Checking In From The World
Hello everybody, Tom Corless here reporting from the Walt Disney World Resort in Orland, Florida. It has been a fun and hectic nine days here, but I’ll be returning home to New York tomorrow evening. I apologize for the lack of news lately, but here are some tidbits to tide you over until we are fully operational again on May 29.
-Toy Story Midway Mania was operating perfectly at Disney’s Hollywood Studios the first few days of my vacation, but has suffered greatly from the addition of the fastpass system this past weekend. The stand-by line moved very fast prior to the changes, but wait times after the changes went up to 2 hours in length, despite what the estimated time was stated to be. Expect either limited fastpass distribution or the removal of the system from the attraction sometime in the near future. Also expect the new store and dining location across the street inside the Pixar Studios area to open during the later part of June.
-Work on Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa continues as the entire pool area is slated to be refurbished over the next week or so. In addition, the now delayed new flooring for the main building will be arriving in September and should be in place before the holiday season.
-The Mad Tea Party will be closed for refurbishment May 28th, 2008.
-The Jungle Cruise, Ariel’s Grotto, and Cinderella’s Golden Carousel re-opened from refurbishment recently and are all looking great. The Carousel has received new loading gates that are really well themed and decorated. Expect pictures from me later this week of all of these changes plus other items from my ten day trip.