Fresh FLE News for March 2010

[nibblesandbits]

In what way is the money being spread thin? What is not being done right about what they are trying to achieve? The expansion is addressing a few specific issues, and the money is certainly there to get it done right. Nothing suggests this is being done by halves.

1. Lack of food - new restaurant solves this. And it wont just be any ole restaurant, it will have a lot of bells and whistles.

2. The dumbo dilema - double capacity, ACd wait area, proper queue. This is a big deal for a lot of MK guests.

3. Bring the meet and greets into a cutting edge show. Not everyones cup of tea, but ask anyone who regularly waits over 60mins in Judges Tent, Hall of Fame or C Spot what they think of meet and greets.

4. Add a big people eater with an omnimover E-Ticket.

5. Beautify FL, and give the MK a whole new land that will look stunning

Steve, you are right...we are getting a good sized expansion...and I've never said we weren't. And as I've mentioned, I am excited to see it when it's complete.

I wasn't trying to say that I thought things were being spread thin...I was more thinking outloud on what the expansion MIGHT have been like if they had done it piece by piece...thinking that if more money had been available for each piece, how things MIGHT have been done differently...of course, we'll never know any of that, because this is the version of Fantasyland that Disney has come up with...and it will solve a lot of problems that the current park has, for sure. Actually, all I really would have liked to see 1 more ride in an expansion this big and I think it would have been perfect.

But to go through your list:

1. I'm excited to see a new restaurant built! I think it's going to be great and can't wait to try it. Plus, well, as you can see by the avatar, I'm partial to the name.

2. This addition will play very well when I have kids. I'm sure I will greatly appreciate not having to wait in line forever for my child to have the opportunity to ride Dumbo. As will thousands of other parents. Plus, the new queue system sounds fabulous.

3. I like they are taking meet and greets to a whole new level. It will greatly enhance children's visits with the characters, for sure. I do have a question though...and you may be able to help...wasn't Pixie Hollow intended to have an element of this type of "attraction" meet and greet when it first opened, but it saw too many guests, with astronomical waits, so they changed it to what it is now? How is this new form of meet and greet going to impact the lines then, when the original format of Pixie Hollow had to be tweeked to be not AS interactive as originally intended? And it wasn't nearly as interactive as this new type of meet and greet will be.

4. I think you know my stance on a new attraction. Whether it was a clone or not, it's still great to have a new attraction for sure!

5. again, this I'm all for as well. I love all the theming that will be coming up the pike.

I do think some of the naysaying has gotten a tad rediculous with this though. As has been mentioned, it's only just begun and we haven't seen anything besides concept material. And it is easy to get swept up in the negative, when you've been burned before by things Disney has done in the past.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Fortunately, it's going to have THREE* brand new ride experiences waiting just for you! :king:


*(Three may actually equal one. Not valid in CT or Puerto Rico. All rights reserved.)

:lol:

And one might be technologically wonderful!


Nibbs- Again, great post!

 

[Horizons1]

Mermaid isn't cloned, it was co-developed for both DCA and WDW. It was always the intention to put Mermaid in the MK. If anything, it may well be that DCA was the one that jumped in on the Mermaid act.

Before your comparisons of investment have any meaning what-so-ever, let's wait and see the final results of both developments. Your bias clearly shows in your descriptions of both projects.

I've been told by several managers that this is just the case. The MK was going to announce TLM, but then DCA saw it and jumped in on it due to the need to add more rides in the park.

 

[MousDad]

I've been told by several managers that this is just the case. The MK was going to announce TLM, but then DCA saw it and jumped in on it due to the need to add more rides in the park.

If this is true, then Lutz is a lot smarter than we give him credit for, because he was talking about Mermaid at DCA a whole lotta months before DLPMagic's gift to the world.

Personally, I don't believe it.

 

[PhantomX]

I don't know but im starting to get the feeling this whole Fantasyland expansion was hastily thrown together in order to have news to counter Harry Potter. They have taken alot of heat for the princess meet & greets and are now playing damage control and they really have no idea what the expansion is going to end up like outside of the m&gs/mermaid/beast restuarant area. Also, myself and others in a previous thread said Disney was dumb for not having a Wonderland section and the box office results are proving us right.

I am also going to go out on a limb and say Pixie Hollow area won't happen. That area could be better used for something else and the Pixie hollow franchise just doesn't have the legs to stand on. I'm starting to get the feeling it will remain a mini-toontown area.

 

[krankenstein]

I think the best part is that this expansion was supposed to be/currently is in construction and yet, they still haven't finalized some of the plans according to what they said at the D23 party.

I've been very critical of the meet and greets, but it will be better for families. However, I wish Disney had created an expansion that included some more traditional FL style attractions, which they easily could've. It's kind of a shame that instead of getting a real expansion, we are getting the fixes to the logistical problems the MK has developed since the late 90's.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I think the best part is that this expansion was supposed to be/currently is in construction and yet, they still haven't finalized some of the plans according to what they said at the D23 party.

I've been very critical of the meet and greets, but it will be better for families. However, I wish Disney had created an expansion that included some more traditional FL style attractions, which they easily could've. It's kind of a shame that instead of getting a real expansion, we are getting the fixes to the logistical problems the MK has developed since the late 90's.

I agree...I think if there were just ONE more ride, this would all be moot.:lol:

 

[WDW Vacationer]

^Krank, It seems they know less about later stages. PH and Dumbo...:shrug:

 

[krankenstein]

I agree...I think if there were just ONE more ride, this would all be moot.:lol:

Heck, I can solve it easily. Princess Fantasy Fair in the style of the original at DL and include a BatB or Sleeping Beauty or Cindy classic style dark ride. :shrug:

 

[krankenstein]

^Krank, It seems they know less about later stages. PH and Dumbo...:shrug:

Dumbo is phase 1. :shrug:

 

[WDW Vacationer]

Dumbo is phase 1. :shrug:

Yeah,but Barnstormer would probably be the last thing they do and probably the easiest. I think they have Dumbo hammered out for the most part,along with FF.

 

[krankenstein]

Yeah,but Barnstormer would probably be the last thing they do and probably the easiest. I think they have Dumbo hammered out for the most part,along with FF.

I don't buy it and I don't think that can be considered an excuse. At this stage they should have Barnstormer hammered out. It isn't that hard to think of a retheme that fits Dumbo.

 

[WDW Vacationer]

I don't buy it and I don't think that can be considered an excuse. At this stage they should have Barnstormer hammered out. It isn't that hard to think of a retheme that fits Dumbo.

Yes,I don't know why they don't know yet,they should. I'm sure it'll all work out.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Heck, I can solve it easily. Princess Fantasy Fair in the style of the original at DL and include a BatB or Sleeping Beauty or Cindy classic style dark ride. :shrug:

Exactly. Or bring back TOAD!:brick:


Toad Hall in the FLE/FF Section works perfectly.


...Also...ALICE! :zipit: A great new franchise that they have to use, especially for aesthetics, and nothing. I don't understand.

 

[CaptainMichael]

The first time I heard of the fantasy forest concept was in September of 2007. At that time, it was still very much blue sky. Some drawings, etc. had been produced, but the imagineer I spoke to was very skeptical that it would ever get passed blue sky because management didn't see the need.

I do not doubt that Mermaid had been in development for a while, and may have even been fully conceptualized left to collect to dust on a shelf on Flower St. We know at some point a Mermaid ride was thought about because the virtual ride-through was included with the dvd release. I do however doubt that there was ever a plan to actually greenlight it for the MK until they suddenly saw the need (likely when Space Mountain finally had to go down for refurb and they were crunching capacity numbers when deciding how long they could afford to leave it down.) I'm sure it doesn't hurt that there is a Mermaid being built right now and costs can be shared.

I'm a fan of the ride being built, and I'm a fan of the restaurant, and I'm certainly a fan of the landscaping, but I see the meet and greets for what they are and what they aren't. I'm with Marni, Lee, Tirian, Explorer (to a degree) and Nibbs (ie: not alone) on this.

You can certainly tell which parts were well thought out and planned for years (the restaurant {conceptualized for DLP} and Mermaid attraction {probably gone through many different incarnations over the years) and which were just thrown together recently (Aurora's Sweet 16.) It looks like they are second-guessing the Pixie Hollow area which is encouraging. No need to rush that decision.

 

[CaptainMichael]

I agree...I think if there were just ONE more ride, this would all be moot.:lol:

Likely.

 

[_Scar]

Exactly. Or bring back TOAD!:brick:


Toad Hall in the FLE/FF Section works perfectly.


...Also...ALICE! :zipit: A great new franchise that they have to use, especially for aesthetics, and nothing. I don't understand.

YES to bolded

But bring the new Alice to DHS. I can easily see a ride now that it opened with over 200 million opening week worldwide :sohappy:

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

The first time I heard of the fantasy forest concept was in September of 2007. At that time, it was still very much blue sky. Some drawings, etc. had been produced, but the imagineer I spoke to was very skeptical that it would ever get passed blue sky because management didn't see the need.

I do not doubt that Mermaid had been in development for a while, and may have even been fully conceptualized left to collect to dust on a shelf on Flower St. We know at some point a Mermaid ride was thought about because the virtual ride-through was included with the dvd release. I do however doubt that there was ever a plan to actually greenlight it for the MK until they suddenly saw the need (likely when Space Mountain finally had to go down for refurb and they were crunching capacity numbers when deciding how long they could afford to leave it down.) I'm sure it doesn't hurt that there is a Mermaid being built right now and costs can be shared.

I'm a fan of the ride being built, and I'm a fan of the restaurant, and I'm certainly a fan of the landscaping, but I see the meet and greets for what they are and what they aren't. I'm with Marni, Lee, Tirian, Explorer (to a degree) and Nibbs (ie: not alone) on this.

You can certainly tell which parts were well thought out and planned for years (the restaurant {conceptualized for DLP} and Mermaid attraction {probably gone through many different incarnations over the years) and which were just thrown together recently (Aurora's Sweet 16.) It looks like they are second-guessing the Pixie Hollow area which is encouraging. No need to rush that decision.

To a degree...:ROFLOL:


Gotta agree with your post, though. It's a good thing, it'll look great, it'll have a few nice things....but some of the substance needs help.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Likely.

Likely that it's happening or likely y'all would be happy?:lookaroun

YES to bolded

But bring the new Alice to DHS. I can easily see a ride now that it opened with over 200 million opening week worldwide :sohappy:

It could go in DHS easily, but the aesthetics really would be great in FF/FLE.

 

[Uncle Lupe]

I just do not understand all the Fantasy Land hatin'. :shrug: If a new interactive land would not drive ticket sales then what is WWoHP?

I enjoy the Pixie Hollow movies and so do my 2 nieces, 2 and 4. It give back story to old characters and introduces new ones. Next year when they get to meet the characters for the first time, I can not wait to see their faces. My daughter is only 9 months but I am loving the fact that when she is old enough to enjoy the park the expansion will be complete(for now). So that means that another trip will be in our future. Bam! They got me for a second trip and we haven't taken our first trip yet.

More rides would be nice but is being built in phases. What was PoTC at first? Look how that turned out. :sohappy:

When Harry Potter goes the way of Back to the Future ( I loved that ride and movies, How does a Simpons ride make sense?) What is planned for that land? Is a Family Guy land in the works? Welcome to Quahog.