Spaceship Earth new ending. Opened for previews in December (the official reopening was in February), the new SSE features dramatically updated AA's in the first half, a new underwhelming musical score, and a disappointingly "cartoony" ending in the descent tunnel, where the walls are bare and viewers watch a cartoon on screens inside the vehicle. Riders' own faces are planted on cartoon images, lending a "Jib-Jab" feeling. New narrator Judi Dench is seen by some as an improvement, but by others as too academic.

Tomorrowland food stand. Continuing a recent trend of opening large, garish, very oversize food carts that have walls and a roof of their own, the MK opened a highly visible stand between Space Mountain and the Carousel of Progress, selling fast food such as hot dogs or nachos. This semi-permanent location was much more than a mere vending cart, and could almost be considered a restaurant. It was gone again after the holiday rush.

Rix Cafe opened at Coronado Springs. Replacing the bare-bones bar outside Pepper Market, Rix Cafe opened in December, adding a great nightclub / lounge atmosphere and a menu all its own.

Country Bear Christmas did not return again. For the second year in a row, the Magic Kingdom did not offer the Country Bear Christmas show. Perhaps they are waiting for a public outcry before they re-instate it? It seems a pretty clear money-saving gesture.

Main Street Stores shuffle. The VMK Central shop has closed, creating a gap for the artist watches and Uptown Jewelers store. Their former home could be occupied by the Kings Gallery merchandise.

Superstar Studios store at Downtown Disney replaced. Sammy Duval Watersports opened in the spot formerly occupied by Superstar Studios in Pleasure Island, which has already closed.

Turkeys 'pardoned' by President Bush arrive at WDW. May and Flower, two turkeys symbolically pardoned, will live out their lives in Affection Section, the petting zoo at Conservation Station (DAK).

New store opened in Contemporary Resort. Built in the central plaza of the Grand Canyon Concourse, the store strings together what had been kiosks into one location with a central door (and thus can be locked at night).

Monsters Laugh Floor Updated. A new preshow has been tested at this attraction, which continues to undergo tweaking.

Cinderella Castle nighttime lighting makeover and other additions to Very Merry Christmas party. For Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, the castle turns on a new snow lighting effect called 'Dreamlights'. A new stage show and a new parade round out the party.

Epcot adds new security gates. Tram riders won't notice any difference, but walkers will see their way into Epcot and the ticket booths completely blocked now by bare metal gates, as they are led a specific path to the bag check gates.

Epcot Holidays and Fireworks tag begins. November 23 saw the usual return to Epcot of extended hours (closing at 9:30), Lights of Winter, and holiday fireworks finale.

Osborne Family Dancing Spectacle of Lights updated. The lights opened as usual a week before Thanksgiving, this time with a new song: Jingle Bells, a rendition by Barbara Streisand.

Tusker House reopens as buffet service. Donald's Breakfastosaurus has closed, and the character breakfast has moved to Tusker House. For lunch and dinner, Tusker House is open as a regular buffet, all you can eat, with African cuisine very reminiscent of Boma.

Yak and Yeti restaurant opens. Run by an external vendor, this new restaurant in DAK's Asia has a table-service area and a counter-service area, and inhabits two floors. Table service is available for lunch and dinner. Counter service (outside only) will be open for all three meal times.

Snack food kiosks in World Showcase. The meeting point of Future World and World Showcase lacked food, but a snack kiosk here provides quick items on the go.

All Star Cafe reopened. The table service restaurant at Disney's Wide World of Sports was remodeled into a counter-service location, which should be better able to provide food and beverage to the increased crowds brought by Devil Rays games and the upcoming new sports arena.

Cinderella's Royal Table price increase. Effective November 11, the prices increased. Breakfast now costs $32.99 (adult) or $22.99 (child). Lunch costs $35.99 (adult) or $23.99 (child), and Dinner costs $40.99 (adult) or $25.99 (child). During peak holiday periods, an even higher rate ("holiday premium") will be charged. Major price increases are coming to other table service venues as well, especially character dining.

Festival of the Masters art show at Downtown Disney. The annual art show, now in its 32nd year, hosted more than 150 artists and their work.

Jedi Training Academy permanently added. A new stage was added to allow the Jedi Training Academy to be performed all year long. Both the Ewok village and the AT-AT survived the construction. It's themed to look like the Ewok forest bunker.

Wonders of Life temporarily reopened. Most exhibits at the Wonders of Life have been ripped out and removed, creating room in the facility. Cranium Command and Body Wars have been left intact but boarded over, the idea being to create a facility that is ready to be used for special events and corporate parties at will, without a need to staff the attractions. The pavilion was used for the 2007 Food and Wine Festival.

Bag check stations built near monorail station. One side of the monorail building, closer to the kennel, has added a new bag check station.

Stroller area added to Future World west. The empty space between the Seas and Land pavilion, previously a grassy zone, has been partly replaced by a paved stroller parking zone, which also doubles as a shortcut from the Sea pavilion to the Land pavilion.

Teppan Edo and Tokyo Dining open. After a lengthy refurbishment, the upstairs dining has reopened. Gone are the three locations previously there, now there are only two. Teppan Edo keeps the 'chef at your table' concept, and Tokyo Dining is more traditional table service.

Haunted Mansion updated with new effects. Stunning new effects bring the Mansion to the modern era; in particular the sound effects in the stretching gallery.

Banners at Future World Fountain of Nations removed. Banners and canopies in front of the Fountainview Cafe have been removed.

Kilimanjaro Safari vehicle alteration. A ninth row has been added for loading into the jeeps, and a ninth will be added to safari jeeps themselves too.

National Treasures exhibit opens at American Adventure. On September 28, the American Adventure pavilion's 'museum' section of the queue opened a new display with memorabilia, including off-beat items, from many founding fathers, and other significant figures in American history.

Muppet Mobile Lab tested in Epcot for two weeks. August saw the Muppet Mobile Lab in for a brief test before it will be shipped off to Hong Kong Disneyland.

Canada changes. Martin Short headlines the new show. The song "Canada (You're a Lifetime Journey)" remains, though newly recorded (by Eva Avila, a winner of the Canadian version of "American Idol"). Some new footage is included of major cities and of Niagara Falls.

Spaceship Earth removes the wand. On August 26, the crane was removed and the old view of the geosphere returned, sans wand and sans stars (a few 'whiskers' (the sticks that once held the stars) remained, and will be removed from inside the globe.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique opens inside Cinderella Castle. The salon currently at Downtown Disney will remain, but a second one opened in the shop on the bottom floor, called the King's Gallery (its contents may move to Main Street).

FountainView Cafe reopens as ice cream parlor. A brilliant idea they should have thought of years ago. The MK's ice cream parlor is always highly busy; no reason to think Epcot's centrally-located eatery will be any less. The former menu, recalling Starbucks as much as anything else, misunderstood what people wanted. It's hot out here--where's the ice cream?

Diamond Horseshoe testing a new menu. A counter-service location once again, the Diamond Horseshoe began testing lunchtime-only service recently, using premade sandwiches only.

Sunshine Seasons allowing drink refills. CMs used to sometimes stop visitors, and sometimes turn a blind eye, when Guests tried to refill their sodas, which was difficult because the machine was 'behind the cashier' rather than out in the dining area. The new policy explicitly allows for drink refills.

New shop built in Contemporary Resort's Grand Canyon Concourse. The open area of the Grand Canyon Concourse, between two shops on the sides, used to be home to lounge seats or temporary merchandising carts, but will be the location of a semi-open-air shop that can be locked down on both ends, but still have some of the flavor of temporary merchandise displays.

SpectroMagic clown characters lose the mask. The opening characters in SpectroMagic are clowns wearing creepy white facemasks, but as of early August the clowns have become 'face' characters, though they are wearing heavy greasepaint (and are still painted white and a few wild colors).

Soarin' Queue. The standby line at Soarin' just came out of a rehab. The static images of landscapes on the side wall, gorgeous as they were, didn't draw attention after the first few glances, so a new concept was evolved. The images rotate around, and an interactive game comes on-screen every so often, prompting those in line to take part. There are no buttons to push; visitors are told to clap or jump in the air. Motion detectors and heat sensors figure out what the patrons are doing. The games are said to be a landscape builder, and paint ball game, and a bird racing game that uses all of the screens. In addition to all of this, the wall separating the FastPass line from the Standby line has been raised to a new height, so the two groups never see each other. This is but further proof that FastPass creates feelings of annoyance and resentment. Why else would it be necessary to separate the lines?

Articulated character heads expanding. The Dream Along with Mickey castle stage show has for some months featured character heads that have animated faces (mouths and eyes move, for instance), and this is now being expanded to the "Celebrate the Season" show for 2007's Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, as well as DAK's Festival of the Lion King (specifically, the Timon walkaround).

American Adventure ending. The photo montage during the "Golden Dream" song has been updated and expanded. The addition of new photos brings the attraction up to the present day, with images such as Bush and Clinton in tsunami relief, the aftermath of the World Trade Center collapse, and Muhammad Ali carrying the Olympic torch.

Self-service order kiosks at Pecos Bill. Several months ago, Captain Cook's at the Polynesian became the first restaurant at WDW to introduce self-service kiosks for ordering your food, and Pecos Bill now becomes the first in-park restaurant at WDW to follow suit. The menu options are slightly more limited, but it's fairly intuitive and loads--I mean LOADS--faster than standing in one of the traditional lines, which are also still around.

An unfriendly wall removed at Columbia Harbour House. The bottleneck at the main entrance may soon be a thing of the past, as a wall has been removed and now patrons can enter more directly to the main dining area and ordering zone.

Leave a Legacy sales counters removed. Though the marble slabs and existing Leave a Legacy photos (a.k.a. the Epcot mausoleum) will remain, sales have been discontinued and the sales location walled off. The plaques explaining the process, formerly at the base of Spaceship Earth, have been replaced with the original mirrored surfaces, returning a futuristic look to the place.

Home of the Future at Innoventions updated. New technology gadgets have been added to the brief guided walk-through of the Home of the future.

Info Sign at Future World West. A new digital LED sign went up last year in Future World East, giving specifics about the rides there. This new sign mirrors the other one and provides welcome specifics, enough to avoid having to walk into the Land pavilion to find out information.

Downtown Disney road signs. Electronic signs on Buena Vista Blvd now point to the least-busy parking lots, meaning that the mostly-hidden Lot-Q behind House of Blues, a secret among locals, has been uncovered for the masses. On balance, good for the tourists, bad for the locals.

Main Street Bakery. Formerly, the bakery shared its table space with Arribas Brothers crystal shop, and nearby was a general store selling merchandise such as Disney-branded kitchenware. The general store is now gone, and Arribas Brothers has moved into that space at the end of the block, freeing up room for the bakery to hold quite a few more tables than before. This is a major improvement in customer service, with the loss only of a shop on Main Street selling stuff that is also available in Downtown Disney, so it's a win-win.

New computers (and Internet access) tested in rooms at Contemporary Resort. Equipped with free Internet access but no ability to store data, the in-room computers also allow personal laptops to plug in to a data port and use the Internet free as well.

Cigar store opened at Downtown Disney. Fuego by Sosa Cigars, now open in Pleasure Island (see the thematic link?), also sells alcohol and specialty coffees. Premium cigars go for as much as $30 each.

I welcome your additions and corrections via email at the link below.

Kevin is the author of five books on Disney theme parks, including:

• Magic Quizdom offers an exhaustive trivia quiz on Disneyland park, with expansive paragraph-length answers that flesh out the fuller story on this place rich with details.
• 101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland is a list-oriented book that covers ground left intentionally unexposed in the trivia book, namely the tributes and homages around Disneyland, especially to past rides and attractions. Disneyland’s rich history is kept alive today in little touches that are all but invisible, and this book shines a light on those tributes for all to enjoy.
• 101 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World follows the example of the Disneyland book, detailing tributes and homages in the four Disney World parks.
• The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World provides current menus and prices for all restaurants at Walt Disney World parks and hotels, including Downtown Disney and even the non-Disney restaurants in the area around the Disney property. Updated several times within each year, the Dining Guide makes for a perfect companion in the parks to avoid excessive walking. Its best feature is the collection of indexes, one for each park. You’re standing in line for Space Mountain and crave spaghetti? No problem. Flip to "S" in the index and you’ll find out which places in the Magic Kingdom offer it. No need to run around everywhere!

More information on the above books, along with ordering options are at this link. Kevin is currently working on other theme park related books, and expects the next one to be published in early 2008.