A Spirited Perfect Ten

[FigmentJedi]

That is ugly. It's a mashed-up version of several European architectural styles, with nothing except pink to unify them. It's just—monstrous and ugly.

Edited for a host of auto-correct typo errors!

Sorry, but that's no better. It's still a hodgepodge of architectural styles, and the proportions are strangely wide. Maybe it's just because I'm accustomed to the slender fairy-tale towers in Florida and Paris.

That's the idea. The Castle is meant to represent all the Disney Princesses instead of an individual one. And considering all the discussions of this park just being Bob's clumsy way of trying to get China aboard the Disney brand, specific emphasis on brand, makes perfect sense.

As for the width, that's what happens when you have a bunch of stuff to do in your castle. It gets fat.

 

[Cesar R M]

Oh for crying out loud, how the ever loving duck are we back on the topic of Jim Hill? Who gives a toss?

its probably him on disguise..
"carp.. they are not talking with me anymore.. quick.. lets make a new account and make some silly remark about him!"
You know some people just love the attention

Yes.

speaking of Uni.
I noticed that the parks felt very lightly crowded compared to Disney.
But its like.. 80% of all the people who go to these parks.. pack only Jurassic Park, Marvel section, transformers... and almost all of them.. diagon alley and Hogsmeade.
Diagon alley and Hogsmeade = packed to the seams.

have a photo of my visit!

 

[Cesar R M]

so.. to stop kylo ren.. Rey will throw an insane amount of cats.. cats who are completely immune to lightsabers...

 

[Cesar R M]

Here's how the castle look so far.

is theres going to be a ride below the castle or something? it looks SO HIGH.
also, the front area are fireworks viewing areas or something?

Also, the castle looks like they just grabbed tons of different euro architecture and slapped them together.. o_o

 

[gonzoWDW]

Are you sure? I'm seeing this photo...

.

Looking at the video @brb1006 posted, this is probably the more accurate photo. But, it's deceiving. There's a lot of scaffolding on the back end. Looks like it might be covering the entire half of the castle that isn't shown in the photo.

 

[Cesar R M]

No wonder they're behind schedule having to deal with people such as these guys.

not to mention the tons of workers doing nothing but overlooking.

 

[FigmentJedi]

is theres going to be a ride below the castle or something? it looks SO HIGH.
also, the front area are fireworks viewing areas or something?

Yes. Underneath the castle is the finale of the Voyage to the Crystal Grotto boat ride. The front area viewing is for both a daytime castle show and for their counterpart to Disneyland Paris's Disney Dreams nighttime show, which they're calling Ignite the Dream.

Inside the castle proper is a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, a restaurant, Princess Greets, and a walkthrough Snow White attraction along the lines of the current Storytime with Belle or the cancelled Magic Kingdom New Fantasyland plans for Cinderella.

 

[BrianLo]

So, Zenia and her flying monkeys give Ben Fritz a 'leaked' exclusive about an opening date for SDL that lasts for all of about two hours before they put out a nothing blog post confirming the date.

I can only say good luck to anyone who thinks the entire park will be ready for this date. As of recently, Disney had three attractions ready to cycle. THREE. Yes, two are big ones, but not really the point. Soaring Over the Horizon has had to utilize DCA's theater in the middle of the night for programming because the attraction in SDL simply isn't ready.

And the Twits are already trying to figure out where that $800 million in MAGICal dollars/RMB went. Here's a hint, it's been two years (or will be soon) since The Weatherman announced the cash infusion and nothing has been added beyond the temp attractions for Marvel and Star Wars. And one entire land, Toy Story Land was axed. Do NOT expect Ben Fritz or anyone who covers Disney to demand an answer for this.

I admit to being torn right now because I really wanted to attend the opening, but June is summer in Shanghai -- and summer in China makes O-Town feel cool by comparison -- no matter how Disney will tell you that spring lasts until 6/21 so therefore Bob hasn't lied again. And to visit a park where major attractions won't be ready until fall or even winter ... I'm not so sure.

On other matters, I am sick to death about talking about SW and hearing fanbois crow about the box office like it somehow justifies their enjoyment of TFA:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/upshot/star-wars-and-how-a-force-helps-the-federal-reserve.html?
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertai...he-world-doesnt-need-a-young-han-solo/423624/

Back to Social Media and Disney's perversion of it ... I had to laugh at the one piece of art the DPB threw out yesterday showing the DLRR chugging along a new route over a very truncated RoA. Fans look at one piece of art and suddenly lose their brains, if they had them to start. Gotta love destroying a key part of Walt's park for an IP that has no place (beyond Iger's ego) in said park. And when it is all over with: more crowds with two attractions that still won't come close to the hourly throughput on attractions like Small World and Pirates, attractions that Walt oversaw and are still wowing fans almost 50 years later.

Recently visited DLP and Europa Park (a first for the latter). Greatly enjoyed both. Whether I have the energy to type up thoughts for your consumption with requisite comparisons to WDW, I'm not sure of. But if I do, it will be next week at the earliest.

You are all welcome! I finally caved and made alternative plans 4 days ago, hence the sudden announcement of SDL. I can't complain though as I didn't really want to go to the opening originally and all this chatter of how unready it will be supports that. Plus I got a killer deal on an Eastern Med/Greece/Adriatic cruise.

@WDWFigment please take lovely pictures for me!

The trade off for a June opening is not the heat but the best chance at having clear skies. That's very, very important. They need to optimize the chances the park isn't overburdened with smog opening day.

I'm going to DLP tomorrow (Thursday). My only experience with the place was summer 2013, which I've said before was (apart from being in a new Disney park) a somewhat less than ideal -> miserable experience. I do want to hear your notes on Europa Park @WDW1974.

For all the hatred of flex pricing it's sure working out ok for me in DLP. Pleasantly surprised a one day park hopper is only 47 euro!

 

[BrianLo]

Magic Bands are here to stay, but I see a lot of options just moving to the app.

That is where I see the others theme park operators moving all of their resort functions. Things like Bluetooth resort room door locks.

http://smartlockreviews.com/product...w3j79qL-b2WB7p8qgnXVky8zm5qdNMjHusaAnPx8P8HAQ

I've used keyless at a few Starwood properties now. Integrated with iPhone. Works quite well and they can always just give you the usual key if you prefer.

The real benefit from it is not just the tapping though, it's the ability to check in from your phone and go straight to your room upon arrival. You register the day before or day of on the app then it will populate your room number for you (masked behind a password). The phone needs to pretty much make contact with the reader to work and is uniquely tied to a phone/can't just be acquired via a Bluetooth scanner. It's a two way-communication between the device and your lock, not just a signal your phone releases willy-nilly.

Far more secure than traditional medium @PhotoDave219


All of this is to say Disney's real folly was trying to develop a lot of this in house, when they could have waited for the big tech companies to do it for them. It also makes little sense the cost involved for technology already pretty predominant on most cruise ships.

 

[tirian]

That's the idea. The Castle is meant to represent all the Disney Princesses instead of an individual one. And considering all the discussions of this park just being Bob's clumsy way of trying to get China aboard the Disney brand, specific emphasis on brand, makes perfect sense.

As for the width, that's what happens when you have a bunch of stuff to do in your castle. It gets fat.

There are plenty of large structures that are architecturally coherent and proportionate, such as Versailles, the Taj Mahal, and St. Petersburg Church.

The namesake of Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" is an eclectic blend of structures, but unified by a single design vision.

At any rate, SDL's castle is already constructed, and I suppose someone is satisfied with it. I would argue it represents the direction of today's WDC: a collection of franchises without a vision to innovate.

 

[tirian]

Yes. Underneath the castle is the finale of the Voyage to the Crystal Grotto boat ride. The front area viewing is for both a daytime castle show and for their counterpart to Disneyland Paris's Disney Dreams nighttime show, which they're calling Ignite the Dream.

Inside the castle proper is a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, a restaurant, Princess Greets, and a walkthrough Snow White attraction along the lines of the current Storytime with Belle or the cancelled Magic Kingdom New Fantasyland plans for Cinderella.

It's an impressive roster, but one that should have been reconsidered once WDI realized the castle scale it demanded.

In a completely different direction, I like the idea of the gardens they're planting in front the castle itself. Do we have construction photos?

 

[tirian]

So, Zenia and her flying monkeys give Ben Fritz a 'leaked' exclusive about an opening date for SDL that lasts for all of about two hours before they put out a nothing blog post confirming the date.

I can only say good luck to anyone who thinks the entire park will be ready for this date. As of recently, Disney had three attractions ready to cycle. THREE. Yes, two are big ones, but not really the point. Soaring Over the Horizon has had to utilize DCA's theater in the middle of the night for programming because the attraction in SDL simply isn't ready.

And the Twits are already trying to figure out where that $800 million in MAGICal dollars/RMB went. Here's a hint, it's been two years (or will be soon) since The Weatherman announced the cash infusion and nothing has been added beyond the temp attractions for Marvel and Star Wars. And one entire land, Toy Story Land was axed. Do NOT expect Ben Fritz or anyone who covers Disney to demand an answer for this.

I admit to being torn right now because I really wanted to attend the opening, but June is summer in Shanghai -- and summer in China makes O-Town feel cool by comparison -- no matter how Disney will tell you that spring lasts until 6/21 so therefore Bob hasn't lied again. And to visit a park where major attractions won't be ready until fall or even winter ... I'm not so sure.

On other matters, I am sick to death about talking about SW and hearing fanbois crow about the box office like it somehow justifies their enjoyment of TFA:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/upshot/star-wars-and-how-a-force-helps-the-federal-reserve.html?
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertai...he-world-doesnt-need-a-young-han-solo/423624/

Back to Social Media and Disney's perversion of it ... I had to laugh at the one piece of art the DPB threw out yesterday showing the DLRR chugging along a new route over a very truncated RoA. Fans look at one piece of art and suddenly lose their brains, if they had them to start. Gotta love destroying a key part of Walt's park for an IP that has no place (beyond Iger's ego) in said park. And when it is all over with: more crowds with two attractions that still won't come close to the hourly throughput on attractions like Small World and Pirates, attractions that Walt oversaw and are still wowing fans almost 50 years later.

Recently visited DLP and Europa Park (a first for the latter). Greatly enjoyed both. Whether I have the energy to type up thoughts for your consumption with requisite comparisons to WDW, I'm not sure of. But if I do, it will be next week at the earliest.

But—but—money.

 

[Smiddimizer]

Are you sure? I'm seeing this photo...

.

*removes sunglasses* "Now that....is one big pile of s***."

 

[Disneyhead'71]

*removes sunglasses* "Now that....is one big pile of s***."

The "everything and the kitchen sink" castle. A spectacular mash up of every castle they ever built.

 

[ford91exploder]

Anybody see this? http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/h...disney-oscars-mall-of-america/article/2580219
Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, the House of Representatives' Homeland Security Chair is publishing a book that details possible terrorist threats, and specifically contemplates a smallpox attack at the Magic Kingdom:

This is exactly the kind of Crap that DC dreams up 'Hollywood Plots' that have little to no basis in reality and time and treasure is spent on defending against the 'Hollywood Plot' instead of the hard work of actually doing background checks on people wanting to visit or immigrate.

Take Canada for instance, Have a DUI conviction well the crazy Canadians will turn you back at the border as they do not wish to admit any 'convicted criminals' of any level of offense, The Americans if you have known ties to a terrorist training school 'Welcome To America' (San Bernadino murderers). We will not bother with Interpol and home country police background checks or a quick scan of social media. But we will spend billions against the hollywood plot where the more realiistic threat is a box truck full of gunmen with known ties to evildoers.

 

[ford91exploder]

I wouldn't be worried about bluetooth readers. It's not that hard to get into a hotel room, just ask the maid.

Truth - $20 bucks will get you into most hotel rooms, Don't worry about the hollywood stuff.

 

[BrianLo]

There are plenty of large structures that are architecturally coherent and proportionate, such as Versailles, the Taj Mahal, and St. Petersburg Church.

The namesake of Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" is an eclectic blend of structures, but unified by a single design vision.

At any rate, SDL's castle is already constructed, and I suppose someone is satisfied with it. I would argue it represents the direction of today's WDC: a collection of franchises without a vision to innovate.

The ever so slight silver lining is that today's WDC is better than the late 90's/early 2000's. Sure it's a garish mish-mash of architecture that doesn't belong together - which is ironically fairly representative of today's China, actually...

But at least it's newly designed for China and not the lazy copy and paste job HKDL received.

I do still think it's going to work slightly better finished, but it's not the prettiest by far.

 

[truecoat]

So SDL is opening in 6 months? Hahaha! Right!

They actually meant the Shanghai Disneyland preview center.

 

[truecoat]

Sounds like the weatherman's presentation to the NFL wasn't what it should have been.

Owners were “blown away” by differences between Inglewood and Carson
Posted by Mike Florio on January 13, 2016, 10:26 AM EST

So why did the NFL’s owners choose to reject the 5-1 recommendation of the Committee on L.A. Opportunities and embrace Stan Kroenke’s Inglewood project over the Chargers-Raiders proposal in Carson?

It came down to the two projects, and specifically how they were presented to owners on Tuesday.

As one person who witnessed the presentations told PFT, the owners were “blow away” by Kroenke’s proposal, which was presented to ownership by Rams COO Kevin Demoff.

“Stan’s proposal was like watching Star Wars,” the source said, adding that the Carson proposal “was like watching a home movie from the ’70s.”

“Surely, you’re exaggerating,” I said to the source.

“I’m not exaggerating,” the source replied.

That’s a bit of a slap at Disney CEO Bob Iger, who made the presentation on behalf of the Chargers and Raiders (and whose company made the latest Star Wars movie). But, as the source explained it, Iger’s hands were tied by a project that the ownership, once it saw it, immediately concluded it simply didn’t compare to Inglewood.

So why did Iger get involved? The thinking is that Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, who strongly was opposed to allowing Kroenke to move to Inglewood, pursued Iger as a Hail Mary play, using Iger’s desire to becoming a minority owner of a team after his Disney career ends to lure him to the table.

It wasn’t enough, not after Kroenke pulled the sheet off his NFL city for owners who, beyond the L.A. Committee, hadn’t seen the full details before Tuesday. Once they did — and once the ballots were made secret — it became a no-brainer.

 

[asianway]

Sounds like the weatherman's presentation to the NFL wasn't what it should have been.

A great orator, Iger is not