Future Plans For WDW's Fantasyland

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WonderlandFever
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Post by WonderlandFever »

More info on Mickey's new area:

From DisneyParksBlog:


At the Disney Parks Blog, we’re as excited as you are to learn more about Walt Disney Imagineering’s (WDI) plans for Town Square Theater, the new permanent home for Mickey Mouse at Magic Kingdom Park that’s set to debut in early April.

I’m happy to report that earlier today, WDI gave us an earful – pun intended – on the details planned for this exciting new meet-and-greet area.

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In keeping with the small-town theme of Main Street, U.S.A., Town Square Theater will take on the tradition of turn-of-the-Twentieth-century theaters that served as the center of excitement in small towns, offering thrills through vaudeville and other forms of entertainment. At Town Square Theater, families will be able to go backstage to meet Magician Mickey Mouse, who is excited to meet and greet guests in his rehearsal room.

And of course, WDI has designed the entire experience to be magical. Guests will first enter the theater building through a lobby that will serve as a hub for character meet-and-greet queues, the Box Office Gifts merchandise shop and Tony’s Town Square Restaurant.

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According to WDI Concept Designer Jason Grandt, the lobby will be decorated in gold and cream colors that were chosen to recreate the feel of a historic theater.

“Upon entering the lobby, guests will be faced with a beautiful tile mosaic featuring the Town Square Theater logo,” Jason said. “The color scheme reflects that of historical theaters with a little inspiration from our master magician, Mickey Mouse.”

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Just beyond the lobby, guests will pass through an ornate arch and enter a queue to meet either Magician Mickey Mouse or the Disney princesses. Special interactive posters featuring Mickey’s various magic acts will be in place to enhance the guests’ journey through the queue line, which will take them deep into the backstage corridors of the theater.

“You will recognize the poster style as that of turn-of-the-century magicians such as Houdini,” Jon Georges, WDI director/senior show producer said. “But these posters carry Mickey’s magical touch that can bring them to life and interact with you as you wait.”

WDI is keeping us guessing on what comes next, but did send these mysterious photos for us to share.


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I'm wondering what will go where the princesses are temporarily, it would be nice though if they could just stay there and they could just make SWSA a new dark ride.
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Big Disney Fan
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Post by Big Disney Fan »

Well, the princesses don't really fit in Adventureland or on Main Street.

Maybe that thing for Mickey won't look so bad, but I'm still not particularly fond of the fact that it doesn't look very toon-like in appearance.
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WonderlandFever
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Post by WonderlandFever »

I think they could make it work just like they did in the hall of fame tent. I just really don't like the idea of losing a dark ride for a meet and greet area :headshake:
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David S.
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Post by David S. »

WonderlandFever wrote: I just really don't like the idea of losing a dark ride for a meet and greet area :headshake:
Yes, I feel the exact same way :(

I'm not against Meet and Greets, but there are SOOOO many places they could put it without having to gut a classic Disney dark ride!
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toonaspie
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Post by toonaspie »

David S. wrote:
WonderlandFever wrote: I just really don't like the idea of losing a dark ride for a meet and greet area :headshake:
Yes, I feel the exact same way :(

I'm not against Meet and Greets, but there are SOOOO many places they could put it without having to gut a classic Disney dark ride!
Agreed. The new Snow White coaster could've been themed to another film without compromising the original ride and the Princess Meet n Greets could use the tents in the Toontown Fair area (the land will be unnecessarily big for Storybook Circus).

The big reason why I am against replacing SWSA with a Princess Meet n Greet is that it's likely to stay a meet n greet for at least 20 years. I don't like them saying it's only temporary without SOME reassurance that the space will one day be reinstated for a great Fantasyland dark ride.
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Post by FigmentJedi »

I'm hoping for the Princesses to gradually find a home at the former Skyway space, though the Skyway building is now being torn down as they alter the space. And I suppose there might be clog issues with Peter Pan and the new interactive queue they're working on for it. Suppose it's a matter of seeing how that space develops.
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Post by WonderlandFever »

I don't think I've ever seen them say that the meet and greet to replace SWSA is temporary....

It would have been nice to put them in the skyway area but it sounds like it will all be a re-route walkway to Liberty Square once it's torn down to make room for Peter's interactive queue
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Post by PrincePhillipFan »

The top of the Beast's castle can now be seen. It's looking great!

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hmn7e0GL8Zs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Post by WonderlandFever »

wow it looks great so far thanks for posting! I wonder how big it will really be in person
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Post by disneyprincess11 »

PrincePhillipFan wrote:The top of the Beast's castle can now be seen. It's looking great!

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hmn7e0GL8Zs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Wow, looks amazing! Looks like it'll be done by next year like promised! :thumb:
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Post by Disney Duster »

W-w-wow! That looks more fantastic than I thought it would!

Do you think we'll get to cross the bridge to it? I hope so, except it's not perfectly accurate to the one in the movie, which had rounder arches. So it reminds me slightly more of Sleeping Beauty, but oh well.
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Post by FigmentJedi »

Disney Duster wrote:W-w-wow! That looks more fantastic than I thought it would!

Do you think we'll get to cross the bridge to it? I hope so, except it's not perfectly accurate to the one in the movie, which had rounder arches. So it reminds me slightly more of Sleeping Beauty, but oh well.
No because that would shatter the scale completely
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Post by Big Disney Fan »

Wow, that castle is looking good!

But going back some time ago to the Mickey meet-n-greet area, I'm not particularly fond of it. Sure, the area itself is full of neat touches (including some humorous and not-so-subtle references to other Disney parks worldwide), but the queue leading up to it is rather bland. All that the queue has are some animated posters adorning the otherwise plain walls and some "back-to-back cattle call queues as far as the eye can see" (to quote Screamscape). It's like that they reversed everything for this from Mickey's Country House (where the queue took you through his house and then you went into the meet-n-greet, which is relatively bland). Take a look:

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I still feel as though they should not have taken out Toontown Fair. Instead, they should've just improved on it, by improving what they had now and expanding it. If it became necessary (and it probably would), they could've always expanded beyond the train tracks).
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WonderlandFever
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Post by WonderlandFever »

From DisneyParks Blog

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OK I thought it was bigger than this lol

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New concept art? I haven't seen this one before

For the full article:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2 ... magineers/
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Post by disneyprincess11 »

WonderlandFever wrote: Image
New concept art? I haven't seen this one before

For the full article:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2 ... magineers/
WOW! This is GOING SO MUCH QUICKER than I thought! Like a couple of datys ago, only the top was done, and now the half of it is almost complete! LOVE the concept art BTW!

*Moderator's note: post was edited to remove some of the quoted pictures. Please see the quoting guidelines in the "Rules and Guidelines thread".
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Post by WonderlandFever »

New pic from a recent photo report:

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Full report: http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/6851
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Post by Disney Duster »

Oh, we could cross the bridge like that construction worker who stands on it, but the entrance would be too small to go through, so never mind, haha!

disneyprincess11, it is a rule here that you can't quote all those pictures. You can only quote like one picture, or just talk about all the pictures. You tend to quote whole entire posts and it's way too much that you quote.

It should be more like:
WonderlandFever wrote:From DisneyParks Blog
Thanks WonderlandFever! WOW! This is GOING SO MUCH QUICKER than I thought! Like a couple of datys ago, only the top was done, and now the half of it is almost complete! LOVE the concept art BTW!
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Post by singerguy04 »

The castle looks fantastic! How big were some of you guys expecting it to be, I thought it was kinda obvious they were going to utilize force perspective to make it look real size, but that it would always be a smaller model. How else would they have fit it in the limited space. I'm also excited to see that it looks as if Belle's house is coming along quickly.

I'm excited for Prince Eric's castle to start taking shape, and it doesn't look as if the Snow White coaster has really taken shape yet. I feel like that would be one of the longer things to build... is it being planned to open later or something?
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Post by WonderlandFever »

I had heard Snow White's area will be last to get started it will prbably be the most complex to build I'm guessing. I can't wait to see Eric's castle come to life either :D
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Post by disneyprincess11 »

Disney Duster wrote:disneyprincess11, it is a rule here that you can't quote all those pictures. You can only quote like one picture, or just talk about all the pictures. You tend to quote whole entire posts and it's way too much that you quote.

It should be more like:
WonderlandFever wrote:From DisneyParks Blog
Thanks WonderlandFever! WOW! This is GOING SO MUCH QUICKER than I thought! Like a couple of datys ago, only the top was done, and now the half of it is almost complete! LOVE the concept art BTW!
Oops! I'm sorry! :oops: :oops: :oops: Don't worry. I'll be careful next time! :)
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