.

Below is what is believed to be blueprints for the new overhaul:
I would like to state, once again, that these plans are only supposed!! There has been no official announcement about this complete overhaul!

Why the buzz about it then? Well there have been a few "unofficial" leaks about work being done in the area, including some whispers from cast members that mention construction work being done behind the scenes of the park, where cast members used to be able to go but have since been blocked off. Could this be the beginning of a new Fantasyland???

Image provided by http://www.magicchatlive.com/showthread.php?tid=680. Visit this site for further discussion on this topic along with a very interesting picture of the overlay of the park, showing an aerial view of the current areas and then the proposed blueprints on top.

Final Notice: This Has Not Been Confirmed Officially By Disney! This Is Merely A Rumor!

(Though, word around is that official word on this overhaul will be coinciding with the D23 Expo!!)