Parkscope: Dumbo

Friday, June 22, 2012

Agent P Saves the World, Trains Splash & Elephants Duel!

With all the rumblings in the Universal Orlando rumor mill, it is easy to overlook the smaller happenings at Walt Disney World. Storybook Circus became a bit more kinetic recently when Casey Jr. began soaking guests and Timothy Mouse helped the other set of Dumbos to begin to fly and thusly "duel". Also, Agent P has kicked Kim Possible out of World Showcase. Lets take a brief look at the new experiences at Walt Disney World, shall we?

Storybook Circus completed the introduction of the new Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction by getting the second spinner testing. Soon, guests will be able to soar on one of two Dumbo spinners. This effectively doubles the capacity of the original Dumbo. While waiting to load one of the two spinners, guests will be able to enjoy the Big Top. The Big Top is Dumbo's new interactive queue, which will open in July. This new expereince will allow children to enjoy a play structure until it is time to soar with Dumbo.

Storybook Circus also opened the new Casey Jr. Splash and Soak Station and boy is it wet. Whenever I first heard about this addition, I thought it was going to be pretty similar to Donald's Boat, but I was wrong because Casey Jr. takes Splash and Soak to a new level. This water play area is sure to bring enjoyment to the younger set. They still have a few issues to figure out such as parents allowing children to climb over the fence surrounding Casey Jr. to get inside the train, but I'm confident a solution will be found. Casey Jr. plays an important part in theming Storybook Circus and is thusly key to the area. After all, without him, Dumbo wouldn't be visiting the Magic Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom is not the only park getting additions this summer season. At EPCOT Center, Kim Possible has been given the old heave ho in favor of Agent P. For the new adventure, we are asked to assist the Organization Without a Cool Acronym (OWCA) in stopping Dr. Doofenshmirtz from completing his evil scheme. Once you signup to assist OWCA, you are given your Field Operative Notification Equipment or FONE (pronounced phone). This device will allow you to recieve your instruction from OWCA while you are in the field.

From this point, you are assigned a country to visit and you follow the steps your FONE sends to you in order to stop the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Major Monogram and his intern, Carl, will guide you as you complete your missions around the country. Various objects will interact with you as you complete your mission such as fountains becoming active or the clock in Germany going off. This is basically a redone version of the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure with some new additions to it. The one thing I like about it is that you are assigned an agent name that the Major Monogram and Carl will refer to you as via your FONE. For instances, if your name is Jennifer, you will be referred to as Agent J. I think it is nice that Disney is trying to keep this experience fresh with a overlay and smart of them to capitalize on a very popular property in Phinease and Ferb.

Lastly, Disney has also released some pictures of Walt Disney World's own version of Radiator Springs over at the new Art of Animation Resort. This section looks really nice and should resonate with Cars fans of all ages. You can see the pictures of this new section of the resort here. The blog also released a first look at the new queue line for Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid, which can be seen here. The new queue space looks equally as stunning as Storybook Circus and it features an awesome tribute to an original attraction at the Magic Kingdom.

Thanks for reading, and let us know what you think. You can either leave comments on the blog or tweet us @Parkscope or @MrX_381. Until next time!

Friday, June 8, 2012

A new Circusland or a Fair in disguise?

Disney Parks released a video on their Youtube channel showing what we can expect inside the Big Top at the new version of Dumbo The Flying Elephant at the Magic Kingdom. The video clearly shows an interactive play structure the younger set is sure to enjoy while they wait to ride Dumbo. The Big Top, which contains this structure, will serve as the new queue or line space for the ride. Once you enter the building, you will recieve a pager. While you wait for your pager to "buzz", you are free to enjoy the interactive play area. Storybook Circus is a visually stunning area and this new queue space continues that particular trend. However, the new "interactive queue" (more of a pre show to me) continues the one problem with the new Storybook Circus area, which has been blatantly obvious to me since Disney started its phased opening to the public.

My problem is that the whole land is basically an updated version of the former Toontown Fair experience. You have a play area, a water play area, a kiddie coaster, a shop, a meet and greet area, and a train station. The only thing new to the area is Dumbo, which has obviously been in the park for decades. While that is great, I was expecting the experience to be a bit different. This new "interactive queue" seemed like the chance to really shake things up, but I think they missed an opportunity to have something special. If they had made the Big Top more of a fun house style experience that everyone, children to adult, could enjoy they would've hit a homerun. As is, adults will be able to sit and watch their children run around and play while they wait for a pager to buzz.

Come to think of it, that would be a wonderful addition to one of the tents curently in Storybook Circus. How a about they add a massive walkthrough attraction that would have diferent obsticles people had to overcome to finish the walkthrough. Basically, a typical fun house or a maze of mirrors might be fun. The point is that the area has a lot more potential than what we are seeing (I'm not talking about adding an expensive dark ride). Little additions like a fun house could go along way. The one thing that I can honestly say is that the area is breathtakingly beautiful, especially at night and many of the experiences are improved over the previous version. I just can't help but feel like the area is missing.. something and yes, I have experienced the area first hand.

The video of the new interactive queue space at Dumbo embedded below.

-Mr. X