Parkscope: Final Scope 6/9/2012

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Final Scope 6/9/2012

Industry News

Disney World Raises Prices and Universal Calls

This past Sunday, Walt Disney World saw Universal Orlando's price increase and raised their one-day, one-park tickets to $89. Then, yesterday Universal raised their price again to $89 as well. This second price raise is only at the gate, and online tickets will stay at $88. Many are crying that this is an underhanded move by Universal, but realistically it shows how competitive they are. They won't stand to be second rate.

Walt Disney World

Dumbo Queue Soft Opens

This week, the interactive queue at the brand new "Dueling" Dumbos soft opened for guests. The inside is themed to Dumbo's circus where kids can play and parents can relax as Dumbo flies overhead. It looks like a cute addition for the younger set, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect more from the project than a glorified McDonald's Playplace. Still, it's sure to be a hit, and you can read Mr. X's thoughts on the queue here.

D23 to Celebrate EPCOT Center's 30th Anniversary

On September 30th of this year, the D23 fan club will put on an event at EPCOT that will celebrate 30 years of the theme park of the future. The event will include guest speakers and guests from EPCOT's history. The prices are a bit steep, especially when considering they don't include admission, but the event seems to be a hit for fans, and is not to be missed for those longing for the good old days of EPCOT Center.

More info and pricing can be found here.

Beastly Bazaar Closing

Today, Walt Disney World announced via Twitter that Beastly Bazaar at Disney's Animal Kingdom will be closing this summer and will reopen as an indoor meet-and-greet location.

Disneyland Resort

Cars Land Begins Soft Openings

This week the first lucky visitors have gotten to experience Cars Land, along with its massive E-ticket Radiator Springs Racers. So far the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Disney also released the first shots of inside Racers, and the ride looks overwhelmingly detailed and immersive. This is a ride on the level of Indiana Jones Adventure, Spider-man, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This is the kind of ride we all want to see!

Outside of Racers, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree seems to be a cute hit, while Luigi's Flying Tires still seems to be divisive on how successful it will end up being.

Overall, the land looks like a real winner, and definitely has me counting down the days until I head out west in November.

Universal Orlando Resort

More Permit Madness

Universal filed more permits for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter expansion this week, including permits for the Hogwarts Express's stations and track. They quickly changed the titles of these a few days later to attempt to cover their tracks, but we've received conformation that the permits were indeed for the track and stations.

Last night we also uncovered a permit for work in City Walk, that may be for a new shopping location called Pylones.

Hogwarts Express: E-ticket

What was originally considered a transportation ride between Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure now seems to be much, much more than that. Michael takes a look at what we know so far about the ride here.

Cinespec Projectors Themed and Trusses Folded

The projector housings for Universal Cinematic Spectacular have been themed up a bit and look a lot better than they did a few weeks ago. Also, the rigs for the waterfall screens have been folding down during the day, allowing for less sight line intrusion.

Photos of the trusses folded and the themed housings can be found at Orlando United.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem Team Member Previews

Yesterday afternoon (June 8th), Universal Team Members got to experience the first round of Team Member previews for the new attraction. The preview was scheduled to run from 3-7. Early reviews say that Universal Creative "hit it out of the park." Hopefully, the public will get to experience soft-openings in the coming days, especially with Universal's summer concert series beginning this weekend.