Mouse Extra

Since the economic recession of 2001, Disney has been accused of scaling back its operations at the Walt Disney World Resort.  Limited park hours, lax maintenance, and cuts in operations funding and personnel have all been targets and symbols by critics of a product being delivered to guests that “ain’t what it used to be”.  But nothing symbolized this trend more than that giant abandoned half-built skeleton sitting out there behind the Pop Century Resort known as the Legendary Years.  But now the critics won’t have that to kick around anymore.

Disney announced earlier this week that construction will soon begin on Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, which will be built on the site of the forgotten Legendary Years section of Pop Century.  Is this the sign that the worst is finally behind us?

copyright Disney

Over the past few years, critics have certainly exaggerated, and often times to an enormous degree, the degree to which Walt Disney World has been declining.  But all exaggerations are based in fact, and it certainly was a fact that this enormous eyesore sat there as a beacon for all the bad things critics wanted to jump on.  Now don’t let me exaggerate as well, this is certainly not the telltale sign that all is right in the Magic Kingdom.  But I do believe that it is at least a sign that Disney expects attendance to rise and the demand for “value” priced rooms to increase.

What’s more, I really do like the ideas behind this project.  Check out the Daily Disney Blog from the Orlando Sentinel for some great coverage.

Plans for the new resort show 10 wings of rooms and a separate building housing the check-in lobby and restaurants. The hotel wings will be separated into four distinct groups, each with a theme from a different animated movie: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars.

Each section will have separate courtyards anchored by icons from the movies — such as a 35-foot-tall King Triton presiding over the Mermaid section — and the entire resort will use bright-color palettes evocative of the lush scenery of animated movies. Hotel designers say they have been soliciting input from artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios on everything from building elevations to which scenes to depict at the swimming pools.

While it is true that I am not a big fan of the over-the-top style themes found at the value level resorts, I still find this idea interesting.  Family Suites are a great idea, especially affordable ones, so that alone should be applauded.  But if Disney were going to do an over-sized bordering on tacky theme of any kind, who could argue with using the company’s best attribute for inspiration.

Now, let’s hope the critics give Disney its due credit.

So we finally have a date for the end of one of my favorite rides at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the beginning of one of the most anticipated refurbishments in Disney Park history. According to the Daily Disney blog from the Orlando Sentinel, that date is August 14th

 
Disney has announced a hard ticket event for the Studios called the Last Tour to Endor. The event coincides with a Star Wars event, the Star Wars Celebration convention happening in Orlando. So you can expect lots of people dressed up in all sorts of costumes.
 
You should probably also expect the attraction to reopen in time for the next year’s Star Wars weekends. At least, that would be my best guess. But if you have fond memories of the Captain Rex then get your tickets. Information on the event can be found here. Or just make sure you book a trip by the middle of August.

Today’s article is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra

It appears the Living Character Initiative that Disney has been expounding on the last couple of years has taken the next step in its development. This project has been responsible for such interesting and popular ideas as Lucky the Dinosaur, the first walking audio-animantronic, Turtle Talk with Crush, and the cool interactive Mr. Potato Head seen in the queue for Toy Story Mania.
 
Now, at Disneyland, you can see the newest creation from this Walt Disney Imagineering project. It’s a talking Mickey Mouse, and he is holding meet-n-greets at the California Park in Toontown.  Check out the video from Disneyland News Today.

Over the past few years we have seen these types of animated characters used in stage shows, but those spoke written lines in choreographed settings.  But ever since the introduction of those characters, we have been waiting and hoping that the same technology could be used in the meet-n-greet setting.  This could an absolutely groundbreaking enhancement of the experience for children at the Disney Parks

I can only imagine that this will make its way to other Disney parks sooner rather than later.  And we can’t wait!