News 'Beyond Big Thunder Mountain' Blue Sky concept revealed for Magic Kingdom

[DocAlan02]

Apologies, if this was posted. Not a big fan of Jim Shull as a source. He has said some really dumb things. However, any former imagineer is worth mentioning here.

What are the dumb things he has said?

 

[Nickm2022]

Apologies, if this was posted. Not a big fan of Jim Shull as a source. He has said some really dumb things. However, any former imagineer is worth mentioning here.

Doesn't matter if you like him, this is a fact that for anything to be approved the CEO needs "a look see at #BeyondBigThunder in the #MagicKingdom plans and site. Needed before the board approves the expansion plan" as he said. What is most exciting to me is that after this trip Iger (and the board) will start internally approving projects so that we will soon hear what projects are (and are not) approved. This is another interesting thing that he's touring EPCOT when we thought it was declared "done". Best keeping an eye out for where else he pops up. Here's looking at you Launchbay and next to Pirates.

 

[Haymarket2008]

What are the dumb things he has said?

Genuinely shocking how many inaccuracies are in his posts.

It reads as almost borderline AI generated.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Doesn't matter if you like him, this is a fact that for anything to be approved the CEO needs "a look see at #BeyondBigThunder in the #MagicKingdom plans and site. Needed before the board approves the expansion plan" as he said. What is most exciting to me is that after this trip Iger (and the board) will start internally approving projects so that we will soon hear what projects are (and are not) approved. This is another interesting thing that he's touring EPCOT when we thought it was declared "done". Best keeping an eye out for where else he pops up. Here's looking at you Launchbay and next to Pirates.

What does the CEO need to see in Florida? Walt Disney Imagineering is based in Glendale. Does he need to look at the swamp that will be filled in?

 

[C33Mom]

What does the CEO need to see in Florida? Walt Disney Imagineering is based in Glendale. Does he need to look at the swamp that will be filled in?

I’m sure that’s exactly what Bob is asking himself right now also.

 

[MisterPenguin]

What are the dumb things he has said?

Here's one:

Criticizing Hondo in the Falcon ride because 'no one knows him.'

Meanwhile, he most certainly was able to bypass the queue in which the PA banter introduces the type of person Hondo is. And also... every old-school non-IP ride was full of characters we don't know. E.g. imagine criticizing DINOSAUR because "no one knows who Seeker is!!".

 

[DisDude33]

What does the CEO need to see in Florida? Walt Disney Imagineering is based in Glendale. Does he need to look at the swamp that will be filled in?

I know you’re joking but that is very much something that needs to be looked at. Different proposals of BBT probably involve different parts of land so they need to know the viability of each bit of land that could be built upon.

He is also there to do his cast member preview of TBA and check out how EPCOT looks now. lol

 

[SilentWindODoom]

Mexico pavilion is too small to support the expected demand of what a Coco reskin to the boat ride could be.

I wouldn't say "never" but that's the reason parroted by other insiders on why the rumored overlay never happened.

Yea, I mean the other day there was a 10 minute wait in there and the line was already almost to the entrance of the pavilion. I couldn't imagine what a coco line would look like.

That... makes... sense. Oof, but that suggests their goal is to keep the ride as mediocre as possible to not generate too many crowds.

I love the Caballeros, and as someone of Latin descent I had the VHS and watched it plenty in childhood, but El Rio del Tiempo (while being incoherent to the average guest) had a lot of detail to look at. Gran Fiesta Tour simplified things to the point of much of the things to see being a quick animation followed by nothing as you wait, sometimes with the animation repeating before your eyes. I wish they got something better, so I hoped for Coco as a new try and forgot until these recent comments that while I was hoping for this in the moment we had the Brazil pavilion speeding toward possibility to take them into its loving arms.

I agree, but they can talk capacity fears. That tequila bar in there is a nightmare and has created nothing but traffic havoc. I dont even understand how with fire code they got away with that, its gotten worse. The $$$ is all they care about. The pavilion can barely handle what's there now much less coco being crammed in.

Oh... Then the answer is simple. Swap them. The queue space and the final stretch of the ride would be a nice, large space for La Cava del Tequila while starting a new queue in the current La Cava entrance (which is conveniently right by the bottom of the entry ramp) provides access to the expansion pad. Run the boats backwards in front of the restaurant or have that be the ending.

But, honestly, this is more because I love La Cava and would love to see it more easily accessible. I would rather the expansion pad be used for a pavilion, but as was mentioned there's not a whole lot of chance of the Frozen expansion going away any time soon.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I know you’re joking but that is very much something that needs to be looked at. Different proposals of BBT probably involve different parts of land so they need to know the viability of each bit of land that could be built upon.

He is also there to do his cast member preview of TBA and check out how EPCOT looks now. lol

I’m not joking. The information he needs is in California. Looking at scrub or a back of house road as though he is gleaning any meaningful information is just overly expensive cosplaying.

 

[Stripes]

What does the CEO need to see in Florida? Walt Disney Imagineering is based in Glendale. Does he need to look at the swamp that will be filled in?

About one-third of Imagineers are based in Florida now. The Animal Kingdom project is being handled by the Florida team.

 

[lazyboy97o]

About one-third of Imagineers are based in Florida now. The Animal Kingdom project is being handled by the Florida team.

Projects get handed off after concept design to a dedicated project team that then carries the project through the actual bulk of the design process.

 

[JoeCamel]

I’m not joking. The information he needs is in California. Looking at scrub or a back of house road as though he is gleaning any meaningful information is just overly expensive cosplaying.

He was doing damage control for Tiana "look at how much fun we're having" picture to be widely circulated.....

 

[Stripes]

Projects get handed off after concept design to a dedicated project team that then carries the project through the actual bulk of the design process.

Correct. And that team is in Florida.

Florida has 60% of the number of Imagineers that Glendale has.

 

[Surferboy567]

Here's one:

Criticizing Hondo in the Falcon ride because 'no one knows him.'

Meanwhile, he most certainly was able to bypass the queue in which the PA banter introduces the type of person Hondo is. And also... every old-school non-IP ride was full of characters we don't know. E.g. imagine criticizing DINOSAUR because "no one knows who Seeker is!!".

My favorite is that the foliage on Tiana’s will “blow away” due to Orlando winds.

 

[aladdin2007]

That... makes... sense. Oof, but that suggests their goal is to keep the ride as mediocre as possible to not generate too many crowds.

I love the Caballeros, and as someone of Latin descent I had the VHS and watched it plenty in childhood, but El Rio del Tiempo (while being incoherent to the average guest) had a lot of detail to look at. Gran Fiesta Tour simplified things to the point of much of the things to see being a quick animation followed by nothing as you wait, sometimes with the animation repeating before your eyes. I wish they got something better, so I hoped for Coco as a new try and forgot until these recent comments that while I was hoping for this in the moment we had the Brazil pavilion speeding toward possibility to take them into its loving arms.



Oh... Then the answer is simple. Swap them. The queue space and the final stretch of the ride would be a nice, large space for La Cava del Tequila while starting a new queue in the current La Cava entrance (which is conveniently right by the bottom of the entry ramp) provides access to the expansion pad. Run the boats backwards in front of the restaurant or have that be the ending.

But, honestly, this is more because I love La Cava and would love to see it more easily accessible. I would rather the expansion pad be used for a pavilion, but as was mentioned there's not a whole lot of chance of the Frozen expansion going away any time soon.

emergency access road between mexico and frozen meetngreet, they cant just expand out, besides its services and delivery area for mexico etc. anyway back to big thunder..

 

[Nickm2022]

I also think a big plus of Iger visting the areas soon to be devolped is he can see the size of the land and ask himself questions like "is this major plot of land behind thunder really a good fit for Zootopia and Cars?" and hopefully realise it's not lol. But in all seriousness it's a good thing that he's kinda required to do this, because again it helps him decide which proposal best fits the area/land he just saw.

I also think him seeing EPCOT's new additions is a wake up call you need to spend money to get good results and not cheap out. That's how you get the Chapek stuff that currently just opened. Ie: TBA and EPCOT's pit

 

[lazyboy97o]

emergency access road between mexico and frozen meetngreet, they cant just expand out, besides its services and delivery area for mexico etc. anyway back to big thunder..

Those roads can be shifted.

I also think a big plus of Iger visting the areas soon to be devolped is he can see the size of the land and ask himself questions like "is this major plot of land behind thunder really a good fit for Zootopia and Cars?" and hopefully realise it's not lol. But in all seriousness it's a good thing that he's kinda required to do this, because again it helps him decide which proposal best fits the area/land he just saw.

I also think him seeing EPCOT's new additions is a wake up call you need to spend money to get good results and not cheap out. That's how you get the Chapek stuff that currently just opened. Ie: TBA and EPCOT's pit

Where is he seeing this from? Who do you think would be requiring him to do this?

Iger is the one who wanted a much more expensive Epcot overhaul, one that would have been significantly worse for most guests.

 

[Steamboat71]

Does Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Belle survive?

 

[Ghost93]

Does Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Belle survive?

Tom Sawyer Island has had its time. I think it should remain in Disneyland, but the Magic Kingdom version could easily be reworked to something more popular for today's audiences.

 

[Nickm2022]

Those roads can be shifted.


Where is he seeing this from? Who do you think would be requiring him to do this?

Iger is the one who wanted a much more expensive Epcot overhaul, one that would have been significantly worse for most guests.

It's not required legally but rather mean that there's no way the board or Iger would sign off on spending billions of dollars until they see where, and choose how.

And with the EPCOT overhaul I never said it would have been better or worse for guests, but at least it would have been a completed vision and not the budget cut, last minute redone, cheap fixed, mixed redo we ended up getting (for World Celebration) IMO