The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

Consumer

Well-Known Member
Eh, better than nothin’. But, seriously, When I think of Frozen and Peter Pan, the anchored ships are perhaps the most beautiful images I remember from the films.

And, excuse me: Journey to the Center of the Earth. It’s there because it’s written by the same author as 20,000 Leagues. It has nothing to do with seas or harbors, and is possibly the park’s most popular and most iconic ride.
Mysterious Island fits the theme of DisneySea and Journey fits the theme of Mysterious Island, so I don't see much reason to complain.
So why is it called Fantasy Springs? Why the 'Springs'? What do these three IP's have to do with 'springs'? I want answers! Or at least validation.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
So why is it called Fantasy Springs? Why the 'Springs'? What do these three IP's have to do with 'springs'? I want answers! Or at least validation.
I don't think the name has any real connection to the IPs, but rather I consider it a play on the water theme overall. A spring is a location where water flows to the surface, so Fantasy Springs is where fantasy worlds flow to reality.

Or something like that.
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Mysterious Island fits the theme of DisneySea and Journey fits the theme of Mysterious Island, so I don't see much reason to complain.
Neither do I— I think it’s awesome. But JTTCOTE has nothing to do with Mysterious Island beyond same author. It does feature an escape via volcanic activity, but it is not the same Volcano that houses Nemo’s secret base. JTTCOTE has nothing to do with seas, harbors, boats, though it does have a duck and—oh no that’s a childhood movie memory trauma for me right there. Poor Gertrude!!!!! 😭
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
I don't think the name has any real connection to the IPs, but rather I consider it a play on the water theme overall. A spring is a location where water flows to the surface, so Fantasy Springs is where fantasy worlds flow to reality.

Or something like that.
They should call it Disney Springs just to mess with everyone.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I’m looking at this from the other end: Can you imagine the reaction of park fans if Disney opened DLFL today, for the first time, as this crazy hodgepodge of elements that objectively barely fit together at all? We love it because it’s *Disneyland* to us and always has been. We accept the Monorail rumbling past Alice in Wonderland because that’s part of what Disneyland IS. Immersion Schmimersion—We’re in DL.

And remember that Fantasyland opened in 1955 featuring the Mickey Mouse Club. Because it was important to Walt to promote the tv show.

No, I think DL’s Fantasyland works spectacularly well: It’s a big, crazy, wonderful kaleidoscope of so many fun experiences, sights and sounds from Disney animated classics—and guest appearances by a Swiss mountain and the 1964 World’s Fair—that, like Pinocchio becoming real, has become it’s Own Thing. There is no place on Earth like DLFL.

MK’s FL, by comparison, is dull as dirt (with some very nice individual elements).

I do think Fantasy Springs will be a huge plus for TDS, and ten years out people won’t be able to imagine the park without it, and the question of “does it fit” won’t matter, because it will have become a part of TDS’s identity.

As in imagine if it opened today but had never existed before or opened in 1955? That’s an impossibility. How can you take its existence and influence on current theme parks/ Disney parks out of the equation? The closest real comparison I believe is to ask what I asked earlier. How would an
“identical” brand new 1983 Disneyland Fantasyland do with modern IP replacing the older IP at a new castle park. I believe people would love it.

No it won’t matter. It won’t even matter in June when it opens but that’s what we do here. Talk about the nerdy details.
 
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Consumer

Well-Known Member
I don't think the name has any real connection to the IPs, but rather I consider it a play on the water theme overall. A spring is a location where water flows to the surface, so Fantasy Springs is where fantasy worlds flow to reality.

Or something like that.
I think the theme is that they're watering down the integrity of the park.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
Me neither. I haven't actually been to DisneySea, but the prospect of Fantasy Springs kind of bums me out; it seems like a sellout move -- like it will hurt the integrity of the park. Time will tell, I guess; I should withhold judgment until it opens.
I have mixed feelings. On one hand, this does sort of feel like new territory for the park; on the other hand, in a way it's like a more family friendly version of Mermaid Lagoon (which skews a bit more Toontown in terms of audience than many here may be expecting, especially once inside the Triton's Kingdom indoor section). This gives the park the very sort of family friendly dark rides people often profess to want Disney to build in the states today-and needed ride capacity. And while it's true that TDS has Sindbad, despite the changing of the ride's focus to be more kawaii in the late 00's, it's still never quite turned into a park signature for Japanese guests. I'd much rather them create new dark rides than reskin Sindbad and/or other areas of the park. And the area's isolated enough that if anyone's bothered by the area they can easily avoid it.
The land has no focus and exists solely to introduce major IP's into Disney Sea.
In fairness, IP was already there through TSM, Mermaid Lagoon, Turtle Talk, Arabian Coast has had an Aladdin stage show from day one, Going from Stormrider to Nemo's Searider, Duffy over there is a TDS-specific IP and has basically swallowed the Cape Cod section of American Waterfront, etc.
 
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PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
Is it just Fantasyland 2? That's not inherently a bad thing, it just seems redundant and unfocused compared to the other lands at DisneySEA.
Yes, it's Fantasyland 2, but this is not an anomoly. Because in many ways, TDS is basically just a bigger, fancier remake of a castle park. There are many parallels, and it wasn't done accidentally:

-Mediterranean Harbor and American Waterfront share DNA with Main Street USA, complete with scenic vehicles in both areas that exist more to add atmosphere than to do anything else;
-Lost River Delta is Adventureland, complete with both Indy rides built for other parks;
-Arabian Coast is a perfect transitional area between LRD & ML, as it combines design elements that would be right at home in Adventureland (the Flying Carpets a la Magic Kingdom, and a design that somewhat resembles Paris' Adventureland) and Fantasyland elements (character shows, small world-esque boat ride, carousel)
-Mermaid Lagoon seems like Fantasyland on the surface, but in reality is closer to Toontown in experience
-Port Discovery (kinectics, funky transport rides) and Mysterious Island (Jules Verne) to Tomorrowland/Discoveryland

So in a way, TDS has been a secret castle park the whole time. And for that reason, I imagine Fantasy Springs will be less jarring in reality than it might seem on paper, because in a way it does fill a void. And this is perfectly tailored to the exact sorts of things the local audience wants, so this will be a smash hit and probably give TDS a new lease on life; not that it was doing badly before, far from it. But it has been needing substantial additions for a long time.

Mysterious Island fits the theme of DisneySea and Journey fits the theme of Mysterious Island, so I don't see much reason to complain.

So why is it called Fantasy Springs? Why the 'Springs'? What do these three IP's have to do with 'springs'? I want answers! Or at least validation.
Well, if a Spring is where water comes from on the surface of the Earth, and often starts in more isolated areas before flowing in to larger rivers, etc, and the water in the Springs area flows out to the rest of the park, it actually makes a lot of sense.

But really, it probably is called Fantasy Springs to spell out to everyone that it is TDS' Fantasyland.
 

Consumer

Well-Known Member
Yes, it's Fantasyland 2, but this is not an anomoly. Because in many ways, TDS is basically just a bigger, fancier remake of a castle park. There are many parallels, and it wasn't an accident:

-Mediterranean Harbor and American Waterfront share DNA with Main Street USA, complete with scenic vehicles in both areas that exist more to add atmosphere than to do anything else;
-Lost River Delta is Adventureland, complete with both Indy rides built for other parks;
-Arabian Coast is a perfect transitional area between LRD & ML, as it combines design elements that would be right at home in Adventureland (the Flying Carpets a la Magic Kingdom, and a design that somewhat resembles Paris' Adventureland) and Fantasyland elements (character shows, small world-esque boat ride, carousel)
-Mermaid Lagoon seems like Fantasyland on the surface, but in reality is closer to Toontown
-Port Discovery (kinectics, funky transport rides) and Mysterious Island (Jules Verne) to Tomorrowland

So in a way, TDS has been a secret castle park the whole time. And for that reason, I imagine Fantasy Springs will be less jarring in reality than it might seem on paper, because in a way it does fill a void. And this is perfectly tailored to the exact sorts of things the local audience wants, so this will be a smash hit and probably give TDS a new lease on life; not that it was doing badly before, far from it. But it has been needing substantial additions for a long time.
I'm aware of all of this. I've even made a similar argument regarding DCA in the past. Mimicking the castle parks is the best way to create a second gate, but in order for that to work the lands need to do something different from what they are mimicking, and I just don't see that here.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
I'm aware of all of this. I've even made a similar argument regarding DCA in the past. Mimicking the castle parks is the best way to create a second gate, but in order for that to work the lands need to do something different from what they are mimicking, and I just don't see that here.
The seeming redundancy isn't a bug; it's a feature.

Given that most of the changes to TDS in the past decade or so have been to make TDS more like Tokyo Disneyland, it fits what they've been doing and the desires of their audience.

Fantasy Springs is tailored from the ground up to appeal to the Japanese consumer with popular brands they care about in big, flashy new dark rides on an enormous scale.

It will also contrast favorably with the remaining elements of TDL's original Fantasyland, which were pretty much copied and pasted over from what already existed at the American parks in the 70s, and that faithfully preserved the least-appealing aspects of WDW's 1971 Fantasyland. And the TDL Fantasyland is pretty soulless, with no major water features and any charm basically coming from newer additions (Pooh's Hunny Hunt) or refurbishments (IASW's indoor queue and loading area).

But, given that the primary appeal for many of the resort's guests IS the characters, it will not be viewed by most as redundancy. Instead, it will be viewed as the resort working to better meet the demand for content based on Disney's animated movies.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So one good thing about being blocked out of Disneyland on the weekends is that it’s forcing us to do other stuff. Went to Lake Arrowhead for the first time in over 20 years last weekend and took the kids snow tubing at Snow Valley. It was their first time seeing snow. Really nice getting some of that fresh mountain air. Weather was great too 55 degrees and partly sunny. Locals told us that a year ago last week they were going through “Snowmageddon.”

Yesterday we went to Great Wolf for the first time and tried some of the authentic Middle Eastern Food in the area. Highly highly recommend one of the places we tried - Sababa Falafel Shop. The line was out the door but was well worth it. It’s only 10 minutes from Disneyland. I’ll be stopping there before or after the park for the foreseeable future. Incredible Falafel sandwiches with nearly two dozen fresh toppings to choose from. They also have chicken and ribeye sandwiches which I’ll probably try next time.

Great Wolf was better than I expected. They have a few pretty decent slides. It’s also been around 20 years since I went down a proper, non hotel/ resort water slide. Man, they need to turn that heater down in the lobby and water park though. If you are not soaking wet you kind of start to feel miserable. Anyway for someone with young kids and no desire to be at a water park for more than 2-3 hours it was fine and had enough to do. For a Saturday wait times weren’t too bad either. 10-15 minutes for the best slides. It was also kind of cool being in line for a water slide at a water park in winter while looking outside and seeing the rain droplets moving down the large glass windows.
 
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Phroobar

Well-Known Member
So one good thing about being blocked out of Disneyland on the weekends is that it’s forcing us to do other stuff. Went to Lake Arrowhead for the first time in over 20 years last weekend and took the kids snow tubing at Snow Valley. It was their first time seeing snow. Really nice getting some of that fresh mountain air. Weather was great too 55 degrees and partly sunny. Locals told us that a year ago last week they were going through “Snowmageddon.”

Yesterday we went to Great Wolf for the first time and tried some of the authentic Middle Eastern Food in the area. Highly highly recommend one of the places we tried - Sababa Falafel Shop. The line was out the door but was well worth it. It’s only 10 minutes from Disneyland. I’ll be stopping there before or after the park for the foreseeable future. Incredible Falafel sandwiches with nearly two dozen fresh toppings to choose from. They also have chicken and ribeye sandwiches which I’ll probably try next time.

Great Wolf was better than I expected. They have a few pretty decent slides. It’s also been around 20 years since I went down a proper, non hotel/ resort water slide. Man, they need to turn that heater down in the lobby and water park though. If you are not soaking wet you kind of start to feel miserable. Anyway for someone with young kids and no desire to be at a water park for more than 2-3 hours it was fine and had enough to do. For a Saturday wait times weren’t too bad either. 10-15 minutes for the best slides. It was also kind of cool being in line for a water slide at a water park in winter while looking outside and seeing the rain droplets moving down the large glass windows.
We've gone multiple times to Great Wolf. My sister's family likes to stay there when they do Disneyland. My niece works there so she can get us into the park for free when my sister's family stays. We stayed there a few times when the kids were little. It isn't a quiet hotel but is fun.

Another hotel we liked was the HoJo across the street from Disneyland. I liked the Tomorrowland feel and the kids like the water play area and pool.

We stayed at the Knotts hotel during Covid because they had a special deal. We got the camp Snoopy room and free Boysenberry food festival passes. They let us in the park but the rides were closed. We didn't get a good night hug from Snoopy though. It was a decent hotel. They recently remodeled it so I need to take a hike over to see what they did.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We've gone multiple times to Great Wolf. My sister's family likes to stay there when they do Disneyland. My niece works there so she can get us into the park for free when my sister's family stays. We stayed there a few times when the kids were little. It isn't a quiet hotel but is fun.

Another hotel we liked was the HoJo across the street from Disneyland. I liked the Tomorrowland feel and the kids like the water play area and pool.

We stayed at the Knotts hotel during Covid because they had a special deal. We got the camp Snoopy room and free Boysenberry food festival passes. They let us in the park but the rides were closed. We didn't get a good night hug from Snoopy though. It was a decent hotel. They recently remodeled it so I need to take a hike over to see what they did.

My wife’s co workers son works there and got us in for free. A nice fun/ “free” outing. My dad (and mom) were there for a seminar so we even had a room to hang out in and shower most of the day. Rooms are very spacious and clean I might add. So much nicer than the run down Lake Arrowhead “Resort and Spa” we stayed at last week. Lobby and restaurant were nice but the rooms were gross.

Hojo sounds cool. Those Harbor hotels across the street aren’t cheap though right? From what I remember they re pretty comparable to the Westin or Marriott due to location.

I need to get to Knotts before the Boysenberry festival ends. Anything you recommend?
 

Consumer

Well-Known Member
You know what Disney's hypothetical third gate should be? Mountains. A Rocky Mountain land, an Appalachian land, an Andes land, a Himalayan land. If not for the Matterhorn I'd even suggest an Alpine land. Can even add in the floating mountains of Pandora. Give me a whole theme park about mountains.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
My wife’s co workers son works there and got us in for free. A nice fun/ “free” outing. My dad (and mom) were there for a seminar so we even had a room to hang out in and shower most of the day. Rooms are very spacious and clean I might add. So much nicer than the run down Lake Arrowhead “Resort and Spa” we stayed at last week. Lobby and restaurant were nice but the rooms were gross.

Hojo sounds cool. Those Harbor hotels across the street aren’t cheap though right? From what I remember they re pretty comparable to the Westin or Marriott due to location.

I need to get to Knotts before the Boysenberry festival ends. Anything you recommend?
It's all good stuff. I like the Boysenberry sausage.

When the kids were little we would just rent a room at a hotel with a cool looking pool near Disneyland. They didn't care about going to the park. They just liked the pool.
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
You know what Disney's hypothetical third gate should be? Mountains. A Rocky Mountain land, an Appalachian land, an Andes land, a Himalayan land. If not for the Matterhorn I'd even suggest an Alpine land. Can even add in the floating mountains of Pandora. Give me a whole theme park about mountains.
Bald Mountan. Big Rocky Candy Mountain. Mountain Dew. As long as the centerpiece is Mickey Junk Mountain from the Epic Mickey game.
 


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