Disney World Fantasyland

We are just 6 days away from the highly anticipated Grand Opening of the New Fantasyland® Area in the Magic Kingdom® Park. Officially opening on Thursday, Dec. 6th to park guests is the Enchanted Forest, consisting of Under the Sea~Journey of the Little Mermaid, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Ariel’s Grotto, Be Our Guest Restaurant, and Gaston’s Tavern. Storybook Circus, also part of the New Fantasyland® expansion, previously opened to guests. Future additions to New Fantasyland® include Princess Fairytale Hall(2013) and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (2014).

We thought that some New Fantasyland® Fun Facts would be a great way help pass these few remaining days!

• Originally 10 acres, the New Fantasyland expansion doubles the size to 21 acres!

• Inside the Library at Enchanted Tales with Belle, guests will find over 12,000 “books.”

• Beast’s Castle contains 115 windows.

• The design teams called the lion-like figures flanking the door at the entrance to Be Our Guest Restaurant “golions,” a combination of goat and lion. The figures above the entrance doors, eagles with snake tails, were called “sneagles.”

• Be Our Guest Restaurant’s centerpiece chandelier measures more than 12 feet tall and 11 feet wide. It boasts more than 84 candles and more than 100 jewels that hang down to give it added shine.

• As a way to identify them, the six stone figures on the bridge leading to Be Our Guest Restaurant were all given the name “Frank” during the design phase.

• At the Magic Kingdom® Park, Disneyland® Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland®, and at the Disneyland® Resort, Timothy Mouse carries a magic feather atop the Dumbo attraction. At Tokyo Disneyland®, he holds a circus whip.

• Talk about authenticity! The music heard from the old fashioned calliope in the front of Pete’s Silly Sideshow was recorded from a set of antique circus crank organs owned by a collector in Southern California.

• Of the 183 characters in Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid, more than 70 percent (128, to be exact) are featured in the “Under the Sea” scene.

• The Audio-Animatronics® figure of the sea witch Ursula is 7 1/2-feet tall and 12 feet wide.

Construction walls have come down around a section of the castle walls that will be part of the New Fantasyland® at Magic Kingdom® Park. Guests will be amazed at the amount of detail that they will see in the wall and the sections that are still to come.

Click the images in the gallery below to enlarge:

We are so excited to share a very special date with you!

The grand opening of  the New Fantasyland® at Magic Kingdom® will take place on Dec. 6, 2012. Attractions included in this phase of opening are:

• Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
• Enchanted Tales with Belle 
• Ariel’s Grotto
• Be Our Guest Restaurant 
• Gaston’s Tavern 
• Bonjour! Village Gifts.

Limited previews of the attractions will begin Nov. 19. Additional phases of the New Fantasyland® opening include Princess Fairytale Hall in 2013 and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in 2014.

Anticipation has been rising as construction of the New Fantasyland® continues! The Storybook Circus area has already opened, but the Fantasyland® Forest section is scheduled to open in phases beginning Holidays 2012.

Walt Disney World® Resort’s Imagineering team has been sharing sporadic photo updates of the area to share their excitement for the expansion. Enjoy all the detail and creativity in what will soon become the New Fantasyland®!