The left side of the construction represents the future area of Be Our Guest Restaurant, Maurice’s Cottage, and Gaston’s Tavern. The large building on the right side will house The Little Mermaid attraction and Storybook Circus (not included in the frame) will begin at the far right of this attraction.  The New Fantasyland attractions, stores and eateries will open in phases beginning late 2012.

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Which event in WDW’s 40 year history is most memorable to you? Is there something notable that they missed in the Infographic?

If you haven’t been to Walt Disney World in a while, or if you’ve never been at all, maybe it’s about time you did. There are plenty of Orlando Hotels and packages available these days, finding one to fit your budget has never been easier. It’s your turn to experience Disney history.

Cameron and his producing partner Jon Landau along with their team at Lightstorm Entertainment will serve as creative consultants on the project and will work side-by-side withWalt Disney Imagineers as they decide what experiences will take guests deep into worlds of AVATAR. Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort is planned as the site of the first AVATAR-themed land with construction expected to begin by 2013.

What do you think they will build? Something along the lines of the Indiana Jones attractions? Something completely new and different? We’ll keep our ears to the ground for further news and development on this exciting proposition.

The Art of Animation Resort will be built on a 65-acre plot across a lake from Disney’s Pop Century Resort. The location will allow Disney to use a pair of long-neglected, unfinished buildings that Disney originally constructed as a second phase of Pop Century but which it abandoned amid the 2001 recession. Pop Century’s first phase was completed in 2003.

Plans for the new resort show 10 wings of rooms and a separate building housing the check-in lobby and restaurants. The hotel wings will be separated into four distinct groups, each with a theme from a different animated movie: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars.

The resort will be priced as a “value” hotel, at the low end of Disney World’s scale, similar to Disney’s Pop Century and All-Star resorts, where standard rates begin at $82 a night. It is the first hotel that Disney has built on the property in seven years.

For additional information, see a more concise write-up at The Orlando Sentinel.

The balloon pop game will be changed from Bo Peep and her sheep to Rex and Trixie (the triceratops from the new movie), and will feature a jungle/volcano theme.

What is significant about this change is that the attraction very likely will experience zero downtime during the change. This is due to the fact that the change only involves changing out computer programs which can be done  overnight. Therefore it is assumed that the attraction will simply close one day with the old game and reopen the next day with the new game.

This also creates the opportunity for Imagineering to make frequent changes such as implementing seasonal overlays for the attraction as they already do with The Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and the recent overlay done on Space Mountain. Only in the case, the overlays can be done overnight when the parks are closed.

This leads one to wonder if more of these types of Imagineering will appear in attractions of the future giving the Imagineers the ability to keep attractions fresh and up to date.

It’s not certain whether those changes will appear at the version of Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney’s California Adventure, but it would be a reasonable assumption.

“The sports tourism market is really growing and we want to grow with it,” said Ken Potrock, senior vice president of sports enterprises, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. “We needed to create a project where we would be able to bring in the single-largest tournaments.”

More than a year before its 2010 opening, the bowling center has already allowed Disney to strike a deal with the United States Bowling Congress, which said it would hold its men’s and women’s tournaments at the new facility. Potrock said the arrangement could bring as many as 85,000 bowlers to a national event. “And these bowlers come with their significant others,” he said.

While the alley may be a great addition for nearby residents and professional bowling tournaments, I could not see myself frequenting the place. The same is true of movie theaters and arcade game plazas. I mean it already takes something like 7-10 days just to visit the four theme parks located there, not to mention the two water parks when they are open. In other words, I don’t feel the average tourist goes to a Disney park to do things they could do in their normal everyday lives. But, I could be wrong.

Related: Book your dream Disney vacation at Expedia.com!

Users will be able to click on maps that show about 1,500 rides, restaurants and attractions all in 3-D. The mega-map, with interactive features, will be available via disneyworld.com/3dparks or Google Earth for free. “It’s a virtual walk-through of the whole property … the most amazing virtual tour of any place in the world,” Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Jay Rasulo says.

“While Google Earth offers a growing number of 3-D images and gives bird’s-eye views of non-Disney theme parks, with links to information about them, the Disney project is the most ambitious and detailed 3-D production yet. It’s “truly innovative and unique,” says Google Earth maps director John Hanke.

One example of how this might work – click on Space Mountain and you can view a video of the ride as well as get information such as height requirements. Another example – place your mouse on the Grand Floridian and a video of the resort pops up. You also can check availability and rates and make a reservation.

For now, the map shows only exteriors, but in the near future web visitors might be able to stroll into Cinderella’s Castle or walk into a room at a Disney resort. Photographers are at work to map Disneyland Resort Paris (Euro Disney); other Disney properties are sure to follow.

Technology such as this will be a wonderful addition for people who are not privileged enough to have ever visited a Disney park. Sure it will not be as wonderful as being there in person but it sure beats postcards and pictorial books. It may even help detailed planners such as myself, get more out of a Disney theme park experience.

Related: Book your dream Disney vacation at Expedia.com!