"Paddlefish" is a fail in theme.

[FettFan]

Originally the Empress Lilly, and then Fulton's Crab House, the beautiful boat-shaped building at Disney Springs....is not not so beautiful anymore.

Here's Fulton's as it was in 2013:

It's warm and inviting, bright and cheery, and you can easily imagine the thing steaming to life and pulling away from the "dock".


But then they did THIS:

It's been painted a wastewater gray, they removed of all the accent pieces, and it has a really bland font for the name.
If their sign was green, it would be indistinguishable from a Starbucks store front.




Secondly...look what the hell they did to the dining room.
Here's what Fulton's looked like when I visited back in 2013:

It's what you'd expect to find inside an actual paddle boat. It's got the wood furniture and accents, the antique signage. It's a home-y atmosphere that suits a paddle wheeler.

The After:

The hell is this? It looks so bland and sterile. There's no real character in it anymore.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I mean it looks nice, but I agree. No theming, honestly.

I actually feel like they've done this with just about ALL of the signature restaurant redos the last few years--they look nice but are sterile and all look the same. Flying Fish comes to mind.

 

[imperius]

Looks better now IMO

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I don't really share your enthusiasm for Fulton's Crap House, but I do agree with your assessment of Paddlefish. Even when bearing in mind that re-used, re-purposed old space is the look of DS, this job just has fail written all over it.

Out of a million thoughts, let me pick one: they re-installed smokestacks and a paddlewheel*, only to then remove every trace of this being a paddle wheel steamboat. Some gain.
What's more, doesn't it all become an exercise in pointlessness? What is the point of a large cyberglass fairytale castle only to strip away all gothic and fantasy elements to make it resemble a 2017 office?

*albeit not a moving one. Such technological marvels can only be achieved in the future, in 1977, when WDW has lowered its prices by two thirds to afford it.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Here's Fulton's as it was in 2013:

It's warm and inviting, bright and cheery, and you can easily imagine the thing steaming to life and pulling away from the "dock".

One can imagine Fulton 'steaming to life and pulling away from the dock'? Quod non. There are no stacks, so no steam, and no wheel, so nothing to move it with. For exactly two decades, both Fulton (Levy) and Disney have been to cheap to install even a makeshift $20k wheel (as Paddlefish did just now). While both raked in the cash. An ongoing abundance of cash which explains why they felt no pressure whatsoever to maintain this erstwhile flagship of WDW, this homage to Walt's beloved wife. Money hungry Philistines, both Levy and Eisner, who sucked dry a magnificent labour of love that neither had built but both felt no qualms about squeezing out to the last drop of blood.

Don't forget, Fulton Crap House was one of the top ten highest grossing restaurants in the US! Yes, not of Levy, not of a Disney park, but outright. A top ten highest gross in the US. As WDW was the world's highest grossing themed resort. And in two decades not even both combined could find the pocket change to maintain Lillian Disney's WDW monument. Disgraceful management.

Secondly...look what the hell they did to the dining room.
Here's what Fulton's looked like when I visited back in 2013:

It's what you'd expect to find inside an actual paddle boat. It's got the wood furniture and accents, the antique signage. It's a home-y atmosphere that suits a paddle wheeler.

The After:

The hell is this? It looks so bland and sterile. There's no real character in it anymore.

Eh, what's wrong with Paddlefish? I stayed in a Howard Johnson in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2013, and their breakfast room looked exactly the same!

For completeness' sake, here's the last of the trio of occupants, the Empress Lillly:

 

[Goofyernmost]

Originally the Empress Lilly, and then Fulton's Crab House, the beautiful boat-shaped building at Disney Springs....is not not so beautiful anymore.

Here's Fulton's as it was in 2013:

It's warm and inviting, bright and cheery, and you can easily imagine the thing steaming to life and pulling away from the "dock".


But then they did THIS:

It's been painted a wastewater gray, they removed of all the accent pieces, and it has a really bland font for the name.
If their sign was green, it would be indistinguishable from a Starbucks store front.




Secondly...look what the hell they did to the dining room.
Here's what Fulton's looked like when I visited back in 2013:

It's what you'd expect to find inside an actual paddle boat. It's got the wood furniture and accents, the antique signage. It's a home-y atmosphere that suits a paddle wheeler.

The After:

The hell is this? It looks so bland and sterile. There's no real character in it anymore.

Actually, it looks like the inside of a cruise ship restaurant.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Actually, it looks like the inside of a cruise ship restaurant.

I wouldn't know. The stars haven't aligned for me yet. Still a cruise virgin!

It's not that it looks bad, per se. On the contrary, it is solid, decent design. Open, fresh. Modern and not unpleasant. If a tad bland and perhaps also a dime a dozen.

But if you look at that interior picture, can you guess where or on what you are? No, not at all. Which must rank as the capital sin, the complete negation, of themed design. Which from what I understand is FettFan's main point, to which I must agree.

 

[BackOTheLine]

Haven't been there yet (hope to remedy that this week) but the menu, IMHO, looks leagues better now. I'd rather be happily fed in an emotionless box than lick the mold from the bones of an old fossil...but I guess I'm not one for sentiment when it comes to eating.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I wouldn't know. The stars haven't aligned for me yet. Still a cruise virgin!

It's not that it looks bad, per se. On the contrary, it is solid, decent design. Open, fresh. Modern and not unpleasant. If a tad bland and perhaps also a dime a dozen.

But if you look at that interior picture, can you guess where or on what you are? No, not at all. Which must rank as the capital sin, the complete negation, of themed design. Which from what I understand is FettFan's main point, to which I must agree.

Well, I have been on cruises and the very first thing that came to my mind was Cruise Ship. So, if theming is important and it's supposed to be a boat, then it is actually better themed then Fulton's was for todays world.

You should try and get on a cruise, they can be a lot of fun. If it is because of money, hold off on the Disney cruises which are insanely expensive and take a short 3 or 4 day on one of the gazillion other cruise lines.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Actually, it looks like the inside of a cruise ship restaurant.

I was just about to say that.


Doesn't look half bad to me.

 

[xdan0920]

Well, I have been on cruises and the very first thing that came to my mind was Cruise Ship. So, if theming is important and it's supposed to be a boat, then it is actually better themed then Fulton's was for todays world.

You should try and get on a cruise, they can be a lot of fun. If it is because of money, hold off on the Disney cruises which are insanely expensive and take a short 3 or 4 day on one of the gazillion other cruise lines.

Cruises are fun in theory. Scary in reality. Big floating cities. How does that work?!?!? What the he'll is ballast? Nonsense.

Fwiw. I don't think $$$ is the reason our dear Empress hasn't gone cruising.

 

[Dead2009]

Actually, it looks like the inside of a cruise ship restaurant.

How dare they try to make something look realistic as possible.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Well, it does fit the name of how that fish actually looks....Very Ugly.....

 

[invader]

I'm strangely reminded of Bonefish Grill.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Cruises are fun in theory. Scary in reality. Big floating cities. How does that work?!?!? What the he'll is ballast? Nonsense.

Fwiw. I don't think $$$ is the reason our dear Empress hasn't gone cruising.

Well, Empress didn't say why.. I just mentioned it in the event that it was. And for me, Cruises are fun in reality. Cruised across the Atlantic just a little over a year ago and that big floating city was great. Didn't sink or anything. Managed to miss every iceberg in the South Atlantic. Now if I had seen Leonardo DiCaprio boarding I might have altered my thoughts about it.

 

[Glasgow]

It's styled to look modern and up to date. That's not to say its good or bad, just what it is. The perfect word for me is 'anodyne'.

 

[danlb_2000]

It's styled to look modern and up to date. That's not to say its good or bad, just what it is. The perfect word for me is 'anodyne'.

When it comes to these boards, nothing Disney does is anodyne.

As I mentioned in another thread, it's definitely a different design approach, they weren't trying to make you feel like you were actually on a river boat, but instead you are in a river boat that has been repurposed into a restaurant.

 

[Redsoxfn79]

Got a strong California grill vibe

 

[larryz]

But if you look at that interior picture, can you guess where or on what you are? No, not at all. Which must rank as the capital sin, the complete negation, of themed design.

Easy to fix -- set all the place settings with "Disney Parks" paper napkins.

 

[KikoKea]

Looks rather bland and industrial. From the outside, it doesn't make me want to see what's inside.