Eddie Sotto's take on the current state of the parks

[WDW1974]

Continued great thread, Eddie ... love reading your observations.

May have some questions for you soon as I plan my next DLP visit.

Been very busy or would comment further, but this may be the best thread I've ever read here.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Continued great thread, Eddie ... love reading your observations.

May have some questions for you soon as I plan my next DLP visit.

Been very busy or would comment further, but this may be the best thread I've ever read here.

Coming from you, "the thread master", that's a real compliment! We aim to please! Ask away on DLP. I'm on the road again tomorrow.

 

[_Scar]

I have a question about DLP. What generally happens when it snows in France (I've seen pictures with main street in snow). Does the park close? Rivers of America? What happens? :shrug: *I'm curious*

 

[Missing20K]

I have a question about DLP. What generally happens when it snows in France (I've seen pictures with main street in snow). Does the park close? Rivers of America? What happens? :shrug: *I'm curious*

I'll jump in. I haven't ever been there, so don't take my word as gospel, but from what I've read, it appears to stay open. I only know this because I, too, saw pictures, and then read the link below, and would love to see MK in the snow.

Here's the link:
http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2009/01/disneyland-paris-in-wintry-blanket-of.html

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Stays open. There is "Winter Wonderland" styled concept art that shows the DL Hotel Forecourt park in snow, so we tried to make it romantic for that time of year. We have the 2 indoor Gaslit arcades behind Main Street and lots of covered walkways throughout for rain. FYI. TDL gets snow too.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

LightCycle from TRON

Back to our former subject for a sec, www.jimhillmedia.com has images of "Flynn's Arcade" at Comicon, where they built a full size Lightcycle. Looks like the perfect ride vehicle to me!

 

[yankspy]

Quote:Eddie Sotto:
"The deeper resonance of the lands is pretty much lost now, except for the intrinsic things that are more timeless, like Tom Sawyer's Island. Kids will always want to explore caves, but they are not reliving that book per se as they don't savor the story like the do Pirates, so the company changes it to Pirates"

This has often made me wonder what exactly is different now about Tom Sawyer Island. The novel Tom Sawyer was no more contemporary int the fifties than it is today. Mark Twain lived and died long before Anyone from that generation was around and yet TSI was much more popular then. So is it just that TSI needs to be updated to appeal to current tastes in entrrtainment or is there something deeper going on?

True. It may be that kids are not as well read in the "old classics" as they were several generations ago. I know I'm not! Tom Sawyer is a book about race as well. So each generation has it's tastes and subject matter. I saw a documentary where the narrator, being in his seventies (my dad's era) said "ours was the last generation to memorize poetry." As if these things slip away into the past. The other thing you look at is what kids dream of being or act out at play. Space Fantasies, DOD and other stories/genres took the place of Westerns and Tom Sawyer. Disney/Walden is trying to take kid's books of today that have worlds like Narnia and Teribithia and dimensionalize them on film. Harry Potter is the biggest new classic and is very much read by kids. (What a segway back to theme parks!) No matter what, TSI is still a unique playground.

I do not necessarily wish to open a can of worms here but Mark Twain has been purposely taken off of many reading lists in schools since his works deal with some controversial issues. I always wondered what this meant for places like TSI. However, as you said, it is still a unique playground. It would just be nice if the kids knew that there was a story that went along with it.

 

[Thurp]

Holy Cow!!
Pop Rocks in your soda!? Thank goodness this attraction never saw the light of day! Imagine the carnage!

One time I got some ice cream that had little candies in it. It looked interesting. Except that those candies turned out being poprocks and they popped in your mouth as you ate it.

It's the only food that has made me laugh out loud while eating it. Totally unexpected.

Sorry for the tangent.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

I do not necessarily wish to open a can of worms here but Mark Twain has been purposely taken off of many reading lists in schools since his works deal with some controversial issues. I always wondered what this meant for places like TSI. However, as you said, it is still a unique playground. It would just be nice if the kids knew that there was a story that went along with it.

True enough, but I guess times were different. Only 8 years earlier "Song of the South" was in theaters. Walt received a signed copy of the book at the TSI opening from some kids from Hannibal Missouri. Aunt Jemima was in the Pancake House as a live character and the Plantation Restaurant was across the river. When NOS opened there were black tap dancing shoe shine boys too.

Interestingly though, I was just watching the Ken Burns documentary (American Lives) about Mark Twain and it points out that even though there are racist elements by today's standards between the characters in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, in it's day, the book was a breakthrough of sorts, in that it was the very first story to show a relationship that humanized African Americans in sympathetic way. Worth the watch on iTunes, great stuff.

 

[automation85]

Here is some of what I read as research. The disputed but amazing memoirs of Lafitte himself! Faked his own death and lived his life in Oklahoma. A great read.
http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Jean-Laffite/dp/0738812536

This book is the earliest known stories so it is closest to the real thing.

http://www.amazon.com/Pirates-Own-B...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248827452&sr=1-1

So I've been lurking on this thread for a while, and I just want to say thanks for all of the amazing insight.

Now for something helpful; I've read the Lafitte history link you posted. In one of the captions it actually has a link to the "Pirates Own Book".

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12216 :

Apparently it's open source now that the copyright is expired. I figured if anyone wants to read it, they can save the $10 for say, a soda and a small popcorn.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

So I've been lurking on this thread for a while, and I just want to say thanks for all of the amazing insight.

Now for something helpful; I've read the Lafitte history link you posted. In one of the captions it actually has a link to the "Pirates Own Book".

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12216 :

Apparently it's open source now that the copyright is expired. I figured if anyone wants to read it, they can save the $10 for say, a soda and a small popcorn.

Or a churro at WDW!:fork:

 

[HMF]

Yes and to hear Lafitte tell it in his memoirs you'd be surprised. READ THIS LINK, you won't be sorry. Ever since I saw the sign on over my head while boarding POTC "Lafitte's Landing" I was curious.

http://jeanlafitte.net/

Jean Lafitte was a man who was offended to be called a Pirate and known to be a patriot, but sold slaves as was the custom. Technically he was a privateer, hired by governments with a letter of marque. This spawned a big Micechat rumor that the Pirates, TSI (his figure was in the fort) and HM (props from the fort are in the attic now) were all thematically linked by Andrew Jackson and Lafitte. Not a conscious effort.

Let's not go there.

So are you confirming that there is no intentional link? at least not as far as you are concerned.
For those of you that don't know' Reginald's chair in the Attic of the Haunted Mansion is identical to the chair Captain Jack Sparrow sits in in the final scene of POTC both of which come from the Haunted Mansion Movie.
http://ghostrelationsdept.blogspot.com/2007/04/reginald-pirates-from-jack.html There is a conspiracy theory that WDI is planning some kind of Jean Lafitte mega-theme between the two. whether you belive it or not is up to you.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

So are you confirming that there is no intentional link? at least not as far as you are concerned.
For those of you that don't know' Reginald's chair in the Attic of the Haunted Mansion is identical to the chair Captain Jack Sparrow sits in in the final scene of POTC both of which come from the Haunted Mansion Movie.
http://ghostrelationsdept.blogspot.com/2007/04/reginald-pirates-from-jack.html There is a conspiracy theory that WDI is planning some kind of Jean Lafitte mega-theme between the two. whether you belive it or not is up to you.

As far as I knew at the time, and according to the people I know, there is no intentional link. there may be props from the films for sure, but no tangible mega theme.

 

[Eddie Sotto]

One time I got some ice cream that had little candies in it. It looked interesting. Except that those candies turned out being poprocks and they popped in your mouth as you ate it.

It's the only food that has made me laugh out loud while eating it. Totally unexpected.

Sorry for the tangent.

Arrrrrrrr. mates. I knew it would work!!!! YES!!!

 

[Eddie Sotto]

For those of you that don't know' Reginald's chair in the Attic of the Haunted Mansion is identical to the chair Captain Jack Sparrow sits in in the final scene of POTC both of which come from the Haunted Mansion Movie.

Hmmmm. Did not know that. Is it significant from a story point of view? Does the fact that the Organ in the DL HM Ballroom is the same one played by James Mason on the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" mean that Captain Nemo is also part of the master theme? Or the side table from "Mary Poppins" in Club 33 mean something too? Or the fact that the semi-nude Painting behind the backbar at the Golden Horseshoe being from the movie "Summer Magic" mean that Burl Ives is also part of the master overlay? Of course not. It's interesting and cool, but just good recycling. My point is, many props from movies have another life in attractions (Happiest Millionaire "Clancy's Bar" in Cafe Orleans) but they are not usually tied to the story.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Hmmmm. Did not know that. Is it significant from a story point of view? Does the fact that the Organ in the DL HM Ballroom is the same one played by James Mason on the Nautilus in "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" mean that Captain Nemo is also part of the master theme? Or the side table from "Mary Poppins" in Club 33 mean something too? Or the fact that the semi-nude Painting behind the backbar at the Golden Horseshoe being from the movie "Summer Magic" mean that Burl Ives is also part of the master overlay? Of course not. It's interesting and cool, but just good recycling. My point is, many props from movies have another life in attractions (Happiest Millionaire "Clancy's Bar" in Cafe Orleans) but they are not usually tied to the story.

I just recently found out about that....Amazing.:lol:

 

[tirian]

True enough, but I guess times were different. Only 8 years earlier "Song of the South" was in theaters. Walt received a signed copy of the book at the TSI opening from some kids from Hannibal Missouri. Aunt Jemima was in the Pancake House as a live character and the Plantation Restaurant was across the river. When NOS opened there were black tap dancing shoe shine boys too.

Interestingly though, I was just watching the Ken Burns documentary (American Lives) about Mark Twain and it points out that even though there are racist elements by today's standards between the characters in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, in it's day, the book was a breakthrough of sorts, in that it was the very first story to show a relationship that humanized African Americans in sympathetic way. Worth the watch on iTunes, great stuff.

Mark Twain was one of the most outspoken supporters of equal rights— which is why Jim is the only sincere person in Huck Finn—and it's a tragedy to see Twain's books ostracized by small-minded school officials.

*****

EPCOT Explorer,
Early concepts for DL's HM involved a sea captain and a voodoo queen and... well, they had some really cool ideas.

EDIT: His name was Captain Gore.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Mark Twain was one of the most outspoken supporters of equal rights— which is why Jim is the only sincere person in Huck Finn—and it's a tragedy to see Twain's books ostracized by small-minded school officials.

*****

EPCOT Explorer,
Early concepts for DL's HM involved a sea captain and a voodoo queen and... well, they had some really cool ideas.

EDIT: His name was Captain Gore.

Right! Is that still around the time when it was a walk through? Museum of the Weird was the working name, I think..

 

[Eddie Sotto]

Right! Is that still around the time when it was a walk through? Museum of the Weird was the working name, I think..

HM is not my best subject. www.doombuggies.com is a pretty good source or E Ticket magazine.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

HM is not my best subject. www.doombuggies.com is a pretty good source or E Ticket magazine.

Ah, cool site! I'll check them out.