News Round Up

[Mouse of Mystery]

The box around Walt and walls in the inner hub are down.

Oh I guess I'll consider myself lucky for getting to see that elusive green box on its very last day. I'm glad I wasn't in MK on Friday or I'd have missed it.

 

[rteetz]

Listening to the latest Jim Hill podcast he has some news. Typical Jim Hill disclaimer goes along with this.

2016 will be the Epcot year. New frozen ride with marketing it like its Diagon Alley. New illuminations. Soarin.

MK will get a new firework show and nighttime parade both are in development with no timetable.

New animation and film animation for the Frozen ride. Added 35 seconds to the ride. Elsa AA will be full blown wicked witch style AA.

As rumored new Soarin theater will open then another will close for digital upgrades and so on. New film late 2016.

Disney seriously considered Tomorrowland upgrades after film but film didn't do so well.

Drones are being considered for new illuminations show.

 

[rteetz]

Fitness center and pool refurb at Coronado springs

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/06/coronado-springs-fitness-center-and.html

 

[Josh Hendy]

2016 will be the Epcot year. New frozen ride with marketing it like its Diagon Alley.

I know it was a hit movie and they added 35 seconds to the ride and a new animatronic but ... the little old Norway ride in little old Norway?

 

[rteetz]

I know it was a hit movie and they added 35 seconds to the ride and a new animatronic but ... the little old Norway ride in little old Norway?

Jim said if you weren't sick of let it go already this might make you want to jump off a cliff.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

A few shots, before my phone died from lack of charging [whoops], from yesterday's (6/14/2015) trip to Magic. Some of the new castle turrets have their tops on to match the rest of the castle's.

Also, snapped a few pics of the progress on the Adventureland restaurant as well. The hub construction is looking like it is close to finished. The statue is out of the box and all the walls are down (except where the turrets are going up) in front of the castle as well.

New MagicBand digital watch slider.

 

[jtwibih]

Nice pics.

 

[nkosiek]

Listening to the latest Jim Hill podcast he has some news. Typical Jim Hill disclaimer goes along with this.

2016 will be the Epcot year. New frozen ride with marketing it like its Diagon Alley. New illuminations. Soarin.

MK will get a new firework show and nighttime parade both are in development with no timetable.

New animation and film animation for the Frozen ride. Added 35 seconds to the ride. Elsa AA will be full blown wicked witch style AA.

As rumored new Soarin theater will open then another will close for digital upgrades and so on. New film late 2016.

Disney seriously considered Tomorrowland upgrades after film but film didn't do so well.

Drones are being considered for new illuminations show.

I'm sure those are his terms not yours. Does anyone find the concept of 2016 the year of EPCOT to be funny? A re-themed ride, a new movie for a ride that isn't actually changing, and a new version of the nighttime show. So in terms of capacity, nothing new. Before someone reminds me of the new theatre in Soarin', it appears as though they'll be operating on two for some time until all the refurbs are done. To call it the EPCOT year is a joke.

 

[Gastonecrosse]

Besides that, you don't even have the ability to put in a special penny and you can't even watch the pressing process. You might just as well by your souvenir pressed Penny at any gift shop. I'm betting they probably aren't even made from real pennies, probably just cheap pot metal with a shiny coating on it!

My wife used this machine on our trip this past April. I am a bit torn on it. We made the whole set so the pricing, while higher than normal, was not at its worst. The positive side is the flat price gives you an entire matching set without having to make it to multiple parks/resorts. I realize hunting can be part of the fun, however when we go to Disney we have a bit of a limited time frame to do things like this, and we have yet to spend our free time resort hopping to fill out sets.

On another positive note, I did pay very close attention to the machine's operation, and basically you have three wheels that rotate simultaneously on the same drive shaft. The coins are pressed one at a top (staggered) as the machine does not produce enough pressure to form more than one coin at a time, however they fall in at a very efficient pace, so making the full set is very quick. Also, it is worth noting that the shafts the coins drop in though are clear/visible and, at least when we went, the machines were using actual pennies as opposed to say a copper slug.

 

[ahoyle]

The bigger joke is to market Frozen like its Diagon Alley. Do they think the people that visit Epcot haven't been to Universal? To turn Norway into something comparable to Diagon Alley you would have to demo Norway and it expand it. Not add 35 seconds to a 25+ year old ride.

Its just like with New Fantasyland. Sure, the new is better than the old. But when you hype it up so much and people are starved for new attractions, people are bound to leave disappointed.

 

[leholcomb]

The bigger joke is to market Frozen like its Diagon Alley. Do they think the people that visit Epcot haven't been to Universal? To turn Norway into something comparable to Diagon Alley you would have to demo Norway and it expand it. Not add 35 seconds to a 25+ year old ride.

Its just like with New Fantasyland. Sure, the new is better than the old. But when you hype it up so much and people are starved for new attractions, people are bound to leave disappointed.

Agreed. There is no way this will be comparable to Diagon Alley. I find that to be a laughable statement.

 

[jlundeen]

The bigger joke is to market Frozen like its Diagon Alley. Do they think the people that visit Epcot haven't been to Universal? To turn Norway into something comparable to Diagon Alley you would have to demo Norway and it expand it. Not add 35 seconds to a 25+ year old ride.

Its just like with New Fantasyland. Sure, the new is better than the old. But when you hype it up so much and people are starved for new attractions, people are bound to leave disappointed.

I agree. Personally, other than BOG (and the quality of food there is questionable) and SDMT (I like this A LOT!), there isn't much of a draw for me. I think the Fantasyland make over was WAAAAY overhyped....

And Frozen...I'm SO over Frozen. It was a great movie...but...having it be the whole end-all-and-be-all of Disney is just too much for me. Just my opinion.

 

[rteetz]

The bigger joke is to market Frozen like its Diagon Alley. Do they think the people that visit Epcot haven't been to Universal? To turn Norway into something comparable to Diagon Alley you would have to demo Norway and it expand it. Not add 35 seconds to a 25+ year old ride.

Its just like with New Fantasyland. Sure, the new is better than the old. But when you hype it up so much and people are starved for new attractions, people are bound to leave disappointed.

The day frozen opens he said disney is expecting a 20% attenadnce increase in epcot for that day.

 

[rteetz]

I agree. Personally, other than BOG (and the quality of food there is questionable) and SDMT (I like this A LOT!), there isn't much of a draw for me. I think the Fantasyland make over was WAAAAY overhyped....

And Frozen...I'm SO over Frozen. It was a great movie...but...having it be the whole end-all-and-be-all of Disney is just too much for me. Just my opinion.

Disney is going to milk it as long as they can.

 

[luisov]

Apparently another small addition has been made to Paint the Night parade at DLR. A small float with the Toy Story aliens was added right after the Toy Story float.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

More LMA closing rumors or something else?

This is the last year for Osborne Lights.

 

[Josh Hendy]

I'm sure those are his terms not yours. Does anyone find the concept of 2016 the year of EPCOT to be funny? A re-themed ride, a new movie for a ride that isn't actually changing, and a new version of the nighttime show. So in terms of capacity, nothing new. Before someone reminds me of the new theatre in Soarin', it appears as though they'll be operating on two for some time until all the refurbs are done. To call it the EPCOT year is a joke.

I can imagine how the imagineers looked when the marketing people thanked them for the Frozen ride concept and told them, "We're going to market this like it's Epcot's Diagon Alley." The sudden reflexive starts, the furtive flick of the eyes over to the PR flack without moving the head to see if they were joking, then flicking back to see if the other imagineers are giving away what they're thinking. Then a careful glance at the big chief to see if he's smiling and nodding ... and if he is ... smiles and nods all around!

Gotta be a team player after all.

And the inner dialog - "That reminds me, gotta renew my Universal AP soon."

 

[leholcomb]

I can imagine how the imagineers looked when the marketing people thanked them for the Frozen ride concept and told them, "We're going to market this like it's Epcot's Diagon Alley." The sudden reflexive starts, the furtive flick of the eyes over to the PR flack without moving the head to see if they were joking, then flicking back to see if the other imagineers are giving away what they're thinking. Then a careful glance at the big chief to see if he's smiling and nodding ... and if he is ... smiles and nods all around!

Gotta be a team player after all.

And the inner dialog - "That reminds me, gotta renew my Universal AP soon."

Interestingly enough, I did renew my Uni pass and allowed Disney to expire...

 

[101disneyfan]

I'm sure those are his terms not yours. Does anyone find the concept of 2016 the year of EPCOT to be funny? A re-themed ride, a new movie for a ride that isn't actually changing, and a new version of the nighttime show. So in terms of capacity, nothing new. Before someone reminds me of the new theatre in Soarin', it appears as though they'll be operating on two for some time until all the refurbs are done. To call it the EPCOT year is a joke.

You forgot what is supposedly happening in Innoventions!
Jim says that because Star Wars Land keeps getting pushed back, actually behind the Pixar Place expansion, that Innoventions is going to temporarily (just like the hat) become a Star Wars museum for WDW.
So Frozen, Soarin, Star Wars, new nighttime show. That's Epcot for 2016.

 

[rteetz]

This is the last year for Osborne Lights.

Rumored not confirmed