News and observations from the past month

[JimboJones123]

N

WHAT? You're supposed to actually see the ride vehicles on SM?

It was black, solidly black the entire time through SM.

Ok, now I'm kinda mad.

oI was suggesting a seperate experience all together.

The new speakers on the ride cause so much ambiant noise that you cannot hear the vehicles anymore from the Peoplemover. Nor screams. This is for two reasons. The audio discourages screaming, and the audio covers up the screams.

It used to be pretty cool earing and seeing the zipping by glowing rockets and being in space, where this time we can hear you scream.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

WHAT? You're supposed to actually see the ride vehicles on SM?

It was black, solidly black the entire time through SM.

Ok, now I'm kinda mad.

Ever been on SM at DL? 1000000x better than WDW

 

[ford91exploder]

Much longer. I have not seen sub 5 minute IASW the entire months of August or September when I have been.

I was in a 50 minute stand by for Sorin a while back that did not move but 20 people in over an hour. We bailed.

Holy C--- batman It's not only worse than I imagined, It's worse than I COULD HAVE IMAGINED. Like others have said the FastPass Minus line is the primary line now, Not the 'Priority' line it used to be, So it looks like the queuing model is assuming 3 attractions/guest per day, After which one is totally Sc-----d NICE. So this IS keyed to elimination of EMH and reducing staffing and maintenance needs.

 

[JimboJones123]

Popcorn lights in the park look okay. The odd one or two out. The GF is still mostly dark, the failed strips still switched off. The DVC block (one big building) had one strip turned on. One can only hope the whole complex will get LED strips in one go.

As for future projects, as I understand:

Imag is still under consideration. I still hear It may close but I'd be surprised if it did with no funding in place. Same for Energy which is also attracting attention.

Japan also has some buzz for a dark ride again. We will see. RoE is due plussing funding but as it stands it is desperate for a large refurb as soon as possible.

Star Wars will be part new build part refurb. I don't see the park expanding east. Just south east to accommodate displaced backstage facilities. With Cars dead something else may take come of the strain in that area. Streets of America and LMA are safe for now.

I heard Cars dead 2 weeks ago, but Cars alive again this week.

Interesting.

 

[muteki]

Oh good hell I am NOT ready for snow...

"Give up and go home"
or

 

[JimboJones123]

Ever been on SM at DL? 1000000x better than WDW

Ghost Galaxy is AWESOME!

Moving projections built to creat the most disorientation as possible. I had to bend over for a few minutes to stabilize on my first ride and retrain myself on how to experience it.

 

[marni1971]

WHAT? You're supposed to actually see the ride vehicles on SM?

It was black, solidly black the entire time through SM.

Ok, now I'm kinda mad.

Before 2009 you could. A poor excuse rendered them invisible.

 

[marni1971]

I heard Cars dead 2 weeks ago, but Cars alive again this week.

Interesting.

How I understand it, Carsland and/or RSR will not be built on the backlot area.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Oh good hell I am NOT ready for snow...

It is ironic that we hate it at home but will pay good money to see it here:

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Wow...well that was a depressing read this morning. "YIKES!" doesn't even begin to cover it.

The worst part is that we could all see this coming. Just year after year of "deferred" and "canceled" investment has finally piled up to the point that its impossible to ignore. Not to mention the misguided appropriations that have been well detailed in other threads. The situation at WDW is just plain sad...there is so much wrong one doesn't know where to begin.

 

[marni1971]

Again, I'm not playing at a UNI fanboi or purposely moaning at everything. I could have gone a lot further. I just called things as I saw them with an educated eye.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Again, I'm not playing at a UNI fanboi or purposely moaning at everything. I could have gone a lot further. I just called things as I saw them with an educated eye.

I think you were very objective.

 

[Did Knee]

Great report! Scary, but great. Thank you.

 

[Gomer]

I think you were very objective.

I agree. Maybe I'm feeling overly optimistic today, but compared to the reports like this from trained eyes that would come in 1 or 2 years ago, this was positively glowing.

There were negatives I understand. But some postivies i took out of it off the top of my head.

Splash continues to look great and with a 3 month refurb on the horizon to make even more repairs.
JC full refurb.
Main Street curbs are staying
DHS is abysmal but help is on the way soon
Energy,Imagination, Japan, Illuminations being considered for improvements. ( I know, not confirmed, but in the past it seemed like Disney had almost forgotten Epcot was even their property to maintain)

I'm not saying it was a positive report. But I feel like we are seeing some glacial movement towards better upkeep. Not nearly as fast as is needed, but it seems to be the trend over the last 6 months or so. Starting with Main St cosmetic refurbs over the last few years and then with the Splash refurb this winter. More needs to happen, but it is nice to see 1 or 2 positives thrown in with the negatives. A couple years ago this would have been pure despair.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Anyone who would call Martin anything other than fair and objective would just be trolling. It was quite a fair report and definitely addressed the good and bad of everything. You can't get any more unbiased than that.

I hope the Imagination project hasn't slowed down any compared to what @WDW1974 was saying was supposed to happen, it needs to be more than just a consideration. Would be a shame if they just ended up deciding to do nothing to it as they're always canceling plans (or even shuttering it forever ala WoL). The current ride is an abomination, fixing that would at least be a good first step in beginning to address some of Future World's serious problems. A small glimmer of hope. Surprised to hear about talks for a new Japan dark ride, though I'm not getting any hopes or expectations up at it actually happening.

I'd actually argue that if you take things from a relative perspective (relative to the 80's and early 90's), EPCOT is actually the WDW park most depressing to behold and perhaps needs the most help. Half of it anyways. Even DHS and AK are still at least largely recognizable from their original forms (a lot if not all of their original best attractions are still there and at least mostly intact and still good). Half of EPCOT however was completely ruined beyond recognition in the mid-late 90's. And unless something amazing fundamentally changes in corporate, it's unlikely to ever be able to come close to amounting to what it once was.

And yeah i'm hoping Grand Floridian gets an LED update. If they won't bother replacing broken bulbs, at least getting bulbs that don't burn out easily so it doesn't matter as much that management is lax. It looks fantastic with all of its lights shining (resort is still beautiful to look at and quite a sight to behold from afar), not close to as much when most of the lights are non-working...

 

[asianway]

See Indy whilst you still can. Same with Idol.

What about B&TB and VOTLM?

Thanks

 

[marni1971]

What about B&TB and VOTLM?

Thanks

B and the B.... Heard nothing more than what's been posted here. Same for mermaid. I have got both and Indy extensively covered in HD just in case though

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Again, I'm not playing at a UNI fanboi or purposely moaning at everything. I could have gone a lot further. I just called things as I saw them with an educated eye.

More please. If I could pick your brain, I would. But this is as close as I can get.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

@marni1971, hypothetical question but do you think Disney would ever shutter an entire park?

 

[WDW1974]

Great post, mate. But I must say that if you hate WDW so much you should just go to UNI, so the FP+ created lines will be shorter for the rest of us.

Besides, WDW has never been better. Lou Mongello said so and the Orlando social media whores all agree so long as they are getting freebies.

I actually think you probably went easy on Disney. You UKers seem to have some sort of unnatural attraction to the swamplands that I don't get (except my old pal Lee MacDonald who probably hasn't been in years now).

The only thing I can add is that Cars (in some form) is not dead. I know for an absolute fact that work has been done/planning just this month (so during your visit). I have no idea what version this is and to what extent it has been approved. But something is definitely happening.