January 21, 2010

GDP Special Report: the NEW Fantasyland Update!

Today we take a look at a recent image that popped up yesterday on Stitch Kingdom. As well as taking a look at the concept art released at the Expo, and the recently “released” 3D Model of the New Fantasyland Expansion in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Lets start with an image that we all know, the blueprint layout that was “leaked” in July 2009. (Originally released by Stitch Kingdom as well)

fantasylandplans

Now lets take a look at the concept art released at the expo, September 2009.

ABOVE FANTASYLAND -- A bird's-eye view of the vastly-expanded Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World which will offer Guests a new land of enchantment in a magical fairy tale forest just beyond the castle walls. The expanded Fantasyland was announced at the D23 Expo on Saturday by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo.

Released around a month later (October/November 2009), ProgressCityUSA has this picture, with subtle differences (a sharper image of Cinderellla’s Chateau and the Little Mermaid Facade):

dumbo WDI-Expansion-WDW-Final_10-13-200945936385

Now lets take a look at the most recent arrival to our New Fantasyland Expansion, the 3D Model. (Once again brought to you by Stitch Kingdom) Be sure to check out the link and you can see the MUCH MUCH bigger picture.

fantasylandmodel

Since we have taken a look at everything as one, lets inspect each individual area of the new “Fantasy Forest” Fantasyland expansion.

Lets begin with exiting out of the Castle, and where the Dumbo attraction currently is, are the new Castle Walls. These pieces are KEY to the story that Imagineering is going to try to tell with this new expansion, without them, the story is ruined.

castlewall

Castle Wall  house

Moving North, the Beauty and the Beast area consists of three separate “mini-areas”, taking up the place of currently Ariel’s Grotto, and part of backstage.

batb blueprint

beautyandthebeast

First, we have Belle’s Cottage, where the meet and greet with Belle will take place. Themed to Maurice’s cottage.Aurora Cottage

bellecottage D23_BelleVillage_web

Belle will read and act out some of her favorite stories, similar to Storytime with Belle now. D23_BelleCastle_web

Another part of the Beauty and the Beast area is the Beast’s Castle, featuring the Be Our Guest Restaurant. Beast Castle  beastcastle D23_BeastsCastle_web

D23_BeOurGuestRestaurant_web

Finally in the Beauty and the Beast area is the “Belle’s Village” featuring some shops and a Gaston themed restaurant, Gaston’s Tavern. Belles Village

gastonvillage D23_GastonTavern_web D23_GastonTavernInterior_web

After the Beauty and the Beast area is the Little Mermaid attraction/area. That will take place in what is currently the backstage area, and the 100 Acre Wood play area.ariel

This first piece of concept art is from the first rendering.Ariel's Attraction

This clearer picture is from the second overhead rendering.littlemermaid2 littlemermaid LITTLE MERMAID, BIG FANTASYLAND -- Fans of Disney's animated classic, The Little Mermaid, will journey under the sea to meet Ariel and her friends on an exciting new musical adventure. This new attraction will take guests through beautifully rendered scenes featuring classic songs from the popular animated feature. The attraction will be part of the expanded Fantasyland that was announced at the D23 Expo on Saturday by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo. 	 D23_ArielPartOfYourWorld_web

D23_Ursula_web

D23_MermaidKiss_web

Taking place in the 100 Acre Wood play area, the Cinderella area is a meet and greet in her chateau.

cinderella

This first picture is from the first overhead rendering.Cinderella Chateu

This clearer picture is from the second rendering.cinderella2

cinderella

D23_CinderellaExterior_web

D23_CinderellaDance_web

D23_CinderellaBall_web

Just behind Cinderella’s Chateau, is Aurora’s Cottage.aurora   sleepingbeauty

Aurora’s Cottage is where guests will get to meet and play with Princess Aurora.D23_AuroraCabin_web

The guests will make Birthday Cards for Princess Aurora while they wait.D23_AuroraCabinInterior_web

And once they get to meet Princess Aurora, Aurora will read her cards that guests made out loud. D23_AuroraParty_web

The “big” highlight that many Cast Members, and guests are looking forward to is the ‘Dueling Dumbos’ in the Circus themed area. dumboblu

Dumbo

dueling dumbos D23_DumboExtCircusTrain

This rendering of Dumbo is ACTUALLY from a proposed Tokyo Disneyland refurbishment, but now will be used for Magic Kingdom.NEW Dumbo

Our final new area to the “Fantasy Forest” is the Pixie Hollow area, a much bigger expanded area then the Disneyland area.pixiehollow

In concept renderings, the picture features a giant tree, and such. Pixie Hollow 2

But in the model, the tree seems to be replaced by a new mini attraction, similar to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree that is going in Disney’s California Adventure’s Carsland.pixiehollow

D23_PixieHollow

Now we take a look at current ideas in Magic Kingdom, that will just be enhanced. existing fl

Like the facade of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, that will be getting a newly refurbished facade to blend in better with the forest theme. winniethepoohfacade

The Mad Tea Party also seems to get a better “building” that will help blend in the theme with the area. Mad Tea Party

Finally, we take a brief look at the attraction formally known as the Barnstormer. No one knows exactly what will happen with this attraction, but it is for sure that it will be staying, but as what? The blueprint below has a “Cheese Coaster” in the Circus land area.barnstormer

Many fans think it will either be a Snow White Mine Car themed attraction, but it won’t connect as it will be far from the really “foresty” area. Others seem to think that since Casey Jr. is missing from the Circus land, that he will have a place on this newly redone attraction. Only time will tell.rollercoaster

Main Pictures from Stitch Kingdom and ProgressCityUSA, cropped pictures are by GDPinvestigation. All Concept Art Courtesy of Disney.

And a very Special Thanks to Stitch Kingdom for the information and permission

27 comments:

  1. Thanks for this awesome update!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW!!!!!! Fantastic update! Can't wait for it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks for the breakdown i was confuzzled.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Im so glad that you all enjoyed it :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for the update! It was great :).

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm just curious but does this mean Mickey and Minnie's houses are gone?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just wondering where the original princess will be? Snow White, you can't just push her off to the wayside!!!!!!!!! Everyone loves Snow White!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Where are the "5" originals gonna be now. Mickey Mouse started it all!! Not the Princesses.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice job Cody. Very comprehensive. I followed the link to this article from The Disney Blog by John Frost.

    If anyone is interested in hearing more on this we discussed this in epsiode 25 of WEDway Radio back in September.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great article Cody! Nice comprehensive breakdown!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanl you All! Nate that is good to know, i know this link is on Stitch Kingdom, and Disboards, I will check out the Disney Blog.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Don't worry about Mickey & Minnie... The FIRST thing you'll notice -- before any other changes -- will be the debut of their new home (and the New Fantasyland preview center, featuring the model pictured above!) in Exposition Hall on Main Street's Town Square.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm confused by the statement at the beginning, regarding the new castle walls:

    "These pieces are KEY to the story that Imagineering is going to try to tell with this new expansion, without them, the story is ruined."

    Why do you believe them to be so important? Nothing against them, but I'm not certain what story they're trying to tell. Do they indicate that we're leaving the castle? (That would make sense, since the castle is behind us as we walk into this new area.) Or are they considered an entrance to this new area? The story they're telling--at least as far as we can tell from the drawings--seems ambiguous.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well, the story is inside the castle wall, the "little village" featuring teh carosel and such is inside the castle walls, then the castle walls are the barrier between the castle area, and the "Fantasy Forest" area, themed to the forest area with the chateaus and cottages.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great analysis! Thanks. Looking forward to having this new area available for exploration. Still wondering were the current residents of Mickey's Toontown Fair will end up?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Just wondering where the original princess will be? Snow White, you can't just push her off to the wayside!!!!!!!!! Everyone loves Snow White!!!

    Snow White will still have her current dark ride.

    Don't worry about Mickey & Minnie... The FIRST thing you'll notice -- before any other changes -- will be the debut of their new home (and the New Fantasyland preview center, featuring the model pictured above!) in Exposition Hall on Main Street's Town Square.

    Exactly. Besides, Mickey's Toontown Fair was not meant to be a permanent addition to the Magic Kingdom.

    Also, the character houses in the Toontown Fair are just their "country" homes, while their "normal" homes are located in California's Toontown.

    ReplyDelete
  18. @Pinvestigator Cody: Thanks for your clarification.

    You use the term "Fantasy Forest"...has Disney used that term? If not, any hint as to what this new area will be called? (Though it would be simplest to just call it Fantasyland, I suspect it will need its own name to make it easier to market.)

    ReplyDelete
  19. That Teacups canopy looks exactly the same as the glass canopy over the Disneyland Paris teacups...

    Photos: http://www.photosmagiques.com/gallery/disneyland_park/fantasyland/mad_hatters_teacups.php

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, that was awesome!

    I just discovered your blog, and can't wait to read more.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks all for reading :)

    @Greg Maletic Im not sure if its officially by Disney, but I think a lot of fansites call it that.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This is great information. It seems like the Expansion is mostly for girls. We are travelling to WDW this spring with our 2 little boys. Does anyone know if any of the attractions in Fantasyland will be closed this spring due to the construction? I'm also worried that It's a Small World will be closing or changing in some way--it's my absolute favorite ride since the 1970s!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I read somewhere that the Aladdin spinner ride currently in Adventureland will be removed and re-themed as the 2nd Dumbo spinner ride in the revamped Fantasyland.

    Is that true?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Is there a date when this is expected to be opened ?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great breakdown with the specific areas. I had a hard time seeing what was what until looking at your pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Very interesting; looks like lots of improvements. However, it seems short on attractions for boys. The princess themes should be a big hit with the girls though.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love the breakdown, do we know what part they are starting first or any opening dates...thanks

    ReplyDelete