re: WDW Rumors...
Posted: Mar Sun 12, 2006 10:03 am
Hey WDW fans.. I'm always at WDW and asking questions. Here is what a few WDI guys told me:
Everest has significantly increased DAK's attendance. So much so that they are talking additional phases once again. Beastly Kingdom is going to happen, there will be 3 - 4 kids attractions and two E ticket attractions as well as another show. Right now the plan is to replace camp minnie mickey with Beastly Kingdom. This will force the Pocahontas show to retire and move the Lion King show to a larger venue in Africa. The Character greeting areas will be dispersed throughout the park. One of the proposed Beastly E tickets is an indoor 'hybrid' coaster with a Dragon theme. The other E ticket is also rumored to be a dark ride as well.
They are also adding a second full bar similar to DAWA either in Asia near Everest, possibly converting one of the old boat docks into a bar. WDI was out there a few weeks back looking at cost of running water and electric as well as crowd control etc.
Remember the old river ride at DAK? Well I was told that they can fairly inexpensively add boat service to DAK Lodge via this canal. Plans are in the works for this.
The icon for DAK will now be the tree of life in the foreground and Everest in the background.
As for 35th rumors, the only thing they are telling me is that there is a ton of expansion set to take place in the next year. The new cast name tags are out for the 35th, although they haven't been released yet. Park operations and WDI are set to reveal the 35th plans in the next month.
I got several imagineers to tell me that project 5th gate has been shelved and they are focusing on expanding the 4 current parks versus building a new one. I was told that Star Tours 2.0 is definetly a go but it is not the new E-Ticket everyone has rumored for the studios. There is something else completely different in the works. I was also told that the Indy show is going to hang on a little longer due to its large crowd capacity. As soon as they get the other projects off and running, Indy will be gone and replaced with a hybrid of CA's Indy and the Paris Indy coaster. Something completely mind blowing... Sounds cool to me. I brought up how cool I thought Journey into the Center of the Earth looked and got a few smiles and was told to "be patient".
As for EPCOT I was told that SSE will go down for a major rehab and something is going to be done with the old Earth Station portion. Eiger has reportedly walked through and was disgusted with the state of the attraction. They also told me that the Epcot sign (man I hate that thing) above spaceship earth and the new Cinderella Castle are staying the way they are. Too costly to change them back. After HCOE is over they will not change the castle back.
My clients at WDW tell me they are adding the Black Pearl to Castaway Cay just before the Pirates rehab is complete.
With the Monorail system in CA being upgraded, I was told it will be the new prototype system for WDW as well. They are going to 26" beams like WDW and testing out the new trains. If all goes well, they will slowly replace our trains here. They recently finished upgrading all of the WDW trains to a Windows XP console and are now able to measure cycle times, fastest drivers, safety errors and pilot errors quite accurately.
Everest has significantly increased DAK's attendance. So much so that they are talking additional phases once again. Beastly Kingdom is going to happen, there will be 3 - 4 kids attractions and two E ticket attractions as well as another show. Right now the plan is to replace camp minnie mickey with Beastly Kingdom. This will force the Pocahontas show to retire and move the Lion King show to a larger venue in Africa. The Character greeting areas will be dispersed throughout the park. One of the proposed Beastly E tickets is an indoor 'hybrid' coaster with a Dragon theme. The other E ticket is also rumored to be a dark ride as well.
They are also adding a second full bar similar to DAWA either in Asia near Everest, possibly converting one of the old boat docks into a bar. WDI was out there a few weeks back looking at cost of running water and electric as well as crowd control etc.
Remember the old river ride at DAK? Well I was told that they can fairly inexpensively add boat service to DAK Lodge via this canal. Plans are in the works for this.
The icon for DAK will now be the tree of life in the foreground and Everest in the background.
As for 35th rumors, the only thing they are telling me is that there is a ton of expansion set to take place in the next year. The new cast name tags are out for the 35th, although they haven't been released yet. Park operations and WDI are set to reveal the 35th plans in the next month.
I got several imagineers to tell me that project 5th gate has been shelved and they are focusing on expanding the 4 current parks versus building a new one. I was told that Star Tours 2.0 is definetly a go but it is not the new E-Ticket everyone has rumored for the studios. There is something else completely different in the works. I was also told that the Indy show is going to hang on a little longer due to its large crowd capacity. As soon as they get the other projects off and running, Indy will be gone and replaced with a hybrid of CA's Indy and the Paris Indy coaster. Something completely mind blowing... Sounds cool to me. I brought up how cool I thought Journey into the Center of the Earth looked and got a few smiles and was told to "be patient".
As for EPCOT I was told that SSE will go down for a major rehab and something is going to be done with the old Earth Station portion. Eiger has reportedly walked through and was disgusted with the state of the attraction. They also told me that the Epcot sign (man I hate that thing) above spaceship earth and the new Cinderella Castle are staying the way they are. Too costly to change them back. After HCOE is over they will not change the castle back.
My clients at WDW tell me they are adding the Black Pearl to Castaway Cay just before the Pirates rehab is complete.
With the Monorail system in CA being upgraded, I was told it will be the new prototype system for WDW as well. They are going to 26" beams like WDW and testing out the new trains. If all goes well, they will slowly replace our trains here. They recently finished upgrading all of the WDW trains to a Windows XP console and are now able to measure cycle times, fastest drivers, safety errors and pilot errors quite accurately.
