Starting Monday 22nd December, "Surprise Mornings" will begin at Epcot. This is when a select number of random guests get to enter the park 1 hour before opening to ride either Test Track OR Soarin'. Once guests enter the pavilion in which the attraction is based, you cannot leave until the park opens officially to guests. Other attractions within these pavilions will not be open during the "Surprise Mornings". This will run between Monday 22nd December 2014 and Wednesday 31st December 2014, but excluding Tuesday 30th December 2014, when the park opens at 7am anyway for Extra Magic Hours. This "Surprise Mornings" has been offered in previous years at this time of year in an attempt to reduce stress on the attractions - As Soarin' regularly reaches 5 hour waits during Christmas/New Year,
Disney has today filed a construction permit which is thought to be related to the building of a 3rd theatre setup at the Soarin' attraction in Epcot. The attraction regularly has lines over 1hr, and capacity has always been an issue.
In the permit - the construction work was described as: "Add facility to existing attraction - Project 87". The permit is for the address of the Soarin' attraction, ends in September 2016. As mentioned by a poster on WDWMagic, the biggest hint to Soarin' expansion is the 'Project 87' name, as each of the Soarin' theatres contain 87 seats. The attraction is rumored to be replaced with a similar 'Soarin' Over the World' attraction - with new video and HD projection. Although nothing has publicly been announced regarding this project. Click here to view the construction permit... Yesterday, Disney were conducting a test at the Soarin' attraction at Epcot. The queue for the popular attraction was left to reach 40 minutes, at which point Cast Members began handing out return tickets. These tickets were similar to the legacy FastPass, whereby a return time was given. The guest could then return during the hour time window, and only queue for a moderate length of time - a maximum of 40 minutes. This test also entailed the whole of the Land Pavilion being turned into a one-way system, and queues for Living With The Land reaching 35 minutes!
According to multiple posts on Twitter, Cast Members were saying that the new procedure wasn't working. These return tickets were stopped being handed out at around 5pm, when nobody else could join the queue - this sparked riot in the pavilion, and the decision was made to allow people to join the queue. The test did not continue today... According to rumors, the Soarin' ride in Epcot, and the Toy Story Mania ride in Hollywood Studios, are to be getting an expansion.
Soarin' has already been confirmed third-party, to be getting a new HD digital film in the near future. But that is not all the upgrades coming to the much-loved attraction. A third theatre is rumored, and it is said that work for the construction of this has already begun, although not confirmed. This is in a bid to decrease the wait time for the ride, and to prepare for the new updated film. Toy Story Mania is also slated to get an expansion soon - with wait times regularly exceeding two hours, the ever popular ride has room to expand in sound-stage 1, where the popular 'Wandering Oakens Frozen Funland' is currently situated as part of Frozen Summer Fun. The ride already splits into two directions, but a third is rumored to be installed to increase the ride's capacity. The above should be taken as rumors, until officially announced, of which I will confirm on this website as soon as I hear the confirmation... Filming over Epcot is expected this week. The filming will take place before park opening, and is rumoured to be part of the unannounced updated to Soarin' - whereby the ride will become "Soarin' Over The World" rather than "Soarin' Over California"...
Disney Cast Members have been told about a flyover over the Magic Kingdom and Epcot this weekend. Although they have not been told the reason for this - it is speculated that it's part of a new Soarin' video. Cast Members have been told that the flyovers will happen between 9:30pm and 10:30pm on 27th April 2014, and from 5:30am to 12:00pm on 28th April 2014. Although not officially confirmed by Disney, it is rumored that Soarin' Over The World will replace Soarin' next year... Edit: See WDW Magic (www.wdwmagic.com) video below of camera helicopter flying over Magic Kingdom... |