Fantasyland rehab/updated approved!

tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Some quick thoughts as I munch on a caramel apple that returned tonight from WDW with me!

First, the rumors are true and I would HOPEFULLY expect to FINALLY see some action on the Fantasyland redo that would eat up and retheme the mess known as TTF as well.

Tirian, I believe, was the first who pointed out that this is something likely to happen not because of folks like Inoverherheadmeg, Al 'White Bread' Weiss, Erin 'My daddy built WDW' Wallace or Phil 'I need to be closer to my Escalade' Holmes ... but in spite of them.

Guests are quite a bit (I heard some) because MK simplye doesn't have enough capacity, has too many dead zones, lousy entertaiment ... and god forbid (Steve will tell ya about this) if you have to actually close a major attraction like Space Mountain for an actual rehab what happens (the answer is 20-minute 1 a.m. waits for BTMRR during EMH!)

The capacity issue has finally reached a head just as DCA's major work gets under way, HKDL's got approved and Shanghai is about to be announced (oh, and there are major additions coming to Tokyo and Paris as well, some announced already, some not).

Meanwhile, WDW stagnates. And MK worst of all (and I spent a very large portion of the past 11 days there since the other parks have such early closings, so I saw first-hand during a very, very, very slow summer just how overwhelmed MK can get).

Eric Jacobson (who should again be commended for leading a great redo of HoP) originally projected this at a cost of close to three quarters of a billion dollars, but that was whittled down to the more 'reasonable' half a billion number.

My strong guess is that you'll see that come down even further.

But Mermaid should come (hey, they can save money by doing Shanghai's at the same time with DCA's already on the way) and you can likely look for 2-3 other moderate (can't say major, even though some folks at WDI feel otherwise) attractions as well as a thorough updating of the awful F-Land 'look' of today.

Because of who is behind this, I just don't see how it doesn't happen at this point. The questions are the scope ... do they spend $500 million or do they just do Mermaid and some facade work and say screw the rest? Or do they budget $400mil?

But please all you TDO apologists, don't think for a second this is the work of WDW's exec 'leadership' team because that group would have trouble leading you to survival from Tom Sawyer Island (and that's if they actually knew what and where said island was/is).

Anyway, I do feel there can be some reason for excitement because it isn't an if anymore, it's a 'how much?' and a 'when?'

And you better believe that little wizard Potter IS a factor, but not the biggest anymore ... not when MK simply doesn't have enough to do ... not when if they leave it as is by 2014 it could truly be the sixth-best MK on the planet.

Anyway, off to recover from all the magic ... will be back later in day/week with more indepth thoughts ... and some more management bashing (very well earned) for the monorail fiasco. Not enough pixie dust in all of WDW to solve that one!
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Everything he said is exactly correct, from the reasons involved to the budgets. Disney cannot spin numbers right now: approval ratings show that the MK scores extremely low in parade satisfaction, attraction quantity, and Guest capacity. They've been polling Guests for months, and feedback has been negative.

Kudos to Disney leadership for overstepping the dead weights and getting a necessary job done! I hope all goes well for WDI and they get to make the MK one of the best castle parks again; because regardless of DL's history, WDW is the bigger cash cow.
 
lumpydj

lumpydj

Active Member
Hmmm...I just realized that the pictures I took in May may have been because of this rehab possibility :shrug: ... I know - I can dream. :ROFLOL: Next time, I'll have to be nosey and ask :lookaroun

IMG_0776.jpg


IMG_0777.jpg
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
WDW Monorail said:
It's a waste of money if you ask me. Maybe a few upgrades here and there but to redo all of FL is not needed.
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You are entitled to the opinion, but most people (and anyone who has seen any of the other F-lands on the planet) would disagree with you.

If the MK is the heart of a WDW visit, which sadly it still is for most folks, then Fantasyland in the heart of the park.

And 'woeful' would be the best way of describing it ... and that's after it opened PhilharMagic and Small World received some TLC (BTW, I hate the new paint scheme outside, but that's just an opinion).
 
The Conundrum

The Conundrum

New Member
jt04 said:
I always thought it was Jimmy Wang Yang from WWE's Smackdown.

As seen here.....

http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/jimmywangyang/
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Its a pic of Shigeru Miyamoto. He showed it during a press conferance. But I still don't see what the avatar has to do with me commenting on rumors?

and WDW1974, if you are now confirming this overhaul is coming doesn't this contradict what Leemac said just a few weeks ago about how this project was in the early bluesky phase and had a way to go before getting approved? Was leemac lieng or has his information not as good ever since Fitzgerald lost power?
 
MAF

MAF

Well-Known Member
Why in the word would this forum allow Thrawn...I mean "The Conumdrum" to re-register again? :shrug:
 
IWant2GoNow

IWant2GoNow

Well-Known Member
The Conundrum said:
Its a pic of Shigeru Miyamoto. He showed it during a press conferance. But I still don't see what the avatar has to do with me commenting on rumors?

and WDW1974, if you are now confirming this overhaul is coming doesn't this contradict what Leemac said just a few weeks ago about how this project was in the early bluesky phase and had a way to go before getting approved? Was leemac lieng or has his information not as good ever since Fitzgerald lost power?
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Score one for this Nintendo nerd! Miyamoto is definitely one of the most creative minds of the century.
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
The Conundrum said:
Its a pic of Shigeru Miyamoto. He showed it during a press conferance. But I still don't see what the avatar has to do with me commenting on rumors?
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Because as far as I knew Jimmy Wang Yang had never been to WDW.

PS- Easily one of the best characters WWE has ever created. I'm sure that is what inspired Shigeru.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
The Conundrum said:
and WDW1974, if you are now confirming this overhaul is coming doesn't this contradict what Leemac said just a few weeks ago about how this project was in the early bluesky phase and had a way to go before getting approved? Was leemac lieng or has his information not as good ever since Fitzgerald lost power?
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I am not 'confirming' anything ... just telling you what my 'peeps' are saying and they are at a sufficient high level that I do believe that major changes are on the way.

I haven't heard anything from Leemac of late, so I don't know his take. You can always ask him!

But Fitzgerald has NO real effect on WDW at this point. His portfolio is the two Paris parks and he has his hands full there with a lot on the expansion front. Because of his work with TPP, he may get trotted out on attractions like TSMM and Star Tours 2.0, but he really isn't a factor in Orlando beyond those type productions (which are group efforts anyway).
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
HMF said:
His pupil does.
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Eric is an incredibly talented man.

The fact the two best attractions BY FAR at MK today are Mansion and HoP are testament to that fact.

When given major projects with major budgets, Eric has done incredible work (see Blizzard Beach).

Even things he has done that I hate (the gone wand and on it's way out BAH) were things that he was requested to do (and he sure didn't expect them to be there as long as they did).
 

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