Star Wars Land Announced for Disneyland and Disney World Hollywood Studios!

Yep, you read that headline right. Just a short while ago, at Disney's annual D23 Expo, the announcement of the long anticipated Star Wars Land was finally made. It was never a matter of "if", but always when with this one.

Now, though? We have the details go along with it and just what guests will be able to expect from this massive new project that will be going on at not just Disneyland but also Disney World.

Since this is a breaking story, we don't have all the details yet, but here's what we do know!

So, just what can we expect? Well, here's the breakdown on things. Both parks will be a massive 14 acres in size. If that doesn't sound big, just think of the fact that this will be taking up most of the space in the existing Disney Hollywood Studios at Disney World for starters.

The Millennium Falcon on Landing Pad

“We are creating a jaw-dropping new world that represents our largest single themed land expansion ever," Iger said. "These new lands at Disneyland and Walt Disney World will transport guests to a whole new Star Wars planet, including an epic Star Wars adventure that puts you in the middle of a climactic battle between the First Order and the Resistance.”

There's at least two new rides coming along with this, and one of them, you'll be able to pilot the Millennium Falcon in one of two new signature attractions coming to each land. The other attraction will put guests right in the middle of a climactic battle. I think the last pic is possibly from that? Hard to say.

Now, for a few more concept pieces to show off just what the future looks like in a park not so far far away.

More Star Wars Land Concept Art!

Possibly for the Millennium Falcon ride?

Stay tuned for more details as we get them on this monster announcement out of Disneyland and Disney World!

Silver Dollar City to Announce 2015 Expansion August 13th - Fireman's Landing?

The folks at Silver Dollar City have been busy putting up banners around the Geyser Gulch section of the park that give the date for their 2015 project announcement. The new area is suspected to be called "Fireman's Landing", based on a trademark filed by  Herschend earlier this year.

You guessed it, Fireman themed and by the looks of it, turn of the century fireman at that. If this sounds familiar, it should. Dollywood opened Firechaser Express just this year as well.

That said, we won't have to wait long until the "5 Alarm Announcement" as it will be coming to use on August 13th. So, just a few weeks away. What exactly will be going into the area is not entirely known, and construction updates from MidwestInfoGuide.com haven't shown any hints of what might be to come either.

Either way, here's the banners that have been spotted, courtesy of MidwestInfoGuide.com!

Disney Parks- Star Wars Land Likely Delayed?

 Disney Parks- Star Wars Land Likely Delayed?

 New rumor circling today, regarding the much rumored 'Star Wars Land' which may show up at Disney Hollywood Studioes as well as other Disney Parks.

 Rumors have been going around since this one broke the surface, with fans and fanatics going bonkers in regards to the idea. Some love it, others hate it. Well, it looks like we're all going to be waiting a while longer before hearing anything more concrete on the matter.

 With new movies being released, we'll likely have to wait until those are underway. On top of the fact another blog (Disney and More) believe that the final update of Star Tours will be Disneyland Paris but not until 2016.  They make some valid points, we'll likely not see a full 'land' coming until this point due to updating the current rides. When you toss out the idea that Disney World, the most likely park to receive a new 'Star Wars Land' first, is still in the middle of working on AvatarLand.. it's unlikely that they'll take on two massive construction projects at once.

 So, we can rest easy (or upset) for a while. We likely won't be seeing changes or announcements for some time!

Animal Kingdom- Avatarland Breaks Ground

Image from Disney Parks Blog

 Avatarland Breaks Ground at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

 With the official closing of Camp Minnie-Mickey attractions, Avatarland had it's first big day in the spotlight.

 On January 10th,  Disney Parks Blog posted up this image of their groundbreaking ceremony, with "Na'vi" themed shovels and some photoshop work on "Jake Sully" in his Avatar form to show a size reference. When in reality it was really Mickey Mouse who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. Disney didn't really leak much information about this new 'land' coming to the park.

Image from Orlando Sentential

The area, which is being designed by Walt Disney Imagineering in partnership with “AVATAR” creator James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment, will be unlike anything ever experienced at a Disney park. Guests will experience the wonders of Pandora when they fly with banshees and explore a rich natural environment with mountains that float and interactive plants that glow at night.

Currently no one is sure what attractions will be added into the "Avatarland" project.  However, with adding Avatarland to Animal Kingdom Disney is hoping that the park will become a full day experience and keep guests in the park longer. No word right now if this will expand the parks operating hours but between Avatarland and this addition of a new night-time show, it's very likely the park will finally buck it's standard 6pm closing time.

Camp Minnie-Mickey Closes Soon, Makes Room for Avatarland

Image from MousePlanet.com

 Disney Confirms a Closure Date for Camp Minnie-Mickey, Making Room for Avatarland.


 The last days of Camp Minnie-Mickey are upon us and by default so are the last days of the popular so "Festival of the Lion King" All to make room for the new addition of Avatarland to the Animal Kingdom park.

 You last day to visit will be January 5th- Disney World has announced that the closing date for this land will be January 6th, 2014.

 While 'Festival of the Lion King' will eventually move to it's new theater home, it will be closed for several months while construction finishes. Camp Minnie-Mickey will never be see again, Not for the much desired "Beastly Kingdom" which fans have been clamoring for since they learned about it. It's closing to make way for the seven-foot-tall-blue-cat-people from James Cameron's "Avatar" movie.  Avatarland is Disney's Newest "Big Budget" expansion, hoping to draw in millions even though no one is sure if Cameron plans to release the next two movies on their proposed dates.

 Like it or Not- Avatarland is coming.

Signs of AvatarLand- Festival of the Lion King has a Closing Date

Image from Disney World

 Well Folks, Like it or Not- Signs of Avatarland looks to be coming soon.

 Yesterday Disney's Animal Kingdom announced that 'Festival of the Lion King' which is currently housed in Camp Minnie-Mickey, will be closing on January 5th.  This will be a six month closure until their new theater in Africa is complete, this could also mean new changes coming to the show for the future.

 It also shows that heavy construction on Avatarland will probably begin shortly after this January 5th closure as 'Camp Minnie-Mickey' is the area of Animal Kingdom where the new land will be placed. Frankly, it' about time they get started on the heavy construction if they plan to keep their 3 year deadline to open in 2017.

 At this time it's unknown if Avatarland will open in Phases. However, it's probably safe to guess this will happen as it's pretty much a standard at the Disney World Parks at this point.

Rumor Alert- The Hunger Games.. In a Theme Park!?

The Hunger Games.. In a Theme Park?

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. 

Seriously?! This is a thing now?

 Apparently it did happen or so LionsGate has said. The CEO of LionsGates, John Feltheimer stated that the company is in talks about creating a theme park based on the successful franchise.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, Feltheimer also said this little bit- "We have been approached in two different territories about potential theme park opportunities, which gives you a sense of the cultural impact of this franchise". 

 No word on what parks think this is a good idea or even what areas of the world they could pop up in. I'd be surprised if anything really comes from this. 

 Apparently Teens killing Teens for food makes for good theme park material now? I don't know, I have standards and won't see the movies so.. yeah, I got nothing here.

This little tidbit from: RTE 

Disney Hollywood Studios- Yup, Star Wars is Coming..

 Well outside of a massive press release, this is about as much conformation as we can get.

 On Sunday- November 10th Bob Iger, the talking-head in charge of the Walt Disney Company stated this bit to  Bloomberg.  "There is a fair amount of development going on at Disney Imagineering right now to expand the Star Wars Presence in Disneyland and Walt Disney World and eventually other Disney theme parks around the world".

 So what does this mean?

 Simply that Disney Hollywood Studios will change massively. In the past we've speculated about the topic of both Star Wars Land and a Cars Land coming to Hollywood Studios and we suspect we know where this will take place. However, without a full press release we can't tell you if we're right or not.  We also now believe this massive change will effect Disneyland also, although where they plan to stuff this in.. I can't tell you till March!

 Never Fear, I'll either find out or make my own guesses!

 It's an educated guessing game.  If you'd like to take a look into the past when we've talked about this topic, check this post from June: Rumor Alert- Star Wars Land coming to DHS?  Inside you'll find maps and various speculation about where I personally suspect the changes will happen.. but again, that's just my guess.

 My Early Guess- This will happen sometime near after the opening of the train wreck new movie in 2015. So likely Disneyland in 2016 and Disney World in 2017.

 Information from the cool folks over at Disney and More!