RandySavage
Well-Known Member
The Pirate Mountain is the sort of swing-for-the-fences type attraction I'm referring to. Some images of them designing
back as early as 2004:
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A Spirited Valentine ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
Sped2424
Well-Known Member
LOL you can't be serious? Have you been keeping up with construction images at all?
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Look i have faith that Disney will get SWL open in Anaheim in 2019 that we can take as a given. As to WDW they just dont give a damn because people will show up anyway so why expedite the construction.
Sped2424
Well-Known Member
Again have you seen the construction photos? And they gave a very deliberate date for SWL on both coasts. But we shall see you in 2019 Ford. I hope whatever retort you have for it's opening that year is just as glorious.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
I see steel for TSL and dirt being pushed around, If recent history has taught me anything about WDW it's to set one's expectations low and not be surprised when WDW fails to to meet even the lowered expectations, The ONLY construction project at WDW that's moving quickly is the Gondola's and CSR rebuild projects.
Star Wars should have been greenlit and construction done at lightspeed the moment the ink was dry on the Lucasfilm purchase and sales agreement. The fact the official opening for the Anaheim SWL is two years away speaks volumes about Disney's sense of urgency. Orlando probably 2-3 years after Anaheim.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
I'll add this to the collection...
FigmentJedi
Well-Known Member
Wreck It Ralph 2 is officially being titled "Ralph Breaks the Internet" and the logo is designed as a Phone App icon.
I really hope that this isn't just "The Emoji Movie with a smarter script" and they haven't abandoned the entire video game world conceit completely...
I really hope that this isn't just "The Emoji Movie with a smarter script" and they haven't abandoned the entire video game world conceit completely...
Mike S
Well-Known Member
Maybe Ralph now ventures into some online PC games.
So, Chappie was giving VIP Tours around Pandora this evening.
Guess my invite got lost in the mail (like my Pandoran Preview signup email). But @WDWFigment got one (OK, his wife did, but she ain't going without him!) and I wonder how many other influencers got them. Brigante?Corless? Lange? Mongello?
For having an AP since 1982-83 (I'll leave out the DVC, all the DCL cruises, the ridiculous number of nights on property, the APs in Paris and Hong Kong and, for an entire decade in a row, Anaheim), I should have gotten a special invite (not just me, all charter APers) with original art on high quality paper and a paper ticket to a private showing of Pandora with special $149 rooms at DAK Lodge if we wished to book there. Oh, and free food and beverages during the preview from the new QSR too! And a pin when done.
You see, kids, that's how top-flight companies should be treating their whales and manatees for loyalty and spending. (I can't wait to hear entitled Millennials bash me for this one!)
Guess my invite got lost in the mail (like my Pandoran Preview signup email). But @WDWFigment got one (OK, his wife did, but she ain't going without him!) and I wonder how many other influencers got them. Brigante?Corless? Lange? Mongello?
For having an AP since 1982-83 (I'll leave out the DVC, all the DCL cruises, the ridiculous number of nights on property, the APs in Paris and Hong Kong and, for an entire decade in a row, Anaheim), I should have gotten a special invite (not just me, all charter APers) with original art on high quality paper and a paper ticket to a private showing of Pandora with special $149 rooms at DAK Lodge if we wished to book there. Oh, and free food and beverages during the preview from the new QSR too! And a pin when done.
You see, kids, that's how top-flight companies should be treating their whales and manatees for loyalty and spending. (I can't wait to hear entitled Millennials bash me for this one!)
I admit I am thinking about it. Happy?
Sometimes, you gotta stick that knife in and twist and ... hey, pain, can be a powerful teaching tool.
(Oh, damn. Typing with my outside voice while thinking of far off places. My bad...)
On a different matter ...
Point to @wdwmagic for wading into political discourse here down below. I think the bloke may have lost a few chips from his fish plate if you catch my drift. I do look forward to returning to that ... at some point. But not now.
Sometimes, you gotta stick that knife in and twist and ... hey, pain, can be a powerful teaching tool.
(Oh, damn. Typing with my outside voice while thinking of far off places. My bad...)
On a different matter ...
Point to @wdwmagic for wading into political discourse here down below. I think the bloke may have lost a few chips from his fish plate if you catch my drift. I do look forward to returning to that ... at some point. But not now.
I think you are missing my point. In order for it to be his vanity project he'd have to actually vainly attach himself to it. He didn't, it was all Tom from the announcement, to the image releases, to the FAQ's, what have you. Now that Tom is dearly departed, Rohde, Landau and Cameron are the ones happily making the promotion round.
Contrast that to Star Wars and especially Shanghai though? Bob was very much all those things I mentioned above. If it was truly Bob's go to vanity project, he certainly has done a bad job of vainly attaching himself to it in the same way that he did with Shanghai.
Sure, perhaps Bob "let" it be that way. Obviously he was very heavily involved. But there is a difference between something being someones "idea" (like you are talking about) and something being a project to show someone's vanity.
http://www./wp-content/uploads/2016/12/model-630x356.jpg
Staggs, Landau, Rohde, Cameron
...and then Bob.
Still don't believe me? Do an image search for 'Avatar Bob Iger' and maintain its his vanity project. The 6th result is George Lucas, the 7th Tom Staggs et al. and the 10th the Shanghai logo. He's stayed surprisingly arms length.
I guess we are playing semantics here. But this project was and always has been Bob's baby. He allowed Tom to be front and center for his own reasons. But this project came from the top.
If you are saying it can't be a vanity project without pics, I am not getting into that debate with you. I just do not agree.
If you are saying that SDL and the SWE on both coasts are much bigger and more important vanity projects, I'll give you that in a heartbeat. Let's also realize that when Avatar was brought into Disney, the company had not acquired Lucasfilm and didn't think it could use any significant Marvel IP in FL (basically true, but not completely as we've discovered). Once Bob owned the Star Wars universe and Pandora ran into major issues, Bob was more than happy to let it be known as 'Tom's baby'.
And soon the power of the Man who Jumps.
P.S. Kong's not a miss
P.S. I think it is. A wasted opportunity for something that could have been great and instead feels like every other UNI attraction. Like I said, they're simply riding Harry Potter and it bothers me greatly knowing how good some other things, including this ride, could have been.
I'm still not certain on whether the SAR will approve anything as it stands. I did hear from a friend who was there recently that the park was quite busy for the time of year. You'll likely see an Avengers E-Ticket open at IOA before this one that MAY open in HKDL -- and IOA has other stuff coming first, which could be a beast (or multiple). FEA, I still don't get. No clue why Disney is building top of the line E-Tix in Tokyo and Anaheim for the franchise, but replicating this little uninspired overlay on Lantau. I think I know someone in Orlando who might be able to shed some light on this. The AntMan takeover for Buzz Lightyear is one Marvel project I can get behind. Buzz generates no Buzz or interest whatsoever in HKDL. It is BY FAR the least popular of any of the incarnations and I really can't figure out why. The fact the FL outlet stores have been selling HKDL Buzz merchandise dating to last year tells you something too. ... MM is quite popular with locals. The issue is simply when crowds are there. And, also, let's not kid ourselves with the lines for Mansion here in the states. That's all due to adding FP back again to an attraction that does not need it AND due to all the stops and starts because of the ECV/wheelchair contingent we get. It is now typical to see 40-minute waits for Mansion in FL when the attraction would be 10 minutes to walk-on in the past.
I also don't know that Pooh is the most popular attraction at HKDL. I will say it absolutely always has a wait, though. But it is slow loading, not great capacity etc.
Absimilliard
Well-Known Member
My favorite "imagineer in the background" is a fellow named Bill Watkins. Heard of him? He was the head of mechanical engineering at WDW and an aviation fan. So, what are his major contributions? Solving the issue that had plagued the original Space Port project at Disneyland: design the layout of the attraction. He started with Space Mountain and came up with a good design for two tracks inside the cavernous mountain. Unfortunately, the track quality was not exactly what he wanted and he kept working on his ideas... The end result of that was the amazing track system and "heartline" design for Disneyland Space Mountain. This was the greatest contribution to coasters since upstop wheels in early 1900's as it allowed smooth ride designs where you are not tossed around the curves. The patent is absolutely incredible and he beat in the process the German ride designers who still today are credited with discovering the Heartline design.
There is a connection to Tony Baxter as he also did the amazing track design for Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland. That track design is so good the later versions in Florida, Tokyo and Paris are adapted mirrored versions of the Bill Watkins design. Basically, without Bill Watkins, you don't have Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain in their current form. I discovered it by accident while doing hardcore research for my Space Mountain articles for my blog and when I met Marty Sklar at a book signing, he confirmed it was John Hench, himself and Bill Watkins who did Space Mountain.
I agree with you. Lifestylers such as yourself should be treated much better.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
Agreed, this was exactly what I meant. Bob certainly distanced himself a good deal from the thing once it ran into issues and Star Wars was in his sandbox. Ironic, because it clearly looks like a pretty nice, low drama project in the end stretch.
Indeed It will not.
Magic Feather
Well-Known Member
Am I the only one who thinks that they missed an opportunity "Ralph Wrecks the Internet"
Well, we all know WDW is just a hotel company that happens to own some theme parks. They have always been much faster with resort projects.