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WDW Radio Newswire: More Attraction Refurbs On The Horizon and 3D Film Attractions POLL

Plus…Candlelight Processional Narrator line-up announced, Another update on Disney Springs, and more!

by Don Myers

There’s a lot of exciting things happening at Walt’s beloved Florida Project, so let’s waste no time and jump right into the latest edition of the WDW Radio Newswire…

Last week we talked about several upcoming attraction closures, most notably Peter Pan’s Flight (Sept 30-Nov13th) and the WDW Railroad (Sept 30-Oct 20). Well, it jungle cruiselooks like there’s a few more upcoming refurbs to add to the list. Let’s begin inside Magic Kingdom. For this one, we follow the hub and take the wooden bridge over to Adventureland. Jungle Cruise will close for refurbishment on Monday August 19th, with a re-opening date slated for Tuesday October 1st. This means that Amazon Annie, Congo Connie, Nile Nelly, and the rest of the jungle boats will soon be docked for a duration of six weeks.

For more news on the refurbishment front, let’s park-hop over to Hollywood Studios. For this one, we make our way down the Streets of America over to Jim Henson’s Muppet Vision 3-D. The popular film began its four-week hiatus earlier this week, as a refurb has been scheduled from Tuesday August 6th through Monday September 2nd.

For our final refurb we venture over to Epcot, where a minor closure has been scheduled for Spaceship Earth. I know this is a beloved attraction but don’t worry folks, this one shouldn’t affect too many travel plans, as the refurb is only scheduled to last for one week. The attraction will close down on Thursday August 22nd, and it’ll be back in action on Wednesday August 28th.

For more Epcot news, let’s shift our focus over to the America Gardens Theatre. It’s only July, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the Holiday Season at WDW! And Trace Adkinsif you’re talking about the Holiday Season and America Gardens Theatre, it can only mean one thing: The Candlelight Processional. The Candlelight Processional has been an annual tradition at Epcot since 1993, and its roots at WDW stretch all the way back to Magic Kingdom’s initial year of operation in 1971. This year the festivities are scheduled to kickoff on Friday November 29th, and the majority of the narrator line-up has recently been announced. There’s still one spot yet to be filled, and the current line-up could very well be altered between now and November, but here’s a look at the list as of now:

November 29th-December 1st: Gary Sinise
December 2nd & 3rd: Neil Patrick Harris
December 4th & 5th: Ashley Judd
December 6th & 7th: Whoopi Goldberg
December 8th-10th: Sigourney Weaver
December 11th-13th: Dennis Haysbert
December 14th-16th: James Denton
December 17th-19th: Edward James Olmos
December 20th-22nd: Trace Adkins
December 23rd-25th: TBA
December 26th-28th: Blair Underwood
December 29th & 30th: Amy Grant

 

For our final newsbit today let’s make our way out of the parks and venture over to Downtown Disney for an update on the Disney Springs project. In the last edition of the Newswire, we talked about the construction walls around parking lot H in front of Planet Hollywood, and we also discussed the upcoming closure of Cap’n Jack’s Restaurant over in the Marketplace. Well, there’s more news to report out of Downtown Disney, and let’s begin with more parking lot closures. You can add two more lots to the list, as construction walls now surround parking lots I and J. These lots are located to the left of Planet Hollywood, directly in front of the AMC Theater complex.

There’s lots more action underway for the Disney Springs project, so let’s stop by Pleasure Island now. Last month Apricot Lane closed its doors forever and the Comedy Warehouse was completely demolished. The Comedy Warehouse has been shut down for quite some time now, but the closing of Apricot Lane means there are no longer any shopping options in operation at Pleasure Island, and it leaves table service restaurant Paradiso 37 as the lone building currently open for business in the entire Pleasure Island area of Downtown Disney.

Well, that’s gonna do it for today’s update. But before we call it a wrap, let’s take a look at the results of our previous poll. The question was:

What is your favorite Resort in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area?

  • Disney’s Polynesian Resort
  • Disney’s Contemporary Resort
  • Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
  • Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
  • Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
  • Bay Lake Tower

And the winner is…

Disney’s Polynesian Resort with a whopping 46% of the votes! Second place honors went to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge with 23% of the votes, and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa rounded out the Top 3 with 12% of the votes. A very big thank you is in order to everyone that took the time to vote as this was the most successful Newswire poll question to date! Now it’s time for this week’s question:

[poll id=”141″]

Don Myers covers news and recent events in Walt Disney World.  He has been enamored with the World of Disney since his first trip to WDW in 1986. As they say, the rest is history!  Don also has been a contributing writer for Celebrations magazine since 2009.

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About Lou Mongello

Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…

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