Mermaid Track Arrives On-Site

[TP2000]

Thus, I don't think it's necessary for WDW to have a preview center. I'd love to see one, but the only significant project that's publicly known is the Fantasyland Expansion, which is tiny in scale compared to what's going on at California Adventure right now.

Valid points about the DCA expansion being hugely unprecedented. But why not a smaller Preview Center for FLE in an existing park facility, like the new Town Square Theater?

Disneyland actually has had a preview exhibit within the larger exhibit in the lobby of the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln show. It's the wood cabinet in the right corner of this picture, on the wall next to the giant model of Disneyland Circa 1955. It currently has an exhibit about Star Tours 2.0 concepts and models.

Prior to the lobby exhibit, there was preview artwork for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in the exit post-show area earlier in the last decade.

I guess that was the type of thing I was thinking of for a WDW version of a Preview Center, not something neccesarily as lavish and constantly updated as the Blue Sky Cellar, which is just as unprecedented as a Preview Center as the entire DCA Extreme Makeover project is.

At the very least, maybe they could launch a regularly updated online Preview Center for the FLE project like DCA also has, on the official disney.com website portal? http://www.disneycaliforniaadventure.com

I guess I'm being selfish as a Disney Geek, but it seems that WDW is missing out on an opportunity to create buzz and excitement here. The cynic in me could say that TDO must truly believe their core customers are clueless tourists who don't care what WDW is like so long as there are Princess Meet N' Greets and Refillable Mugs to pacify them. But the optomist in me has to believe that in the year 2011 even casual tourists from Ohio do some online research about their destination, and that an online Preview Center or small physical exhibit in the park itself would garner some positive attention.

Maybe I'm just too naive. :lol:

 

[SeaCastle]

Valid points about the DCA expansion being hugely unprecedented. But why not a smaller Preview Center for FLE in an existing park facility, like the new Town Square Theater?

Disneyland actually has had a preview exhibit within the larger exhibit in the lobby of the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln show. It's the wood cabinet in the right corner of this picture, on the wall next to the giant model of Disneyland Circa 1955. It currently has an exhibit about Star Tours 2.0 concepts and models.

Prior to the lobby exhibit, there was preview artwork for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in the exit post-show area earlier in the last decade.

I guess that was the type of thing I was thinking of for a WDW version of a Preview Center, not something neccesarily as lavish and constantly updated as the Blue Sky Cellar, which is just as unprecedented as a Preview Center as the entire DCA Extreme Makeover project is.

At the very least, maybe they could launch a regularly updated online Preview Center for the FLE project like DCA also has, on the official disney.com website portal? http://www.disneycaliforniaadventure.com

I guess I'm being selfish as a Disney Geek, but it seems that WDW is missing out on an opportunity to create buzz and excitement here. The cynic in me could say that TDO must truly believe their core customers are clueless tourists who don't care what WDW is like so long as there are Princess Meet N' Greets and Refillable Mugs to pacify them. But the optomist in me has to believe that in the year 2011 even casual tourists from Ohio do some online research about their destination, and that an online Preview Center or small physical exhibit in the park itself would garner some positive attention.

Maybe I'm just too naive. :lol:

I agree. The closest we have to exhibit space in the park that acknowledges WDW's heritage is the One Man's Dream exhibit at MGM Studios. Previously we had that EPCOT 25th museum, which was utterly fantastic. At that point, EPCOT was (and perhaps still is) run by someone who truly "got it", and hoped to capitalize on the fan reaction to EPCOT's 25th Anniversary.

My guess is that management figures that guests will be coming back no matter what, so there's no reason to get them excited for upcoming projects when they'll be back whether there's something new or not. In California, you have a constant stream of visitors based on a fairly local (and competitive) community, thus a preview center could get the average Disneyland guest more motivated to come back.

I'd love to see a preview center at WDW, or at least something to indicate to me that Disney is investing some capital to make me return. The lack of changes (or expansions or significant refurbishments, etc.) over the past several years shows me that Disney believes there will always be guests to visit, even if they don't do anything at all, which is a dangerous mentality.

 

[unkadug]

These aren't the photos you are looking for......

I'll go about my business...move along

 

[jt04]

WDW also doesn't have a Preview Center like Disneyland does, which is something I will NEVER understand.

And every 6 to 8 months the Preview Center gets updated with new exhibits and artwork and models. Almost all of the information we know about Little Mermaid; from the fact that it has 108 clamshell vehicles to the exact layout of the ride and way the vehicles descend and ascend through the show building, we know because of Disneyland Resort's Preview Center and the two separate Little Mermaid exhibits they've had in there in the last year.

If it weren't for that Preview Center and the Disney Parks Blog reports coming out about the DCA version, we'd know very, very little about the WDW version.

Well, when you have four parks with not a lot going on in any of them, there really isn't a need for a preview center.

You've stated in other threads that the California Adventure renovation really is an outlier in the whole of theme parks history. It's a massive, $1 billion plus undertaking, with multiple projects going on at once; it's quite incomparable. The last project of that scale in WDW was EPCOT, which did have its own dedicated preview center. Disneyland Resort didn't have a preview center for years until the one in California Adventure showed up (and the one in California Adventure is solely for California Adventure. Its fate isn't known once the expansion is over.)

Thus, I don't think it's necessary for WDW to have a preview center. I'd love to see one, but the only significant project that's publicly known is the Fantasyland Expansion, which is tiny in scale compared to what's going on at California Adventure right now. Unless they decided to make a preview center about projects that TDO has cancelled and put on hold, there really wouldn't be much substance to a preview center in Florida.

Valid points about the DCA expansion being hugely unprecedented. But why not a smaller Preview Center for FLE in an existing park facility, like the new Town Square Theater?

Disneyland actually has had a preview exhibit within the larger exhibit in the lobby of the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln show. It's the wood cabinet in the right corner of this picture, on the wall next to the giant model of Disneyland Circa 1955. It currently has an exhibit about Star Tours 2.0 concepts and models.

Prior to the lobby exhibit, there was preview artwork for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in the exit post-show area earlier in the last decade.

I guess that was the type of thing I was thinking of for a WDW version of a Preview Center, not something neccesarily as lavish and constantly updated as the Blue Sky Cellar, which is just as unprecedented as a Preview Center as the entire DCA Extreme Makeover project is.

At the very least, maybe they could launch a regularly updated online Preview Center for the FLE project like DCA also has, on the official disney.com website portal? http://www.disneycaliforniaadventure.com

I guess I'm being selfish as a Disney Geek, but it seems that WDW is missing out on an opportunity to create buzz and excitement here. The cynic in me could say that TDO must truly believe their core customers are clueless tourists who don't care what WDW is like so long as there are Princess Meet N' Greets and Refillable Mugs to pacify them. But the optomist in me has to believe that in the year 2011 even casual tourists from Ohio do some online research about their destination, and that an online Preview Center or small physical exhibit in the park itself would garner some positive attention.

Maybe I'm just too naive. :lol:

I agree. The closest we have to exhibit space in the park that acknowledges WDW's heritage is the One Man's Dream exhibit at MGM Studios. Previously we had that EPCOT 25th museum, which was utterly fantastic. At that point, EPCOT was (and perhaps still is) run by someone who truly "got it", and hoped to capitalize on the fan reaction to EPCOT's 25th Anniversary.

My guess is that management figures that guests will be coming back no matter what, so there's no reason to get them excited for upcoming projects when they'll be back whether there's something new or not. In California, you have a constant stream of visitors based on a fairly local (and competitive) community, thus a preview center could get the average Disneyland guest more motivated to come back.

I'd love to see a preview center at WDW, or at least something to indicate to me that Disney is investing some capital to make me return. The lack of changes (or expansions or significant refurbishments, etc.) over the past several years shows me that Disney believes there will always be guests to visit, even if they don't do anything at all, which is a dangerous mentality.

Great points by both of you. I'm shocked marketing does not take a miniscule portion of the budget to create something like DL has. Not necessarily a BSC but at least a place to display future additions. Perhaps they think WDW guests will just stay away until that next add is a reality so they prefer not to hype future attractions. That is the only thing that makes some sense to me.

Now that I think about it, that is exactly what I do. There has to be a major add to each park before I buy an AP. DHS and soon the MK will have met that criteria. Waiting on Epcot and DAK. And waiting.

 

[Scuttle]

Also, at DCA they know they have a giant ferris wheel right next door to the construction site, making it pretty much impossible to hide what they're doing, so they didn't really try very hard.

In the Magic Kingdom, they've got Dumbo... (and overhead planes...)

-Rob

Ya I am currently working on my private pilots license. I am good friends with my instructor and every few months I am going to convince him to fly over WDW and take good pictures of fantasyland. I just need a better camera I think we can only get down to about 1,500 ft if were lucky, so I am hoping for the best. i guess I am going to try to get a camera from someone, I think my uncle might have a really good camera. So hopefully I will have some good pics soon.

 

[RunnerEd]

Ya I am currently working on my private pilots license. I am good friends with my instructor and every few months I am going to convince him to fly over WDW and take good pictures of fantasyland. I just need a better camera I think we can only get down to about 1,500 ft if were lucky, so I am hoping for the best. i guess I am going to try to get a camera from someone, I think my uncle might have a really good camera. So hopefully I will have some good pics soon.

See if you can get him to fly through FLE like a crop duster would at 15 feet and maybe throught the 2 big buildings like Goofy's Barnstormer did through the barn....that would be seriously cool!!!! The buzzing of FLE!!!!

 

[Master Yoda]

Valid points about the DCA expansion being hugely unprecedented. But why not a smaller Preview Center for FLE in an existing park facility, like the new Town Square Theater?

Disneyland actually has had a preview exhibit within the larger exhibit in the lobby of the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln show. It's the wood cabinet in the right corner of this picture, on the wall next to the giant model of Disneyland Circa 1955. It currently has an exhibit about Star Tours 2.0 concepts and models.

Prior to the lobby exhibit, there was preview artwork for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in the exit post-show area earlier in the last decade.

I guess that was the type of thing I was thinking of for a WDW version of a Preview Center, not something neccesarily as lavish and constantly updated as the Blue Sky Cellar, which is just as unprecedented as a Preview Center as the entire DCA Extreme Makeover project is.

At the very least, maybe they could launch a regularly updated online Preview Center for the FLE project like DCA also has, on the official disney.com website portal? http://www.disneycaliforniaadventure.com

I guess I'm being selfish as a Disney Geek, but it seems that WDW is missing out on an opportunity to create buzz and excitement here. The cynic in me could say that TDO must truly believe their core customers are clueless tourists who don't care what WDW is like so long as there are Princess Meet N' Greets and Refillable Mugs to pacify them. But the optomist in me has to believe that in the year 2011 even casual tourists from Ohio do some online research about their destination, and that an online Preview Center or small physical exhibit in the park itself would garner some positive attention.

Maybe I'm just too naive. :lol:

While I would love to see this stuff myself I think the vast majority of WDW guests could care lees about it. The majority of DL's guests are local and considerably more vested in their park and have a genuine interest in its future. WDW guests are for the most part tourists. They are worried about cramming 4 parks and a lifetime worth of experiences into a week because they will not be back for several years. Quite honestly I could see some opportunistic guest heading straight to guest services demanding a refund because had he/she known that X was going to be here next year they would have delayed their once in a lifetime trip.

 

[wdwmagic]

While I would love to see this stuff myself I think the vast majority of WDW guests could care lees about it. The majority of DL's guests are local and considerably more vested in their park and have a genuine interest in its future. WDW guests are for the most part tourists. They are worried about cramming 4 parks and a lifetime worth of experiences into a week because they will not be back for several years. Quite honestly I could see some opportunistic guest heading straight to guest services demanding a refund because had he/she known that X was going to be here next year they would have delayed their once in a lifetime trip.

That about sums it up! DL and WDW have a very different visitor base.

 

[jmick71]

well either Disney had them taken down or the jmick71 was threatened by lawyers to remove them.

Possibly both? :lookaroun

got the pics from orlando theme park news, in there update to MK on monday !
and they are still posted
sorry that i did not mention that before

 

[NewfieFan]

While I would love to see this stuff myself I think the vast majority of WDW guests could care lees about it. The majority of DL's guests are local and considerably more vested in their park and have a genuine interest in its future. WDW guests are for the most part tourists. They are worried about cramming 4 parks and a lifetime worth of experiences into a week because they will not be back for several years. Quite honestly I could see some opportunistic guest heading straight to guest services demanding a refund because had he/she known that X was going to be here next year they would have delayed their once in a lifetime trip.

Have it in a secret room... only the hardcore internet fanboys will know where it's to! Simple!
Oh, and there's secret words to get in...




The secret words are :lookaroun "Disney Vacation Club"

 

[Kamikaze]

Ya I am currently working on my private pilots license. I am good friends with my instructor and every few months I am going to convince him to fly over WDW and take good pictures of fantasyland. I just need a better camera I think we can only get down to about 1,500 ft if were lucky, so I am hoping for the best. i guess I am going to try to get a camera from someone, I think my uncle might have a really good camera. So hopefully I will have some good pics soon.

WDW has a flight floor (can't go lower) of 3000 feet. Sorry.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

WDW has a flight floor (can't go lower) of 3000 feet. Sorry.

Does this only apply to planes? I've certainly seen helicopters flying significantly lower than that.

 

[Kamikaze]

Does this only apply to planes? I've certainly seen helicopters flying significantly lower than that.

Walt Disney World Resort, in Central Florida (near Orlando). The zone extends to 3,000 feet (910 metres) in a 3-nautical-mile (5.6-kilometre) radius centered from the Main Spire of Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom Theme Park.

Its because of the amount of people gathered. The same Flight Restrictions apply to stadiums with large crowds when an event is occurring.

It applies to any aircraft without prior permission to go against the FR (for instance a blimp at a sporting event).

 

[DancingPhoenix]

Does this only apply to planes? I've certainly seen helicopters flying significantly lower than that.

There is a helicopter tour place just across the highway on the DTD side of the property, could've been one of those? I'm sure they're allowed to get a bit closer than just a person in their own vehicle.

I was just in WDW the first weekend of March and I could definitely see the rocks and the beginnings of framework for Eric's castle from by current Dumbo, but those are higher up then any boxes with the track in them. Those walls are also quite tall, thick, and sturdy. I'm 5'6" and I couldn't reach over. Then again a TALL guest was specified, which I am certainly not :hammer:

And gosh I would love a preview type building. They should add a showcase like that to Epcot, as it is the "future"... I would certainly make a trip over just to see that, I get all excited.

 

[jmick71]

arent they building A type of prevue center in one man's dream in DHS (it has been blocked off for a wile labeled something like future of WDW)

 

[TP2000]

arent they building A type of prevue center in one man's dream in DHS (it has been blocked off for a wile labeled something like future of WDW)

It's been like that for almost a year, I believe. I walked through there in January and it was a blank wall hiding something, but who knows what?

 

[jmick71]

It's been like that for almost a year, I believe. I walked through there in January and it was a blank wall hiding something, but who knows what?

yah i know just hope it opens soon,( i know on the wall it said something like opening winter? or spring? 2011, then it changed to opening soon lol)

 

[TP2000]

yah i know just hope it opens soon,( i know on the wall it said something like opening winter? or spring? 2011, then it changed to opening soon lol)

Last year it said "Coming Fall 2010". http://i55.tinypic.com/fcicr8.jpg

In January it just said "Coming Soon". It's a bit odd, as clearly there was a plan last year to do something there.

 

[TP2000]

There's a new video up today on Disney Parks Blog with more glimpses of nearly finished scenes and animatronics from The Little Mermaid ride at DCA. The premise is a walk-through of the ride under construction with the three original animators of the movie from 20 years ago.

Judging by the way the station area looks, this video was taken a couple of months ago, since the facility is completed now and no construction evidence is visible through the giant windows now. But it's still a great look at some nifty effects and animatronics.

The full article and video is here http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...traction-at-disney-california-adventure-park/

 

[epcotWSC]

While I would love to see this stuff myself I think the vast majority of WDW guests could care lees about it. The majority of DL's guests are local and considerably more vested in their park and have a genuine interest in its future. WDW guests are for the most part tourists. They are worried about cramming 4 parks and a lifetime worth of experiences into a week because they will not be back for several years. Quite honestly I could see some opportunistic guest heading straight to guest services demanding a refund because had he/she known that X was going to be here next year they would have delayed their once in a lifetime trip.

With the rise of DVC I'd say that is becoming less and less true. Just think of how many DVC members there are. Most of which take yearly (or more) trips to Disney. Plus there are also Florida locals who go as well.