Rapunzel's tower has arrived.

[Gabe1]

Well that hairdo would definitely cut out 30 minutes each morning grooming my long locks and the next board meeting I walked into I would likely turn some heads, surely though not for the same reasons as she does.

 

[jayhawkmickey]

Must we continue to refer to the big tower near the bathroom as a "weenie"?

I'm from Kansas and we have the word "weenie" out here but I'm not sure it means the same thing as relating to Disney bathrooms???? Somebody please tell me what the heck a "weenie" is when talking about the tower without locking the thread.

 

[Atomicmickey]

I'm from Kansas and we have the word "weenie" out here but I'm not sure it means the same thing as relating to Disney bathrooms???? Somebody please tell me what the heck a "weenie" is when talking about the tower without locking the thread.

It's a term that Walt used to describe something that you can see in the distance
that attracts you towards it. So, the Castle. SpaceShip Earth, etc.

Not what you think of in Kansas.

 

[MKCP 1985]

That's a bit different. The castle is in the center of the park and isn't really in a designated land. I think the tower looks great, but I am with everyone else about the sight lines.

Not everyone else has a problem with seeing the tower. That's one of the jokes about this great website. The complainers can sound at times like they represent Joe and Jane Everyman when they don't.

Have you actually been to the Magic Kingdom and seen this with your own eyes yet? I haven't. This isn't directed to you, but generally to people who may come across this post or this thread: Don't be afraid to withhold judgment until you actually see what it is like. And don't go with the mindset of "I'm going to find that burned out bulb to validate my already written opinion that the park is going downhill," but just go and experience the park and let the experiences come to you. Chances are that you may realize on the tram back to the parking lot, "I forgot to look for that chip of paint or collection of bird p00p on the second floor of the Pinocchio Restaurant that I had read about on the interwebz!"

 

[spacemt354]

Ehh..I can already tell from the top of this page that the tower has caused another debate where the term malcontent is being used in excess to describe people with critical views.

Don't know if this my views are considered malcontent or not, but perhaps because the tower is new, at first glance it seems out of place from Liberty Square and Frontierland.

Granted, the castle itself can be seen from these areas of the park. In fact the castle can be seen from pretty much everywhere, and it doesn't cause a thematic problem for me seeing the castle reaffirms that I'm in the Magic Kingdom. Walking down Main Street and seeing a medival castle is thematically diverse, yet it isn't a concern because that is image that has become synonymous with a Disney park. I wonder how the Matterhorn would be accepted today if that was placed in Fantasyland in the MK, and could be seen from the whole park? The reason why I think it might be accepted? Because it is an attraction! A ride, and an awesome one at that. Rapunzel's tower doesn't have an attraction, unless going to the bathroom is a highlight of your trip. A meet and greet would have been a much better in this place (I don't think the area is big enough for a dark ride) That would have left room for another dark ride where Princess fairytale hall is going now.

We'll have to see, maybe I'll get used to it and maybe some trees will grow in. But as of right now, while the tower itself is very well done, the placement and size is a tad off.

 

[Atomicmickey]

Here's the thing. Again, the tower looks good, the village looks good. This is a good thing.

I wouldn't, however, go so far as to call it "magical". Again, they are bathrooms.

Point being--it's nice that they're doing this, and it would be great if there were other
large projects to be excited about, and this was just a "plus". General feeling is that the FLE
is "nice", and themed well, but lacking meat. This is another one of those. I get why they're
doing it, and I hope that the interactive queue for Pan is cool.

So, yeah. I think this will look nice, and it gets a "golf clap" from me.I wish it was in the context
of some new attractions like Gringott's and Hogwarts, an accent rather than a focus.

My only real cringe about this, and only time will tell, is the visibility issue, I'm not thrilled
about being able to see Tangled from the Haunted Mansion. We shall see how that plays out.

Central point--really, this is a minor thing, that shouldn't call for major celebration (magical!)
or major malcontent (just bathrooms!)

Seems like the whole thing is a mild "meh", and nothing to get too excited about.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Grant it construction is still ongoing, but why should we wait for trees? I thought one of the blessings of size was the tree farm so that going forward there wouldn't be the need to wait years for mature trees?

You assume that tree farms allow for the easy transplant of "mature" trees. The live oak at the Liberty Tree tavern was mature when it was transplanted from elsewhere to its current location, and that was big operation that required holes to be drilled in the tree to hoist it up. Tree farms grow trees for years, but they still aren't mature, and they may be container grown, limiting their growth. When you look at the limited space for planting trees in this area, it is probably a good idea to go with older trees, but no where near completely mature trees. They want to encourage tap root formation for stability as some of these trees are right on the edge of the rock work.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

What's funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it) is how angry all the malcontents would be if Disney just put regular bathrooms here...with no theming or anything special.

The malcontents would have been gnashing their teeth at how cheap Disney is that they DIDN'T do something special with the washrooms when they had the chance...

I think the Tangled tower looks great, it is even close to that certain building, (which is also in Disneyland), which makes an easter egg appearance in the film. Love the plants on the tower and how well detailed it is . . . I think in terms of architecture it is as good as BoG, maybe even a tad bit better.

I'm still a Mermaid malcontent as Mermaid's castle doesn't have this level of detail, no vines, plants, and just plain old blocks that look like cement blocks. Can't believe Rapunzel's tower looks so much better than Eric's castle.

If the tower is lit up an night, I would walk over to Fantasyland just to see that.

And I think that guests could always see some of Fantasyland from Liberty Square, even from the river boat. The river boat itself doesn't fit in with Liberty Square . . . hence the large boarding dock to hide it.

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...aster-eggs-in-disney-s-quot-tangled-quot.aspx

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I hereby give TDO full permission to put in regular bathrooms without super special awesome sauce theming and I will not call them cheap. I'll just call them cheap about other things

I disagree. I'm really glad that Disney went the quality route with this area, yeah they are "just" bathrooms, but the outside facade needs to match with Fantasyland, which this accomplishes *and* it is a big plus for the aesthetics of the whole area, which I think was sorely lacking.

This is what makes Disney special, plussing things that don't really need to be plussed just to perform a basic service. Same thing as all of the plusses in BoG.

 

[wedenterprises]

I will wait until I see a shot from PP or Philharmagic, but I get the sense what we have lost here is levels. I'm more concerned about that than anything thematic. The old chalet gave such a dramatic rise in the landscape and was situated at such a fantastic, interesting angle. The rock work and rapunzel tower are clearly an attempt to maintain some of that, but I don't think it will be quite the same.

Another thing that was lost long ago when the chalet first closed was the view FROM the chalet. The view of Fantasyland from up there was designed very specifically. Everything facing that direction had a swiss feel to it, yet when facing the chalet from FL, it had more of a castle courtyard feel. Like a lenticular illusion. It was brilliant, masterful design.

 

[Timothy_Q]

I wonder how the Matterhorn would be accepted today if that was placed in Fantasyland in the MK, and could be seen from the whole park?

People would seriously burn the thing down.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I really hope you are right about them redoing the roof.

In my dream world, the Speedway gets demolished one day and part of that reclaimed land gets turned into a Wonderland area with another Alice attraction that would complement the Tea Cups...and the Tea Cups itself gets refurbished with a gorgeous new building that really matches all the other things done recently.

That would be great, Disneyland has a nice little area with Alice and the Tea Cups, and it is seamless with the rest of Fantasyland, i.e. without the need to build a "sub-land" to hermetically isolate it from the rest of Fantasland, sort of like how Dumbo is in its old world now. Circusland look OK, I guess, but the ride offerings are poor.

Looks like Merryweather got one right!

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

People would seriously burn the thing down.

Marty Sklar said that they were worried about the Matterhorn impact in Disneyland given the castle, and that it could wreck sightlines. Walt was right though, and the Matterhorn work with the castle.

 

[Patricia Melton]

I would not agree that "everything is fine" with the Dumbo show building, I still think it looks pretty bad especially from the speedway.

I don't think the Speedway is going to be there much longer.

Hence, they didn't worry too much about how things look from the Speedway.

When Tomorrowland gets its re-do in a few years, the Speedway will be history and something else will be built there so the Dumbo show building will not be seen.

 

[jayhawkmickey]

It's a term that Walt used to describe something that you can see in the distance
that attracts you towards it. So, the Castle. SpaceShip Earth, etc.

Not what you think of in Kansas.

Thanks, I didn't know Walt used that term. My mind just wandered off to strange places I guess.

 

[spacemt354]

People would seriously burn the thing down.

Well I certainly hope they wouldn't. That would be a shame.

The point of me bringing that situation up was to say that let's not jump to conclusions and start uproars because something doesn't look right. I'm sure if DL ever got rid of the Matterhorn just because of its placement and size, there would be a lot of unhappy guests to say the least, because the Matterhorn turned out to be a great attraction despite that placement. Now like I said earlier, bathrooms are not an attraction, but I think the same principle should be applied.

So yeah, as of right now, the tower doesn't seem to be in the best placement, and I still feel something other than bathrooms should have gone in its place, But I also say lets give it some time. I'm not saying that the bathroom will be as beloved as a classic attraction such as the Matterhorn. All I'm saying is let's give it a year or two. See if we get used to it or if the trees grow in before we make any rash judgments.

 

[mvieguy]

That would be great, Disneyland has a nice little area with Alice and the Tea Cups, and it is seamless with the rest of Fantasyland, i.e. without the need to build a "sub-land" to hermetically isolate it from the rest of Fantasland, sort of like how Dumbo is in its old world now. Circusland look OK, I guess, but the ride offerings are poor.

Looks like Merryweather got one right!

I never understood why in neither parks, the que like wasnt made of Shrubs. like a mini maze. with fake roses sticking out from the shrubs and bushes, it would then give the Teacups some Privacy from the rest of Fantastyland. and create its own little magic

 

[jdmdisney99]

They could always move the Speedway to Epcot as Test Track Jr.

 

[flynnibus]

Obviously an exaggeration but not by any means an implausible scenario. And that was his point. it's a nicely themed area that looks pretty from afar and could and most likely will be easily confusable to guests as an area of more "substance" than just a bathroom. I don't think the kids are going to give a rat's that they can go look at the new Peter Pan queue when they were expecting a Rapunzel ride or at the very least, a M&G.

Same exact thing about the Castle...

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Between Dumbo's Circus tent, Beast's Castle, Eric's Castle, Rapunzel's Tower, and the Dwarf's Cottage, is anyone else thinking WDW's Fantasyland is starting to look like an oversized version of the Storybookland Canal Boats?