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WDW Radio Newswire: New Interactive Games Coming To Animal Kingdom And Adventureland And Disney Decades POLL

Plus… Celebrate the Magic “Romance Edition” now showing at Cinderella Castle, New twist to an existing exhibit at Innoventions, and more!

by Don Myers

As the bitter chill of winter continues to tighten its icy grip, we find ourselves seeking solace with news from the Sunshine State’s favorite vacation destination. So let’s get right to it, time for the latest edition of the WDW Radio Newswire…..

We begin this edition of the Newswire at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, where a recent announcement was ANIMAL-KINGDOM-LOGO41797075-640x639made pertaining to a brand new interactive game set to debut at the park this spring. Based off the Disney-Pixar film “Up,” Guests will take up the role of Wilderness Explorer scouts and venture around the park collecting badges. There will be over 30 badges to collect altogether, with each badge earned by completing a fun interactive challenge. The Wilderness Explorers game follows in the footsteps of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure, and the now defunct Kim Possible’s World Showcase Adventure, but this will be the first time a game of this sort will be offered at the Animal Kingdom park. There is no official word on an exact start date for the game’s availability, as Disney has simply stated it will begin in “Spring 2013.” With February right on the horizon, you’d expect the testing period to begin within the next few weeks. I’ll be sure to report any news on the game’s testing or official start date right here on the Newswire.

Let’s park-hop over to Magic Kingdom now, where’s there’s a trio of newsbits to report. First up is the recent announcement of yet another interactive game coming to the parks this spring: A Pirates Adventure- Treasures of the Seven Seas. This will be the second game to be offered at Magic Kingdom, joining the ranks of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. However this new game will be exclusive to Adventureland, as opposed to Sorcerers which takes you through several of the lands. As you can tell from the title, the game will be centered around the world of swashbuckling buccaneers. And at the center of it all will be none other than Captain Jack Sparrow! You are of course at the center of it all, too, as this is an interactive game. Your goal will be to complete 5 pirate raids. The locations of these raids will be in various points throughout Adventureland, and hopeful crew members will be able to pinpoint these hidden locations with assistance from a special treasure map. But obtaining these spoils won’t be easy, as you’ll have to fight off Captain Jack’s foes in the process as well. As with the Wilderness Explorers game at Animal Kingdom, no official start date was given other than “Spring 2013.” But as I stated earlier, with February just days away, you’d expect the testing process to get underway very soon.

For our second bit of news out of Magic Kingdom, we follow the hub over to Fantasyland, where the refurbishment to the Mad Tea Party is officially back on. The refurb has been scheduled and scrapped several times now, but it looks like the attraction will finally see some downtime this spring. The teacups are currently scheduled to close for maintenance on Wednesday April 10th, with a re-opening date slated for Wednesday May 22nd.

Our third MK newsbit pertains to the Celebrate the Magic projection show at Cinderella Castle. With the Holiday season now in the rear view and Valentine’s Day right around the corner, a special “Romance Edition” of the show is now in place. The show  started its run back in mid-January, and it is expected to run through Valentine’s Day on Thursday February 14th. After that, the traditional Celebrate the Magic projection show will be back in place until the next “special edition” takes over the reigns.

Time to board the monorail and venture over to Epcot now, as there is some news to report out of Innoventions. One of the areas exhibits, Habit Heroes, has just re-opened with an updated storyline. The exhibit originally debuted on February 1st of last year, but closed down shortly thereafter for a storyline makeover. The exhibit still puts its main emphasis on the importance of exercise and healthy eating, but the message is now delivered in a far more sensitive manner. The two main characters of Will Power and Callie Stenics are no longer a part of the exhibit whatsoever. In their place, Guests will now find a trio of hero agents named Quench, Dynamo, and Fuel. But the villains got perhaps the biggest makeover, as they were all completely removed as well. In fact, the new antagonists are no longer presented in human form at all. For the revamped version, the enemies are simply referred to as dehydration, inactivity, and poor nutrition. The original exhibit had a initial run of just under a month before it closed down for re-imagining, so I think it’s safe to say the revamped Habit Heroes will have a far more successful run inside Innoventions!

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 last poll. The question was:

What is your favorite “sweet” spot in WDW?

Main Street Bakery

BoardWalk Bakery

Boulangerie Patisserie

Starring Rolls Cafe

Sleepy Hollow Refreshments

And the winner is……

Main Street Bakery with 44% of the total vote! Second place honors went to Boulangerie Patisserie with 23% of the votes, and BoardWalk Bakery rounded out the Top 3 with 15% of the total vote. Starring Rolls Cafe finished fourth with 12%, and Sleepy Hollow Refreshments brought up the rear with 6%. I’d like to extend an extra special thank you to everyone that took the time to vote on this one, as it was our highest voter turnout for any Newswire poll to date! Okay, now it’s time for this week’s question:

[poll id=”96″]

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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