10. Jaws ride in Universal Studios Orlando closing
Despite the fact that Universal Orlando only announced the upcoming closing of their classic Jaws attraction a couple of weeks ago, the story has rocketed to number ten on the most popular for 2011. Many are already lamenting the loss of this ride, which remains open until Monday. But mostly rumors of a Harry Potter expansion fueled the popularity of this story. Will we see London, Diagon Ally, the Leaky Cauldron, a Gringotts roller coaster, and a rideable Hogwarts Express come to Universal Studios Florida? Or is something else in store for the soon-to-be-former Amity area? We’ll likely find out in 2012.
9. Star Tours: The Adventures Continue opens
After years of rumors and waiting, the immensely popular Star Tours attraction finally received its long overdue update in 2011, reopening as Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, with numerous new destinations, characters, and 3D effects. It all began with the surprising revelation that the new version of the attraction would open first at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, then at Disneyland the following month. From there, an early soft opening yielded spoiler-free and spoiler-filled reviews of the ride before its official debut. Then George Lucas, Bob Iger, Anthony Daniels, and more celebrities and Star Wars characters took the stage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the official grand opening of the attraction, after which I had a chance to interview many of the Imagineers who developed it as well as C-3PO himself. And of course, we took you on a complete trip across the galaxy, through the ride’s updated queue and aboard the Starspeeder 1000. And finally, after all that excitement ended, Disneyland held its own Star Tours grand opening, albeit a far smaller one. It was a thrilling and long-anticipated time at Disney’s parks.
8. Disney D23 Expo 2011
The second-ever D23 Expo was held in 2011 in Anaheim, Calif. No single story was popular enough to make this list, but the combination of everything that took place at the fan event easily brought it here. Unique sights and surprises included a tour of the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit, talking Mickey Mouse in the Parks and Resorts pavilion, Disney Princess voices and Muppets singing at the Disney Legends ceremony, Voices of the Parks revealed on a first-time panel, a look at future theme park technology with The Amazing Destini, and vague hints at future experiences for Disneyland. Though no big announcements were made at the 2011 D23 Expo, the overall event was packed with entertainment, information, and many first-looks at evolving details of ongoing projects.
7. LEGOLAND Florida opens
Central Florida welcomed a new theme park in 2011: LEGOLAND Florida. While we brought you to the park’s two-day grand opening celebration, the most popular story to come from LEGOLAND was the availability of free tickets, which are now long gone. The promise of anything free always draws a larger-than-usual crowd and combined with a look inside the new park, LEGOLAND Florida found its way to number seven on this list.
6. Nick Pitera’s "One Man Disney Movie"
A shocker at the sixth most popular topic on Inside the Magic in 2011, Pixar employee Nick Pitera’s “One Man Disney Movie” has been seen more than 5 million times on YouTube. While we had no hand in its creation, we did help tell the world about this impressive musical endeavor in which the talented Pitera sings and performs multiple parts from multiple Disney film songs, simultaneously in a Brady Bunch-style split screen. It’s a surprise to see it on this list. (I think we can thank Google for the traffic boost, ranking us very high in search results for “Nick Pitera”.)
5. Halloween Horror Nights 2011
Halloween is huge. It all began early this year, with a hint of a new ticket option way back in February. Then months of anticipation passed, with a gambling/luck theme teased for this 21st year of the event. Ultimately, all detailed were revealed over the summer and in September I finally experienced and reviewed all the haunted houses and scare zones. From there, I continued to frequent the event, updating everyone on subtle changes along the way, and adding countless videos and photos to the ever-evolving review as well. And now it’s all over… until 2012
4. Haunted Mansion interactive queue and Hitchhiking Ghosts
The Haunted Mansion saw another big year in 2011. Following its upgrades in Orlando in 2007, unannounced construction materialized along the riverside, next to the attraction. It quickly began to look like a creepy new crypt from behind construction walls, and ultimately was unveiled to be a new interactive queue. Not all Mansion fans are excited about that somewhat noisy and possibly too playful addition to the attraction, but Imagineers had much more in store. For a short while, the ride’s iconic Hitchhiking Ghost animatronic figures were replaced by projections. But those were only temporary, as the animatronic figures returned looking better than ever. The most impressive and widely-praised addition to The Haunted Mansion in 2011 was the introduction of animated interactive ghosts in the mirrors at the end. Our first look at the impressive new finale effects made its way all around the Internet, making The Haunted Mansion updates the fourth most popular topic for 2011.
3. Disney Announces James Cameron's "Avatar" themed land
The biggest surprise of 2011 was also one of the biggest stories, bringing more comments and opinions than any ever before. The world of “Avatar” was announced to be coming to Walt Disney World. Though no details have been released, as Imagineers are still coming up with the concepts, many are eager to see what Disney and James Cameron will dream up for Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park
2. New Fantasyland changes and updates
The Magic Kingdom’s biggest expansion ever was also the second most popular topic for 2011. While none of it is open yet, we did learn many new details about New Fantasyland throughout the year. It all started way back in January, when Disney revealed big changes to the plans they originally announced in 2009. Numerous Princess interactions would be replaced by a variety of experiences, including the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster and Storybook Circus. More details about the Mine Train quickly emerged, as did the construction of Beast’s castle. But it was my interview with an Imagineer at the D23 Expo that brought the most attention to New Fantasyland, revealing a timeline of when attractions will open in the expansion throughout the next couple years.
1. "Great" earthquake strikes Tokyo Disneyland
Unfortunately, the single most popular topic for 2011 was not good news at all. In March, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and we watched it all unfold via Twitter, with a particular interest on the impact it had on Tokyo Disneyland. Pictures and reports began to surface, which we pulled together to keep all posted with the latest information and imagery. Fortunately, no one was injured in the parks, damage was a minimum, and everyone remained calm. In fact, as video showed up online, the world was amazed at just how calm and collected everyone was upon the announcement of the earthquake. While many were “stranded” in the parks overnight, all were safe. Tokyo Disneyland remained closed for several weeks, but has since reopened with new attractions and rebounding attendance. Though the theme parks are now fine, no one has certainly forgotten the devastation and loss that occurred throughout
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