Star Wars themed land announced for Disneyland

[TP2000]

Talking about these plans just makes me more upset.

I hate to hear that @raven24!

I would have been terrified about this River news 15 years ago when Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss were running the place into the ground and doing everything on the cheap. But now with the current team, and with the current budgets they throw at these big projects, I have a great deal of faith this will be a net gain for the park as a whole.

Maybe I'm just old, but I think over the course of post-Walt Disneyland eras this current one is an apt time to take on a sensitive project like altering the Rivers of America. They appear to have the proper talent in WDI, and the proper talent in the executive suites cutting the checks. See Cars Land as an example.

If anything, they desperately need to get the plastic animals and hokey Indian animatronics out of the 1970's and present a show that resonates with and impresses 21st century audiences. And cutting a few minutes off that 20 minute ride won't hurt either.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I hate to hear that @raven24!

I would have been terrified about this River news 15 years ago when Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss were running the place into the ground and doing everything on the cheap. But now with the current team, and with the current budgets they throw at these big projects, I have a great deal of faith this will be a net gain for the park as a whole.

Maybe I'm just old, but I think over the course of post-Walt Disneyland eras this current one is an apt time to take on a sensitive project like altering the Rivers of America. They appear to have the proper talent in WDI, and the proper talent in the executive suites cutting the checks. See Cars Land as an example.

If anything, they desperately need to get the plastic animals and hokey Indian animatronics out of the 1970's and present a show that resonates with and impresses 21st century audiences. And cutting a few minutes off that 20 minute ride won't hurt either.

I wish I could be happy about these plans, but I can't. I'm so mad I could flip over a desk.

It's one thing to shorten RoA and make it smaller, but to do it for a land based on an IP that is so far from Disneyland's original concept just makes things so much worse. I'm not against bringing new lands to Disneyland, but when they're based on movies such as Star Wars, I take issue with it. If shortening the river for something like Discovery Bay (something that someone actually took time to create and didn't base it on an existing film franchise), I wouldn't nearly be as angry as I am now. Star Wars, though???? The idea makes me sick to my stomach. Disneyland is the original, and I feel there are certain things Disney just should and shouldn't do with the park, and this is one of those things.

I agree the animatronics could use the updates, but don't shorten the river. Not for freaking Star Wars, at least. Encouraging these plans means encouraging Disney to refuse to come up with something truly original for the park, something we haven't seen in decades, and encouraging them to base their new attractions on films and other forms of intellectual properties. I can't get on that train.

As much as I enjoy Cars Land (seriously, what's with these generic names?), the original plans looked WAY more interesting than what we have now, and they made more sense. I would have appreciated the original idea more than Cars Land. That just goes to show that the Imagineers really can imagine and come up with something fresh. Disney actually building something based on these imaginative plans is pretty much extinct, it seems, and that greatly saddens me.

There is a lack of original storytelling at the stateside Disney parks. Something like that shouldn't happen at the original park, especially since the majority of it was based on it. It's sad. But, as I said, as long as people are happy with it, Disney will be happy.

 

[Travel Junkie]

I hate to hear that @raven24!

I would have been terrified about this River news 15 years ago when Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss were running the place into the ground and doing everything on the cheap. But now with the current team, and with the current budgets they throw at these big projects, I have a great deal of faith this will be a net gain for the park as a whole.

Maybe I'm just old, but I think over the course of post-Walt Disneyland eras this current one is an apt time to take on a sensitive project like altering the Rivers of America. They appear to have the proper talent in WDI, and the proper talent in the executive suites cutting the checks. See Cars Land as an example.

If anything, they desperately need to get the plastic animals and hokey Indian animatronics out of the 1970's and present a show that resonates with and impresses 21st century audiences. And cutting a few minutes off that 20 minute ride won't hurt either.

True it won't be cheap like a Pressler era redo would have been, but I am worried about the changes in part because of WDI's recent track record in altering classic Disneyland. NO Square, Club 33, Main St. bypass, and the Market House redo's recent examples of WDI getting it very wrong in my view. I do like what they have done with attraction refurbishments as of late, but they have had some major misses in other areas.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg of the issues I have with the Star Wars plans.

 

[1023]

True it won't be cheap like a Pressler era redo would have been, but I am worried about the changes in part because of WDI's recent track record in altering classic Disneyland. NO Square, Club 33, Main St. bypass, and the Market House redo's recent examples of WDI getting it very wrong in my view. I do like what they have done with attraction refurbishments as of late, but they have had some major misses in other areas.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg of the issues I have with the Star Wars plans.

Club 33 expanding to let more commoners in was definitely an infuriating move.

*1023*

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I keep seeing that giant off-center window from NOS in my brain when I think of what WDI will do to the existing ROA.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I keep seeing that giant off-center window from NOS in my brain when I think of what WDI will do to the existing ROA.

No, no, you can barely ever see that just like you can barely ever see the Rivers of America.

 

[Californian Elitist]

True it won't be cheap like a Pressler era redo would have been, but I am worried about the changes in part because of WDI's recent track record in altering classic Disneyland. NO Square, Club 33, Main St. bypass, and the Market House redo's recent examples of WDI getting it very wrong in my view. I do like what they have done with attraction refurbishments as of late, but they have had some major misses in other areas.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg of the issues I have with the Star Wars plans.

Yep. They've been slipping.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

I wish I could be happy about these plans, but I can't. I'm so mad I could flip over a desk.

My apologies, but this kind of response from the fan community is something I will never understand. By it's very design Disneyland was meant to be an ever changing and evolving place. Well, at least the Disneyland I grew up with. YMMV.

 

[Californian Elitist]

My apologies, but this kind of response from tge fan community is something I will never understand. By it's very design Disneyland was meant to be an ever changing and evolving place. Well, at least the Disneyland I grew up with. YMMV.

I didn't say Disneyland absolutely can't change. In saying that, its original premise and design (not referring to its layout, but its storytelling design) shouldn't change. When Disney tried to replace Lincoln with the Muppets, should we have welcomed change and supported a dumb decision like that? What if Disney decided to get rid of the classics like Pirates, Mansion, Jungle Cruise, the Fantasyland dark rides, Sleeping Beauty Castle, etc.? Change is always good, right? Wrong.

This doesn't just go for Disneyland. Some things should be preserved. When I say that, I don't mean things shouldn't be touched. I'm a member of L.A. Conservancy, which aims to improve/refurbish and conserve lots of historic Los Angeles buildings, neighborhoods, etc. My favorites are the early 19th century movie palaces on Broadway in Downtown L.A. Those movie palaces are beyond gorgeous, and it's a shame how much damage some of them have sufferer from. Some of them have been turned into swap meets and jewelry stores, and some of them have been converted into more respectful establishments. Some are still in use, thanks to the Conservancy. If people didn't care about historical sites and such, they'd be ruined and gone. Disneyland is very much a historical place and an American icon. Some things should be preserved.

I really don't believe I should have to explain myself, but after going back and forth in this thread, I've come to realize people just don't look at Disneyland like I do, and therefore is fine with drastic changes like these.

 

[dweezil78]

Neither would I.

Talking about these plans just makes me more upset.

You do realize just how incredible and improbable it is that those Indians lasted as long as they did, don't you? Especially when you consider how many truly great parts of the park have gone the way of the dodo that many of us never even got to see firsthand.

 

[dweezil78]

I really don't believe I should have to explain myself, but after going back and forth in this thread, I've come to realize people just don't look at Disneyland like I do, and therefore is fine with drastic changes like these.

Despite some healthy heated debate, I think everyone on this forum totally gets where you are coming from considering this is one of most mature groups of Disneyland fans I know of. Even those of us who are seemingly ok with these changes probably aren't 100% ok with them and being very cautiously optimistic (I'm describing myself here).

The reality is, there's only so much Disneyland to go around -- and for Walt's little park to continue to move forward, sacrifices sadly have to be made in order for things to be done on the type of scale necessary for a massive new expansion.

I for one, like the generations who came before me, will consider myself lucky to have experienced the attractions and parts of the park that have come and gone in my lifetime while looking forward to the new experiences that will replace them. Like the mantra Walt embraced in his later years, It's a great big beautiful tomorrow!

 

[lazyboy97o]

The reality is, there's only so much Disneyland to go around -- and for Walt's little park to continue to move forward, sacrifices sadly have to be made in order for things to be done on the type of scale necessary for a massive new expansion.

Except that there were plans that involved minimal sacrifice.

 

[Californian Elitist]

You do realize just how incredible and improbable it is that those Indians lasted as long as they did, don't you? Especially when you consider how many truly great parts of the park have gone the way of the dodo that many of us never even got to see firsthand.

Yes, I do. I don't really see what your point is.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Despite some healthy heated debate, I think everyone on this forum totally gets where you are coming from considering this is one of most mature groups of Disneyland fans I know of. Even those of us who are seemingly ok with these changes probably aren't 100% ok with them and being very cautiously optimistic (I'm describing myself here).

The reality is, there's only so much Disneyland to go around -- and for Walt's little park to continue to move forward, sacrifices sadly have to be made in order for things to be done on the type of scale necessary for a massive new expansion.

I for one, like the generations who came before me, will consider myself lucky to have experienced the attractions and parts of the park that have come and gone in my lifetime while looking forward to the new experiences that will replace them. Like the mantra Walt embraced in his later years, It's a great big beautiful tomorrow!

I think you missed the main reason why I'm upset. It's not the sole fact that they're taking away a piece of the river and Frontierland that angers me. It's the fact that they're doing it for an entire land dedicated to Star Wars.

You may consider the future of the park great, big, and beautiful, but I don't. LOL There's no Walt-related quote you could say that would change how I feel.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Except that there were plans that involved minimal sacrifice.

Thank you.

 

[Curious Constance]

I didn't say Disneyland absolutely can't change. In saying that, its original premise and design (not referring to its layout, but its storytelling design) shouldn't change. When Disney tried to replace Lincoln with the Muppets, should we have welcomed change and supported a dumb decision like that? What if Disney decided to get rid of the classics like Pirates, Mansion, Jungle Cruise, the Fantasyland dark rides, Sleeping Beauty Castle, etc.? Change is always good, right? Wrong.

This doesn't just go for Disneyland. Some things should be preserved. When I say that, I don't mean things shouldn't be touched. I'm a member of L.A. Conservancy, which aims to improve/refurbish and conserve lots of historic Los Angeles buildings, neighborhoods, etc. My favorites are the early 19th century movie palaces on Broadway in Downtown L.A. Those movie palaces are beyond gorgeous, and it's a shame how much damage some of them have sufferer from. Some of them have been turned into swap meets and jewelry stores, and some of them have been converted into more respectful establishments. Some are still in use, thanks to the Conservancy. If people didn't care about historical sites and such, they'd be ruined and gone. Disneyland is very much a historical place and an American icon. Some things should be preserved.

When Disney tried to replace Lincoln with the Muppets, should we have welcomed change and supported a dumb decision like that?

What's the use of preserving it though when no one ever attends the Lincoln shows? Isn't there a happy medium somewhere? Couldn't they find a spot for Lincoln to be on display, but not have it taking up that huge theater that no one ever goes into?

 

[Californian Elitist]

Constance, you're generalizing. It's clear you at least make time to see Lincoln during your trips.

 

[Californian Elitist]

While we're at it, let's take out the Main Street Cinema, too.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

While we're at it, let's take out the Main Street Cinema, too.

They already did at Walt Disney World! It's been a shop there for years now.

 

[dweezil78]

Yes, I do. I don't really see what your point is.

I'm saying Disneyland isn't a museum and those of us who aren't 60+ years old are pretty fortunate to have seen some things that probably shouldn't have stuck around past the first decade of the park.