TROR
Well-Known Member
I believe this has been rumored to happen before Star Wars land opens. Can't remember the source, but I'm guessing it was a MiceAge article.
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Dumbo & Main Street Updates
- Thread starter SSG
- Start date
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
Replacing the drop flume on Splash Mountain.
jmuboy
Well-Known Member
How about fixing the lighting and broken AAs too?!?!? Fingers crossed
Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
that would be interesting, I remember reading that this Splash mountain had a design issue and the drop ended up being steeper than originally intended.
I am heading to the resort in early April, any chance Splash will be back up and running by then? Does anyone know the target re-opening date?
D
Deleted member 107043
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Pretty unlikely I'd say. I think the drops are pretty comparable... If anything, the difference is in the vehicle type. WDW are more boat style w/ normal bench type seats (2 per row) whereas Disneyland maybe feels a little more thrilling since you're a bit looser in a flume log.
Darkbeer1
Well-Known Member
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/01/why-are-there-barricades-along-disneylands-main-street-u-s-a/
>>
“That is something that’s been long overdue,” David Koenig, author of “Mouse Tales: A Behind the Ears Look at Disneyland,” said. “If you walk around, you can see the wear. People even get their feet stuck inside the tracks.”
>>
“That is something that’s been long overdue,” David Koenig, author of “Mouse Tales: A Behind the Ears Look at Disneyland,” said. “If you walk around, you can see the wear. People even get their feet stuck inside the tracks.”
Horse-drawn streetcars were part of founder Walt Disney‘s plan for his park from the beginning, to augment the Main Street theme of turn-of-the-century small-town America. Disneyland owns four streetcars, their design based on trolleys from Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia from around 1880.<<
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Interesting, didn't realize they were laying brick pavers (mentioned in the article). Probably will look more like Hong Kong's Main Street when it's done, only with tracks which they don't appear to have.
britain
Well-Known Member
Interesting, didn't realize they were laying brick pavers (mentioned in the article). Probably will look more like Hong Kong's Main Street when it's done, only with tracks which they don't appear to have.
I think it's not the whole street getting pavers. Just around the tracks. Like at DCA.
Rich T
Well-Known Member
...and they're doing it for the most ridiculous, shallow, freudian reason imaginable. But, at least their castle will be unique, now.
Rich T
Well-Known Member
I hope they leave DL's castle just the way it is. It's perfectly sized for DL. It's iconic. It's the park's signature. WDW's world's castle is big and spetacular. DL's is, yes, more charming and, for many, more pleasing to the eye. It okay for the two to be different. If you want to enter the park and be wowed by a humongous fiberglass castle, go to MK. If you want to enter the park and have your attention drawn to the details of Main Street, and don't mind that the fantasy castle isn't the center of attention, go to DL. Seriously, the last thing DL needs is for the Castle to take up more space and/or block more views of the fireworks while also making the Matterhorn look smaller.
D
Deleted member 107043
I hate always being so cynical, but at this point every move made at P&R seems to have some element of ridiculous shallowness in the decision making. To me the reasoning behind the redesign of the HKDL castle is just as shallow and ridiculous as building a carbon copy Disneyland's iconic castle in the first place. As the company grows (I still can't believe DLR has 30,000 employees now) the more apparent it becomes that creative decisions are almost exclusively business driven.
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Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
Isn't the Castle being redone at Hong Kong because of the comparison made to the Shanghai park and the government wanting to make sure that the Hong Kong park didn't get overshadowed anymore by the massive castle in Shanghai? I don't believe it was a Disney decision but a Hong Kong government idea and WDI saw what they could do to make that castle unique just like in every other resort.
Rich T
Well-Known Member
Whichever direction this decision came from, it's just soooooo Jack Sparrow Telescope Gag!
D
Deleted member 107043
I believe that's correct, however this line of thinking follows the same track as Disney P&R - creative decisions must be strategic business moves designed to increase revenue and profits above everything else. Changing the HKDL castle was most likely collaborative decision (Disney controls 47% of the investment), therefore I assume Disney was happy to take on this project based on the same motives as their government partners, and we all know what that was.
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GiveMeTheMusic
Well-Known Member
The Hong Kong government has been pretty angry with Disney for several years, and rightly so. Disney announced a unique and more lavish park, but mid-way through design switched to the low budget all-clone mini-park that was built in 2005. This included the budget conscious decision to forego a unique castle for a clone of DL's.
The park opened, like DCA and WDS, to a bit of a thud and has struggled ever since. The government made Disney pay for the entire first round of expansions (Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor, Toy Story Land) when ordinarily, they would have paid 53% in accordance with the ownership split of the park (as Hans noted, Disney owns 47%).
The expansion didn't make a huge difference, but the park has been doing better. Iron Man Experience, which opened last year, has done more than any other new attraction the park has ever had to bring in people (Marvel is big in China).
Then comes the 2015-2016 time period, when details of SDL are released and that park opens. HK knows Disney went full out on SDL, spending billions on a big, flashy and almost entirely unique park. They're now livid that Disney cheaped out on them.
There are culture issues at play here as well. The tension between HK and the mainland is palpable and flammable - remember the big wave of protests a couple years ago re: democracy - and pride/saving face is a big part of Chinese culture. HKDL is an embarrassment where it should be a crown jewel. There were more than a couple loud voices last year in HK who advocated shutting the park down and calling it a day.
The newest round of expansions is meant to quell HK concerns of having a lesser park than Shanghai. The Moana show, the Ant-Man ride and eventual Avengers E ticket, the Frozen land - all things that will be unique to HKDL, and hopefully, big draws.
The castle became a particular sore point when SDL's was revealed. The world's biggest - so imposing, so grand - and HKDL has a sadsack copy of the first tiny castle no one thought worthy of replication for 50 years. Hence the demand for something more impressive.
We American Disneyphiles have criticized the SDL castle, and the art for HK's new one, a great deal. You have to remember though - these castles aren't for us. They match Chinese sensibilities, and match them well. They are perfect for their intended audiences, so it's not of much consequence to WDI what American superfans think of the designs. The Chinese like huge things that are blingy, and that's what Disney is giving them.
The park opened, like DCA and WDS, to a bit of a thud and has struggled ever since. The government made Disney pay for the entire first round of expansions (Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Manor, Toy Story Land) when ordinarily, they would have paid 53% in accordance with the ownership split of the park (as Hans noted, Disney owns 47%).
The expansion didn't make a huge difference, but the park has been doing better. Iron Man Experience, which opened last year, has done more than any other new attraction the park has ever had to bring in people (Marvel is big in China).
Then comes the 2015-2016 time period, when details of SDL are released and that park opens. HK knows Disney went full out on SDL, spending billions on a big, flashy and almost entirely unique park. They're now livid that Disney cheaped out on them.
There are culture issues at play here as well. The tension between HK and the mainland is palpable and flammable - remember the big wave of protests a couple years ago re: democracy - and pride/saving face is a big part of Chinese culture. HKDL is an embarrassment where it should be a crown jewel. There were more than a couple loud voices last year in HK who advocated shutting the park down and calling it a day.
The newest round of expansions is meant to quell HK concerns of having a lesser park than Shanghai. The Moana show, the Ant-Man ride and eventual Avengers E ticket, the Frozen land - all things that will be unique to HKDL, and hopefully, big draws.
The castle became a particular sore point when SDL's was revealed. The world's biggest - so imposing, so grand - and HKDL has a sadsack copy of the first tiny castle no one thought worthy of replication for 50 years. Hence the demand for something more impressive.
We American Disneyphiles have criticized the SDL castle, and the art for HK's new one, a great deal. You have to remember though - these castles aren't for us. They match Chinese sensibilities, and match them well. They are perfect for their intended audiences, so it's not of much consequence to WDI what American superfans think of the designs. The Chinese like huge things that are blingy, and that's what Disney is giving them.