A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[ford91exploder]

The bats are animatronic, the drivers are animatronic and there is the animatronic shaman or whatever in the queue. And the Kong looks pretty impressive, largest animatronic I know of. I know you want to crush @Mike S for "hyping" it up but in the end this ride looks pretty good even with the screens.

Everyone might as well face it, screens are the future of theme park rides. Look at Shanghai, Tron has screens, Pirates has screens and projections are used effectively in the Peter Pan ride. Avatar will have screens and Star Wars will have screens, screens for everyone.

Nothing wrong with screens when properly used, "Hogwarts Express" anyone that ride is 'screen' based yet has that delightfully shabby 1950's British Rail feel to it. I'd rather see a well done screen/projection than a painted backdrop.

 

[Quinnmac000]

 

[Mike S]

Moana >>>>>>>>> Pete's Dragon

what drivers are AA?. the kong vehicle drivers?

Yes.

 

[WDW1974]

Interesting that the OC Register has been able to 'find' Chinese Disney fans who have been to every resort in the world on consecutive days, although this one was from Mongolia, graduated from UCLA and is a CM there.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/story-719225-toy-hotel.html

 

[WDW1974]

And the upscale SDL Hotel:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/shanghai-719226-disneyland-hotel.html

 

[WDW1974]

I genuinely love Marty, but the best park that Disney has ever done?!? Spreading the PR on a bit thick for free trip.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-719240-shanghai-park.html

 

[NearTheEars]

Shades of Aquatica....which I thought was going to absolutely amazing...and then they built that.
I hope Volcano Bay is good enough to really give Typhoon Lagoon a run for it's money...especially with the closure of Wet & Wild... which is not a fancy waterpark, but does have a ton of rides and slides... more than any other park in central Florida.

I hope it turns out great as well. Any WDW/UNI competition can only be good for us as consumers.

 

[brb1006]

I genuinely love Marty, but the best park that Disney has ever done?!? Spreading the PR on a bit thick for free trip.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-719240-shanghai-park.html

Don't you think that is a little bit early to call it that. It's barely a year old and I think "The Best Park Disney Has Ever Done" would go to Tokyo Disneysea/Tokyo Disneyland.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Marty has seen a lot. I would expect that maybe emotions can have an impact on perception. Attributing it to a free trip is somewhat disrespectful given his credentials but that's just my opinion.

 

[Andrew C]

Marty has seen a lot. I would expect that maybe emotions can have an impact on perception. Attributing it to a free trip is somewhat disrespectful given his credentials but that's just my opinion.

I assume he was referring to the overall design and theming of the park.

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

Sklar is the consummate Disney politician. How do you think he survived for all those decades? Imagineering is infamous for chewing up creatives and spitting 'em out. Sklar knows precisely which side of his bread is buttered. And exactly how thick that butter is spread.

 

[truecoat]

I assume he was referring to the overall design and theming of the park.

And the fact you can see the shopping district from Tomorrowland.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Marty has seen a lot. I would expect that maybe emotions can have an impact on perception. Attributing it to a free trip is somewhat disrespectful given his credentials but that's just my opinion.

The company made him a very, very rich man. He's not going to bite the hand that fed him for so many years.

 

[Hakunamatata]

The company made him a very, very rich man. He's not going to bite the hand that fed him for so many years.

I can understand that and makes more sense than being swayed by a comped vacation.

 

[FigmentJedi]

And the fact you can see the shopping district from Tomorrowland.

But don't you know? Shanghai Tomorrowland is pretty much Todayland. Imagineers decided that Shanghai was so futuristic that they shouldn't even bother making Tomorrowland into a city of the future, but just a venue for any remotely science fiction character to decide to set up shop because of how gosh-darn futuristic Shanghai is. That's literally all the "backstory" they gave this Tomorrowland.

Weakest land in the entire park in my book.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Remember when Marty Sklar raved about DCA in 2001 and how much Walt would have loved it?

Good times

 

[WDW1974]

I can't fathom why nobody is calling Bob out on that. It's such a big chunk of change, you'd think shareholders would be pretty concerned, but the only questions he ever gets seems to be about showing smoking in movies and ESPN.

You'd think the analysts, journalists and activist shareholders would be all over that one.

Well, his toughest 'critic' in the analyst community -- Rich Greenfield -- has been blacklisted by the company, which refuses to cooperate with him. He knows about this $800 million. Trust me, on this! ... I started a thread about that situation, but people didn't get it, complained and it went down on the Business forum to die a quick death.

Apparently, Bob was telling media today in Shanghai that Soarin was added with that money and that is a complete lie as it was in the plans from almost the start and certainly on the mid-2013 planning menu (a year before the money was added).

 

[WDW1974]

BTW, I wasn't positive, but @WDWFigment is (not shockingly) in SDL ... and MAGIC has @BrianLo and @lazyboy97o (and maybe others) in China, so hopefully we'll get some unfiltered, non-media views.

 

[Filby61]

Remember when Marty Sklar raved about DCA in 2001 and how much Walt would have loved it?

Could that be the same Marty Sklar who, when Disneyland fans raised a storm over the rumor of branded cartoon characters being added to it's a small world, bashed them for complaining and assured them it was a false rumor?

 

[WDW1974]

I've been emotionally numb all day. I feel like running into the abyss or laying in my bed crying my eyes out, yet I can't even muster any emotion. It was so surreal having to work today and pretend like nothing happened 25 minutes from my apartment. It's been a terrible day

I don't want to like this, so I'll just say I hope things get better every day ... I have had a lot of death in my family and circle of friends in the last three years and it isn't fun. And to have all of that go down so close ... well, you have my thoughts and best wishes.