Roundup of Updates

I have been terribly remiss about keeping up with the updates around Walt Disney World. My only defense is the same as everyone else's: busyness! The holidays have really snuck up on me. (That explains why so many of my posts lately have been Amazon deals...I am still struggling to get my shopping done!) Pair that with a still fairly new-to-us home, a husband's crazy work schedule, the start of Upward cheer season (I'm a coach), and our normal lives as a homeschooling family, and I simply haven't been able to keep up with the Most Magical Place on Earth as much as I would like. But this morning, I finally carved out some time to read up on some exciting new developments, which I now share below (in shorthand) for you.

• The new Fantasyland expansion area continues to draw the crowds, with wait times exceeding 100 minutes at the Under the Sea--Journey of the Little Mermaid attraction. FYI, if you have a visit planned, you'll want to note that Fastpasses for the ride are located in OLD Fantasyland near Mickey's Philharmagic, not near the Little Mermaid attraction.


• Be Our Guest restaurant (new Fantasyland) will be testing a system that would allow guests to essentially reserve a time for lunch and even pre-order food. Guests would then arrive at the restaurant at the appointed time and go through an express checkout, where they would be given a magical rose (much like traditional restaurant "beepers") to take to their chosen table where the food would later be delivered. Sounds like a viable solution for eliminating the lunchtime bottleneck that seems to be happening in this very popular new eatery.


• WDW has just completed yet another test of the new Fastpass+ system--the first of these tests that also included live shows. (Many of us were curious as to how they would fit into the picture when the original concept was first introduced.) Certainly there are both pros and cons to the system, but based on how many of the new kiosks are sprouting up around the World, I'm guessing it's here to stay. I have yet to personally experience it, but I'm fluctuating between being excited about the new technology and lamenting over losing a system that I am familiar and comfortable with.


• There was a lot of buildup, and if you weren't in the Magic Kingdom on the evening of December 5 you missed it, but the dragon flew. And, as Forest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that."


• While Fantasyland was having its "Grand Re-Opening," Test Track was not to be outdone, when it rolled out its 2.0 version on December 6. There was a band (One Republic), pyrotechnics, WDW execs and such...it was kind of epic. I hear the attraction is pretty cool too. Our family is pretty psyched about giving it a whirl on our next visit!


• Disney has retooled the official Walt Disney World website. Check it out here.

Those are the highlights for now. Back to my Christmas shopping. Oooh...here's another great deal I found on Amazon (Ok, this one is actually from MY list):

Friday Photo

We just caught a glimpse of the new Test Track on Good Morning America. Did you see it? It happens to be one of our family's favorite attractions. And this Friday Photo of my crew (minus me, the photographer) is proof.

Refurbishment Update & Test Track Plans

As a reminder, Thunder Mountain Railroad (Magic Kingdom) is now closed for a pretty significant refurbishment. It is expected to re-open on May 28.  Dumbo the Flying Elephant (MK) is also now closed in order to move the existing Dumbo to the new location of the "new and improved" Dumbo that will be twice its current size. The new Dumbo will re-open on February 18.

A few other closures worth noting:

• House of Innoventions (Epcot) remains closed and is expected to reopen on May 15 with a new sponsor.


• The Plaza Ice Cream Parlor (MK) is closed until March 28.


• Fantasmic! (Disney's Hollywood Studios) is dark until February 13.


• Tutto Italia Ristorante (Epcot) is closed until May 1.


• Typhoon Lagoon is closed for winter refurbishment until March 18.


• The Grand Floridian Spa is closed to accomodate work on the new DVC villas. It will reopen around June of 2013.


• The beach at the Polynesian Resort is closed for "sand renourishment" until January 17.

In other big news, Disney has confirmed that General Motors will renew its sponsorship of Test Track (Epcot) and that the attraction will undergo a lengthy refurbishment beginning in April. There are some unique elements in the works, as evidenced in this excerpt from the Disney press release:

As part of the re-imagining, the Future World attraction will feature a sleek new “Chevrolet Design Center at Epcot” immersing Guests in the fascinating world of automotive design. Amid upbeat music, engaging media, dramatic lighting and a collection of Chevrolet concept cars and model vehicles, guests themselves will become automotive designers – and peer into the future of personal transportation in the process.

At interactive design and styling workstations, Guests will be able to create their own custom concept vehicles. The adventure will then shift into high gear as Guests buckle into their 6-person “SimCar” ride vehicle and put their design through its paces on the exhilarating hills, switchbacks and straight-aways of the Test Track circuit.

You can read the press release in its entirety here.

Test Track Getting a Major Refurb?

If rumors are to be trusted, Test Track may be seeing some significant changes in 2012. GM is in talks to extend their current sponsorship through 2022, and part of the deal includes a major overhaul of the attraction. In the proposed scenario, the basic track of the ride would remain, but pretty much everything else would change. And here's a really interesting tidbit: the ride vehicles are to be designed by GM's design, research, and development group--not by Disney Imagineers.

The attraction would still have the same basic theme--a look inside the world of vehicle design, development, production, and testing--but the new version would include some of the original ideas and history that were a part of the original World of Motion attraction.

As far as when the attraction will actually close to begin this grand refurbishment, expect to see it happening soemtime in the first half of 2012.