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 Park News - (11/12/09) MouseSteps has posted pictures from the new Totally Tomorrowland Christmas show, where at one point Mike Wazowski’s arm falls off. Somehow I don’t think that was supposed to happen… but it’s funny to see.
(10/29/09) Like the old ride used to say, If you can dream it, you can do it... and this was kind of unexpected, but neat just the same. It seem Push... the talking trash can in Tomorrowland is running for Major of Tomorrowland. Check out the video embedded below to see Push talk about his campaign.
(10/26/09) A video of the new Tiana Showboat Jubilee show at the Magic Kingdom can be found at JeffLangeDVD. The new show is themed to the new Princess and the Frog film and is a live Mardi Gras style ‘musical cavalcade’ aboard the riverboat.
(10/23/09) Screamscape sources tell us that a new holiday show is on the way to Stitch’s old Tomorrowland stage.
(10/22/09) Screamscape has heard a new rumor that something spooky may be cooked up over at Tom Sawyer’s Island next fall. Anyone know more?
(10/9/09) In an effort to improve the flow of guests through their most busy restaurants, Walt Disney World is trying out a new experiment at the Magic Kingdom. They have restricted the access into four counter service restaurants groups are given a menu to look at and taken to a cashier to place their orders. Once you have your food, the group is then guided by another CM to an empty table. This cuts down on delays, and table over-crowded caused when parties split up, sending some to order food while others sit and occupy an empty table while waiting for the rest of their group to arrive with the food. Currently the program is being tested as Peco Bill’s, Columbia Harbor House, Pinocchio Village Haus and Cosmic Ray’s.
(10/8/09) Several readers have sent in work that the TTA has a new soundtrack, one that promotes the various attractions in Tomorrowland with voices from numerous characters as well as some brief talk about the work taking place inside Space Mountain. (Update- You can see a video of it all at YouTube.)
Ride Rehabs - The following information is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
Space Mountain – NOW CLOSED through 11/21/09
Winter 2009 - Space Mountain Rehab - (11/16/09) As rumored last week, Space Mountain did soft open for guests over the weekend, though I did hear reports of it being shut down after only 2 hours on the first day and another report claiming that the interactive games in the queue were down for part of all of Sunday. Attractions Magazine has posted a video and some pictures showing off the new themeing in the queue (as the ride closed on them before they could ride). They went back the second day to ride and managed to get a POV video of the new experience, embedded below.
(11/12/09) Yet another Space Mountain construction update has arrived this time, this time over at Orlando United which has a look at the coaster track from the TTA, with the construction walls finally down! Meanwhile Disney has released pictures of the new covered queue area as well as a look at one of the interactive games in the tunnel queue area.
Now with that said, I’ve heard a bit more information from one of our spies. They tell us that the work on the track should hopefully be noticble, but it was also a very necessary and major undertaking to ensure the longevity of the ride itself. From what I’m told, the entire track itself was pretty much worked on and modified. The work crews have been adjusting track pieces and welding in new cross-bents to connect the track to the supports, while removing old ones throughout the entire layout. A few new supports were also added to beef up the structure in some needed areas, and there are sections that feature all new track as well. As for the ride experience… the rocket on the lift hill has been repainted, along with new blue exhaust ports. Most of the rest of the changes are all in places that guests can see from the TTA, so I guess we’re going to have to wait and see. Oh… and you might not have to wait as long as you think. Rumors are starting to swirl about a soft-opening taking place within the next week, so keep your eyes open.
(11/11/09) MouseSteps has posted a new look at Space Mt. this week, showing off some good looks at the outside construction site, inside testing on the lift and a look into some of the post-ride exit path themeing.
(11/9/09) MouseSteps has added some new construction pictures taken outside Space Mountain this week. Looks like the new big round thing being added in front was only a large planter.
(11/5/09) A few new construction pictures of the Space Mountain area can be found over at Orlando Rocks this week.
(10/28/09) The latest whispers from the Ultidoors is that Disney fans may be highly disappointed when Space Mountain reopens next month. As we had been hearing for some time now, the scope of the once massive refurbishment project had been scaled back from a proposed total ride replacement, that would have taken 12-16 months, to a more modest technical refurbishment that could be accomplished in half the time. While budget cuts are always a factor in any project like this, the real killer was the refusal of WDW Management to allow for Space Mountain to be closed for the winter holidays. I’ve been baffled for years as to why they hold onto the short winter holiday season as some kind of golden goose that they are afraid or unwilling to close any major attraction during. Meanwhile they are more than willing to disappoint the millions of guests over the busy 3 month long summer season, rather than close anything during the 2 week winter holiday period. Go Figure...
Anyway… this preference, mixed with the recession and falling attendance figures, was enough to turn what was once proposed as totally rebuilt version of Space Mountain into a project where most guests wont even notice the majority of the improvements at all. As we’ve seen from the construction pictures, the track is still pretty much the same old system that has been there since the ‘70’s. Old track sections have been modified here and there, or replaced where needed to take care of the “problem spots” where maintenance has been welding and repairing the stress cracks for years. But once the total track replacement concept was thrown out the window, the on-board audio system went with it.
I’ve been told that the ride system itself is getting a new state of the art computer control system that is supposed to allow for the Mountain crew to get the ride restarted more quickly than ever from any E-Stops. Previously, the procedure to recover from an E-Stop was to send CMs out onto the track to release each stopped car one at a time, and only releasing the next car on the line once the previous one had reached the unload station. This was a very time consuming process that could take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to accomplish, so a new more automated system will increase the recovery time by quite a bit.
The inside of the dome will also have a number of new and improved special effects added, which will take advantage of the new “darker” interior of the Mountain, thanks to the newly enclosed loading stations that have been roofed over. While the lift hill may stay looking pretty much the same as it has for decades, the final “Re-Entry” tunnel effect is supposed to be upgraded, along with the addition of a camera system to take your picture. No word on if they are finally going to enclose or do something to that odd open section of track between the Re-Entry tunnel and the unload station.
Speaking of the stations, I’ve been told that we can expect to see station gates added to the loading stations as well. Unfortunately that is about all of the improvements you can expect to see from the ride experience itself… station gates and hopefully a few new special effects. I’ve been told that the rest of the noticeable improvements will be entirely spent on the ride queue itself. The good news is that all new cutting edge “interactive” elements will be added to the queue experience, taking what they’ve learned from the interactive games added to the Soarin’ queue. I’ve also been told that the plan is to alter the queue enough so that the Standby and FastPass riders don’t have to stare at each other for the entire queue into the mountain as well, which is good news as well, since hopefully this means Disney will start loading the entire queue once again with Stand-By riders instead of leaving them to stand out into the sun for so long before going inside. Otherwise, that’s about everything I’ve heard about so far about this refurbishment, so take it for what you will. Personally, while I’m always up for some good upgrades to an attraction, I’m a bit let down since the top #1 most requested feature everyone has been asking for to be added to the ride was the on-board audio system and we saw just how quickly that aspect was cut while keeping in things like adding a rider photo camera system.
(10/5/09) According to one reader who confirms that virtually no new track has been installed into Space Mountain. However we’ve heard that the ‘angle’ of some of the track may have been adjusted to ease some wear and tear in trouble spots. With no new onboard audio system, it seems that the make-over is primarily going to be special effects driven. Lets hope for the best.
(6/2/09) I’ve got some bad news... and some possible really bad news. Just 24 hours ago I posted a quote from the official Space Mountain page that talked about a “pumping musical score and synthezised electronic sounds of space that are sure to immerse you in your otherworldy flight.” Take a look at the same website page now and you’ll see all reference to any kind of audio at all has been removed. Even worse, it sounds like the addition of the highly requested on-board audio system has been scrapped from the rehab budget entirely! Ever since Space Mountain at Disneyland added audio in the ‘90s, people have been demanding that they add it to the Florida version as well. I hate to say it, but I’ve got to admit now that it seems likely that in their rush to budget cut and trim out all the cool new items from this rehab in order to reopen it by Thanksgiving, they’re going to give us all the Mickey Mouse one-finger salute instead.
2012 to 2013 - Fantasyland Expansion & Little Mermaid - Confirmed - (9/21/09) Some may have noticed that the Carousel is still next to Dumbo in the new concept artwork released by Disney last week. According to AmusementInsider the reason for this is that the artwork was not intended for the Magic Kingdom, but rather created awhile back as a proposal for Tokyo Disneyland, so don’t take anything you see in that one picture too seriously.
In other news, while most people were happy to see Disney renovating Fantasyland and Toontown Fair into something new, there are some out there who have grown fond enough of Toontown Fair that they don’t want to see it vanish at all and have created their own online Petition against this plan.
(9/14/09) Disney confirmed those previously leaked plans to expand and double the size of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom over the weekend at the D23 Expo. They say the project will be open in two phases, with the first opening in 2012 and the rest finished by 2013. Once completed the new and improved Fantasyland will feature mini-lands to be themed to four key movies where the kids can meet and greet with the princess and associated characters from Beauty & The Beast, Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The Beauty & The Beast area will also feature two new eateries: Gaston’s Tavern and a large 552-seat Be Out Guests restaurant. Of course the highlight of the entire expansion will be the new Little Mermaid dark ride
which they promise will be an E-Ticket you wont want to miss.
Phase two will involve the revamping of a large section of what is now Toontown to become Pixie Hollow, though they gave no major details here as the design work is still ongoing for this section. As previewed in the leaked plans, Dumbo will be moved over into the Toontown area where it will be doubled in size (two rides) to create what has already been nicknamed Dueling Dumbos. The new version of Dumbo will also have a queue enclosed under a three-ring circus tent that promises to be full of interactive games and fun, so you wont even know your waiting in line while you are in there.
While Toontown Fair will be no more, the plans do seem to indicate that Goofy’s Barnstormer will remain in place and it has been said that Mickey & Minnie’s houses will be moved to a new location somewhere else in Walt Disney World. Check out the video below of the announcement. You can also find even more great screen shots showing off all the new concept artwork shown at the D23 Expo for Fantasyland over at Amusement Insider.
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