It has just been announced that WDW’s Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel is, effective June 1, being renamed Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. There was no indication of the status of other property distributed as part of the divorce settlement.
Archive for the ‘Magic Kingdom’ Category
Carrousel renaming
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Towel Day!
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Happy Towel Day, everyone! As per park tradition, anyone who jumps into Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom’s or Disneyland’s Rivers of America and goes in over their head at any time during normal park daylight operating hours today will receive a free commemorative towel to wear as they are escorted from the park. (Those who jump in after dark may receive their towel posthumously.)
Enjoy!
Main Street: Legacy
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010In honor of the upcoming Tron sequel Tron: Legacy, Walt Disney World will be celebrating by converting the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street, U.S.A., into Main Street, MCP! The transformation will take place just before the highly anticipated film is released this December, and will remain in place until 3-5 weeks after it has worn out its welcome.
According to virtual Disney cyberfan and FPS LAN party aficionado BuZZedLiteYear, the transformation will include the following:
- A new paint job and neon lights for all Main Street vehicles (including horses).
- A transformation of the Main Street Cinema from a turn-of-the-20th-century movie house that sells Disney art into a turn-of-the-22nd-century hyper-5D “sensua-immersion” theater that sells Disney art.
- Occasional impromptu performances by a group of cast members who will hop off the “Tron Trolly” and sing “The Light Cycle Song.”
- Hula-hoop playtime for children will be replaced with “flying disk battles” in which young guests can try to “de-rez” each other with special glowing Frisbees.
- The Dapper Dans will be replaced by The Space Paranoids.
- Because Tron: Legacy is a holiday release, Main Street, MCP’s holiday decorations will have a futuristic tone, with a gigantic procedurally rendered fractal tree as it centerpiece. There will also be visits from Tron Santa (as portrayed by Jay Maynard).
Stilt workers arrive
Sunday, May 10th, 2009During our recent trip to Walt Disney World, we were lucky enough to make the acquaintance of “Bugsy” — a Magic Kingdom cast member who assured us that he was a lead with special privileges (but, unfortunately, had forgotten his ID and name badge that day). After hearing that we were researching material for our Web site, he let us into the Magic Kingdom via the pre-opening employee entrance (a fence near the rail yard that must be scaled when the guard dogs are between rounds).
We learned quite a bit about how the Magic Kingdom prepares before opening. We photographically captured one highlight –
– the daily “arrival of the stilt workers.” It was truly spectacular!
Real Magic Closure
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008There was a major goofup last night involving the closing of Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom online guest simulation. Apparently, the memo saying that the online park would be going offline permanently last night at 10 p.m. was worded in a less than rigorous manner, causing some cast members to believe that it was Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom that was to be closed permanently.
Signs were placed outside the Magic Kingdom after closing explaining that the park was being shuttered, and ever-efficient Disney maintenance crews spent the night dismantling the park and preparing it for storage. By the time the mistake was discovered (at around 6:30 a.m. this morning), Adventureland, Liberty Square, and about half of Frontierland had been boxed, labeled, and prepared for shipping. Tom Sawyer Island had already been returned to its natural swampy condition, and the Country Bears were running wild in the absence of county animal-control officers.
“We were pretty embarrassed about the whole situation,” said Magic Kingdom spokesperson Beaufort “Clueless” Hamhead. “We think we can get the whole thing back together in a couple of weeks, and we’re already sending nice notes of apology to all the people we sacked, especially the ones we inadvertently put in crates instead of sending home.”
Presidents upgrade protested
Friday, April 11th, 2008There has been much furor in recent days over the announcement that Walt Disney World’s Hall of Presidents will be closed for extensive maintenance and plussing. At first, it was rumored that the long refurbishment time for the attraction was due to the fact that all of the seats were being replaced (apparently guests are, on average, much larger to day than they were back when this attraction was first opened). However, rumors quickly began to spread that significant changes were being made to the attraction itself.
What changes? To make sure that we are not accidentally spreading substantiated rumors, we’ll let Managio Blunder — supposed Disney Director of Imagination Marketing — speak for himself: “The changes to the Hall of Presidents really aren’t anything to get excited about. We have been planning to plus the attraction for years, and when we noticed that a lot of materials were being created for Hong Kong Disneyland, we just decided to make an extra set that could be used to plus our attraction. So all we’re doing is adding Disney characters in a few key areas — Mickey advising George Washington, Stitch rooting around in Lincoln’s pants, that kind of thing — which our surveys show is what guests want. They want more characters. We’ll also be removing some of the less popular presidents and replacing them with leaders of other countries — such as France, Japan, and China — in the name of diversity. Oh, and we’re replacing that sappy opening speech with Disney Channel ads. Really, there’s no reason to get all worked up.”
Recently, the family of Disney Legend Blaine Gibson wrote to the Walt Disney Company, threatening mass suicide if the changes went through. Disney responded that they believed the changes were in keeping with the attraction’s original intent, “to delight guests with the great leaders of history.”
Because Warren G. Harding is one of the presidential figures scheduled for replacement, a group protesting the changes has gathered under the banner, “Stop the War on Harding.” They have set up a Web site, are gathering e-signatures, and promise to “keep bugging Disney until they get a clue.”
We’ll keep you posted as events develop!
Swiss Family Suites
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007On April 30, the Magic Kingdom's Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse will be closed to begin its conversion into a Disney Vacation Club property.
Pirates vs. Princesses
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007The Pirate & Princess Party returns to the Magic Kingdom this summer for several days in August and September. It is expected that the pirates will win again this year.
Night of Joy — Rockin’ the Park for Jesus
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007Disney has announced the list of performers for the annual Night of Joy Christian-music event at the Magic Kingdom, beginning September 7 at 7:30 p.m. Headlining the event will be the celebrated, award-winning chants of the Monks of St. Sebastian Straight-Arrow Choir. Pat Robertson's "Rappin' Rob" extravaganza will serve as a finale to the event.
While we're on the subject, tickets are still available for the annual Night of Darkness Anti-Christian-music event at the Magic Kingdom, beginning June 6 at 6:66 p.m. Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, and the reunited Osmond brothers will perform.
New addition to Pirates!
Saturday, March 3rd, 2007According to current rumor, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World will be modified again in 2007. Apparently, animatronic figures of the Dali Lama will be placed in both attractions. At Disneyland, the figure will appear in the bayou section, replacing the old man who sits in a rocking chair (a character that generates many complaints, in that some people think that the creaking of his aging joints sounds something like banjo music).
At Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, "Dali" will appear at the very beginning of the cave section, "so as not to interfere with anything further into the attraction." Of course, this completely avoids the question of whether having this figure in the attraction makes sense at all.
So far as we were concerned, adding the Dali Lama to a Caribbean-themed pirate attraction made little sense, and we wondered what the heck Imagineering was thinking. After investigating this further, we discovered that, during a late-night telephone conversation, John Lasseter misunderstood a poorly pronounced "Tia Dalma," and when his orders came down the next day for the addition of the Dali Lama figure, nobody had the guts to stand up and say he was completely insane.
Go figure.
