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General Resort News - (7/30/10) WDW fans are bound to get excited when they suddenly see the sight of a monorail expansion under way very soon. Don’t get too excited however, as the confirmed “expansion” will only be to add a 62 foot maintenance spur off the Epcot line to house one of their “work tractors” used to push/tow broken monorails.
    (7/26/10) MouseSteps drops into check out the new Meatball Bar at Disney’s Portobello Restaurant. Yep… Meatball Bar. I like the sound of that!
    (7/22/10) Amusment Insider got a rare treat… a chance thunder storm near closing time at Typhoon Lagoon made everyone leave, allowing them to roam around a virtually empty waterpark and take pictures. Check it out.
    (7/19/10) Typhoon Lagoon will close first for its winter rehab starting 10/31/10 through to 1/8/11. Blizzard Beach will then be closed from 1/9/11 through 3/19/11.
    (7/7/10) A great photo update from Disney’s Blizzard Beach can be found this week over at Amusement Insider.
    (6/29/10) Disney fans seeking one last stroll through the Adventure’s Club now have a new virtual option open to them in the form of a custom fan-made level created for the Half Life 2 video game. (If you’ve never played the game, your character often runs around with a crow-bar… just thought I’d throw that in there as an explanation for it. Your not on a mission to demolish the club or anything. Ha!) Check it out here embedded below, but the details is so incredible, it’s like your there one last time. I’m very impressed with this.

    (6/28/10) Disney has a great new option for Florida Residents to get them to buy annual passes… a new monthly payment program, similar in concept to the long running EZPay program Busch Gardens and SeaWorld have had for the last several years. Disney does require an initial payment of $79, and then automatic monthly installments will be processed for the remainder of the year, taking out some of the sting of buying one all at once.
    (6/24/10) Disney unveiled details about their new Golden Oak residential area set up on Walt Disney World property. Read more here.
    (6/3/10) According to the Save Pleasure Island Blog, last week the price of the Characters in Flight balloon ride has increased from $16 to $18 for adults, and from $10 to $12 for children.
    (5/31/10) I’m not quite sure what took place, but on May 29th (Saturday) guests at Typhoon Lagoon were greeted by a sign out front that stated, “Attention!! The following attractions will be open today only: Shark’s Reef, Crush N Gusher, The Wave Pool and Ketchakiddie Creek. ** All Other Attractions Are Closed **”
    In short, it sounds like every attraction on the mountain itself as well as the lazy river were shut down for the entire day. Apparently they felt the situtation was bad enough that Disney actually did not require tickets to enter the park that day either… so if you were willing to check it out, it was a free day. According to one reader’s report there were pumps along the river set up to drain it dry and rotating shifts of lifeguards shoveling sand and silt over of the river near the cave entrance into a large bin that would then be hauled out by a backhoe. Anyone know what happened to cause such a mess?
    In other news, we’ve heard a rumor about the next DVC Resort that could be on the way to WDW property. Check it out below.
    (5/2/10) After mulling it about for the past three weeks and getting a few very nice e-mails from insiders about the official procedures, I’ve got a update about the whole Walt Disney World Bus Driver situation.  The good news is that Disney does go buy DOT guidelines and limits their bus drivers to a maximum of 70 hours over an 8 day period of time.
    Scheduled shifts for bus drivers are either five 8-hour days or four 10-hour days, but there is a maximum allowed shift length of 12.5 hours (12 paid + half hour unpaid break) which typically only comes into play when a driver voluntarily extended their shift. I’m told Disney also typically tries to schedule at least 10 hours between shifts, though a driver can volunteer for a 8 hour turn-around time if they choose, but nothing less than 8 hours is allowed. During periods of time when Mandatory Overtime shifts are being scheduled for some drivers, it was only for a 6th work day. Disney also apparently requires medical testing on all drivers at least every two years, and yearly checks if certain conditions warrant it, as well as periodic driver skill checks.
    These driving conditions only apply to Disney’s bus drivers and not to the parking tram drivers or Kilimanjaro Safari drivers at Animal Kingdom. As those routes are in specific “right of way” lanes that are not shared with normal traffic they don’t fall under DOT regulations. I’m not sure where Monorail Pilots and Boat Captains fit into the grand scheme of things however, though departmentally they are part of the Transportation group with Bus Drivers unlike Parking Tram and Safari drivers, which are part of Attractions. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to share this information.
    (4/29/10) La Nouba is offering Florida Residents a special 30% off rate on Category 2 tickets to the show now through July 2nd.  You can buy them in person at the box office or call (407) 939-7328 and asking about the discount rate.
    Elsewhere on property, according to this article, a Disney guest in a rented Sea Racer boat crashed into one of Disney’s passenger ferry boats and was injured last week. Make the jump to read the details.
    (4/26/10) New construction pictures of the Golden Oak residential project as well as the new Best Friends animal kennel facility can be found at MouseSteps.
    (4/23/10) Check out this news article about a group of “urban explorers” who talk about their visits into various closed attractions in Orlando, including a unique nighttime swim-up visit to the former Discovery Island attraction at Walt Disney World.
    (4/20/10) OSHA has released the pictures they took for their report on the Walt Disney World Monorail accident that took place in July 2009. It includes some rather graphic scary pictures showing off what was left of the cockpit of the monorail where the pilot was killed. It’s pretty clear from the pictures that there was no way the pilot would have survived the impact from the crash.
    (4/12/10) Over the weekend I received several e-mails from current and past Disney Cast Members who wanted to comment (anonymously) and confirm Disney’s practice of mandatory overtime shifts at Walt Disney World. I’ve included quotes and comments from their comments below.
    According to one previous CM who worked there during the big 50th Anniversary celebration, “I was regularly scheduled 6 days 12 hour shifts.” “I wasn't the only one who was regularly subjected to this, a lot of CM's were. Most of us would just end up working 7 days 12 hour shifts because we figured that we were already there 6 days so might as well just work all 7.”
    Another CM who worked in Tomorrowland Attractions in 2008, they too were forced to work 6 days a week. They were under the impression it was a temporary thing when it started in January 2008 but it lasted through to August 2008. “If it was not for my coworkers I do not think I would have made it.”
    A current CM reports that currently many segments of Walt Disney World are currently working either longer days or working 6 day work weeks due the more busy spring break weeks, though they believe that the Maintenance Department may be exempt from this treatment. According to another current CM, “a lot of CM are working extraordinarily long hours. I know a few CMs that work 18 hours straight.”
    This kind of treatment isn’t only in the parks either, as other CMs who work at the Resort Hotels have also wrote in to confirm working either long hours or 6 days a week for extended periods of time. Of course I’ve also heard that it’s been standard Disney practice for some time now to make lower level management posts “Salaried” positions so they can take advantage of having them work 50-60 hour work weeks on a regular basis… without paying any overtime.
    And finally we have heard from a few drivers at Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safari attraction who have not only been forced into working 12+ hour overtime shifts, but have been “force extended” into longer shifts before being allowed to leave. Over the past few weeks fellow CMs have been “scheduled” to work 60-70 hour work weeks, only to have extra overtime piled on top once they arrive.
    Now I’m even more curious to know what policies are in place with the WDW Resort Bus Drivers. Is there any policy or limitation about how long they can be asked to drive on any given day or week?
    (4/9/10) While I have yet to read about this anywhere else in the media, an inside source tells Screamscape that the 81 year-old bus driver involved in Disney’s latest accident was in the midst of working a mandatory 13-hour shift. They tell us that Disney CMs all over property have been working these extra long shifts of late. While I had not heard from anyone else about this yet, I can confirm that Disney has frequently put their Cast Members on ‘Mandatory Overtime’ schedules in the past, though I seem to recall this was requiring many of them to work 6 days a week instead of longer days. Any other Disney CMs care to comment on the kinds of shifts you’ve been getting or hearing about from fellow CMs lately?
    Clearly though, if this rumor holds true, Disney Bus Drivers should not be subjected to this kind of labor requirements. No transportation related positions at Walt Disney World (Monorail Pilot, Boat Captain, Bus Driver, Safari Driver, etc) should be allowed to work these kinds of hours. If memory serves, I seem to recall reading an article that mentioned that the Monorail Pilot to who died last July had also been working extreme amounts of overtime.
   The Federal DOT does have regulations that involve the number of hours a commercial service driver can operate the vehical without resting which applies to Truck and Bus drivers who travel between states. I believe the current rules for Bus drivers limits them to driving passengers only 10 hours per day. You may also want to check out an interesting chart from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that shows how quickly the percentage of an accident due to driving fatigue rises as you pass the 10-hour mark.
    (4/6/10) If you can believe it, another Walt Disney World bus was involved in a crash this weekend… this time with an 81-year-old driver behind the wheel who stuck a car stopped at a red light in front of him which in turn struck another Disney owned vehicle. There were 19 guests on the bus, but no injuries, however the driver has now been charged with careless driving.
    Now I’ve got to bring up a possible sore subject here… but if I’m visiting Walt Disney World, I don’t want to get on a bus being driven by an 81-year-old, or even an 18-year-old. I know everyone needs jobs these days, including the elderly who have every right to work, but I’d rather not have them driving my bus, monorail, or pilot the jet I’m flying to Orlando thank you. Now on to a more pleasant subject...
    Orlando Park News has posted a special photo update this week focusing on a Disney location rarely visited by tourist to Orlando. It’s called Mickey’s Retreat… and it’s a special little park and recreation site reserved for Disney Cast Members at Little Lake Bryan which features paddle boat and canoe rentals, tennis courts, playgrounds, a pool, gazebos and more. Having been there myself with CMs a couple of times, I can say that it is a nice little getaway spot to relax and hang out with friends.
    (4/2/10) In an incredibly sad story today a 9 year old boy was struck and killed by a bus at Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort. He was apparently riding a bike with another child when the child was struck and pulled under the right rear tire. This is actually the third bus related accident at Walt Disney World in the last six months.
    (3/29/10) The new Ridemakerz location has now opened at Downtown Disney in the former Virgin Megastore location, but apparently this is only a temporary location until September. After that I assume they will move to a more permanent location elsewhere in Downtown Disney. You can find pictures of it over at MouseSteps this week.
    (3/25/10) A Walt Disney World bus was involved in a crash with a Mears charter bus earlier this week at the Epcot toll plaza earlier this week, causing minor injuries to seven passengers. The Disney driver however was taken in with more serious but non-life threatening injuries. The odd thing is that the charter bus had no passengers in it at all and even the driver was not on-board at the time of the crash. I’m not sure where he was, as parking your bus near the toll plaza seems like an odd thing to do, so I wonder if it had broken down.
    (3/24/10) In this report at the Orlando Sentinel, Walt Disney World is claiming no fault last July’s monorail accident that caused the death of one pilot. They do however admit that the one pilot was incorrectly told that the track had been switched and directed to go in reverse down the beam. Disney is requesting a trial by jury to settle the lawsuit filed against them.
    (3/22/10) Disney fans may be interested in the latest photo updates at Worthington Photos. First there is a special look at the WDW’s Contemporary Resort called Towers of Tomorrow, but what may be more interesting is something called History Lesson: Central City. It’s features 100 photos taken in the call Colorado town of Central City where many of the buildings look like they would fit right in at Main Street USA. By no coincidence, I’m told that Harper Goff, the man responsible for much of Main Street USA’s design grew up nearby in Ft. Collins.
    In other news, pictures of the new Tron themed Monorails at Walt Disney World can be found this week at MouseSteps.
    (3/11/10) The hype for Disney’s new Tron: Legacy film is growing… and Disney has now confirmed that it will spread to the Monorails at Walt Disney World later this month. Artworking showing the sides of a monorail covered with Blue or Yellow LightCycles from Tron can be found over at the official Disney Parks blog.
    (3/5/10) About Theme Parks is asking readers to give their options on their favorite WDW restaurants.
   (1/12/10) According to more than one source, the construction going on across from Port Orleans may be for a new Pet Kennel / Animal Care facility, which was apparently announced back in December 2007 and was to have opened summer 2009 but nothing ever came of it. According to one insider, this new facility may actually be intended to be a complete replacement for WDW’s other aging animal kennel facilities. If so, this may not be your typical dog kennel… it may actually feature high end pet grooming facilities and even some unique leisure activities for your furry friends, possibly including doggie wading pools.
    (12/21/09) Lets take a little stroll this week into the remains of River Country… the waterpark that Walt Disney World wants everyone to forget about. A kind of shocking series of photos taken inside the old waterpark have been posted to the DisBoards site, where you can see that the Florida swamp is slowly attempting to reclaim the site. If you’ve still be holding onto the hope that Disney would someday reopen the park… don’t. 

Downtown Disney News - (7/24/10) The final part of the Downtown Disney saga is now live at Amusement Insider, showing off the entire West Side complex featuring over 200 pictures of the inside and outside of DisneyQuest, Planet Hollywood and every other shop and restaurant there.
    (7/22/10) Amusement Insider has posted part two of their in focus look at Downtown Disney, this time focusing on the former Pleasure Island area… which is now kind of depressing.
    (7/19/10) Amusment Insider takes you Part 1 of a very in depth tour of the Downtown Disney Marketplace, looking at every shop, inside and out. This will be followed later by a look at Pleasure Island and then the West Side.
    (6/28/10) Orlando Parks News and MouseSteps take a look at the latest changes to Downtown Disney and more including a look at the Vinylmation store, inside Planet Hollywood, the future Pollo Campero site and more.
    (6/11/10) The Save Pleasure Island Blog reports that the “ill-conceived” Celebrate Tonight performance at Downtown Disney will be coming to an end as of June 26th. They do share some speculation that perhaps it is coming to an end so that new demolition work can begin inside the former Pleasure Island.
    (6/5/10) I’ve got a bit more info about Pollo Campero to share today… looking into the history of the company shows that it’s a bit bigger than just something from Houston. The primary focus of the chain has actually been international, as it started off in Guatemala back in the ‘70s and has since expanded into over 300 locations around the world… about 50 of which are in the US.
    (6/4/10) I’ve been told that the new Pollo Campero eatery coming to replace the former McDonalds location is something that is primarily known to residents of the Houston area. According to our source, the food is ‘nothing to write home about’ which is disappointing to hear, but then again… look what it is replacing.
    (6/2/10) According to Screamscape sources, the word from the Raglan Road Irish Pub in Downtown Disney, is that they will open for special hours from June 11 – July 11 for the World Cup games. I’m told that the plan is for Raglan to open daily at about 9:45am where they will be showing the 10am and 2:30pm World Cup games on ESPN. For all you Soccer / Football Hooligan’s on vacation, Raglan is planning on offering Happy Hour specials during all games as well as major discounts on various food items.
    (5/28/10) Some new pictures from Downtown Disney at MouseSteps show the old McDonalds building being gutted for a new Latin chicken restaurant called Pollo Campero. I dunno about that one, I’m a little skeptical… anyone ever heard of this place?
    (3/19/10) MouseSteps takes a look around Downtown Disney this week to see what’s new.
    (2/27/10) Screamscape was sent an interesting rumor about a possible new attraction under consideration for Downtown Disney. From the sounds of things these plans are a long ways off from being given the green light, but Disney is apparently looking into the possibility of putting on some kind of show at night on the water behind West Side and Pleasure Island. Depending on where they put it, the view of the water here may be a limited, unless they opt to demolish a few of the waterside structures in Pleasure Island. I’ve also got to think that the huge Characters in Flight Balloon may very well cause a visual problem as well. As for the show itself… look for the usual suspects of water screens, fire, lights and more, in sync with music.
    (2/20/10) According to VinylNation the former Planet Hollywood store in Downtown Disney will be transformed into a new retail location called D-Street that will become the flagship store for all things related to Disney VinylMation as well as other various alternative Disney merchandise.
    (2/11/10) Remember that rumor about an Aquarium Restaurant coming to Downtown Disney that was eyeballing the old Virgin Megastore? The latest update to the rumor claims that they are actually more interested in building a new structure in the old Pleasure Island area that would involve the demolition of one of the old nightclub buildings. It seems they may be looking at a couple of possible locations however, though the Mannequins site is said to be one of them.
    (2/10/10) I forgot to mention this last week but the Planet Hollywood gift shop in the West End (near Magnatron) has now closed down for good. This is not to be confused with the small PH gift shop in the round building in front of the restaurant, which is still open. You can see some pictures of this posted in the latest update on Orlando Parks News.
    (2/4/10) In a move sure to shock many, Disney confirmed that the McDonalds location at Downtown Disney would close forever on April 30th. A new quick service Latin-chicken restaurant called Pollo Campero will take its place.
    (12/17/09) The Save Pleasure Island Blog shows off the current status of the Pleasure Island demoltion, which seems to have come to an end… for now. Scroll down a bit more and they also mention some good rumors about three new restaurants possibly on the way to the P.I. area from Schussler Creative: Orange County Chopper’s America’s Roadhouse, a Hot Dog Hall of Fame and a Polar Ultra Lounge (aka: Ice Bar). There is also an alternate possible theme for the Motorcycle themed BBQ eatery… but I’ve got to wonder how Harley Davidson feels about this, and why they haven’t jumped at building their own HD Café like the one in Las Vegas. Hmm…
    (12/11/09) The Orlando Sentinel has confirmed that Disney’s plans to renovate Pleasure Island wont be complete until the end of 2012.
    (6/8/09) I’m just going to file this one in the Wild Rumor folder for the time being, but one reader claims to have heard a story about how the Virgin MegaStore building may actually be leased out to Landry’s to turn it into another one of their Aquarium Restaurant concepts. This wouldn’t be entirely out of character for Landry’s either as they are already involved with Disney as the owners of the Rainforest Café, T-Rex as well as the Yak & Yeti inside the Animal Kingdom park. Anyone know more?

2012 - Disney’s Art of Animation Resort - (5/13/10) Walt Disney World has finally confirmed the plans for the long-rumored Disney’s Art of Animation Resort project that will take over the site one slated for the second-half of the Pop Century Resort. According to the official Disney report the new resort will feature nearly 2000 rooms… 1120 of them will actually be “family suites” at this new Value priced resort. The resort will be divided up into four themed areas based on some of the most popular modern Disney films: The Little Mermaid, Cars, Finding Nemo and The Lion King. The new resort is expected to be ready to take on guests by late 2012.
    (1/14/09) According to the latest report at Jim Hill Media, Disney may have decided to finally finish up the Pop Century Resort project, but with some significant changes. The half-built structures that have sat empty waiting for this moment will most likely be modified to become new multi-bedroom family suite rooms when they are ready to open sometime between late 2010 and 2011. Of course, Jim also mentions that the intention may be to entirely re-brand this resort as Disney’s Animation Inn & Suites, where they will then start to remodel some of the existing buildings into the new suite style rooms as well.
    (1/8/07) In regards to the eventual completion of the Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney confirmed to travel agents last April that unfinished side will be built up as new family style suites based on the demand for the 192 test units that were constructed at Disney’s All Star Music Resort last year. Disney has yet to provide anyone with a timetable to show a start or completion date on the project however.
    (1/5/07) In other news, a resort guest who stayed at Dinsney’s Pop Century resort tells us that several dormant construction vehicles were on site. Currently the resort is half built with five buildings themed to the second half of the century (50’s to 90’s). While there is a lobby / check-in building for the resort, there is also what looks like a completed second building already on site for the other five decades that have yet to be built (00 - 40’s) across the lake. Anyone know what the timeline is to complete this second half of the resort?

2011 / 2012 - Disney Cruise Line - (6/2/10) The Disney Cruise Line issued a few new images of the Disney Dream under construction as the final “block” section was put into place on the massive ship. It’s on schedule to make it’s maiden voyage on January 26th, 2011.
    (5/21/10) Disney Cruise Lines has been sending out some surveys of late to recent passengers to gain their interest in a future voyage if they departed from either New York City or Galveston, TX. You can read up on some of the discussion over at the DIS Boards.
    (5/19/10) Disney has posted a preview video showing off the new Pelican Plunge water attraction at Castaway Cove.
    (4/9/10) According to this article at DizFanatic, the Disney Dream ship will offer a new adults only premium dining restaurant with French inspired gourmet cuisine… and named Remy.
    (3/3/10) The Disney Cruise Line has shared some new pictures of the Disney Dream under construction this week, including an interesting look at one of the funnels being pulled through the icy waters by a tug boat. It also seems that the ship builder has one of their two webcams focused on the construction of the Disney Dream as well.
  While we’re talking about the new Disney Dream, want to see a couple of close up pictures showing off some pieces of the new AquaDuck waterslide waiting to be shipped off for installation? A reader sent in these exclusive shots to us showing off this new prototype slide concept in the flesh. I pity the poor crewmember who has to clean the streaks off the glass every day. Ha!
    (3/2/10) The German shipyard building the Disney Dream, Meyer Werft, is now offering tours of their facilities that include a peek into the area where they are building the massive Disney ships. They have also set up preview centers for the Disney Cruise Line as well. Any locals feel like dropping by and taking a few pictures?
    (2/16/10) A Screamscape reader freshly back from their Disney Cruise Line vacation sent in this great picture from Castaway Cay showing off the newly installed floating water fortress play area at the private island. They believed the name of the new play area was going to be Pelican Plunge, but it wasn’t quite ready to be opened to the guests to play on just yet.  Looks like it can’t be too much longer however.
    (10/30/09) Disney released some great details about the new Disney Dream ship coming in 2011. For starters, take a look at this page and you’ll notice one major difference in particular, the addition of a large and long water coaster style slide that runs around the top deck of the ship… in a CLEAR tube, even hanging over the edge at one point. They call it the AquaDuck.
    Yes, the rumor I posted back on 2/26/09 has come true, “the ships may feature a crazy new waterslide design that will use a clear acrylic tube that will extend quite a ways over the edge of the ship before turning back in towards the ship again for the splashdown. So the only thing between your rear end and the ocean far far below will be a thin clear tube. Creepy… and very cool.”
    Well… mostly true, as even then I had not heard that it was a water coaster, much like the Crush ‘n Gusher slides at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon, so there will at least be a raft between your rear end and the see-through tube hanging over the edge of the ocean. According to the official description, “Guests are propelled at high speeds from Deck 12, Aft through an acrylic tube on a breathtaking journey up, down, around and off the side of the ship, through the Forward Funnel and—following a mammoth drop—into a lazy river.” The AquaDuck is 765 feet long and will feature a “4 deck drop”.
    One more interesting feature of the Disney Dream is the “Virtual Porthole” added to the interior staterooms. This faux porthole HD video screen will show off real-time views of the outside world that will actually match up with the location of your stateroom’s position within the ship. From time to time, select Disney characters will also make surprise appearance in the porthole… such as the starfish from Finding Nemo, Captain Hook’s pirate ship out on the waves or even Mickey could drop by. Anything is possible, but if you get tired of it, you can turn off the Porthole at any time.
    (3/11/09) Disney has officially given names to their two new ships: Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. It’s kind of funny though, as I guessed one of the two ships would be given the Disney Dream name a little over a year ago when the Disneyland Hotel renamed their three hotel towers to: Magic, Wonder and Dream towers. The Disney Dream will hit the waves first, launching in 2011 followed a year later by the Disney Fantasy.
    (2/23/07) The Disney Cruise Line confirmed plans yesterday afternoon to build two new unnamed ships that are planned to go into service in 2011 and 2012. The two yet-to-be-named ships will actually stand two stories taller than the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic and weighing in at an impressive 122,000 tons compared to the 83,000 tons of the older ships. The new twins will be built in Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard and feature 1,250 staterooms compared to the 877 staterooms on the first two. Right now they have not yet set the specific itineraries for the ships, but a previous rumor suggested that one might be sent periodically to the West coast to make the Alaska runs since the Wonder and Magic are not outfitted for that kind of environment.

2012 - Four Seasons Resort - (3/22/10) I’ve been sent word that what little construction we’ve been seeing on other sites labeled as being part of the Four Seasons resort really isn’t the Four Seasons at all. Apparently the Four Seasons resort proper really has yet to even do much more than some site clearing. All of the construction seen so far is really for the entrance and front end of the Golden Oak residential project.
    (3/16/10) The latest photo update to MouseSteps takes us on a tour to see the progress over at the Four Seasons Resort construction site.
    (1/27/10) According to this report following the different internet domain names Disney has registered for of late, Disney has nabbed up 20 different domain names referring to the Golden Oak brand names, rumored to be used for the new residential community next to the Four Seasons hotel. The names include DisneyGoldenOak.com, GoldenOakAtDisney.com, GoldenOakAtWaltDisneyWorld.com and many more.
    (12/30/09) A Screamscape source has come to tell us a bit more about an small residential area being built as part of the Four Seasons Resort on WDW Property. They tell us that it will be named Golden Oak, a reference to Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch in California, and that it will be fairly small, consisting of only between 30 to 50 homes. Of course these ‘homes’ will apparently all cost in the 7-figure range and will be within a completely gated community that may come with special benefits such as annual passes for the residents. Of course many of these “homes” are likely to become vacation property rentals or things picked up by higher end corporations as a perk for their executives. A sales center and model home building is already under construction. Look for them to start trying to pre-sell the homes sometime in 2010.
    (12/22/09) New construction pictures showing off the site of the Four Seasons resort and more have been posted to MouseSteps.
    (10/6/09) MouseSteps has posted a few new construction pictures showing off the current state of the Four Seasons Resort area.
    (9/2/08) We finally get a peek at just what the new Four Seasons resort on Walt Disney World property will look like, posted over at the Orlando Sentinel. According to the article, site prep has already started and the hotel is looking to open in 2012 instead of 2010.
    (3/1/07) Walt Disney World made two surprise announcements today about a major expansions planned for the resort. Disney has struck a deal to construct a 900 acre luxury resort and commercial district on the site of the current Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge golf courses. The new site will be anchored by an official Four Seasons hotel and include an 18 hole golf course, like keeping one of the two existing courses or perhaps some kind of combination of the two. The site will also include an area for “single and multi-family vacation homes and fractional ownership vacation homes.” Screamscape has heard that the land itself for that has been rezoned from Reedy Creek to Orange County to prevent anyone else’s agenda from getting in the way of Disney and Reedy Creek which is pretty much their unofficial district they maintain control over. Work on the new hotel is supposed to begin later this year, though it wont be ready to open until 2010.

2013 - Bowling Stadium - (2/22/10) It looks like that Bowling Stadium project has been pushed back until at least 2013. I missed this article at the time, but looks like when the economy went south back in 2008, the plans for the 100 lane facility were also put on hold due to financing problems from the unannounced backer of the facility.
    (6/10/08) Disney’s Wild World of Sports, or whatever new ESPN brand name it will have in the near future, will begin to host a huge bowling tournament starting in 2011 for the United States Bowling Congress. To handle the huge 20 week events each year from 2011 to 2029, Disney will build a huge “Bowling Stadium” that will feature at least 100 lanes, stadium style seating, a new restaurant and more.
    Yes, you read that number correctly! At least 100 lanes of bowling… and according to this article that could make this the biggest bowling stadium in the country, and when the lanes aren’t being used for the competition, they will be open for all us regular folks to go play on. Disney has only said that an unnamed company will build and operate the 160,000 square-foot center. They expect it to be open by early 2010.
    There seems to be some debate over what the biggest bowling alley in the country is right now as some older centers that had over 100 lanes have closed in the last few years, including the 106 site at the Las Vegas’ Showboat. The current world leader (as far as I can find) is the 156 lane Nagoya Grand Bowl in Japan, but even that was dwarfed by the previous world record holder, the now closed Tokyo World Lanes that once claimed to have 252 lanes of bowling under one roof.

???? - New DVC Resort - Rumor - (6/5/10) While I haven’t heard anything more about that rumored new DVC resort project across from the Coronado, other sources have confirmed that Disney is currently attempting to finalize plans to create a DVC add-on to the Grand Floridian.
    (5/31/10) Is Walt Disney World planning their next big DVC Resort? According to a new rumor sent in, plans may have been drawn up for a new resort project across the street from Disney’s Coronado resort that would feature some kind of California theme to it along with a nice pathway over to Blizzard Beach. More when we find out.

???? - Disney’s Jungle Trek / Night Kingdom - In Development - (8/21/08) According to information leaked in from the UK, it seems Disney may have changed the name of Disney’s Night Kingdom into Disney’s Jungle Trek. It seems a marketing group was issuing concept surveys to people in the UK who were frequent visitors to Walt Disney World to promote the newest take on the concept. The basic idea was a premium park experience like Discovery Cove with prices ranging between $250 - $350 a person. The experience would last five hours and include a two hour adventure hike across scary bridges into the jungle where you would come across ancient ruins, rare animal encounters and more along the way as your small group works together on some kind of mission task. It seems that the trip will also have more than one path for people who are unable, unwilling or just too young to take on the more physical challenges of the adventure, there will be alternative routes you can take as well.
    At the end of the hike you will come upon what is called the Global Village where you will spend the next three hours either relaxing or exploring even more new features if you’ve still got the energy. The features here will include more animal encounters, rock climbing, zip lines and more. This is where you will also stop to eat as well in The Marketplace.
    The overall list of attractions mentioned so far includes an encounters with a few different ancient ruins and temples, zip lines, a rain forest, boat rides, an otherworldly visit to the Spirit House, scary bridges over crocodile pits and encounters with hippos, bats, penguins, tortoises and kangaroos as they strive to take you on an adventure though five different wild regions of the world: Africa, South America, North America, Asia and Australia.
    Now the big change here is that they seem to have moved away from the After Dark only concept of the older Disney’s Night Kingdom proposal. They mention that these Jungle Trek tours would depart frequently between the hours of 9am to 9pm… so while there will be nighttime adventures offered (9pm to 2am for the last tour), there will be plenty of daytime opportunities as well.
    (7/3/08) While there still isn’t a lot known for sure about Disney’s Night Kingdom project, we have heard a rumor that some early site clearing for the project may have already started not too far from Animal Kingdom, so keep your eyes peeled. Also, unless the plan changes they concept of incorporating an Adventure’s Club into this project is still alive, so perhaps many features of the original club will live on here.
    (4/25/08) Today I have to officially change my stance on the whole Disney’s Night Kingdom park concept. New information has come to my attention proving that the concept is indeed in the works for Walt Disney World and shooting to open possibly in 2012. From what I’ve been told the history of the project comes from a desire by Disney to create their own version of a high-end Discovery Cove style mini-park experience mixed with an original proposal for a major overhaul and expansion to the existing Adventure’s Club at Pleasure Island.
    From the sound of things basic funding has been approved to proceed on with the design of this small but expensive project, but it’s not without some serious design challenges and still isn’t exactly the experience that Jim Hill had previously described. The big attraction and icon of the park, right now, appears to be a large central Disney-made mountain structure where guests will be forced to ‘rock climb’ to the top, take zip lines down again and explore a serious network of caves. The goal is for this to be a very interactive game based adventure experience, with both mental and physical challenges. The tricky part of the design process they’re said to be in now involves balancing it all out so that it doesn’t become so physically difficult that guests will become too pooped or intimidated to play while at the same time, they have to be sure they aren’t catering to the bottom end and make it all far too easy and boring for everyone else.
    As for the game aspect, it seems that the test run of that Kim Possible Communicator game at Epcot a year or so ago was just a large scale concept test for the Night Kingdom game concept. The idea is to equip every guest with their own communicator unit that will guide them from place to place, push them in the right direction when they get stuck, and be used to help solve the various games, puzzles and adventure challenges. Your communicator will also serve as a way for the park to identify you individually as a player and customize your interactions with the various game stations and animatronics. Fuzzy robots wont be the only things you interact with however, as there seems to be a plan in place to develop a number of encounters with live animals as well.
    (2/15/08) Jim Hill Media chummed the Disney waters today with his latest report about a possible new 5th park project in the works called Disney’s Night Kingdom. This concept is apparently something to compete with Discovery Cove and will feature a limited number of guests in a very interactive environment at a very premium price ($250-300). I can confirm that ever since SeaWorld first announced their plans for Discovery Cove, Disney has slaving away on a number of ideas to create a similar high-end concept, though most of them have involved finding an alternate use for the closed down Discovery Island and River Country areas. (Anyone remember the old rumor about Disney hiring the Myst video game team to create an adventure concept for them?) 
    Anyway, after reading through Jim’s article my first real impression is that this isn’t a plan for a 5th park at all, but more of a concept for a high-end after-hours tour experience around the resort. In his own descriptions it mentions guests checking in at an expanded Adventure’s Club location, night-vision tours of the savanna at Animal Kingdom, a tour of a bat cave and other things that all sound like they take place in existing areas of Walt Disney World after the rest of the daytime guests have gone home. A lot of the idea really sounds more like a nighttime version of the same kind of Adventure Tour concept cruise lines offer at the various ports, except that instead of offering it to cruise guests, it will be offered to Walt Disney World Resort guests on property. Seen in that light, it does make sense and sounds like something that could be arranged with a small capital investment cost, since the key is finding a way to make money off of many resort areas that are closed at night, which was pretty much the same concept that drove Disney to create the whole Grad Night concept in the first place.
    But I’m just not buying it as a concept for an official 5th Park. Just by calling it a “5th Park” would indicate to most guests that it would be something included in their Park Hopper options, which it clearly would not be. Keeping in mind the concept’s rumored Adventure’s Club check-in location, I’m just going to call Disney’s Night Kingdom an “Adventure Tour” and nothing more.

???? - Western Beltway Development - (12/4/07) According to the Orlando Sentinel private developers and merchants will be able to run their own small restaurants, a grocery store, retail shops and even a few “value” level hotels as part of Walt Disney World’s new Western development project. Disney has begun to offer parcels for sale for the 450 acre development project that they are calling Flamingo Crossings off Western Way that will be built up over the next decade.
    (3/12/07) Disney released some artwork of the Western Beltway Development project area with maps this week. For some reason it all looks very similar to the retail development off 192 just outside Celebration,
    (3/1/07) Walt Disney World made two surprise announcements today about a major expansions planned for the resort: The new Four Seasons resort and their Western Beltway Development plans. Disney is planning to develop a 450 acre retail and commercial development just outside the gateway near where Western Way meets the Western Beltway. This new area will include even more 3rd party branded hotels (4,000 to 5,000 rooms), restaurants and gift shops that will be built in phases over the next 10 years with site work also to begin before the end of the year.