WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT ANNOUNCES NEW MOUNTAIN OF THRILLS, SETS OPENING DATE FOR SPACE ATTRACTION AND VALUE RESORT
With an eye-popping celebration fit for a lion king, Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park marked its fifth anniversary today -- and announced plans for Expedition EVEREST, a mammoth new E-ticket thrill attraction to open for Walt Disney World guests in 2006.
At the same time, Disney officials announced an Aug. 15 preview opening for Epcot's Mission: SPACE, a one-of-a-kind thrill that will rocket guests to the galaxies in an out-of-this-world space adventure. Mission: SPACE officially launches in October. Presented by HP and featuring breakthrough technology that creates an unforgettable launch sequence and interplanetary journey, Mission: SPACE will take amazed riders straight up into space and on to Mars.
Officials also announced an opening date of Dec. 14 for Disney's Pop Century Resort, which will add 2,880 value-priced rooms to Walt Disney World Resort in its first phase. Guests may now begin booking rooms at the resort, which celebrates the toys, fads, fashions, crazes and phrases of the 20th century.
"The opening plans for Mission: SPACE and Pop Century and the construction of Expedition EVEREST are good news for our guests and good news for tourism," said Al Weiss, president of Walt Disney World Resort. "We remain upbeat about the future and are moving forward with determined momentum."
And in the short-term, Weiss said, Walt Disney World will launch a summer of special events and attractions to give guests more reasons than ever to visit, including:
* The 10th annual Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival, April 25- June 8.
* Star Wars Weekends, celebrating the popular Star Wars legends and characters, for five consecutive weekends beginning May 16-18 at Disney-MGM Studios.
* Epcot World Music Concert Series June 13-Sept. 1 featuring a global lineup of performers appearing at America Gardens Theatre.
* Showtime! More walk-around Disney characters than ever before in the parks, new acts lighting the night at the Cirque du Soleil(R) production La Nouba, and the new "Spirit of Aloha" South Seas dinner show at Disney's Polynesian Resort.
* The triumphant return to Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex of the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their 2003 training camp in July and August.
To pounding African drums and surrounded by dancers and puppets, Weiss and park vice president Beth Stevens led ceremonies Tuesday as Disney's Animal Kingdom celebrated five years of growth since its Earth Day opening in 1998. Then howling winds, a rising mountain, billowing snow and a parka-clad Goofy heralded the surprise announcement:
Expedition EVEREST is coming.
Set to rise on the eastern range of the 500-acre park, Expedition EVEREST will be a high-speed train adventure among the glaciers, canyons and caverns of the snowy Himalayas. The old mountain railway will follow a perilous course and -- in a first for Walt Disney World Resort -- send riders both forward and backward to an eventual encounter with the yeti, the feared creature guarding the route to Mount Everest.
At nearly 200 feet, Expedition EVEREST will be the tallest mountain in Florida and will rise in the Asia section of the park. When it opens in 2006, guests will be able to conquer the thrills and chills of Expedition EVEREST as it climbs and careens among the mountain slopes.
Starting in mid-August, Mission: SPACE guests will lift off on an almost inconceivable adventure into outer space. From the countdown on Earth to touchdown on Mars, Mission: SPACE will scrape the heavens -- and throw Epcot guests some pulse-racing surprises along the way. Mission: SPACE is located in the Future World section of Epcot.
Larger-than-life pop icons such as a Big Wheel, Rubik's Cube, Duncan Yo-Yo and Play-Doh anchor the first phase of Disney's Pop Century Resort, opening in December. Pools shaped like a flower and a bowling pin evoke way-back-when memories, and features include a food court, lounge and arcade.
Rates start at $77 per night. For reservations and more information, guests can call 407/W-DISNEY.
