R.A. Pedersen's Blog, page 11
July 12, 2012
Photo Update of New Fantasyland
A quick photo update of New Fantasyland.. we’re tossing them in a gallery to up get them up on the site. Click and pick the ones you love – ignore the ones you don’t.
Stuff of note: Snow White is obviously closed, the Skyway area is getting vertical (plus berm landscaped by Haunted Mansion), and the Splash and Soak area looks to be appreciated by the little ones.
July 10, 2012
Photo Update of Construction Behind the Walls at Test Track in Epcot
We have a song we like to sing around here while we wander the park doing research for The Epcot Explorer’s Encyclopedia (revised first edition now on sale!). It goes something along the lines of… anything you can do, I can do better... and so we tried to do better when it came to getting some photos of what work was being done on the shuttered Test Track attraction at Epcot.
Thus if you followed our little Twitter stream yesterday you know we road the monorail several times and annoyed numero...
July 2, 2012
Preorder Poster Art of the Disney Parks from Amazon
So thePoster Art of the Disney Parks book is said to have rolled out in the stateside theme parks – Disneyland and Walt Disney World – at the end of May. We haven’t been able to find a copy and apparently getting your hands on it hasn’t been easy for most other park-goers either.
Good news though, the book will be released on Amazon on September 4th and is being offered on a pre-order sale. Typically the book is sold in the parks for $40, but you can pre-order it from Amazon for $25.08 right n...
July 1, 2012
Characters in Flight Balloon Closed and Removed – Possibly Permanently
Just off the phone with Disney and no one there seems to know what’s happened or why – but the Characters in Flight Balloon at Downtown Disney closed until further notice for all future available calendar dates. It may not reopen.
There was an accident recently involving the same model and make of balloon from the same manufacturer and operator as the Characters in Flight balloon at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. The same Aero30NG balloon was installed at Ocean Park, Disneyland Paris, and Walt Disne...
June 29, 2012
A Look at the Spit and Polish Behind the New Dumbo Queue Publicity
You might recall some of this footage from a recent video you’ve see on the DisneyParks website.
This video was released to media to be used for making their own video compositions. It provides an interesting insight into the work that goes into making and composing the publicity pieces that “sell” us on the parks. You can hear the children being directed to interact with the environment – as well as commands for “rolling” and the “lights up” as lighting levels are turned higher than normal to...
Wide Shot of the Big Top at Dumbo
Disney put out another publicity shot of the new interactive Dumbo queue. The thing is, it show off just has sparse and uninvolved the space actually is when you get down to it. It’s a children’s play area from a local mall with some lighting effects and a decent coat of paint. It has very little real substance – artistic or entertainment wise – beyond that. See for yourself. As always, click to supersize.
June 28, 2012
Epcot’s American Adventure to Abandon Historic Costumes Despite Cast Protest
Cast Members at Epcot’s American Adventure pavilion aren’t thrilled, to say the least, to find out that their historic period-specific costumes are being thrown out and replaced for more modern adaptations. The blog The Disney Project has all the details, but here’s the pertinent info from a posted letter written by long-time American Adventure Cast Member Lonnie Hicks:
We are definitely not happy Disney World Cast Members at Epcot’s “The American Adventure” pavilion.
In the near future, we wil...
June 27, 2012
UPDATED: D23 Baits and Switches World Key Tickets Buyers for Epcot 30th?
UPDATE: We’ve gotten at least one response that whoever sent that reply via email was mistaken/incorrect and the venue is not World Showplace for World Key’s reception. We’ve not heard a new formal response from D23, which will likely come during business hours.
This is what people purchased for World Key level tickets for the D23 event at Epcot for the 30th anniversary event:
World Key level admission includes:
• All features of the World Passport admission
• Reserved seating for all presentatio...
June 25, 2012
New Double Dumbo Designed by Dolts at Walt Disney World
It’s been brought to our attention that the first “brand new” Double Dumbo spinner in New Fantasyland is experiencing major technical problems due to extremely poor design.
It turns out the pit beneath the Dumbos was built too shallow and the vehicles are hitting the bottom and edges of it. The fiberglass of the brand new attraction carriages is being scraped away daily and causing the ride system to have stoppages and closures frequently. Also, the water effect has had to be shut off while th...
June 23, 2012
Video of Double Dumbo Debut and New Fantasyland Fastpass Information
Dumbo, the Flying Elephant is now double the fun at Walt Disney World Resort. On June 22, a second Dumbo – flying counterclockwise – soft opened to the public. With the March opening, guests got to experience the first-ever Dumbo flying clockwise. Dumbo, one of the circus’ most famed acts now flies twice as many guests around the Big Top area – featuring shiny new red and gold colors inspired by ’50s- and ’60s-era tin toys. Here’s a video of the two attractions in action:
Also, Dumbo now offer...
