2015: The year of the EPCOT makeover?

Siren

Well-Known Member
So, Good Morning America unveiled the Elsa inspired wedding dress this week, all the media outlets featured the dress. So, here it is.
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Fashionista reports that 'FROZEN' QUEEN ELSA IS THE SURPRISE TREND OF BRIDAL WEEK "It's looking to be an eternal winter for spring 2015."

In addition to the Elsa wedding dress, there were other designers who were inspired by Elsa. This designer used a minimalist approach in design execution.

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"pale, icy blue is looking to be a big bridal trend for spring 2015" -Fashionista

As a young woman, I can understand wanting to look and feel like a princess on your wedding day, so I get the Cinderella inspired wedding dresses. But, I'm not entirely sold on the Elsa wedding dress concept.
I am surprised by the positive reactions and feedback.

So, I think it's going to be very popular, especially with the price point at an affordable at $1599. I must admit that I've seen far better at that price point, probably lower. And really, Disney should not have bothered with Elsa, they should have created a dress for Anna. Anna was engaged to Hans and then hooked up later with Kristoff -- they should have designed a wedding dress with her in mind, imo.

The designer's name is Alfred Angelo for the Disney Fairy Tale Weddings collections. I've never heard of this
designer before or this Disney Wedding collection.

I just hope Disney does not ruin Elsa's image. I really wish Disney would have gone with a high end designer and concept -- and then execute the design by utilizing affordable fabrics and materials -- so Disney can offer the dresses at a lower price point. Most high end designers have a diffusion line of some sort to accommodate mass retail.

Disney partnered with Barney's a couple years ago, for Disney's Electric Holiday. Lanvin, Balenciaga, Balmain, Dolce & Gabbana and other top design houses featured Disney characters modeling their custom designs.



Disney even collaborated with the shoe master himself, Christian Louboutin to design a Cinderella inspired pair of his iconic red bottoms to celebrate the Diamond Edition release of Cinderella.

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For me, Dior can do no wrong this season. I love how the designer/tailor wears a white coat! It's all so meticulous!



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Look at the Dior pride of craftsmanship when making a pair of sneakers!



Disney, please be careful with Queen Elsa, and protect her image -- she does not like cheap dress & shoes! Keep Queen Elsa glamorous and do not dumb her down for the the Walmart masses. Arrrrgh! I'm not talking about toy, costumes, and t-shirts, only the fashion.

Moving on to the Frozen ride -- after looking at this wedding dress thing, I am slighting holding my breath -- I'm not quite ready to panic, but I am inching toward that way very, very slowly.

If the Seven Dwarves Mine Train team is on this project, then I think Frozestrom has a pretty good chance of turning out nice. If it's the Little Mermaid team, then there is reason for pause, imo. Ariel was my favorite mermaid until I saw her hair on that ride. It's a cute ride but........

Anyway, after careful observation from all angles including both a micro and macro perspective, I surmise that the Frozen ladies ability to draw huge crowds all the way back to Norway had a substantial impact on the dynamics of the entire World Showcase -- resulting in huge profits and the side benefit of dispersing crowds. So naturally, once the frozen ladies departed for MK, World Showcase suffered a substantial decrease in profit. Disney realized they could no longer draw the huge numbers of people ($$$) back without Frozen.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that if the amount of "fans" or people who supposedly supported Maelstrom had been frequenting the ride and the Norway pavilion with the same tenacity,*prior* to Frozen and the announcement of the Maelstrom closing, the attraction would be still be here.

People just can't ignore something for decades and then jump on the bandwagon at the last minute, expecting to be taken seriously. And, unfortunately that's what may have happened here.















 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Disney realized they could no longer draw the huge numbers of people ($$$) back without Frozen.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that if the amount of "fans" or people who supposedly supported Maelstrom had been frequenting the ride and the Norway pavilion with the same tenacity,*prior* to Frozen and the announcement of the Maelstrom closing, the attraction would be still be here.
No, they'd have closed it anyway. That's what the spreadsheets told them to do.

Or they could have done something else if attendence was an issue. Like fix the rest of the park. F&W can't prop it up indefinately.

It's not as if they didn't have plans to keep Maelstrom and give it a full update...
 

mahnamahna101

Well-Known Member
I honestly think Frozen replacing Maelstrom and the Soarin' update are all Epcot gets for the 2010s.

DHS needs more help anyways at the moment, since at least Epcot is generally seen as full-day. DHS has 5 rides, while Epcot has 11. Epcot also has more shows/exhibits than DHS.

DHS first, then I'd say MK because of the 50th coming up (2021/2022)... maybe fix up Tomorrowland?

Disney should wait to make over Epcot until they're willing to have an actual plan for the whole park. Something like Project - Gemini.
 

TXDisney

Well-Known Member
I think all epcot does in the near future us whst they've announced. A Florida version of Soarin and a Frozen ride in Norway. I think in a few years though, they add a country or 2 to WS. What countries and all, I don't know. But I think they do that before they do new rides. Frozen has taken over HS. So I'm sure they'll ride that out as long as they can since it's not as popular a park as MK and epcot.
 

Siren

Well-Known Member
Always enjoy hearing about how the newest goings on in the fashion world, particularly when on ABC, an obvious neutral arbiter of Disney news. But, you'd know about those promoting the magic....
Would it have been any better if the news source were NBC? Comcast utilized NBC to promote Diagon Alley and Universal. It's what companies do.

Remember, a few pages back when I mentioned I was baffled as to why Disney was so eager to bail out Disneyland Paris for the third time. Well, I happen to stumble across the answer, and now it all makes sense to me.
Middle Eastern Prince to rescue Euro Disney

Saudi billionaire, Prince Alwaleed, says that he will keep his 10pc stake and support the indebted Disney resort's rights issue


Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed is to back the multi-million rescue deal of Parisian theme park Euro Disney.

Disneyland Paris last week revealed that it needed €1bn (£784m) bail out to help tackle its crippling debt pile.

Walt Disney Company, which owns a 39.8pc stake in the business, said that it would back the €420m rights issue which will improve the cash position of the Paris business by €250m (£196m). In addition, around €600m (£470m) of the group’s debt owed to Walt Disney will be converted into equity.

Prince Alwaleed, who is the second largest investor in Euro Disney, said that he will also support the rights issue. The Saudi billionaire owns a 10pc stake in the theme park on the outskirts of Paris through his Kingdom Holdings investment company.

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Prince Al-Waleed and his wife Princess Amira

“We will fully subscribe to the rights issue because we support France and we support Disney,” Prince Alwaleed told theMail on Sunday. “They will not take our stake, we will maintain 10pc”, he said.

Prince Alwaleed famously sued Forbes magazine for suggesting in its world’s billionaire richlist that he was worth only $20bn (£12.5bn).

The grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia has not made his wealth from oil or inheritance but instead has built up significant stakes in trophy assets such as tech giant Apple, US banking group Citi and the Savoy Hotel in London through a large stake in Canary Wharf developer Songbird Estates.

Prince Alwaleed said that he had flown into Euro Disney, which recently built a Ratatouille themed ride, and said that he still believed it was a “top-notch tourist destination”.

Shares in Euro Disney plunged over 16pc last week on news of the €1bn refinancing.

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Although Euro Disney is Europe's most-visited tourist attraction attendance slipped 6.9pc last year to 14.9m - still nearly as many visitors as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre combined. The French comprise 51pc of all the visitors to Euro Disney, followed by 14pc from the UK.

However, the decrease in attendance left Euro Disney with a €27.5m (£21.5m) operating loss on a revenue of €1.3bn (£1bn) last year.

Euro Disney runs seven hotels and two theme parks, including Disneyland Paris. Soon after it opened, the French theatre director, Ariane Mnouchkine, famously described it as a “cultural Chernobyl”. The French were initially put off by high ticket prices and a ban on alcohol sales, which has since been reversed.

Euro Disney’s next major boost is expected to come in 2016 when it will open a new leisure complex, Villages Nature, in partnership with France’s leading holiday apartment rental company Pierre et Vacances.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11156949/Walt-Disney-backs-1bn-refinancing-of-Paris-theme-park.html


This is the first time I've heard of Villages Nature. http://www.newsdlrp.com/village.pdf

So, basically Disneyland Paris is, in part, implementing WDW's timeshare model. I have to admit that Villages Nature looks so beautiful.

I trust that you will attempt to smile at least once today! Carpe' diem.
 

Siren

Well-Known Member
No, they'd have closed it anyway. That's what the spreadsheets told them to do.

Or they could have done something else if attendence was an issue. Like fix the rest of the park. F&W can't prop it up indefinately.

It's not as if they didn't have plans to keep Maelstrom and give it a full update...
If Maelstrom was going to "close anyway" -- then why all the fuss over Frozen keeping it going? At least the ride stays open.

I don't believe attendance became an "issue" until Frozen. If Disney fixed the rest of the park, what will be there to draw those massive crowds to the back of World Showcase? Maelstrom couldn't achieve what the Frozen accomplished, for almost thirty years.

I remember when we had a plan of attack to ride "Dumbo" first thing in the morning, that was one of the go to rides -- Disney addressed that by adding capacity. If Maelstrom was nearly as popular, I find it hard to believe that today's Disney would be willing to invest upwards of 100 million just because.

Epcot is my least favorite park, so I agree that the park needs a major overhaul -- but, I just don't see it in the cards.
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Would it have been any better if the news source were NBC? Comcast utilized NBC to promote Diagon Alley and Universal. It's what companies do.

Remember, a few pages back when I mentioned I was baffled as to why Disney was so eager to bail out Disneyland Paris for the third time. Well, I happen to stumble across the answer, and now it all makes sense to me.


This is the first time I've heard of Villages Nature. http://www.newsdlrp.com/village.pdf

So, basically Disneyland Paris is, in part, implementing WDW's timeshare model. I have to admit that Villages Nature looks so beautiful.

I trust that you will attempt to smile at least once today! Carpe' diem.

I'm sure you're well aware of what the TWDC does....
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
No, they'd have closed it anyway. That's what the spreadsheets told them to do.

Or they could have done something else if attendence was an issue. Like fix the rest of the park. F&W can't prop it up indefinately.

It's not as if they didn't have plans to keep Maelstrom and give it a full update...
I can't imagine that spreadsheets told them that Maelstrom was the least popular attraction in the park. Just that it wasn't popular.
 

George

Liker of Things
Premium Member
I can't imagine that spreadsheets told them that Maelstrom was the least popular attraction in the park. Just that it wasn't popular.

Spreadsheets can tell you anything you want if you never set foot into the actual park. They think UoE is the most popular thing in Orlando right now, because Phil inadvertently added two extra zeroes to the ridership numbers in cell H79 back in August of 2011.
 
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marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
If Maelstrom was going to "close anyway" -- then why all the fuss over Frozen keeping it going? At least the ride stays open.
.
It was going to close to be updated. Not to be ripped out and rethemed.

If the company are so desperate for an attendence boost that they ruin further what little purpose and theming Showcase had left then they're in an even worse state that we thought.

They built a whole New Fantasyland for toons. That's where they belong. Unless DHS has some spare room. Funnily enough....
 

Mike S

Well-Known Member
It was going to close to be updated. Not to be ripped out and rethemed.

If the company are so desperate for an attendence boost that they ruin further what little purpose and theming Showcase had left then they're in an even worse state that we thought.

They built a whole New Fantasyland for toons. That's where they belong. Unless DHS has some spare room. Funnily enough....
When was it supposed to close for the update?
 

CentralFLlife

Well-Known Member
If Maelstrom was going to "close anyway" -- then why all the fuss over Frozen keeping it going? At least the ride stays open.

I don't believe attendance became an "issue" until Frozen. If Disney fixed the rest of the park, what will be there to draw those massive crowds to the back of World Showcase? Maelstrom couldn't achieve what the Frozen accomplished, for almost thirty years.

I remember when we had a plan of attack to ride "Dumbo" first thing in the morning, that was one of the go to rides -- Disney addressed that by adding capacity. If Maelstrom was nearly as popular, I find it hard to believe that today's Disney would be willing to invest upwards of 100 million just because.

Epcot is my least favorite park, so I agree that the park needs a major overhaul -- but, I just don't see it in the cards.
Attendance was never an issue with Maelstrom, it consistently had a 30+ minute wait before frozen was even in theaters. Attendance only became an issue once Frozen was there because of how large the crowds were and the relatively small pavilion had a difficult time handling the massive crowds for the meet and greet.

And you seem to think that there is an attendance issue at EPCOT, you are aware that it is the 5th most visited theme park on the planet right? That was also before Frozen was ever in Norway.

From what I understand with whats been talked about on here a Maelstrom refurb was on the table for years, Disney just didn't want to pay for all of it or even most of it, they wanted a large chunk of it to be paid for by a sponsor or by Norway.
 

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
Attendance was never an issue with Maelstrom, it consistently had a 30+ minute wait before frozen was even in theaters. Attendance only became an issue once Frozen was there because of how large the crowds were and the relatively small pavilion had a difficult time handling the massive crowds for the meet and greet.

And you seem to think that there is an attendance issue at EPCOT, you are aware that it is the 5th most visited theme park on the planet right? That was also before Frozen was ever in Norway.

From what I understand with whats been talked about on here a Maelstrom refurb was on the table for years, Disney just didn't want to pay for all of it or even most of it, they wanted a large chunk of it to be paid for by a sponsor or by Norway.

The movie is what caused a huge part of the fued between the two, therefor nothing else could be agreed upon.
 

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