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The Irish Sun

Huge Fantasyland Forest theme park land that Disney World was forced to scrap

Plus, the different Disney locations around the world PARK UP Huge Fantasyland Forest theme park land that Disney World was forced to scrap – with fairytale attractions DISNEY World has a long history of 'could have beens' including a massive Fantasyland Forest that would have featured princess meet and greets. Back in 2009, Disney announced an expansion would be going ahead at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. 5 Fantasyland Enchanted Forest was set to include a central forest area with princess meet-and-greets Credit: Disney 5 Part of the area was previously occupied by the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Submarine Voyage which had been left abandoned Credit: Disney 5 Some of the initial plans did materialise though Credit: Disney Win one of 8 incredible holidays to the Caribbean, Mexico and Greece by voting in The Sun's Travel Awards - enter to win here Whilst the expansion did go ahead, making it the largest single park expansion in the Magic Kingdom's history at the time, earlier plans fell through. The Fantasyland Enchanted Forest was set to be built in an area of the park where a few closures had taken place including the abandoned Skywalk station from 1999 and the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Submarine Voyage from 1994. Whilst a small Winnie the Pooh play area and meet-and-greet opened in 2004, the Fantasyland Enchanted Forest announced in 2009 planned to open several mini lands. The main area would have been an Enchanted Forest, acting as the central mini land where guests would be able to meet-and-greet Disney princesses such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. 5 But one major element that didn't make it was Pixie Hollow featuring Tinker Bell Credit: Disney Another mini-land proposed was Pixie Hollow, with Tinker Bell and her fairy friends - guests would have even been shrunk to pixie size. Other attractions included a Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and Peter Pan's Flight ride. However, plans adapted - especially after the initial proposal received mixed reception with many fans claiming it was too "girl centric". By the time the new land opened, much was different from the first drawings. There was no central Enchanted Forest and meet-and-greets with Cinderella as she was cleaning and Sleeping Beauty on her 16th birthday were scrapped. This European castle was the inspiration for Disney Instead, the Princess Fairytale Hall took its place, with the change of meet-and-greet with Belle instead. For dining, there was plans for a 'Be Our Guest' restaurant, which did go ahead and can be found inside the Beast's castle. Sticking with Beauty and the Beast, the initial dining destinations of Gaston's Tavern and a 'Be Our Guest' restaurant in the Beast's castle did go ahead. A dark ride - which features themed sections and special effects - called Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid, also went ahead. And taking over the spot where Pixie Hollow was due to be, the Storybook Circus doubled the size of Dumbo the Flying Elephant, created an interactive queue area and re-themed the kiddie rollercoaster, The Barnstormer. Part of the site set for the Enchanted Forest was also given to a new ride known as the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, replacing Snow White's Scary Adventures. According to Orlando Park Stop, this was Disney's attempt to make the new area attractive to boys as well as girls. This ride marked the last part of the development to open in May 2014 and to date remains one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World. How many Disney locations are there around the world? DISNEY parks are located in several countries around the world. Here's the list of countries with Disney parks: United States Disneyland Resort (Anaheim, California) Walt Disney World Resort (Orlando, Florida) France Disneyland Paris (Marne-la-Vallée, near Paris) Japan Tokyo Disney Resort (Urayasu, near Tokyo) China Shanghai Disney Resort (Shanghai) Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (Hong Kong) There was also a Disneyland planned for the UK and images have revealed what it could have looked like. And here's inside an abandoned Disney World airport with its own singing runway, but planes are banned from landing.