Timon

That would look really nice. They could even add what they did at the old Skyway station and have a water feature with light up LED's at night. But of course fire would look really nice.

That's where the maintenance spur is? Thanks for the graphic. I've always been confused as to where the spur would be located. I had no clue it was that close to MK. Glad to know they're doing some building now, thanks!

Have you checked the privacy settings on your photo album? I see your photos perfectly. Perhaps you can try using a service like Photobucket or Flickr. Their hosted photos stay for a long time.

The TLand Fountains could be built of different materials, like steel and rivets and stone for the lowest section. At night additional high tech lighting and fountains jets could create a mini water show, of course I'd add fire and projection to jazz to entire Tland entrance - but that's me.

Saw the ground was broken for the Epcot Monorail Spur for a service tractor. Lots of digging but not the big stuff for a column support or pile driver yet. Yellow line shows where they are building.



On a different note -
Do you have trouble posting photos. Mine disappear, can only be seen by logged in people. I pull them from my WDWMagic Album. Any suggestions.

I like that. It maintains the futuristic theme while keeping those rocks, plus the added water features and new color schemes. Nice edit!

I've been thinking about the old Tomorrowland fountains and dug up a shot then matched the angle to create today's TLand with new tower fountains. What do you think?

However, PP's "If it's good enough for Six Flags, it's good enough for Disneyland," comment irked me. That's despicable. But it's true..WDW is making some strides, but the whole place needs a shakedown. I'm beginning to think El Pirata's refurb is on the same level as MSUSA's facades, but I hope it's even better.

I wish management would see how adding to a guest's enjoyment affects attendance, but with all of the corner-cutting, it makes it appear that management is very short-sighted. And good point on the Disneyland management. We're not in great shape, but we're miles ahead of Pressler-era Disneyland. I've only followed the parks closely until recently, but just looking at the pictures makes me sick. I was just reading how Cynthia Harris was so distraught by the BTMRR accident. It made me realize that Pressler/Harris were not necessarily evil people. Perhaps driven by greed, yes. But they were doing their job...maximizing profits. They had no business running a theme park, but from a purely business perspective (especially if I had never visited a theme park before) I would probably make the same mistakes they did.

Your talking about the LS Antique Shop. Sometimes profits can be measured in happiness. Adding to a guest's enjoyment puts them in a mood to more likely spend more and a return visit. Swan Boats had a low capacity but the zillions of pictures taken of them made many people happy even if they never rode them.

I keep track of Disneyland and they overcame apparently a situation far worst than the current WDW. Mostly the changing of the top management made the difference right after a BTM train physically failing and killing a guest due to poor maintenance.

Meanwhile at WDW, recently and currently some BIG bucks are being spent on rehabs in all lands not including the FLE. Something is changing. When they start restoring unique shopping and dining then we'll know we're turning the corner. I'm curious about El Pirata which could be a sign if they enhance or just restore.

It seems like we aren't really getting a glass roof, as there were pictures of workers scraping off (for lack of a better term) the design. I guess there was some sort of protective coating, and they needed a solution to get it off. I'm interested in seeing what it looks like when the refurb ends.

Holy carp...that's one nice roof. Too bad we can't have nice things. That's beautiful!

Never heard of that Emporium story before, but he seems like someone who "got it". Under his leadership, one of the shops in Liberty Square made $100,000 a year, but they spent $1,000,000 a year to keep things fresh and interesting. It's unfortunate that the company today cares so much less about show.

Having walked past Teacups on Monday, I'm shocked if that roof is really glass. No frame, smooth, 3" to 4" thick - looks like insulated panels. BUT Oh I hope your right!

Here's Paris again:

Just saw on Twitter that Mad Tea Party roof is glass, but with an adhesive coating on top that may come off when completed. I have no idea if this is the case or not, but it appears there may be some hope for a glass roof. Now let's just hope they do regular maintenance on the roof to keep it clean!

The original SW mine ride may even be a scaled back version from the original plans...we'll see. It sure beats any meet and greet (in our eight visits to Disney parks, we have only ever done one meet and greet, and that was Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland.)

Have you heard chatter about Crofton going? I've heard Erin Wallace (ops) may be going, which I'm happy about.I'd like to see Phil Holmes and whoever's running DAK gone next. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever see Rich Nunis era operations back (i.e. changing lightbulbs before they burn out) but it seems things are getting slightly better.

Interesting point on TLM...I guess we'll have to wait and see. That concrete wall on the East side of TLM is looking suspcious, too. I'd love to see more original Alice stuff too...imagine how beautiful that area would look at night with those lanterns.

I'm a bit disappointed about the SW Mine Ride,too. I'm thinking Barnstormer II with an indoor section. Yawn.

The final 10 Eisner years really took the "special" out of Disney with landscaping, maintenance and details. I'm hoping there is a swing back to what Disney used to stand for as the old Eisnerite Management is slowly weeded out. Jay Rasulo = banished. Next up Meg Crofton = doomed

Mermaid will be interesting to watch. Will they hang the rock work on the building or build it freestanding just in front of the ride building. I'm betting for maintenance purposes it will be just in front so all those water features can be serviced easily. We'll see.

I hope they plus up Teacups with more Alice stuff like those funky leaves and lights. Even without the cool DLP roof a lot could be done with props, effects and lights.

Sorry it took so long to respond...I just got a new computer and wanted to be able to set time away to watch the video. That system could definitely work...it didn't seem too thrilling but I doubt that Disney would shell out enough for something like that. I had heard that the Snow White ride will be 2/3rds outdoor, which leaves me even more confused about what it will look like.

The area around Mad Tea Party seems nice as usual, the topiaries especially. It seems like they finally put some flowers in (and across the Magic Kingdom as well). It was sobering reading old WDW collectible books and seeing how many flowers and how nicely everything was maintained, as compared to the MK of toady.

Our Mermaid does appear to be going up rather quickly. I'm interested in seeing how the building is built to have waterfalls on top, which gets me more excited with each passing park update. I'm holding out some hope for it being open in August 2011, but I doubt it.

Check out this lights-on video of the Mummy ride for technology points. Granted their ride is way too intense a subject matter compared to Snow White Mine Ride but this tech could be exciting compared to the standard cart ride or omnimover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImohQxWJd-E&feature=related

Teacups - All beams are now pink. A thick new roof is being added (probably insulated to keep the heat out). I hope they cut skylights in the roof - maybe clubs, spades, hearts and diamond shapes. Trees are still there and look great as ever.

FYI - The Mermaid building was just enclosed with prefab panels, since rock work will hide the ride building. I don't think DL's is technically enclosed/weathered in. Hmm.

I'm beginning to wonder if the El Pirata refurb is part of the rolling refurbs of the Magic Kingdom or for something completely different. Hopefully those refurbs roll through Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Frontierland.

I've never been on Mummy, but from what I hear, it would be a good fit. I hope they employ that Mummy kind of ride system for the rumored Monsters Inc. coaster.

I've watched videos of the PH fountain show...it's simplistic but very cool...definitely a special touch that only Disney (or rather, Team Disney Anaheim) would do.

The beams were just painted pink, I believe. I'm glad they removed the whole of that roof, it looked terrible! My concern is that with the trees, the constant rain of Florida would keep mildew and such there, and given the current maintenance team, that seems like something they'd never do.

Looking at the El Parata construction walls, it seems pretty obvious the building is getting a rehab which should include the courtyard. If they bring that fountain back I will be impressed.

Maybe a "Mummy" style coaster/ride where it stops and goes for scenes and some excitement? Could be fun and exciting but not as intense as RnR.

DL has a mini show in the Pixie Hollow pond/fountain which is very cool at night so it wouldn't be unheard of. I was thinking of doing a Photoshop of a modern version of the TLand towers but I have to match the same angle of an old pic with a new shot = pain in the ^&%$^%#!

FYI They have stripped the roof off Teacups down to the steel beams. I'm praying they cut the steel up too. The DL Paris glass roofed Teacups would be amazing, just keep those trees!

The day construction walls go up around the other fountains will be the finest day in Disney Parks history.

When you think about it...that could actually work. In essence, if the coaster ride is only one story high, they can make it twice as high if they go down below. Of course, if it's indeed a coaster system, the ride vehicle will be moving faster, meaning shorter show scenes.

Fountain shows seem to be pretty popular. In Atlantic City (around an hour from where I live) they installed a water show inside one of the casinos, and it seems to be popular. Using a combination of glass and granite would look great.

My fingers are crossed for El Parata.

I checked the blue prints and the site is actually bigger than Mermaid! Who knew! They can keep the building height down by using the Space Mountain trick of going down to actual ground level. So when/if they start construction, and we see a huge hole being dug we'll know what it's for.

By the way, I saw on Twitter that El Pirata may receive nice new touches. I'm not sure if this was wishful thinking, but given the person who made that comment I have some faith they made do something nice. However, I'm beginning to think the refurb scale may be a bit more on the scale of what they did at Flame Tree (new menus, etc.) But let's wait and see!

The crowd control design will be interesting...I'm a bit concerned about how the ride will work but I'll wait until we see some more details. So far, I'm not convinced they'd be able to pull off a ride of respectable length and theme in such a (relatively) small space, without a showbuilding facing backstage, but hey, they've surprised me before.

The main entrance to Tomorrowland is great...it just needs some new attractions that fit the theme. For the entrance , I could imagine some sort of mosaic tile work with water falling on either side. A new stage would be great in a different location, and like you said more nicely done. Maybe they could pave over the speedway or expand outside of the Skyway area to make a nice theater area for live entertainment.