When I last saw the thread it had roughly a dozen pages in it. I received the news today while on a farm (yep, even had sheep so I was reminded of losing my beloved petting zoo and a quarter of DL's acreage for two Star Wars attractions with capacities that don't begin to approach WED 60s classics like PotC and Small World and Mansion) in some far off place in Europe.
No, it was no more a surprise than when I reported Harry Potter was coming to a second UNI park in FL or that George Kalogridis was becoming WDW Prez or that DCL was expanding with two ships and had plans for another four more and a second island or that a second DVC was coming to the WL or that SDL was incredibly troubled or that Michael Eisner didn't appreciate the lack of respect shown to him by Bob Iger at the opening or ... doesn't really matter. Just reminding folks here (and everyone else reading from Davenport to Glendale, Anaheim to Hong Kong, Paris to Pudong) that I know my stuff, I source it better than 98% of what is left of real journalists and I toss it out here as soon as I possibly can because at heart, I am a Disney fanboi and I can admit that.
Anyway, first on WDW ... yes, the idea of this change happening to Tower is dead. But the Guardians are coming to EPCOT as I posted before and, yes, I think the idea is just flat out sickening.
I loved GotG. Pure fun. A far better film that say ... I dunno ... The Force Awakens ... or Finding Dory ... or Frozen ...or even the ridiculously overrated Citizen Kane (can you believe I said that and actually believe it? I did and I do!) Looking forward to the second one too.
But that doesn't make this right because it is so wrong. Just take a look at the artwork shown, which looks like a cross between the building as it stands and ... I dunno ... almost a Transformers like vibe.
Oh Spirit, you wail, at least they didn't destroy WDW's superior version. To that I say, superior is subjective. I do believe it is the best version sorta ... because TDS's Tower makes up for having a tamer profile by layering on detailing and showmanship like a Renaissance master.
And if you believe DCA has the worst version of the attraction, I would hope that you agree it is still a masterpiece of Imagineering. Because if you don't, then I am saying rip out WDW's Pirates because -- no, the queue most certainly doesn't count in the way some say -- it now is the worst version out of the now five on the globe. Let's put in a Jungle Book ride using the same show building and ride system.
There were many things wrong with DCA from 2001. A lot of those mistakes were fixed by the extreme makeover (remember that Phase II that should be nearing completion about now?) But many weren't. A basic rule of Theme Park 101 should be simple common sense "If it ain't broke, don't break it." But that is what is happening here. A haunted hotel from the 1930s that meshes so perfectly with the new Hollywoodland conceit is going to be destroyed, so that the egos of twin Bobs (talking Iger and Chappie here, Weis can't be blamed for this as it was in the works before he got his new gig and it is being shoved down his throat) can be stroked.
Marvel has a huge presence in a theme park. But we all know that park is IOA. It has a smaller presence in another in Asia. UNI-Japan. Beyond character meet-greet-and-grunts at DL and WDSP (also at IOA, I should add) and a temporary 'sell the BRAND' experience at SDL, they have zero presence in Disney parks globally. TWDC bought Marvel in late 2009. It is almost seven years later. The Bobs are desperate for a Marvel hit and this is the quickest and cheapest way to do that. Besides, I want to go up and down with my fanboi friends while listening to "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone and "Go All The Way" by the Raspberries, of course!
Joe Rohde? Look, the man is one of the top three salaries (by far) in the Imagineering ranks. He was very close to being out of a job when Pandora fell into his lap, but that project will be opening next year. Getting the Marvel Design Studio likely keeps him employed another five years. And allows him to rub elbows with Hollywood elites and celebs at Marvel premieres. Hell, he likely has access to Bob Iger directly since getting this title.
The fact is that, despite his professed liberal leanings, Bob Iger is a very conservative man. One who doesn't trust his creatives and their output. This has been the case with WDFA, but it certainly is also the case with every other division. His prized IP acquisitions are being thrown into places they don't belong because he never had the trust to say "these films are going to be huge, let's have quality attractions ready to go" so you wind up with a low-capacity Frozen boat ride in a freaking World Showcase pavilion. And you wind up with GotG in DCA's ToT and EPCOT's Future World. And, in so doing, they dilute all of the parks even further. They all become BRAND extensions, tools if you will (not quite the same as social mediawhores are tools ... heck, I wonder how many O-Towners are going to rush to SoCal for last rides and photo retrospectives instead of say ... I dunno ... ripping the decision-making process?)
But it's great that y'all love Olaf and Thor and Darth Vader and BB-8 and Groot because that is what Disney is becoming ... and if you've only been a fan of the parks largely since 2000, you may well think this is great news. If you knew them and loved them from 1955-1999 (or thereabouts) you likely largely feel like I do. The Disney we loved is long dead and today's product is going to be very different moving forward. Some of it is going to be great. But it isn't going to transport you in the same ways that WED and WDI did for their first half century. You are largely going to get mishmashes of conflicting IPs thrown in wherever all the Bobs see fit. And some of them will fit far better than others. This one wouldn't be that.
Mission: RETIREMENT! @21royalstreet 6h6 hours ago
From where we were we were seated we were literally still in the tunnel the train goes through Splash Mountain to get to the frontierland station. As I was thinking to myself, do I tell them they're practically IN Splash Mountain right now, they turned around and asked me what ride this train was. They weren't kidding. I told him it was the Walt Disney World Railroad and they confessed that they had it down to either that or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Point being it was a fresh reminder that not everybody knows these parts like we do.
