An Overdue Update

[LudwigVonDrake]

In any case, it appears our fun insider has disappeared. It was fun while it lasted, and I hope he returns, but it's been quite some time...

If you check his public profile, he's lurking on the boards but not posting. His last "activity" was August 31.

 

[Lee]

This is all excellent information! I heard a rumor on another board that Imagination could possibly get a re-theme as a Muppets pavilion (hence the MML making the rounds at EPCOT), with Figment essentially "becoming" a Muppet.

Interesting rumor to munch on for awhile....

I know where you heard that. Forget it.
As Tirian said....not true....and kinda silly.:hammer:

 

[jedimaster1227]

I wonder if he got fired or let go, w/e the proper terminology is these days?

Its always possible. NDAs are a serious matter with Disney and anyone that breaks them willingly acknowledges what is at stake. I think we'll see him again, but its possible that we won't. He has been pretty quite lately, and this isn't a time when the news has been quiet from everywhere else. The feeds keep coming in to me, so I don't know that the grapevine is as silent as it seems to be right now.

 

[DisneyDellsDude]

If you check his public profile, he's lurking on the boards but not posting. His last "activity" was August 31.

Ooooooo. I didn't realize you could check the last time someone was active.

 

[mousermerf]

It's the end of fiscal year, there's no way in heck nothing of interest is happening with Disney. They're finalizing plans for next year and deciding what rolls out when and how... Some stuff will not get announced or formalized until a later point - but each year usually has atleast 1 major item.

Also, press week? That should be in October, no? There should be the start of a media love-fest soon.

 

[Kman101]

There just might not be much to reveal, and he could of been on vacation (although he was active 8/31)

 

[jedimaster1227]

It's the end of fiscal year, there's no way in heck nothing of interest is happening with Disney. They're finalizing plans for next year and deciding what rolls out when and how... Some stuff will not get announced or formalized until a later point - but each year usually has atleast 1 major item.

Also, press week? That should be in October, no? There should be the start of a media love-fest soon.

Exactly my point. This isn't a quiet time in the year for Disney. There is plenty going on and plenty of information to be shared. I expect this year's big media week to bring at least two more announcements for WDW.

 

[comics101]

This is all excellent information! I heard a rumor on another board that Imagination could possibly get a re-theme as a Muppets pavilion (hence the MML making the rounds at EPCOT), with Figment essentially "becoming" a Muppet.

Interesting rumor to munch on for awhile....

I think that could be kinda cool. You could have the Muppets take over the Imagination Institute, and it could be similar to the way it is now, just in a Muppetier way. I like it. Shame it probably won't happen.

 

[jt04]

I think that could be kinda cool. You could have the Muppets take over the Imagination Institute, and it could be similar to the way it is now, just in a Muppetier way. I like it. Shame it probably won't happen.

Awesome idea and fits the ride theme too. Nothing is more imaginative then the muppets taking over the Imagination Pavillion. Kermit -->

 

[cdunbar]

O sweet niblets, the muppets taking over the IP would be the WORST thing ever....:brick:

 

[jt04]

O sweet niblets, the mupphets taking over the IP would be the WORST thing ever....:brick:

Mupphets:shrug:

 

[cdunbar]

Sorry JT, but its fixed now thats what you get for doing more than one thing at time

 

[lilredfoxie]

Awesome idea and fits the ride theme too. Nothing is more imaginative then the muppets taking over the Imagination Pavillion. Kermit -->

Instead of Eric Idle and Figment, u could have Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker lol, and Waldo* could be the imagination thing

* In case anyone doesnt know (doubtful, seems everyones in the know here :lol: ) waldo is that 3d thing from MuppetVison3D

 

[JimboJones123]

October is the big one every year. I was lucky enough to be there in '03 (daughter's first trip) and got the M:S press kit when they opened M:S, Pop, and Philharmagic in a span of a few weeks. Media kits usually start going out the first week or so of September to give the media plenty of time to book their reservations. So look forward to a pre-press release in the next week or two with bigger info to come at the beginning to middle of October. Usually the press weekend has been the 2nd weekend of October (they know us media types are big on the food -- thus making us happy during F&W).

 

[comics101]

Instead of Eric Idle and Figment, u could have Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker lol, and Waldo* could be the imagination thing

* In case anyone doesnt know (doubtful, seems everyones in the know here :lol: ) waldo is that 3d thing from MuppetVison3D

I think they should keep Figment and create a whole world of Imagination things around his world. You could have Figment, and Waldo, and others.
And eventually, they could expand the Muppet Imagination Institute to the Wonders of Life pavillion, Where the Dr. Honeydew and Beaker use a shrinking ray to shrink you to a really small microscopic size and send you into the Human Body, where you go on all sorts of crazy adventures and learn about the body at the same time. They could even create a nifty Human Cell Imagination Creature for this attaction that could mess things up while trying to help.

Whether the Muppets come to Imagination or not, I do think they should keep Figment. I think it would be a mistake not to.

 

[marksniles]

The layout change has come about because an overview of guest behavior showed that many guests only visited one of the attractions at the Imagination! pavillion rather than both. The layout change will hopefully allow guests to visit the second attraction after they ride their first. We expect this will result in the same boost that "Soarin'" brought to "Living with the Land."

Interesting! Wasn't this similar to the orginial design of the building. After you went on the ride you went down the hallway to see the movie. There wasn't a separate entrance way back when. If I recall correctly.

 

[CSUFSteve]

Very interesting but as with anything I read on the Internet vs hear directly from someone I trust's mouth, I'll believe it when I see it

Imagination and TL are solidifying but not shocking. It's been known that Disney wanted to increase water park capacity by either building a new water park or expanding an existing one. Then Internet rumors indicated the decision was to expand existing for now, and shortly thereafter we got Crush at TL. So this would seem to be in-line with that. I personally would LOVE to see a TL in Calif but I do agree with those who question whether it would provide an appropriate ROI given the high cost (and precious little) of land Disney has in the ARA. The interesting part about Imagination is the reconfig. It is a very Disney way of thinking though - I have no trouble believing that it's to increase penetration of the pavillion as a whole - which ultimately improves crowd flow since more people are off the major walkways.

The Main St one is, IMO, the most intriguing of what's stated. Presumably that would make use of the Exhibition Hall?? I thought I had heard that that space had long since been transition from a working theatre space and that it would be a lot of work if they ever wanted to do an attraction there again. I mean, I read that on the Internet so it could be total bogus, or maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, haha.

Disneyland has a bad track record of sticking to a "different daytime vs nighttime experience" concept so it's not surprising this would victimize WDW as well. Space Mtn and Pirates are obvious examples. And given that the Knight in our Mansion scared the bejeezus out of people, I can't imagine what lunging creepies would do. Plus, on a more practical side, you'd have to worry about replacement costs. At Disneyland we recall Toontown, the witch's apple from Snow White, and Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio.

Mansion? We took out the popping ghosts too and it works much better, IMO, given the other changes in the attic. It would be completely out-of-place to have the new scene and new effects interrupted by the screeching and lurching of those ghosts, no matter how awesome the technicality of the effect might be. The mood would be totally different.

Is Tony Baxter having anything to do with the Imagination update??? I know he's busy at DL right now, but I thought he might have some input on where the pavilion is heading.

As far as I know (which could be wrong), Tony's focus is SOLELY continuing to get Disneyland back in shape. And no, we're not there yet. Plus, Tony commiserated with Lassetter (back before he came to Disney) on several Disneyland-related annoyances. The two see very eye-to-eye on Disneyland and I'm told Tony is very excited to be back at Disneyland to finally have a chance to execute some of his vision that were muted under, ahem, "previous mgmt" at WDI.

Has their been anything more revealed about the rumored $1 billion in improvements to DCA?

It's technically more than $1bil but who's counting? Planning continues on just how the money is going to be spent - despite whatever you may hear, it is still in the blue-sky stages. Yes, they have general parameters and objectives, and at this point there are some things that they have a pretty good idea will go forward and get done, but it's still early enough that all that could change. You sorta have to read between the lines here and realize what else is going on that "inspired" Disney to "leak" all of this info. We wouldn't normally have heard about such fluidity (well, not with as much certainty anyway) this early in the game.

Of course, how many times have we seen DL's (two-wide seats) Space Mountain footage in WDW commercials and promo materials?

Hey, same thing here!! It's annoying see FL footage in DL promos too!!

But I figured out the OP's username, meant to be read backwards.

WED (as in WED Enterprises)
Wed-eye (as in Red eye flight)
Insider (duh)

He (she?) is an imagineer that takes loads of red eye flights, flying to/from WDW and DL.

Wed-eye could also refer to WDEye, the WDI employee newsletter. Just throwing another guess in there.