Magic Kingdom News
Park News - (7/28/08) I’m not sure if this is a new procedure or not but one of our readers noticed Disney had made some changes to the way crowds flow into the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant and Comic Rays. They tell us that during peak lunchtime crowds are only let in through one door where a cast members will direct you to a register to place your order. Once you have your food, another cast member will attempt to assist you in finding a table for your party.
(7/14/08) While last week I had heard that the massive rehab to Country Bears would not be bringing back the Christmas Special show, today we’ve heard from another insider who claims that the word going around is that we will see the Christmas show return this year after all. More on this as we find out.
(7/11/08) Disney’s website confirms that the Country Bears will go dark for about a month from 9/28/08 to 10/31/08 to rehab and upgrade the theater. Unfortunately, I’ve also heard that this is also not going to involve the return of the Christmas holiday themed show for the winter season either.
(7/10/08) Sources tell us that the Liberty Square Bridge rehab project will reach the stage where the bridge needs to be closed entirely for about two weeks, starting somewhere around August 13th. When the bridge closes they will be unable to perform SpectroMagic during this time period but from what I’ve been told, the plan is to hold the Disney Dreams Come True Parade twice a day instead (at around 3pm and 7pm). The Parade will start in the Town Square area and move all the floats down into the hub where they will come to a stop. Once all the floats that filled the hub they will then move back down Main Street and exit as it usually does.
(7/9/08) According to an anonymous sources the “characters” at the Liberty Tree Tavern will be going away around January 7th or so as part of a new cost savings measure.
(7/8/08) One of our readers tells us that the Transportation & Ticket Center has added a new feature in the form of a coffee / espresso stand right next to the monorail ramps.
Epcot News
Park News - (8/12/08) Epcot International Wine and food festival September 26-November 9, 2008
Come experience the Epcot International Wine and Food Festival!Sample authentic cuisine from over 25 of the best culinary cities in the world. Savor the finest food, wine and beer at international marketplaces like Cork, Ireland; Cape Town, South Africa; Lyon, France; Bologna, Italy and many other international regions.
Eat To The Beat Concert Series
Nightly 5;15, 6;30 & 7:45pm at the American Gardens Theatre!
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy 9/26-9/27
Sheena Easton 9/28-9/30
Starship featuring Mickey Thomas 10/1-10/4
En Vogue 10/5-10/7
Jonny Lang 10/8-10/9
Peabo Bryson 10/10-10/12
Sister Hazel 10/13-10/14
David Sanborn 10/15-10/16
Jon Secada 10/17-10/18
Spyro Gyra 10/19-10/21
Otis Day & the Knights 10/22-10/23
Expose' 10/24-10/26
Kool & The Gang 10/27-10/28
Boyz ll Men 10/29-10/30
Atlanta Rythem Section 10/31-11/2
David Casidy 11/3-11/5
Night Ranger 11/6-11/7
Los Lobos 11/8-11/9
Disney's Hollywood Studios® News
Park News - (7/21/08) Over the weekend a few reports have come in indicating that Disney is preparing to scale back the performance schedule of Fantasmic to just two nights a week starting in January 2009 at the end of the busy holiday season. In fact you can even see a copy of Disney’s internal announcement about this change posted over at Intercot forums which goes on to even say that this move will happen at the same time that the park opens the new American Idol Experience (hardly a fair trade) and that Fantasmic will typically only be offered on Monday and Thursday nights. I’m not really sure how they came up with those nights, as you would think that perhaps they would try to run the show on the more busy nights of the week like Friday and Saturday nights. I’ve also got to wonder if the loss of Fantasmic five nights a week will also result in some earlier closing hours for the entire park since the Studios did typically close earlier in the days before Fantasmic.
(7/16/08) According to one of our readers, Rock ‘n Roller Coaster apparently has a new sponsor as a Hanes logo has been added to the Guitar on the facade of the show building. Of course the theme of Rock ‘n Roll and Underwear has been well established for years ever since Tom Cruise sang about that Old Time Rock and Roll back in Risky Business. That reminds me... I heard a crazy rumor awhile back claiming that Aerosmith’s initial 10-year contract will be coming to an end soon and that Disney was looking into ideas to possibly retheme the ride and perhaps update the soundtrack with new music. While certainly this is possible, I’ve heard very little to back up this oddball rumor at this time, but if you happen to know more about this story, please do let me know.
(7/14/08) Disney has confirmed that the High School Musical 2: School’s Out production will come to an end on September 13th to make way for the new High School Musical 3: Senior Year show opening on October 24th.
(7/1/08) Disney has announced the entertainment lineup for this year’s Night of Joy concert festival settling in to it’s first year at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on September 5th and 6th.
Disney's Animal Kingdom® News
NEW DINING ADVENTURE AT ANIMAL KINGDOM
(8/12/08) - Tusker House Resturant at Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park invites you on an exploration of African infused flavors in an all new buffet offered at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The new Tusker House buffet offers Guests another sit-down dining option within the Theme Park.
Park News - (7/15/08) I’ve been sent another interesting tidbit about another change on the way to Primeval Whirl this fall. My sources tell me that another part of the plan is to add an on-ride photo system to the coasters that will of course tie into Disney’s new PhotoPass system. Given the spinning nature of the ride, I’m guessing that any photo taken will either have to be taken on the top half of the ride when the cars are still not spinning yet.
In other news, as rumored back in February, the Timon costume in the Festival of the Lion King show has been replaced by a new talking-head figure costume similar to the talking head figures currently in use at the Magic Kingdom’s castle show.
(7/14/08) There has been some speculation that the closing of the Pocahontas show could be tied to any future development of the various concepts that could spawn from this and the Camp Minnie-Mickey area of the park. Though those concepts are still years away and very much still in development so anything could happen at this point I suppose. Meanwhile we’ve heard another rumor claim that the show theater could sit empty until Spring 2009 before they are ready to drop in a new, perhaps temporary, show concept.
Meanwhile I’ve heard some interesting rumors about the lengthy closing of the Primeval Whirl coasters this fall. According to one source Disney may be looking at actually doing some track replacement, possibly looking to replace that final mini-drop and rise with the sharp jerky turn just before the brake run where you pass through the dino bone-mouth. On top of it all, it’s been said that the rides will receive a complete computer and safety system upgrade.
(7/11/08) Disney has announced that they will close the Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends show at Animal Kingdom on September 27th. They had no announcement for any kind of replacement show to take over the theater however, so how long the show will sit empty is anyone’s guess right now. In othe news Disney’s website confirms that the Primeval Whirl coasters will close down from September 2nd through to November 15th for a two and a half month rehab which seems to be quite long for a simple coaster ride like this one. Since the ride is actually two identical coaster systems, it also seems odd that they couldn’t just close one of the tracks to do the work while leaving the other side open unless this rehab project was going to involve some kind of major change to the attraction.
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