The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[Rich T]

The benefit of Buzz is that I get to sit down in the AC.

Yes, but in Villain Con you wait a shorter time to stand in air conditioning. And you get a better game.

I did buy the toy version of the ride’s blaster in the gift shop at the end. I’m… not… exactly *proud* of that particular decision…

 

[Parteecia]

Yes, but in Villain Con you wait a shorter time to stand in air conditioning. And you get a better game.
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I did buy the toy version of the ride’s blaster in the gift shop at the end. I’m… not… exactly *proud* of that particular decision…

If it was in CA I would absolutely ride it. I hope I wouldn't get in trouble for hopping around too much.

There's always ebay ...

 

[Rich T]

If it was in CA I would absolutely ride it. I hope I wouldn't get in trouble for hopping around too much.

Y’know, I keep thinking about that goofy-sounding-but-amazing moving walkway and how much work went into the design of the blasters (they perform a surprising number of different functions during the game) and I can only conclude that there’s no way they *don’t* have plans to bring this game system to other Universal Parks. It eats crowds, people are enjoying it, and it doesn’t take up much space.

Now, if only the Orlando park would replace Jimmy Fallon with Secret Life of Pets…

 

[Consumer]

This may very well be the most brain dead decision Disney has ever made for one of its movies.

Disney's 'Snow White' remake appears to ditch the seven dwarfs, set photos suggest, sparking online controversy

Disney said it had been "consulting with members of the dwarfism community" on how to avoid "reinforcing stereotypes" in the film.

www.insider.com

 

[Rich T]

This may very well be the most brain dead decision Disney has ever made for one of its movies.

Disney's 'Snow White' remake appears to ditch the seven dwarfs, set photos suggest, sparking online controversy

Disney said it had been "consulting with members of the dwarfism community" on how to avoid "reinforcing stereotypes" in the film.

www.insider.com

I keep thinking, “No way. There is NO WAY it could actually be as awful as the photos might imply.

But I can’t stand the live action remakes anyway (Except Jungle Book), so I really don’t care. They can make this Snow White and the Five Snowmobiling Breadboxes for all I care; I ain’t paying to see it one way or the other.

Maybe it will be an unexpected masterpiece. Maybe it will end up as double feature with “Cats” at Cinema Trashfire. Meanwhile, Hasbro reportedly has possible plans for a Magic Eight Ball movie. What a glorious new Golden Age of Cinema!

 

[Phroobar]

Y’know, I keep thinking about that goofy-sounding-but-amazing moving walkway and how much work went into the design of the blasters (they perform a surprising number of different functions during the game) and I can only conclude that there’s no way they *don’t* have plans to bring this game system to other Universal Parks. It eats crowds, people are enjoying it, and it doesn’t take up much space.

Now, if only the Orlando park would replace Jimmy Fallon with Secret Life of Pets…

Maybe VillainCon will go into the old Walking Dead building. They used it last year for a HHN maze so it is pretty gutted. It seems like the perfect spot for it right near the other Illumination rides.

 

[Rich T]

Maybe VillainCon will go into the old Walking Dead building. They used it last year for a HHN maze so it is pretty gutted. It seems like the perfect spot for it right near the other Illumination rides.

I don’t know if this is accurate, but a well-known vlogger reported that the Villain Con team was required to leave enough space in Orlando’s Shrek 4D building so that it could house *both* the new attraction and still have empty space for a HHN maze. If true, that could further make Hollywood’s Walking Dead space a perfect fit for Villain Con.

 

[TP2000]

Villain-Con Minion Blast is in technical rehearsal over in Universal Orlando. Great queue, odd concept, but glad they took a chance on it if only because it feels unique. Looks like it's experiencing latency issues with how many people are shooting at the screens, and I'm still not sold on the conveyer belt idea as it just feels like Astro Blasters without the ride vehicle. Cool tech though.

Queue begins at 7:14 in the video below, game begins at 10:57.

I have absolutely no idea what's going on with the game or the characters (and I'm fine with that), but I find the conveyor belt ride system fascinating.

I can't think of any other ride that uses a moving belt like this, where the "riders" just stand and watch/interact with the show scenes.

It's very interesting, and I have to imagine it's also very high capacity. Basically a moving sidewalk at the airport. Just... wow.

 

[TP2000]

My family's Summer Pow-Wow is about to begin in San Diego County next week, and still no one wants to go to Disneyland this year.

But I am going to head up to OC myself for a short visit and to have dinner with old friends/neighbors I miss. Last night when I asked what was new in the neighborhood, I got a breathless report that the local Ralph's Fresh Fare is undergoing a full "luxury remodel" (not my words) from top to bottom, from roof to new wood floors, new exterior, new paint, new cooler cases and a new cheese island, the works.

The whole town is apparently abuzz over this. Abuzz!

While the Disney100 celebration seems to be sputtering to an end by late August, the full "luxury remodel" (not my words) of the Villa Park Ralph's Fresh Fare will just be getting ready to cut the ribbon and begin a whole new era for a town that didn't even exist until 1962. So if you are in the northeast hills of OC in the next month or so, and you feel and sense the excitement in the air, that's what that's about.

 

[Rich T]

I have absolutely no idea what's going on with the game or the characters (and I'm fine with that), but I find the conveyor belt ride system fascinating.

I can't think of any other ride that uses a moving belt like this, where the "riders" just stand and watch/interact with the show scenes.

It's very interesting, and I have to imagine it's also very high capacity. Basically a moving sidewalk at the airport. Just... wow.

It reminds me of the way the luggage conveyor belts—the ones that turn corners—work, and it is fun and weird to ride on. I’d occasionally try to take my eyes off the game and take a good look at the ride system, and, man, that thing takes some sharp turns. I loved it. I felt like George Jetson entering his office.

 

[D.Silentu]

I haven't any interest in the upcoming Haunted Mansion movie, but I have to give a tip of the hat to their marketing.

Disney Haunted Mansion

www.zillow.com

Fewer bathrooms than I would have expected.

 

[Too Many Hats]

I think of my own grandfather, only slightly older than Walt. He was a WASP who bought a house in La Jolla decades ago when things were much cheaper then, but also when La Jolla was an officially restricted community and Mexicans or Jews or even Catholics were not allowed to purchase homes there. Those real estate zoning laws were done away with in the 1960's in San Diego County, but does that make my grandfather an evil person for buying a home in La Jolla 70+ years ago? Nope. It just means he was a man of his time, living in his time, dealing with his time.

I'm still a dues paying member of the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, which was just as restricted (and for even longer) than the real estate sales in town were. But I like to think of myself as rather a nice guy who can identify and call out race or religious prejudice when I see it.

And for the record, my grandfather was a lovely man who donated well to various charities and was very supportive of the Civil Rights movement until his death in the 1970's. But if you wanted to, you could write a book about him that used his purchase of a home in a restricted beach town as proof he was awful. But he actually wasn't awful. And neither was Walt.

I agree. It's critical to consider the legacies of injustices like housing discrimination in shaping the world around us, but it's ahistorical and unproductive (and creepily dogmatic) to vilify the many, many people who, to varying degrees, were complicit in those injustices. And it's beyond crazy to regard that complicity as the defining trait of those men and women / the totality of their legacies.

I'm sure your grandfather was a lovely man!

No human has ever been perfect. Everyone one of us has committed at least a few of the Seven Deadly Sins. I commit at least one or two of them per week, and then talk about it to the bartender later.

Exactly.

(My apologies for the very delayed reply!)

 

[Too Many Hats]

I think there's also this inherent desire by people to take others down, particularly those who are seen by many as well-loved and wholesome.

Absolutely. This feels ubiquitous in 2023.

 

[Suspirian]

Villain-Con Minion Blast is in technical rehearsal over in Universal Orlando. Great queue, odd concept, but glad they took a chance on it if only because it feels unique. Looks like it's experiencing latency issues with how many people are shooting at the screens, and I'm still not sold on the conveyer belt idea as it just feels like Astro Blasters without the ride vehicle. Cool tech though.

Queue begins at 7:14 in the video below, game begins at 10:57.

It's like an intricate walk through I like the idea. I don't find this much different than TSMM or Webslingers and I kinda respect doing it this way more?

 

[Too Many Hats]

Jim Hill mentioned on this week's Disney Dish that Kim Irvine is teasing new enhancements to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in 2024. Not really sure the attraction needs to be plussed-up at this point. Makes me somewhat concerned about movie tie-ins.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Fix Pinocchio and Toad up.

 

[TP2000]

Jim Hill mentioned on this week's Disney Dish that Kim Irvine is teasing new enhancements to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in 2024. Not really sure the attraction needs to be plussed-up at this point. Makes me somewhat concerned about movie tie-ins.

WDI is always looking for a project to keep people employed and keep things happening in Glendale and on Lewis Street in Anaheim. It's how they all make their Tesla payments, and keep themselves relevant to senior executives.

Ms. Irvine likely is aware that WDI has a proposal ready to go to add movie elements from the latest Haunted Mansion movie that comes out later this month. But Ms. Irvine should also be aware, yet unwilling to admit it on a fan podcast, that the latest Haunted Mansion movie is going to flop in theaters and thus will instantly remove any possibility of triggering funding to WDI for attraction updates on either coast.

This would be like hinting in Spring, 2022 that Tomorrowland updates might be coming based on the upcoming fabulous movies Lightyear and Strange World. Then when both of those movies opened and fell flat on their faces at the box office, any mention of updating anything in any park to resemble Lightyear or Strange World was buried and forgotten.

 

[Consumer]

Watched the new Mission Impossible movie last night. What a great franchise. Tom Cruise is a certified movie star. If Chris McQuarrie weren't directing these movies, he would have been a brilliant pick for an Indiana Jones film. Thrilling action, intriguing locales, likable characters. There are parts of this movie that can be compared one-to-one with Dial of Destiny and Dead Reckoning comes out on top in every conceivable way.

 

[D.Silentu]

Glad to hear it, I have tickets for tomorrow night! The producers of the 007 series really need to take notes. I'd say it was Mission: Impossible 5 where the series overtook Bond as the premier cinematic spy fantasy.

 

[Rich T]

I Watched All 5 Minion Movies So You Don’t Have To (A quick quide for theme park fans heading to Minion attractions)

1. Despicable Me — Supervillain Gru (the one who looks like Uncle Fester) adopts 3 orphan girls to use as pawns in a plan to steal the Moon, but (spoiler), they change his life and he becomes a good guy. His minion employees are there with (hilariously) no explanation whatsoever.

2. Despicable Me 2 — Gru is enlisted by the Anti-Villain League, and he and his assigned agent partner, Lucy, fall for each other. They defeat supervillain El Macho, who has temporarily transformed most of Gru’s minions into evil purple monsters. Ends with a (spoiler) wedding.

3. Minions — A prequel to everything. THIS IS THE VILLAIN CON MOVIE. Explains where minions come from. While searching for a new boss, the minions save England and, at the end, (spoiler) encounter a very young Gru.

4. Despicable Me 3 — Fired as agents, Gru and Lucy (and the 3 girls) travel to Freedonia for a reunion with Gru’s twin brother Dru, who is Gru’s exact opposite. They all save Hollywood from aging-child-star-gone-bad Balthazar Bratt. The Minions help.

5. Minions: The Rise of Gru — Continues the prequel saga. Young Gru wants to join the Vicious Six supervillain group, but is rejected at the audition. He winds up defeating them and saving San Francisco. The Minions help.

Personal opinion: They’re all fun. “Despicable Me 2” is definitely the strongest film (very “Get Smart”-like) and the one to watch if you just want to get a general idea re: what the heck the appeal of this franchise is.