Anyone ordered the DVD's that are advertised on this site from Relive the Magic?? I would like opinions, thanks!
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
20 Hours of Disney DVDS
- Thread starter TikiBeckie
- Start date
Anyone?
I ordered about 2 weeks ago and haven't received yet. Seems like reviews have been mixed, but at the price they had them at when I got them I couldn't pass them up ($39 plus shipping). I've seen the price fluxuate between $59 and $77 since then, so I'm happy I purchased when I did (unless they are a complete letdown once I get them!)
CleveRocks
Active Member
I bought the Magic Kingdom set. It took a while to receive them, but I did receive them.
The ONLY reason I bought it was because my wife kept saying she'd wished we'd videotaped Wishes, so I wanted to surprise her. Honestly, it's THE ONLY part of any of the discs that I've watched. In other words, the review I'm about to give may not be accurate for other parts of the discs.
Like I said, I wanted my wife to be able to watch and listen to Wishes at home. I hate to say it, but ...
It is a very, very poorly done video.
They really should be ashamed of themselves for selling it.
With my little hand-held digital camera, a still camera with limited video capability, the one minute that I recorded of Wishes as a spur of the moment thing is SOOOOO much better than what I bought.
First of all, if YOU were to videotape Wishes, where would you position yourself? Also, if you were to videotape Wishes to SELL it, where would you videotape from?
Well, when I was there almost 4 months ago, we were seated on the curb at the Hub, not far from the bridge to Main Street, a few yards from the popcorn cart to the right of the main walkway of the bridge. There was no one in front of me except for occasional people walking by, but they only occasionally and TEMPORARILY got in the way of the Castle.
On this disc, the person doing the video is on Main Street. Not at the end of Main Street, ON Main Street. They are far back enough on Main Street that the BUILDINGS (Casey's Corner on the left, Plaza Ice Cream Parlor on the right) often got in the way of the fireworks on some of the wide shots. AND AT ALL TIMES, A LARGE TREE BLOCKS OUT MOST OF THE FIREWORKS TO THE RIGHT OF THE CASTLE. Seriously -- you can't see any fireworks to the right of the Castle, except as seen filtered through a very big, very leafy tree. The camera also moves down at times, giving you an entertaining viw of the backs and sides of people's heads.
Okay, I just did the above from memory. I thought to myself, better go look at it again to make sure this is accurate, since I'd hate to say such negative things and be inaccurate. HANG ON -- IT GETS WORSE!
This was obviously shot in November or December of 2005. I got the year because the Castle is decked out in the Happiest Celebration on Earth stuff. How do I know the approximate month? Because THERE IS THICK CHRISTMAS GREENERY GOING FROM ONE SIDE OF MAIN STREET TO THE OTHER, WITH A BIG WREATH IN THE MIDDLE -- THIS CUTS THE SCREEN IN HALF!!! To say it's a little distracting and that it ruins the visual effect is an understatement. I don't know how I forgot about THAT one.
At least the audio is decent enough -- it's not like the camera person is talking or anything like that.
I can't believe they have the guts to sell that stuff. Now like I said, I've NEVER viewed any of the other parts of the Magic Kingdom discs. The rest of it might be just great. But I'm terribly dissatisfied with the Wishes part of it. I did a much better job with the minute that I taped myself, and I just did it very casually for my own use.
The ONLY reason I bought it was because my wife kept saying she'd wished we'd videotaped Wishes, so I wanted to surprise her. Honestly, it's THE ONLY part of any of the discs that I've watched. In other words, the review I'm about to give may not be accurate for other parts of the discs.
Like I said, I wanted my wife to be able to watch and listen to Wishes at home. I hate to say it, but ...
It is a very, very poorly done video.
They really should be ashamed of themselves for selling it.
With my little hand-held digital camera, a still camera with limited video capability, the one minute that I recorded of Wishes as a spur of the moment thing is SOOOOO much better than what I bought.
First of all, if YOU were to videotape Wishes, where would you position yourself? Also, if you were to videotape Wishes to SELL it, where would you videotape from?
Well, when I was there almost 4 months ago, we were seated on the curb at the Hub, not far from the bridge to Main Street, a few yards from the popcorn cart to the right of the main walkway of the bridge. There was no one in front of me except for occasional people walking by, but they only occasionally and TEMPORARILY got in the way of the Castle.
On this disc, the person doing the video is on Main Street. Not at the end of Main Street, ON Main Street. They are far back enough on Main Street that the BUILDINGS (Casey's Corner on the left, Plaza Ice Cream Parlor on the right) often got in the way of the fireworks on some of the wide shots. AND AT ALL TIMES, A LARGE TREE BLOCKS OUT MOST OF THE FIREWORKS TO THE RIGHT OF THE CASTLE. Seriously -- you can't see any fireworks to the right of the Castle, except as seen filtered through a very big, very leafy tree. The camera also moves down at times, giving you an entertaining viw of the backs and sides of people's heads.
Okay, I just did the above from memory. I thought to myself, better go look at it again to make sure this is accurate, since I'd hate to say such negative things and be inaccurate. HANG ON -- IT GETS WORSE!
This was obviously shot in November or December of 2005. I got the year because the Castle is decked out in the Happiest Celebration on Earth stuff. How do I know the approximate month? Because THERE IS THICK CHRISTMAS GREENERY GOING FROM ONE SIDE OF MAIN STREET TO THE OTHER, WITH A BIG WREATH IN THE MIDDLE -- THIS CUTS THE SCREEN IN HALF!!! To say it's a little distracting and that it ruins the visual effect is an understatement. I don't know how I forgot about THAT one.
At least the audio is decent enough -- it's not like the camera person is talking or anything like that.
I can't believe they have the guts to sell that stuff. Now like I said, I've NEVER viewed any of the other parts of the Magic Kingdom discs. The rest of it might be just great. But I'm terribly dissatisfied with the Wishes part of it. I did a much better job with the minute that I taped myself, and I just did it very casually for my own use.
executivechef
New Member
Wow, thank you so much for such an open and honest view.
From the way you discribe the video (indepth) I won't be spending a cent on this. You've saved me a bunch of cash!
Guy
From the way you discribe the video (indepth) I won't be spending a cent on this. You've saved me a bunch of cash!
Guy
yoda_5729
Well-Known Member
I did buy these discs, and I liked them, they have recordings of things that are very hard to get online, like the resorts and many of the rides that are hard to get. Also if any of the discs are defective, the company was nice enough to send me brand new one, no charge. I'm not quite the critic of the video itself, as I just kinda feel all the atmosphere is Disney, and sometimes you have to deal with trees and people and such. However, a very nice video of Wishes is on MouseTimes, if that helps you. If you are interested though in having footage of Disney, this is a nice keepsake as well as a good way to see parts of the world that you may want to visit next trip. I was quite happy with my set, but to each his own I suppose 
I would watch the price though as it does fluctuate and you should probably buy it cheap...I bought it really early, and it was monumentally more then 70 when I got it. Hope this helps
Also I quite liked their Illuminations and Fantasmic......Honestly I had seen SO many videos of Wishes, I wasn't to critical of it since I knew I could get those other places. But I think these videos may have been taken without the intent of selling them and then they decided to afterwards. I don't know that personally, just kinda a vibe I got. But with all amateur camera work, it's not perfect, but unless it were made by Disney themselves it's not likely to ever be, especially in dark rides for example. I think that also too, it depends when these videos were shot, maybe the video taker only was there once a year, and that time it was busy so they couldn't get a good spot for Wishes. I'm just probably making excuses though. All I can say is I liked the set, especially just because of all the time it required to film it all, but as I said....to each his own. Have a magical day
But CleveRocks, there are quite a few versions of Wishes online at MouseTimes, and many of those I find to be quite good, as well as Dolbyman's versions I didn't mean to sound too critical of your critique, as I'm not watching it now, but I take your word for those things being in the Wishes video. And your assessment of it would be correct if they are, I just found that for the sheer amount of video it was a good deal, and many of the shows were shot in better much circumstances then the Wishes one, because if you aren't in the right spots for Wishes, there's a ton that can obscure your view, or cause problems.
Honestly I've never really been good at being a critic, because I always find positives, so maybe my opinion isn't all that noteworthy, just thought I'd try to help maybe. I'm not sure at one point I think there were copies of the videos on Google video....they were nowhere near as good of resolution, but you could see the angles and basic stuff there, I believe, I'll have to check that.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6949287691218125702
There is the link, these vids are less resolution and size then the actual videos on the dis....hope this helps
I would watch the price though as it does fluctuate and you should probably buy it cheap...I bought it really early, and it was monumentally more then 70 when I got it. Hope this helps Also I quite liked their Illuminations and Fantasmic......Honestly I had seen SO many videos of Wishes, I wasn't to critical of it since I knew I could get those other places. But I think these videos may have been taken without the intent of selling them and then they decided to afterwards. I don't know that personally, just kinda a vibe I got. But with all amateur camera work, it's not perfect, but unless it were made by Disney themselves it's not likely to ever be, especially in dark rides for example. I think that also too, it depends when these videos were shot, maybe the video taker only was there once a year, and that time it was busy so they couldn't get a good spot for Wishes. I'm just probably making excuses though. All I can say is I liked the set, especially just because of all the time it required to film it all, but as I said....to each his own. Have a magical day
But CleveRocks, there are quite a few versions of Wishes online at MouseTimes, and many of those I find to be quite good, as well as Dolbyman's versions
I didn't mean to sound too critical of your critique, as I'm not watching it now, but I take your word for those things being in the Wishes video. And your assessment of it would be correct if they are, I just found that for the sheer amount of video it was a good deal, and many of the shows were shot in better much circumstances then the Wishes one, because if you aren't in the right spots for Wishes, there's a ton that can obscure your view, or cause problems. Honestly I've never really been good at being a critic, because I always find positives, so maybe my opinion isn't all that noteworthy, just thought I'd try to help maybe. I'm not sure at one point I think there were copies of the videos on Google video....they were nowhere near as good of resolution, but you could see the angles and basic stuff there, I believe, I'll have to check that.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6949287691218125702
There is the link, these vids are less resolution and size then the actual videos on the dis....hope this helps
normdisney
New Member
Looked at them and they are home movies. If you want a good wishes go on ebay I bought one there from a guy that is super! I think is under civalwar guy or something like that.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
samsong
New Member
So So
Hey,
I ordered the Walt Disney World set. Great price when it dropped to $49.99 (I think). There was a bit of a delay shipping (they were being shipped to the UK) When they did arrive, 7 of the discs did not play correctly.
To their credit they did send me new discs, some of which still did not work, but I didn't bother chasing any further.
The quality is ok. Their does not seem to be any logical progression in the menus. e.g. Skip a chapter and you could still be watching the same attraction, rather than moving onto the next one. I agree with CleveRocks, some of the footage and locations do leave a lot to be desired.
I bought the set so my girlfriend and I could "pop back to the parks" whenever we wanted, but we seem to watch our own recorded videos more.
If the price drops, then it's not a bad purchase. The last words I leave you with are from my girlfriend's mother "It's some guy selling his home movies on the internet!" - Draw from that your own conclusions!
Hey,
I ordered the Walt Disney World set. Great price when it dropped to $49.99 (I think). There was a bit of a delay shipping (they were being shipped to the UK) When they did arrive, 7 of the discs did not play correctly.
To their credit they did send me new discs, some of which still did not work, but I didn't bother chasing any further.
The quality is ok. Their does not seem to be any logical progression in the menus. e.g. Skip a chapter and you could still be watching the same attraction, rather than moving onto the next one. I agree with CleveRocks, some of the footage and locations do leave a lot to be desired.
I bought the set so my girlfriend and I could "pop back to the parks" whenever we wanted, but we seem to watch our own recorded videos more.
If the price drops, then it's not a bad purchase. The last words I leave you with are from my girlfriend's mother "It's some guy selling his home movies on the internet!" - Draw from that your own conclusions!
Don't buy; you can get hundereds of hours - for free - at www.mousebits.com
dolbyman
Well-Known Member
thanx :wave: ... besides the cluter of the two teens behind me (use headphones for surround sound ...it's worth it) the video came out pretty good
thats the place to get a video of all the stuff you could imagine (besides the stuff that is still for sale or just out of it) .. abolutely free :sohappy:
Nut4Disney
New Member
IVe posted an answer to this question a couple weeks back. I bought them in May (unfortunately for $100). They are very poorly made. I would say that 75% of the videos freeze and pixelate. The filiming is very low, shakey quality. (Even though it says on the website that they are not). I've sent them back and requested ones that were not defective, and they were nice about it, but I'm sure that they get lots of these requests. I've received the new ones they sent and they are just as bad or worse. I'm really just sick of dealing with it at this point. (maybe that is what they hope people do) Either way I guess I can just chalk it up as a lesson learned.
I've got a weird question to ask of those who have bought and viewed these. What size TV did you watch on? I know these are "home movie" quality, and I know when I watch our home movies on the big screen versus a smaller TV or computer that things tend to look better. Just curious to see if those that had negative experiences with this product were watching on big screens or not....
Nut4Disney
New Member
32 ''
CleveRocks
Active Member
My 15" flat screen computer monitor, and my 27" old-fashioned TV. Same both times. I also had trouble with pauses and pixelation, and I thought maybe it was my video equipment -- now I know better.
mainstreet1997
New Member
The guy kind of moves fast so if youre prone to motion sickness I don't reccomend these. He also likes to run through stores -- and there a lot of them! Theyre okay when I need a fix but the Travel Channel shows are better!
I FINALLY got my DVD's (exactly a month after ordering). So far so good. The quality is just as good as I had expected, and no skipping or freezing issues yet. If you are going to get them monitor the prices every day for a few weeks, I've seen huge fluctuations (lowest price, the one I got them at, was at $39 for the 20 disc set plus shipping).