A Spirited Valentine ...

[JUFL2019]

So my brother is in Epcot and he sent me a video of the Voices of Liberty singing "Let it Go." He said they also did Newsies.

When did this start? And please tell me it's temporary. Even he agrees that these aren't songs they should be singing and he's much more lenient than I am on what works well in the theme of the parks.

They alternate sets.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Once the 25th anniversary is over, DLP will need something to entice people to come back to the parks. If they started construction later this year, they could make the formal announcement at the end of the anniversary campaign.

There's two dedicated expansion plots in Disneyland Parc that have been there since the beginning (Adventureland and Fantasyland), plus all that room in the Studios. I vote for Star Wars Land if it means getting Space Mountain back to normal. TSMM, a copy of the trackless Frozen ride and the Captain America coaster would also be nice. Just don't touch ToT.

Keep in mind we're also getting a replacement for CineMagique next year, though any details on that have been minor at best.

 

[VJ]

Happy 50th anniversary to Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Here's what one YouTuber has to say about the boycott of the live action BATB. (Warning: there is profanity present within the video)

 

[HMF]

I've said the same thing in the past about WDW when people applied the swamps to the whole. The problem was/is corporate, not for true lack of talent from creative.

Oh, The talent is there. It's just been restrained by corporate thus you have creative geniuses like Joe Rohde selling his soul by creating that abomination in Anaheim.

 

[brb1006]

The decorations for Disneyland Paris's 25th Anniversary is looking great.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

The decorations for Disneyland Paris's 25th Anniversary is looking great.

They are promoting it quite heavily at the moment in the Netherlands. It is pretty effective, I must say, as I keep thinking I need to book a trip back asap!

 

[brb1006]

They are promoting it quite heavily at the moment in the Netherlands. It is pretty effective, I must say, as I keep thinking I need to book a trip back asap!

They are actually giving more attention to Disneyland Paris in the Netherlands?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

They are actually giving more attention to Disneyland Paris in the Netherlands?

Seems to be the case. I've seen quite a few ads for the 25th on television as well as displays in travel agents around where I'm living in The Hague.

 

[TalkingHead]

Here are a few final thoughts from my week:

I was impressed by show quality around the parks. Thought the Epcot films (especially Impressions of France) looked especially good.

The street entertainment in Africa at DAK adds so much energy to that park's atmosphere.

Didn't mention this the other day, but we caught the second show of Rivers of Light and there were plenty of open seats on the edges of the amphitheater.

I'd be interested in knowing what the long-term plan is with Fantasmic and nightly fireworks at DHS. Making people choose one or the other seems weird, especially for a park that needs as much entertainment as it can get.

We spent a leisurely four hours at DHS and that was plenty of time to see the big attractions. If we'd skipped Fantasmic, we could've easily gotten more rides in. I can't imagine that Toy Story Land will add much value to the park, but at least it's something.

We went to Disney Springs this afternoon. The place looks so much better as the construction walls come down. The Edison's wall was the only one we came across.

A couple of bad merchandise t-shirt designs: a WDW shirt emblazoned with the phrases "established 1971" and "the original". Original what? The original Disneyland imitation? Head-scratching design.

Then there was the shirt with Walt and Mickey standing on Anaheim's Main Street with the WDW castle photoshopped at the end of the street in the background. That's as good as attributing "If you can dream it, you can do it" to Walt.

On the other hand, there's some new merch with park attractions, Mansion designs, etc. Worth looking around World of Disney and the Co-Op to see what they have.

Side note, if you're at all interested in Disney feature animation, the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty from several years ago gives some insights into the Disney studio in the 1980s and 1990s. Interesting film.

 

[asianway]

Here are a few final thoughts from my week:

I was impressed by show quality around the parks. Thought the Epcot films (especially Impressions of France) looked especially good.

The street entertainment in Africa at DAK adds so much energy to that park's atmosphere.

Didn't mention this the other day, but we caught the second show of Rivers of Light and there were plenty of open seats on the edges of the amphitheater.

I'd be interested in knowing what the long-term plan is with Fantasmic and nightly fireworks at DHS. Making people choose one or the other seems weird, especially for a park that needs as much entertainment as it can get.

We spent a leisurely four hours at DHS and that was plenty of time to see the big attractions. If we'd skipped Fantasmic, we could've easily gotten more rides in. I can't imagine that Toy Story Land will add much value to the park, but at least it's something.

We went to Disney Springs this afternoon. The place looks so much better as the construction walls come down. The Edison's wall was the only one we came across.

A couple of bad merchandise t-shirt designs: a WDW shirt emblazoned with the phrases "established 1971" and "the original". Original what? The original Disneyland imitation? Head-scratching design.

Then there was the shirt with Walt and Mickey standing on Anaheim's Main Street with the WDW castle photoshopped at the end of the street in the background. That's as good as attributing "If you can dream it, you can do it" to Walt.

On the other hand, there's some new merch with park attractions, Mansion designs, etc. Worth looking around World of Disney and the Co-Op to see what they have.

Side note, if you're at all interested in Disney feature animation, the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty from several years ago gives some insights into the Disney studio in the 1980s and 1990s. Interesting film.

They've been using that Walt/Cinderella Castle design since about 2003

 

[TalkingHead]

They've been using that Walt/Cinderella Castle design since about 2003

Good to know it's a longstanding tradition to mismanage the company's history, then. The caption that says something like "Walt on Main Street, USA, Magic Kingdom" is the cherry on top.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Darth Maul's finally dead

 

[Rodan75]

Darth Maul's finally dead

I think this is one of those things that should be spoiler tagged.

 

[WDW1974]

I hope it's still the trackless version and it hasn't been scaled down to the boat ride.

So if Marvel Land is still looking good for 2020 does that mean we can expect an announcement at D23 and / or Comic Con this year?

I see no reason to believe it has been scaled back.

I am 99% sure you will hear something at D23. ... The Bobs (Weatherman, Chappie and Weis) realize the futility in attempting to hide these projects. There are always too many people who know and talk ... and sometimes feed people (including yours truly) with information.

 

[brb1006]

Here are a few final thoughts from my week:

I was impressed by show quality around the parks. Thought the Epcot films (especially Impressions of France) looked especially good.

The street entertainment in Africa at DAK adds so much energy to that park's atmosphere.

Didn't mention this the other day, but we caught the second show of Rivers of Light and there were plenty of open seats on the edges of the amphitheater.

I'd be interested in knowing what the long-term plan is with Fantasmic and nightly fireworks at DHS. Making people choose one or the other seems weird, especially for a park that needs as much entertainment as it can get.

We spent a leisurely four hours at DHS and that was plenty of time to see the big attractions. If we'd skipped Fantasmic, we could've easily gotten more rides in. I can't imagine that Toy Story Land will add much value to the park, but at least it's something.

We went to Disney Springs this afternoon. The place looks so much better as the construction walls come down. The Edison's wall was the only one we came across.

A couple of bad merchandise t-shirt designs: a WDW shirt emblazoned with the phrases "established 1971" and "the original". Original what? The original Disneyland imitation? Head-scratching design.

Then there was the shirt with Walt and Mickey standing on Anaheim's Main Street with the WDW castle photoshopped at the end of the street in the background. That's as good as attributing "If you can dream it, you can do it" to Walt.

On the other hand, there's some new merch with park attractions, Mansion designs, etc. Worth looking around World of Disney and the Co-Op to see what they have.

Side note, if you're at all interested in Disney feature animation, the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty from several years ago gives some insights into the Disney studio in the 1980s and 1990s. Interesting film.

Maybe it's referring to MK being the original park at WDW before AK,Epcot, and HS existed.

 

[WDW1974]

Aulani seems like it was a Jim Lewis pet project. Judging by their behavior in the late 2000s, Lewis wanted to lead a new Disney Vacation Club Renaissance. Aulani, GCH, Treehouse Villas. He even mentioned they had kicked around ideas for new locations beyond the berm.

The fact that the concept failed miserably probably is what did him in. I guess that was about the time Disney lost faith in theme parks and decided to do Cruise Ships and Timeshares.

This underscores an interesting point, DVC is actually a pretty bad timeshare. Sure it's good if you want to vacation at WDW, but if you want to buy into a diverse set of offerings DVC is actually unimpressive. Why would someone who's not an avid Disney Parks fan buy into Aulani when there are other timeshares with more diverse locations? Just as critically, why would a Disney Parks fan buy into Aulani when they could buy at an established Disney Resort?

Before it's taken seriously in the timeshare market, it needs more locations. They don't seem to care about be taken seriously though.

When DVC began, it's whole goal was to expand the Disney footprint beyond the theme parks. That's why two of the first four resorts were off-property. But I recall back in those days staying at major timeshare developments by Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt and they just all blew Disney's product away. ... I know people get insulted and don't like when I use this term, but is absolutely is a huge factor in these things ... Disney counts on having an endless supply of rubes with money and BRAND addicts. These people don't care that there are far better built and higher end timeshares in O-Town for less a price. They 'own' at Disney. Part of the MAGIC is theirs. Since I became a sorta DVCer I admit I feel a bit hypocritical dissing them so much. Yet, I absolutely stand by the opinion that I have had since Day 1 on this site that DVC has had a terrible effect on the quality of a stay at a WDW Deluxe resort.

Got away from your point, but it is much easier to sell a substandard product at WDW where you are preaching to the choir, so to speak. Aulani, which by all accounts is a higher quality product still can't sell in Hawaii when you can bet these horrible Copper Creek Villas will be HUGE!

 

[WDW1974]

Indeed. Aulani was a disaster. Sales out of the gate were weak, and then they suddenly realized that member dues wouldn't cover operations. They had to yank sales and recalculate member dues increasing them significantly. This in turn hurt sales more and now we have the situation where it's still slowly selling 5 years later.

This led to the termination of Lewis and two other key Parks executives in what was described as a pretty shocking and abrupt move. It and the resurgence of Disneyland all but ended Disney's future attempts to go beyond the berm.

Disney Vacation Club has been particularly unimpressive since, with GF, Poly, and WL being the newest projects.

When his strategy and vision proved to be costly and underperforming, all it would take was a small issue to have him terminated. That came in the miscalculation.

I loved watching that fiasco play out. Lewis's 'miscalculation' was very close to being illegal ... and it cost Disney a small fortune. Disney never fires any executives. Not publicly. Not unless they are found in a meth den with a naked 14-year-old on top of them. They fired Jim. And told the world that Aulani's problems were his.

And then ... then ... he clearly played the blackmail card (to this day I'm not sure what he had/has and on whom, but he played it) ... and suddenly he had a letter of recommendation for employment and a sorta apology by either Jay "the puckish gladhander" Rasulo or Tom "the oddly waifish man of anemic personality" Staggs, can't recall who now and too lazy to look. And the fact he had this letter suddenly wound up a news story, so the world knew it.

 

[wogwog]

I see no reason to believe it has been scaled back.

I am 99% sure you will hear something at D23. ... The Bobs (Weatherman, Chappie and Weis) realize the futility in attempting to hide these projects. There are always too many people who know and talk ... and sometimes feed people (including yours truly) with information.

More Bobs for you. Coincidence. I am watching them in "Office Space" as I read your post.

 

[WDW1974]

Yes, but as I said, I would think someone wanting that would buy points at WDW, which still leaves the problem of selling the NY resort. Most people don't plan weekend getaways 11 or 7 months in advance. We all want resorts around the world for the occasional visit, but we want to buy at resorts at WDW (or DL), which puts DVC in a predicament such that it makes little sense to build resorts away from the parks.

Any DVC resort would have been built with a hotel component and also, obviously, the ability to rent the unused villas for cash. So I don't think the booking window is a factor at all ... What is a factor is DVC sells to people who want to stay at WDW and could never afford the insane deluxe resort prices (and many couldn't afford the moderates either). And they also got vocal very quickly that while they liked resorts like OKW, what they really wanted was to stay at the Beach Club and WL and Contemporary and Poly etc etc. Disney did the easiest thing. It kept raising prices to stay at its resorts and then it began DVCing them as well.