ORLANDO, FLA. -- With the clank of a golden pickaxe on a stone and a barrage of fireworks and confetti, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride was officially opened today.
And in a bit of breaking news, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs announced that the ride, "Will be fully open to our guests May 28."
The official opening date was somewhat of a surprise, as Disney had been quietly rolling the coaster out through limited previews and, according to one cast member, by randomly selecting park guests for special advanced rides but had yet to issue an official opening date.
The ride itself begins with a series of in-queue attractions that make lining up nearly as much of an experience as the ride itself. Guests can fish digital gems out of a touchscreen stream, make music on a motion-sensing water organ, and spin barrels of gems to create kaleidoscope projections on the ceiling before they've even stepped foot on the ride.
According to Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts in the United States and France, this in-queue interactivity had become a priority as the parks continue to evolve. "We have a lot of focus on the experience before the actual attraction," she said. "How can we transform that feeling of a wait? How can we make something that's interactive for our guests?"
Similar interactive experiences have been introduced to the queues at Dumbo The Flying Elephant, The Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain.
The ride itself takes passengers through the gem mine of the dwarfs, all seven of which are replicated in a blend of animatronics and digital projection to create a seamless living cartoon. That is, if you have time to appreciate the ingenious tech while whipping around twists and turns in a dynamic mine-cart coaster that tilts and sways from side to side around turns.
"The Mine Train features a first-of-its-kind ride system with real mine cars that the guys here designed," Staggs quipped, indicating the seven Dwarves around him. They all took a bow except for Bashful because, well; Bashful.
The ride not only gives a visual exclamation point to the new Fantasyland, it also acts as the culmination of a years-long transformation of the space from Fantasyland to New Fantasyland, with new attractions like the highly popular interactive Enchanted Tales with Belle and the Storybook Circus.
"It was an undertaking. We literally doubled the size. And doubling the size of the favorite land in the favorite park in the world was something that took a lot of time and though. It was years in the making," said Crofton.
And with all the years of planning, developing and waiting now passed, it was simply a matter of dropping a golden pickaxe to declare New Fantasyland complete.
"It's literally and figuratively the centerpiece of new fantasyland," said Staggs of the Mine Train ride. "So we knew it had to be something special."
Judging by the reactions of the crowds during Thursday night's sneak preview, it was.
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