Marvel coming to WDW?!?!

[Mike S]

Why not both? I enjoy Uni including their Marvel stuff, but would also like to see Disney utilize Marvel and do it justice in their parks. That doesn't mean just improperly re-theming existing rides, but developing stuff to the fullest potential. It's crazy IMHO that they haven't used Marvel already in the parks that could have it.

I would love to see both going all out on Marvel but it's just not happening.

 

[doctornick]

After almost 20 years, Universal nor Disney has been able to top the feat that is The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman.

Mystic Manor maybe?

That said, Spider-Man is an amazing ride, probably my favorite that I've been on, and I think it's downright silly for someone to deprive themself of experiencing it if they like the genre.

 

[Mike S]

Mystic Manor maybe?

That said, Spider-Man is an amazing ride, probably my favorite that I've been on, and I think it's downright silly for someone to deprive themself of experiencing it if they like the genre.

Also Forbidden Journey.

 

[doctornick]

Why are people down on the Hong Kong Iron Man ride? We haven't gotten to see it yet to know the specifics, but if recent additions to Hong Kong are an indication, I would expect it to be a top notch experience.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I'm about 20 pages behind, but from some of the comments on rap/hip-hop, I assume you guys all hate Hamilton too, right?

(Worst Pulitzer Prize winner ever, amirite?)

 

[FigmentJedi]

I'm also patiently waiting for the Chester and Hester Dinorama area to be madeover. I don't understand why they couldn't just have built the Excavator coaster (they couldn't have just copied Temple of Peril or Raging Spirits?). We have Primeval Whirl, why not the other at the time instead? (I know the theming would have clearly cost more). They should have just sucked it up and done it at the time. I guess there's hope someday for it on that plot of carnival games ...

The Excavator was themed around a gravel pit (which became a paleontological site once they hit prehistoric paydirt), complete with one of those stock domes you always see. Even with the addition of dinosaur bones and heavy machinery done up like dinosaurs by the Institute students, I feel like they could do more with that space. You do see a lot of "something with Ice Age mammals" ideas getting thrown around in armchair imagineering ideas.

 

[Kman101]

The Excavator was themed around a gravel pit (which became a paleontological site once they hit prehistoric paydirt), complete with one of those stock domes you always see. Even with the addition of dinosaur bones and heavy machinery done up like dinosaurs by the Institute students, I feel like they could do more with that space. You do see a lot of "something with Ice Age mammals" ideas getting thrown around in armchair imagineering ideas.

Well, I bring it up because it was technically planned for that spot and cut. I'd personally never go on a coaster like that, just not for me (I don't do Hulk at Universal for example but I'll do Big Thunder Mountain and Everest), LOL, so I just use it as example because Primeval Whirl is a coaster (a different kind but you probably know what I mean) not because I'm clinging to it or anything. I'd much rather have something different I just think "well, you did Primeval Whirl, so why not something that better fits the Boneyard area".

They absolutely could and should do something better.

 

[Wikkler]

Anyone got a list handy of all the things that went from 0 to opening day operation at Universal since Avatar was announced?

Announcement date of Pandora: September 20, 2011.

• Soundstages 44 and 54 demolished: June 24, 2012 - Transformers opening: June 20, 2013
  
• Food and Film Festival closure: November 2012 - First phase Springfield open: June 1, 2013 - Kang & Kodos open: August 11, 2013
• Jaws closing: January 2, 2012 - Diagon Alley opening: July 8, 2014

BUT there is other stuff at Disney I'd want to do. At Uni... nothing. I don't care about Harry Potter. I don't care about Minions. The Simpsons... Maybe 20 years ago before it became the shambling undead creature of TV that it is now. Et cetera.

Really? Nothing? There's gotta be an IP you like. Jurassic Park? The Mummy? Shrek? Men in Black? Popeye, even?

Btw, all this talk just proves how Marvel could easily carry its own park with Star Wars.

Two IPs cannot carry a park alone. That's what the criticism of the DHS redo is saying. I'd like an older-audience theme park somewhere in the Disney empire, I don't care if it's in LBV or in Hong Kong. Imagine a Marvel land, Star Wars land, Mystic Manor, etc...
There'd still have to be a Fantasyland, though, for the smaller kids, so Pixar Place seems appropriate (as long as it's a proper Pixar Place and not just TSL).

The Excavator was themed around a gravel pit (which became a paleontological site once they hit prehistoric paydirt), complete with one of those stock domes you always see. Even with the addition of dinosaur bones and heavy machinery done up like dinosaurs by the Institute students, I feel like they could do more with that space. You do see a lot of "something with Ice Age mammals" ideas getting thrown around in armchair imagineering ideas.

The best armchair Imagineering idea that will never happen: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but with Tylosaurus, Elasmosaurus, Xiphactinus instead of giant squids and Atlantis and such.
A man can dream, right?

 

[AEfx]

BUT there is other stuff at Disney I'd want to do. At Uni... nothing. I don't care about Harry Potter. I don't care about Minions. The Simpsons... Maybe 20 years ago before it became the shambling undead creature of TV that it is now. Et cetera.

Wow. I am not a big Harry Potter fan (I've seen the films once each, and couldn't get past the first few chapters of the first book I actually disliked it so much), but Diagon Alley is absolutely stunning and FJ is pretty much the most amazing ride since...well, Spiderman. And Kong looks absolutely fantastic.

I guess the difference is, I just love large scale dark rides - and right now, Universal Orlando pretty much has the greatest collection of large immersive attractions built in the past 15 years.

I love Disney - I could ride Haunted Mansion and Pirates and Splash all day (and sometimes do!) - but I can't imagine depriving myself of the real action happening up the street.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Wow. I am not a big Harry Potter fan (I've seen the films once each, and couldn't get past the first few chapters of the first book I actually disliked it so much), but Diagon Alley is absolutely stunning and FJ is pretty much the most amazing ride since...well, Spiderman. And Kong looks absolutely fantastic.

I guess the difference is, I just love large scale dark rides - and right now, Universal Orlando pretty much has the greatest collection of large immersive attractions built in the past 15 years.

I love Disney - I could ride Haunted Mansion and Pirates and Splash all day (and sometimes do!) - but I can't imagine depriving myself of the real action happening up the street.

But that's just it, you want to primarily see rides not properties you already know you like. It's the same issue of liking theme parks as theme parks or liking them as secondary platforms.

 

[Absimilliard]

I added a little edit to my post before I saw yours and I agree. If Joe Rhode was allowed to really create Disney could do some amazing things with Marvel. Sadly that's not the case.

Iron Man Experience does nothing to me even after seeing the huge building last October. It is a basic simulator with a new movie, nothing more, nothing less.

My feeling with Joe Rhode is that he used to not pay attention to the small details like guest flow and operational aspects. His original Animal Kingdom was beautiful... but a nightmare flow wise. The paths were too small and the design made anything beyond a light crowd too hot and too crowded even if it was not. At least with the Harambe Village expansion, Harambe Market and the two Pandora access points, he is learning on his issues and making the park ready for the crowds that will soon arrive.

All the recent work to Animal Kingdom have finally improved things at the park. It is still too light in rides, but the rest is finally there.

The one thing about WDW that shocks me is that Primeval Whirl is still operational... At any other park in the world, it would have been demolished years ago and replaced.

 

[marni1971]

Would the Marvel stuff on it's own constitute a full-day experience? Yes or no.

If Anaheim got the original plan and Marvel was a third gate, yes.

But that was axed and it's going in a park about..... California?

In the meantime you'll have to suck it up and deal with the fact in Orlando you won't get all your characters in a Disney park. Have you ever been to IOA?

 

[Matt_Black]

If Anaheim got the original plan and Marvel was a third gate, yes.

But that was axed and it's going in a park about..... California?

In the meantime you'll have to suck it up and deal with the fact in Orlando you won't get all your characters in a Disney park. Have you ever been to IOA?

No, and I don't intend to.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Some of us want Marvel in the parks. There are those of us who love both Disney and Marvel and are tickled pink that the buyout happened. And for those who say, "Why not go to Universal?" Because I don't want to. I want to see new stuff that the Imagineers cooked up. Like it or not, Marvel is now part of the family, no different than Pixar or the Muppets. What if, tomorrow, Disney licensed Song of the South to Uni, and Splash Mountain was uprooted and moved to the Studios? (Unlikely, granted, but go with it for a moment.) All you folks who love Splash Mountain would be cool with buying tickets for a completely different park and driving out of your way?

Never been a comic book chap. So care not a jot. However if something was that important to me Id take the time to see if I liked it rather than having a foot stamping moment dismissing things out of hand.
But thats just me.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

No, and I don't intend to.

You really do come across as a bit of a mam.

 

[marni1971]

No, and I don't intend to.

Thank you for making that clear.

Perhaps you should if you like Marvel so much. Or at least try it before commenting on it since you would otherwise come across as rather anti Universal. You can't really talk about it if you've never been. Well, you could, but it would seem rather silly.

And let's face it, it's the only way you'll see those characters - and more - in an Orlando park.

 

[Matt_Black]

Thank you for making that clear.

Perhaps you should if you like Marvel so much. Or at least try it before commenting on it since you would otherwise come across as rather anti Universal. You can't really talk about it if you've never been. Well, you could, but it would seem rather silly.

And let's face it, it's the only way you'll see those characters - and more - in an Orlando park.

You're right! No character that originated in a Marvel comic can ever be seen in WDW. Except for that time Star Lord & Gamora showed up. And Baymax currently regularly meeting guests. But never again until the next time WDW finds a character with a loophole they can exploit!

 

[BrerJon]

Announcement date of Pandora: September 20, 2011.

• Soundstages 44 and 54 demolished: June 24, 2012 - Transformers opening: June 20, 2013
  
• Food and Film Festival closure: November 2012 - First phase Springfield open: June 1, 2013 - Kang & Kodos open: August 11, 2013
• Jaws closing: January 2, 2012 - Diagon Alley opening: July 8, 2014

You forgot Minions, opened July 2012 and still gets long waits. So that's three E-ticket rides (Minions, Transformers, Gringotts), plus one new land and a mini-land, all in the time since the announcement of Avatar. Who knows what else they'll do between now and Star Wars opening.

All Disney has done is the woeful Mine Train and closed a bunch of things, leaving them idle for months or years without any sign of replacing them (contrast with Jaws where Diagon shovels started moving the day after it closes).

Pandora and Star Wars will be make or break for WDW. Toy Story 'land' looks like it's just an unthemed coaster and a spinner, so worse even than the other Playlands or anything you'd get in a country fair, so not really relevant, but Pandora and Star Wars are the opportunity to prove they still have it. Stuff like Harambe shows they *can* still do theming if they put their minds to it, but disappointments like New Fantasyland show the limits of Imagineering's imagination, so it could go either way.

 

[marni1971]

You're right! No character that originated in a Marvel comic can ever be seen in WDW. Except for that time Star Lord & Gamora showed up. And Baymax currently regularly meeting guests. But never again until the next time WDW finds a character with a loophole they can exploit!

You'll find I said those characters. Not any character.

In the meantime don't cry until you try. As we say.

 

[Matt_Black]

You'll find I said those characters. Not any character.

In the meantime don't cry until you try. As we say.

You can't say "those characters" when talking Marvel in general and expect me to know you talking about specific characters within Marvel. I'm not psychic. What, because I'm bald you think I can read minds? That's racist, sir! Bald people are normal individuals. Sure, the media likes to portray us as mentalists or bad mother-fudger assassins, but most bald people are good, decent folk, and you should be ASHAMED of yourself for perpetuating harmful stereotypes.