Inside the Magic brings you the latest top stories, announcements, special events in the words of Disney and theme parks. Read through our featured and most recent articles, reviews, and news items below.
Not long after Walt Disney World debuted the ‘Avengerail‘, Disney has updated the monorail narrations on that and all other monorails rounding the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and resort lines in Florida.
The new narrator is notably less energetic than his predecessor, but certainly gets the job done in informing passengers about what they’re seeing as they glide across the “highway in the sky.” Take a listen to the full new narration from the Transportation and Ticket Center to the Magic Kingdom and back via binaural audio below, with the non-narrative parts edited out.
Audio: New Walt Disney World monorail narration for 2012, from the Transportation and Ticket Center to Magic Kingdom and back
The Walt Disney World monorail system has featured many different narrations and narrators over its 40+ years in operation, beginning with Jack Wagner in the early ’70s. Wagner’s famous “Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas.” line can still be heard as the automatic doors close on each of the monorails, but the rest of the narration is now simple and rather subdued.
It’s worth noting that the new narration refers to the Magic Kingdom as featuring “six themed lands”: Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland. The count was formerly seven when Mickey’s Toontown Fair was around, but with its replacement, Storybook Circus, not quite complete, it seems six is the magic number for now.
To help wake everyone up this Monday morning, Disney has announced that all six of their United States theme parks will soon be getting Starbucks locations, serving familiar drinks and food at Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
“We know food and beverage offerings are an important part of the memories our guests make at Disney Parks and now they will be able to enjoy their favorite Starbucks beverage as part of their experience,” said Maribeth Bisienere, vice president, food and beverage line of business for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “Many of our guests have shared their passion for Starbucks with us, and we look forward to making their feedback a reality as we debut the first location at Disney California Adventure.”
The other five Starbucks locations haven’t been specifically announced, but there will be one in each of the other Disney parks: Disneyland park, Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Menu items will include coffee, espresso, Frappuccino, breakfast and other sandwiches, pastries, and desserts. Cups will feature both Disney and Starbucks logos.
“Starbucks and Disney have many things in common,” said Arthur Rubinfeld, president, Global Development, for Starbucks. “We share a passion for providing excellent customer service, delivering high quality in everything we do, and ensuring that every experience with our brand exceeds our customers’ expectations. This is something our customers and partners (employees) have asked for through MyStarbucksIdea.com since the site launched more than four years ago, so we are pleased to bring this idea to life.”
And though Starbucks will be new to Disney Parks in the United States, it’s not a new concept worldwide, as the Disney Village at Disneyland Paris opened a popular Starbucks location in June 2009.
But the real question is: What does Ariel think about Starbucks’ famous mermaid logo? (Yes, we doctored up the one above, but wouldn’t it be fun to see that in the parks?)
Replacing the gadget-filled House of Innoventions at Epcot is the new Vision House, created through a partnership between Walt Disney Imagineering and Green Builder Media. Unlike most Innoventions exhibits sponsored by one or two companies, the new Vision House is includes products from 12 different sponsors, each contributing new and innovative items that can help turn any home “green,” reducing energy consumption.
While previous incarnations of the House of Innovations focused largely on clever gizmos and gadgets that were fun to look at but ultimately too expensive, too impractical, or just a prototype for the future, the Vision House offers Epcot guests an up-close look at products that exist today, available for anyone to purchase and install in their own house.
Video: Grand opening and tour of the Vision House at Innoventions at Epcot
The Vision House itself closely resembles an actual house one might find outside of Walt Disney World, with a sleek modern design and contemporary style. The house is separated into fully explorable spaces, including a kitchen, dining room, living room, kids’ room, master bedroom and bathroom, office, and garage. Rather than separating areas with barricades as in previous incarnations of the exhibit, the Vision House allows guests to fully explore each room and get hands-on with the products being displayed.
Interesting eco-friendly “green” products featured in and on the house include LED lighting from Sylvania, air systems from Panasonic and Ingersoll Rand, and automated blinds built into windows from Pella, all controllable via touch screens as part of a Nexia home automation system.
Parked outside the Vision House is a Chevy Volt electric car with a charging system from Sylvania. On the roof of the house’s garage are solar panels from Hanwha Solar, helping to power the home and car.
And the home itself is built from products designed to keep comfortable air in and extreme conditions out, including stone, bricks, pavers, and roof tiles from Boral.
Even the decor in the Vision House is environmentally friendly, featuring chairs made from recycled plastics, cushy seats made from old burlap sacks, and sustainable hardwood flooring and cabinets from Armstrong World Industries.
Stylish faucets from Kohler help conserve water and appliances are Energy Star certified.
But the Vision House isn’t without a few eye-catching gadgets. Beyond the Nexia home automation system that allows air conditioning, security systems, cameras, and blinds to be controlled remotely, the most unusual gizmo found inside is a remote-controlled toilet, offering a number of eco-friendly and comforting settings including heating, lighting, drying, and even music.
Earth Day is a natural choice to open the new Vision House at Innoventions and though its products may not be as “fun” as the old House of Innoventions, homeowners visiting are sure to leave with a few new ideas on how they can improve their own living conditions to help the environment and their own electric bills.
More photos from the Vision House exhibit at Innoventions East in Epcot:
Not to be outdone by nearby Buena Vista Street’s recently-announced lively acts, Disneyland has revealed that Cars Land will also feature street entertainment that will be rolling in to the Disney California Adventure expansion when it opens this summer.
Red the Fire Truck will arrive to Radiator Springs accompanied by a “Volunteer Firefighter” with the goal of watering plants in the area. But the street show will soon turn its hose on guests as things don’t go quite as planned.
Disney California Adventure isn’t a stranger to getting its guests wet, as the park’s popular and water-packed Pixar Play Parade will return to the park the same day Cars Land opens, June 15, 2012.
A much dryer experience also coming to Cars Land is “DJ’s Dance & Drive” where DJ is a “party car,” blasting dance tunes in the street, joined by a girl named Spinner. Guests will be invited to take part in learning special car-themed dance moves including the “Overdrive,” the “Reverse” and the “Hairpin Turn.”
Disney California Adventure’s 5-year expansion project will wrap up when Cars Land and Buena Vista Street open in just under two months.
Though Transformers: The Ride 3D doesn’t officially open until May 25, 2012, Universal Studios Hollywood is already showing off their newest attraction in a series of previews. Beginning with an employee preview this week, the high-tech ride has been receiving praise from fans and critics alike, even in its current “technical rehearsal” phase.
To build on the hype during this preview stage, well over a month before the grand opening, Universal Studios Hollywood has offered a behind the scenes look at the creation of the new attraction, featuring on-ride footage and interviews with some of its creators, with familiar faces including Universal Creative’s Mark Woodbury and Thierry Coup.
Woodbury is president of Universal Creative and was most recently seen announcing several new experiences at Universal Orlando for 2012. I also interviewed Coup at the grand (re)opening of one of those announcements, the HD upgrade to The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure.
Video: Behind the scenes of Transformers: The Ride 3D
It’s no surprise that Coup is also involved with the creation of Transformers: The Ride 3D, as it is obvious from the video above that it is in style to Spider-Man, though many who have ridden the new attraction in its preview days have already said it’s even better. Most notable, the ride vehicles fully shown off in the behind-the-scenes video are instantly recognizable to anyone who has ridden the Spider-Man ride, now re-themed as EVAC, a new character in the Transformers world.
Also featured in the behind-the-scenes video is voice talent Peter Cullen, who has been behind Autobot leader Optimus Prime since the character’s creation in the ’80s. I also spoke with Cullen back in 2010 about his iconic role, the upcoming Transformers ride, and working with Michael Bay on the Hollywood version of the Transformers franchise.
It’s no surprise that videos documenting the entire Transformers ride experience have already shown up on YouTube, though I wouldn’t recommend watching a video online as the first experience for this 3D attraction. Just like The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, no video could do this ride justice. New walk-around characters in the park make for much more entertaining YouTube videos, even if they aren’t quite the massive scale Transformers should be.
Visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood can expect, but not count on, soft openings to continue on an unscheduled basis, meaning the attraction could open or close at any time. Universal Studios Hollywood Annual Passholders can also sign up for exclusive previews May 4 - 6, but still without a guarantee that the ride will be open or fully working. That guarantee isn’t made until Transformers: The Ride 3D officially rolls out Memorial Day weekend, beginning with a star-studded red carpet press event on May 24, followed by the public opening the next day.
Check back to Inside the Magic in just over a month for coverage of the grand opening of Transformers: The Ride 3D at Universal Studios Hollywood!
Star Wars Weekends summary and Carbon Freeze Me experience report, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue 1-year anniversary with interviews with ILM visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and Imagineer Susan Dain.
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