Ever wonder how Disney develops new attractions and experiences for its theme parks and resorts?

Tom Staggs, chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and Bruce Vaughn, chief creative officer, Walt Disney Imagineering, takes us on a behind-the-scenes look at the creative design process for the Magic Kingdom Park New Fantasyland expansion at Walt Disney World Resort.

When Imagineers start building a new park or a land, they first create a detailed scale model to help visualize what the project will look like when it’s complete. Models like the one in this Magic Kingdom Park New Fantasyland flythrough video are not only works of art, but they’re also an invaluable tool that helps Imagineers visualize sight lines, analyze guest traffic patterns and get an overall sense of the design and aesthetics.


Some of the attractions and restaurants coming to New Fantasyland that you saw in that video include:

  • Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid where guests will get to experience what it’s like to go under the sea with Ariel and her friends.
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle where families and children will have the opportunity to meet Belle with a whole new degree of interactivity and personalization.
  • Dumbo The Flying Elephant, complete with an interactive queue under the Big Top and not one but two Dumbo attractions.
  • Be Our Guest Guests can dine in three separate dining rooms in the Beast’s castle. The main dining room is the Ballroom, where Belle and Beast had their first dance, in the West Wing or in the Castle Galley during lunch hours.
  • Gaston’s Tavern, a place where guests can dine in splendor and pay tribute to the manliest of men…Gaston himself!

Tom also gave D23 Expo attendees even more detail around the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train where guests will take a journey through the diamond mine of the Seven Dwarfs in a new ride system designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. The ride system allows each mine car to swing back and forth individually as the train twists and turns along the track.