Is Disney Planning to End the Epcot Monorail Line?

Is  Disney planning to end the Epcot Monorail? According to a source of Lance from Screamscape the answer may be yes. Why would they do such a crazy thing as the lost of the Epcot Monorail would be for sure a big lost of kinetic energy for the park? Well, if you follow me on the D&M Facebook page HERE you probably have seen the video below showing the incident which took place on Monorail Red as it was running on the Epcot beam with one of the doors which opened by itself and stayed open while the monorail was running down the line.




Sure, just an incident like this shouldn't been enough to shut down the whole Epcot Monorail line but, as Lance fairly notice, the fleet of WDW Monorail is getting old and the cost of replacement will be too high for Disney. Add to this another rumor saying that Disney is thinking to build a hotel at the entrance of the park and here is what Lance is saying, making the link between both rumors:

"According to one source, Disney has run the numbers forwards, backwards, upside-down and sideways and determined that in no uncertain terms that the ongoing operation of the existing monorail system has become nothing short of a nightmare. The system has aged to the point where reliability has become a major concern, the cost to update it is said to be beyond anything they are willing to pay. On top of this, the rising costs and downtime issues to try and maintain the current system as-it-is, has risen to the point of just being almost unfeasible to continue to due for the long term.



So what is the plan? Lots of options are being discussed... but the one item that I'm told has become 100% necessary is the eventual closure of the Epcot Monorail line. In light of this latest incident... this could happen much sooner than later. This would be the first phase, allowing Disney to take an entire beam-offline and give them time to do some proper refurbishments to those trains to allow the two Magic Kingdom lines to keep running for a time. Ironically, I'm told the plan to close the Epcot line is also one of the reasons the concept of building a new giant resort hotel project over the entrance to EPCOT has come up.

The buying of time for the MK beams also gives Disney time to decide if perhaps they could fund a refurbishment of a smaller system that could continue to see the Resort and Express beams continue to operate. If not, eventually the Express Beam will also close, and Disney will use what's left of the fleet to keep a single monorail beam running for the resort guest line only."

I agree that Lance might have the right insight here and i don't like it. Frankly Epcot Future World without a Monorail running inside it is no good news. Monorails are still a symbol of the future, there is not a lot of them running, specially inside towns and it'll be again a part of Walt vision which would disappear.



According to Lance: "For now the monorails will continue to run, but from what I'm hearing, the clock is ticking and someday the monorail may depart to Neverland. For now, we'll just keep an eye on the future of the Epcot line, as any future incidents like this latest one can only serve to shorten the lifespan of that route. Of course, the performance of the new Skyliner system that will run between Epcot and the Studios may also factor in heavily. If successful, the distance traveled by Gondola between Epcot and the Studios is about the same as the distance between the front of Epcot and the TTC, and they could even re-use the same travel pathway is they so desired."

Make sure to follow Lance on Screamscape as he daily post news about theme parks around the world and has some of the best sources in the business. And also watch the video below in which Monorail Monday talks about the recent episode where Monorail Red traveled the beam with an open door panel, and discuss replacing the monorails, and an important safety tip if you ever have a problem while riding the monorail.

Rex and Trixie Arrive at Shanghai Disneyland Toy Story Land!

Rex and Trixie Arrive at Shanghai Disneyland and are now installed in Toy Story Land opening April 26!

Shanghai, January 11, 2018 – The Rex’s Racer attraction, currently under construction in Shanghai Disneyland’s Disney-Pixar Toy Story Land, celebrated a major milestone this week with the installation of Rex and Trixie, the two beloved dinosaur toys from the popular Disney-Pixar animated film series, Toy Story.

Rex and Trixie were installed at Rex’s Racer at Disney-Pixar Toy Story Land in Shanghai Disneyland. Rex’s Racer is one of the three major attractions coming to Disney•Pixar Toy Story Land, which is the first post-opening project of Shanghai Disney Resort and will become the theme park’s seventh themed land.



Guests visiting Disney-Pixar Toy Story Land will feel as if they’ve been shrunk down to the size of their favorite Toy Story toys for laughter and fun with family and friends in the backyard of Andy, the boy from the hit films. Woody, Buzz and their Toy Story friends will come to life and play in this fully immersive land. After opening, Rex, Andy’s insecure Tyrannosaurus toy, will invite guests to climb into RC Racer for a thrilling ride on the U-shaped track with help from his Triceratops friend, Trixie. With Rex at the controls, RC Racer, with guests aboard, zips forward and backward at ever increasing heights and exhilarating speed.



With Rex at the controls, RC Racer zips forward and backward at ever increasing heights and exhilarating speed. The other two attractions, Slinky Dog Spin and Woody’s Round-Up, will allow guests to take a seat inside Slinky Dog’s springy spirals and race around a wavy roundabout, or climb aboard the carts pulled by a herd of ponies rounded up by Sheriff Woody. As the ponies start a little square dance, they will swing their carts to and fro in time to the lively music.

The new themed land will also feature a uniquely themed character greeting area, Meeting Post, and immersive shopping and dining experiences, Al’s Toy Barn and Toy Box Café. Disney-Pixar Toy Story Land is set to open on April 26, 2018.

Pictures: copyright Disney - Shendi

D&M Exclusive: The Michael Jackson's Peter Pan's Neverland Theme Park That Never Was

Editor's Note: I post again today one of D&M favorite article about Michael Jackson's Peter Pan's Neverland theme park project that never was, at that time co-produced with Prince Al Waleed - yes, the one who was still DLP stockholder a while ago. Amazing project who would have been great. If you've never read the article - which include plenty of renderings of the project - don't miss it!


Unless you live on another planet, you probably know that last week was another "Michael Jackson week". The "This Is it" documentary and CD album were released and a major Michael Jackson exhibition opened last Tuesday in London. I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce to you one of Michael's most secret - and really fantastic - projects: the Peter Pan's Neverland theme park that never was.

Let's first go back in time to 1997, when Michael Jackson and Prince Al-Waleed - Disneyland Paris' biggest private stock-holder - created a company called Kingdom Entertainment and purchased 50% of Landmark Entertainment, giving the company a huge infusion of cash. Prince Al-Waleed had 45% and Michael had 5% of the shares. I remind you that Landmark is the famous company directed by Gary Goddard which created the Spider-Man ride at IOA and the Jurassic Park and Terminator 3D attractions at Universal Studios.



Above: Michael Jackson and Prince Al Waleed during the press conference announcing the creation of Kingdom Entertainment Co. I've aded the video of this press conference at the end of the article.

So, what had to happen happened, Michael asked Landmark if they could design a theme park, a real one, not only for him but a park where anybody could go, just like Disneyland. And this theme park would have been named Peter Pan's Neverland! Here is a bird's eye view of the park - please double-click on the image below to see it in big size.



This first concept is amazing, isn't it? Fully inspired from Peter Pan's story, the park would have started with a grand London entrance, as you can see on the artwork below.



A replica of Kensington Gardens, where anyone can see the famous Peter Pan statue, as well as Big Ben and the House of Parliaments in the background, not to mention horse guards at the entrance, all of which would have set a stunning replica of the Victorian city.



Here is another artwork showing this entrance by Greg Pro.



From that point guests were supposed to go to Neverland Island, and Landmark designers had designed two different way to go there, both of which were attractions. The first one, which would definitely have been an E-Ticket attraction, was... to fly to Neverland! As you can see on the artwork below, the take-of was over London, with a fly over Big Ben and other famous London landmarks like the Tower Bridge (note that on the artwork Big Ben and the Tower Bridge are close together but two miles separate them in reality) and then, lead by Tinkerbell, they would fly all over Neverland, the Mermaid Lagoon and Skull Rock and finally land near the Lost Boys home and woods.



And how would Landmark have achieved this wonder, you ask? First, no, the ride was not designed like Soarin' over California - which, by the way, was not built at that time. Instead, guests would have sat on a platform which would have turned down on a 50 degrees angle, a bit less than on the "flying" coasters, and the movie would have been projected on a huge Omnimax dome located under the platform, giving to the guests the illusion of flying over London and Neverland! What a great ride it would have been!

The other way to reach Neverland would have been by boat. During this short boat ride the boat would have go through mysterious caves before arriving to Neverland Island with its lush vegetation and waterfalls.

Once at Neverland, guests would have had the choice of six different areas:

"Lost Boys area" would have been a fun play area for young kids with slides, jumping fountains, a tree house but also a great roller-coaster with tracks going all over the land.



In "Mermaid Lagoon" guests would have had the choice between a boat ride going through Neverland Island caves or to enjoy a meal at a beautiful restaurant located underground with a huge window looking towards the lagoon where a Mermaid show was envisioned. Close to Mermaid Lagoon, the "Indian Village" would have been another area of Neverland where a raft ride was envisioned.



On the other side of the huge Neverland rock, guests would have find "Pixie Kingdom", a great area for young children with giant mushrooms playground and re-themed carnival rides.



Another major area - not so far from Pixie Kingdom - would have been the Pirates village with Skull Rock nearby as well as Captain Hook's ship.



It's there where guests could have watch a great live action show, including a flying Peter Pan fighting his eternal ennemy, Captain Hook. And of course the Crocodile was part of the show.



You may also have noticed that in this first concept three hotels were envisioned: a London hotel, a "Pirate's Cove" hotel and a "Lost Boys Tree top" Hotel. As we will see now, the project had significant changes in its final version.

This next document below is another map of the Peter Pan's Neverland park, actually it's the conceptual master plan. Drawn May 24, 1999 at a scale of 1" = 60' it shows a more advanced project with new attractions and also backstage facilities. Let's have a look again at the whole park to see the differences with the first concept.



First, the three hotels are gone, instead we have one big hotel facing the lake of the London Town area. Located near the entrance, a bit like the Disneyland Paris Hotel it would have allowed the hotel guests to have a unique view on the Neverland park.

In the London Town area, always located at the entrance, Big Ben is still there, but a replica of London's famous Tower Bridge was added. Also, a bigger Kensington Gardens at the entrance and a music hall dinner show in one of the main building on the right.
Inside the House of Parliament replica, a new show: "Salute to J.M Barrie", the creator of Peter Pan. Right on the other side of the Tower Bridge an indoor coaster as well as a 3D simulator theater were also envisioned.



In Pirate's Cove a Pirates Dinner show, another indoor roller coaster and a Pirates stunt show in front of Skull Rock were added. Also envisioned, a lagoon show, probably in the evening.



In Pixie Kingdom, the main difference with the first concept is a big building for a Pixie World dark ride. On the top of the picture below, what seems to be a inverted roller coaster would have had its entrance in a new land "Future Zone".



Lost Boys area always have its roller coaster running all over the land and even inside Neverland mountain, and as you can see below, Future Zone was located at the top with not only the inverted roller coaster but also a smaller coaster and a simulator ride.



In Mermaid's Lagoon, an underwater simulator was added to the first concept and a new area - Kid's Creek - was designed for young children with playground and water fun including small boats.



Peter Pan's Neverland was not designed to be as big as Disneyland, but it certainly would have been a great theme park where all the "Peter Pans" living on this planet would have rush!

So what happened? Why this Peter Pan's Neverland theme park was never built? Well, some years later, Michael Jackson and Prince Al-Waleed ended their association, and considering the cost of a concept like this one, it was very unfortunately the end of the Peter Pan's Neverland project. Although Michael lived in his Neverland Ranch, he never got to walk in this "real" Neverland. However, years later, Landmark designed for Michael a great statue showing Michael as Peter Pan!

Does this mean that we will never see this great park concept become real one day? Who knows, with all the different Michael Jackson celebrations that will happen in years to come - not to mention that Neverland Ranch could become for Michael Jackson's fans what Graceland is to Presley's fans - maybe somebody who has enough money will find, just like we do, that it would be great to build this Peter Pan's Neverland for real? And, hey, there is plenty of land available inside Neverland Ranch. Who could imagine a better place to build Michael's dearest dream?


Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

Artwork: copyright Landmark Entertainment Group

Please do NOT post these artworks on other web sites or forums without asking permission, thanks.

Pixar's Coco Win Best Animated Picture 2018 Golden Globes Award !

The Awards season started last night at Hollywood with the 2018 Golden Globes and Pixar's Coco won the Golden Globe of the Best Animated picture! Congrats to everyone at Pixar who worked on Coco and you can see the full list of the 2018 Golden Globes winners HERE. Below, the video showing Writer and director Lee Unkrich acceptance speech for the award of Best Motion Picture.




And the next video shows Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina, & Darla K Anderson answering journalists questions about Coco.




The Opening monologue of the Golden Globes - just like for the Oscars - is always a funny moment and this year it was Seth Meyers who did it. Though, with all the sexual harassment cases of last year it was a bit more sensitive to be funny, Seth Meyers did a great and ( very ) funny job and here is the video of his full monologue that i strongly recommend to watch to start the week with a big laugh!




Oprah Winfrey also received the Cecil B. de Mille Award and did a powerful speech, here is the video!




Picture: copyright Disney - Pixar

Videos: copyright NBC

Leaked Footage of the Slinky Dog Dash Coaster in Tests at DHS Toy Story Land!

Mickey Views has posted leaked footage filmed at night showing that the Slinky Dog Rollercoaster testing is now underway. Based on the footage we now know for sure that the Slinky Dog coaster will feature 4 vehicles and 8 rows per train.




Video: copyright Mickey Views