News Announced: Mary Poppins Attraction in UK Pavilion

[Timothy_Q]

If this is a "C" ticket do you think an announcement would be done necessarily?? Or will we just start to see construction type equipment over there? I am thinking the second one!! Marie

This is the same company that's painting a roller coaster and a ferris wheel a different color and calling them brand new experiences.

I'm sure they would announce a new build

 

[rle4lunch]

Agreed. But I still wouldn’t call it an E-ticket.

Disney considers this an E ticket?

 

[marni1971]

@marni1971 have you heard anything about an announcement? Should we expect one before works begin in Summer?

I don’t tend to hear about the PR side of things often.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Probably more than a bit ambitious but this would be the idea. Marie

 

[Princess Leia]

Will this be replacing the former Millennium Village? If so, I feel as though the reason WoL is being refurbished is so that the events from MV can move there, and the Festival Center moves to the Odyssey.

I’m pretty sure the village is staying around (unfortunately)

 

[peter11435]

Disney considers this an E ticket?

No.

But it’s proof that a high budget does not always mean eTicket

 

[Phineas]

What if I was like, “nah I’m just screwing with you all! OWNED!”

Good grief. If that was my plan, I’d start my own blog.

 

[brb1006]

Islands of Adventure had the theme of visiting these imagined worlds brought to life (you know, the upcoming theme of Disney's Hollywood Studios -slash- The Park to be Renamed Later), in comparison to the existing parks (USF and USH) where you were visiting a studio backlot that took you onto the sets of movies. That was the big separation at the time-- Universal Studios Florida took you behind the scenes, deconstructing the movies, allowing you to admire the art of filmmaking; Islands of Adventure brought the stories and their settings to life for you to experience them as a character.

Keep in mind, this was before you visited Diagon Alley and Springfield in Universal Studios Florida, or Pandora in Disney's Animal Kingdom. The concept of IP-driven standalone lands was quite novel.

Plus, it was Universal designing a "theme park," which they had never done before. Previously, they had built production facilities that-- over time, as they learned, and got more ambitious-- began featuring standalone attractions. This was a theme park for the sake of a theme park as part of the transformation of the standalone Florida studio into their first vacation destination resort.

I love the entrance music to Islands Of Adventure since it feels more exciting compared to Universal Studios.

Anyway back to Mary Poppins

 

[EricsBiscuit]

I love the entrance music to Islands Of Adventure since it feels more exciting compared to Universal Studios.

But, my fondest memory at Uni was, when I took my grandmother there, we were in the New York courtyard by Mummy and we waltzed (I think that's the dance, can't remember exactly) to the BGM!

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

I love the entrance music to Islands Of Adventure since it feels more exciting compared to Universal Studios.

Oh my. Another Universal thread. I wish there was a section to talk about Universal

 

[articos]

Well put.

There was mention above of a unifying theme for IoA (i.e., as Animals/Nature is for AK), and I'm assuming the members were referring to the often-mentioned "literature/things you read" central theme.

I've never subscribed to this being the intended theme of the park - and I would be surprised to hear/read anyone who had a hand in creating the original park say it was the case. I can see it being applied after the fact for some needless purpose, but it's pretty obvious it is not Lit-based park. A foremost example being the park icon (Lighthouse). Wouldn't a walkthrough book or library be considered if the park were supposed to be about things you read? If the icon has nothing to do with lit/reading, I think that's a pretty good indicator it's not the park's theme. And the entire introductory land (PoE) sets up a park of random adventures, rather than a Things-You-Read-based park. Additionally, Jurassic Park (and, later, Potter) reproduce the production design of the films (as opposed to creating themed lands directly from the source-material as a Literature based park ought to do).

Islands never had a unifying theme. It was entirely planned as islands of IP, where you could visit each world and be immersed in that world, traveling from the world of superheroes to Jurassic Park to Seuss. The lighthouse was a nod to the islands and a beacon to the park, and it fit with Port of Entry. There was never any connection to literature.

 

[articos]

Me too. It’s not been said directly to me but I’m wondering if they think Gran Fiesta is "good enough" for now. Which in the grand scheme of things it is IMHO.

Exactly.

 

[Christian Fronckowiak]

Islands never had a unifying theme. It was entirely planned as islands of IP, where you could visit each world and be immersed in that world, traveling from the world of superheroes to Jurassic Park to Seuss. The lighthouse was a nod to the islands and a beacon to the park, and it fit with Port of Entry. There was never any connection to literature.

And it was a big steal from the plans for Tokyo DisneySea! (All those Imagineers heading down the street)

 

[RSoxNo1]

Islands never had a unifying theme. It was entirely planned as islands of IP, where you could visit each world and be immersed in that world, traveling from the world of superheroes to Jurassic Park to Seuss. The lighthouse was a nod to the islands and a beacon to the park, and it fit with Port of Entry. There was never any connection to literature.

There was a very loose literary tie where every land was tied to works of "literature".

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

There was a very loose literary tie where every land was tied to works of "literature".

I think what Articos was saying is that was never an intentional design choice on the project, just a happy coincidence that fans picked up on.

I use the word coincidence somewhat liberally, since IOA clearly built their land around Jurassic Park the movie franchise and not Jurassic Park the literary work. I can’t bring myself to believe JP wouldn’t have made its way into the park if it was merely a film franchise with no literary source.

Speaking of literary sources for Theme Park attractions, how about that Mary Poppins ride . . .

 

[Kman101]

This is the same company that's painting a roller coaster and a ferris wheel a different color and calling them brand new experiences.

I'm sure they would announce a new build

I don't know how they put out that Pixar Pier stuff with a straight face. I cringed more than once. And that's saying something as someone used to how WDW sometimes does things ....

 

[Kman101]

There was a very loose literary tie where every land was tied to works of "literature".

But that's not how it was original designed. It wasn't intentional. Sure you can tie them together that way but I don't think that was the plan from the start. I love the park but it wasn't designed to be a park about literature come to life, so to speak.

 

[Kman101]

Oh my. Another Universal thread. I wish there was a section to talk about Universal

LOL. I know.

Go to the Disneyland forum you'd think it was about WDW the way they talk about WDW. I don't understand the joy of picking something apart to make something else you prefer look better, when it doesn't need to be made to look better because it's amazing.

 

[rle4lunch]

I don't know how they put out that Pixar Pier stuff with a straight face. I cringed more than once. And that's saying something as someone used to how WDW sometimes does things ....

I know right? DCA is such a hodgepodge of themes, but the 1930's/40's boardwalk theme seemed like it failed to resonate for whatever reason. They're going with their breadwinner IP's for easy brand recognition and crowd "drawability". Personally, I think it all went downhill when Maliboomer was taken out to put in a smoke pit/waste of space.

Carving out sections of DCA for each area is probably the best thing they can do to give the park 'focus'. CarsLand is pretty awesome. Whatever the heck was going on from one side of the pier to the swings was anyone's guess though.

My thoughts on the pay-per-throw games at DCA and AK is that they really need to get rid of them. NO ONE plays them, and they're more of a holdover from parks of yesteryear al a Great America, Coney Island, County Fair. No sensible adult is going to let their kid spend $50 trying to win a stuffed animal when they just paid $1200 for a 2 day/3 night stay at Grand Californian.

 

[Kman101]

I didn't mind the Pier I suppose, I thought it was lazy, like Dinorama. But it was overall kind of pretty and I liked walking around it. Pixar branding aside, I think some of the buildings could get a nice exterior refresh to better fit the Victorian theme, but then it's all going to be branded with Pixar so it takes away from the possible improvement. lol.

Personally I'd demo the land and start over. That's a lot of land for some carnival games, a swing, etc. It was simply a land to give the park more to do at the time relying on easy things to put up like a swing and ferris wheel. I get the park needed a body of water, but they could have done it differently.

I haaaaaate the carnival games. I hate them at Universal too. I hate them everywhere but a local state fair.

The rest of the park though is pretty nice. Hollywoodland remains a hot mess too. I know DHS gets knocked but the whole area is pretty much unthemed soundstages but hey, everything's wonderful in Anaheim! lol