The Spirited Valentine's thread is a veritable chocolate sampler for all my loves here in MAGIC Land. I wouldn't try and catch up. But we are talking the foreign parks, mostly the Chinese right now, so if you said you recently took this trip and dropped a few of these exact posts in, I think you'd get some action (no, not hot fanboi loving action ... ) I think a lot of folks would be interested in reading about your trip and it won't happen down here. Trust me on this!
I'll try to wade in over there. It really is a bummer that there's no good place to talk the Asian parks that's popular. It makes sense, obviously... So very few Westerners get there, and only some smaller fraction of those people post to message boards or enjoy discussing online.
The popular online community babble is that trains are not a big deal in China (I must have imagined all the amazingly modern and efficient lines over there that I rode for work and pleasure) and that since Chinese laborers died when building our western expansion in the 1800s that it would have been culturally insensitive to build one. I find this theory as ill-begotten as the "Chinese don't think ghosts are funny, so you can't do a HM over there", which I've had Chinese friends literally ROTFLTAO over. The other story says it was to be included originally, which might be why you see all these train nods (or not, this is WDI, they never explain why they do what they do), and Bob Weis himself vetoed it. I find this hard to believe. Bob Iger took a very hands-on role in what was going in this park from the start. So ... no answers, just more questions.
I hadn't heard of the possible reason being lives lost in Westward Expansion. I tend to agree with you though... That can't be it, considering all the other Western train references all over the place. There are so many that it really did have the feeling that they just sort of... FORGOT to put the train in. And the simplest solution is often the correct one... Budget cuts would make plenty of sense.
We will be staying at the Toy Story Hotel. We thought, seriously, about the SDLH, because the price difference really isn't much more and one hotel sure looks classier than the other. But, ultimately, this is going to be an on-the-go visit and I always talk about the idiots who spend $700 a night for a room at WDW that they use for six hours of sleep, refilling a mug twice a day and maybe one visit to the pool in a week -- I didn't want to be one of those, even though the SDLH is less than half that for our dates. ... I have heard very good things about the Qube and the Courtyard by Marriott. My guess is a lot more hotel development is on the way soon to the resort area.
That was our theory... We were going open to close at the parks and were just sleeping... Plus the killer for us is we needed two rooms. Hard to pass up two at the Qube for $85 a night! I have to say... I'm a little disappointed in you! I know you well enough to know you don't overpay on a hotel room. You're slipping!!
Yup. Been studying my map of the place and it does look like they have a lot of nice places to hang out and dine and drink.
BTW, what did you think of Ignite The Dream? No one seems to love it ... and now 90% of it is DLP's new Illuminations. Lucky me, I get to see them both within a short window!
Disneytown was a ghost town the entire time we were there, but like I said, I partially chalk it up to weather. I could really see it as being a nice place to hang out for an evening were it warm. But even then... I do wonder about locals paying top dollar for high end dining experiences, considering the fuss with paying $10USD for a meal inside the parks.
But it's funny... The ONE restaurant that had maybe 20 tables filled? The Cheesecake Factory. I believe I read it's the first one in Asia. It seemed that locals were just hungry for that Western Experience. But it almost seemed a tentative move... It is located in the center of the Mall, with no views, and a VERY small outdoor seating area. Were it me, I would have taken the risk for one of the more prime locations with outdoor decking with views and so forth. I didn't check to see how the prices there stacked up to the ones in the US... That would have been interesting. That's not a cheap meal, by any stretch. I also don't know if it's the same exact (HUGE) menu or if it's paired down... Or if they have the same ingredients shipped over so it has the exact taste of the states, or if it's like almost every other food over there that just tastes a bit "different".
My thoughts on "Ignite the Dream".
eh.
It's clearly what the new show in WDW is going to be like. HEAVY on projection, a bit of fireworks, yadda yadda. We didn't really like it. There were huge dead spots. A few sequences were pretty cool, but by and large, we enjoy Wishes more. I think people are going to miss that show much more than they think they will if the new show is similar to Shanghai's. And Shanghai even has the mini World of Color fountains in front to add to the show.
I said this in the thread about the new show... But it drives me nuts when the castle shows are book reports on Disney movies. I just don't get it. The castle shows should be about what you just experienced in the park. It should be a sentimental moment about the memories you just made on vacation with your family (in most cases). It should be Pirates. HM. Splash. Space. And even some nods back to attractions of the past. So much of most everyone's day at the MK is about nostalgia. Why does that stop when the castle lights come up?? I don't get it.
The "Remember" fireworks show at DL was perfection. Absolute perfection. It was exactly what the end of a day in a castle park should be.
So yeah. Wasn't crazy about Ignite the Dream.
That's a lot of days! We are doing two. No way can I commit to more when I haven't ever been to Shanghai. And while I expect to love Pirates and Tron, I think I'll be fine if I do them each four times! Definitely want to see Tarzan. Very highly regarded. Want to see all the entertainment really (I even have a perverse desire to see the Frozen singalong show to see how it translates culturally). But 'Angie' may put her foot in my backside and not allow that! (Sometimes, she can be colder than Olaf!)
Not only is it a lot of days, but I got push back from the wife and two of the three kids to even leave one full day to see the city in HK!! They just didn't want to leave the park. Me and my oldest daughter (20) went and did some things around the city I knew our youngest wouldn't care about doing the next day. They definitely drank the Kool-Aid there. But having said that, we were all out in the city together the next day and had a great time.
We also spent one full day in the city in Shanghai too... Although that day started with a 3:30AM visit to the hospital in Pudong for my oldest who got strep throat and scarlet fever (for real), and ended with my youngest projectile vomiting in the back of a cab as we pulled up to The Bund to check out the skyline.
She wasn't sick... The cab just reeked badly of cig smoke, and after the long drive, she said it just hit her wrong and she instantly got sick. I paid the driver extra and we hopped out. Not much else we could do! But that was the only rough day we had.
A side note... At the hospital... We went to the ER, saw two doctors, got a blood test, and a 10-day z-pack for... $17USD.
I was trying to call my insurance company because I had no idea what to do in another country... And it was $17.
I am so glad you see what I already saw happening soon after your first visit. In less than a decade, that park added FOUR E-Tickets and smaller attractions from the Toy Story offerings, which I hear are actually very popular, to that little Fantasyland walk-thru ... and now the Season of the Force Tomorrowland Takeover offerings.
I look forward to seeing what you think of the place after the next time you get out there. I stayed away from ride videos for Mystic Manor and BGM, and was happy I did. It's so rare that someone like you or I can walk into a Disney experience or attraction and have no idea what's really coming.
My wife did the same thing for Pirates in Shanghai. I (along with the kids) watched a ride video right when it opened. I couldn't help myself. But my wife refused, saying "if we ever actually go there, I want it to be new". She didn't have ANY idea what to expect. Had no idea what the ride entailed. None. And I'm not kidding about this... At one point she had tears running down her face because she was so blown away and it was nothing like she expected. She said she might never watch another ride video again. And I tend to think that's maybe a smart way to go after experiencing Mystic and BGM fresh.
I'm going to stay avay from ride videos for Pandora... But it's so funny... It's the closest resort to us (2 1/2 hours by plane) and I don't know when I'll be back. Ha.
I don't think it's cultural, especially having been to Ocean Park and ridden its coasters and other intense rides. But no one has ever told me BG was supposed to be extreme. Is Space Mountain? Not really. On that subject, what did you think of the SW overlay of Space Mtn and the land in general?
We actually liked the SW overlay of Space Mtn. The lazer effects were pretty neat. The downside was that some of the video and projections were so bright it lit up the tracks. I'll put it this way... None of us missed the standard version of the ride, or the soundtrack. We were all just fine with listening to some John Williams as we rode around in the dark.
As for the area... It was fine. It really didn't feel like much. They had the stormtroopers walking around. Meh. And they had the Jedi training which our youngest did. It was nice to walk into the park and be able to reserve her a spot as opposed to the stateside parks where you have to fight to the death, and even then usually the shows are already full.
We toured a room out there ... back in ... I think 2010. It didn't feel small. And I liked the art deco look (although I can get in my car and be on SoBe with the other beautiful people in about 40 minutes). But thinking that it opened in 2005, it probably is getting close to needing the total hard goods redo. ... Love Chef Mickey's Supper Buffet. They take (or did when I ate there) the filet of beef and lobster off the buffet, cut the price by 60% and give you everything else starting at 9 or 9:30 p.m. The locals know this and it is quite the scene. You do want to get there early because you will sometimes see families go up and remove all of one item (no, this isn't 1977 under Mao and food isn't being rationed ... and even if that were the case, you're in HK!)
There was no lobster, FYI. They had crab legs. But they were VERY small, and cold (which I don't prefer). Everything else was really great. Every night we would walk past there to our room and the place was JUMPING... I guess it was that 60% off deal!! I had no idea. Though I had our annual passes, so at least we got 25% off and were done eating quite a bit earlier.
It is a great, funky park. And really a must. It is not Disney or UNI quality by any stretch. But it is a fun place to spend a day. And one day the MTR link to Aberdeen will be completed. They also are supposed to be adding an onsite Marriott Hotel. Just to ride the gondolas (like the ones coming to WDW!), its worth the price of admission. The animal exhibits, especially the pandas and the fish and sea life, are also quite worth it.
The Mariott is under construction. They had huge pictures and signs up against the highway. It looks like it's going to be really nice!! You're making me wish we would have gone there for a day.
Though my oldest informed me as we drove past that there was no way in Hades she would have ridden those gondolas. Not sure if you're familiar with the Ngong Ping gondolas that take you to the Big Buddah... But those are closed till June because they're getting new cables... She said she wouldn't have ridden those either. We took a bus there, which was the only option.