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[Remco K.]

And interesting article can be found at Blue Sky Disney about some rumoured plans to re-design Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom:

I remember mentioning that the Little Mermaid wasn't the only project, but I didn't know what else was in the cards for that land. I was actually quite conservative and didn't want to imagine anything big because of Mr. Rasulo's dumbing down of the abilities of the Creatives, something I wish I could discuss(but can't).

Imagine that Little Mermaid attraction we talked about before... it's basically going to be the ride we have here, although it might be a bit smaller and the exterior should be envisioned differently, but all around Fantasyland you'll notice a great deal of detail and a great deal of difference in a bout four or five years if it all comes to pass.

How would you like to get through with your adventures with Ariel and Sebastian and walk out looking around the Florida sunshine basking in that new roller coaster that's been put in for Disney Fans/Geeks to ride. A roller coaster? What are you talking about? The one themed to the Seven Dwarfs, that one. Lavishly made up with details that are closer to something you'd see in Tokyo that stateside, but it's there...

Now what about the other areas of the land that are proposed to have a radical makeover? I mean, there is that Pixie Hallow that looks like you've wandered into the forest in Neverland, there's a meet and greet for Tinkerbell, but the details of this little area are going to make little princess run screaming through this area and really bring a smile on the face of every Disney fan.

There's a new area for a meet-and-greet with the Princess that's quite nice as well.

Oh and remember I talked a while back about there being very few attractions based on the Animated films of the Second Golden Age? I specifically talked about none for my favorite Disney animated film... well, if this comes to pass that will no longer be true. That's right, there is a very nice "Beauty and the Beast" attraction planned for this area as well. I only hope that take some of the great ideas that were proposed for the "B and B" attraction that was to be built in Paris over a decade or so ago.

The plans are still being fleshed out, but these proposals are very extravagant and will leave the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland looking unlike it's Disneyland sister or any other Disney theme park in the world... and that's a good thing. We need more originality, more reasons to spend money at each of these stops. The budgeting for this expansion is a lot too, not as much as DCA's, but you'd be surprised at how close it is. And this expansion will take up a good portion of Fantasyland, transforming it from an area that has had very little improvement in decades into one of the most different versions of arguably Walt's most famous "land". Now, by the early part of next decade we can possibly look forward to a reason to walk around Fantasyland other than just to compare how much more we like the California version. We can only pray that Rasulo doesn't intend on cloning every one of these concepts for every other park... that would be a way for him to squeeze the fun out of this ambitious proposal. He's like a physic vampire with the ability to suck creativity out of the soul of WDI. I hope Lasseter plays like Van Helsing and puts a stack through his corporate meddling...

Cause if what I've described makes it to completion, you guys are going to be booking your tickets to Orlando rather earlier than you planned. There's a reason to go to WDW that is totally unique for a change.

[AmericanMouse]

Not what I've heard in the "Monsters Inc Coaster?" thread accord to Jim Hill.

A Florida version of the long-rumored "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" dark ride to be put into DCA as a part of that US$1 billion redo is on the horizon for 2011.

[Anthony]

Aww, it's "poor DCA" all over again. All its new stuff being farmed out across the world before it even gets it itself.

The Little Mermaid and a Beauty and the Beast attraction, hmm? I hope Philippe Gas is invited to this party... :wink:

Can't quite believe a coaster themed to the dwarfs' mine, but it does sound like a very "WDW" thing to build.

[Maarten]

Aww, it's "poor DCA" all over again. All its new stuff being farmed out across the road before it even gets it itself.

Its DCA's punishment for stealing our Tower!  :wink:

[Anthony]

Its DCA's punishment for stealing our Tower!  :wink:

Wow, and we're not letting them get away with it easily, are we? Little Mermaid, maybe Jumpin' Jellyfish, Soarin'... what else can we grab? :lol:

The US parks can definitely keep their Enchanted Tinkerbell DVD-Selling areas anyway.

[anthonysprincess]

I WANT IT!

Any refurbishment/redesign of Fantasyland would be soooooooo welcome... It's so un-themed. And un-fantasy. And our "lances" are purple!!!! PURPLE!!! Lances aren't purple!

Naturally, I love Fantasyland, it's where I spent a very stressful year and few months of my life lol. But seriously, I do love it. I just do not like the poor excuses for theming-esecially after seeing Paris's Fantasyland.

Here's hoping!

[Kristof]

A blue print of the proposed Fantasyland make-over has been posted on Dreport.com showing a completely changed WDW Fantasyland:


(Click to enlarge)

Worthy pointing out:
- Be Our Guest restaurant and Gaston's Tavern
- Cinderella attraction (I guess the TDL walkthrough?)
- The Little Mermaid dark ride
- Aurora attraction
- Belle attraction
- Duelling Dumbo The Flying Elephant rides with interactive queue line
- Pixie Hollow meet 'n' greet and play zone

Placing the proposed blue print on a Google Earth images shows that most of Toon Town will be removed...



Blue print source

[experiment627]

If these plans should go forward, then WDW would *finally* address its least attractive area. (Personally, at its current state, WDW's Fantasyland has as much charme as WDS' Backlot, in my humble oppinion).

Putting Dumbo at the far end of Fantasyland seems a bit odd to me, but the idea of an "interactive queue" is intriguing.

I like the idea of a Beauty & the Beast restaurant. And there seems a lot of space dedicated to elaborate meet'n'greets. (I suppose that's all these Aurora & Cinderella attractions can be...) But at least it gives the land some depth. And these elaborate meet'n'greets are replacing the tents of Toontown Fair anyway. So no complaints from me.

So fingers crossed that they actually start building all those rides, restaurants, shops and landscaping soon. WDW's Magic Kingdom desperately needs some fresh blood...

[The Butlin Boy]

If these are the final plans, they are looking very promising to me

I'm assuming that the Castle wall thing is supposed to be a castle courtyard type of area, which could be really effective here. I've never been to Florida, but from what I've seen of their Fantasyland, it isn't very well themed, so hopefully they'll be getting some re-themed attraction buildings here at the same time.

As for the Belle, Aurora and Cinderella attractions, they look like walk throughs to me (they could not fit a dark ride in any of those buildings). So perhaps the Cinderella one will be a clone of the Tokyo one that's coming soon, the Aurora one will be a clone of the one that's recently opened at Disneyland California. Which leaves us with the Belle one, and I think the word on every DLP fans lips should be "Animatronic Show"? :wink:

The prospects of the Be our Guest restaurant/Gaston's Tavern seem very promising to me too. I assume that the BOG one will be a table service restaurant, and I'm hoping that some kind of impressive AA show/effects some how incorporated into the design (dancing dishes and cutlery around the room, etc). That would be fantastic /

The Little Mermaid is obviously going to be a clone of the DCA version, which is of course fantastic news for us, as it should increase the chances of one opening in Paris in the near future :mrgreen:

Pixie Hollow looks like a more advanced version of the Disneyland Meet and greet, made bigger with a playground included too.

The new Dumbo attraction seems interesting too. Two rides? A next gen interactive queue? Sounds good to me. From the plans, the exterior is looking very promising to me, but I wonder what they've got in mind for the queue then? :-k It also looks like the Dumbo theme is continued up to the train station, I wonder how they could theme that then? Anyone know of any trains in Dumbo?

Goofy's Barnstormer is obviously the same ride as the one in ToonTown Fair, but doesn't it seem a little out of place? What about that Seven Dwarf's Mine Coaster we heard rumours about a while back? It would make sense wouldn't it? :wink:

I'd be really happy if these plans go ahead, but of course, despite how official they appear to be, we can't be certain until it's actually confirmed. Remember those Grizzly River Run plans that surfaced for DLP a few months back? They aren't going to happen, and therefore, this may not either. But I do feel pretty confident that a Fantasyland make over will go ahead in the next few years, just what of this it will include is unkown

[Anthony]

It's taking a while for this plan to sink in, there's a lot to try and visualise. There's no mistaking though, if this actually happens, it's a huge, huge project for Disney. The kind of grand-scale rebuild we've not seen for more than a decade. Potter-land, what was that again? Is it just me that thinks it quite convenient this has been "leaked"?

Thoughts...

I like the way they've got castle walls opening out into the new area, the Princesses houses is a great concept and details like the drawbridge leading into what will presumably be the Beast's castle is incredibly exciting. I guess the Cinderella building will be her grand house, and where it's marked "Belle" will be hers, with the Beast's castle behind? Nice planning. Interesting to see the inside layout of Mermaid. It does look smaller than the plot in DCA, doesn't it? Not quite as "Super E-Ticket" as California's has been hyped as.

Having two Dumbos side by side is a bit much for me. I'd rather have a separate, different ride to eat up those guests instead. That seems very lazy and un-Disney.

To be honest I'd hate it if Paris' Fantasyland was like this - all meet 'n' greet non-attractions, double Dumbos and pixie hollow merchandise tie-ins. Thank god for our real attractions like the canal boats, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, etc.

But yes, considering it was only expected Magic Kingdom would get The Little Mermaid, and only then if very lucky, this is a wonderful surprise.

[experiment627]

Having two Dumbos side by side is a bit much for me. I'd rather have a separate, different ride to eat up those guests instead. That seems very lazy and un-Disney.

Could be that they are just "giving up" and give the park visitors what they want: more Dumbo... the lines for this silly little spinner ride have always been shockingly long. In no matter which park. And now try to wait 90 minutes for a carrousel wit a four year old. So this "next gen queue" is even more intriguing. (Though I have to wonder: will this queue also include toilets?  :wink: )

One thing: rumour is that they are planning on taking the Magic Carpets out of Adventureland and that they would re-theme them to be the 2nd Dumbo. Question is: as the Carpets have been build to hold 4 people on each of its arms instead of Dumbo's 2, would the 2nd Dumbo-spinner also hold 4 or would they be reducing capacity and copy the current look of that Fantasyland favourite?

[The Butlin Boy]

One thing: rumour is that they are planning on taking the Magic Carpets out of Adventureland and that they would re-theme them to be the 2nd Dumbo. Question is: as the Carpets have been build to hold 4 people on each of its arms instead of Dumbo's 2, would the 2nd Dumbo-spinner also hold 4 or would they be reducing capacity and copy the current look of that Fantasyland favourite?

Alien Vs Predator. Monsters Vs Aliens. Dumbos Vs Carpets!  :roll:

[dagobert]

I really hope that this plan will not come to reality. I really can't imagine a Fantasyland with two Dumbo rides and there are way to many meet and greets for princesses.
There are also other visitors than little girls. Disneyland is for boys and adults, too and I really, really hope that Disney will recognize this again.

Nevertheless it's time that WDW's Fantasyland will get a refurbishment. We were so disappointed when we visited WDW last year. They should get rid of this ugly facade that looks like a circus tent and transform it into a Fantasyland like the one at DLRP or DLA.

[Dlrpfan]

I think a re-design of the magic kingdoms Fantasyland is urgently required. By adding in new attractions such as the Poohs playful spot, i think they manage to highlight how old fantasyland looks in comparisson with the new attractions. I think instead of adding new attractions, they should re-design fantasyland simular to what happened at Disneyland in 1984

[davewasbaloo]

We were so disappointed when we visited WDW last year.

I am glad I am not alone.

Liberty Square, bits of Tomorrowland, Epcot, and DAK are the only things worth visiting there. I think most European fans are taken by the scale, or the whole America thing. But park for park, I prefer DLP to the MK and WDSP to DHS.

The Fantasyland there could really use more help, but these plans do very little for me.