Check out the latest construction photos at Photos Magiques.

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Sven from Castmember.be has just posted news on his website that the new Monsters, Inc. photo location will be open from 1st April 2006. Even more interesting, however, is the news that whilst Sulley will be presented in full, hairy real-life form, Mike Wazowski will have to make do with a life-size figurine, similar to those used at the Finding Nemo and The Chronicles of Narnia photo locations.

Presenting the character of Mike in the parks has always been hard due to his unusal size and dimensions, not to mention his “ONE EYE!” The photo below shows a rare appearance of a real-life Mike, at the Walt Disney Studios “Monsters, Inc.” movie premiere event.

The billboard on Frontlot currently advertising Chicken Little will be replaced by one of Pixar’s Cars at the end of this month.

Source: La Rouquine at Disney Central Plaza forum

The whole WDSfans.com team and visitors wishes the Walt Disney Studios park and its cast & stars a happy 4th Anniversary!

Rumours are currently circulating that the popular “Soarin’” attraction (aka “Soarin’ Over California”) may be making its way to Walt Disney Studios Park sometime after 2008. The attraction uses giant-screen IMAX technology with an elevated, suspended motion simulator system to simulate a hang glider flight over the Golden State. It is likely that, should the attraction be built at the Studios, the “film” would be changed to fit better into the movie production theme.

Some rumours have suggested that the attraction would be placed between “CinéMagique” and the “Television Production Tour”, but this initially appears rather unlikely considering the vast size of the attraction showbuilding in California and Florida.

The attraction first opened with Disney’s California Adventure at Disneyland Resort, becoming the unexpected hit attraction of the park, in a similar way to “CinéMagique” in Paris. The attraction was then cloned for Epcot as part of Walt Disney World’s celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland. The Epcot version of the attraction, located in Future World’s “The Land” pavillion, is strongly rumoured to receive a new film in upcoming years, featuring a hang glider flight over worldwide landmarks – “Soarin’ Over The World”.

Another character meet ‘n’ greet photolocation is due to join Mickey, The Incredibles, Chicken Little and Narnia at the Studios very soon. The new Monsters, Inc. character location will be placed next to Disney Studio 1 in Animation Courtyard, an area previously featuring tables and chairs as overflow from Restaurant En Coulisse. The photolocation was rumoured during February and upon the addition of a huge Monsters, Inc. poster on the side of Disney Studio 1, above the area, seen as even more likely. When the area was cornered off with construction fences at the end of February, however, the rumour appeared to be confirmed.

Nothing is yet known about the design or arrangement of the new photolocation, but as soon as there’s news – you’ll find it right here!

The programme of enhancements to Walt Disney Studios Park was fully kick-started earlier this year with the addition of several colourful new giant movie posters on the two sides of Disney Studio 1. The Animation Courtyard side features Pinocchio, Dumbo, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Monsters Inc, whilst the Production Courtyard side features 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Chronicles Of Narnia, Mary Poppins and Pirates Of The Caribbean.

The idea of using classic Disney posters to brighten up the park was used in September 2005, when each parade route “lighting rig” was given 3 new posters from the Disney archives. It is a common theme for movie studio park to feature posters on their soundstages – Universal Hollywood do this, as do Disney-MGM Studios and the Hollywood Pictures Backlot at Disney’s California Adventure. The key difference here, however, is that these posters are entirely for modern features, rather than the classic archival posters used at the Paris Studios.

Dude! This is so totally awesome! They’ve finally got started building Crush’s Turtle Twister at Toon Studios and the first wall (albeit a very small, hard-to-see wall) is now up. The concrete wall has been formed on the foundations which were laid in the last couple of weeks, and is running parallel to the “ImagiNations” costuming building, on the Flying Carpets side of the future showbuilding. If the construction of Tower of Terror just across the courtyard is anything to go by, we should be seeing some major visible progress here very soon indeed.

When asked about the construction progress of his attraction, Crush commented: “Saw the whole thing, dude. First you were all like ‘whoa’, and we were like ‘whoa’, and then you were like ‘whoa…!’” Awesome.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has now been under construction for over one year, at the heart of Walt Disney Studios Park. In that time we’ve watched the foundations laid, the giant basement pit created and the huge vertical structure of the tower soar high into the sky above Disneyland Resort Paris. Whilst visible signs of construction progress are currently becoming harder to notice, work is continuing at a steady pace. Recent developments have been the construction of steel frames for both the lobby roof and the small art deco tower. The “body” of the attraction, where the special effects and loading areas are located, has also advanced and should soon be fully joined to the vertical tower behind it.

One of the most noticable changes, however, is the construction of the first “overhang” element at the top of the tower. This is not only an important part of the Californian Tower of Terror’s unique visual idendity, but also allows the massive elevator machinery to fit in place at the top of the building.

Construction photos from past weekend!

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