Festival of the Lion King closes January 5th

[danlb_2000]

Hope this link isn't blocked, from Orlando Theme Park News. I don't know if that's a friendly site.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2014/01/festival-of-lion-king-theater-update.html

Take a look--they're not just building a theatre, there is a ton of surrounding area being worked on. And the theatre itself seems much larger than the old one. A lot going on. I had heard that they were in some ways adding an entire new area to Africa, and it seems to be true. Lots of placemaking--I'd guess around the theatre, more food carts, a DVC thing. A bathroom? Who knows. We haven't seen leaked plans or any renderings for this, have we? Anyone?

Plus this cryptic bit about the Dawa bar being demolished? That makes me sad because I absolutely love the decay, the overhead wires, the whole look of the thing. So incredibly authentic. I'm sure whatever they replace it with will look good, but I remember the first time I walked over the bridge and was blown away by the high level of theming with that area.

Based on the plans in the permit the new theatre appears to have about the same footprint as the old one, but the new one could be taller since we can't see that on the plans. They are definitely doing a lot of other work around the theatre. I imaging at least some of that is going to be for the queues.

 

[twebber55]

Hope this link isn't blocked, from Orlando Theme Park News. I don't know if that's a friendly site.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2014/01/festival-of-lion-king-theater-update.html

Take a look--they're not just building a theatre, there is a ton of surrounding area being worked on. And the theatre itself seems much larger than the old one. A lot going on. I had heard that they were in some ways adding an entire new area to Africa, and it seems to be true. Lots of placemaking--I'd guess around the theatre, more food carts, a DVC thing. A bathroom? Who knows. We haven't seen leaked plans or any renderings for this, have we? Anyone?

Plus this cryptic bit about the Dawa bar being demolished? That makes me sad because I absolutely love the decay, the overhead wires, the whole look of the thing. So incredibly authentic. I'm sure whatever they replace it with will look good, but I remember the first time I walked over the bridge and was blown away by the high level of theming with that area.

looks like they are also building a pathway that directly links Pandora to FOTLK...

 

[danlb_2000]

looks like they are also building a pathway that directly links Pandora to FOTLK...

Here is an overlay with the plans that someone else did here a while back. You can see that path on the bottom that leads to a bridge which I believe is currently backstage. Presumably that path will also link to Pandora when it's done.

 

[Cesar R M]

Hope this link isn't blocked, from Orlando Theme Park News. I don't know if that's a friendly site.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2014/01/festival-of-lion-king-theater-update.html

Take a look--they're not just building a theatre, there is a ton of surrounding area being worked on. And the theatre itself seems much larger than the old one. A lot going on. I had heard that they were in some ways adding an entire new area to Africa, and it seems to be true. Lots of placemaking--I'd guess around the theatre, more food carts, a DVC thing. A bathroom? Who knows. We haven't seen leaked plans or any renderings for this, have we? Anyone?

Plus this cryptic bit about the Dawa bar being demolished? That makes me sad because I absolutely love the decay, the overhead wires, the whole look of the thing. So incredibly authentic. I'm sure whatever they replace it with will look good, but I remember the first time I walked over the bridge and was blown away by the high level of theming with that area.

Here is an overlay with the plans that someone else did here a while back. You can see that path on the bottom that leads to a bridge which I believe is currently backstage. Presumably that path will also link to Pandora when it's done.

Wasn't there a rumor about changing and adding more stuff into the Africa town and make it more usable(aka more restaurants, bathrooms, attractions, stores)?

 

[Atomicmickey]

Here is an overlay with the plans that someone else did here a while back. You can see that path on the bottom that leads to a bridge which I believe is currently backstage. Presumably that path will also link to Pandora when it's done.

Great, that shows it well, actually! I am thinking that area to the north of the theatre could be meet n' greets, like those areas currently in CMM. Make sense? Looks like everything North and West of the theatre is going to be backstage/infrastructure.

Thanks for posting this!

 

[Rob562]

Plus this cryptic bit about the Dawa bar being demolished? That makes me sad because I absolutely love the decay, the overhead wires, the whole look of the thing. So incredibly authentic. I'm sure whatever they replace it with will look good, but I remember the first time I walked over the bridge and was blown away by the high level of theming with that area.

The original Dawa bar will be demolished. They've already built a new bar on the other side of the seating area which isn't mentioned in the linked article.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/dining/dawa...ning-this-week-at-disney's-animal-kingdom.htm

-Rob

 

[danlb_2000]

Great, that shows it well, actually! I am thinking that area to the north of the theatre could be meet n' greets, like those areas currently in CMM. Make sense? Looks like everything North and West of the theatre is going to be backstage/infrastructure.

Thanks for posting this!

The area directly north looks like backstage buildings, but the area to the north and east does sort of look like an M&G area.

 

[ABQ]

The Camp Minnie Mickey area wasn't (isn't) really all that large an area, just how is Avatar going to shoehorn into it? Westward into that nasty waterway? South into the area behind Rainforest Cafe?

 

[Voxel]

The Camp Minnie Mickey area wasn't (isn't) really all that large an area, just how is Avatar going to shoehorn into it? Westward into that nasty waterway? South into the area behind Rainforest Cafe?

Actually Camp Minnie Mickey barely touched the land that in that corner. They can build all the way back into the parking lot behind Rainforest cafe. There is a good amount of space there.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I am going to miss my favorite bathroom in WDW that was located in Camp Minnie Mickey. I loved the Adirondack theming with the birch tree timbers.

The Camp Minnie Mickey area wasn't (isn't) really all that large an area, just how is Avatar going to shoehorn into it? Westward into that nasty waterway? South into the area behind Rainforest Cafe?

Yes, it should be taking most of the area behind Rainforest and West over to the access road. I am not sure if there will remove the backstage support buildings that were located behind FotLK on the East side of West Savannah Rd. Lets hope they use every inch of room in the South West corner.

 

[Cesar R M]

I am going to miss my favorite bathroom in WDW that was located in Camp Minnie Mickey. I loved the Adirondack theming with the birch tree timbers.






Yes, it should be taking most of the area behind Rainforest and West over to the access road. I am not sure if there will remove the backstage support buildings that were located behind FotLK on the East side of West Savannah Rd. Lets hope they use every inch of room in the South West corner.

I swear I imagined someone giving his family a tour of WDW premises "and this is my favorite bathroom.. I took an epic dump along the adinrodack theming and the birch tree! It was fantastic!!!"

 

[Space Mountain]

There is A LOT happening to Africa which I am very excited about. Some things have not been reported here yet, but will completely change the look and feel of that area.

 

[NoChesterHester]

There is A LOT happening to Africa which I am very excited about. Some things have not been reported here yet, but will completely change the look and feel of that area.

Timeframe?

 

[ford91exploder]

Timeframe?

more DVC booths and Kiosks...

 

[ford91exploder]

I swear I imagined someone giving his family a tour of WDW premises "and this is my favorite bathroom.. I took an epic dump along the adinrodack theming and the birch tree! It was fantastic!!!"

Cesar I love how you get right to the nub of any issue

 

[PhilharMagician]

I swear I imagined someone giving his family a tour of WDW premises "and this is my favorite bathroom.. I took an epic dump along the adinrodack theming and the birch tree! It was fantastic!!!"

Epic dump? Yeah!!

 

[Atomicmickey]

There is A LOT happening to Africa which I am very excited about. Some things have not been reported here yet, but will completely change the look and feel of that area.

Are you speaking of primarily cosmetic renovation, like the Dawa reconfiguration? Or anything new from a dining or attraction standpoint? From the plan overlay, it looks like new cosmetic and infrastructure, but it's
hard to see where any new attractions would be included.

Still looks to me like possible food cart, meet n' greet, line for FotLK theatre, maybe another bathroom, and a pathway to, um, another planet?

I'm sure it will look nice, don't get me wrong. I'm positive about what's happening there. I just don't expect any huge surprises. Little ones, perhaps.

 

[doctornick]

Still looks to me like possible food cart, meet n' greet, line for FotLK theatre, maybe another bathroom, and a pathway to, um, another planet?

I still think that TDO is missing out by not putting some attractions or a small land along the pathway between Africa and the future Pandora site. That's a decent distance and there is room there to put something. Having something on the scale of CMM in that area would have been a good idea and would help to flesh out DAK as a "full day park".

 

[Space Mountain]

Are you speaking of primarily cosmetic renovation, like the Dawa reconfiguration? Or anything new from a dining or attraction standpoint? From the plan overlay, it looks like new cosmetic and infrastructure, but it's
hard to see where any new attractions would be included.

Still looks to me like possible food cart, meet n' greet, line for FotLK theatre, maybe another bathroom, and a pathway to, um, another planet?

I'm sure it will look nice, don't get me wrong. I'm positive about what's happening there. I just don't expect any huge surprises. Little ones, perhaps.

I wouldn't expect another attraction. It will be a lot easier to move around that area. The concept art for it looks really nice. Everything should be ready before the peak crowds hit this summer.

 

[C.FERNIE]

I wouldn't expect another attraction. It will be a lot easier to move around that area. The concept art for it looks really nice. Everything should be ready before the peak crowds hit this summer.

you really think TDO will manage to get it ready for the summer crowds? they seem to be working at a snails pace with everything!