It’s been a while since we’ve glanced at the current state of construction, renovation, and rumors at the WDW theme parks and resorts, so it’s high time to see what’s cooking–some of which is necessarily rife with speculation and half-known answers, so please, take all of it with the requisite grain of salt. For my money, when you add it all up, things are still moving and shaking at Walt Disney World. They may not be building massively fast attractions like Universal, but they are definitely still moving.

Pandora – The World of AVATAR

Ground was officially broken several days ago, with bigwigs showing up to wield oversize shovels and take a press picture with a gigantic blue alien (statue, I think). The irony was not lost of some online commentators–weren’t the Na’vi all about PRESERVING nature rather than demolition work? Nevertheless, the larger point was that the land will actually be built, as I’ve been saying for some time now. There are just too many vested executives who see this as a crowning achievement. By hook or crook, it’s coming. So far it has meant the closing of Festival of the Lion King (which will return to Africa in several months in a newly-built arena behind Tusker House) and all of Camp Minnie-Mickey.

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Nighttime DAK Entertainment

We’ve talked before about overnight tests done on a water projection system (think: sideways) in the lagoon near Expedition Everest. That could give the park a Fantasmic/World of Color-like show, likely without much (any?) pyrotechnics due to the animals’ proximity.

The Tree of Life is now going to get in on the nighttime act, with highly-detailed projections mapped onto its surface the way we see shows now done on Cinderella Castle (in other words, with much realism). Does this mean the Tree of Life will become the Na’vi Hometree? That they will use projections and animations to “attack” the tree and topple it, figuratively?

Disney Springs

There is actually a stunning amount of work being done to Downtown Disney. The parking garage is only the most high-profile – and it will certainly make me more likely to visit in the future. The switchout from Wetzel’s Pretzels to Starbucks, plus another Starbucks in a new location just outside World of Disney adds some caffeinated zing to the place, but there’s a ton more going on, much of it centered around Pleasure Island. Huge sections are now boarded up, and you have to take the new bypass boardwalk next to the balloon to the get to the other side. They are building still other new structures in the area once home to the Motion dance club. They removed Cap’n Jack’s and the nearby marina. They’re building a bridge from Saratoga Springs to the Marketplace (near the t-shirt shop). Soon, Team Mickey will close and be replaced by another Disney shop. The West Side has had recent additions (Smokehouse fast food, Fit2Run, relocated Curl). They’ve played with various locations for four theme-park-themed food trucks, though this food is overpriced.

Pleasure Island as seen in November 2013.
Pleasure Island as seen in November 2013.

It’s a little bit dizzying. There’s so much activity it’s hard to know where to look. And still the hordes descend on the place. Since Pleasure Island closed, the place has only gotten MORE crowded.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster

Work zings along…OK, work proceeds apace…. er, OK fine, things crawl forward here. But there is progress. There are new decorative elements every few weeks, the area now has trees, and they have definitely been running cars through the track. So yes, it’s being built, slowly. No, it doesn’t look complete. No, I don’t have any clue when they might open it. Certainly not in the coming weeks. Summer?

As seen twelve months ago, in January 2013.
As seen twelve months ago, in January 2013.
Datelne-Mine-Coaster
And how that area looked one year later in January of 2014.

Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade

The Disney Parks Blog has been very loud about their praise for this new daytime parade (will it be equipped with bright lights for nighttime operation too? So says one rumor). It certainly does seem impressive. I’ve heard second hand that the music will be a crowd-pleaser, both upbeat and fast. I’m trying not to get my hopes too high, but it’s hard not to!

Main Street Bypass

WDWMagic has reported that the backstage area behind Main Street (on the Tomorrowland side) will be repurposed for a more permanent “bypass” so we can skip the overly crowded Main Street. I don’t know if that means they will build covered “arcades” like they have down the sides at Disneyland Paris, or just shunt us down here with more elaborate (and permanent) decorations if the area becomes permanently on-stage. I don’t know if there will be stores/shops. What I do know is that the planter right in this area, near the bathrooms below the ramp at Noodle Station, was recently removed, and that fits right in with the idea that there will soon be a bypass here to avoid Main Street.

Star Wars Land

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The enduring popularity of Star Wars, the partnership with Lucas, the outright PURCHASE of Lucasfilm, and the creation of new Star Wars movies all but guarantees that DHS will see a new Star Wars land. There’s just way too much synergy to imagine otherwise, and Iger has hinted at it. They can’t build anything with Marvel on this side of the Mississippi, which only increases the odds that Star Wars will get funded. Exactly WHAT it will be is unknown. There have been some patent filings that could be associated (maybe a dogfighting simulator – an attack on the Death Star?), but that’s far from certain. Will we see Backlot Express rethemed to Star Wars–perhaps Mos Eisley Cantina? There were rumored plans to change the entire road system leading into DHS. If cars drove in from the street where Art of Animation is, the entire land currently used by the offramp and main entry plaza, plus some forested areas, could become Star Wars. I used to think the Indy stunt show was likely a goner, but then again, Indy is likely to have new movies, too, so probably not.

Carsland

Once the hot idea to “fix” DHS (by removing Backlot Tram Tour and Lights, Motors, Action), this on-again, off-again project is kind of a big “who knows” to outsiders right now. Maybe we’ll get this AND Star Wars… or maybe Star Wars will eat its budget and be the only expansion to DHS.

Flamingo Crossing

The area once slated more than five years ago for a new multipurpose development (cheap hotels, supermarket, and a second shopping district like Downtown Disney) sits at the end of Western Way, a little-known street near Blizzard Beach but darting several miles across the pristine WDW property over here. This zone was sidelined by the recession and shows no signs of life to this day. They built curbs, streetlights, paved roads, and some manicured lawns (which they still maintain), but there is nothing but nothing happening over here still.

Any takers?
Any takers? Photo from 2012.

Water Pageant Bridge

There are modular, white (plastic?) floating barges near the canal used to store the Electrical Water Pageant floats in the daytime. They seem, for all the world, like they could/should/have been used to create a walking/driving bridge across this canal. I don’t know to what end they are there, but would certainly welcome a way to walk all the way around the Seven Seas Lagoon, for exercise if nothing else.

Wildcard: Frozen Meet and Greet

The runaway success of Frozen has translated to heightened demand for the Elsa and Anna meet and greet currently in Norway. This tiny converted shop requires six Cast Members to run and can only let in fewer than 100 guests per hour (by my calculation, witnessing their early efforts), so clearly they are on the lookout for some new way to get Frozen into the parks permanently. People whisper about replacing Maelstrom with a Frozen boat ride–I don’t know how valid those suggestions are, or if they are wishful thinking. Certainly the princesses have a lot of demand, so at a minimum I’d expect a permanent presence for them (perhaps they will take over the Akershus meals?)

Polynesian Resort DVC

The destruction of the spit of land on Polynesian Beach called Sunset Point was weeks ago, so the infrastructure-laying for the DVC units of Polynesian Resort is well underway, despite the lack of any announcement from Disney. There are very vehement rumors that the waterfall effect in the main lobby is doomed. This area has recently seen the closure of the Wyland Gallery store, as well.

Operational Changes

  1. The rollout of FastPass+ and any necessary tweaking is the big news, of course. They’ve been taking parts one at a time to the paperless system, and Magic Kingdom just made the switch. I’m hearing both positive and negative reports–the same mixture that characterized the first switch at DAK. I suspect some of it will be ironed out by tweaking processes, and others will just have to be chalked up to changing people’s behavior. And expectations. Especially expectations.
  2. Tucked in around the edges are always new experiments–things that go on sale, say, or new eateries (I’ll bring you a review shortly of the new Smokehouse quick-service location that JUST yesterday opened at House of Blues, as well as the Spice Road Table in Morocco, which opened more than a week ago). A post on WDWMagic claimed recently that Creature Comforts, a shop near DAK’s first aid and baby station, would close about a year from now to possibly become yet another Starbucks. DHS recently got two new coffee shops (Joffrey’s Coffee) but may also get a Starbucks (at Starring Rolls? Writer’s Stop?)
  3. Hub expansion: they may be looking to shrink the grass sections in the Hub even further, to generate more concrete zones (obviously, so there are more viewing areas for the parades and fireworks). Will the rose garden be leveled and converted? One rumor suggest the moats themselves around the Hub may be changing – does that mean removed? Or just more bridges added?
  4. Someone told me they heard (sigh: it even SOUNDS bad to type it like that) that the RapidFill soda dispensers now deployed at the resort hotels are causing enough confusion, anger, and breakage that some managers are just disabling the RFID function and turning the machines back into regular “all you want” refills. I have no independent confirmation of this as yet – feel free to weigh in at the comments below!
  5. More than one source has told me the garlands across Main Street will not return in the next Christmas season, as the new parade floats are too tall. A few places online have claimed that Osborne Lights won’t return next year at all–this one seems less “confirmed” by a supermajority, however.
  6. Monorail automation – with pilots still onboard but dispatching vehicles the way any ride operator does it inside the parks – is likely to be completed and implemented in 2014.
  7. Cast Members have heard whispers of another 24-hour operational day for Memorial Day weekend.
  8. Will ABC Commissary go to table-service instead of quick service for the dinner hours? So says one rumor making the rounds. This is the pattern we see at Be Our Guest and seems likely for many/most restaurants built in the future.
Unrelated: Diagon Alley at Universal seen through a telephoto lens and some construction beams.
Unrelated: Diagon Alley at Universal seen through a telephoto lens and some construction beams.

Projects Placed Back on the Shelf

Ideas, attractions, and other expansions once supposedly discussed but seemingly cooling their heels in Development Hell (may never get built? Were never serious considerations to begin with?) include:

  1. Monsters Inc. doors coaster, for Pixar Place
  2. Crush’s Coaster, for Pixar Place
  3. Tom Sawyer Island becoming a peninsula, with no more riverboat activity since there would be no loop of water
  4. Fort Wilderness DVC (on the shoreline facing Wilderness Lodge)

WDW Clicks #12

Diagon Alley updates at Universal (including a tiny peek at Leaky Cauldron), plus CityWalk construction, Falcon’s Fury construction at Busch Gardens Tampa, Monster Jam truck event at Citrus Bowl in Orlando this Saturday, and a new Walt Disney World Earbook (for calendar year 2013) is now on sale!

Direct link: http://youtu.be/gOOXuVR-TiA

2013 WDW Earbook now on sale!

Since 2010, I’ve published an annual book chronicling the changes, additions, and significant alterations to Walt Disney World over the course of that year. It’s a little bit like the high school yearbook, and it is meant to work like that in real life (pick one up five years later, and marvel at all the memories). As a result, it bears the name Walt Disney World ‘Earbook.

The 2013 version is now ready and available for sale online: http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Walt-Disney-World-Earbook/dp/149489887X

The retail price is $12.99 but Amazon often discounts from there (today, it’s $11.69).

There was a lot added to Walt Disney World in 2013, including Princess Fairytale Hall, A Pirate’s Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas, Villas at Grand Floridian, Limited Time Magic, Jingle Cruise, Long Lost Friends, MagicBands, Wilderness Explorers, Norsk Kultur, Princesse Plass, Rapunzel Bathrooms, Prince Eric’s Village Market, L’artisan des Glaces, Lava Lounge, and several Starbucks shops.

WDW rumor, Taking Stock: WDW Rumor Roundup

We bade goodbye to Apricot Lane, Bamboo, Beastly Bazaar, Cap’n Jack Restaurant, Club 626, Countdown to Fun, Disney Channel Rocks, Fuego, Haagen Dazs, National Treasures at the American Heritage Gallery, Sid Cahuenga’s, SmarterPlanet, Sound Stage, SpectroMagic, Stave Church Gallery, and Wetzel’s Pretzels.

Re-live the special events, additions, removals, and alterations with this yearbook-style volume designed to show, using hundreds of pictures, how rapidly the portrait of life at Walt Disney World changes. An index at the back will make finding information even years from now a breeze.

The book is 66 pages, with hundreds of full color photos inside. If you like this one, you are always welcome to check out previous editions – 2012 ‘Earbook, 2011 ‘Earbook, 2010 ‘Earbook.

Free online course in what Disney fairy tales really mean

There’s a completely free, fairly-low-work online class being offered soon (Feb. 10-Mar. 10) that will explain lots of things about Disney Fairy Tales you never considered before:
  • Why does Cinderella’s prince not just look at her face to identify her?
  • Why Snow White was originally a family drama in the worst way – and definitely NOT a story for today’s children!
  • What do those hedges full of thorns in Sleeping Beauty really mean?
  • Why is Ursula so masculine in Little Mermaid, and what does this have to do with the very last shot of the movie?
  • What does Belle’s Beast *really* stand for? Why is he animalistic?
  • What is the symbolism of a frog supposed to imply, in Princess and the Frog?
  • How does Tangled completely change Gothel’s character?
  • Why does Disney change the siblings around from the Snow Queen for Frozen?

The “class” is open to the public – no prerequisites required whatsoever. You sign up atcanvas.net (which is basically one of the Massive Open Online Courses – or MOOC for short – that allows for free college-level content provided to the masses). There are not even any costs for books – everything is provided (electronically) for free.

Expect about maybe an hour or two of reading per week – that’s the only work/homework in the class! This course has no completion certificate, and thus no essays to write. New content gets unlocked each week. Since it costs nothing to join, you’ve got nothing to lose! You can do the work each week whenever you feel like it; there are no synchronous meetings. You decide when in the week you want to participate!

Full course description:
Princess stories have been popular for centuries and remain so today around the world; we’ll dive into what these fairy tales mean, and trace the history of these narratives back to their source material, examining contexts all along the way. We’ll borrow tools from cultural studies, literature studies, and film studies to help us analyze these phenomena and what they mean to our society.Many of us may associate princess stories with modern-day products (much of it marketed to small children) or with Disney movies and theme parks. We’ll examine these current versions of fairy tale mythos as well, using our new interpretive tools to uncover not just what’s been changed in the moral and message of the narrative, but what the stories mean as told now.Direct link: https://www.canvas.net/courses/fairy-tales-origins-and-evolution-of-princess-stories-1Note: this class was previously offered in Fall 2013. It’s essentially the same course now, with the same content, so if you saw it once, there’s no need to sign up again!
WDW rumor, Taking Stock: WDW Rumor Roundup
Kevin Yee
Kevin Yee is an author and blogger writing about travel, tourism, and theme parks in Central Florida. He is a founding member of MiceAge and has written numerous books about Disney parks (see http://bit.ly/kevinyee).