A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[WDW1974]

Bob has officially dedicated the park and several Chinese officials are speaking.

Bob sounded terrible and nervous at first, but then found his ... I dunno ... confidence.
I wonder how he thought the CCP officials were going to play to bumpkin Americans who don't have experience with the Chinese ... but I thought the ceremony, but like last night's, was classy ... in a way you don't get in the USA anymore.

 

[WDW1974]

That's odd. Right now, Chevrolet is sponsoring the Tron coaster. I wonder what this other attraction could be.

As for Toy Story Land, I think it's a stupid idea. Especially since HKDL already has it. Let it be unique and a draw to HDKL. Although they don't seem to give a care about that place anymore.[/QUOTE]

This story talks about that: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney-hong-kong-20160614-snap-story.html

 

[WDW1974]

It was striking to me that it took Disney several days to respond to the Pulse shootings, and even then it was vague corporate speak, whereas within minutes of today's sad news they'd issued a heartfelt condolence statement that came across like being from actual humans. I wonder if they've learned a lesson this week that perhaps staying silent for fear of lawyers isn't always the most human thing to do.

Today, they started to say the right things ... but their initial response was slow and cold and legal. ... Iger did call the family and I am quite sure there were high-level meetings in Shanghai about what to do. I thought their spokeswoman looked wooden last night, but when I saw her today it did appear she stammered and delayed because she was going to lose composure and fall apart (understandable for a human being, but you're not allowed to be human when you are a corporate mouthpiece, a child is dead and your employer could have to pay out millions of dollars and make all sorts of changes around the resort).

 

[WDW1974]

I think Mystic Manor is more of a draw than TSL would ever be lol. I don't really get why Disney feels the need to put a land like this everywhere they can. Most likely out of laziness. Who wants to bet Shanghai's will be like the one in DHS. Just like how we share SDMT.

Because it is cheap. And the lands will not be the same if they follow through with the plans I placed here in 2013.

 

[WDW1974]

I love how Bob Iger cut the ribbon differently than the two Chinese men. The Chinese guys scrunched it up, but Bob let it hang. I gotta rewatch the clip to see who won the cutting race!

Bob did. He made sure to ... no ego there!

Yeah I like that too. There were characters at the end but I found it to be a nice balance. Gotta love that they chose Duffy to lead the characters and people down the stairs...

Since Duffy became a sensation in Tokyo almost a decade ago, they are forcing him everywhere, even though he is a non-character character. He was simply created to drive merchandise sales and he failed here ... twice ... before striking gold in Japan where he is like a sickness.

HKDL's attendance is about 40% mainlanders. The distance between these two resorts is only about a third of the distance between DL and WDW. They are definitely close and they definitely share from the same market.

I would not be the least bit surprised to see SDL affect HKDL's attendance.

China is vast and the two resorts will not compete, even for Mainlanders. Read the story I linked to ...

 

[BrianLo]

Enjoy!!! And we expect a full and detailed report ... also look for Tom Bricker. You can't miss him!

Unless there are 50k people hiding in tomorrow land, crowds are seemingly non existent

 

[WDW1974]

Image

• BrianLo
• Jun 16, 2016
• 1

Were you the first Guest? Or in the group of first Guests?

 

[WDW1974]

Unless there are 50k people hiding in tomorrow land, crowds are seemingly non existent

I wonder how many tickets were actually sold for the day. ... Shanghai Daily is saying capacity is only 40,000. I was told by a trusted source a much higher number. But it could have changed. I know they had 30,000 in many trial ops days and the crowds were awful, so enjoy!

 

[brb1006]

Image

• BrianLo
• Jun 16, 2016
• 1

Congratulations

 

[brb1006]

Bob sounded terrible and nervous at first, but then found his ... I dunno ... confidence.
I wonder how he thought the CCP officials were going to play to bumpkin Americans who don't have experience with the Chinese ... but I thought the ceremony, but like last night's, was classy ... in a way you don't get in the USA anymore.

The night ceremony gave me vibes to the Sochi Olympics due to the music heard. Also the US used to have shows like that?

 

[brb1006]

Bob did. He made sure to ... no ego there!



Since Duffy became a sensation in Tokyo almost a decade ago, they are forcing him everywhere, even though he is a non-character character. He was simply created to drive merchandise sales and he failed here ... twice ... before striking gold in Japan where he is like a sickness.



China is vast and the two resorts will not compete, even for Mainlanders. Read the story I linked to ...

The Japanese don't mind though then again they have diffeeprent values for cuteness unlike the US

 

[brb1006]

Unless there are 50k people hiding in tomorrow land, crowds are seemingly non existent

Did you find any characters besides the opening ceremony so far?

 

[VJ]

Honestly the opening ceremony hyped me up. Exciting stuff, being able to witness the opening of a brand-new Disney resort from across the globe live.

 

[brb1006]

Honestly the opening ceremony hyped me up. Exciting stuff, being able to witness the opening of a brand-new Disney resort from across the globe live.

You should have seen the Gala opening

 

[BrianLo]

Were you the first Guest? Or in the group of first Guests?

Maybe the group? But someone WDI like (a suit) was standing at the exit and only gave it to me. Confusingly I had already done another attraction (SDMT) and got a Soarin FP, but no one was ahead in line and I had the boat to myself. The family behind me wasn't given anything seemingly. Maybe it has just opened as I walked up it was before noon.

Edit: never mind I think they are giving out a bunch of them. Still neat though

 

[VJ]

You should have seen the Gala opening

I did! Though I woke up a little too late to see it live. I also liked that one, gave me a kinda Cirque du Soliel vibe.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Any word if Roaring Rapids opened today?

 

[DisneyDrum]

More LATimes reporters going to get banned?

@JulieMakLAT
Hats off to #ShanghaiDisneyland for not censoring mouse ear embroidery. #DalaiLama #liuxiaobo

 

[brb1006]

For those that missed the stream


Opening Dedication

 

[BrianLo]

I wonder how many tickets were actually sold for the day. ... Shanghai Daily is saying capacity is only 40,000. I was told by a trusted source a much higher number. But it could have changed. I know they had 30,000 in many trial ops days and the crowds were awful, so enjoy!

Chatted up someone in line who is involved with ticketing and they agreed. Park is pretty much sold to slightly less than their projected theoretical capacity.

I found the crowds. They all are in Tron/Soarin/Rapids standby.

Regardless - it's quite pleasant and FP works for the big 3. The takeaway is get a Soarin FP first, go and do all of fantasyland next then head back.

A few other notes, everything is open, landscaping is finally in. I fell off keeping track but I hadn't seen tomorrow land landscaped at all and the hub still had issues. It needs to fill in over the next few months but at least it's planted.

Is it show ready? Yes. By the skin of their teeth? Abso-freaking-lutely. I'm happy with tree numbers but like all new parks it will look much better in 5-10 years.