The Spirit Takes the Fifth ...

[msteel]

(Beat me to it).

Seems like they could put a third (and possibly even a fourth) theater in the space to the west where those tractor trailers/shipping containers are.

 

[TalkingHead]

They gotta build a third Soarin' theater to handle the crowds coming for Diagon Alley.

 

[steve2wdw]

gotcha, it just looks so cramped though.

Just get rid of the storage containers (to the left of the current theaters), and there's plenty of room for two, although it sounds as if they're just constructing one (right now).

 

[PhotoDave219]

Just get rid of the storage containers (to the left of the current theaters), and there's plenty of room for two, although it sounds as if they're just constructing one (right now).

In reference to the above photo.... Thats the only direction they can build in. I would expect those trailers to go. Of course, if they were smart, add two theatres and just double what they have now. Cheaper in the long run AND gets guests to stop .

 

[thehowiet]

There are some tales of his week at WDW that I'd really like to share, but I can't.

Now THIS has to be good... If you're ever able to share I'm sure there's a bunch of us that would be very entertained by these tales you speak of, even if it's just a little taste.

 

[Mickey_777]

"Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, Star Wars and fantasy."??? How unfortunate. A MK (the original MK at that) sans a proper TL...

 

[unkadug]

It is always a good weekend when someone makes Disney dining reservations for you and they are for an international park ...

What made me happier? Getting my Mickey Monitor in the mail box or those gift cards, yeah ...let me think.

Why am I watching Maryland-Virginia Tech game?

My beautiful toaster didn't last very long.

Tell me this: if Florida is the Sunshine State, how come it seems like it is always cloudy here?

It would be a better weekend if they paid my way there.

Gift cards

Because you should be watching SEC football

You get what you pay for. Korean imports are getting cheaper by the week. BUY AMERICAN.

 

[TP2000]

World of Color Winter Dreams was probably the most beautiful show I've ever seen! I have to go to Disneyland soon and it's looking like I will be this summer! Fingers crossed

I hate to break this to you, but Winter Dreams won't be playing this summer.

I saw Winter Dreams last night, and it was amazingly good. YouTube doesn't do it justice. It's Huge. Heart-tugging. Epic. And warmly charming too, which is a funny thing to say when you are talking about cutting edge tech displayed on 100 foot tall water jets in front of 10,000 people. And did I mention how I'm a grumpy old bachelor who doesn't get the Christmas spirit until December 20th? But still, I was completely in awe last night.

And I don't even know who Olaf the snowman is. I imagine when Frozen hits theaters next week and some of the audience has a basic point of reference for who this Winter Dreams snowman host is, it will be an even better show.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

@WDW1974 ... is there even a whisper within Disney of doing a Cars Land Autopia if the Tomorrowland one disappears? It makes so much damn sense, and I think a ride like that is much appreciated. Add in the electric vehicles from HK and the Cars-style cars, and it would be a big hit. There's still some of the old Timon lot left behind Luigi's. I wouldn't even pause to mourn the Tomorrowland Speedway, but the DL Autopia is actually worthwhile.

 

[Radok Block]

I hate Iger for this. I really do. Ruining a classic.

I'm an original recipe SW fan and I hate this too.

 

[Longhairbear]

@WDW1974 ... is there even a whisper within Disney of doing a Cars Land Autopia if the Tomorrowland one disappears? It makes so much damn sense, and I think a ride like that is much appreciated. Add in the electric vehicles from HK and the Cars-style cars, and it would be a big hit. There's still some of the old Timon lot left behind Luigi's. I wouldn't even pause to mourn the Tomorrowland Speedway, but the DL Autopia is actually worthwhile.

My husband and I were thinking exactly the same thing.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Also, the Ewok forest, if that's indeed the plan, is essentially the NorCal Redwood groves (filmed in one, too, I believe). It's not a unique, exciting or exotic destination. The least interesting (and least futuristic) of all possible Star Wars environments, IMO, and the one that most closely resembles what many locals have already seen dozens of times.

In other words, perhaps a bit of the California Adventure problem - giving people environments that aren't very interesting to the average visitor.

On the other hand, the Ewok forest is probably the cheapest of all Star Wars environments to replicate (except for maybe the sand dunes of Tatooine)...

Not terribly exciting, but it's possible to actually recreate it somewhat faithfully. Hoth or Tatooine are going to be shaped concrete, not snow drifts or sand dunes. Coruscant is going to be 50 ft tall buildings, not mile-hile skyscrapers; I think that will be the main part of Tomorrowland, anyway. If the rumors about the speeder bike coaster are true, it will likely use up the same footprint that Autopia and the Peoplemover use now. The Forest Moon of Endor will provide a much smoother transition to Fantasyland than any other Star Wars environment I can think of. I doubt the whole thing will be Endor.

I hate Iger for this. I really do. Ruining a classic.

If you're gonna do something like this, you had better make it good. That irons out a lot of wrinkles. My personal astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, remarked on the grief over the end of the shuttle program (paraphrasing): "People mourn the shuttle because there's nothing new replacing it. People in the 60's didn't mourn the end of Gemini, because Apollo was on its way."

The Peoplemover is long dead. If they wanted it back, they would have brought it back by now. The Subs are better to look at from the outside than they are to ride on the inside... the Glow with the Show of attractions. You get so much more bang for your buck with the Nemo omnimover in Epcot. Put that in place of Goofy's Sky School. Build a big tank with native Californian species in it to preserve the finale effect; it would even *gasp* kinda fit the theme of the park then! You could have the ride look at one side of the tank, and a walkup outdoor viewing area or a TS restaurant on the other side. It would give DCA another ride for all ages, and it would fit with Mermaid and Paradise Pier. Autopia is the only thing that I'll really miss, and they could build the Cars Land one if they wanted to.

Blame WDW for this, partly. Attractions that hewed closer to the original Tomorrowland idea, like Timekeeper, Mission: Space and Alien Encounter all failed for one reason or another. In an alternate universe, there is a version of Disneyland where Tomorrowland '98 could have had all of those successful attractions, the Rocket Rods with the necessary budget, and the better-than-what-we-actually-got Space pavilion ride ported from Epcot into the Carousel building for the 50th anniversary. That would be an amazing Tomorrowland.

 

[lentesta]

So @lentesta made mention that the NGE plans have pretty much fallen in line with the original xPass proposal. I mocked this (apparently in error) pointing to the third Soarin theater as the most glaring omission. First off, Len, I apologize. Second, I'm now more intrigued as to what the end game really will be. What I saw was 3-4 FP+ reservations per day at MK depending on crowds, and 2-3 FP+ reservations per day at the other parks depending on crowds. Did the presentation show/state how far in advance all guests would be able to make their selections?

No worries.

As far as "how far in advance," there's a cryptic bullet point in one slide that says FP+ will be "Available pre-Arrival to Level 2 Guests".

That's it, though. No follow-up explanation, no description of what a "Level 1" or "Level 3" guest might be. The phrase "Level 2" doesn't appear in the rest of the deck. This may be a CM term with which I'm unfamiliar.

The other thing is that there's a pretty clear, whole-page example of how they'd tier access to headliners based on a guest being in 1 of 4 categories. (So if you're in the lowest category, MDE wouldn't even display to you the possibility of reserving one of the 3 MK mountains; if you're one category up, you'd see 1 MK mountain available, the next tier would be able to book 2, and the top tier would be able to book all 3.)

I haven't considered the possibility that MDE would both limit off-site guests' reservation window and FP+ choices.

 

[Wikkler]

I don't see why Peter Pan's Flight won't be on the exclusivity list as well...
But whatever.
My guesses as to the equivalents to MK's "mountains" in the other parks.

• Epcot - Soarin', Test Track, Mission: SPACE
• Hollywood Studios - Tower of Terror, Toy Story Midway Mania!, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
• Animal Kingdom - Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris (I know, right), Dinosaur

 

[Darth Sidious]

"Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, Star Wars and fantasy."??? How unfortunate. A MK (the original MK at that) sans a proper TL...

While I love the addition of Star Wars, I wish there was a better way to implement Star Wars while maintaing a true futuristic land of the park. Both sections deserve their identity and meshing them together as one would cheapen both ideas.

 

[George]

Arrogance takes you far when you make what he does annually, no matter how misplaced.

There are some tales of his week at WDW that I'd really like to share, but I can't.

Well, there was the hilarity that ensued after he sat on the fart bag at V&A's. I find the EPCOT news mildly depressing. *sigh*

 

[Funmeister]

For those who reported a 90%+ success test rate for MyMagic+ or have experienced a "flawless" experience...... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-disney-mymagic-delayed-20131116,0,3314807.story

 

[Californian Elitist]

If you're gonna do something like this, you had better make it good. That irons out a lot of wrinkles. My personal astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, remarked on the grief over the end of the shuttle program (paraphrasing): "People mourn the shuttle because there's nothing new replacing it. People in the 60's didn't mourn the end of Gemini, because Apollo was on its way."

The Peoplemover is long dead. If they wanted it back, they would have brought it back by now. The Subs are better to look at from the outside than they are to ride on the inside... the Glow with the Show of attractions. You get so much more bang for your buck with the Nemo omnimover in Epcot. Put that in place of Goofy's Sky School. Build a big tank with native Californian species in it to preserve the finale effect; it would even *gasp* kinda fit the theme of the park then! You could have the ride look at one side of the tank, and a walkup outdoor viewing area or a TS restaurant on the other side. It would give DCA another ride for all ages, and it would fit with Mermaid and Paradise Pier. Autopia is the only thing that I'll really miss, and they could build the Cars Land one if they wanted to.

Blame WDW for this, partly. Attractions that hewed closer to the original Tomorrowland idea, like Timekeeper, Mission: Space and Alien Encounter all failed for one reason or another. In an alternate universe, there is a version of Disneyland where Tomorrowland '98 could have had all of those successful attractions, the Rocket Rods with the necessary budget, and the better-than-what-we-actually-got Space pavilion ride ported from Epcot into the Carousel building for the 50th anniversary. That would be an amazing Tomorrowland.

I'm actually not sad about the Subs or the fact that the PeopleMover is never coming back. Honestly, I couldn't care less about Nemo and I never got to experience the PM. How can I miss something I never experienced, ya know? Plus, Baxter said it was never coming back a long time ago. He made that pretty clear. I love your alternative Subs idea. It'd be something I'd be genuinely interested in.

What really makes me VERY angry is Autopia's absence and the fact that Disney has just given up on the original concept for Tomorrowland. They won't even TRY to come up with good attractions that fit the original theme! I understand it's kind of hard to keep up with it because things are always evolving, rapidly, but Tomorrowland could really work, if they wanted it to. Speaking of that, why does Innoventions still have products up on display from the late 90's/early 2000's? I hate Innoventions and I hope that's on the chopping block. And Autopia... I'm going to be really, really upset about that one. I understand it's no longer futuristic, but it's still a great attraction. Give it some updates and it'll be fine. I like the Cars Land Autopia idea, but Tomorrowland will no longer have any opening day attractions left. Maybe Astro Orbitor could be considered opening day (Rocket Jets).

If IPs absolutely must go into Tomorrowland, why not use multiple ones? Why does one, big chunk of the park have to be completely themed to Star Wars? How about using multiple ideas? Tron, Iron Man? I understand the Iron Man idea is shelved for the possible third gate, but how likely is that going to happen? This is all a bunch of BS and I can't wait for the DL fan reactions and the story in the LA Times.

 

[vonpluto]

View attachment 38956

Just get rid of the storage containers (to the left of the current theaters), and there's plenty of room for two, although it sounds as if they're just constructing one (right now).

Sorta like this:

 

[flynnibus]

What really makes me VERY angry is Autopia's absence and the fact that Disney has just given up on the original concept for Tomorrowland. They won't even TRY to come up with good attractions that fit the original theme!

TL has been DL's weakest land forever. It's the same in all the parks.. if Space Mountain never existed, just think how hard off all the TL's would have been. Disney has shown they can't keep up with a futuristic vision land... time to try something new.