The Fantasyland Enchanted Forest soft opened for the first time yesterday and we have received a lot of questions about what the plans are for openings going forward.
Soft-opening "dress-rehearsals" are held to fine tune elements of attractions, shows, guest flow and other operational details. Disney has typically initially carried these out in an unannounced way, aimed at starting the process without huge crowds which would defeat the object of a soft opening. Disney has therefore not announced anything relating to the openings, other than the start of the official guest previews, and of course, the grand opening.
Here is a look at all of the key dates that we know of, and remember, these can change at any time, and are not an official list.
Soft openings began October 12 2012, running from 10am to 6pm. It is expected, but not guaranteed, that these will continue for the remainder of this week from approx. 10am to 6pm.
Cast Member only previews are being held October 20, 21, 22, 23 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, November 1, 2. During this time, it is expected that only cast members will be able to enter, and it is unlikely that any regular parks guests will be admitted.
Annual Passholder previews are being held on Nov 3, Nov 10, Nov 11. As with the cast member previews, it is expected that regular park guests will not be admitted during these dates.
Additional Passholder previews are being held on Nov 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 (
view time slots here)
D23 member previews are being held on November 3 and November 4. It is expected that regular park guests will not be admitted during these dates.
DVC member previews are being held on November 4 and November 5. It is expected that regular park guests will not be admitted during these dates.
Officially announced previews for all guests begin on November 19 2012. During this time you can typically expect the land to be open to all guests, but since it is still in previews, it may close at any time.
The grand opening is December 6 2012, when the land is officially declared open and should operate as normal along with the rest of the park.
As you can see from those dates, there are gaps between some of those phases, and we have no information as to what will happen during that time. Disney may well choose to resume guest soft openings, or the area may be closed for additional work. With any soft openings or previews, there are absolutely no guarantees that it will open.
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