I don't know if you guys are all that interested in rumors, but there's been lots of interesting discussion about this supposed expansion, and that it is almost greenlighted/approved. Take everything with a grain of salt, but I just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

I have no idea if it is legit or not, only that it's being posted and then removed all over the place. If it is indeed real, it seems pretty exciting to me.

Huh... thats interesting. An attraction for those three princesses? We don't know if that necessarily means rides right? I doubt they would make an attraction that was generic like that, usually if they were to do it... instead of "Aurora attraction" it might be based on Sleeping Beauty, and instead of a "Belle attraction" it might be based on Beauty and the Beast. I'd heard rumors about a B&TB dark ride in the past though. So maybe they just labeled them that on that blueprint but intend to base them off the films?

This would be an enormous renovation if it were true. And generally.. when they put a lot of money into new attractions, they try and make sure they can duplicate them in other parks to maximize profits. DLR definitely has no space for expansion of fantasyland, so I doubt most of this stuff would appear there, but we know DCA is getting the Mermaid attraction, so who knows?

Well we know that DL has recently gotten a Pixie Hollow, as well as a restored Sleeping Beauty Walkthrough attraction in it's castle. I suppose the aurora attraction could be a similar walkthru, and i assume pixie hollow would be relatively the same as it's DL counterpart.

Another thought about sharing the costs is that Shanghai Disneyland was just officially announced not too long ago, wasn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if some of these ideas were shared between WDW and Shanghai.

Holy Expansion, Batman! That looks friggin sweet!

I had always thought that WDW's Fantasyland was the lamest of them all, and in all honesty it could use this expansion. One thing that is a bit of a letdown of this supposed "expansion", is that there seems to me barely anything villain themed. Sure it says "Gaston's" as what I assume is a pub themed counter service, but why is there nothing else for the villain themed? Personally, I would much rather see an "Adventure into Bald Mountain Ride" than a Sleeping Beauty walkthrough...but that's just me.

I agree. I do wish villains had more of a park presence, but that will probably never happen.

I'm guessing the Be Our Guest/Gaston's setup is much like the current Yak and Yeti/Local Food Cafes setup over in AK. Sells some of the same food for a bit cheaper and without the atmosphere of the restaurant. Sounds like a good deal.

Looking at it with another glance, it's starting to look a little unrealistic. According to these plans Dumbo would be moved into the back as a dual ride. I don't really think Disney would duplicate a new version of a classic ride and move it to the back...I also find it strange that the entire Ariel themed area is getting torn down and rebuilt. Why on earth would Disney spend extra money on moving the area to the back of the park and building a new one in it's place? The location can't be that significant can it? Also, what about the train? This shows no plans on where the railroad would be, would it run through, or would it be changed to go around.

The Ariel attraction seems a little fishy imo....(no pun intended)

You do bring up a good point about the ariel stuff. I don't know why they wouldn't put the ride next to the existing structures. maybe they plan to move the existing stuff over there so they can have more space for the ride itself? I dunno.

However, I can see why they would want to add another, identical dumbo to increase capacity. Lines are always long for dumbo.

And as for the train, if you look on google maps or something of the like, the railroad already runs far behind where this map shows. On these plans, the toontown station is now labeled 'fantasyland train station'.

hmm i was just there yesterday in fantasyland. we might be going to ariel tonight but as of now i haven't seen the interior of it. From the outside though it looks as if it is just some structural "Coral" and if they were to make a new ariel area i could definitly see then just demolishing the area and rebuilding it a few yards away because it currently if not moved would block traffic flow into the new expansion. The new revenue that disney would generate from the expansion would outway the comparably minimal cost of rebuilding the "set" just down the rode since the coral wouldnt be all that hard to recreate.

This would be an amazing expansion for The Magic Kingdom and possibly one of the dark rides could replace the pinochio <sp? ride at disneyland or they could rebuild entire sections with the demolition of the fantasyland theater.


As for dumbo being moved to the back it would make sense. people come to the magic kingdom and one of the things they expect to do is ride Dumbo, myself included, if dumbo is moved to the back he will act as a miniture wenie <sp? to that back section so people move to the back. Also by adding another dumbo they open the possiblity of getting more parents to be willing to stand through the now shorter line to get their younger children to ride inturn providing for larger sales of Dumbo merchandise, something lacking in the parks as of now. :dumbo: = :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1: :gold1:


the only major problem i see is toontown. granted WDW's toontown is not nearly as cool in my opinion as DLR's but still that doesn't warrent its near complete demolition. it would appear that with the addition of pixie hollow that there will no longer be a toontown with the exception of the barnstormer. is it just being moved farther back and out of the brim like DLR's or is it a goner?

I'm gona ask some cast members today if they know anything about this whole expansion, probably not but it's worth a try.

Yeah, that's the only misgiving about this expansion. I know toontown was supposed to be temporary, but kids love mickey/minnie's house and donald's boat! maybe they'll be able to move them somewhere?

Maybe I just don't like the symbolism of mickey and the gang being evicted due to the fairies. :P

Kevin Yee posted an article on the homepage of miceage.com today about the expansion. I am on my iPod, so no link, but I suggest you read it! It has a lot of information on the layout of the expansion and the removal of Toontown.

I didnt even think of that, (symbolism of pixies over mickey) personally i dont believe this is a wise choice cause that would really send a message to the world of where Disney's Priority's are unless they indicated a toontown type addition else where in the future. Also mickey and minnie had a line 3X the size of the pixies on monday.

A little off topic but i was reading the rest of Kevin's article and he talks about potential changes for WDW Fastpass. Personally i think the system works great now and changes to it would only cause some huge PR issues for the company.

For those of you who didnt read it they are considering making fastpasses available only to those who are WDW resort guests and guests would only get so many fastpasses per day per person. The number of fastpasses you would recieve would vary depending on the length of your stay. The other option they may be potentialy considering is a paid for Fastpass similar to that of Universal studios.

The only good part to this system is that it would potentialy minimalize the standby wait on fastpass attractions.

I think it's a bit of BS to completely remove Mickey and Minnie from the park and add characters that only appeal to so many people. When you think about it, only girls are into fairies for the most part, that eliminates half of the crowd because everyone likes Minnie and Mickey. Then you think that it's really only little girls between the ages of 4-9 (at best). I'm not saying it's the majority, but there are quite a few of people over the age of 9 who go to see Mickey and Minnie. I feel like I'm not making myself very clear here but what I'm trying to say is this narrows down the appealing audience significantly, and would, honestly, be a bad move.

I feel that this expansion seems possible, but at the moment, it's very flawed. If they were to do something like this, I would say do a little more planning before anything gets greenlighted.

I'm sorry if I'm being a Debbie Downer or Negative Nancy :P

Well I don't think they would completely remove Mickey and minnie from the park, they would probably just return to main street for meet and greets like they used to. That's the only part of this expansion i don't like, the removal of mickey and minnie's houses. (i could care less about donald's boat lol) Maybe they could find a way to move them somewhere else?

This is definitly looking like Disneyland not the Magic Kingdom. The layout is very similar but the thing that points it out as DL to me is if you look over to the left side of the map it says Pinochio Village Haus, a ride thats not in WDW but in DL.

Pinocchio Village Haus is the counter sevice dining in Fantasyland in WDW. It's like right next to Small World.

I wonder if this could possibly be the begining of a new park though i mean sure its a random thought but could it be that possibly Disney intends to close the toontown to build a mini park themed just to mickey and the gang. or maybe toontown will reopen behind the new fantasyland but possibly done with a little better atmosphere then currently exists. Again totally random and i have nothing to back anything here up. :D

A Donald coaster wrapped around space mountain would solve the worlds problems.

That would be the funniest thing ever but it may detract from the whole space station concept to see a cartoon duck flying by in a boat :donald:

This rumor was officially confirmed this morning....YAHOO!!!

some concept art:

http://wdwpress.com/twitter/fantasyland_9938.html

http://wdwpress.com/twitter/dumbo_3130.html

http://wdwpress.com/twitter/ariels_adventure_7477.html

Looks amazing!

This article was writen in our local news here in Orlando today.




At Magic Kingdom
Posted: 4:42 pm EDT September 12, 2009
Updated: 6:57 pm EDT September 12, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Disney outlined plans for the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Plans include a major renovation of Fantasyland and the construction of a new Little Mermaid ride.

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo made the announcement at the first D23 Expo in California. "Storytelling is the DNA of Disney dreams and we're always exploring new ways to tell new stories in new places," said Rasulo.

According to a statement from the company, Fantasyland will be expanded by 2013. In addition to the Little Mermaid attraction, the expansion includes a new dining area inside a castle designed after the Beast’s castle from “Beauty and the Beast.” The Dumbo ride area will double in size and include an interactive three-ring circus tent. Visitors will also be able to visit the various Disney princesses in themed castles, cottages and chateaus.

The Little Mermaid ride will be called “Journey Under the Sea with Ariel.” A similar ride will also open at Disneyland in Anahaim in 2011.

Disneyland will also get new 3-D version of the “Star Tours” attraction in 2011. “Star Tours” is based on the “Star Wars” film series.

wow this sounds amazing. the only question i have is when will they start? im assuming that a refurb of this scale will take a while, so there will just be no fantasyland for some unknown amount of time? i

most of the expansion will go in the old 20K plot and toontown's area, so the rest of fantasyland shouldn't be affected. Rasulo said the new expansions should be finished in 2012.

I imagine, though, that Dumbo will be closed for quite a bit considering it's huge makeover. Mainly, the other stuff will be built behind where Fantasyland is now, I don't believe it should really affect Snow White, Peter Pan, ect... Keeping my finger crossed that they'll build some sort of villains attraction eventually...please?

From what Jay said at the expo i was given the impression that Dumbo won't close untill the remodle is almost ready.