The Mouse means business with Disney World Fantasyland expansion

We were right. A month and a half ago, WalletPop.com brought you word of some "secret" plans to overhaul Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. At the time, Disney wouldn't comment directly on them, but now it can be told: They're real.

In 2013, the Magic Kingdom's 42nd birthday year, Fantasyland will grow in its largest expansion ever. The details, now official, are pretty much as we had them: a new dark ride based on The Little Mermaid is coming, and the famous Dumbo ride will be multiplying, taking up twice the previous space for, we can only hope, shorter waits. Fans have already dubbed the new version "Double Dumbo."

Four years is a long way off, and so far, the plans for Walt Disney World's 40th anniversary year, 2011, aren't quite so scintillating, with only a rehab of the old Star Tours ride announced.