Work continues on the tram unloading area at the Transportation and Ticket Center

Land clearing is getting started for the Disney Vacation Club wing of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

If you are getting married at the Wedding Pavilion anytime soon, it won’t be a Fairytale setting…

It’s almost time…

Halloween decorations are up at the Magic Kingdom

I think Mickey is sweating from the heat…

They really should sell these decorations

Some festive decorations on Town Square Theater

The scare-o-lanterns are up again (no idea what the actual name is)

The Emporium is decorated

Jack-O-Lanterns line the buildings

Even though it is closed, the fire house was decorated

Fantasyland construction! Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid

The Be Our Guest Restaurant

Bonjour Village Gifts

The entire cottage of Enchanted Tales with Belle now has a roof

The mountain range is coming along nicely as well

The real story is the construction walls around Dumbo, but I think there is a mime on the ride…

Construction from the TTAm looking into Storybook Circus

Under the Sea from a distance

Work continues on the pavement in Tomorrowland

The Lunching Pad is closed for refurbishment, but there is a food cart in front of it

Can I go somewhere… anywhere else…

The Enchanted Grove is still behind tarps

Another look at Mermaid

The Storybook Circus train station is going up fast

They are already putting a roof on

Nothing new with the Dumbo queue

A close-up of Prince Eric’s castle

A new menu at Columbia Harbor House. I don’t eat here, so I can’t tell you what’s new…

Halloween decorations outside of Liberty Tree Tavern? Must be those infamous budget cuts!

Work continues on the Frontierland facades

Shootin’ Arcade re-opens later this month

Big Al and a cast member playing checkers, but you know, characters never roam around at WDW…

Clarabelle will easily win this staring contest

Have we said how awesome the Pecos Bill’s facade looks?

Work continues on the Frontierland/Adventureland transition

Goofy has replaced Angelica at Pirates of the Caribbean

Another example of our non-roaming characters…

Casey’s Corner is closed for refurbishment

Moving to Epcot, they really want to be sure you know where Duffy is…

A messy tarp covers the Canada facade

The test photo preview at Test Track is being fixed at the moment

Looks like there are some new cars at Inside Track as well

Hollywood, 1939…

OK, more like Hollywood Studios, 2011

That’s nice too

“HEY! HEY!”

Remember me?

New York Street is really pointless if it isn’t the holidays…

Looks like they installed some new lighting, too bad it makes the facades look even more unrealistic

\

Journey Into Narnia finally closes September 10th!

Time for one last look inside

]]> http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/7934/feed 0 http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/7310 http://wdwnewstoday.com/archives/7310#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:27:13 +0000 wdwntadmin http://wdwnewstoday.com/?p=7310 WDWNT Reporter Zach Larson visited The Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney earlier today and has a plethora of newsworthy photos to share with us from his trip:

NO MORE STAR TOURS! Thank you…

Long lines at the TTC

That’s where we’re going

The Confectionary is out from behind tarps with an entirely new look!

Looks different, but great!

A Hall of Champions sign still up…

The spinning water ball in Tomorrowland is down for refurbishment, possibly removal

The sign at Carousel of Progress is back after being repainted

They also sealed the hole with the years so they don’t have to worry about updating it anymore

Storybook Circus construction as seen from the Peoplemover

The backside of the Dumbo queue

The south side of the Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid building

Back to the Dumbo queue

Construction walls have now moved out to the Mad Tea Party

The Dumbo entrance

We can see the roof replacement of the Barnstormer building through the beams

The track still hasn’t been touched

The walls go near the Mad Tea Party entrance

Seemingly out of nowhere, the rest of the Beauty and the Beast village is visible

Work continues underneath the Beast’s castle

Rock-work has formed around the frame of Prince Eric’s castle and the Under the Sea building

The building is no longer visible from Fantasyland

Back to Beauty and the Beast, the rock-work on this side is a little further along

That strange hole is still there…

Work continues on Enchanted Tales with Belle

More rock-work going up

More construction through the trees

You can really get a good idea of how this will look when completed

More rock-work coming soon…

The trees blocking a lot of the view of the construction are down now

The Cinderella Castle cam keeps an eye on the progress

Work continues up on the roofs of Fantasyland

The Fantasyland Skyway station is gone

The clock tower remains

A closer look

Let’s check in on the Haunted Mansion queue

Something nasty on the organ…

Master Gracey’s plot has grown in nicely since being extended

A lot of facade work is being done in Frontierland

The Shootin’ Arcade is closed until the Fall

Pecos Bill’s is open during the facade refurbishment

Work continues to get the Enchanted Tiki Room ready for August

NEW SPACE MOUNTAIN SHIRTS!!!

Moving over to Downtown Disney, we take a long awaited look inside LittleMissMatched in the Marketplace

Zach was the first reporter brave enough to look inside…

They have their own umbrellas!

Marketplace Fun Finds has replaced Pooh Corner and what was left of Disney Tails

Pleasure Island/Hyperion Wharf continues to limp along

Bulldozers are about to roll in…

KUNGALOOSH!

On a lesser note… BET Soundstage Club will be torn down as well

The new Harley-Davidson store on West Side is coming along nicely

Some new Vinylmation coming out on Friday at D Street

Alien Encounter!

“No Skippy, you may not escape…” You might want to pick these up before they go “BON VOYAGE!”

The Pirates of the Caribbean series will be released July 1st with Casey Jones signing

MORE STAR TOURS! Not too much, we promise…

Plenty of Star Tours merchandise is inside Tatooine Traders now

Naboo Spacelines featured on the box for some reason… Why is every Naboo spaceship yellow?

The action figure sets

Star Tours merchandise is now mixed in with all the usual stuff

The Star Wars Weekends stage has returned to normal for Disney Channel Rocks!

Believable…

Some new props have been installed since we last visited, namely the chalkboard with various replacements for Eeyore’s tail

Bees were attached

Lines haven’t been too bad

The work in the street on Sunset Blvd. is done, now the produce distributor is behind walls

Moving to the Magic Kingdom, he’s still not getting a line!!!

A cool new detail Adam discovered, light reveals an electricity effect on this billboard!

It looks like Mickey is being electrocuted

Curtain Call Collectibles continues to push its merchandise further outside

The hatter is from New York for some reason

Dapper Dans!

The Tomorrowland Terrace is open

Storybook Circus construction is picking up

Temporary sign still outside Carousel of Progress

These hot dogs must be popular…

Back to the Storybook Circus

A lot of heavy equipment has moved in

The frame of the Dumbo queue is complete!

That was quick!

If we compare this to the original model, we can see the big tent frame:

The rock-work in the Beauty and the Beast area is really coming along…

Maurice’s cottage takes shape as a mountain grows behind

Work has picked up on the Be Our Guests Restaurant

Same for Bonjour Village Gifts

An overview of the Beauty and the Beast realm

The steel frame for the rock-work on Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid is up

The Fantasyland Skyway station is being demolished to build a wider path to Liberty Square and new Fantasyland restrooms

You can see some pieces missing already

Goodbye…

The Haunted Mansion queue now has signs directing to the scenic rout and the direct route (interactive queue and entrance)

The interactive queue remains popular

To combat complaints that it was too small, they have extended Master Gracey’s grave!

The entrance of Pecos Bill’s is behind walls and tarps

Guests are asked to use this side entrance

Well, the Enchanted Tiki Room is coming back… in case you hadn’t heard that over the last 3 years

Work continues to restore the orginal

It’s now a hard hat area

Nothing like some Leaky Tikis in the Summer

You’re not blocking it…

The Fantasyland crane is visible from far away

If you squint, Blackbeard was added to Pirates of the Caribbean

Maybe if you unfocused your eyes? I don’t know, I’ve never been good at these things…

Some character portraits from the new film in Caribbean Plaza

NO, NO MORE STAR TOURS! Ok… more Star Tours….

I wish we could read all these luggage tags

That’s a lot of luggage

Peoplemover?

?

Yes, Peoplemover!

Goodnight from Echo Lake Apartments!

The event began with a procession of Star Wars characters

All of the guests then filled the huge courtyard in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat stage

We watched the pre-produced portions on a large screen

“What an explosion!” More on that in a bit…

It was an amazing ceremony! You don’t have to take my word for it, you can watch it yourself… First, here is a highlight reel Disney put together:

If that’s not enough, here is the webcast of the ceremony in its entirety:

Next up, Ashley Eickstein looks at some hidden tributes inside the attraction:

Finally, the commercial for the latest addition to Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

Guests first gathered at Blizzard Beach, where they signed a waiver and were then loaded on to a bus

Guests were led in a back entrance near Star Tours to enter Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Through the smoke tunnel!

Some planets “floating” up in the sky

The event essentially brought guests into the media event after it was over

The fog was very thick, you could not see through at all…

The hosts of Hyperspace Hoopla welcome guests

Here we go inside Star Tours!

The highlight of the attraction has to be the super-cool baggage scanner in the second queue room

Bags roll in and are scanned, allowing guests to see inside as the Goose Droid comments on it

The first Goose Droid is once again voiced by Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald

The window where we once saw Captain RX-24 constructed now showcases recognizable passengers walking by

A ton of baggage down at the ground level

The screen in front of the droid also shows what is inside the scanner

The upper-part of the queue has a scanner guests pass through

Jawas were trying to steal the very expensive new 3-D glasses

The signage has maintained the same text style, but is much sleeker

The pre-show is a home run, even offering two slight variations!

The ride story is set-up perfectly: you get the idea of how poorly Star Tours is operated and see how C-3P0 ends up in the driver’s seat

C-3P0 and ACE go back and forth

C-3P0 is sealed in the faulty cockpit

The pit droids attempt to clean the windows throughout the pre-show

Only to discover there is a button that does it automatically

Spokes-droid Aly San San delivers the pre-show and is already a favorite among early guests

Don’t forget to store your personal items

Buckle your seat-belt

And look for the original pre-show star in the front row, complete with her crazy hair…

No crazy hair, but this character is a winner

The pre-show even explains how the vehicle gets from the first pre-show room to the loading area

They even show it lock into place for you to board!

Back outside, Imagineers host a Q & A session

Clone troopers!

Planets above Sounds Dangerous

Yes, Captain Rex (RX-24) is in the queue

Every now and then, he spurts a line from the original Star Tours

The second Goose Droid is voiced by Patrick Warburton of Soarin’ fame and has some very memorable antics

Updated Starspeeder graphic

Boba Fett walking above the queue

Greedo gets motion sickness, so he decided to leave

Leia and a Jawa shopping in Tatooine Traders

Imperial Probe Droid

Finally, a use for this building…

Back to Star Tours

The destinations board looks great and the new film sequences are incredibly well-done

The IC360 droid gets an ad on the board and is used to explain the camera shots on the side screen inside the Starspeeder 1000

Back to baggage

There are hundreds of hidden tributes and items in these bags, so let’s take a look at a few…

Wall-E!!!

VINCENT from The Black Hole! (Look it up kids)

A Figment plush!

There’s even an Imagination Institute logo inside

An Ewok finds a pair of R2-D2 mouse ears

The Sorcerer’s Hat and brooms from Fantasia

The Goose Droid thinks these are hair dryers…

Wall-E’s boot with the plant in it and tape of “Hello Dolly”

Some neat boxer shorts and a Star Tours hat

Droid hiding

Not quite sure what this is…

Stormtrooper gear

Space Mountain gear

Notice the World of Motion logo on the sneakers

droid parts

More droid parts

Chewbacca’s gear

Musical instruments

Lightsaber turns on

Droid hands

A pit droid

There is a ton more, so go see it for yourself!

The Goose Droids look and move better than ever

A lot of empty rides were held, lines during the meet were non-existent

A DJ entertained guests through the night as well

Some backstage areas were even themed to make sense

Stay tuned for more Star Tours coverage!

Below that is our new live blogging tool tweets from @wdwnt and our other reporters live as the event happens, once we go “live” with the evnet you will be able to join in the disucssion and talk live with other fans about the event!

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Overview: The power of the Force and the magic of Disney have combined to create “Star Tours – The Adventures Continue,” a new 3-D attraction set to open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. With an eye-popping digital presentation leveraging Dolby 3-D to deliver a vivid and realistic experience, a dramatic musical score and motion simulator-based technology, guests will be immersed in the Star Wars galaxy like never before on a theme park attraction. More than 50 story combinations are possible for guests to experience aboard Star Tours, so guests can enjoy the attraction multiple times without ever experiencing the same adventure.  In fact they never know where the Force will take them!

Opening Dates: May 20, 2011 (Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla), June 3, 2011 (Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif.)

Attraction Locations: Walt Disney World Resort:  Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, Disneyland Resort: Tomorrowland, inside Disneyland park

Attraction Experience Time: Approximately 7 minutes (including boarding at Starspeeder gate), Actual show is approximately 5 minutes.

Height Requirement: 40 inches (102 cm) or taller

Attraction Designers, Writers and Creators: Walt Disney Imagineering, working with Lucasfilm Ltd. and Industrial Light & Magic.

Some famous Star Wars film characters guests can encounter (depending on which story they experience): R2-D2, C-3PO, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda, Sebulba, Admiral Ackbar, Chewbacca, Jar Jar Binks, Princess Leia

Some famous Star Wars film planets and destinations guests can encounter (depending on which story they experience): Kashyyyk, Hoth, Naboo, Coruscant, Tatooine, The Death Star (above the planet Geonosis)

The second release has some quotes from some individuals worth noting:

Tom Fitzgerald, Executive VP & Senior Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering:

On where in the Star Wars timeline the new storyline takes place:

“In the end, after numerous discussions, we decided to place our storyline between the two sets of Star Wars trilogies, giving the project the working title ‘Star Tours 3.5.’ This time period gave our show team the ability to tap into the very best of the Star Wars characters and adventures.”

“But turning the clock back also required some interesting changes for the Star Tours show. The Starspeeder 3000 would need to be an earlier model, the Starspeeder 1000, with a new pilot (especially since Rex, the original pilot, opens the original show saying it’s his first flight!)”

On filming scenes on a Hollywood soundstage:

“We occupied a large soundstage in Hollywood to film a key sequence of the new show. Anthony Daniels flew in from London to bring C-3PO to life on the stage, as well as workshop the script with our writer Steve Spiegel.”

“On the immense soundstage, our production team re-created – full size – a portion of the Starspeeder 1000, so we could film it from multiple angles. Later, the effects wizards at Industrial Light & Magic, under the direction of Bill George, completed the scene, adding in a whole range of droids and characters, and expanding the scale and scope of the scene.”

On new characters created for the attraction:

“All Star Tours Starspeeder 1000s are flown using the latest AC-series Tour Droids. And in fact, our initial plans were for our flight to be piloted by AC-38 better known as ‘Ace.’ However, in discussions with George Lucas during the course of our production, we decided to take the story in a very different direction. So while AC-38 is supposed to be our pilot, by the time we actually take off, the droid sitting in the pilot’s seat will be none other than C-3PO!”

“We also created a new ‘spokesbot’ for Star Tours, modeled after the WA-7 ‘Waitress Droid’ from Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. George Lucas suggested the name ‘Aly San San,’ in reference to Allison Janney, the wonderful actress who provides the voice for this new character. We had a terrific time with Allison in the recording sessions for the show – she brought a lot of warmth and humor to the part.”

On Star Wars characters included in the attraction:

“One of our goals for the new Star Tours show was to pack as much Star Wars into the attraction as possible. That meant traveling to different planets, and meeting up with classic characters from the saga.”

On Star Wars characters included in the attraction (Cont.):

“R2-D2 and C-3PO are back, reprising their roles in the pre-show, and taking on bigger roles (especially C-3PO) in our Starspeeder adventures.”

“It wouldn’t be a Star Wars adventure without Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith will be accompanied by legions of stormtroopers and some new “skytroopers,” designed especially for our show. Boba Fett, everyone’s favorite bounty hunter, also will be after us, as well as an assortment of nasty droids and creatures.”

“Balancing out the villains are some classic good guys – and even a princess! Master Yoda, Admiral Ackbar and Princess Leia will appear in the show to help guide our adventures. We may even run into Chewbacca along the way!”

On Star Wars destinations included in the attraction:

“We’re going to Tatooine for the Boonta Eve Podrace and to Coruscant. Additional destinations include a visit to the beautiful planet of Naboo, a rare tour of the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk and a trip to the icy planet Hoth.”

“Of course, no Star Tours adventure would be complete without an unexpected visit to the Death Star, this time above the planet Geonosis. These destinations will be combined in more than 50 different story adventures, so you’ll never know where the Force will take you!”

Anthony Daniels, Actor (C-3PO):

“Wow! Back in the gold suit for the first time since ‘Revenge of the Sith,’ but on this occasion in front of a beloved Starspeeder, a bit like the one R2 and I’d repaired every day since Disneyland first opened the Star Tours Spaceport all those years ago. I’d enjoyed being a part of the original Star Tours, one of the most wonderful jobs I ever had. I’d been alerted that amazing things were in store for passengers on the new Starspeeder, and for me too, and so here I was again, working with many of the same creative teams, with even more spin and excitement than the first time.”

Disney has also released video from inside the attraction:

WDW News Today Special Report-Star Tours Review