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  1. SeaCastle

    Fun With Parks Fan Jargon!

    This is admittedly a dumb thing to whine about but fans tend to be unhelpfully simplistic with blaming top execs or institutions (TDO, WDI, Iger, Chapek) without having the curiosity to figure out why things are the way they are. This happens because it's a theme park run by a private company...
  2. SeaCastle

    First time at Boardwalk

    Growing up, when we've stayed in the Epcot resort area we never chose Boardwalk. We always felt the Boardwalk theming was too close to home (coming from the Jersey Shore) and Beach Club had the beautiful pool. We eventually did end up staying there in 2018 or 2019 and loved it- we managed our...
  3. SeaCastle

    Yacht Club Room

    I would probably avoid any of the rooms facing the valet area along the northwest side of the building. The rooms are setback from the parking area, but the rooms facing west towards the pool and Swan and Dolphin convention center are a bit quieter. Diana Cote of Flickr has room maps below--...
  4. SeaCastle

    Disney Resorts Slowly Being Eroded and Dismantled by WDI, Guest Questioners and Outside Design Firms

    Yacht & Beach were originally designed by an outside design firm (RAMSA) alongside nearly all of WDW's hotels. I don't miss the old rooms at Y&B but do agree that the hotels have gotten much blander. BW is still pretty nice, but something to keep in mind is that a lot of the Northeast resorts...
  5. SeaCastle

    Books on Parks History

    The author of the excellent Passport to Dreams blog (Foxx Nolte) came out with a book about the Haunted Mansion...haven't read it yet but her treatment of park/attraction design in the context of obscure cultural history has always been extremely strong and entertaining. The Aesthetic Profile of...
  6. SeaCastle

    AKL or Beach Club???

    Have stayed at both and they are lovely. AKL is distant but it is very special on its own merits because the resort is an attraction in of itself. For that price difference I would only switch to Beach if you know that you guys will want to be in the parks as much as you can and sitting on a bus...
  7. SeaCastle

    News Big changes coming to EPCOT's Future World?

    Just thinking through this a bit beyond the complaints about clutter-- the tarps made sense to folks like me who grew up in the 90s with the tarps and other additions that have certainly aged by now. (For the record- I'm pro-wand and anti-tarp!) Gonna be an armchair architect here but the tarps...
  8. SeaCastle

    WDW Ride Tropes

    Some good trope theories from Passport2Dreams here: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-theme-park-trope-list.html http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2017/12/conflict-in-theme-parks.html
  9. SeaCastle

    Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom Walkway

    Good find- out of curiousity, did this go through SFWMD permitting, and if so do the plans show a stub end for the pedestrian pathway that would indicate a development b/w GF and MK?
  10. SeaCastle

    Favorite Disney World Attraction Songs?

    Seconding this- never saw Tapestry in person but it's blissful to hear it at World Showcase as the park's emptying out after fireworks and everyone makes a beeline towards the exit. So many fond memories of hanging back and listening to Tapestry
  11. SeaCastle

    "Replacing 20,000 Leagues...Is a Major Priority"

    Putting in the perspective of the time: Animal Kingdom opens that year, 9/11 happens a couple of years later and tanks tourism. Throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, WDI is embroiled in expensive boondoggles like Test Track and Mission Space that sap investment from other projects. In 2005...
  12. SeaCastle

    News The Pirates League at Magic Kingdom to close this summer

    This blueprint gives a good idea of locations/sizes: #23 is both the House of Treasure and Laffite's Portrait Deck. House of Treasure is the bigger one. Laffite's Portrait Deck is the fake windows on your way to the Pirates restrooms. It's a small space but could make sense as a small bar or...
  13. SeaCastle

    News Beauty and the Beast sing-along coming to Epcot's France Pavilion

    I so badly want you to be wrong about this but that would entail me having to come to terms with the fact that maybe guests don't want to see a beloved travelogue that has played for 40 years anymore and would rather sing a long with their beloved Disney characters. That isn't an indictment...
  14. SeaCastle

    News Tomorrowland love

    if hair cuts like that are the future I don't know if I want any part of it
  15. SeaCastle

    Wilderness Lodge vs. Boardwalk

    We had a very similar experience and had been skeptical of staying there initially because it felt less "resorty" than Y&B or others. We were surprised by how peaceful it felt. The back garden areas by the quiet pool were particularly serene. The confusing layout (lobby at top...
  16. SeaCastle

    Upcharge attractions. Would you pay to play?

    I don't think you're far off. The direction that the parks are taking points to this happening in the not-so-distant future. You have Magic Bands and Fastpass+ and already have primo extra-ticket experiences like Wild Africa Trek. There were concerns years ago when Fastpass was changing that...
  17. SeaCastle

    Mexico & France: New BGM

    Japan is on its second loop - it changed around '05. Canada's exterior loop is 1982 for the moment, but its 59 minute interior loop is all but gone according to the Compendium.
  18. SeaCastle

    Mexico & France: New BGM

    Isn't the exterior loop the 26 minute loop that's been there since 1982 still playing, but the interior loops are the ones that have changed? There was an hour-long loop in the interior that played from 1994 til Soarin was added and the pavilion was refurbbed (excluding the Garden Grill music).
  19. SeaCastle

    Mexico & France: New BGM

    I worry as well. American Adventure is my favorite of the bunch - it is just understated and lowkey enough to set the mood for the show inside and is chock full of old folk songs. I'm not militantly anti IP in the parks but this seems pretty egregious. When I was kid, hearing the different...
  20. SeaCastle

    Lack of background music?

    It wasn't playing in either hotel last May either. Boardwalk's BGM used to play outside on the Boardwalk itself but has been limited to the inside of the hotel for some years. I believe Yacht and Beach Club's has been turned down well. Soarin's line music was turned way down on our last visit...
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