Hot takes! Get ‘em while they’re hot! Mmm!

[britain]

Visited DL last week for the first time in over 5 years. I grew up going to Disneyland more or less annually until the pandemic. What have I discovered after the such a disruption? Here’s my takes!

 

[britain]

Hot Take with Tabasco (but we can’t say Tabasco, just Tiana’s Foods):

Tiana’s Bayou is fine.

Really, the bones of Splash Mountain are still so strong that even though I see some Tiana additions that aren’t quite right, it’s still a killer ride. And personally I think the nighttime setting with projected golden fireflies is superior to “It’s daytime, trust us it’s daytime, see the blue walls!” of HDYD. Is “Special Spice” as good a song as Zip? Heck no, but all of the jazz and Randy Newman songs are, yes I’ll say it, better than Splash’s Non-Zip songs.

It’s a shame there’s no Friends on the Other Side, but I have to admit, my daughter said that she was comforted by the happy music going up the hill as opposed to her memory of Splash’s intense score

 

[britain]

Hot take from a world NOT on the move:

Man, Tomorrowland is bad! I mentioned this in another thread, but it’s not like it needs a different aesthetic approach. It just needs to be rebuilt using modern construction materials. Way too many dated or cracked things with poorly designed band-aids over them.

AND this is on the attractions that are working! Let alone the defunct spaces. The fact that Space Mountain is still so good is sadly holding off wrecking balls leveling the whole place. Even Buzz and Star Tours feel dingy and uninspired.

 

[britain]

Hot take from a place that’s supposed to look dingy:

My kids’ favorite spot to visit AND to linger? Galaxy’s Edge. I know I’m supposed to walk around it with my nose upturned at the lack of walk-around characters, lack of third ride, lack of Williams background music. But everything that IS there is top notch!

Man, Rise is fantastic! It’s not quite my favorite ride (it’s up there though) but the queue! The QUEUE! The benches! The waterfall! The cooling fans! The rock textures! The transition from earthy Batuu to the Star Destroyer! The snide First Order cast members! We were all happy to stand in a 50 minute line for our second time going on it.

And the Falcon? Five years ago I thought Star Tours was still a better ride experience. But that simply doesn’t compare to the miracle of bringing this film experience to life. Every square inch is worth looking at and appreciating.

And the shopping & dining is great too …and I don’t even bother with the cantina or the workshop stores. Just the marketplace and docking bay is enough for me.

Could it improve? Anything could improve. Right now I have no complaints.

 

[britain]

Hot take from a different bayou:

Now this next one may anger some of you. You may think I’m either not old enough to appreciate it, or I’m so old I’ve lost my marbles. But I have to say this:

Pirates feels like a museum piece and needs a drastic overhaul.

The first act is still strong. The bayou, the caves, the skeletons… all still good. It doesn’t need to be sped up, it’s still a good pace. But right after the ship attack, the thing just doesn’t work anymore.

I’m trying to put my finger on what it is. Perhaps it’s because all the staging is meant to represent “wild activities” ransacking, etc. But everything is a limited movement animatronic. These are OLD animatronics.

Jack Sparrow’s presence doesn’t really help. He is a person from a much more lively world than this wax museum.

The revision of the auction scene also doesn’t help either. I don’t think the original auction scene would come off as engaging and lively today, but at least you understood what was really going on. It was a quick bit to get. I don’t think rum and chickens make sense.

I didn’t really mind losing the pirates chasing the women scene 20 years ago, but now with the new auction scene the lack of direct storytelling is becoming obvious. Before it was “oh no look at the pirates do these bad things (in kind of a funny way)!” Now, it’s a stiffly moving vague party going on?

Honestly, I think if I were in charge, I’d use the space in the middle of the town for another lift and drop down a chute. Put more emphasis on sword play and more battles. Baxter was right to put another waterfall in towards the end of the Paris version.

And the scene where all the creaky wood is catching fire? It’s so dusty! It’s hard to maintain an illusion that this is a lived in place that JUST caught on fire when there’s flakes of dust everywhere!

It brings me no joy to say this, because it used to be my favorite ride. But it needs serious help. Perhaps, like tomorrowland, it’s waiting for a rebirth of IP to justify an overhaul.

More hot takes to come!

 

[Agent H]

Hot take from a different bayou:

Now this next one may anger some of you. You may think I’m either not old enough to appreciate it, or I’m so old I’ve lost my marbles. But I have to say this:

Pirates feels like a museum piece and needs a drastic overhaul.

The first act is still strong. The bayou, the caves, the skeletons… all still good. It doesn’t need to be sped up, it’s still a good pace. But right after the ship attack, the thing just doesn’t work anymore.

I’m trying to put my finger on what it is. Perhaps it’s because all the staging is meant to represent “wild activities” ransacking, etc. But everything is a limited movement animatronic. These are OLD animatronics.

Jack Sparrow’s presence doesn’t really help. He is a person from a much more lively world than this wax museum.

The revision of the auction scene also doesn’t help either. I don’t think the original auction scene would come off as engaging and lively today, but at least you understood what was really going on. It was a quick bit to get. I don’t think rum and chickens make sense.

I didn’t really mind losing the pirates chasing the women scene 20 years ago, but now with the new auction scene the lack of direct storytelling is becoming obvious. Before it was “oh no look at the pirates do these bad things (in kind of a funny way)!” Now, it’s a stiffly moving vague party going on?

Honestly, I think if I were in charge, I’d use the space in the middle of the town for another lift and drop down a chute. Put more emphasis on sword play and more battles. Baxter was right to put another waterfall in towards the end of the Paris version.

And the scene where all the creaky wood is catching fire? It’s so dusty! It’s hard to maintain an illusion that this is a lived in place that JUST caught on fire when there’s flakes of dust everywhere!

It brings me no joy to say this, because it used to be my favorite ride. But it needs serious help. Perhaps, like tomorrowland, it’s waiting for a rebirth of IP to justify an overhaul.

More hot takes to come!

I’m more shocked then anything.

 

[mickEblu]

Wow. Where do I start?

 

[PiratesMansion]

I do agree that the second half of Pirates is a bit wanting, and I would put Captain Jack Sparrow as the primary reason why.

POTC had a wonderful structure that was perfectly fine until the second half of the attraction was butchered by having "Captain Jack Sparrow!!1!" not merely inserted into the ride as an actual figure or three, but even worse, by having his name uttered in what feels like every. single. sentence. of ride dialogue until practically the jail scene, at which point the most impressive section of the attraction is effectively over. The most epic portions of the attraction are now simply a backdrop to the most annoying game of Where's Waldo this side of IASW.

I didn't ride POTC between 1998 and 2010, so I didn't really understand how much the attraction had changed from my vague childhood memories until I experienced the Paris version of the ride in 2015, which did not yet have Jack Sparrow at that point in time. It was immediately clear just how much his presence and influence had seeped into, and subtly ruined, the town portion of the ride. And contrary to his presence making the attraction feel more timeless, more "Disney", it makes the thing seem all that much more dated now that the Pirates movie franchise, despite efforts in vain by Disney to keep it relevant, has largely receded into the rear view mirror.

It turns out that good themed design really does win out over flavor of the month IP! Who knew?!?

 

[mickEblu]

Hot take from a different bayou:

Now this next one may anger some of you. You may think I’m either not old enough to appreciate it, or I’m so old I’ve lost my marbles. But I have to say this:

Pirates feels like a museum piece and needs a drastic overhaul.

The first act is still strong. The bayou, the caves, the skeletons… all still good. It doesn’t need to be sped up, it’s still a good pace. But right after the ship attack, the thing just doesn’t work anymore.

I’m trying to put my finger on what it is. Perhaps it’s because all the staging is meant to represent “wild activities” ransacking, etc. But everything is a limited movement animatronic. These are OLD animatronics.

Jack Sparrow’s presence doesn’t really help. He is a person from a much more lively world than this wax museum.

The revision of the auction scene also doesn’t help either. I don’t think the original auction scene would come off as engaging and lively today, but at least you understood what was really going on. It was a quick bit to get. I don’t think rum and chickens make sense.

I didn’t really mind losing the pirates chasing the women scene 20 years ago, but now with the new auction scene the lack of direct storytelling is becoming obvious. Before it was “oh no look at the pirates do these bad things (in kind of a funny way)!” Now, it’s a stiffly moving vague party going on?

Honestly, I think if I were in charge, I’d use the space in the middle of the town for another lift and drop down a chute. Put more emphasis on sword play and more battles. Baxter was right to put another waterfall in towards the end of the Paris version.

And the scene where all the creaky wood is catching fire? It’s so dusty! It’s hard to maintain an illusion that this is a lived in place that JUST caught on fire when there’s flakes of dust everywhere!

It brings me no joy to say this, because it used to be my favorite ride. But it needs serious help. Perhaps, like tomorrowland, it’s waiting for a rebirth of IP to justify an overhaul.

More hot takes to come!

I’ll just start by saying Disneylands Pirates of the Carribbean and “drastic overhaul” should never be in the same sentence. Now I will say the pacing / flow is not ideal. You have the physical climax at the very beginning of the ride and the best show scene with pirate ship battle half way through the ride. I guess the reason that’s never bothered me is because the not only is the ride so unique but the first half of the ride is so great it almost doesn’t matter. Not to mention the attraction is so great that you almost view the drops as a bonus. Not necessarily something you expect or need on a 15 minute AA extravaganza with amazing set design and show scenes.

The first half of the ride through the pirate ship battle is perfection. The next 2 scenes is where I see some room for improvement. They killed the auction scene. I have a soft spot for the Lazy Susan prates but they don’t really make much sense in their current form. Still think the Old Bill with the cats and Pirate with the pig vignettes work very well. The burning town is still pretty solid and you have the energy of the main Yo Ho theme. Still love the intimacy of the jail cell and armory scenes and think both of those scenes are very effective.

With all of that said POTC is a classic and still very popular. If any attraction deserves to be a “museum piece” it’s Pirates. I don’t think you do anything too drastic aside from a little plussing here and there. I would hate to lose anymore Marc Davis designed AA’s or charming vignettes. And we all know the likelihood of what they change being better than what it replaces its extremely low. Then, you also have the challenge of making the changes feel harmonious with the rest of the ride. For example, those new projections on Indy I find to stick out like a sore thumb. You suggest more action but you can’t really do that convincingly with AAs so now you re talking about a big screen fest for the action and that would just not jive with the rest of the attraction.

My personal favorite segment of POTC is the turn from the bayou into the darkness before the first drop through the Skelton steering the ship in the storm.

 

[mickEblu]

I do agree that the second half of Pirates is a bit wanting, and I would put Captain Jack Sparrow as the primary reason why.

POTC had a wonderful structure that was perfectly fine until the second half of the attraction was butchered by having "Captain Jack Sparrow!!1!" not merely inserted into the ride as an actual figure or three, but even worse, by having his name uttered in what feels like every. single. sentence. of ride dialogue until practically the jail scene, at which point the most impressive section of the attraction is effectively over. The most epic portions of the attraction are now simply a backdrop to the most annoying game of Where's Waldo this side of IASW.

I didn't ride POTC between 1998 and 2010, so I didn't really understand how much the attraction had changed from my vague childhood memories until I experienced the Paris version of the ride in 2015, which did not yet have Jack Sparrow at that point in time. It was immediately clear just how much his presence and influence had seeped into, and subtly ruined, the town portion of the ride. And contrary to his presence making the attraction feel more timeless, more "Disney", it makes the thing seem all that much more dated now that the Pirates movie franchise, despite efforts in vain by Disney to keep it relevant, has largely receded into the rear view mirror.

It turns out that good themed design really does win out over flavor of the month IP! Who knew?!?

It’s true that the repetitive Jack Sparrow dialogue is obnoxious but the middle of the ride would still be the low point for me even if they removed all of that. And now thinking about it - that’s kind of interesting for me as we always talk about one of POTC’s greatest strengths being the sheer # of AAs and yet my favorite parts of the attraction have the fewest. It’s really just how transportive it is and the atmosphere/ ambiance for me.

 

[D.Silentu]

Pirates feels like a museum piece and needs a drastic overhaul.

Interesting! I feel like once a blue moon I run into someone who feels exactly the same way. This prompts me to wonder how many people share that sentiment, but keep it to themselves because the ride is so venerated. Personally, I appreciate it for what it is. Yet, I can understand the desire for some improvements to make it feel more dynamic. As wonderfully historic as the attraction is, I think it’s safe to say that they’ve crossed a line as far as alterations go so there needn't be any hesitation about change for preservations sake. Conceptualizing a way to tastefully modernize Pirates might make for an interesting thread.

 

[britain]

Hot take issued via a mobile device:

I don’t recall if mobile order was a thing back in 2019, but if it was I didn’t use it. This time I got to try it out and I think generally it’s good. Because SO much time at Disneyland is standing in lines, it’s nice to know there’s a way to rest your feet waiting for food without standing in another line. Some items could provide more customization (nothing on my kid’s burger please) but it’s fine.

It is very nice to be able to see attraction wait times on the app, but we learned pretty quickly that a “time trend“ would probably be more helpful. It was actually nice to wake up my phone, temporarily see what the times were in the past, and then see my screen refreshed with the new times. This helped us to see what lines were getting worse and what lines were getting better. Ooo! “Temporarily closed” rides were the best! We would head our way to them and more often than not they were just reopening when we got there. (Maybe this is all old hat for you guys, but again this is new to me.)

Lightning Lane? I’m glad to say we had a happy time without using it … except our one chance to do Radiator Springs Racers. Do we wait 130 minutes? Or do I put down $22 for each person in my party? I am sheepishly admitting I contributed to making that standby line even longer by purchasing the lightning lane tickets. In some glorious millennial day everyone will be able to just wait in tolerable standby lines that are not inflated by any sort of fast pass, but that day has not arrived yet.

The Play app has potential, but it currently is garbage.

 

[Touchdown]

I find MLL a good value at DLR. After a LL or two at my rope drop park, I typically use it to load up on mid afternoon-early evening LLs in the other park. With this method I can typically hit a vast majority of the E tickets in both parks. It’s pretty great to enter DCA at 2:00pm and have ridden all the E-tickets prior to fireworks or spend the 3 hours prior to fireworks hitting Space, Matterhorn, Mickey and a NOS dark ride.

 

[truecoat]

Lightning Lane? I’m glad to say we had a happy time without using it … except our one chance to do Radiator Springs Racers. Do we wait 130 minutes? Or do I put down $22 for each person in my party? I am sheepishly admitting I contributed to making that standby line even longer by purchasing the lightning lane tickets. In some glorious millennial day everyone will be able to just wait in tolerable standby lines that are not inflated by any sort of fast pass, but that day has not arrived yet.

When I went to Disneyland in 2021, Fastpass wasn't being used. All the lines were standby, moved well, and it was awesome. Some lines were long, but at least you weren't standing in one place for long periods, and it makes a big difference.

Last year, I went to WDW. My sons and I bought the Lightning Lane single passes for Tron and GOTG. It'll be a long time before we go again, and we wanted to ride both rides twice.

 

[chadwpalm]

I don’t recall if mobile order was a thing back in 2019, but if it was I didn’t use it. This time I got to try it out and I think generally it’s good. Because SO much time at Disneyland is standing in lines, it’s nice to know there’s a way to rest your feet waiting for food without standing in another line. Some items could provide more customization (nothing on my kid’s burger please) but it’s fine.

I like to order my food earlier in the day for a particular time slot (since sometimes, but not very often, they will fill up) and then when I am about 3-5 minutes away from the restaurant I click "I'm here" on the app and it is usually ready for pick-up by the time I get there. Saves a lot of time.

Lightning Lane? I’m glad to say we had a happy time without using it … except our one chance to do Radiator Springs Racers. Do we wait 130 minutes? Or do I put down $22 for each person in my party? I am sheepishly admitting I contributed to making that standby line even longer by purchasing the lightning lane tickets. In some glorious millennial day everyone will be able to just wait in tolerable standby lines that are not inflated by any sort of fast pass, but that day has not arrived yet.

It really just comes down to if you all want the same car and be in the same photo. Otherwise, my family just does single rider and you only wait like 10-20 minutes at most. Plus it can be fun being in opposite cars that race each other.

The Play app has potential, but it currently is garbage.

I like the Peter Pan portion of the app because it helps the time go by faster. You hunt for hidden symbols in the queue and you can activate the Tinkerbell lamp in the queue to reveal her inside.

I admit I always like to play a few rounds of Batuu Bounty Hunters while I'm there. The Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler's Run tasks can also be fun to pass the time. Unfortunately, all these things tend to drain your phone battery.

 

[Agent H]

I like the Peter Pan portion of the app because it helps the time go by faster. You hunt for hidden symbols in the queue and you can activate the Tinkerbell lamp in the queue to reveal her inside.

I admit I always like to play a few rounds of Batuu Bounty Hunters while I'm there. The Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler's Run tasks can also be fun to pass the time. Unfortunately, all these things tend to drain your phone battery.

I agree. The app is very cool. It needs to be used more.

 

[britain]

Hot take from somewhere beyond:

The online hysteria is really overblown. It’s really not a very big shop. It feels like the same scale as the harbor galley right across the path from it. Could’ve been better? Sure, I refer you to the old model of the proposed Phantom Manor overflow queue.

But it’s not that. And frankly that would’ve been too detailed compared to our clean, trim mansion.

I think this new store should’ve had a better looking foundation, some stonework instead of wood trim all the way down and along the baseboards. But again, it’s fine.

Also, the new additions to the Mansion are good. I think the new bride looks… Quite nice, but I would’ve used all that peppers ghost tech for a ghost that you can see through, or at least appears and disappears. It’s really only through close scrutiny of the photographs online that you can tell that the dress and veil are there, but her face is a reflection. In person she just looks like she’s all there. I think the tone is fine, I think the effects around her are ethereal and good, but she needs a little something more. She definitely is better than Constance 1.0, and I’m grateful she isn’t wielding an ax. But she isn’t quite as good as my memories of the unnerving dark void face with glowing eyes bride.

It’s really weird to me that Mansion is in terrific shape (despite 2 lames attempts to launch movie franchises) while, as I mentioned in my other post, Pirates is feeling quite neglected despite its hit franchise.

Is the Mansion inherently a more malleable and timeless experience?!

 

[mickEblu]

Fine

It’s fine

Fine

It’s fine

Disney is killing it! It’s why we re all here on this forum. For all that “fine” theming and all those “fine” attractions.

I get it. You're riding high. You haven't been to the park in a while and the park is still great. I wouldn't have Magic Keys if it wasn't. It's easy to get worked up about stuff online where all you are doing is focusing on a photo of the recent Downgrade Du Jour. But all these new additions just being "fine" is not a good thing and seeing 7 hot takes in a row calling everything "fine" is slightly nauseating. The new HM shop is wildly out of proportion in relation to its surroundings. That's not fine. Expectations and standards are falling quick.

 

[britain]

Fine

It’s fine

Fine

It’s fine

Disney is killing it! It’s why we re all here on this forum. For all that “fine” theming and all those “fine” attractions.

I get it. You're riding high. You haven't been to the park in a while and the park is still great. I wouldn't have Magic Keys if it wasn't. It's easy to get worked up about stuff online where all you are doing is focusing on a photo of the recent Downgrade Du Jour. But all these new additions just being "fine" is not a good thing and seeing 7 hot takes in a row calling everything "fine" is slightly nauseating. The new HM shop is wildly out of proportion in relation to its surroundings. That's not fine. Expectations and standards are falling quick.

lol, not quite sure where you’re getting the math of everything being fine. I gave high praise to galaxy edge - it’s so much better than fine, if I use that word anywhere in that take, it was meant to walk people away from the doom and gloom cliff and it was in the spirit of “everything is going to be fine” because I think it’s really spectacular.

And I was very clear that Tomorrowland is nowhere near fine (as in adequate). It’s not fine at all.

And I said pirates is not fine. So I think in my normal distribution of takes there will be a lot of fine, there will be some super high, and there will be some super lows. Statistically speaking, that’s just about right.

 

[mickEblu]

lol, not quite sure where you’re getting the math of everything being fine. I gave high praise to galaxy edge - it’s so much better than fine, if I use that word anywhere in that take, it was meant to walk people away from the doom and gloom cliff and it was in the spirit of “everything is going to be fine” because I think it’s really spectacular.

And I was very clear that Tomorrowland is nowhere near fine (as in adequate). It’s not fine at all.

And I said pirates is not fine. So I think in my normal distribution of takes there will be a lot of fine, there will be some super high, and there will be some super lows. Statistically speaking, that’s just about right.

That’s true. I was embellishing a bit. And that wasn’t only directed at you. The “fine” phenomenon has been going on for at least a year by many in the community. I guess I just don’t see the badge of honor in saying “I endorse mediocrity.” Especially when it’s packaged with the insinuation that we the fans are the problem. That those with strong reactions to these downgrades and mediocrity are just crazy fans who can’t be pleased. Thereby taking the onus off Disney.

So just for the record Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is fine, the Haunted Mansion shop is fine and POTC is not fine? I mean this is the hot take thread. So you re doing a good job. Lol.