MK Kevin Yee's review of 'new' F-land ...

[LithiumBill]

In other words, I don't/won't criticize FLE for what it is, I criticize it for what it isn't.

That is very well put, I think if you can keep that in mind, it helps understand the "MEH" feeling a lot of poeple have for FLE... I know my kids and family will love the FLE, and it's beautiful, but another headliner would just make MK a better park.

 

[ChrisM]

I think the new area looks wonderful and certainly improves the MK significantly from a visual standpoint. But I wish it had more well, substance to it!

I agree with this 100%.

 

[wdwmagic]

But...does the MK need a new E-ticket?

At 17/18 million and counting, the MK's infrastructure is at breaking point. The place was designed for ten million. The effects are clear all around: at fireworks, at parades, at the stampede for the monorail after closing, the lines to buy food.

WDW does not need to draw even more people to the MK, it needs to adjust the MK to cope with the masses. Such as by building a classic darkride with a high capacity omnimover. This is the true genius of Mermaid - it is not a Haunted Mansion, but a SWSA or Toad with the capacity of a Mansion. The rest of the FLE also serves to adress capacity issues: walkways in FL, restaurant offerings, and added m&g capacity.

A new E-ticket would only exacerbate the MK's capacity issues. They are better build in one of the other three parks.

MK is in desperate need of a headliner attraction. One of the most attended parks in the world should have the best ride in the world. Add a huge, top notch ETicket, and modify Main Street with an additional entry/exit route to handle the crowds. They have the plans, and have had them for a long time. Just need to say go.

 

[WDW1974]

But...does the MK need a new E-ticket?

At 17/18 million and counting, the MK's infrastructure is at breaking point. The place was designed for ten million. The effects are clear all around: at fireworks, at parades, at the stampede for the monorail after closing, the lines to buy food.

WDW does not need to draw even more people to the MK, it needs to adjust the MK to cope with the masses. Such as by building a classic darkride with a high capacity omnimover. This is the true genius of Mermaid - it is not a Haunted Mansion, but a SWSA or Toad with the capacity of a Mansion. The rest of the FLE also serves to adress capacity issues: walkways in FL, restaurant offerings, and added m&g capacity.

A new E-ticket would only exacerbate the MK's capacity issues. They are better build in one of the other three parks.

Nope. this is precisely why the MK needs 2-4 new attractions (half of them of the major, E-Ticket variety). The goal is to increase attendance and capacity so those who come can all have MAGICal times and not wait two hours to ride Mermaid.

 

[WDW1974]

MK is in desperate need of a headliner attraction. One of the most attended parks in the world should have the best ride in the world. Add a huge, top notch ETicket, and modify Main Street with an additional entry/exit route to handle the crowds. They have the plans, and have had them for a long time. Just need to say go.

The man knows what he's talking 'bout!

What's so sad about the MK isn't so much what it is, but what it could be!

 

[Lee]

A new E-ticket would only exacerbate the MK's capacity issues. They are better build in one of the other three parks.

It does, for the reasons explained above.
MK, AK and DHS all need new headliners. Epcot could do with just updating what they have.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

MK is in desperate need of a headliner attraction. One of the most attended parks in the world should have the best ride in the world. Add a huge, top notch ETicket, and modify Main Street with an additional entry/exit route to handle the crowds. They have the plans, and have had them for a long time. Just need to say go.

No!

I'll stick with the notion that not the MK, but the other three parks need to be developed with show-stopping E-tickets. If only because I relish the thought of fanbois typing angry posts about how the gloom and doom brigade both complains that there is not enough substance, and that there shouldn't be more substance.


Much like persistent rumours about WDW1974, DLR doesn't have the blessing of size. I say let DL move its guests like sardines through a MS back alley to a TL Iron Man ride. Blegh! We, in WDW, would be better served with inserting DisneySea elements into DAK and adding as wide a variety of offerings as DCA has into DHS.

 

[ChrisFL]

Tall order, high capacity E-ticket rides.

What recent E-ticket has been high capacity?

Anyway, back to the TDS point, I think the level of detail is there, just seeing the photos, not having seen it in person yet...I realize that we're comparing things that aren't directly comparable since the attractions are different, but I think they put a lot of effort into the beauty of the area....much more than I had expected.

 

[cba]

MK is in desperate need of a headliner attraction. One of the most attended parks in the world should have the best ride in the world. Add a huge, top notch ETicket, and modify Main Street with an additional entry/exit route to handle the crowds. They have the plans, and have had them for a long time. Just need to say go.

All I really want to see an E-Ticket ride in Magic Kingdom. There hasn't been one since Splash Mountain, and that opened in 1992 after the Disneyland version. And none of the rides that are being added into FL are E-Ticket rides, not even SDMT. I agree with you 100% Steve, Magic Kingdom really needs to get an amazing, E-Ticket, original ride.

 

[AndyMagic]

He compares it to TDS. Shocking.

Seriously? Comparing it to TDS is borderline crazy. FLE is absolutely beautiful, no doubt, but the small scale of the mountains and castle alone put it several notches below even the most mundane section of DisneySea. I would argue Harambe in Animal Kingdom is more impressive than this expansion as well. This isn't to say all the work isn't beautiful and some of the best WDI has done in years though. Of course, we are just talking theming here and not content sadly.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

The OCD kid inside by the "fixins bar" organizing his huge binder of Sorcerers cards...he kinda bugged me. Just because.

AMEN AMEN AMEN. People like that need to GTFO of Tortuga Tavern and get a life, because clearly they're sorely lacking it.

 

[jdmdisney99]

What's so sad about the MK isn't so much what it is, but what it could be!

I feel that all of WDW's parks are like that. Everything has potential, but laziness and money just always get in the way!

 

[WDWFigment]

I'm a bit torn on the expansion. I don't dislike the Mermaid dark ride at DCA (in fact, I was pleasantly surprised given the criticism of it I read before riding), but there it's a small (and still probably the least impressive) part of a large expansion. Given that it's the only attraction in the expansion at this point, I'm a bit disappointed.

On the other hand, I think what MK, and Fantasyland in particular, lacks compared to DAK and Epcot is heavily-themed "ambiance areas" that you can just sit around and enjoy This appears to give Fantasyland exactly that and restore a little park-like beauty to the Magic Kingdom.

What is there looks very nice and a nice environment is GREAT to have in the Magic Kingdom, but I wish there were more substantive experiences. Unless the Mine Train comes out of left field and is an amazing E-Ticket (and all insiders are saying it's NOT), I think the expansion could have been a bit more substance-heavy.

 

[Skibum1970]

I believe that Lee said once that Adventureland was a good place for an E Ticket to help with traffic flow. To me, the once a year visitor, a new E-Ticket is needed to disperse the crowds a little bit more and provide options. I don't know that building a new E-Ticket ride would greatly increase the number of visitors per year but would provide more options. DCA benefited from having a local population of 15 million people plus however many more are in driving distance and thus Carsland really pushed the visitors. However, crowds at DL went down as DCA cannibalized some of the visitors. That is what I feel a new E-Ticket in MK would do, not to the other parks but to the other rides in the MK>

 

[CountryBearFan]

I'm a bit torn on the expansion. I don't dislike the Mermaid dark ride at DCA (in fact, I was pleasantly surprised given the criticism of it I read before riding), but there it's a small (and still probably the least impressive) part of a large expansion. Given that it's the only attraction in the expansion at this point, I'm a bit disappointed.

On the other hand, I think what MK, and Fantasyland in particular, lacks compared to DAK and Epcot is heavily-themed "ambiance areas" that you can just sit around and enjoy This appears to give Fantasyland exactly that and restore a little park-like beauty to the Magic Kingdom.

What is there looks very nice and a nice environment is GREAT to have in the Magic Kingdom, but I wish there were more substantive experiences. Unless the Mine Train comes out of left field and is an amazing E-Ticket (and all insiders are saying it's NOT), I think the expansion could have been a bit more substance-heavy.

Asking for too much again, eh?

 

[CountryBearFan]

And all of you need to stop asking for E-Tickets as well! It's annoying!

 

[GoofGoof]

I thought it was a pretty decent summary of the new FL areas. The WDWmagic one was great, love the walk through videos.

In defense of Kevin Yee (not that he needs me to defend him) he did say the theming was some of the best work by WDI SINCE Tokyo DisneySea and specifically that the carved rock work looked really good and would not look out of place at Tokyo DisneySea. I don't think he was really saying that FLE overall is on par with TDS as a park or section of a park. He fairly classified LM as a D ticket. I have personally never been to TDS but I have seen tons of pictures and videos and I think most would agree its the gold standard of Disney parks. Just my opinion on his opinion

 

[The Empress Lilly]

In defense of Kevin Yee (not that he needs me to defend him) he did say the theming was some of the best work by WDI SINCE Tokyo DisneySea and specifically that the carved rock work looked really good and would not look out of place at Tokyo DisneySea. I don't think he was really saying that FLE overall is on par with TDS as a park or section of a park. He fairly classified LM as a D ticket. I have personally never been to TDS but I have seen tons of pictures and videos and I think most would agree its the gold standard of Disney parks. Just my opinion on his opinion

Well my opinion of your opinion on his opinion is that your opinion represents his opinion well, IMHO. The FLE is not compared to TDS, or part of it, but the quality of it is, it's production value.

In the quote below Yee does make the outright claim the quality about it all reeks of TDS. And why not? One can find the offerings underwhelming, and still think they are build with TDS production value. For example, I think the Belle m&g stinks - I visit without kids and will no doubt be looked as at a perv when I visit, camera pointed at other people's kids clapping their way around the room with Belle. But I do think Belle's m&g shows remarkable quality, videos of the AAs are jawdropping.

There is a freshness to this new land, almost an urgency of theme, that will leave its mark on even the most jaded of returning Disney visitors. Frankly, the quality reeks of Tokyo DisneySea. - Kevin Yee.

 

[AEfx]

Didn't see this article, I removed my RSS feed for that site since they cannot get it right (they either repost every article for the past six months every day, or just when they stop that they incessantly added tons of RSS ads - like 3-6 "ad" post for every actual posting, it's a mess). That said, I checked this one out - and yes, typical Yee - started out trying to be old-grumpy-Jim-Hill, now trying to be new-improved-I-Love-Disney--Jim-Hill, when the target of his inspiration is a joke to begin with, since Jim Hill tried to be Al Lutz, and now is trying to be AllEars, LOL, so Yee ends up an imitator of an imitator imitating. It's kind of meta, if you like your meta floating on the surface.

Honestly, TPI is the only other site I can gut reading these days, because frankly, every other site seems to feed off of what is posted here one way or another. It's funny when I used to go to a dozen Disney sites regularly, that this is really where it all distills from in terms of news and current information.

 

[jt04]

This was my my response to Kevin's glowing praise:

First a correction, Phil Holmes isn’t the Prez of the MK as that position does not exist. He is the VP of the MK, a position he has held for over a decade since Erin Wallace was moved up when Karl Holz was handed the top spot in Paris.

Second, at the risk of becoming a critic of a critic (and someone I genuinely like), I am sorta shocked that anyone who has been to TDS would compare this project (perhaps, rockwork aside) with it. TDS stands as the benchmark for what Disney can create when money is no object. Also, having been to DL and WDW back-to-back over the last few weeks of September and first week of October and seen just what a spectacular job WDI did in creating BVS and CL at DCA 2.0, I find it very hard to place this relatively small scale project close to that as well.

To be fair, I’ve only experienced Storybook Circus. The walls to the rest were still up when I left waiting for the bloggers/podcasters/Disney Lifestyle whores to be let in (you do know that many of them were told exactly when to be there with the strict order that it not be placed on any sites, so they benefited while their followers did not?). SC didn’t impress me very much at all. It’s like an improved more permanent version of Mickey’s Tentland and it already has issues with safety (the absurd kids water play area with a fence around the train) and upkeep (I've already told you about the Spirited carpet patch in the Big Top tent).

I’m starting to wonder if you’ve fallen victim to the same virus that afflicts many WDW fans now after living here for almost a decade. That is, people are so starved for any new product because WDW is so stale that you overdo the praise when you actually get something new.

Look, I haven’t experienced the tiny shop that likely will soon be selling vinyl and Avengers DVDs instead of Beauty and the Beast themed china. I haven’t walked into what looks like the beautiful BoG dining hall (where they serve that great French dessert — cupcakes — with every meal!) I haven’t taken pics of the Gaston’s fountain from 876 angles or had pork shank (not that I eat it) at the Tavern that I was told is so small it’s capacity is 80 people. But the one and only (until 2014) attraction that was added was Mermaid, which I honestly believe is the weakest thing added in the DCA ExtremeMakeover. It’s plastic and has long places with no props or projections or anything as it transitions and it ends with the same lame ending the one in Anaheim does. So, it’s in a nicer building and has a nicer queue, which it will need because FP+ will likely cause the same absurd waits we see at TSMM at the Studios, while Mermaid in Anaheim is at most a 15-20 minute wait on the busiest of days and usually a walk-on.

Ultimately, people visit Disney parks for attractions and this beautification project (I think that’s the best way to describe it) is sorely lacking in that respect. Mermaid got added, but Snow White disappeared.
I just don’t get all the glowing praise for this without really talking about what it adds and what it represents.
And comparing it to Disney’s best work, be it in Anaheim or Tokyo just seems over the top.

Two decades and counting and the world’s alleged No. 1 theme park still hasn’t added a true E-Ticket and isn’t looking to. Oh, and they mangled (ruined?) CBJ in order to up the guest counts, but I’m sure you saw that when you were there too.

John Lasseter is in town, btw. You might want to chase him down and ask him about what’s coming to TPFKaTD-MGMS.

Not sure how anyone can judge Yee's sentiments without having experienced anything beyond the circus. I mean if I had made similar comments the usual suspects would have called me out for not having seen the areas' Kevin is commenting on. Yet not a peep when a certain spirit does the same thing. Such hypocrisy!

Anyway, I am inclined to believe Kevin as he does not 'cry wolf' each and every time so he has credibility.