Mine Car Opening? Stumbled on info

[jpolak]

Here's a huge photo update from yesterday...still plenty of work to be done:

http://allaroundorlando.blogspot.com/2014/02/portion-7-dwarfs-mine-train-coaster.html

Pictures look great!

 

[crostorfer]

My mom and I were down there the first day they had a soft opening for ETWB. We just so happened to be sitting in Mickey's Philharmagic. Just as the show ended, about six CMs came walking in through the exit, yelled for us all to sit back down, and then asked if anyone was interested in seeing a brand new interactive attraction, saying we'd be the very first guests to ever see it. They didn't actually tell us it was ETwB. Of course, everyone raised their hands and yelled yes. They told us to follow them in an orderly fashion and then marched us out of Mickey's Philharmagic, across the way, and through a door in the wall and then to Belle's house. No one else was invited to join us. It was just the guests who happened to be watching Mickey's Philharmagic at that particular time.

Thank you. This is the kind of thing I was talking about. Sometimes, you have to be in the right place at the right time.

 

[larryz]

...anyone can edit a wiki page at anytime, with bias, inaccurate information...

Which is why Wikipedia adamantly, relentlessly requires sourcing for every factual claim made.
And why the jury's still out on those two cites you noted.
I expect soft openings about three weeks prior to the officially scheduled opening.

 

[ucfknight]

Thank you. This is the kind of thing I was talking about. Sometimes, you have to be in the right place at the right time.

But this earliest phase of soft opening you are referring to is typically very short and is not always used. The soft opening phase where the ride is open for a few hours at a time and any guest in the park can ride is much more common and typically takes up the bulk of the soft open period.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

If the grand opening is rumoured for May it wouldn't be unheardof to have a soft opening 2 months before.

New Fantasyland officially opened in Dec 2012 - but we got to go to the very first public preview - it was even before the majority of the CM previews in early Oct 2012.

DMom and I had heard about the ETWB previews so we stopped by what was then the row of trees that blocked the entrance and asked - we were told not today and we walked away.

We went to explore storybook circus and about 45 mins later we noticed people lined up along the wall by the mine train, maybe 50 or so. We decided to get in line. I saw people tweeting that it was to be the first full scale soft open. The line grew and grew and then a CM came along with a counter and began doing a head count.

We waited about 40 mins and lo and behold we were walked in. There were cast members everywhere! Managers, Imagineers, all filming our reactions, all waving and welcoming us. It was surreal! We got to try Lefew's Brew - see Gaston's Tavern, Gaston was out meeting people, ride Under the Sea - the area was semi-private!

So don't be surprised if randomly one day in March they do a similar soft open of the mine train.