Magic Kingdom Ceremony today 5/5/05

[KevinPage]

It lasted about 20 minutes. Diane Degarmo came out and sung When you wish Upon a Star with VIBE and then introduced Wayne Brady who was the host of the event. They talked about the new things coming to WDW, then linked up live with Anaheim where Bob Iger stood and talked, then Art Linkletter, then a little vinnagette package about the parks around the world celebrating.

Then Eisner came on for his speech. Back to Wayne Brady, another musical performance, some fireworks, all the people in front of the castle threw up i the air their free golden ears for the camera, end of production.

Photos have been sent to Steve. I' too lazy to upload and link them in this post



P.S. - I left about 1:45pm, park wasn't that crowded, the weather probably kept alot of locals away, as rain hit after we left (timing is everything)

 

[Disney_Belle]

thanks for the update!

 

[Captain Chaos]

Kevin, what new things did they talk about for WDW? Did they mention anything about Spaceship Earth?

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

They didn't talk about anything upcoming for any of the parks.

 

[KevinPage]

Kevin, what new things did they talk about for WDW? Did they mention anything about Spaceship Earth?

It was all the stuff we knew already. They did mention Everest and showed the construction in the video package.

This wasn't What's New, What's Next presentation.

The main thing was the "suits" speaking and the live video link to Anaheim.

 

[erasure fan1]

So basically we got NOTHING. At least new anyway. I guess a lot of the general public doesn’t know about things like everest and soarin.

 

[Sir Hiss527]

Well believe it or not this really isn't our day today...it's Disneyland. We are just here to add to the excitement to the celebration. Plus we got tons of new rides..Motor Stunt Show, Soarin, Everest, Mission:Space, PhilarMagic, and Cinderellabration. What else do you want?

By the way, was Eisner at WDW or Disneyland today?

 

[calidisneygirl]

Iger and Eisner were both at Disneyland today. The crowd was massive, and excessivly rude. Typical Californians. Since the park is so much smaller than anything @ WDW, there was a huge crush of media and not a lot of room to maneuver.

 

[beanboon]

So basically we got NOTHING. At least new anyway. I guess a lot of the general public doesn’t know about things like everest and soarin.

Are you serious? How many attractions officially opened this week at WDW? How many officially opened at DL this week?

 

[mcfly530]

im sure we'll get more stuff in the future, but we need to let soarin settle in and probally allow EE to open. i would expect most announcements to come after the opening of EE.

 

[MagliteL13]

We have plenty here! Disneyland got their park back--with an IASW type rehab on a lot of attractions. Just because an anniversary happens doesn't mean that some new attraction has to be built or even that there has to be some big event. We're just lucky that this is Disney, and that's normally what happens. Stepping down now and sheilding myself for the posts to come.

 

[CTXRover]

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I don't know why people get mad or disappointed that nothing "new" was announced. There have been a few folks on here, including myself, that have tried to downplay the fan created ideas of something new and big being announced this week. Its usually just a lot of wishful thinking that gets out of hand. I rememeber the same thing happened when MS opened and they announced Soarin', LMA and SGE and there were folks still disappointed that something else they didn't know about wasn't announced. With the internet, basically there is no surprises anymore I've come to realize. At least not until "leaks" stop coming out. There is still one day left, so I might be eating my words, but honestly there was really no indication at all that anything new would be announced this week.

What fired that flurry was some presentation in an early press schedule that was titled "what's new, what's next". I'm still not sure that even happened or will happen, but honestly, the what's new is everything that officially opened, and the "what's next" is probably Everest.

I still believe we won't hear any new big attraction announcements until at least the opening of Everest. Really, there is no necessity at this point to start work on something else already, but you never know I guess. There's still tomorrow, so we'll see.

 

[LoisMustDie]

I don't know why people get mad or disappointed that nothing "new" was announced. There have been a few folks on here, including myself, that have tried to downplay the fan created ideas of something new and big being announced this week. Its usually just a lot of wishful thinking that gets out of hand. I rememeber the same thing happened when MS opened and they announced Soarin', LMA and SGE and there were folks still disappointed that something else they didn't know about wasn't announced. With the internet, basically there is no surprises anymore I've come to realize. At least not until "leaks" stop coming out. There is still one day left, so I might be eating my words, but honestly there was really no indication at all that anything new would be announced this week.

Bravo! You read my mind good sir. I never understood why so many people thought that Disney would announce MORE new rides AT THE START OF the biggest celebration in the parks' histories. People, The CELEBRATION ITSELF is the reason Disney hopes you will come to WDW over the next 18 months...the extra rides were just icing on the cake. Do you really expect Disney to give everyone a reason to WAIT to visit until AFTER the celebration?! Get real. EE is opening in the spring because WDW needs a reason to keep people coming for the tail-end of the celebration. I sure am glad some of you don't work for Disney's PR in this instance.

I still believe we won't hear any new big attraction announcements until at least the opening of Everest. Really, there is no necessity at this point to start work on something else already, but you never know I guess. There's still tomorrow, so we'll see.

Right again, with the key word being "big." I assume they'll have to pony up the details for the Pooh area in 20k sooner than that, with possibly a show replacement for Millionaire/other backstage building at MGM. July 17th, perhaps?

How many officially opened at DL this week?

Ummmm...none?

 

[Captain Hank]

Ummmm...none?

Actually, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, The First 50 Magical Years, the Parade of Dreams, and Remember...Dreams Come True all officially opened/premiered this week.

And I agree, I wasn't expecting anything new and Earth-shattering to be announced today. Very few people outside of the Disney internet forums were expecting an announcement of the new Monsters Inc. attraction, and probably a lot don't know about Everest. We just got 2 major (though slightly used) attractions, with a mega E-ticket on the way. I think we should all be happy with what we have for a little while. They'll announce something new when they need to.

 

[Thrawn]

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I don't know why people get mad or disappointed that nothing "new" was announced. There have been a few folks on here, including myself, that have tried to downplay the fan created ideas of something new and big being announced this week. Its usually just a lot of wishful thinking that gets out of hand. I rememeber the same thing happened when MS opened and they announced Soarin', LMA and SGE and there were folks still disappointed that something else they didn't know about wasn't announced. With the internet, basically there is no surprises anymore I've come to realize. At least not until "leaks" stop coming out. There is still one day left, so I might be eating my words, but honestly there was really no indication at all that anything new would be announced this week.

What fired that flurry was some presentation in an early press schedule that was titled "what's new, what's next". I'm still not sure that even happened or will happen, but honestly, the what's new is everything that officially opened, and the "what's next" is probably Everest.

I still believe we won't hear any new big attraction announcements until at least the opening of Everest. Really, there is no necessity at this point to start work on something else already, but you never know I guess. There's still tomorrow, so we'll see.

/applaud

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

we'll get what information when we get it. despite what we're not getting, we're seeing a slice of history being played out for Walt Disney fans. we're going to be able to be a part of those things for the next 18 months. let's take what we get and run with it.

 

[LoisMustDie]

Actually, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, The First 50 Magical Years, the Parade of Dreams, and Remember...Dreams Come True all officially opened/premiered this week.

Just for the record, parades and fireworks shows are not technically "attractions" any more than the Fountain of Nations in Future World is. That was what I was going on.

And as far as I'm concerned, Buzz Lightyear was officially opened when they HAD THE OPENING CEREMONY on St. Patrick's Day, which was surely a much bigger ceremony than they had today.

 

[mousermerf]

Loismustdie, I feel for the same reasons that WDW's stuff was lackluster today. The attractions have been open for a while, all that really happened today was magical express starting. Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet day in mouseland.

 

[KevinPage]

Loismustdie, I feel for the same reasons that WDW's stuff was lackluster today. The attractions have been open for a while, all that really happened today was magical express starting. Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet day in mouseland.

Magical Express buses have been going to and fro from the airport for the last month, so techincally NOTHING jsut opened today

 

[stitchlvr]

I have to admit that I was initially thinking there would be some big announcement yesterday, but I agree with most now that this wasn't time to announce what is to come, but to celebrate what IS.

While nothing "new" opened yesterday, haven't the new attractions only technically been in soft opening stages so far? Just because numerous regulars have seen/ridden them already doesn't mean the general public has, who may only be able to make a trip once in awhile (like myself). For the majority, it is new!

We have been to WDW twice, in May 2000 and June 2004. And in between those trips there were the following new attractions:

buzz lightyear, wishes, dinorama, philharmagic, magic carpets of aladdin, share a dream come true parade, mission space

and of those 7 items, 3 replaced existing attractions (wishes, philharmagic and the parade). I only say 3 because in 2000 when we visited, horizons was already closed, and whatever buzz lightyear replaced was already closed)

And in less than a year since our last visit, we have not seen:

stitch's great escape, cinderellabration, lights motors action & soarin...

so there has been almost as many new things added in the last year as there were in the 4 years before that.

I'd say there is a lot to celebrate, and we already have numerous reasons to make another visit...if we only had the money...