A Spirited Valentine ...

BlindChow

BlindChow

Well-Known Member
Quinnmac000 said:
Yea but he also directed Cowboys Vs Aliens and those awful Da Vinci Code films. He is good with non tentpole films, his tentpoles have gone sour.
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Totally fair. Still, that's better than a lot of the garbage directors currently directing tentpole films, so I remain "cautiously optimistic."

[full disclosure: I liked Ron Howard's Willow (1986).]
 
BlindChow

BlindChow

Well-Known Member
HauntedPirate said:
R1 was terribly 'meh' to me. We knew what the outcome was going to be.
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I always thought this was a bizarre argument against "historical" films. Any film about a historical event (even fiction) has the final outcome already decided. But maybe...just maybe...there are details that are worth exploring. Maybe there is value in the journey transcending that found in the destination...

So have you never watched a film twice? What would be the point? You already knew how it ended!

Seriously though, I actually thought R1 was interesting in how it brought a different genre film (the war film) to the "Star Wars Universe." It was nice to finally see them e x p a n d their universe, to let us see something other than Skywalkers for a change...
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
DDLand said:
Thoughts on Disney's Animal Kingdom.

1) Pandora: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ents-and-questions.927205/page-4#post-7765529

2) The land seems to be helping attendance. The park was more crowded. The park seems more alive. That's great.

3) Rivers of Light was awesome.

4) Pandora is not enough. The park is still emptying out in the evening. Safari, Everest, and Dinosaur were walk ons or near walk ons late in the evening. That is still not where the park needs to be. To retain people, the park needs more content. It may seem counterintuitive to prescribe more content when we just are celebrating a massive new area, but new content it needs. Customer retention remains its number one barrier to success. Dark rides and new guest experiences are needed. Attractions that are impervious to weather conditions remain crucial. Everest, walking trails, Dino-Roma, and Kali are all susceptible to weather. It's difficult to leave a world leading Park with only 4 rides and a couple shows to carry the weight of operations when lightening strikes.

5) Dinosaur just got good. Really good. I always thought Dinosaur got a bad rap. People whined about it all the time. I did understand it was worse than Indy, but I still thought it was a decent ride.

Then came the refurb.

The refurb helped with a few things.
1) Lighting
2) Vehicle movement
3) Fixing broken effects
4) Adding new effects

I had no idea such seemingly small items could so fundamentally transform the experience. You can now see lush environments. You can hear the Dinosaurs chasing you. You can feel the car lose traction.

Everything is so much more clear and awesome.

Honestly it used to be a ride where you would occasionally see Dinos in the dark. Now it's an awesome journey that is one of the highlights of DAK. It's better than Indy now. Indy is not nearly as cool as this ride is. It's so good.

It moved from B/B+ to an A/A+. It was transformational in a way the recent PotC refurb was.

One of my new favorite Disney attractions... Only 19 years old!

5) Food is great. DAK is the new Epcot.

6) DHS (not scientific) seemed emptier. DAK seems to have stolen guests from DHS. Who can blame them?

It's a great park. Really one of the best in the world. My top 3 globally are Disneyland Park, Tokyo Disney Sea, and DAK. DAK is Walt Disney World's crown jewel. I hope it gets much more.
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Now you see that indeed it IS the details which create the experience, Without the details what do you have???
 
FigmentJedi

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
BlindChow said:
I think this sentiment is behind the recent revisionism that has people claiming the prequel trilogy are "good" films.

Buddy, they can all be bad films!
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It's a lot of different factors. The kids that grew up on the prequels and loved them have come of age and are becoming more vocal, The Clone Wars has fleshed out the era significantly and filled in many plotholes, and yeah, a really conservative and safe film like The Force Awakens makes people yearn for how wildly different each Prequel film was in terms of scope and design. They're rough around the edges, but the bigger picture of those films is still really solid.
 
Princess Leia

Princess Leia

Well-Known Member
Tahu said:
It's a lot of different factors. The kids that grew up on the prequels and loved them have come of age and are becoming more vocal, The Clone Wars has fleshed out the era significantly and filled in many plotholes, and yeah, a really conservative and safe film like The Force Awakens makes people yearn for how wildly different each Prequel film was in terms of scope and design. They're rough around the edges, but the bigger picture of those films is still really solid.
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I mean, the first Star Wars film that I saw in theaters was Attack of the Clones, but I grew up watching my dad's OT VHS tapes. I've been meaning to watch the prequels again with adult eyes, but I never seem to get around to it.
 
HMF

HMF

Well-Known Member
Princess Leia said:
I mean, the first Star Wars film that I saw in theaters was Attack of the Clones, but I grew up watching my dad's OT VHS tapes. I've been meaning to watch the prequels again with adult eyes, but I never seem to get around to it.
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I just re-watched Phantom Menace a few weeks ago but I now find it hard to watch not because I don't like it anymore but because I now have the voices of the haters in my head telling me what an idiot I am for enjoying it All the childhood innocence and enthusiasm is gone. Replaced with a dark feeling of dread that now permeates my life every day especially when I think about Star Wars, Disney and America.
 
BlindChow

BlindChow

Well-Known Member
DDLand said:
5) Dinosaur just got good. Really good.
...
Honestly it used to be a ride where you would occasionally see Dinos in the dark. Now it's an awesome journey that is one of the highlights of DAK. It's better than Indy now. Indy is not nearly as cool as this ride is. It's so good.
Click to expand...
Wow. I'm actually intrigued to ride this now...

Before, it was "dayglo dinosaurs in vague darkness."

I hated they used blacklight. It was a cheap way of hiding the fact they didn't have expansive sets. The dinosaurs all looked like cartoons. There was no sense of space.

But...reading your review...perhaps there was something to the ride that got lost in the ensuing years. Perhaps it has now been restored... I'm intrigued...
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
ford91exploder said:
I've NEVER said that SWL would not open, What I've said is Wall St will not ALLOW TWDC to open TWO of them simultaneously, We as Disney fans know they are a license to print money but the reality is Wall St HATES theme parks and would much prefer that TWDC not build them at all. I would not be surprised if SWL in WDW opening in 2021-22.

There is no way in HELL that DL SWL is not opening on time in 2019, WDW OTOH ???
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2 to 3+ years later:banghead::banghead::banghead:

There's zero evidence to suggest that will happen. Disney released the video and pictures from DLR three months ago in march that showed the frame of the main battle show building up with the frames of the AT-ATs.
IMG_0712.JPG

On the main page Steve posted aerials from DHS a few days ago that show the frame of the same building has gone verticle and in one of the pictures you can see the parts to assemble to AT-ATs are laid out on the ground:
IMG_0711.JPG


Seems to me like they are about 6 months or less behind DLR which is exactly what the insiders said was the plan all along. If there is no way in hell DLR doesn't open on time in 2019 it makes no sense that WDW would fall 2 or more years behind this late in the game. The plans are set and not changing. If anything WDW may benefit from DLR getting the kinks out of opening day operations. They should in theory need less time for soft openings to test the rides with actual guests since they should have 6 months of operations on the identical rides in CA. They will still need time to train the CMs but even that can benefit from having a clone already running in CA.
 
Nj4mwc

Nj4mwc

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
My point is and always has been WHY the lame offerings, This is DISNEY not some mom-n-pop operation, The preview offerings don't have to be elaborate but they should offer a 'taste' of what the quality of the new land will be they don't even have to BE the same things that will be in the land, as an engineer I can tell you quality is a MINDSET it's not something that can be added at a later date.

Look at any interior shot of a Imperial Spacecraft the walls have lights which extend out of the wall, This could have been done easily with a vacuum molding machine. The cantina scene is beyond pathetic.

It's the DETAILS which have always defined Disney and this shows Disney no longer CARES about the details. But Itz Staa Warz and for that simple fact Disney is counting on the rubes to pile in no matter how poorly executed the land is.
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Definitely agree quality is a mind set, if they pass over easily added details now why would u expect it later. I think SWL is going to be border line great but will be missing those tiny details that will make it great
 
Rodan75

Rodan75

Well-Known Member
DDLand said:
Thoughts on Disney's Animal Kingdom.

1) Pandora: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ents-and-questions.927205/page-4#post-7765529

2) The land seems to be helping attendance. The park was more crowded. The park seems more alive. That's great.

3) Rivers of Light was awesome.

4) Pandora is not enough. The park is still emptying out in the evening. Safari, Everest, and Dinosaur were walk ons or near walk ons late in the evening. That is still not where the park needs to be. To retain people, the park needs more content. It may seem counterintuitive to prescribe more content when we just are celebrating a massive new area, but new content it needs. Customer retention remains its number one barrier to success. Dark rides and new guest experiences are needed. Attractions that are impervious to weather conditions remain crucial. Everest, walking trails, Dino-Roma, and Kali are all susceptible to weather. It's difficult to leave a world leading Park with only 4 rides and a couple shows to carry the weight of operations when lightening strikes.

5) Dinosaur just got good. Really good. I always thought Dinosaur got a bad rap. People whined about it all the time. I did understand it was worse than Indy, but I still thought it was a decent ride.

Then came the refurb.

The refurb helped with a few things.
1) Lighting
2) Vehicle movement
3) Fixing broken effects
4) Adding new effects

I had no idea such seemingly small items could so fundamentally transform the experience. You can now see lush environments. You can hear the Dinosaurs chasing you. You can feel the car lose traction.

Everything is so much more clear and awesome.

Honestly it used to be a ride where you would occasionally see Dinos in the dark. Now it's an awesome journey that is one of the highlights of DAK. It's better than Indy now. Indy is not nearly as cool as this ride is. It's so good.

It moved from B/B+ to an A/A+. It was transformational in a way the recent PotC refurb was.

One of my new favorite Disney attractions... Only 19 years old!

5) Food is great. DAK is the new Epcot.

6) DHS (not scientific) seemed emptier. DAK seems to have stolen guests from DHS. Who can blame them?

It's a great park. Really one of the best in the world. My top 3 globally are Disneyland Park, Tokyo Disney Sea, and DAK. DAK is Walt Disney World's crown jewel. I hope it gets much more.
Click to expand...

Agree so much about Dinosaur.

Wasn't there supposed to be a night carnival in the hub as well? To help with night entertainment?
 
EricsBiscuit

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
I've NEVER said that SWL would not open, What I've said is Wall St will not ALLOW TWDC to open TWO of them simultaneously, We as Disney fans know they are a license to print money but the reality is Wall St HATES theme parks and would much prefer that TWDC not build them at all. I would not be surprised if SWL in WDW opening in 2021-22.
Click to expand...
you have got to be the absolute worst trol I have ever seen
 
EricsBiscuit

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
Yes that stupid carnival that blasts music so loud the poor person taking the order at FTBBQ can't even hear my order! I hate that thing. Thank goodness they're bringing mobile order to FTBBQ.
 
Kman101

Kman101

Well-Known Member
EricsBiscuit said:
Yes that stupid carnival that blasts music so loud the poor person taking the order at FTBBQ can't even hear my order! I hate that thing. Thank goodness they're bringing mobile order to FTBBQ.
Click to expand...

It's a little ... loud but guests loved it and I thought it was entertaining.

It was running in March and in May when I was there. I believe it starts around 5 ... maybe the slicked concrete or rain prevents them from going out. You really can't miss it when it's there LOL
 

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