Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Discussion Thread

That's crappy...I did Grad Nite at Wonderland back in '95, didn;t ride much, but I had an amazing time. It's that one last hoorah with people you might not see much after that.

Hahahahaha. See, that was at Wonderland, most likely a much smaller park My Grad Nite was at Disneyland. It was so crowded that my group literally got split at the security screening up front. We had to call each other to find out where everybody was. And then didn't see anyone from school the rest of the night. Glad to see Walt Disney World getting rid of it. Hope Disneyland follows this trend

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/04/a-new-castle-emerges-at-magic-kingdom-park/

Hi everyone. Today, we have a thrilling update for those of you who are excited to see the expansion of Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom Park come to life.

 

Walt Disney Imagineers are currently piecing together the Beast’s castle, which will sit high atop what will become the Be Our Guest Restaurant. The “Beauty and the Beast”-inspired restaurant, which is set to open in late 2012, will offer a lavish dining experience in the castle’s elegant ballroom, gallery and mysterious “west-wing.” The restaurant and castle will eventually be flanked by Gaston’s Tavern, Bonjour! Village Gifts, and the cottage of Maurice (Belle’s father).

 

Be sure to check the Disney Parks Blog later this week for some exclusive photos of WDI’s progress.

 

The castle construction is a major milestone in the expansion, which will nearly double the size of Fantasyland and include several new attractions, such as Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and enhanced versions of the existing attractions, Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Barnstormer.

 

The expanded Fantasyland is scheduled to open in phases, beginning in late 2012.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/04/the-music-behind-the-little-mermaid-ariels-undersea-adventure/

For those who saw “The Little Mermaid” back in 1989, you know the music in the movie was just as magical as a mermaid falling in love with a prince and living happily ever after. Remember “Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Kiss the Girl”? You’ll hear all these classics throughout the new attraction, The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, set to open at Disney California Adventure park in June.

 

More than 20 years ago Alan Menken wrote the movie score that won an Academy Award, and he collaborated with Howard Ashman on the songs. For the attraction, the music needed to be arranged somewhat differently, so well-known musical arranger and orchestrator Danny Troob, who has worked often with Menken, took on the challenge. In this video, we go into the music studio and give you a front row seat in a session with Troob and a 65-piece orchestra, as they recreate the amazing Little Mermaid music we all know and love.

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=disneyparks_745_k6a6[/coastertube]

So are they building this off site like universal did with WWHP's amazing castle or is that actually a shot of the progress they have done on the construction site?

It's very purple, Heres a shot from the opening scene of the movie to compare.

Still looks pretty good!

^ -nerd alert - bearing in mind that shot is from the castle pre-Beastly transformation - so if the castle in New Fantasyland is the Beast's Castle, purple works.

In other words, it's looking awesome!

So are they building this off site like universal did with WWHP's amazing castle or is that actually a shot of the progress they have done on the construction site?

The pic is as the castle stands in the park. Its being "assembled" (I haven't seen frequent enough photos to notice, but it looks pre-built) But the photo makes it look huge! Its really smaller then that, haha.

The pic is as the castle stands in the park. Its being "assembled" (I haven't seen frequent enough photos to notice, but it looks pre-built) But the photo makes it look huge! Its really smaller then that, haha.

So roughly how big is it then?

This is how big it is:

Photo from Orlando Park Hopper Mice Chat

Photo from Orlando Park Hopper Mice Chat

It is a forced perspective so I cant tell its real size without something next to it. But it looks maybe 8-10 ft tall? Your guess is as good as mine.

Link to the original post.

For those that are still interested, here is a video of the construction of the castle. It give a better perspective with a worker on the bridge, and also shows how its being assembled.

Member "Photoflight" has several more aerial shots posted on his site from the end of March.

Saw the new castle construction while at MK yesterday and IMHO the forced perspective is pretty weak. Maybe it will look better once the whole thing is completed.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/04/beast-castle-behind-the-scenes-with-walt-disney-imagineers/

Today, we’re happy to present a backstage look at the creation of Beast castle at Magic Kingdom Park, a huge milestone in the Fantasyland expansion.

 

In response to Monday’s post, many of you asked how tall the new castle is, or if it would even distract from the view of Cinderella Castle (this shot was taken from the queue at Dumbo the Flying Elephant). Well, the next few photos should put your mind at ease. As you can see, Beast’s castle actually uses forced perspective architecture to make the structure look more grandiose in size than it appears in reality.

 

Forced perspective works as sort of an optical illusion, tricking the eye into believing a structure is much larger or taller than it really is. This is done by manipulating the size and scale of a building, based on the perspective it will be viewed from.

 

The company’s use of forced perspective started with Walt Disney during the construction of Disneyland park in California. At that time, Walt paid special attention to the scale of each building, as well as the specific shrubs and trees that flanked them in order to create the best sense of height and drama.

 

As you can see in this comparison between the artist rendering and the current construction, the castle sits high atop what will be the Be Our Guest Restaurant, which is really the gateway to the castle’s interior. Here, the restaurant will offer quick-service lunches and table-service dinners inside the Beast’s elegant ballroom, gallery and eerie “west-wing.” The construction to the far left will become Maurice’s Cottage.

 

Word on the street is that WDI is preparing a video tour of the area for our Disney Parks Blog readers. More to come on this next week.

I guess disney looked across the street and said, "nope... can't beat that!"

Still bigger than Disneyland's castle?

I dunno...it still looks like a very small castle in the last picture...I guess everything has to be finish before that perspective can be fully forced...

I think it'll look fine with everything put together, lol.

And I'm looking forward to what they make of Mermaid's themeing.

The concept art looks lovely. And the construction is looking

true to what I have seen, so far.

DCA unfortunately had to deal with a building (and they did great by me)

but this should look very cool.

And the mine coaster in the middle of it all, LOL! I find the coaster interesting,

as it'll be one of the few park attractions you can actually walk around in the same land, lol.

That is absolutely awesome! They are moving very fast! Can't wait to see it on my September trip!

I thought there was going to be a ride in the Castle, I have no idea where i got that from. But really that is disapointing, size wise!

I believe that the castle is going to have a restaurant in it(under it).

Yes, the Beauty and the Beast themed area will be a restaurant.

I thought there was going to be a ride in the Castle, I have no idea where i got that from. But really that is disapointing, size wise!

The Little Mermaid ride is inside Prince Eric's castle/sea cliffs, maybe thats what you were thinking of.

A great aerial view of the castle construction, and the scale of it all.

That is a great site! I may just get lost at looking at all those pictures!

I did not expect the Beast's castle to be THAT small. I am sure it will look fine once all is completed. Feels like it will be so long from now! I am kind of sad my trip is this year... 2013 will come soon enough though!

I did not expect the Beast's castle to be THAT small. I am sure it will look fine once all is completed. Feels like it will be so long from now! I am kind of sad my trip is this year... 2013 will come soon enough though!

The aerial pictures really are misleading and ruin the effect they're working for (still...I'm glad I shot them). The latest ground-level pictures people are posting really do show the full effect of the castle design. It really isn't much different than the Eiffel Tower setup at Epcot. From the walkway the tower looks big, and in the context of the buildings it looks natural. From the air it looks like a small model they stuck on a building - which is pretty much what it is

Click to enlarge...

Click to enlarge...

^ Perfect example!!

And with that, hopefully everyone will relax a bit now.