Smiling in front of concept art! Photo Credit: Chris Reid
Information on the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland Expansion was released recently during the re-opening of Star Tours and fans are brimming with excitement. For months, the only way fans were able to get any information about the expansion’s progress was from riding the Dumbo attraction and trying to catch a glimpse of the work. Now Disney has announced more details of what is really going on behind those walls.
The first element talked about was Belle’s Village, which will feature Beast’s castle, home to the Be Our Guest Restaurant, and Gaston’s Tavern. This area of the expansion is close to being finished, with stonework being their main focus.
It has been confirmed that the Journey of the Little Mermaid attraction will be very much like the attraction in Disney’s California Adventure, though the outside of each building will be different. In Florida, the attraction will be housed in a replica of Prince Eric’s castle, the third castle to be put into the Magic Kingdom (second being Beast’s Castle).
While no work has begun on site yet for the updated version of Dumbo, a few bits of information was released about the plans for the refurbishment. Besides the addition of a second carousel of Dumbo, the waiting area will be air conditioned (an upgrade from the current queue) and will feature two shops. This has been changed from the originally planned three stores in the area. Guests will wait for their ride “much like a restaurant with reservations” according to Eric Jacobson, senior vice president of creative development at WDI.
Other topics of conversation with Jacobson included the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction, for which he had no new information, save for that the attraction will be about the Snow White story, feature a new innovative “rocking” car and that it will be an exciting addition to Fantasyland. He also mentioned that there will be more trees in the expansion area, good news for those hot summer days in Florida. The last mentioned piece was the Mickey’s Toontown Fair train stop, which is said to be remodeled to a Storybook Circus.
Areas of the expansion will be opening in 2012, but the set date for the full expansion opening is some time in 2013.
Contributed by: Jessica Clawson (NDI#21) Jessica is the News and Current Events Blogger. She is also the creator of The True Disney Fan.
Living in Delaware her whole life, Jessica did not know much about Walt Disney World until she went at 13 years old. That initial trip, though, got her hooked on the magic. As the years went on, she did everything she could to learn more about Disney (including watching documentaries and reading books). She did not know many people that shared her passion until she discovered the wonders of the internet and the Disney community found on it. She has gotten involved with as many Disney projects as she can, including writing the weekly news articles for The Disney Driven Life and writing for her own blog, The True Disney Fan. Jessica has also taken on a position with Celebrations Magazine, working the social media aspects of the publication. Through all these platforms, Jessica strives to bring as much Disney magic as possible into her everyday life, and she works to share it with everyone she meets!
Thanks for giving us the skinny!