Welcome to The Most Magical Place On Earth on a beautiful Florida winter day! The sun has come out, the wind has calmed down, and crowds are surprisingly light during this Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend. We’ve got tons of updates from every corner of the park, so let’s take a look.
Starting from outside the park, construction at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) is making some very solid progress. Lots of new paving has been put into place, which tends to happen around the later stages of a project like this.
The concrete above looks to be extremely fresh, so much so that a worker is still texturing it.
The tram loop is still awaiting some new paving, though.
If you’re walking to the TTC from the Magic Kingdom parking lot, you’ll find that one of the pedestrian bridges has been removed as new concrete was installed, allowing guests to walk directly on the surface.
Speaking of walkways, the one that is being built to connect the Grand Floridian and the Magic Kingdom continues to develop.
Today, a trailer full of metal walkways and railings is at the work site. They look quite similar to what’s in place at the TTC walkway we mentioned above.
The Magic Kingdom side of the bridge has been getting the most attention for the last couple weeks.
At the entrance to the park this structure is taking shape, most likely for a security checkpoint.
When viewed from the entrance we can see the structure is similar to the covers over most security screening areas, though styled to fit in at the Magic Kingdom.
Inside the park, the exterior refurbishment of City Hall continues.
At The Emporium, there’s a display for Minnie Mouse: The Main Attraction merchandise. Unfortunately only the mug and plush remain. We detailed the entire collection when it was released this month – read our full post to learn about all of the items.
While some things are quick to sell out, we also get new items that stick around for a while. In this case, two of the varieties of pet treats that we discovered at Disney’s Hollywood Studios yesterday have made their way to the Magic Kingdom.
Mickey and Minnie were kind enough to welcome us this morning just before the official park opening.
They also brought along a bunch of friends, including Peter Pan, Snow White, and Rapunzel.
Around the castle, the moat is being drained in preparation for the exterior enhancements to Cinderella Castle.
Currently, it’s unclear if additional security measures have been put into place to protect from would-be invaders while the moat is out of commission.
Within Tomorrowland, the refurbishment of the PeopleMover posts continues to make slow but steady progress. Posts all around the track are in varying states of completion.
Some are merely the raw steel which hides beneath the outer layers.
Others have had a wire mesh placed around them (sometimes covered with scrim).
While some others have new concrete, but have yet to be painted.
As a peace offering to make amends for the construction work, Disney has provided this “The Child” youth spirit jersey at the Tomorrowland Light & Power Co. This spirit jersey differs from the adult one that was released, and not just because of its size. Click here to read our full post on the new jersey to see what’s changed!
Of course, we can’t talk about Tomorrowland without bring up TRON Lightcycle Run. Heavy work continues on this project, but given the size and scope of this attraction, it’s going to be at least a year before we actually see the finished product.
The track has been in place for quite a while, but we continue to see the main show building completed around it, and large concrete posts are beginning to take shape to support the giant canopy structure.
In a recent post, we provided some photos of new track that has been laid for the Walt Disney Wold Railroad – click here to see those pictures. Those new sections of track look great, but there are still plenty of stretches that have barely been touched at this point. Hopefully Space Mountain’s exterior is next in line for a little TLC.
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe is still missing its headline performer, Sonny Eclipse. There’s been no word on when he’ll return to the stage.
In the Storybook Circus section of Fantasyland, this new construction box has made a quiet appearance in the planter between the FastPass entrance for Dumbo and The Barnstormer.
It’s the back side of castle!
We’re patiently waiting for the it’s a small world queue refurbishment to be completed, at which point these blue construction walls will be removed.
Something guests were decidedly less patient for today was the opening of The Haunted Mansion, which was delayed until after noon.
In Frontierland, Splash Mountain is in its final week of refurbishment, and water has returned to this lower section of track.
Clearly water has not yet returned to the attraction’s signature drop, though.
It appears that the work on the lift hill barn has been completed, with new roofing in place. If you’d like additional pictures and details on the current state of Splash Mountain, click here for the full article.
On our way out of the park, the express monorail was not yet open for guests departing the park. This monorail line was limited to picking up guests at the TTC and dropping them off at the Magic Kingdom, leaving the resort monorail and ferryboats as the primary options for returning to the parking lot.
Finally, as the TTC continues to evolve during its construction, the exit pathway leading guests past Mickey’s Gift Station has reopened after temporarily being blocked due to pavement work. Guests will still need to walk to the other end of the security screening area to exit to the parking lot and buses, though.
We hope you had as much fun as we did on our trip to the Magic Kingdom! If you’d like more photos from the parks, click here and follow WDWNT on Instagram.