REVIEW - Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo at Disney's Hollywood Studios

monothingie

monothingie

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
Premium Member
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tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
kpilcher said:
Well. The land was designed for both parks. The version we got was more DL centric and built in DHS where it is as a budget/time incentive. If we’d have gotten the Indy-area version, IMHO ( and I certainly don’t know everything about the changes) it would be a better fit. But only if something like CarsLand and / or Monstropolis was built where GE is now.

I had the privilege of experiencing DHS:GE for the first time in it’s near-entirety last night.
Granted crowds were low and ROTR is not open. I was able to fly on/with the Falcon twice and experienced everything that wasn’t pure up-charge (Lightsaber and Cantina) in less than 3 hours. Leisurely. Very leisurely. Loved most of it to be sure. Unlike some projects ( imagination v2&3, for example) you clearly see where most of the money went. I certainly won’t judge an incomplete land on one trip, but I wouldn’t plan a vacation around it as things stand.

Please don’t get me wrong: I enjoyed some truly quality moments. I saw Chewbacca and stormtroopers roaming like Disney characters did in the 70s. I saw Rey interacting surreptitiously with some adoring young girls at night in a way I thought was pure Disney magic. I am FAR from hating what I just experienced. The land gets a LOT right. It’s beautiful. Truly. But the best place to enter for a grand reveal is from the Toy Story Land exit/entrance. Not Grand Avenue and I love the Tap House.

I plan on going back to reassess my thoughts very soon. I had a good snack/ meal at Docking Bay (I never missed the sporks and didn’t hate the hastily added extra temp seating). I will say: Sauti Canteen’s food is better.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed Falcon. I thought it was a lot of fun, but don’t ask me to explain what happened. My second trip I got to experience the wheelchair version. Big thumbs up for being almost exactly the same experience.

As I texted a friend, it felt so much like a Joe Rohde project that I left wanting a souvenir tetanus shot.

SW:GE is far, far away from a miss. But I also did not enjoy myself as much as I did in Hogsmede, Diagon Alley or Pandora. Why? I’m not sure yet. But when I go to Universal/IOA it is primarily for Potter (and I haven’t even seen all of the films so I’m not an Uber-fan) as well as Seuss and Dudley Do-Right. That said, My favorite parts of IOA were demolished for Potter and there is a reason some nickname it Islands of Hypothermia.

Bottom line: I left a gorgeously themed and realized area tonight as a lifelong SW fan wanting more. Especially more that wasn’t just trying to separate me from my money. And I have no problem with the commerce aspect, in theory.

I’m looking forward to more visits to help me understand my feelings.
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Without beating a dead horse/banging the same drum/*insert overused figure of speech here*, IMO the reason is that the area is a gorgeously realized movie set. It’s well built. The theming is top notch. It appears to offer more than it does.

But successful movie sets rely on (1) actors and actresses and (2) cinematography that frames the image. Then the movie itself relies on music and sound effects to add another level of emotional involvement.

SWGE has no overall music and little entertainment. The designers were so busy pretending to be clever with their “real” space, they forgot that theme parks are an extension of the movie industry and rely on the same elements for emotional involvement.

Plus, this will never feel like an absolutely real planet as long as it’s full of tourists in tees and shorts. That’s just reality.

Even when SWGE is completely open, it will have two rides that are completely hidden with no exterior kinetics, several shops, and a couple of small food locations.

Let’s compare that to Frontierland, which has a less polished theme and clunkier, less sophisticated rockwork. FRL abounds in visual kinetics (riverboat, Splash logs, BTMRR) and exploration (TS Island) — plus an AA stage show. Old-school country, bluegrass, and folk songs waft through the air.

Between SWGE and FrL, which area feels more alive? I’d rather be in FrL.
 
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BigThunderMatt

Well-Known Member
tirian said:
Without beating a dead horse/banging the same drum/*insert overused figure of speech here*, IMO the reason is that the area is a gorgeously realized movie set. It’s well built. The theming is top notch. It appears to offer more than it does.

But successful movie sets rely on (1) actors and actresses and (2) cinematography that frames the image. Then the movie itself relies on music and sound effects to add another level of emotional involvement.
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This is also why Wizarding World is so well-designed IMO. There may not necessarily be kinetic energy from the rides, but the sights and sounds and the lack of visual sight-lines to other areas (particularly in Diagon Alley) makes the area feel so much more alive. From a merchandising/dining standpoint I also feel like Harry Potter is a gold mine in the amount of items they could conceivably pull from the books and films that people would want to buy or eat. Star Wars just doesn't have that. Outside of EU obsessed hyperfans, what iconic items besides a lightsaber and blue milk can you really name from Star Wars that would be easily marketable?
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
Disneyland has ALWAYS had the better food options compared to WDW. This is nothing new. It doesn't make the name changes at WDW any less disappointing though.
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Piebald said:
Disneyland has better food options than WDW. Less demand and just a better expectation from the crowd that goes to DL. APs there arent going to put up with some crappy cheeseburger whereas here a cheeseburger with mac and cheese on it becomes a huge selling point.
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Yeah, pretty much Californian food preferences vs, southern and midwestern. I'd choose Californian anyday.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
This is also why Wizarding World is so well-designed IMO. There may not necessarily be kinetic energy from the rides, but the sights and sounds and the lack of visual sight-lines to other areas (particularly in Diagon Alley) makes the area feel so much more alive. From a merchandising/dining standpoint I also feel like Harry Potter is a gold mine in the amount of items they could conceivably pull from the books and films that people would want to buy or eat. Star Wars just doesn't have that. Outside of EU obsessed hyperfans, what iconic items besides a lightsaber and blue milk can you really name from Star Wars that would be easily marketable?
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Good points all around.
 
matt9112

matt9112

Well-Known Member
Really hits home how they went out of there way to create a fake planet with fake stuff and than act surprised when nobody knows it.
I stand behind my honest opinion that argument aside potter was just FARRRR better for turning into a fully immersive experience. There was one set of characters there was only a handful of places to know and love. There was a person that could tell universal no to anything. Disneys biggest issue with sw land is how big and unregulated star wars as a thing is. Theres a larger cast of characters spanning several "sets" of movies that in turn span dozens of entire planets. Theres nobody to tell disney they cant do x y z so theres no guaranteed standard its just whatever disney feels like.
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
Here we go, catering to the lowest common denominator as per the norm. The common man is such an idiot that they can't wrap their head around things being pretend and take everything literally. I cannot for the life of me count how many times people would come into Town Square Theater expecting to see a show and being disgusted to find out it was just a meet and greet. You REALLY had to be taking the banners outside at face value to think it was a show. Same thing here. People probably complained that they didn't want exotic ingredients in their food and instead of fostering the creative and unique elements of the land, they dumbed it down for people that are clearly too stupid to be given a driver's license, let alone visit a theme park, and expect everything to be spelled out to them in plain English and black and white.
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Next you're going to tell me the Fishy Green Ale over in Diagon Alley doesn't actually contain fish... 😉

-Rob
 

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