Last Updated:April 13, 2001

--100 Years of Magic will be the next big celebration for Disney. It will begin on October 1, 2001, and it will celebrate the 100th Birthday of Walt Disney himself. It is coming right on the heels of the very popular and successful Millenium Celebration, which began at the end of '99 and ended on January 1, 2001. Just as Epcot was the center of the Millenium Celebration, MGM Studious will be the host of the 100 Years of Magic. A giant 122-foot Sorcerer Mickey Hat will stand in front of The Great Movie Ride to mark the event. There will also be new parades and shows at all of the parks:
"Once Upon A Dream"(Magic Kingdom)--This parade will feature floats that will look like snow globes based on famous Disney movies such as Cinderella, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, and Beauty & The Beast. There will also be a villains float, a float full of the “flying characters”, and a castle in the clouds float.
“ShowBiz Magic” or “Disney’s Startacular”(MGM)--This parade will celebrate Hollywood and some of the characters rumored to be involved are from the following films: Mary Poppins, Mulan, Hercules, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Muppets, and Star Wars.
“Mickey's Jungle Safari” or “Mickey’s Jammin' Jungle Parade”(AK)--A short parade that will be added to the Animal Kingdom, which currently is the only park without a parade. A few vehicles, such as jeeps and land rovers, will carry "safari-clothed" characters for the people to see.

--Spectromagic has returned to the Magic Kingdom! Main Street Electrical Parade had it's final run on April 1st, 2001 & Spectromagic returned the following day. The MSEP will be missed.

--The Magic Carpets of Aladdin will be the newest attraction in the Magic Kingdom and is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2001. Guests will ride on one of 16 "magic carpets", which will fly in a circular motion around a huge genie lamp. Passengers will be able to control the carpets by making them go up and down and side to side and several water spitting camels will be nearby to cool you off on those hot Orlando days. It will be similar to Dumbo & Astro Orbiter but will hold more people. Also, the surrounding shops will be remodeled to look like Agrabah.

--It has been said that in addition to the layoffs at WDW, the Magic Kingdom will cut it's hours in the summer so they close at 10pm instead of 11pm.

--Rumors are flying that the Carousel of Progress may be closing permanently.

--FASTPASS is being added to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

--The Hall of Presidents is currently closed and being remodeled to include our new president, George W. Bush. It should open sometime in the fall.

--Mission: Space, which is scheduled to open in 2003, is under construction. It will apparently be a motion simulator ride similar to Body Wars and Star Tours.

--The sparkling red sign above Spaceship Earth, which read "2000" during the Millennium Celebration is being transformed into "Epcot" and is just about finished.

--Tapestry of Nations, the parade which was brought in for the Millennium Celebration, will remain for the new 100 Years Celebration and will be renamed "Tapestry of Dreams". The “Sage of Time” speech, which marked the beginning of the parade, has already been replaced with a new speach about dreaming and the parade route has been cut back so that it only runs from Japan to Mexico. New costumes will be added to transform the parade.

--FASTPASS has been added to Living with the Land and is currently being added to Maelstrom. However, it is specultaed that since they have added a FP to LwtL, they will run less boats in order to make the guests get FP and wait around. The reason for this is they are hoping the waiting FP guests will buy food from the nearby food court.

--Test Track is going to be changed up a little bit. The queue area will be redesigned to accommodate all three of the line options (single rider, stand-by and FastPass) inside the show building itself. Other reports say that the area after the ride will host a new virtual driving experience.

--The rumors about Journey Into Your Imagination being revamped in the Spring of 2001 are no longer. The update has been pushed back a couple of years, accoring to sources. There were rumors that Figment, the lovable and guest-favorite purple dinosaur, may be worked into the attraction more. He was a main character of the old Imagination before it was changed into what they have now. Apparently, the "old" Imagination was too long of a ride so they shortened it drastically and cut Figment almost entirely from it.

--Innoventions will be experiencing some changes in the future. IBM has a new racing game, which is currently open, and the Go.com and GM areas have been closed off to create something new.

--The film "O Canada!" in Canada of the World Showcase is reportedly going to be changed and updated for 2002.

--Who Wants to be a Millionaire? PLAY IT! made it's debut on April 7, 2001. It is held in a studio which seats about 600 people and the setup is almost identical to the TV show with a hotseat and all. Instead of money, players get points which they can use to "buy" prizes. The audience members play along with the contestants and whichever audience member scores highest will be the next person to go into the hotseat. "Phone a Friend" has been replaced with "Phone a Stranger"...a random guest waiting in line for the next show will try to help you answer the question.

--Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will undergo a minor, but very much anticipated change, in September of 2001. It will have a "Random Program", meaning the drop sequence will change from one ride to the next, giving you a different experience each time.

--Star Tours is most likely going to be changed in the near future. The current experience is based on the older Star Wars movies where you are flying through space but the new one will be based on the pod racing scene from Star Wars:Episode I-The Phantom Menace.

--Some rumors have The Great Movie Ride & Backlot Tour up for rehab in the near future. The GMR may have a new script and more Fantasia 2000 stuff put into it. The Backlot Tour Water Effects Tank is going to be changed in May or June and will tie-in to the upcoming film "Pearl Harbor".

--Dino Rama is currently under construction. It will have 2 new rides, Triceratops Spin (a Dumbo type ride) and Primeval Whirl (a pair of dueling,spinning Crazy Mouse style coasters). Primeval Whirl has been described as some kind of spinning “Time Machine” ride where the cars will drop through the jaws of a Dinosaur skeleton at some point.

--It seems the resort bus system is currently testing a new system that may add some waiting time at the bus stops. "Magic On Demand" is an effort by WDW to coordinate the resort guests as they leave the hotels in the morning and to call in for transportation to their destination. This is similar to how Disney handles things at night when the parks close and they call in for more buses to help with the longer lines or combine small groups onto one bus for more than one resort. The future of this system is rumored to take things to a new level and become an automated system where guests swipe their resort cards and select a destination on their way out.

--FASTPASS 2.0, an updated version of the popular FASTPASS, is currently being installed. This will be a perk for Disney Resort guests. For extra money, guests may upgrade their resort cards so when they get a FASTPASS, it will be able to be used immediately. Rumored new features will include: Name Recognition, Language Recognition, hints on things to do with your time while you wait, as well as a whole new program for a VIP Status Ticket.

--The Monorail System expansion plans that were being considered have apparently been shot down. They were thinking of expanding the monorail to include transportation to other hotels, Animal Kingdom, and MGM. The price, however, was thought to be way too high.

--Disney's Pop Century Resort, due to open in December 2001, will be the newest resort, just following the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It will be similar to the All-Star Resorts in price, theme, and amenities. It will be located near the MGM Studios. Pop Century will have 20 buildings, in which each pair will feature a theme from a decade in the past century. A giant Jukebox will theme the front of the '50's themed buildings and a giant Yo-Yo for the '60's. The sides of the buildings will have dancing silhouettes of that era as well.

***I want to express that these rumors are not my own nor do I take credit for them. All of the information was taken from various sites on the net and message boards concerning WDW. If you have news or rumors you would like added, let me know and I'll post them as well as give you credit.***

Sources
Screamscape