SyracuseOrange
Well-Known Member
YES! IMO, the parks can never have enough Alice. That movie could easily inspire so many attractions.
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Fantasyland's 'Enchanted Grove' to be renamed 'Cheshire Cafe'
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
YES! IMO, the parks can never have enough Alice. That movie could easily inspire so many attractions.
jt04
Well-Known Member
I think it is possible because the recent Pooh feature did not do great box office. And the current dark ride is really not up to this centuries standards.
I was thinking about this. With SWSA defintrly going that will leave FL with no original dark rides except PPF. I am not counting IASW as it is not a traditional dark ride IMO. Pooh really is nothing special and that makes me think it could be gone by the 50th anniversary.
Imagine Alice with a trackless system and the amazing visuals of the movie. Winner.
EPCOTCenterLover
Well-Known Member
^^ Yes, that would be a winner. I was just at DL, and the area comprising Tea Cups, Alice dark ride, and Mad Hatter shop is just a real gem. Very, very charming!
I think the movie's box office performance has more to do with the hack job Disney's marketing team did to promote this film and its incredibly boneheaded release date. The ride is not going anywhere. (Nor would I want it to....unless they brought in Hunny Hunt from Tokyo to take its place
)
WDWFREAK53
Well-Known Member
So wait a minute...you're basing your thoughts on the Winnie the Pooh movie's box office take on them ripping out and replacing with Alice?
Pooh is one of their most popular characters...and is a merchandise powerhouse. Why would they remove that attraction (and not replace it with another Pooh attraction), to put in a character (not counting Johnny Depp's movie...because that's not what the Fantasyland style is based on) that hasn't had a box office ticket sold since 1951.
I'm not saying that they WON'T replace it...but if they do, there will either be plans to build a bigger attraction for Pooh (or miniland) somewhere...they won't just replace Pooh with Alice.
I have a 2 year old...and Pooh, Tigger, and Owl are her favorite characters (as well as Boo, Kermit, Lightning McQueen, Minnie, and Mickey). She has been exposed to Alice in Wonderland. We have watched the movie but she keeps going back to Pooh. My point about this is...if you get the kids at a very young age, they will grow loving those characters. A Pooh miniland is a lot more merchandise friendly than an Alice miniland (and we all know...that's the main goal...to sell merchandise.) Granted, she's one child...and I'm sure there are children that like Alice...but when I go down the toy aisles...I see a lot more Pooh than I do Alice. There's a reason for that.
jt04
Well-Known Member
I mentioned that the ride technology is nearly obsolete and the fact that WDW has slowly removed almost everything from the original FL over time. I just expect this trend to continue.
You make a good point and they are not likely to eliminate the WtP franchise from WDW. It is almost a certain they would not do that. However, there is a rumor a nextgen m&g is going into the UK pavilion at World Showcase. Perfect place setting for the franchise and perhaps indicative of a larger scale project in the long run. How cool would that be!?
Thurp
Member
The ride technology is nearly obsolete? Do you mean dark rides? So why is Mermaid being built right next door?
Coaster3001
Active Member
By obsolete you mean that they have perfected it. Just because something has been around a long time does not make it obsolete. I think we will continue to see slow moving dark rides for years to come.
jjnshane
Active Member
There is a difference between a traditional dark ride (load one car, send it off, bring in a new car, repeat) and an omnimover (continuous chain of cars constantly being loaded). I can see where the traditional dark ride is becoming obsolete just in terms of numbers of guests per hour.
But in any case – back on topic…
Cheshire Café was open today! It is quite a pretty sight – much better than the original pink and blue roof. The seating area to the left of the counter was still empty, and while we were sitting on the benches near the restrooms two construction workers (inspectors?) came by to look at that area.
001 by jjnshane, on Flickr
002 by jjnshane, on Flickr
I had also never noticed the windows in the alcove to the right of the service counter – I know this is the rain location for the Wonderland meet and greets, but I always that it was completely enclosed and cave-like!
SyracuseOrange
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm not two years old, but I've never bought a Winnie the Pooh item in my life. (And my parents never bought them for me either...way back when.)
However, I'd probably spend hundreds if they had more Alice themed merchandise that was exclusive to the parks. Hands down, my favorite Disney movie.
Just my take.
jt04
Well-Known Member
I am refering to the experience overall. It still uses 2D set pieces, there is no interactivity, the lighting and sound is dated technology and it uses a track system. It is just ordinary compared to the capabilities of today.
Omnimovers such as used in the HM are a somewhat timeless technology as it just works so well for the task. Everthing about the ride is very dated. IMO. (yes I know it does not use a standard omnimover)
hpyhnt 1000
Well-Known Member
There is a difference between a traditional dark ride (load one car, send it off, bring in a new car, repeat) and an omnimover (continuous chain of cars constantly being loaded). I can see where the traditional dark ride is becoming obsolete just in terms of numbers of guests per hour.
But in any case – back on topic…
Cheshire Café was open today! It is quite a pretty sight – much better than the original pink and blue roof. The seating area to the left of the counter was still empty, and while we were sitting on the benches near the restrooms two construction workers (inspectors?) came by to look at that area.
001 by jjnshane, on Flickr
002 by jjnshane, on Flickr
I had also never noticed the windows in the alcove to the right of the service counter – I know this is the rain location for the Wonderland meet and greets, but I always that it was completely enclosed and cave-like!
Thanks for the pics!
For comparison:
Shame they can't hide the Pooh show building a bit better. Stands out rather badly.
disneypearl
Well-Known Member
There is a difference between a traditional dark ride (load one car, send it off, bring in a new car, repeat) and an omnimover (continuous chain of cars constantly being loaded). I can see where the traditional dark ride is becoming obsolete just in terms of numbers of guests per hour.
But in any case – back on topic…
Cheshire Café was open today! It is quite a pretty sight – much better than the original pink and blue roof. The seating area to the left of the counter was still empty, and while we were sitting on the benches near the restrooms two construction workers (inspectors?) came by to look at that area.
001 by jjnshane, on Flickr
002 by jjnshane, on Flickr
I had also never noticed the windows in the alcove to the right of the service counter – I know this is the rain location for the Wonderland meet and greets, but I always that it was completely enclosed and cave-like!
Thank you for the pictures. The sign looks great! I like it.
hpyhnt 1000
Well-Known Member
The roof looks to be the biggest change, along with the removal of some of the ivy from the walls of the building. See my post at the top of the page for an older shot of the Enchanted Grove.
NoChesterHester
Well-Known Member
Cereal. Hungry?
Cosmic Commando
Well-Known Member
I'm not a Pooh fanboy, but I think there's a long list of things to like about the attraction that keep it from being "obsolete": the wind in the first room, moving walls in owl's house, bouncing along with Tigger, the flying Pooh, the smoke ring from the heffalump, the strobe lightning in the transition from heffalump & woozle to flood, the swaying vehicles in the flood, the water ripple lighting effects in the flood, and probably more. Also, I don't think it's fair to call it 2D; there's a lot of 3D stuff, too. I'm not an audiophile, so no opinion one way or another there. It's not as if the ride sounds like a walkie-talkie, though. Is it interactive? Not unless you call a smoke ring in the face interactive. But look at Mermaid. That's vintage 2011 and zero interactivity as far as I know, so obviously it's not a requirement for every attraction. Take away how cool the suspended ships are, and I think Pooh is miles ahead of Pan. Maybe your Internet rage should be directed there, towards the plain queue and the tin foil volcano.
jjnshane
Active Member
The menu looks pretty much the same (I meant to take a picture -- I'll be back tomorrow and will get one then) Frozen lenonade and raspberry lemonade, cereal, muffins, coffee, cappuccino (both hot or iced) and hot tea and cocoa, bottled water and lemonade, milk and orange juice -- but I noticed they also had strawberry fruit punch (at least I think that is what it was) sold by the cup from a fountain drink mixer machine (oh, I am describing that horribly!) I thought it looked new, but I could be wrong.
Nothing on the inside of the service counter was changed since this remained open for business during the renovation. It was mostly, as hpyhnt 1000 said, the roof, removal of landscaping (that is why I never noticed the windows on the right side of the building!) and a fresh coat of paint. There are new stenciled floral designs on the walls under the service counter and in the seating area that look quite nice, and the design of some of the leaves remind me of the Cheshire Cat's grin. I'll have to get pictures of that when I go tomorrow as well.
jjnshane
Active Member
Thanks for the pics!
For comparison:
Shame they can't hide the Pooh show building a bit better. Stands out rather badly.
This is true. It looks like they had to cut off a limb from the pine tree on the right to work on the roof and now the Pooh building stands out even more. This could be easily fixed by adding a castle wall facade on the building like they do in the front -- I think that the side near the restrooms has some sort of castle wall facade as well, it just needs to be extended to the rest of the show building.