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A Different look at Disney...

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A few notes before we begin today's column:

Upcoming Disneyland Meet

we are renovating and re-doing our book "101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland" for a second edition (hopefully ready for the Holiday Season 2008), altering the format to remove the excessive white space, and adding just about as much stuff as we can cram in there, and this research takes me to Disneyland in mid-September.

I don't go but once a year, if that, these days, so I'm excited. In fact, I'll be dropping by the MiceAge/MiceChat meet that Sunday (September 21st), noon at the hub, to say hi. If you'd like, please stop in and wave hello right back!

Disney Park Fanfic

Let me take one more moment to thank the two dozen or so folks who submitted stories to our fan-fiction competition. I've been studiously saving them to a folder all this while, reading none of them, and now look forward to some uninterrupted quality time with the fiction!

Expect an absence next week from me, then I'll be back with the winner after that. Thanks to all who took part! Now, on to the rumors.

Confirmed Projects

Major projects that Disney has announced publicly:

NEW! ESPN Wide World of Sports Bowling Alley. Opening in 2011, this 100-lane bowling alley will not only host professional events, but allow day visitors the chance to cool off and bowl also.

UPDATED! American Idol in the ABC Theater. During 2008, an American Idol type of production will move into the usually vacant ABC theater. Live participation by hopefuls and judges, all of which will be drawn from park visitors, will yield several shows per day.

UPDATED! DVC Suites at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Disney is adding an entire building to DAK Lodge, and will fill the area formerly used for concierge level with suites as well. This new area pushes out into the savannah, and will feature an Indian-inspired restaurant called Sanaa.

Three hotels (including Waldorf-Astoria) are being added to Bonnet Creek. These non-Disney hotels are being built in the non-Disney Bonnet Creek Resort development, which is bordered on three sides by Disney property and which can only be accessed through Disney property. They will join a timeshare (Wyndham) already there, and another hotel erected from scratch, a Hilton. The Hilton will have 1,000 rooms, the posh Waldorf-Astoria just 500. Wyndham will also open a 400 room luxury hotel. All of this will join the timeshares now present here (a further 1,600 rooms) by 2009.

T-Rex Restaurant in Downtown Disney. Landry's, the external vendor who also runs Rainforest Cafe, is building a T-Rex themed eatery, between Raglan Road and McDonald's.


The entrance is coming together! My son thinks it
looks like Expedition Everest from a distance.

Flamingo Crossings (formerly "Western Beltway Expansion"). Opening in 2009, this new region off 429 will be somewhat like Downtown Disney, only cheaper. Expect dining, shopping, and lodging options. The idea is to harvest the dollars of budget-minded tourists that otherwise would turn to SR-192 near the property. This zone will likely not be branded as a Disney property.

Four Seasons hotel. The Four Seasons company, taken private in 2007 by Bill Gates and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal (yes, the guy who has saved Disneyland Paris multiple times with infusions of cash), will be opening near the golf courses to the north-east of the Magic Kingdom.

Wide World of Sports new facility. The Jostens Center, an enclosed arena more than twice the size of the existing Milk House, will open in fall 2008. It will have six basketball courts, twelve volleyball courts, and two hockey rinks.

Confirmed News

Smaller projects, and other news stories, that Disney has publicly announced.

NEW! Disney sells land to Four Seasons. The northeast corner of the WDW property has previously been announced as the home for a new Four Seasons hotel, and work has commenced, but in late August Disney announced it had sold the land too.


Land has been cleared for the Four Seasons.

NEW! Fantasmic to run only two nights a week starting in January 2009. As of January 4, 2009, Fantasmic will only run two nights a week, usually Mondays and Thursdays. The rationale was not given in Disney's press release.

NEW! Clubs at Pleasure Island will be closing on September 27, 2008. All dance clubs, as well as the Comedy Warehouse and the Adventurer's Club, will be closed before October (when Disney starts its new fiscal year), to make way for more shops and dining. A tethered hot air balloon attraction will also debut waterside.


Daytime traffic sure isn't large in this zone.

NEW! WDW Dining Reservations temporarily re-set to 90 days. Disney is converting to a new dining reservations system in the coming months (see the related rumor that reservations will soon be available online). Once it's in place, reservations will return to 180 days, but in the meantime, only reservations for 90 days out are accepted.

NEW! Liberty Tree Tavern to remove character dining at dinner, starting January 2009. The price for the all-inclusive dinner, despite the loss of character interaction, will not be lowered. Since character dining is already difficult to find without reservations weeks in advance, it can only be concluded that Disney is looking to shave costs and save money (and maximize revenue), not to improve the Guest experience with this decision.

NEW! Caribbean Beach partly re-themed to Finding Nemo. Some thematic elements in the guest rooms of Caribbean Beach now sport Finding Nemo characters (I guess Disney thinks it's all one big ocean?).


Nemo? I don't see the fit.

UPDATED! Wide World of Sports to be rebranded to ESPN Sports Center. There is no timetable yet, but Disney intends to leverage the ESPN brand to a new name.

Grad Nites moving to DHS. 2008 was the last year for visiting the Magic Kingdom during Grad Nites; starting in 2009, they will take place at DHS.

Treehouse Villas being remodeled. These huts tucked away in forests near Old Key West and Saratoga Springs had been used for college program kids, and in general rotting for years. New permits specify that Disney will be rebuilding them, but the proposed usage is not yet known.

Children under 10 banned at Victoria and Albert's. The expensive, 5-diamond fine dining establishment at the Grand Floridian, which costs $125/person and had no child's menu anyway, finally decided to disallow all children under 10.

Holiday surcharges at buffet meals. Expect all you can eat buffets to get more expensive from now on, when you're visiting during peak seasons. Disney has defined the most crowded dates to be 'holiday' dates and the prices will go up at buffets on those days: November 18-24, December 16-January 5, March 16-29, and May 25-July 5.

Automatic gratuity for DDE. Starting January 1, 2008, users of the Disney Dining Experience discount card ($85 annual cost; only available to Florida residents and Annual Passholders) will be subject to an automatic 18% gratuity, no matter how large the party. Previously only large parties had this gratuity added.

Disney Dining Plan no longer pays gratuity. Starting in 2008, all DDP plans will continue to pay for tax, but will no longer include gratuity. As 'compensation', the price is dropping by $1, to about $38/day. A new 'deluxe' category (DDDP) will be introduced that does include an appetizer, and in fact three full meals, but the cost will be about $69/day per adult (which still doesn't include gratuity). The DDDP does allow for up to three table service meals per day (or any mix of TS and CS desired)

Room reservations now date specific. Previously at Disney hotels, the start of your visit would determine the amount you paid per night, but under the rules now in effect, each night is assessed its own rate. Weekends will now be more expensive.

Unconfirmed Reports

Projects that seem to be occurring (barring unforeseen circumstances), but Disney hasn't yet made a public announcement

Magic Kingdom

NEW! Fantasyland expansion planned for the indeterminate future. Plans are being firmed up (though still may change) for such rides as a dark ride based on the Little Mermaid (possibly using scaled-down plans from a long-ago desired expansion to Disneyland Paris, and possibly closer in execution of immersiveness to Haunted Mansion than Snow White), as well as the other ride once considered for Paris, a dark ride for Beauty and the Beast.

Then there's a roller-coaster themed to the Seven Dwarves. Pixie Hollow, the Tinker Bell meet and greet area, promises to up the ante with regard to theming. Other online reports call for Pixie Hollow to arrive in the large tent (shop) of Mickey's Toontown Fair.

NEW! Hall of Presidents to no longer let the current president speak. A long refurbishment this fall will not only allow for the new president to be installed at the show, but also to return the focus to Abraham Lincoln, and discontinue a speech by the sitting president (a change that only made it through Clinton and George W. Bush).


The change may only have survived two administrations.

In recent years, partisanship has reared its head in the Hall of Presidents, and crowds in the show either booed or cheered (or both) the speech by George W. Bush, and park operators have realized that the best plan may be to keep the current president silent.

NEW! Tiki Room may get new show. Rumors are swirling that for the 40th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom, the Tiki Room may either return to its Tropical Serenade (original show) or switch to the new Stitch show, now playing in Tokyo Disneyland.

NEW! Major refurbishments to Country Bear Jamboree. It's all but announced that the animatronics will be refreshed and re-synchronized at CBJ.

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© 2008 Kevin Yee

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