John from the Disney Blog (among others) recently reported that Disney has announced a major expansion of Fantasyland for the Magic Kingdom park. The formal announcement confirms the rumor that began floating around the web after blueprints for the expansion were leaked online.
The expansion is scheduled to be completed in 2012, a year late for the Magic Kingdom's 40th Anniversary. While it's always frustrating to have to put up with ugly barriers during the expanse of time needed to build these new additions, it seems like it will definitely be worth it. The expansion will allow you to journey "past the castle walls" of Cinderella's Castle, where each Disney princess will have her own castle, cottage or chateau. These, of course, are themed meet and greet areas, but the press announcement seems to suggest that you'll get to do more than just stand in line and meet a princess standing in the middle of an open room - you get to "share a dance" with Cinderella, celebrate Sleeping Beauty's birthday with the Good Fairies, and enjoy a story from Belle in the Beast's castle library. You'll be able to visit Tinkerbell and her friends in their own Pixie Hollow area. A new Little Mermaid attraction is also planned, which will be a clone of the one also opening at Disney's California Adventure park in 2011.
The Dumbo attraction is also getting a considerable revamp. There will now be two spinners, doubling the attraction's capacity (a good thing, considering its notoriously long wait times). The ride will be set within a three-ring circus and will feature an interactive queue, probably something like the talking Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story Midway Mania queue line.
There will also be a new Beauty and the Beast dinner show, where guests can dine in "three enchanted rooms" in the Beast's castle. I have heard that this restaurant will be counter service for lunch and full service for dinner. Another full service dining option has been badly needed in the Magic Kingdom park, so this is great. I have also heard something about a very manly Gaston's (Belle's crude, burly suitor) restaurant as well ... maybe this is part of the larger Beauty and the Beast restaurant? It would be interesting to have a tavern in a park that doesn't serve alcohol.
Of course, the new expansion will probably mean the death of some or all parts of Mickey's Toontown Fair. Donald's Boat seems all but doomed, although I have heard that Goofy's Barnstormer may be rethemed into a Tinkerbell/Pixie Hollow attraction. It's possible that Mickey and Minnie will be moved to the front of the park (i.e. the Main Street/Town Hall area) to meet with guests.
The new expansion is an interesting move for Disney. Some of Disney's recent endeavors (the creation of Disney XD, for example, and the acquisition of Marvel) reflect the company's concern with capturing the boy demographic. As Universal ad campaigns have made painfully clear ("If I have to hug another Princess, I'm going to puke!"), Disney excels at drawing in the girls, but flounders a little with the boys. The popularity of the Pirates franchise has helped somewhat with that (notably, Disney created a Pirate makeover for boys to parallel their Bippity Boppity Boutique experience). It's interesting, then, that Disney would want to sink their dollars into a major expansion that promotes, largely, a girls' fantasy world of princesses and fairies. It could be they just want to strengthen something they're already in the lead with ... although it's a pity that with Universal opening Harry Potter land this spring (a franchise that appeals pretty much equally to both boys and girls, as well as adults), they couldn't have found a way to make the expansion a little bit more balanced. Pirates Land, anyone? Cars Land, of course, is opening up over at Disney's California Adventure ... but that only helps the west coast.
So ... what do you think? A very interesting move by Disney ... and in any case, it's something that's sure to be both successful and beautifully constructed. Disney doesn't slack off when it comes to its parks, especially such a classic and popular park as the Magic Kingdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment