Disney World is all about change, and a lot of big changes are happening RIGHT NOW.
In Magic Kingdom alone, a lot is changing. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a brand new attraction, is currently in early previews with an official opening date of June 28th. A HUGE expansion is also coming to the park. A new Country Bear Jamboree show is coming on July 17th. Disney just announced something else that’s also coming to the park: a new Disney Vacation Club (DVC) lounge.
Okay, so we have some good news and bad news. We’ll start with the good news: a new DVC lounge is coming to Frontierland in Magic Kingdom.
That’s pretty cool, right? Now, DVC members will have a place to chill out, grab some beverages and snacks, and get away from the hustle and bustle of Magic Kingdom for a little while. This will be the third DVC member lounge in Disney World, which also includes the DVC lounge at the Imagination Pavilion at EPCOT and the Top of the World Lounge – A Villain’s Lair at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
However, there’s still the bad news. To make way for the new DVC lounge, something has to go away, and that something is a classic attraction. It looks like Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade will be going away forever to make room for the new lounge.
Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade was an opening day attraction for Magic Kingdom, and allows guests to relive a shootout in Tombstone, Arizona in the Wild West in the 1800s. Although the guns originally had lead pellets, they were replaced with infra-red light in 1982, not because the lead pellets were dangerous but because they damaged the targets so much they had to be repainted almost every night.
The Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade, which costs an additional fee to play, has always been a big hit with kids, although we can imagine a lot of adults get nostalgic feelings about it. So if you’re looking to get in one last game, you might want to visit Magic Kingdom soon. The last day you’ll be able to enjoy Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade will be on June 23rd — it will be closed after that.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the situation, and keep you updated with a closing date for Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade, as well as an opening date for the new DVC lounge. Construction is set to begin later this year, so we’ll keep an eye out.
Check back with AllEars again soon.
There’s a NEW DVC Welcome Center in Disney World!
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What do you think of this news? Will you be sad to see Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade closed? Let us know in the comments!
I love Disney and I’ve been positive about the changes in the face of negativity online for years, but 7 years of waiting for the Epcot overhaul, walking forever through the park with construction walls while still paying full price, and now this is the result? It’s made me quite mad at the upper management at Disney. They don’t care, they apparently understand nothing about what Walt wanted his parks to he different from his competition.
If the new DVC lounge is anything like the terrible downgrade Epcot received for Communicore hall, dreamers point, and the glorified office park that replaced the fountain of nations it’s going to be a hard pass for me. To watch the encanto show you have to stand directly IN THE SUN. This is just pure distain for the comfort of your guests.
Disney must stop paving over paradise for these mundane, banal downgrades. There’s no more playground over at splash mountain to make way for more stroller and scooter parking. It’s a ride that has a 40 inch height requirement and now what will the young patrons do while waiting hours for their family to get through the line? They can’t go on big Thunder because that also has a height requirement. No more shooting gallery either. That leaves Tom Sawyer island which is too big of a time commitment, and the country bears show. So mostly people will just be standing in the already crowded corner of the park taking up space.
This DVC lounge is the last straw for me. Disney has decided that class warfare belongs inside their parks now as well. Rich DVC people can sip their sodas in private away from all the peasant people. And an iconic opening day Attraction (shooting gallery) will now prove to be one less way for the park goers to enjoy themselves when the lines will inevitably reach 100-200 minutes.
Upper management needs to get the boot. They should all be taking salary cuts, the hard working cast members should be getting paid more, and we should be getting more attractions in the park, not less. Even accounting for TRON the average guest will spend less time on attractions at Magic Kingdom than when the park first opened. The experience at Disney pales in comparison to the way it used to be and that mostly has to do with the massive lines and crowds that never seem to go away even when its raining or hot as the surface of the sun outside.
I moved here for Disney and now the sun has set at Disney World. Once my lease is over, I’m off to the beach and later Japan where I can still get the Disney experience I am craving from the Oriental Land Company. Goodbye Disney World.