| The
Cinderella castle is just beyond the towers of the
new Fantasyland, which officially opened December 6,
2012, at Disney World in Orlando. |
 |
ORLANDO,
Fla. — New Fantasyland adds some spangle-sparkle to the
stately Magic Kingdom.
With
the help of a flying pachyderm, a book-reading do-gooder
and an aquatic sylph wishing for feet, New Fantasyland
lets visitors immerse themselves in the stories of true
love and happy endings.
It
officially opened Dec. 6, when many parents came with
little girls in pastel princess dresses. People waited
nearly 1 1/2 hours to get into Enchanted Tales with Belle.
Small children rode in clamshells down into the deep of
the Little Mermaid Under the Sea.
The
most popular theme park in the world, the Magic Kingdom
had 17 million visitors last year.
Disney
World is clearly aiming for more.
Here
are answers to some questions that children asked me
before I visited. I promised the answers, so here they
are:
Q:
Can you go into the Beast’s Castle?
A:
Yes and no. The castle is somewhat of an optical illusion,
appearing to be distant and atop a very high rock cliff.
However, you do enter into the cliffside to find yourself
in the famous ballroom and other rooms that look exactly
like the film "Beauty and the Beast."
There,
you can eat lunch or dinner in the huge 550-person Be Our
Guest restaurant. (Don’t miss the side room that holds a
magical rose that hovers under glass.) The French-inspired
food is very good.
Q:
Are there real mermaids swimming at the Little Mermaid
ride?
A:
No. But the ride takes you in a clamshell car down onto a
pretend ocean floor, where you are met by singing throngs
of fish, shellfish and coral. Children can meet Ariel
after the ride.
Q:
Does Fantasyland still have the carousel and the teacup
rides?
A:
Yes.
Q:
Is New Fantasyland a copy of the Harry Potter village at
Universal Orlando?
A:
No. Both were on the drawing board at the same time.
Fantasyland is more princess-y and looks more like a
French village. No wizards here. However, Fantasyland has
introduced a special nonalcoholic LeFou’s Brew
(apple-mango-marshmallow drink) in the park’s Gaston’s
Tavern; it’s similar to Universal’s Harry Potter
Butter Beer.
Q:
What is the Little Mermaid castle like?
A:
It’s actually called Prince Eric’s Castle, and it
holds the Under the Sea ride. It has small stone towers
but is nowhere near as big as the Cinderella Castle, which
still dominates the park.
Q:
Is there a ride featuring Belle?
A:
No. Instead, you go inside the pretty Maurice’s Cottage,
pass through two rooms and step through a magic mirror to
get to Enchanted Tales with Belle. It lets guests be part
of the story as the tale is recounted how she and the
Beast fell in love.
The
talking Madame Wardrobe and Lumiere steal the show.
Q:
Is the Dumbo ride still in Fantasyland?
A:
Yes. In fact, now there are two Dumbo the Flying Elephant
rides — with a second Dumbo ride spinning the opposite
direction next to the first. They are centerpieces of a
pastel, dreamy new section of Fantasyland, Storybook
Circus, which also includes the Barnstormer family coaster
featuring the Great Goofini.
Q:
Do all the New Fantasyland rides have Fastpass?
A:
No, only Dumbo, Under the Sea and the Barnstormer. Dumbo
also has a new pager system that will hold your place in
line while you play in the Big Top area next to the line.
Fastpass is a way to get a timed ticket so your wait is
shorter. Fastpass would help at these other new
attractions; I saw a 70-minute wait for Enchanted Tales
with Belle — a long time for young children to stand in
line.
Q:
Where is New Fantasyland?
A:
When you pass through the Cinderella Castle, it’s off to
the right. One odd sight is that the attractions are
spread around the outer rim of a fenced-off area. That’s
where the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train family coaster is being
constructed; it will open in 2014, featuring cars that
swing back and forth. Also nearby is the now-closed Snow
White’s Scary Adventures. It will make room for the
Princess Fairytale Hall in 2013, giving children a chance
to meet Disney princesses amid more spangle-sparkle.
———
IF
YOU GO:
GETTING
THERE: New Fantasyland is in the Magic Kingdom theme park
at Walt Disney World in Orlando. From Detroit, fly nonstop
to Orlando (about $250 round-trip).
LOGISTICS:
There are multiple options for tickets, lodging and
dining, but if you just want to go to the Magic Kingdom
and see New Fantasyland, you should be able to do it in a
day.
TICKETS:
A one-day Magic Kingdom ticket is $89 plus tax for ages 10
and up; $83 plus tax for ages 3-9. Children ages 2 and
younger are admitted free. ((
,
407-939-6244)
———
DESIGN
YOUR OWN VEHICLE AT UPGRADED TEST TRACK
It
didn’t get the splash debut of the New Fantasyland, but
the very cool renovated Test Track reopened Dec. 6 at
Epcot. Sponsored by Chevrolet, it pretty much dumps the
test-track motif and replaces it with a chance to design
your own vehicle — then see how it stacks up against
other vehicles in power, capability, efficiency and
responsiveness.
Naturally,
most people (including me) are choosing the awesome
mega-rocket-power cars over the environmentally
responsible models.
Guests
first go into a design center, where at a kiosk they get
to design a vehicle (a Miray roadster concept car or EN-V
truck-looking thing) on a monitor, choosing everything
from fins to wheels, grilles, paint and aerodynamic
design. You store the information on a key card.
You
then ride the outdoor test track and find out how your
vehicle performed at checkpoints and compared to others.
After that, the top-scoring vehicles of the day are posted
up; you can even have your picture taken standing with
your simulated vehicle in front of an exotic locale
backdrop. You also can race your car against others at a
digital driving table.
Chevrolet
Design and Disney have done a great job here, using
computer-aided design so sophisticated it can now be used
just for fun. We’ve come a long way from the 1960s and
the acres of drafting tables and quaint slide rules GM
Fisher Body designers used.
———