It’s been a few weeks since this column visited the Magic Kingdom, so that is where this week’s update comes from. We have photos of the new interactive Pirate game, as well as construction of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
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Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!!
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Backtracking to the ride over to the park, here’s the progress of the new DVC wing at the Grand Floridian.
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Entering the park, it is great to see so many Main Street vehicles running early in the morning.
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I know Disney had more television tapings in Town Square recently, but they really need to move the Roy Disney and Minnie Mouse statue back where it belongs, not as an afterthought over by City Hall.
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On Main Street this week, one vehicle was parked and some promotional filming was taking place.
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The Bakery is still closed as it gets ready to reopen this summer as Starbucks.
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Nothing new on this scimmed building on Main Street.
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Heading over to Adventureland.
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This hasn’t changed since the turn of the new year.
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This section used to only have a wall, but now has a picture scrim. I’d love to know if anything is happening there other than typical refreshing.
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I love early morning empty park photos, so here are a few.
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While in Adventureland, the new Pirate Adventure interactive game was play testing this week, and I got to take part in it.
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The landing zone for this is the old Crow’s Nest gift shop, which now has a queue outside of it.
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Once inside, you see some fun details on the walls, and you also receive your talisman (which I believe has an RFID chip in it) and a map for your adventure.
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You then follow the map and go from spot to spot which tells a little story narrated by Jack Sparrow by tapping your talisman on the logos.
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This parrot is an animatronic that takes part in the story.
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This chest opens up after you fire a cannon at it.
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This figure popped out of the water near Jungle Cruise, which was pretty cool.
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Overall, the game was a fun little distraction. It isn’t something I would do every time in the park, but if you are a pirate fan, it would certainly be good bit of fun. There are a total of 5 maps to play through, which makes for the opportunity to do it more than once. I also found that it works much better than the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game, as it simply doesn’t stand out quite as much as the other one does. It is more subdued, which I think is a good thing.
Moving on, over by Splash Mountain, we still have a Kodak photo spot sign.
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This black and yellow thing on the ground was pretty ugly.
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Love being here early.
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These handrails are new.
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Scrims still up at Sleepy Hollow.
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Liberty Square is under some serious refurbishment.
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This is a new marquee and entry way for Columbia Harbor House. Note how it shows chicken on the marquee first in front of seafood, yet there is more seafood on the menu, and the only chicken entree is chicken nuggets.
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This pathway is very narrow during this refurbishment.
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Nothing new on the outside of the princess meet and greet area. Some media got a tour of the inside and it looks like a lot of stone work has happened in there.
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I’m a fan of fresh paint in the park for sure.
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Wait times for Enchanted Tales with Belle really haven’t cooled off yet. You have to eat here early to avoid the lines.
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The backside of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is really starting to look good, even though word came out this week to not expect the ride to open until Spring of 2014.
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Heading toward the front, here is some of the work being done.
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It is weird to think that it is taking so long to build this, while Universal down the road is doing Transformers, a Simpsons expansion, and an entirely new Harry Potter area all in a shorter time.
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Mad Tea Party is currently closed for refurbishment.
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On the Peoplemover, the Progress City scene is back now, and looks to have received a little touching up.
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Also during my Peoplemover ride, I got the treat of seeing Space Mountain with the lights on.
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This time of the year is really a beautiful one to be in the parks.
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On the way out, I waited to capture some photos of the newly wrapped Monsters University monorail.
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I’m not a terribly huge fan of the monorail wraps, but this one is done in a more subtle way, which is probably how I would prefer to see them done in the future. From far away, you almost can’t tell the wrap is there, but it is clear once it gets up close and personal. This one definitely looks nicer than the Iron Man 3 wrap, which is also circulating on the Magic Kingdom line.
Well, that wraps things up for this week’s column. What are your thoughts on the Pirate’s Adventure game in Adventureland? How about the fact that the Mine Train won’t be open for close to another whole year? Let us know in the comments below.
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