Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom

[Robert.W]

Tron's arrival at the Magic Kingdom has today been officially confirmed at the D23 Expo! AND it won't be replacing the Tomorrowland Speedway!
Also another interesting addition will be of a new theatre off Main Street, USA, which will take influence from the Willis Theatre in Kansas City.

[Owen]

Minnie Transportation

A new transportation option is coming to Walt Disney World, inspired by Minnie Mouse herself. This new point to point service is resemblant of a taxi service however this is special as it features "Minnie Vans"!

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TRON Lightcycle Power Run
 
TRON Lightcycle Power Run has been confirmed for the Magic Kingdom. It'll be in its own new area next to Space Mountain and the Tomorrowland Speedway, featuring the amazing light dome seen at Shanghai Disney. The attraction layout is anticipated to be identical to the Shanghai edition however we may see some slight adjustments. The attraction is hoped to be open by 2021 in time for the park’s 50^th anniversary celebrations!

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New Theatre
 
A new theatre is being built in Mainstreet USA which is inspired by the Wills Wood theatre in 1920’s Kansas City where Walt himself lived. There is currently no indication of what shows will be here, however I’m sure it’ll be fantastic.

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*Post was pre-written before previous post had bee seen.

[Ladyofthelake]

Permits have now been filed for the Tron Lightcycle Coaster and Main Street Theatre, and the details confirm the exact location of the new attraction.

Located in Tomorrowland, the attraction will occupy a plot of vacant land next to Space Mountain, although plans show that the Tomorrowland Speedway will have to have its track slightly adjusted to accomodate the new addition. The timescales outlined in the documents indicate that the new coaster should be open in 2021 in time for Magic Kingdom's 50th anniversary (a timescale which matches what was announced at D23 in July this year).



In the same application, details of the location of the new Main Street Theatre are also revealed. In the plans the Main Street Theatre is indicated as MK1 and shows it located on what is currently a car park situated southwest of the Carousel of Progress and behind the now closed Galaxy Palace Theatre.

[Robert.W]

According to thekingdominsider.com, construction on the new theatre near Main Street began on the 28th October, must mean that permits have already been filed and approved if necessary.  

Here is a link to the full article: http://thekingdominsider.com/construction-disneys-new-theater-magic-kingdom-will-begin-tomorrow/

[abigsmurf]

A theatre that takes 1000 or so people off the paths/queues for 45 minutes is always a good thing, hope they use some of that big open space to provide some seating for people to sit down and have a drink/snack, there used to be a few places you could sit down and relax for a bit along main street, now it's all high capacity starbucks and stores with no seats around.

[Robert.W]

As was mentioned in the ShoutBox, Disney is finally reopening the Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom. President Trump has been recreated in animatronic form, and will give a speech, the beginning of which includes part of the presidential oath, before going on to tell the audience about the American spirit and about the American constitution. The link below has a video of the Trump animatronic in action, so take a look for yourself!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-bz-disney-hall-presidents-trump-speaks-20171218-story.html

[Ladyofthelake]

It would seem we have an opening date for the new Tron Coaster!

According to WDW News Today, construction on the new addition is due to start in just 3 days time on February 6th with a view to the rollercoaster being complete for August 16th 2021. This projected date will give the park a little bit of leaway in case of delays to ensure the ride is definitiely open for the start of Magic Kingdom's 50th Anniversary celebrations on 1st October 2021.

Think I may need to start looking into a Florida trip for either the end of 2021 or start of 2022!

[Owen]

Now the guessing game begins... how many years will it be delayed :-k

[abigsmurf]

They're usually ok with cloned rides aren't they?

[Robert.W]

Sources from inside Disney are reporting that Walt Disney World have ordered an entire new fleet of monorail trains, which will replace the old ones which have been in use since 1989. The new monorail trains are thought to be being built by Bombardier, which is the same company that built the original Mark VI fleet for Walt Disney World in 1989. The new trains will be the INNOVIA 300 model, and will reportedly have a few changes made to make them "more Disney".

The need for a new fleet of monorail trains is also thought to be the reason that the new broadway style theatre that was coming to Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom park was cancelled in February, after Disney realised the urgent need to modernise the monorail trains after an incident where a train was filmed with its door wide open whilst passengers were inside, so the funds originally intended for the new theatre were reallocated for the new trains.

These images from Bombardier give a glimpse of what the INNOVIA 300 monorail looks like.

[Robert.W]

Over in Magic Kingdom's  Adventureland, construction on buildings which are speculated to be for the new Club 33 location is progressing well. Photos by @bioreconstruct.

[Chris]

That fantastic Twitter account is just a testament of exactly how much construction is going on at the WDW Resort - it's incredible.

[Robert.W]

I know! They're definitely worth a follow to keep up to date with all the construction thats going on at Walt Disney World, as well as other Orlando attractions!

The amount of construction happening at WDW at the moment is mind blowing! Really makes me want to visit for the 50th and see it all finished, as it's going to be absolutely fantastic!

[Robert.W]

Festival of Fantasy Parade Fire

Earlier today it has been reported that there was an incident involving the Festival of Fantasy parade. The Maleficent float is supposed to breath fire and has various moving parts, however, in what could possibly be the floats last run in a while, something went wrong, which caused the entire moving head of the dragon to burst into flames. The fire was reportedly put out quickly, and no injuries have been reported.

One visitor uploaded this pretty spectacular footage of the fire!



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Picture from after the incident had been resolved:



The float, whilst looks relatively unharmed on the outside, is said to be pretty much completely destroyed internally, and will need completely rebuilt if it is to ever be part of the Festival of Fantasy Parade at the Magic Kingdom again. What will be interesting is to see if Disneyland Paris feature their own version of the float in their Stars on Parade tomorrow.

[Swarm Chris]

Well whoops!

Glad the fire contained itself to the head and the driver managed to get out pretty quickly.

Impressed they kept the parade music going. Bonus points if they had then put the Jack Sparrow, "did everyone see that, because I will not be doing it again", line in at the end.

My guess is Paris won't run theirs. If for no other reason than superstition, as the last time they had a high profile and unheard of animatronic issue (head fell off something in Pirates) the exact same thing happened later that day in California (head fell off something in Little Mermaid).

[Robert.W]

Paris will be running their Dragon float, but just without the fire for a few days while the incident at Walt Disney World is investigated. Probably the best thing to do really, as then people won't miss out on seeing the float in Paris, even if it's not breathing fire.

On another note, if the Festival of Fantasy Maleficent float never returns to the parade, I think it had a pretty worthy final performance to be honest. Much better way to have an exit than if something had happened to the float behind the scenes and we just never got to see it ever again. :P

[Ladyofthelake]

Tron is now programming....

The Disney Parks Blog have given us the first update on the Tron Lightcycle coaster which is now under construction at Magic Kingdom. The update details some changes and closures to existing attractions to allow for construction to take place.

First, the Walt Disney World Railroad will temporarily take up residence at the Main Street Station starting in December 2018, pausing its grand-circle tours of Magic Kingdom Park. During this time, guests will be able to get an up-close look at the railroad and take advantage of one-of-a-kind photo opportunities.

The Tomorrowland Speedway will close for a portion of 2019, as the attraction’s track is adjusted. It will reopen as the same attraction our guests know and love in the summer of 2019.

If construction goes to schedule, the attraction is set to debut for Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary in 2021.

The update from Disney Parks Blog follows the appearance of a Tron themed billboard which is visible from the Storybook Circus area of the park:



The attraction in Magic Kingdom will be the second Tron Lightcycle coaster at a Disney park, with the first opening at Shaghai Disney as one of its original attractions.

I think I may just need to plan a Florida trip for Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary!!

[abigsmurf]

50th anniversary... I was at Disney World for the 25th (with the infamous birthday cake castle). 

I'm getting old...

[Swarm Chris]

A Pirates Adventure ~ Treasures of the Seven Seas, is a fun treasure hunt across Adventure Land where your Magic Band triggers different scenes and effects. Plus you get a free fast pass to Pirates of the Caribbean after completing two.

My favourite hidden element, is that the starting hut has the theme from Monkey Island on its playlist.

[abigsmurf]

Spoilers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prkbnHcDSts

I genuinely didn't know that existed. That's pretty neat.

Monkey Island was originally going to be a Pirates of the Caribbean game but they couldn't get the rights. Ironically, LucasArts are owned by Disney now.