Fantasyland Expansion Timeline Update!

[Wendy]

We all know Fantasyland is expanding and we’re anxious to start our countdown clocks for the new experiences…if only we knew when they were going to open!

Announcements were made at the D23 expo and a better idea of the timeline is out of the bag. Here are the projected completion dates/openings for the new and improved Fantasyland!

• Early 2012: Half of Storybook circus with Double Dumbo, Great Goofini coaster, Fantasyland Train Station and Casey Jr.
  
  
• Late 2012: Under the Sea~Journey of the Little Mermaid ride, Be Our Guest Restaurant, Beauty and the Beast Village, Belle meet-and-greet, Castle wall
  
  
• Early 2013: Remaining half of Storybook Circus with Pete’s Silly Slideshow
  
  
• Late 2013: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster

We have all been waiting to see what the new Fantasyland expansion has to bring, but we must be patient. These things take time and this is the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history. If you thought your feet were tired with the current Magic Kingdom offerings, gear up for the new attractions to come!

Storybook Circus:

The famous Casey Jr. Circus Train has brought the 1930’s/40’s circus to town complete with Dumbo, Pete’s Silly Slideshow and The Great Donaldo and of course no circus would be complete without a spot to stock up on souvenirs!
The greatest idea to happen to the Dumbo ride since the invention of the Dumbo ride…double the Dumbo and add air conditioning. The new “Big Top” will feature interactive queue’s, twice as much ride and magical air conditioning under the “Big Top” while you wait.

The Great Goofini roller coaster took Goofy’s Barnstormer from Wise-Acre Farms and updated him to a circus extravaganza fit for the “Big Top”.

Pete’s Silly Slideshow is bringing together characters from all over the world, in circus theme of course! The Great Donaldo is one of the characters we know about, Donald Duck as a famous snake charmer from the Far East…I wonder who else will make an appearance?

Castle Wall:

A new Cinderella Castle wall will be near the existing carousel and will transition from the castle courtyard to the Fantasyland forest. Work your way through the winding forest complete with waterways and find new adventures along the way.

The Little Mermaid-Ride through Ariel’s Undersea Adventures on her new attraction and experience life “Unda Da’ Sea!” then approach Prince Eric’s castle. How would you go about approaching a castle surrounded by water? Lucky for you, “The tide has gone out, but some tide pools will linger amidst that castle caverns that form the foundation of the castle” where the interactive queue will reside. Ariel returns to her Grotto to meet-and-greet in her natural environment.

Beast’s Castle is home to Be Our Guest (a new restaurant) as well as an elaborate meet-and-greet with Belle, featuring everyone’s favorite candlestick-Lumiere!

The fairest of them all is not to be forgotten, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster will suit the daring with a thrill level above the new Great Goofini but not as big as Big Thunder Mountain. What makes this ride so fantastic? The ride vehicles! The vehicles in this coaster will maneuver off the track and swivel left and right independently of the track, so the ride will never be the same twice.

As you can see the imagineers are hard at work making an even better Fantasyland, we’ll continue to keep you update as the timeline progresses and more information is available.

[Britchick]

When they say late 2012 do you reckon they mean by October?

[Wendy]

I'm hoping so The original time line was Fall 2012, which would have made it September Hopefully we'll get more of an idea as it gets completed.

[Britchick]

I'm hoping so The original time line was Fall 2012, which would have made it September Hopefully we'll get more of an idea as it gets completed.

Ooooo I hope so

[Wendy]

Ooooo I hope so

Now I know why you were asking - the countdown looks good