News Round Up

[rteetz]

Winter summerland mini golf course refurb extended two weeks


http://www.wdwmagic.com/recreation/...mmerland-mini-golf-refurbishment-extended.htm

 

[luisov]

So what's phase 2 all about? Are they only moving planters or there's something else in there?

 

[mcd2745]

Winter summerland mini golf course refurb extended two weeks


http://www.wdwmagic.com/recreation/...mmerland-mini-golf-refurbishment-extended.htm

I wish they would have put their mini-golf courses in lacations that were much more easily accessible. If you're relying on Disney transportation, it's very dificult.

 

[Reddog1134]

I wish they would have put their mini-golf courses in lacations that were much more easily accessible. If you're relying on Disney transportation, it's very dificult.

I'm not sure about Fantasia Gardens but for Winter Summerland you just have to hop on a Blizzard Beach bus.

 

[dwbrewster]

This is one project where they seem to be moving at a nice clip. I hope most, if not all, of it is complete by the end of August.

It's almost like they can't get rid of it fast enough...

 

[mcd2745]

I'm not sure about Fantasia Gardens but for Winter Summerland you just have to hop on a Blizzard Beach bus.

What about in the evening after Blizzard Bech is closed? To me that is when most (or at least, us) would be most likely to want to play mini golf. Does Winter Summerland close the same time or shortly after Blizzard Beach? Fantasia Gardens you need to take a bus to a park or DTD and transfer to a Swan/Dolphin bus and walk across the street. That's a brutal process as we found out a long time ago not long after Fantasia Gardens opened (I believe it was 1997). Which leaeds to a good story about old Disney customer service. It took us forever to get to Fantasia Gardens that night - close to 2 hours, from CBR - and we got there just after 11pm. No problem though, as according to all available info at the time (which was obviously a lot less than today), they were open to midnight every night - even the printed material we got at check-in. However, they were already closed. The CM who was there apologized and said they just started closing at 11pm a week earlier. We told him how long it took and all, and he told us to wait there by the entrance. He went back into his "shack", came back out with vouchers for us to play for free if we came back, and said he called to have a van come pick us up and take us where we wanted to go - either back to CBR or to DTD.

 

[rteetz]

Kongstruction update

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/01/king-kong-land-construction-update.html?m=1

 

[skier_pete]

What about in the evening after Blizzard Bech is closed? To me that is when most (or at least, us) would be most likely to want to play mini golf. Does Winter Summerland close the same time or shortly after Blizzard Beach? Fantasia Gardens you need to take a bus to a park or DTD and transfer to a Swan/Dolphin bus and walk across the street. That's a brutal process as we found out a long time ago not long after Fantasia Gardens opened (I believe it was 1997). Which leaeds to a good story about old Disney customer service. It took us forever to get to Fantasia Gardens that night - close to 2 hours, from CBR - and we got there just after 11pm. No problem though, as according to all available info at the time (which was obviously a lot less than today), they were open to midnight every night - even the printed material we got at check-in. However, they were already closed. The CM who was there apologized and said they just started closing at 11pm a week earlier. We told him how long it took and all, and he told us to wait there by the entrance. He went back into his "shack", came back out with vouchers for us to play for free if we came back, and said he called to have a van come pick us up and take us where we wanted to go - either back to CBR or to DTD.

I agree that they make it lousy to get to the mini-golf courses. But it's also pretty lousy to get to some hotels for dinner. When we were at CBR and we wanted to go to Yatchsmen for dinner, we took a taxi. From CBR to either mini-golf course would probably cost no more than $15-20 each way by taxi and take all of 10 minutes. The cabbies will pick you up from your room and drop you off there. We just plan it in our budget that we will take a taxi once or twice a trip. I would pick that over 2 hours on Disney busses any day. And it still beats the cost of a rental car.

 

[rteetz]

During the Kali River Rapids refurb coming up they will be moving the entrance to the ride

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/01/kali-river-rapids-entrance-to-be.html

 

[rteetz]

Legoland Orlando announces May 15th, as their opening date for their new Lego hotel. They also announced a new expansion set to open this summer.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/01/legoland-announces-hotels-opening-date.html

 

[rteetz]

Disneyland Paris update from Disney and More blog.

Space Mountain Mission 2 will close this month until July. Once open in July it will drop the mission 2 tag and just be space mountain. New special effects will be coming. The dome will be fully cleaned. The canon will be rebuilt to work 100%. The queues will be reevaluated. A second refurb will come in 2018 that will get new ride vehicles and a redesign of the ride show.

Star tours will close at the end of the year. The attraction will be upgraded to the version like at WDW but also look to include scenes from the new trilogy. Unconfirmed rumors are a Star Wars restaurant is coming and meet and greets.

Big thunder mountain closes in November for 13 months. The trains will be extended. The track will be redone. A second refurb is supposed to redo show scenes.

In 2017 pirates will close for a 6 month refurb. Jack sparrow is supposed to make three appearances in an updated version.

2016 Peter Pan goes for refurb complete rebuild. It should end up looking like what disneylands will for the 60th.

A Mickey and the magical map show will come to Walt Disney studios park

An adaption of the golden mickeys show and finding nemo the musical will also come to that park.

Walt Disney studios park will celebrate 15 years in 2017. TSMM will come at the end of 2017. August 2016 the tram tour will go under refurb. The tram tour will be moved a bit giving space to create a hub for the park. MANY PROPS FROM WDW TRAM TOUR WILL BE COMING TO PARIS.

A variation of MyMagic+ will come to Paris as soon as possible.

Here is a rumored NextGen rollout timeline
Disneyland 2016
Disneyland Paris 2017
Tokyo Disneyland 2018

 

[mcd2745]

I agree that they make it lousy to get to the mini-golf courses. But it's also pretty lousy to get to some hotels for dinner. When we were at CBR and we wanted to go to Yatchsmen for dinner, we took a taxi. From CBR to either mini-golf course would probably cost no more than $15-20 each way by taxi and take all of 10 minutes. The cabbies will pick you up from your room and drop you off there. We just plan it in our budget that we will take a taxi once or twice a trip. I would pick that over 2 hours on Disney busses any day. And it still beats the cost of a rental car.

Yeah, resort to resort travel leaves a lot to be desired. Taxi really is your best bet. Unfortunately at the time, we were WDW newbies and didn't know better.

 

[Maineiak]

Legoland Orlando announces May 15th, as their opening date for their new Lego hotel. They also announced a new expansion set to open this summer.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/01/legoland-announces-hotels-opening-date.html

Grrrrr...we're just missing all of this. We arrive April 23rd and were hoping the hotel would open early as we need to stay somewhere for 1 night. DD6 would also love the Heartlake City area. I guess we're a few months too early.

 

[rteetz]

The hangar bar/restaurant at DTD just got a boat put next to it. A tarp covers the name but it's equipped with lights and a propeller so it looks to be something that may be rideable.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The hangar bar/restaurant at DTD just got a boat put next to it. A tarp covers the name but it's equipped with lights and a propeller so it looks to be something that may be rideable.

That was in the morimoto/boathouse press release... Was it not?

 

[rteetz]

That was in the morimoto/boathouse press release... Was it not?

Well this one is right next to the hangar. The boathouse is supposed to have multiple types of boats including the amphicars. The boathouse has its own dock.

 

[rteetz]

Disney springs update

http://savepleasureisland.blogspot.com

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Well this one is right next to the hangar. The boathouse is supposed to have multiple types of boats including the amphicars. The boathouse has its own dock.

Gotcha...
Though I'm wondering why they think there's this "exclusive boat ride" market down there.

The lake isn't particularly interesting and neither local residents nor seasoned Disney travelers appear to be in the mood for "upsells" these days.

 

[Goofy1976]

They should have kept Comedy Warehouse very sad that it is gone.Great memories there.

 

[rteetz]

Gotcha... Though I'm wondering why they think there's this "exclusive boat ride" market down there. The lake isn't particularly interesting and neither local residents nor seasoned Disney travelers appear to be in the mood for "upsells" these days.

Exactly it will be interesting to see how popular those boats are.