Al Lutz -- Fantasyland budget cuts

TP2000

Well-Known Member
And just as WoC gets amazing, new, technically advanced Fountains. I can see some link there, you know?


How I envy you, Disneyland.

I think it was Al Lutz who mentioned that the Disneyland Entertainment group saw the massive new WoC show coming their way, and realized they needed to get Fantasmic! out of the 1990's and bring it up to 21st century tech standards. They've done an amazing job with the regular winter rehabs for the past three years, and the '09 rehab with the new dragon and Flotsam and Jetsam really were the icing on the cake.

Personally, I think it was the switch to new HD digitial projectors in the '08 rehab that did the most good. Even in that YouTube video you can see the difference in clarity and quality between the Disneyland and WDW mist screen projections. In person it's obviously better and it's startling how clear it is now.

But then they run Fantasmic! regularly twice per night, seven days per week, for much of the year at Disneyland. They even run three shows per night on busy Friday nights in fall and winter, holiday weekends, etc.

Since WDW has made a decision to ramp down Fantasmic! performances to just a couple strategically placed shows per week, I don't know how they could justify spending all that money on a show they rarely run any more. And, there's no World of Color coming to Epcot any time soon to make the rest of the entertainment look tired and dated.

Just my ramblings though. It would do WDW a world of good to get a big, brash, cutting edge show like World of Color. I think it would force TDO's hand on polishing up and replacing much of the tired offerings they've currently got. :eek:
 

MiklCraw4d

Member
The thing is, it doesn't pay to do so. You have no clue how many webmasters/online Disney personalities have asked me over the years to make my Spirited comments into something more regular. Unfortunately, to do it right is a full-time job and no one is offering a paycheck

:lookaroun

No one can be right all the time. And Al had some doozies when it comes to bad info if you go back a decade or so (turning the Mark Twain into a snack stand and Paul Pressler deciding to shut down the WDW monorail system to save money would be two).

True. I'm sure as you go back in the mists of time, there are some things that seem really ridiculous today. I'd forgotten about those two. Still, over the last several years he does have a way of putting out news that others ridicule until it comes true.

I have often wondered about why WDW doesn't have its own Al. Then again, Disneyland only has one. I think Al came along at a unique time - when Pressler was there and totally disassembling the park experience. He was the right person at the right time, and I think that put him into the place that he could keep that role as the "leaker" of choice to this day.

I really don't know why WDW doesn't have that. Part of it, I guess, is that the majority of WDW bloggers aren't even in Florida or there regularly. And there are lots of us now. Lots. 2010 is a lot different online than 1997. I'm sure it's easier to cultivate trusting relationships with Disney employees and insiders when you're always seeing them at the park or at special events than if you just know them by an email address.

Still, it would be easier to keep the company honest if there were a few places where you could easily get the latest information about what's up behind the scenes. There are a million sites that tell you about the newest churro cart or pin event, but the inside stuff is hard to find about WDW. Trust me, I know! I'm always trying to find it :)

What I got from his column (correct me if I'm wrong as it has been a lousy and loooong week and I'm too lazy to go reread) was that by his wording he was suggesting new and large cuts had been made. That isn't (to my knowledge) correct. What I believe is happening is he's talking the Fairie/Tink dark ride, which was blue sky for Anaheim and a possible Phase II for MK ... in other words, unlikely.
As I recall, he was only and specifically talking about the Pixie ride getting slashed. Which, after all, has never been announced anyway. I'd prefer having the Snow Queen Thunderdome in that area anyway...

So, I think he was purposely being ambiguous so as to not be wrong. Nothing new of substance has been cut. If that ride doesn't happen, then it wasn't a done deal to begin with.

So, he's covered his . Nothing wrong with that, but I felt the need to point it out!
I agree, and also agree it's not a big deal. Those of us who are forced to deal in rumors all do :) My favorite word is "allegedly".

Anyway, it was just a throwaway line about something that has never been announced in the first place. We've had far more pointed rumors on more widespread cutbacks on this very forum...
 

HMF

Well-Known Member
DL got their refurb finally (and their dragon was older than ours was) last year, so give DHS a few years to get their dragon.
You really think TDO would approve the budget for the Dragon' especially after the nightmare it gave TDA last summer?
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
So let me get this straight - Anything that Al posts in his blog concerning WDW, in your opinion, is in some manner fabricated and should be dismissed as at worst a lie and at best a twisting of actual facts? Or is this an isolated incident? You've always been pretty hasty to defend Al's credibility in the past, so I'm a little curious.

No, absolutely not.

Al often posts facts about WDW and very accurate, albeit harsh, opinions too.

He is accurate about F'Land's budget having been cut (it has been multiple times), but I believe he was trying to infer these were somehow new and newsworthy (and indeed they may be to some who don't follow things as closely).

But the way he wrote it would lead folks to believe that TDO just axed a hundred million attraction from the redo. I find his wording annoying, second only to Honor Hunter who qualifies everything with huge IFs.

If I posted that way I'd have a perfect batting average as you can never really be wrong if you qualify everything with an IF. I'd rather just say what I know and IF circumstances conspire to change things, so be it.

I realize that may be picky. But Hunter is so damn wishy-washy. And Al, in his biting sarcasm (something I admire) often engages in the same thing.

Does that 'splain things better?:)
 

DisneyParksFan1

Active Member
Thank goodness. I really like World of Color but at Epcot absolutely not. ROE forever!!!!!!!!!.

They should put something similar to World of Color somewhere in WDW that fits the theming and NOT a clone of World of Color from DCA. But something along the lines of World of Color. And RoE should definitely stay at EPCOT! They should just update it as they did with Fantasmic at Disneyland.
 

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
:lookaroun

True. I'm sure as you go back in the mists of time, there are some things that seem really ridiculous today. I'd forgotten about those two. Still, over the last several years he does have a way of putting out news that others ridicule until it comes true.

Well, many ridicule it even after he's proven right (EO is a great example of that ... he gets blamed because TDA and Burbank couldn't decide if/when they were going to pull the trigger so it somehow harms his cred? I don't think so.

But, as I said, his reliability has gone up considerably in the past half dozen years. It used to be for every hit on something small, he'd miss on something really large. I believe he also mentioned Pressler wanting to knock down Plaza Pavilion, the old Tahitian Terrace and Tiki Room and build a food court ... and when HKDL was in development I am almost certain he was the webmaster who suggested Main Street would have outlets from third parties, including Planet Hollywood and McDonald's.:eek:

I didn't take him all that serious in those days because of crap like that.

Thankfully, he is really much better.

I have often wondered about why WDW doesn't have its own Al. Then again, Disneyland only has one. I think Al came along at a unique time - when Pressler was there and totally disassembling the park experience. He was the right person at the right time, and I think that put him into the place that he could keep that role as the "leaker" of choice to this day.

I really don't know why WDW doesn't have that. Part of it, I guess, is that the majority of WDW bloggers aren't even in Florida or there regularly. And there are lots of us now. Lots. 2010 is a lot different online than 1997. I'm sure it's easier to cultivate trusting relationships with Disney employees and insiders when you're always seeing them at the park or at special events than if you just know them by an email address.

First off, WDW doesn't have the same type of fan DL does. Do you know how often I have gone back and forth ad nasuem arguing facts here? Things that have ranged from park hours being much longer in the past, to entertainment being cut, to reasons why certain decisions are made at TDO. When you have a large percentage of the fanbase in FLA believing that WDW is better than ever, you don't even have a starting point really.

I have plenty of sources on the inside, even though I live a few hours from WDW and admitedly have cut down annual visits from an average of probably about 8-9 a year back a decade ago, to about 3-4 now.

But it's a tough situation now because you have bored housewives living in parks taking 76 pictures of planters and bathroom refurb signs ... and you have Disney with its official sanitized for their protection blog ... and you even have the Daily Disney, which really is part of the O-Sentinel.

I like Kevin Yee a lot personally and think he really tries to be the local Al in his own way. But Kevin has a real job and a family, unlike Al, and he also tends to want to look at things more analytically in an attempt to be fair and balanced.

Al uses emotion. Raw. Pure. And that will always will out with fanbois!:ROFLOL:

Still, it would be easier to keep the company honest if there were a few places where you could easily get the latest information about what's up behind the scenes. There are a million sites that tell you about the newest churro cart or pin event, but the inside stuff is hard to find about WDW. Trust me, I know! I'm always trying to find it :)

The info is out there and it isn't hard to find. I now have people I don't even know coming to me with info, although I'm usually skeptical until they prove themselves. But I always encourage those who can't put stuff out there that impacts WDW, its fans, guests and cast to let me do it for them.

In my case, it helps that TDO and Burbank and others know exactly who I am ... we play a game of cat and Mouse, but my goal isn't to damage the company (although that is quite easy as well if say ... you were a top source to a media analyst that tells the Street what they should do with their Disney stock ... not that I know anything about that!) but to see it be the best it can be and, more importantly, live up to its amazing creative legacy.

now ... what were we talking 'bout? chicken nuggets instead of chicken fingers?:drevil:

As I recall, he was only and specifically talking about the Pixie ride getting slashed. Which, after all, has never been announced anyway. I'd prefer having the Snow Queen Thunderdome in that area anyway...

I agree, and also agree it's not a big deal. Those of us who are forced to deal in rumors all do :) My favorite word is "allegedly".

Anyway, it was just a throwaway line about something that has never been announced in the first place. We've had far more pointed rumors on more widespread cutbacks on this very forum...

The Pixie/Tink ride was always a Phase II project for FLA and possibly the Motorboat Cruise area of DL. It was leaked because some folks (including one of my top sources, and likely Al's as well) saw some of Tony Baxter's concept art. It did look like it had a lot of potential because Disney is really pushing the Fairy Franchise ... problem is it isn't nearly hitting the numbers Consumer Products needs ... and being something that would mostly appeal to young girls has proven to be a negative with folks like Iger, who realize Disney has gone over to the fey side way too much (although some of us think buying Marvel was a giant over-correction).

Anyway, I'll just go on record as saying I don't believe this attraction will see the light of day here ... of course IF they decide to put it in Shanghai, well, all bets are off. IF you get my drift!:)
 

DisneyParksFan1

Active Member
Well, many ridicule it even after he's proven right (EO is a great example of that ... he gets blamed because TDA and Burbank couldn't decide if/when they were going to pull the trigger so it somehow harms his cred? I don't think so.

But, as I said, his reliability has gone up considerably in the past half dozen years. It used to be for every hit on something small, he'd miss on something really large. I believe he also mentioned Pressler wanting to knock down Plaza Pavilion, the old Tahitian Terrace and Tiki Room and build a food court ... and when HKDL was in development I am almost certain he was the webmaster who suggested Main Street would have outlets from third parties, including Planet Hollywood and McDonald's.:eek:

I didn't take him all that serious in those days because of crap like that.

Thankfully, he is really much better.



First off, WDW doesn't have the same type of fan DL does. Do you know how often I have gone back and forth ad nasuem arguing facts here? Things that have ranged from park hours being much longer in the past, to entertainment being cut, to reasons why certain decisions are made at TDO. When you have a large percentage of the fanbase in FLA believing that WDW is better than ever, you don't even have a starting point really.

I have plenty of sources on the inside, even though I live a few hours from WDW and admitedly have cut down annual visits from an average of probably about 8-9 a year back a decade ago, to about 3-4 now.

But it's a tough situation now because you have bored housewives living in parks taking 76 pictures of planters and bathroom refurb signs ... and you have Disney with its official sanitized for their protection blog ... and you even have the Daily Disney, which really is part of the O-Sentinel.

I like Kevin Yee a lot personally and think he really tries to be the local Al in his own way. But Kevin has a real job and a family, unlike Al, and he also tends to want to look at things more analytically in an attempt to be fair and balanced.

Al uses emotion. Raw. Pure. And that will always will out with fanbois!:ROFLOL:



The info is out there and it isn't hard to find. I now have people I don't even know coming to me with info, although I'm usually skeptical until they prove themselves. But I always encourage those who can't put stuff out there that impacts WDW, its fans, guests and cast to let me do it for them.

In my case, it helps that TDO and Burbank and others know exactly who I am ... we play a game of cat and Mouse, but my goal isn't to damage the company (although that is quite easy as well if say ... you were a top source to a media analyst that tells the Street what they should do with their Disney stock ... not that I know anything about that!) but to see it be the best it can be and, more importantly, live up to its amazing creative legacy.

now ... what were we talking 'bout? chicken nuggets instead of chicken fingers?:drevil:



The Pixie/Tink ride was always a Phase II project for FLA and possibly the Motorboat Cruise area of DL. It was leaked because some folks (including one of my top sources, and likely Al's as well) saw some of Tony Baxter's concept art. It did look like it had a lot of potential because Disney is really pushing the Fairy Franchise ... problem is it isn't nearly hitting the numbers Consumer Products needs ... and being something that would mostly appeal to young girls has proven to be a negative with folks like Iger, who realize Disney has gone over to the fey side way too much (although some of us think buying Marvel was a giant over-correction).

Anyway, I'll just go on record as saying I don't believe this attraction will see the light of day here ... of course IF they decide to put it in Shanghai, well, all bets are off. IF you get my drift!
:)

But the thing that I seem to dislike is that they just throw the attraction away and don't put something in its place you get me? As a matter of fact, if they aren't making that much money from the Pixie franchise, then why not just scratch the whole Pixie area and retheme it to something else.
 

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
I think it was Al Lutz who mentioned that the Disneyland Entertainment group saw the massive new WoC show coming their way, and realized they needed to get Fantasmic! out of the 1990's and bring it up to 21st century tech standards. They've done an amazing job with the regular winter rehabs for the past three years, and the '09 rehab with the new dragon and Flotsam and Jetsam really were the icing on the cake.

Personally, I think it was the switch to new HD digitial projectors in the '08 rehab that did the most good. Even in that YouTube video you can see the difference in clarity and quality between the Disneyland and WDW mist screen projections. In person it's obviously better and it's startling how clear it is now.

But then they run Fantasmic! regularly twice per night, seven days per week, for much of the year at Disneyland. They even run three shows per night on busy Friday nights in fall and winter, holiday weekends, etc.


Since WDW has made a decision to ramp down Fantasmic! performances to just a couple strategically placed shows per week, I don't know how they could justify spending all that money on a show they rarely run any more. And, there's no World of Color coming to Epcot any time soon to make the rest of the entertainment look tired and dated.

Just my ramblings though. It would do WDW a world of good to get a big, brash, cutting edge show like World of Color. I think it would force TDO's hand on polishing up and replacing much of the tired offerings they've currently got. :eek:
Well, I certainly hope that's the first of MANY problems to correct. Makes a 4 day trip hard as hell to plan when you can only see Fant! twice a week.

I agree with you 100% though...Our tech needs to be brought up to speed just so there can be that inner competition. Bring some of this WoC stuff to modify RoE with. Perfect place to start. Then, help out Fantasmic with DL's new tech. I wouldn't mind if it's the same at this point....Just make our parks look good.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Thank goodness. I really like World of Color but at Epcot absolutely not. ROE forever!!!!!!!!!.

I like the initial conceptual info that has been released for World of Color. But I think we'll just need to wait three more months to see it in person before we decide.

You never know, it could be technically impressive but otherwise a confusing and boring mish-mash of sights and sounds. We don't even know if the tech stuff will work right, and it might just be a huge Waltzing Waters snore-a-thon.

Wait three months, and then check back to see if World of Color really is a success and all that people have hyped it to be. :)
 

MousDad

New Member
I like the initial conceptual info that has been released for World of Color. But I think we'll just need to wait three more months to see it in person before we decide.

I like Al's observation from a while ago that it would take over 3 months just for every APer to see the show, because of the limited seating.
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
They should put something similar to World of Color somewhere in WDW that fits the theming and NOT a clone of World of Color from DCA. But something along the lines of World of Color. And RoE should definitely stay at EPCOT! They should just update it as they did with Fantasmic at Disneyland.

I've said it a few times but the Fantasmic arena is perfectly configured for a WoC type show. They might have to remove the "island" but it would work. But no hurry, let DL work out the bugs. Plus DHS will need to add some capacity elsewhere to handle the crowds a WoC would create.
 

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
I've said it a few times but the Fantasmic arena is perfectly configured for a WoC type show. They might have to remove the "island" but it would work. But no hurry, let DL work out the bugs. Plus DHS will need to add some capacity elsewhere to handle the crowds a WoC would create.

This could EASILY be remedied by bringing back a REAL Pyro show, like SitS. Cramming everyone into ONE place for nighttime entertainment has got to be one of the stupidest choices made for DHS.:brick:
 

jt04

Well-Known Member
This could EASILY be remedied by bringing back a REAL Pyro show, like SitS. Cramming everyone into ONE place for nighttime entertainment has got to be one of the stupidest choices made for DHS.:brick:

Hmmm. Perhaps they could bring back a SiTS type show while they install WoC.

By the way, I don't agree at all. I think an arena type show for DHS works. But it's just a difference of opinion.
 

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
Hmmm. Perhaps they could bring back a SiTS type show while they install WoC.

By the way, I don't agree at all. I think an arena type show for DHS works. But it's just a difference of opinion.

:lol: Your avvie...and sig...You are nuts. :lol: They are not that big, jt. Main diet are SMALL animals...Mice, lizards, the like.


I think the arena would work if it were just another show for DHS, like it is for DL. But, the finale show for the park should be in a central location, visible from a wides range of places, and near something iconic. That's not only in terms of efficiency, but in terms of show, too. There's nothing climatic about being herded into a wooded corridor, and then looking at a oddly shaped mountain for a good hour.


Climatic is walking onto Hollywood Boulevard , seeing the Theater lit up, and drinking in the ambiance, while waiting for the unknown to happen. The pyro could come from anywhere. With the arena, you gotta know it's going to be at the focal point.

My opinion, too, however...
 

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