Storybook Circus
| Storybook Circus | |
|---|---|
| Park | Magic Kingdom |
| Land / area | Storybook Circus |
| Type | Themed land |
| Opened | March 12, 2012 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
Storybook Circus is a themed land at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, forming part of Fantasyland. Inspired principally by the 1941 animated film Dumbo, it is presented as a travelling American circus that has arrived by train and set up its big top beside the station. Colourful tents, circus posters, wagons and calliope-style music give the area a fairground character distinct from the storybook villages elsewhere in Fantasyland.
History
Storybook Circus occupies the site of Mickey's Toontown Fair, a land that had itself begun as a temporary birthday celebration area. Mickey's Toontown Fair closed permanently on February 11, 2011, to make way for the New Fantasyland expansion, the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history.[1] Not everything was demolished: the small Barnstormer roller coaster was kept and rethemed, and the railway station was rebuilt on its existing site.
The land opened in phases. Its first section soft-opened on March 12, 2012, ahead of a planned opening at the end of that month, with one Dumbo the Flying Elephant spinner, the rethemed The Barnstormer and the rebuilt Fantasyland station for the Walt Disney World Railroad.[2][3] The second Dumbo spinner, its indoor big-top queue and the Casey Jr. water play area followed in July 2012, and Pete's Silly Sideshow and the Big Top Souvenirs shop completed the land later that year.
Moving Dumbo solved a long-standing problem. In its old position in central Fantasyland the single spinner had been one of the park's slowest-moving queues. Doubling it, and adding an indoor queue in which children could play while their party waited to be called, substantially increased its capacity.
Attractions and entertainment
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant — twin aerial carousels in which guests ride in Dumbo vehicles, controlling how high they fly. One spinner turns clockwise and the other anticlockwise, both over fountains.
- The Barnstormer — a junior roller coaster presented as the stunt plane act of the Great Goofini, the circus's daredevil. The short circuit climbs, dips and turns through a billboard, and is a common first coaster for young guests.
- Casey Jr. Splash 'N' Soak Station — a water play area built around Casey Jr., the circus train from Dumbo, whose animal cars spray and squirt water at passers-by.
- Pete's Silly Sideshow — a character greeting location under a big-top tent, where Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck and Goofy appear in circus roles such as fortune teller, snake charmer and daredevil.
- Fantasyland station — the Storybook Circus stop on the Walt Disney World Railroad, decorated with references to Walt Disney's own Carolwood Pacific backyard railroad.
Dining
Storybook Circus has no restaurant of its own. Food and drink within the land are limited to snack carts and wagons selling popcorn, drinks and similar fairground fare, in keeping with its travelling-circus setting. Guests looking for a full counter-service or table-service meal use the restaurants elsewhere in Fantasyland, a short walk away. Big Top Souvenirs, housed in a circus tent in the centre of the land, is the area's main shop rather than a dining location, although it sells packaged sweets and snacks.