Massive renovation planned for Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland

Wow....

This is a huge renovation that is long overdue.

I always liked disneylands fantasyland, better than disney orlds version. It always seemed so cramped.

From the renderings, it looks like it's going to take them longer than 2 year to do all of this.

crazy horse said:
Wow....

This is a huge renovation that is long overdue.

This is an expansion, not a renovation. Harbor House to Village Haus will remain the same. Pooh will get a new queue and those castle walls will be added, but everything else is NEW.

It seems as though rides like Snow White, Pooh, Small World, and Peter Pan remain the same, but hopefully will receive the same beautiful exterior treatment that makes Disneyland's area so nice.

Little Mermaid looks like an impressive attraction, but it's too bad they didn't seize the opportunity to go a little retro with Alice (IMO one of Disneyland's coolest rides, complete with the Tea Cups in front) and/or a re-make of Mr Toad. Not current enough?

I wonder why the side by side Dumbos? I get the circus thing, but is that ride so slammin busy that 2 are necessary? I suppose they'll fill 'em.

I also wonder if Disney's dream will come true and that further emphasis on Princesses and Fairies will lure those families away from Master Potter. (There seems to be quite a time gap between the two.) And what's that about Villians for the boys? Well, if nothing else, sexism is still alive and well at Disney.

RCMAC said:
It seems as though rides like Snow White, Pooh, Small World, and Peter Pan remain the same, but hopefully will receive the same beautiful exterior treatment that makes Disneyland's area so nice.

They aren't touching those rides. At all. Nothing.

Little Mermaid looks like an impressive attraction, but it's too bad they didn't seize the opportunity to go a little retro with Alice (IMO one of Disneyland's coolest rides, complete with the Tea Cups in front) and/or a re-make of Mr Toad. Not current enough?

They want more princesses and new stories to tell. While I like Alice, I'm excited about us getting a Little Mermaid clone.

I wonder why the side by side Dumbos? I get the circus thing, but is that ride so slammin busy that 2 are necessary? I suppose they'll fill 'em.

I guess you've never had to wait 90 minutes to ride Dumbo then? Also, the Dumbo queue is going to be awesome. How awesome? It's not even a queue. Yeah, wrap your head around that one.

I also wonder if Disney's dream will come true and that further emphasis on Princesses and Fairies will lure those families away from Master Potter. (There seems to be quite a time gap between the two.) And what's that about Villians for the boys? Well, if nothing else, sexism is still alive and well at Disney.

Gaston will be well represented in the Beauty & the Beast area, and boys can help Cinderella and become a guard for her instead of dancing.

As for Potter? Universal spit in Disney's eye with the whole "we're more than princesses" stuff, and Disney didn't blink, wiped it off, and threw it down. "Yes, we have princesses. And you're point is..."

This is getting exciting, reminds me of back when Disney was quickly developing plans for massive new lands and rides to counteract IoA back in the day. Those never came around thanks to IoA being more of a small pop instead of a huge boom in the Orlando scene.

The Mole said:
Also, the Dumbo queue is going to be awesome. How awesome? It's not even a queue. Yeah, wrap your head around that one.

Don't have to. I've been predicting it around here for years. :)

(not the dumbo upgrade, but the demise of a physical stand-in-line queue)

You seem to know a lot about this, The Mole.

And it's a shame that the current rides will not recieve make-overs as well. They certainly pale in comparison to those in California, and if this expansion is as fantastic as it seems the older area will become even more noticibly flat. I know money talks, but this seems like a missed opportunity.

And, no, I haven't waited 90 minutes for Dumbo, nor would I. I also wouldn't wait the 45 minutes that two identical rides would provide, I don't care how queue-free the experience is. But I'm missing details, I know - I also haven't had any kids pulling on me for some time now, which has made a big difference in how I spend my day!

Please don't anyone misunderstand my point about sexism. Disney can certainly do what they want, but I wait, in vain, for the day they stop standing girls over here and boys over there. God forbid anyone should have a girl that might prefer to be a guard or a pirate, or a boy that might like to dance with Cinderella. Disney continues, in offerings like Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, to encourage the myth that girls and boys will and should have different life experiences.

More than princesses? I certainly hope so. I think Ms Rowling has developed a franchise in Harry Potter that has appeal to both boys and girls and, thankfully, the characters in her books have not arrived at their station in life due strictly to their gender. Like princesses do. I will applaud Universal if their new land, as I suspect, has the same appeal to kids and adults of both sexes. As a modern, enlightened parent I might choose that experience over one that teaches that girls should tart themselves up and stand by until Prince Charming arrives. Or that boys are useless unless they are sword-brandishing heroes.

crazy horse said:
Wow....

From the renderings, it looks like it's going to take them longer than 2 year to do all of this.

Come on! We're talking 'Da Mouse here. If you wanted a rainbow-farting animatronic unicorn, they could pull it off by next week.

RCMAC said:

And, no, I haven't waited 90 minutes for Dumbo, nor would I. I also wouldn't wait the 45 minutes that two identical rides would provide, I don't care how queue-free the experience is. But I'm missing details, I know - I also haven't had any kids pulling on me for some time now, which has made a big difference in how I spend my day!

Clearly. Dumbo is pretty much the most iconic park attraction in the world for anybody under the age of say, 7 or so. For many kids WDW could be blown to smithereens and they wouldn't care as long as they got to ride Dumbo and meet Mickey. Or you know, whatever other character to replace Mickey.

Normally I would not be too excited by news of an expanded Fantasyland, BUT, seeing my daughter will be giving birth to a grandson for me in January, I think this sounds really awesome! LOL

I wonder, though, if Disney really is not taking the whole princess thing too far to the point where parents (and grandparents) of boys are going to start thinking of other places to take their kids as Disney becomes the ultimate place to take little girls. Yeah, being a palace guard or having Gaston stuff (he was a villain, btw) is stuff for boys, but it's all an afterthought and I doubt boys are going to like it in the midst of princess overload.

I rode Dumbo for the first time in my life when I was at Magic Kingdom last year. I enjoyed it, and it did feel rather iconic. A real plus was that I only waited, maybe, through 3 cycles to get on. The memorable thing was that directly in front of me in line was a little boy with his dad, and while dad talked on his cell phone, the little boy proceeded to pee all over the queue, the rail, the platform and the little ticket booth. Everyone busted out, and I finally said "uh... dude..." He picked up the kid and took off, leaving the rest of us to jump over a puddle to get to the ride!

Hopefully, incidents like that will be curtailed when Disney adopts the queue-free, immersive wait time. Maybe both dad and son will have something better to do.

On the whole Boys vs Girls thing, sure Fantasyland will now skew more towards girls, however boys can still be Pirates in Adventureland, Davey Crocket in Frontierland, and Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland. Its not like Fantasyland is the only part of the MK.

Lord Gonchar said:

The Mole said:
Also, the Dumbo queue is going to be awesome. How awesome? It's not even a queue. Yeah, wrap your head around that one.

Don't have to. I've been predicting it around here for years. :)

(not the dumbo upgrade, but the demise of a physical stand-in-line queue)

You'd be surprised. I've heard two bits with this new queue. One will be that the queue will be a giant play area, with parents getting a beeper think thing that'll call them over when it's their turn (think a cross between Fastpass and dinner reservations). The other says that there will be a three ring circus, with each ring holding many, many people in it. As the line progresses, the rings will progress. Each ring will have games and fun things to do.

In the end you still will have to wait in line, but the line will be only for one or two cycles, not 30.

And here's a link to more concept art to show you how HUGE this thing is.

http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2009/09/12/d23-expo-20-piec...ney-world/

The updated 3-D effects will incorporate characters from the three Star Wars prequel films released between 1999 and 2005.

Not saying that Star Tours didn't need to be renovated, but it sure as hell doesn't need Jar-Jar Binks.

The new area of Fantasyland will be filled with trees and appear much more lush and shady than the current area.

Then they should rename it Charmland.

So lets see the Disney rundown in the last few years of some major capital projects.

$4 Billion for Marvel
$1 Billion overhaul of Disney CA
$1 Billion for overhaul of Disney World (HS/MK)
$1+ Billion per new cruise ship (x2)
$4.7 Million for port enhancements for 2 new ships

I would say Disney is doing quite well.

^Gotta spend money to make money. Disney just spends better than most. :)

...and here I thought the "games" in queue for Spinball Whizzer were fun diversions to help the slow-moving line feel faster.

matt. said:

Dumbo is pretty much the most iconic park attraction in the world for anybody under the age of say, 7 or so.

Which make it a little odd that although my son had been to Disney four times before his seventh birthday, we've never been on the ride. Can't really pinpoint a reason, though he did seem to grow out of Fantasyland fairly quickly.

Oh, and for Star Tours, how does a completely random, 3D experience with in cabin special effects sound? Smoke, lasers, etc. And the pod racing is just one of the possible things you can get.

I dunno... loud?

Pixar was a $4 billion purchase, too