WDWNT Reporter Adam Roth visited the Magic Kingdom on Thursday andf has plenty of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom was testing

Inside the Fire Station

The patches have returned

And you were worried they wouldn’t come back…

Guests are prepared for the adventure while waiting in line

Cards! Oh, they’re on the screen…

The screens are very well hidden

Off we go!

We got cards!

The portal under the train station

Some nice lighting set up

I love when they use backdrops of the land they are in

PONGO!

Cruella

Horace and Jasper

Hades disguised, as usual

An awesome rendering of Main Street

Turns sinister looking

We’re on the move again

I can’t wait to see someone try to buy this painting…

Portal opening

The cameras are really well hidden

This one is pretty well hidden too

Main Street facade work continues

Where are the portals?

Could one be here?

There it is!

Pretty funny

Don’t drink and drive

WE’LL CONTINUE

A crane visible over the park

Some of the displays from the pin station are missing while bridge work continues

Sorcerers can also sign up in Liberty Square

Pavement being worked on in Frontierland

More and more permanent markers showing up

I really love these windows with the opening curtains

More new pavement

Lawrence from Princess and the Frog

Louis the alligator

You have to free Tiana from a snake

Merlin on the Jungle Cruise

The Lion King story

Again, some funny moments to be found

Fighting a hyena

They have been here fo a while, but plenty of Pirates movie references can be found in Tortuga Tavern

More movie details

The color changing fireplace is pretty neat

Sunshine Tree Terrace now has a window

The lighting on the upper portion is pretty nice

Work continues on the new path between Fantasyland and Liberty Square

Less and less trees and shrubs

Some rumors claim that a Tangled play area and a rest area where guests can re-charage electronics is being added in addition to the new restrooms

Work continues on queue changes at Peter Pan’s Flight as they prepare for the new interactive queue

HUGE crane up in New Fantasyland

Work continues on the Castle Walls

Work continues on the new Dumbo queue as Goofy crashes through a tower…

Storybook Circus may very well soft-open by the end of the month

The train station and roundhouse looks great!

More rock-work appearing on Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

The archways extending from the castle look almost finished

Work continues on Belle’s Village

Signage about to go up, either for the restrooms or Ariel’s Grotto meet and greet

Another look at the train station

The new color schemes on the Dumbo uses a lot of pastels for more of a circus feel

Workers up on the station

AWESOME…

Time to battle Maleficent

Still just a sticker in Fantasyland

Here’s a detailed marker

On to the Mermaid story

Pretty funny

Flotsam and Jetsam

The shark from The Little Mermaid

I LOVE Merlin’s window

A new cart has appeared in Tomorrowland, and I must say, I really like the look of it

R2-D2 popcorn bucket available far away from Star Tours

Goofy’s new tower at the Barnstormer

Crane at dusk… I’m sure you want this as a wallpaper

The long murals on the Fantasyland construction walls are back

A far away look at the Skyway area construction

You can clearly see The Haunted Mansion

A lot of dirt on the move

Big Thunder closed for refurbishment

I love this sign

The workers are done for the day

Fantasyland Station

Yummmm

I’m getting hungry…

And for all you Alien Encounter fans…

Enjoy!

]]> http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/8674/feed 5 http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/7897 http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/7897#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:04:29 +0000 wdwntadmin http://wdwnewstoday.com/?p=7897 WDWNT Reporter Josh Siegel visited the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and took a number of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Welcome to the Transportation and Ticket Center

Some monorail service reminders

To the Magic Kingdom!

Even from a distance, Fantasyland construction is visible

Beast’s Castle is clearly visible from the monorail

Pavement at the bus stops being replaced

A year to go, but Brave posters are already up outside of the park

It is close…

The roof of the Locker Rentals being replaced

Work continues on the WDW Railroad Station

Talking Perry the Platypus plush now available

You can now purchase the strange looking Tiana plush in two dress colors…

Special Agent Oso

Mickey and Minnie 40th anniversary plush

The new Vintage collection has dumped a ton of trendy hats around the resort

The new character ear hats have already arrived!

Very cool!

LOVE the dog tag!

Retro Mickey Mouse clothing

The merchandise from the now closed Fire Station can be found in the Emporium

Some new retro shirts

On to Adventureland!

Various pieces of the new Magic Kingdom interactive quests have already been installed, including this Adventureland window and the speakers surrounding it

Beware the Liki Tikis!

Yes, we can’t get enough…

JOSE!

FRITZ!

MICHAEL!

PIERRE!

Work continues on the Frontierland Shootin’ Gallery

There’s a wall missing…

Many of these facades haven’t been touched in 40 years, so the work was needed

Walls up near the Riverboat dock

Something new at the Mansion?

A somewhat more permanent sign, still bound to confuse normal guests…

The 2011 Halloween merchandise is a departure from the norm

The characters take on a much more sinister look

The creepy version of Cinderella Castle is a nice touch

A cool candle set

Cookies and a cookie tin

I think I have to pick this up…

Cool flag

Skyway demolition continues

Looks like there has been more progress

Fantasyland is still a bit messy with all of this construction

Almost all of the planters are gone in the land

Work continues outside of the Village Haus

Storybook Circus off in the distance

Not sure what those blocks are, but nothing too interesting…

The new Dumbo entrance looming over the current

Work continues on the Be Our Guest restaurant and Enchanted Tales with Belle

Work continues on the Castle Walls

The village is coming along as well

Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid construction

A crane being used once again

Bonjour Village Gifts has a roof!

We get very excited at the smallest bits of progress…

The crane is in Storybook Circus

A great look at the new WDW Railroad station under construction

The facade of Mermaid being extended

A lot of work going on in Storybook Circus, set to open in about a year

Work continues on the facade of Enchanted Grove

The Dumbo queue is almost ready to be covered

A look t construction from the TTA

Some pavement being worked on outside of Carousel of Progress

Back in Frontierland, the entrance of Pecos Bill’s is out from behind tarps and looking great!

Work has now begun on the side

The Adventureland/Frontierland archway still under tarps

Back to the Emporium to find… more Fire department stuff!

Talking Phineas and Ferb have joined Perry

Interesting to note that some Disney Store produced merchandise is being sold in the parks…

This is a first, so we only can hope that they stick to merchandise like this and not try to throw too much Disney Store product into the parks

The Fire Station is still closed

The temporary test signage pointing guests to park transportation is gone, but we have to wonder if it worked and we will see permanent signs here soon…

From the monorail, we can see walls up around the site of the upcoming Grand Floridian DVC wing

Work continues on the tram unloading station at the TTC

John Carter is arriving, but unfortunately, we are leaving…

]]> http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/7897/feed 6 http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/6126 http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/6126#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:01:15 +0000 Tom Corless http://www.wdwnewstoday.com/?p=6126 WDWNT Reporter Josh Siegel visited the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and took a number of newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:

Half of the monorail platform walkway at the Grand Floridian Resort is being worked on

Over to the Magic Kingdom, where the exterior of the Exposition Hall is still being worked on

Disney Clothiers is still behind tarps, but construction workers were out in the open during the day as well

Walls up outside Casey’s Corner again, workers visible here as well

Views from Cinderella’s Royal Table will be blocked soon

I guess Disney only wants guests to see construction from everywhere else….

The Beauty and the Beast realm buildings are coming along quickly

More work behind the Village Haus

Beams being lifted into place

A view from above the site

The dirt is still being moved around in front of the “Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid” building

Temporary signage at the Thoughtful spot until it closes with the attraction on October 25th

Tarps down on the tree

The tree looks show ready

Piglet is gone!

Expect to see the finished facade and interactive queue in November

“it’s a small world” is back two days early

The exit is now located at the old entrance from pre-2005, using the queue ramp to now send guests out

The entrance hasn’t moved

But guests are now sent to the left and down the old exit ramp

Guests are invited to use both sides

Nothing has changed in the attraction, but some characters are missing for repair

Walls still up in the Haunted Mansion queue

The tombstones are gone for now….

El Pirata Y El Perico behind tarps in Adventureland

A small merchandise cart has popped up near the Princess and the Frog meet and greet in Liberty Square

They are selling Christmas and Princess and the Frog merchandise

New ornament

The Coca-Cola Cool Ship and Cool Scanner are being repaired

The new roof is up on the Mad Tea Party

They look like they may indeed be glass, but are covered for protection at the moment

A lot of work going on at the ride level as well

The Tangled “play and greet” for Rapunzel and Flynn Rider is racing towards a 10/24 debut

Rapunzel’s tower

A number of small lanterns installed

Time to put up the canopy…

Another look at the lanterns

Wow, that was quick!

This was actually taken a little later in the day, they don’t work THAT fast

Let’s take a ride on Dumbo for fun! Ok, Josh went to get pictures…

The top level of the Little Mermaid show building is closed in

Beauty and the Beast buildings

We believe the new cast member tunnel is under this paved area

Another shot of Mermaid

Back to Beauty and the Beast (we’re going in circles on Dumbo remember)

Mermaid…

Beauty and the Beast

I’m dizzy…. but we’ll be seeing a lot more of this

Can we take this “Off Air”?

Warning! Snoring noises are not coming from your headset, but from the 3 guests in the theater with you…

I’m sorry, 5 guests will be in there with you. Is that Cast Member in an American Idol costume???

The bright side of this opening is the Soundworks returning to operation

Something about this room makes me feel like going to Epcot to ride Body Wars, maybe it just teleports you back into the 1980′s?

Props still hang from the ceiling

More promotion for Tron Legacy, they wrapped a Soundsations booth

I hope this is the last time we have to see (or hear) this attraction…

Not sure when that was added to the projections in the Sorcerer’s Hat courtyard, but I like it

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Magic Music Days, Disney artists created some violins with Disney character designs on them

The Magic of Disney Animation features a Princess and the Frog violin

The theme for this year is “The Great Outdoors”, even though this is the only area that showcases that theme

The Flower and Garden Festival began in 1994

Working water feature

The Lion King is celebrated behind Spaceship Earth

Princess Tiana’s Wedding Bayou is located behind Mouse Gear

Little displays like this allow guests to color items on to provided sheets

Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden expands to include the butterfly house this year

The cage where Tinker Bell is held in the next film is part of the display

Animal characters can be found around the butterfly house

Oceans is on the way

Starfish and Dolphins in the flower bed to celebrate Oceans

Scar and Zazu near the front of the park

Follow the elephants to Garden Town

A little sparse

No sign here this year

Map of Garden Town

The pillars still decorated for the Food and Wine Festival

This year’s merchandise

Bambi garden statues available

Stitch outside Mission:Space

The Jammitors are out in their Flower and Garden gear

Ask the Expert near the Fountain of Nations

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Mickey and Minnie volunteers near the American Adventure

Aladdin in Morocco

The Art of Living Green

Complete with an Eco-wall

Beauty and the Beast

Lumiere, Chip, Mrs. Potts, and Cogsworth

The giant lips have also returned this year

Aurora and Prince Phillip

Cinderella and her prince

Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and the Crocodile

Bambi, Flower, and Thumper

Ben Ali Gator and Hyacinth Hippo from Fantasia

Hop-lo and the other mushrooms from Fantasia

Thanks for visiting with us!

Time to take the field

Just about every sign has been changed

The Atlanta Braves personally welcomed us

Time to check out the ESPN Innovation Lab

The mobile Champion Custom Tee Center

They can customize the back of just about any WWOS shirt

Cameras now cover the entire complex so highlights can be recorded and shown either at the complex or actually on ESPN programming

The Jostens Center

A look at the new Wide World of Sports awards

Packages available for WDW Marathon Events

Another Custom Tee Center in the Jostens Center

Wide World of Sports Grill

The Playstation Arena

This game isn’t even out yet!

ESPN plans to use all of their networks to air events and highlights from Wide World of Sports

ESPN3.com and WDW resort TV will broadcast full events for families to enjoy when they return to their home or hotel room

Walt Disney World Resort is an official home for World Cup 2010 viewing

Moving over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios ESPN the Weekend coverage

The huge Sports Zone set-up in the shadows of Tower of Terror

Hard to believe that Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster is in there

The following pictures are brought to you by “The Disney Pincast” and “The Vinylmation Station“. Here’s artist Adrianne Draude with her Haunted Mansion stretching room collection

Vinylmation Park Series #4 and Epcot Flower and Garden Festival Exclusive

Upcoming Nightmare Before Christmas series

Urban Series #4

Upcoming pin series dedicated to Disney Animated Shorts

More upcoming pins

Disney Design Group artist Monty Maldovan shows us “The Black Cauldron” anniversary Vinylmation

D Street is coming to Downtown Disney West Side

Items have been removed from the Adventurer’s Club, rumors indicate that they are headed to Hong Kong Disneyland’s Mystic Point area

A “Nanooze” exhibit has opened inside Innoventions East

You can zoom in on various objects

Like a butterfly

Or a rock

Nanooze magazines are all around the seating area

More zooming

You have to use the wheels to zoom in and out

There is also the “Rope Scope”

Place the “Rope Scope” over an item to see what it would look like if you were riding Adventures Thru Innerspace….

The new exhibit replaces a seating area and is at least better than a seating area

Princess and the Frog exhibit already set-up for the Flower and Garden Festival

St. Patrick’s Day merchandise in Mouse Gear

New merchandise location being built in China

Over at the Magic Kingdom, pins have moved out of Uptown Jewelers

The pin frames are still up though

Women’s apparel and accessories now fill the space

The facade work on the Athletic Club is finally complete

Work on the Plaza continues

The new pin location across from the Magic Kingdom tip board

Tarps still up on the Tomorrowland Terrace

New speakers and ceiling fans have been installed for the return of the fireworks dessert parties

Work has begun on the new facade for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh before it closes for refurbishment

The Space Mountain loading gates have received new blue lights

For some reason, “confetti” was added to the top of this ladder in the Honorary VoluntEARS Cavalcade

“Are we early???”

Banks was near the front of the large crowd in the morning

The Jonas Brothers performed

Some additional decorations are up on the Main Street buildings

Temporary signs up on the Main Street Cinema

Rule #1: don’t leave expensive equipment unattended around children

Kelly Ripa

Here comes the parade

The princesses were featured with some princesses in training on the castle float

Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! was featured in the parade this year

Some characters who don’t usually appear in the parade were on the floats

Alice got a new party dress

As usual, the confetti clean up takes a while

Kelly Ripa greeting guests

The Club Penguin characters were featured on a float

A sleigh prepared for the Santa Buddies

Here come the buddies

I may not like the movie, but the puppies are awfully cute….

Kelly Ripa again

Steve Rushton had the final performance of the filming

The buddies were looking a little tired

The Filming is over until next year :(

We’ll start Thursday Night at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

The Dapper Dans are in their Holiday Best this year, show off new outfits

The Tomorrowland Noodle Station serves as a Hot Chocolate and Cookie counter

The “Rusty Cutlass” Pirate Band is back this Holiday Season, as you’ll see in the video below

The Diamond Horseshoe is being used as a Hot Chocolate and Cookie Counter and has been thematically “renamed” as “Woody’s Hootin’ Holiday Open House”

The Piano Player on Stage was very good.  Does anyone recognize him from Main Street U.S.A.?

Woody and Bullseye were out for Meet and Greets, but where is the line?

Let’s take a glimpse at Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade

Everyone poses for a quick photo

The snow falls during the whole parade this year, instead of just the finale as in previous years

The Christmastime Parade is the only place you can see Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen during the Christmas Party

Horace Horsecollar’s Gingerbread House has new LED Lights this year

The crowds start to thin after the first parade

Before we leave, let’s take a look at the new holiday windows moved to Main Street’s Emporium from Downtown Disney

They tell the story of “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”

The Christmas Party is over

Starting our day Friday at Epcot in Innoventions

Tom Corless tries his hand on the new IBM Smarter Planet exhibit

The Touchscreens also have a card match memory game

Brandon Struve was also there to try his hand at the new exhibit

As we head into World Showcase, a Mexico Food and Wine Festival booth has become a permanent fixture

Mexico is all prepared for Holidays Around the World

Mexico is decorated for the Holidays, both inside and out

Norway decorations

Not a long wait for Maelstrom.  Then again, when is there one?

From World Showcase we can see Characters in Flight ACTUALLY in flight!

A HUGE Hopscotch game set up in the United Kingdom by Cast Members

Let’s take a stroll through the Boardwalk on the way to Hollywood Studios

Cat Cora’s new Restaurant, “Kouzzina” has been open for a while now

A sign with more information on this new venue has been placed outside

Model Room for Disney Vacation Club are “Now Open!” on the Boardwalk

The Christmas tree outside the Studios has changed a little since last year

There are no longer scenes from various Disney Films on the film strip around the tree, instead it’s a holiday train

Goofy hitches a ride in one of the train cars

Poinsettias grace the entrance to the Studios.

A new Holiday version of the 3 Months Free Annual Passholder Ad has been placed outside all of the Parks

Let’s head over for a look at Pixar Place

The Jonas Brothers Poster has been replaced by a much more appealing Princess and the Frog poster

A Toy Story 3 ad  outside Pixar Place

Pixar Place, like the rest of the park, is also decorated for the Holidays.

This “Hot Set” has been sitting for a while.  It doesn’t seem so hot anymore

An “Up” billboard has been placed across from Soundstage 1

The Muppet Vision courtyard is all decked out.

New Muppet Merchandise is now at the cart outside Muppet Vision 3-D

A very cool hat

The queue posters unveiled at the D23 Expo are now located in the rarely used extended queue

We had quite a big turnout for our WDWNT Fan Meet!

A look at the decorations on Sunset Boulevard

The Citizens of Hollywood compete to see who is in fact the most talented Citizen of Hollywood

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It’s time to light the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights!

The lights seem to get more and more amazing each year

A last look at the Studios Christmas Tree before we head back to the hotel, and come back to the Studios in the Morning for Extra Magic Hours

Here we are back at the Studios

The Toy Story Mania team looks very heroic as they make their way to Park Opening

The Tin Toy Book has been moved to re-route the Toy Story Mania exit

It’s no surprise that Tom Corless won in Toy Story Midway Mania

And also beat everyone else that had played so far that day

The Green Army Men now do a Streetmosphere style performance in Pixar Place at random times during the day

They were extremely entertaining

Mr. and Mrs. Potato head plushes now sports some rather familiar headwear

A new Toy Story Mouse Ear hat can be found in Pixar Place, and all other headware locations

Your name can be embroidered on the Etch a Sketch on the back of the hat!

This Toy Story Midway Mania light-up hat was on sale for only $6.99 in Pixar Place. We all bought one!

Let’s take a peek at the Animation Courtyard

New Banners with Characters from The Princess and the Frog are located in the courtyard. Here’s Dr. Facilier

Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen

Raymond the firefly

Louis the alligator

A larger billboard up as well

The Studio Store has been updated with Princess and the Frog decor

A very cool film strip is on the ceiling of the Studio Store with scenes from the movie

New Merchandise is also available

The neon sign on the right of the Great Movie Ride is being refurbished

The first showing of High School Musical was canceled, so performers from the show came out to Meet and Greet

Min and Bill’s Dockside Diner is currently closed…

Maybe this very dirty Echo Lake could be the reason? Looks like a pipe broke…

The Christmas Tree at Animal Kingdom is garnished with African decor.

Disney Characters and presents are all underneath the tree

It had just finished raining and Dinoland was looking spectacular

This cool hidden sign was pointed out to us while in Dinoland

A Snowman lights up Dinoland

New Lights have been put up on all of the streetlights as we head to Expedition Everest

Expedition Everest is a totally different experience at night.  Make sure to check it out!

Thanks for joining us!

This year’s holiday display at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is themed to “it’s a small world”

I attended a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party during my trip

I think Celebrate the Season is my favorite stage show at WDW

Here are some photos of the very long Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade

Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen from Disney’s Princess and the Frog have been added for this year

Horace’s house has some new LED light touches

I had never seen such an empty showing of Mickey’s Philharmagic

Spectromagic has been quietly getting some upgrades, including new LED-illuminated character suits for the Spectromen

Most of the other character costumes in the parade have also been updated and are looking brand new

New multicolored fireworks have been installed on the finale units

The holiday spirit is in the air at Epcot

The new Smarter Planet exhibit from IBM has opened inside Innoventions

The area features a small lounge

With a larger interactive area

The screens are basically a fun way to poll guests about innovating environmental technologies

You can simply vote or play a matching game

Here is a look at some of the poll questions and answers

The answers are tabulated and added to other guest responses to form a word cloud

Then there is the matching game

You can reveal a hidden picture and facts about environmentally friendly technologies

The globe-screen above the exhibit is probably the highlight of the addition

Holiday decorations are up at Port of Entry and Disney Traders

A new retro WDW T-shirt

The Food and Wine Festival booth for Mexico has become a permanent vending location with a new menu

Holiday decorations outside Mexico

The Mickey Monsters now have their own keychains for sale at MouseGear

A new WDW sweatshirt available

Plenty of Vinylmation pictures and news updates can be found at our newest website: The Vinylmation Station

Brandon Struve and I are not looking forward to the future

Little Miss Matched has replaced Starabillias at Downtown Disney West Side

The children’s store also opened at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney this year

Hard to see here, but walls are up around the former location of Pleasure Island Live and it is being dismantled

A Walt Disney quote on the walls at Pleasure Island

Stitch is holding some holiday lights above World of Disney

The villains room inside World of Disney has re-opened with a new look

These eye-level collages of the villains can now be found through-out the room

There are also some changing portraits behind the registers

The crocodile from Peter Pan has managed to remain in the room

The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is back at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

I found the black cat

Found a cool hidden gem at Disney’s Animal Kingdom over in Dino-rama

I’ll be sure to visit Epcot next time I’m in Florida

The Goofy and Pluto meet and greet in Dino-rama is decked for the season

Pluto and Goofy are wearing holiday costumes as well

Dinosaur lights are up along the roadway

Expedition: Everest looking great at night, as always

Back to the Magic Kingdom, where we decided to take a ride on the Liberty Bell to take a closer look at the decorations for Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee

Want to buy your own Showboat Jubilee banners?

Looks like the gospel gowns for the show just came back from the laundry

Here are a few pictures taken from the Liberty Bell

1971 reference on the dock

The old Mike Fink Keelboat dock is being worked on

He’s been out of business for years

I had no idea that’s inside rocks

The parks were very crowded on Monday

More pictures of Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee

A 70 minute wait for Space Ranger Spin

The smoking section next to Space Mountain has emerged from construction unchanged

Due to high crowd levels, an extended queue for Space Mountain was set up outside the building

The “active earth stations” are references to the other Space Mountains around the world

Paint already being peeled off the walls by guests

It was looking pretty bad

The loading area is known as a lounge, much like the waiting area at an airport

A temporary carpet was taped to the wall for some reason

So that’s why our rocket isn’t sealed!!!

The post-show still has not been completed

Over at Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, new HD LCD screens have been installed in the queue

The TV in the final scene is also a new HD LCD screen

I decided to take some photos around Mickey’s Toontown Fair since it won’t be with us much longer

The character meet and greet cast members have new costumes

We’ll end the report with this cool new Pixar character snow-globe shaped like the Luxo lamp