What’s New at Walt Disney World Resort in 2012

What leap year brings with it in 2012, besides an extra day, is nonstop fun for Disney guests. At Walt Disney World Resort, you can spin with Dumbo as a new Fantasyland begins stirring to life, sleep like a princess in one of the new royal guest rooms or family suites, or chase down villains in a new interactive game in Magic Kingdom.

Here’s a quick leap around what’s in store at Walt Disney World Resort in 2012:

Sorcerers invade the Magic Kingdom (early 2012)

In an all-new interactive experience, “Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom,” Merlin the magician will recruit guests as apprentice sorcerers to undertake missions to subdue villains and ne’er do wells. Armed with magic spells in the form of special cards, guests must search for the magic symbols that lead them to animated villains’ hiding places. By casting different magical spell cards, players can do battle with Yzma, Kronk and other “baddies” hiding throughout the land. From fireballs to frantic frogs and cyclones, there are spells to bring down each and every villain, with a simple flick of the wrist. This immersive role-playing adventure is included with park admission.

One More Disney Day (Feb. 29)

Disney Parks guests can get the most out of February 29 when Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California celebrate Leap Year by keeping a theme park on each coast open for 24 hours of nonstop memory-making fun. For the first time ever, both the Magic Kingdom Park and Disneyland Park will stay open for 24 hours straight as part of a bi-coastal salute called “One More Disney Day.” From 6 a.m., February 29 to 6 a.m., March 1, 2012, local time, guests can fill the extra day of leap year with a marathon of Disney magic and fun.

New Fantasyland (2012)

The largest expansion project in Magic Kingdom history will open in phases beginning in 2012 at Walt Disney World Resort, featuring attractions and experiences in an area that will nearly double the size of Fantasyland. Among the novelties, guests will be able to fly high with The Great Goofini or with Dumbo the Flying Elephant, “immerse” themselves in Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid and “be our guest” at the Beast’s Castle. Completion of The New Fantasyland is scheduled for 2014 with most new experiences open by 2013.

Royal Guest Rooms (Spring 2012)

Imagine waking up in a place where Disney Princes and Princesses have stayed. Beginning spring 2012, Walt Disney World guests staying at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside will discover special treasures left behind by the stars of favorite animated films such as “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Princess and the Frog.” In quarters befitting the young Princes and Princesses of the family (their parents, too!), guests can unwind amid remarkable décor. They’ll be able to watch “fireworks” swirl as they recline in ornate beds, curl up in custom linens and more. It is majesty and fun, rolled into one. Each of the 512 Royal Guest Rooms sleeps up to four guests in two queen beds.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (May 2012)

A new resort hotel inspired by Disney animation will feature 1,120 family suites themed after “The Lion King,” “Cars” and “Finding Nemo,” and 864 themed rooms in “The Little Mermaid” wings. Animated scenes will carry throughout building exteriors and room interiors and feature larger-than-life icons from the animated films in courtyard areas. Nemo will be the first wing to open, in May 2012, at the resort hotel — Disney World’s 25th. The “Cars” wing is scheduled to open in late July and “The Lion King” wing in late September. The final wing, themed after “The Little Mermaid,” will debut in late 2012. Crowned by a 35-foot-tall model of King Triton, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort will be located next to Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

Upscale entertainment center (Fall 2012)

Splitsville, located in Downtown Disney West Side, will reinvent bowling for America with 45,000 square feet of fun and 30 lanes on two floors. Guests will come for the bowling but stay for the food. Between strikes and spares, guests can feast on menu items including hand-tossed pizza, fresh-rolled sushi and hand-cut filet sliders served right at the lane. Beyond a great hangout for friends and families, the all-new day-and-nightime venue also will be available for birthday parties and corporate events.