Off to Neverland Travel found this article regarding the new theme and upgrades coming to Disney’s California Adventure. Along with a sweeping overhaul of the main entrance theme and multiple new attractions, Disney’s California Adventure will be a great place to visit in the next several years. Learn more here:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney16-2008oct16,0,4646061.story
WOFL FOX 35, Orlando reports that soon, kids of all ages will be able to meet the fairies (including Tinkerbell) from the new “Tinkerbell: The Movie” which releases to DVD on October 28.
It’s called “Pixie Hollow”, a meet and greet experience that your littlest one has never experienced before. Tinkerbell and her fairy friends, complete with pixie dust, will interact with guests at the Magic Kingdom’s “Mickey’s Toontown Fair.“
The new area opens on October 24th. Want to be there when it opens? Book your Disney Vacation today!
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney Vacation Club (DVC) has announced two new properties for the Walt Disney World® Resort. Bay Lake Tower, which is positioned very close to Disney’s Contemporary Resort will allow for a first in Disney Vacation Club history. DVC members will now have the option of staying within walking distance to the Magic Kingdom® park. DVC also announced the Treehouse Villas, which will be a rebuild of some older villas near Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. The two new properties will give DVC members even more flexibility in terms of choices for their stay.
You don’t have to be a DVC member to book these resorts. Contact your Personal Magic Maker™ to learn more about the Disney properties. Your Magic Maker® will guide you through the process and make sure you get the perfect resort for your family.
Have you ever dreamed of sailing the seven seas or searching for buried treasure? Would you like to drift off at night in a pirate-ship bed, dreaming of far-away lands? A new option at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort may be your dream come true!
Beginning in January 2009, 384 rooms in the Trinidad South village will be transformed into Pirate Rooms. These special rooms feature two double beds, along with highly themed furniture, buccaneer accessories, and swashbuckling décor from stem to stern. They are sure to immerse your vacations in the spirit of “The Pirates of the Caribbean!”
Live out your pirate dreams, and stay in one of these unique rooms, a new room category at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. There’s nothing else like it this side of the Seven Seas!
Anaheim, CA – The interior of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland will open in time for the December holiday season, offering guests a “reawakened” version of its classic walkthrough presentation kissed with vibrant scenes of Aurora, her charming prince, the evil Maleficent and other characters from the beloved fairy tale film.
“It is fitting that we are announcing the return of a classic on the 53rd anniversary of Disneyland,” said Tony Baxter, Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering, who unveiled a model of the castle on July 17, the birthday of Disneyland park.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” and the excitement generated by the anniversary of the motion picture spurred interest in the return of the Disneyland attraction.
Also celebrating the milestone 50th Anniversary of “Sleeping Beauty” is Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, which will release a two-disc Platinum Blu-ray™ Hi-Def disc, making “Sleeping Beauty” the first Walt Disney animated classic title to be released in high definition, as well as on two-disc Platinum DVD. A bonus feature on the new release will be “The Original Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through Attraction With Walt Disney Imagineering,” an immersive experience recreating the original castle walkthrough.
On April 29, 1957, nearly two years before the premiere of Walt Disney’s animated feature “Sleeping Beauty,” the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough opened with an in-park ceremony featuring Walt Disney and actress Shirley Temple who, some 20 years earlier, had presented Disney with his special Academy Award – one Oscar and seven little ones – for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
The crafting of the 1957 walkthrough show fell to Walt Disney Imagineer Ken Anderson and animation art director and color stylist Eyvind Earle, credited with giving the motion picture “Sleeping Beauty” the distinctive and colorful look of storybook illustrations in medieval style. An entirely new look appeared in 1977 when the attraction’s redesign featured miniature dioramas, including moving figurines similar to the window displays in the shops on Main Street, U.S.A.
When the attraction is unveiled later this year, the “show” will differ from the dioramas of the 1980s and ‘90s, returning to the unique style of the original 1957 show and motion picture. Enhanced with new scenes and special effects magic, the re-Imagineered attraction will employ technology not available in the 1950s to represent scenes from the story of Sleeping Beauty, including the magic of good fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and the more sinister spells of the evil Maleficent.
For the first time, guests who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle will be able to experience the walkthrough “virtually” in a special room on the ground floor of the Castle.
As with all things in life, change is upon us. The Walt Disney World® Resort is not free from change, in fact, many times they pioneer change before others. Off to Neverland Travel® has confirmed the closure of one show and changes to two Disney restaurants. We wanted to make you aware of the changes so that you can make sure you have a chance to experience these before the changes take place.
Walt Disney World® Resort has unveiled a new vision for the Downtown Disney® area, with extraordinary new shopping, dining and other experiences including a completely re-imagined Pleasure Island. Also planned are numerous enhancements to popular Downtown Disney locations, as well as additional theming and storytelling brought to life by Walt Disney Imagineers.
“We are committed to offering Guests new and exciting experiences they can only have at Walt Disney World® Resort,” said Downtown Disney Vice President Kevin Lansberry. “Our bold new vision for Downtown Disney reflects the feedback we receive from our Guests each and every day and will enable us to continue to offer the high-quality entertainment that is our hallmark.”
Over the next year, the 120-acre entertainment-shopping-dining complex will add a number of one-of-a-kind, immersive experiences for you to enjoy. Downtown Disney will even get its own iconic attraction, in the form of a giant, tethered balloon that will take Guests 300 feet into the air to view the amazing vistas of Walt Disney World Resort.
Other new experiences include:
You also will enjoy a brand new mix of shopping and dining experiences at Pleasure Island as it is transformed over the next two years.
“Our Guests tell us they want additional shopping and dining experiences at Downtown Disney,” added Lansberry. “We are currently considering a number of unique concepts from around the globe as we re-imagine Pleasure Island and look forward to sharing our progress over the coming months.”
To make way for the new offerings, all of the clubs currently on Pleasure Island will close on Sept. 27, 2008. Other locations on Pleasure Island, including Raglan Road, Fuego by Sosa Cigars, Curl by Sammy Duval, Orlando Harley-Davidson and outdoor food and beverage locations will remain open during the transition.
To complement the new experiences, many popular Downtown Disney locations will undergo enhancements.
These efforts come on the heels of recent enhancements at World of Disney, Wolfgang Puck Express, Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, Earl of Sandwich and Cap’n Jack’s Restaurant.
MousePlanet’s David Koenig reports that Disney is going to re-open the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through attraction, which was closed almost seven years ago due to post 9/11 terrorist concerns. While no date has been announced, sources speculate that the attraction could re-open sometime early next year. While some of the original attraction cannot be restored because of recent updates to other shows, we are sure to see a wonderful new walk-through for young and old princesses alike. Stay tuned to the Off to Neverland Travel Dreams Blog for updates!