Hey everybody! Followed the crowds to the first day of Star Wars Weekends, and survived the crowds and lines to get just enough pictures for an Update. And I got some really cool news, and a full Muppets review, so let's jump right in!
STUDIOS
-Crowds extremely heavy like crazy go nuts.
-Really like the Star Wars Weekends logo.
-So getting major disappointments out of the way, you know that Star Tours Boarding Party Action Figure Set Disney said that would be available for Star Wars Weekends? Well after waiting two hours in line, turns out, they hadn't gotten it in yet. Y'know, wouldn't it just be great if they ever actually did the things they said they were gonna' do?
-Speaking of which, the store setup is a nightmare in AFI this year. About a cubic foot of shopping space, and a metric s*#ton of line. The amount of shopping space is so small, the line is just nightmareishly long. The Cast are doing an amazing job of planning and crowd control and get nothing but five stars (Save for the getting the things they said they'd have issue) but the venue is highly toxic and a new situation needs to be found next year.
-Ok, so the big news: At the exit of the shop, a display case shows off some exclusive Celebration merchandise. The big item: A repaint of the Starspeeder electronic toy model, in the new "Starspeeder 1000" model as seen in the Star Tours 2 Concept Art. It's the same toy, but the preview packaging and awesome new paintjob makes it wantable! On the downside, it's limited of 10,000 and will only be for sale at the Star Tours event and Celebration.
-Muppets Rehab Review Summary: Amazing! It's like seeing Muppetvision for the millionth time again for the first time!
-Preshow: Thankfully unchanged. There are the new boxes over the TVs, and the image is restored but was SUPER washed out. Everything was yellow/green or bright white. Needs fine tuning!
-Exit/Entry corridors have been repainted.
-Brand new carpet, and new comfy seat cushions!
-The Film is astounding. It is most definitely Digital. You just can't get that crisp and clear an image, and the color and depth is almost breathtaking to the hardcore Muppetvision fan. I mean, you can actually read "Cats for Rent", and Honeydew's coat glowed bright white the colors are so bright! There is still some "Ghosting" (An Artifact where the item in this particular style of 3-D begins to "double" when in extreme close depth. So it's the little ghost of an image you see when Waldo's nose comes really close, or when Fuzzball flies out towards you.) This can only occur when Two projectors are in use, so the evidence in my mind concludes that they remastered the prints of both sets, and are using the old method of using two projectors. Then voila, you can use the same glasses, same 3-D, just now in digital quality. That's my bet.
-Right and left wall panels all look great and work, except for the Destroyed panels on the back left of the theater.
-Sound needs to be adjusted in Penguin Pit, and both balcony sections. It sounds like new speakers, but the audio was a little too quiet in these sections. Film audio was fine.
-For the first time in forever, the Penguin orchestra sections are perfectly level.
-Water was not working, or not working very well.
-Bubbles are plentiful, but start too early. Adjustment needed!
-Fans for the VaccuMuppet back from the dead as well.
-No Burning Rubber waldo today.
-Stadler's arm actually moves and gestures again. Second Bean head working, and bean working as intended. These AA's are back to working like they should!
-Fireworks were working, but center two were very faint.
-Yes, there are two sweetums.
-No, this isn't new.
-They moved the bins at exit from Four up front-to two bins in the old location, and two farther up the ramp. I think this congests it up too much, and isn't really collecting more glasses.
-All in all: Great rehab. The new film is simply amazing, and will astound Muppet Labs Regulars. Alot of things need tweaking, so hopefully they'll eventually get things working regularly again-But consider this classic pretty much restored.
-The Star Tours shop will only get more crowded
-Think about that
-RNR was back from rehab, no real noticeable difference.
OK, that's about it. On to the pictures, and enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/EpcotServo/EpcotServoSInterimUpdate9SummerWars#5473878626837618210
And an Operational Note: I've been rather pleased with the levels of quality-or should I say, mediocrity, of the infrequent Interim Updates-so look for The Update name (Sans Interim) to return for a revamped, redone, and recycled EpcotServo's Updates! The Interim will be over after the Grand Finale 10th Interim Update! Look forward to it! Or not! see you! maybe!
STUDIOS
-Crowds extremely heavy like crazy go nuts.
-Really like the Star Wars Weekends logo.
-So getting major disappointments out of the way, you know that Star Tours Boarding Party Action Figure Set Disney said that would be available for Star Wars Weekends? Well after waiting two hours in line, turns out, they hadn't gotten it in yet. Y'know, wouldn't it just be great if they ever actually did the things they said they were gonna' do?
-Speaking of which, the store setup is a nightmare in AFI this year. About a cubic foot of shopping space, and a metric s*#ton of line. The amount of shopping space is so small, the line is just nightmareishly long. The Cast are doing an amazing job of planning and crowd control and get nothing but five stars (Save for the getting the things they said they'd have issue) but the venue is highly toxic and a new situation needs to be found next year.
-Ok, so the big news: At the exit of the shop, a display case shows off some exclusive Celebration merchandise. The big item: A repaint of the Starspeeder electronic toy model, in the new "Starspeeder 1000" model as seen in the Star Tours 2 Concept Art. It's the same toy, but the preview packaging and awesome new paintjob makes it wantable! On the downside, it's limited of 10,000 and will only be for sale at the Star Tours event and Celebration.
-Muppets Rehab Review Summary: Amazing! It's like seeing Muppetvision for the millionth time again for the first time!
-Preshow: Thankfully unchanged. There are the new boxes over the TVs, and the image is restored but was SUPER washed out. Everything was yellow/green or bright white. Needs fine tuning!
-Exit/Entry corridors have been repainted.
-Brand new carpet, and new comfy seat cushions!
-The Film is astounding. It is most definitely Digital. You just can't get that crisp and clear an image, and the color and depth is almost breathtaking to the hardcore Muppetvision fan. I mean, you can actually read "Cats for Rent", and Honeydew's coat glowed bright white the colors are so bright! There is still some "Ghosting" (An Artifact where the item in this particular style of 3-D begins to "double" when in extreme close depth. So it's the little ghost of an image you see when Waldo's nose comes really close, or when Fuzzball flies out towards you.) This can only occur when Two projectors are in use, so the evidence in my mind concludes that they remastered the prints of both sets, and are using the old method of using two projectors. Then voila, you can use the same glasses, same 3-D, just now in digital quality. That's my bet.
-Right and left wall panels all look great and work, except for the Destroyed panels on the back left of the theater.
-Sound needs to be adjusted in Penguin Pit, and both balcony sections. It sounds like new speakers, but the audio was a little too quiet in these sections. Film audio was fine.
-For the first time in forever, the Penguin orchestra sections are perfectly level.
-Water was not working, or not working very well.
-Bubbles are plentiful, but start too early. Adjustment needed!
-Fans for the VaccuMuppet back from the dead as well.
-No Burning Rubber waldo today.
-Stadler's arm actually moves and gestures again. Second Bean head working, and bean working as intended. These AA's are back to working like they should!
-Fireworks were working, but center two were very faint.
-Yes, there are two sweetums.
-No, this isn't new.
-They moved the bins at exit from Four up front-to two bins in the old location, and two farther up the ramp. I think this congests it up too much, and isn't really collecting more glasses.
-All in all: Great rehab. The new film is simply amazing, and will astound Muppet Labs Regulars. Alot of things need tweaking, so hopefully they'll eventually get things working regularly again-But consider this classic pretty much restored.
-The Star Tours shop will only get more crowded
-Think about that
-RNR was back from rehab, no real noticeable difference.
OK, that's about it. On to the pictures, and enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/EpcotServo/EpcotServoSInterimUpdate9SummerWars#5473878626837618210
And an Operational Note: I've been rather pleased with the levels of quality-or should I say, mediocrity, of the infrequent Interim Updates-so look for The Update name (Sans Interim) to return for a revamped, redone, and recycled EpcotServo's Updates! The Interim will be over after the Grand Finale 10th Interim Update! Look forward to it! Or not! see you! maybe!
