The Spirit Takes the Fifth ...

[michmousefan]

Another movie well received in the beginning was Tangled (and Frozen has already dropped its Rotten Tomatoes score below Tangled). In fact the praise i'm hearing for Frozen has been very similar in nature to that of Tangled (that it's the best since the 90's yadda yadda). I found Tangled to be a huge disappointment and more than a little shocked that people were trying to liken it to the Renaissance era Disney films (much like Frozen).

I have yet to see Frozen but I have my worries. Will go in with an open mind (though low expectations) and see what the fuss is all about. Hoping Frozen turns that around but nothing i've seen about it has alleviated my worry that it's just Tangled 2.0. From the soundtrack clips i've heard, the music hasn't impressed me either. I'll have to hope the story, characters and script can carry the rest of the movie.

I'd like to hear whether anyone who didn't really like Tangled much still loved Frozen.

Actually, I liked Tangled -- but would give a slight nod to Frozen in terms of quality, and that's mostly due to the superior score and songs. There's a reason why "Let it Go" plays during the closing credits… it's the showstopper of the movie. But the other songs are, for the most part, memorable as well. And Josh Gad, if he wants it, has a future in voice roles; he was absolutely hilarious as Olaf.

While Frozen stands on its own, I have to give a shout out to "Get A Horse," the new Mickey short that plays with it. It's a well-crafted 7-minute confection, and you really need to see it in 3D to have the best experience. Paired with Frozen, that's a highly entertaining 90 minutes of fun. If WDFA delivered that level of quality every year, I'd be thrilled.

 

[JimboJones123]

Shorr stanby lines this week? That's good news. We were there last week (11/16 -11/23) and crowds were very light with all but the headliners being virtually walk-ons. I had been hearing reports of 30 minute waits for rides like Pirates and HM and feared that would be the case when I got there, but they were always walk-ons our whole trip. I kinda discounted the experience as being due to a really low crowd time, but Thanksgiving week had very big crowds so it's good to hear the stanby lines still weren't dramatically longer.

FP+ backups have made the FP lines at timesbe 10-15 minutes to scan bans while standby lines were walk on. That's totally messed up. Happened to us with paper passes on the Safari and Jingle Cruise this past week.

 

[JimboJones123]

Eh, given what has transpired it's not a day I would celebrate too much.

That is an uncool comment.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Were we at the same WDW this week? The parks were packed and not once did I see a FP line that was more than 10 deep and that is because the MB take a strangely long time to get approval from the Mickey polls. The standby lines did seem much faster overall with FP+ In play. Shorter wait times than we experienced in June.

FP+ neither adds or subtracts ride capacity; it only changes how capacity is allocated. Lines cannot be faster unless capacity is added or demand declines.

If you did not notice any FP/FP+ line that was more then 10 deep, then perhaps you should consider the photo I posted here.

We've visited WDW for the last 10 Thanksgivings. Crowd levels this year were consistent with crowd levels in recent years.

My DW and children commented that FP+ lines were noticeably longer this year while Standby lines for attractions that previously had only FP we slightly shorter. Mind you, I did not ask them. They volunteered this observation.

The conclusion I draw is that there were more guests in FP/FP+ lines and fewer in Standby lines.

My theory is that Disney is distributing the same number of FP/FP+ that they did in previous years but that a higher percentage of guests are redeeming FP+ than when only FP was offered. Guests are consciously planning their vacations around their pre-booked FP+ selections, just as Disney wanted them to.

 

[ford91exploder]

My theory is that Disney is distributing the same number of FP/FP+ that they did in previous years but that a higher percentage of guests are redeeming FP+ than when only FP was offered. Guests are consciously planning their vacations around their pre-booked FP+ selections, just as Disney wanted them to.

Baaahhh!, Baaahhh! Time to be herded and fleeced.

Sigh...

 

[BrianLo]

Chalk another one up to Frozen being a surprisingly good and at many points great Disney animated feature. Once again marketing really did not really represent the movie, but that's actually ok since there was a few moments that I did not see coming at all.

Better music than Tangled and I thought Olaf would be a grating character but he was actually quite charming and humorous.

Disney animation seems to be a on roll

 

[Cesar R M]

cant wait to see frozen here in my city.
but it seems its gonna be at least a month wait D:

 

[Cody5242]

Actually, I liked Tangled -- but would give a slight nod to Frozen in terms of quality, and that's mostly due to the superior score and songs. There's a reason why "Let it Go" plays during the closing credits… it's the showstopper of the movie. But the other songs are, for the most part, memorable as well. And Josh Gad, if he wants it, has a future in voice roles; he was absolutely hilarious as Olaf.

While Frozen stands on its own, I have to give a shout out to "Get A Horse," the new Mickey short that plays with it. It's a well-crafted 7-minute confection, and you really need to see it in 3D to have the best experience. Paired with Frozen, that's a highly entertaining 90 minutes of fun. If WDFA delivered that level of quality every year, I'd be thrilled.

I actually prefer "For the First Time in Forever" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" over "Let it Go"

 

[WDW1974]

Spirited Weekend Musings:

As I watch UCLA and USC battle it out, I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness as I was invited to go to said game with a friend. Not that I care much about either team, but it is in LA and that beats 'paradise' any day.

Should probably get the angst out of the way near the top, but this week will be my final week here on MAGIC for the foreseeable future. I am headed out shortly on my Faux Top One Percent Spirited Winter Holidays Abroad and will be off continent for much of the next few months. I'll check in if anything truly earthshaking happens, but I doubt it will. I will be visiting DLP for its Christmas season, so I will be reporting in on that when I return (unless I get snowed in and then you'll get that early!) ... I would put @Lee in charge in my absence, but Mrs. Lee swears he can't even charge using an Am Ex card!

Because of my limited time now, I am only posting in this thread so if you want my attention you'll have to post here or send a note.

While it was nice that Disney and More and Screamscape gave credit to this site for the SDL roster I provided, it would have been nice if they actually identified ME as the poster responsible. I do have two considerably large things (do NOT even go there my dear fanbois!) namely an ego and an online following. While I have no problem seeing WDWMAGIC.com getting a shout out, it should be as part of what I provided to the community.

Speaking of egos, Jason Surrell is really on my pooh list right now. What a weasel he is.

Contrary to some opinions, DLP isn't about to close up shop. Yes, I hate the way it has been run for most of its existence and, yes, it has more debt than the average Walmart Black Friday shopper. But it isn't going away.

So many people like Frozen that I wonder what I'll think of it. Unlike some folks, I am not a huge fan of Tangled at all and felt Princess and the Frog was far better. And Wreck It Ralph was quite good, but just that -- good. Every single Disney animated film of the 90s as well as Lilo and Stitch were very good to great films, so we shall see.

I'm very glad to see the final hurdle cleared for the US Air-American merger to go through for purely selfish reasons.

Reports from O-Town fanboi minions of Disney destruction report that EPCOT wasn't all that crowded Friday and that DAK has been slow most days this week. MK and IOA have been noticeably busier (no surprise there).

I sorta hate myself for it, but I do like those Horizons tees a lot!

Hope y'all are having great and MAGICal Holiday weekends!

 

[Cody5242]

Spirited Weekend Musings:

As I watch UCLA and USC battle it out, I can't help but feel a tinge of sadness as I was invited to go to said game with a friend. Not that I care much about either team, but it is in LA and that beats 'paradise' any day.

Should probably get the angst out of the way near the top, but this week will be my final week here on MAGIC for the foreseeable future. I am headed out shortly on my Faux Top One Percent Spirited Winter Holidays Abroad and will be off continent for much of the next few months. I'll check in if anything truly earthshaking happens, but I doubt it will. I will be visiting DLP for its Christmas season, so I will be reporting in on that when I return (unless I get snowed in and then you'll get that early!) ... I would put @Lee in charge in my absence, but Mrs. Lee swears he can't even charge using an Am Ex card!

Because of my limited time now, I am only posting in this thread so if you want my attention you'll have to post here or send a note.

While it was nice that Disney and More and Screamscape gave credit to this site for the SDL roster I provided, it would have been nice if they actually identified ME as the poster responsible. I do have two considerably large things (do NOT even go there my dear fanbois!) namely an ego and an online following. While I have no problem seeing WDWMAGIC.com getting a shout out, it should be as part of what I provided to the community.

Speaking of egos, Jason Surrell is really on my pooh list right now. What a weasel he is.

Contrary to some opinions, DLP isn't about to close up shop. Yes, I hate the way it has been run for most of its existence and, yes, it has more debt than the average Walmart Black Friday shopper. But it isn't going away.

So many people like Frozen that I wonder what I'll think of it. Unlike some folks, I am not a huge fan of Tangled at all and felt Princess and the Frog was far better. And Wreck It Ralph was quite good, but just that -- good. Every single Disney animated film of the 90s as well as Lilo and Stitch were very good to great films, so we shall see.

I'm very glad to see the final hurdle cleared for the US Air-American merger to go through for purely selfish reasons.

Reports from O-Town fanboi minions of Disney destruction report that EPCOT wasn't all that crowded Friday and that DAK has been slow most days this week. MK and IOA have been noticeably busier (no surprise there).

I sorta hate myself for it, but I do like those Horizons tees a lot!

Hope y'all are having great and MAGICal Holiday weekends!

I'm glad to hear that your a fan of Lilo & Stitch as it's such an underrated film. It's in my top 3 Disney films and Stitch is such a great character that is poorly portrayed at the parks. I'm sure you'll enjoy Frozen. The more you think about the film afterwards, the more you'll like it

 

[WDW1974]

If we're talking just 'on par', I would say Tower of Terror. I think they're both in the same league, although I would give a clear edge to Mystic Manor. Depending upon how you feel about Everest, it might be on par with Mystic Manor, but I do not feel that it is--even in its opening condition.

Yeah, I sorta thought so.

I feel the last great attraction at an existing park (because DAK has a GREAT safari as well as GREAT walking trails that opened with the park) was definitely ToT. ... Nothing has come close. EE was a swing and miss because so many issues were there from pre-opening and things have only gotten worse.

I actually remember visiting MGM the year Tower of Terror opened. It was my mom's favorite park back in the day (she doesn't care for it now!), so we spent a lot of time there. I also vaguely recall construction walls up for Splash Mountain, and its first year. Vaguely as, yes, I was young. However, I do recall "the good 'ole days."

I actually remember visiting the MK the year Space Mountain opened. It was my mom's favorite park back in the day (she doesn't even want to go much for free now!) and it also was the only park so we spent a lot of time there. ... I documented the construction of Splash Mountain in pics and still recall the excitement of showing up one night and hearing screams meaning it was soft opened -- and no Lifestylers existed to Tweet about it!

And you recall the tail end of ''the good 'ole days'' but they were that!

For what it's worth, I've linked to you in articles on numerous occasions, citing you directly. (To the chagrin of one of your "fans" out there in some cases...not sure if you've noticed, but I'm sure you could gather who that "fan" is by the style of their comments.) I tweeted out a link to your SDL lineup, but haven't written about it yet...

I appreciate that, Tom. And, yes, I am familiar with that special 'fan' of mine. I hope he doesn't get hit by a Disney bus!

Photos are coming, but will probably be a while. Takes some time to achieve my tacky, overprocessed look!

I happen to like your tacky, overprocessed look. But what you do is art. People either like it or not and that's fine. Some folks won't sit for an animated film, no matter the quality because it is a form of art they simply can't appreciate. That said, your photos would go better with showtunes and talking animals.

Personally, while I appreciate the digital age and the fact it allows me to take 24 pictures of the same thing until I get it 'right', I do sorta miss the old days of loading up the camera with a roll of 36 and having to make each shot count.

 

[WDW1974]

We flew United (which outsourced two of the flights to ANA...which was GREAT!), but I initially booked after receiving an email from Delta about the Asia promos. I went to ITA immediately (btw - anyone who flies a lot should learn the advanced code features of ITA...they are invaluable) and was able to find flights from Seattle and San Francisco to HKG and NRT for $776 inclusive. I was shocked when I searched for IND and found it was around $998 for the roughly the same flights, except through Chicago. The weekend we booked, United was matching Delta's prices, and since United has much better rewards, we opted to book it. Two days after we booked, United's prices approximately doubled, although I know Delta still has some pretty good deals going. Not sure why United stopped, as none of our flights were more than half full, at best. I suspect more Asia deals are coming down the pipeline.

I've never flown with ANA, but they have a great rep. And, honestly, anything has to be better than United.
As to the fare sales, they did have some great deals out there. I wish I would have been able to jump on one.
I am strongly suspecting you'll see a large amount of cheap fares coming out in January. I still doubt it will change my plans ... unless @Buried20KLeague picks up my airfare and hotel and food and plush, I won't be headed to Tokyo until next fall.

We know not to visit TDR on the weekend, but like I said, we didn't have much choice. The weekend we visited, tickets literally sold out. TDL was absolutely packed Saturday, but aside from actually getting into the park, it wasn't a major problem. Those CMs are absolute pros when it comes to crowd control, and we just paid closer attention to getting FastPasses than we normally would, and focused on doing less-popular attractions and eating. There were some insane waits, but we never waited more than 30 minutes for an attraction. We were prepared for the worst, but it really wasn't that bad. If those were our only two days, we would have been disappointed as we skipped the headliners in TDL, but we were just able to do them on Monday, when TDL was comparatively dead.

I have a friend there this weekend and he is reporting the same deal. I am just so glad I didn't have to deal with that. I hate crowds and the fact that three out of four days the parks were uncrowded to empty made my trip even more MAGICal. Having a TDS day where you can literally do whatever you want when you want is a very beautiful thing.

Has the merchandise gotten any better at all?

The bigger issue was our hotel situation. We booked this trip fairly last minute (~2 months in advance). You know I'm "crazy" about wanting to stay close to the parks, and Hilton Tokyo Bay (where we stayed before for ~$150/night) was ~$300/night and the only thing on-property available, and I stubbornly was not willing to pay double what we paid before. So we stayed at what turned out to be a dive called "Family Fifty's" in Maihama...and it was absolutely awful. Mold and bugs in our room, and a terrible smell. It was about the only thing available in Maihama for a reasonable price. In retrospect, we should have just stayed in Tokyo, where nice accommodations were available for a reasonable price, and done the commute. (That nearby place you suggested previously was sold out.) Going forward, I know to look at hotels before booking airfare. Lesson learned on that one.

Oh, I think you are 'crazy' for plenty of things. Don't sell yourself short!

But I don't blame you for wanting to be close. I did (and do) too. But it's a question of do you want to spend some ridiculous sum of money only to barely use the room? I see that insanity at WDW all the time with people spending $500 for a room that is used six hours a day when they could stay a whole 10 minutes further away for $50 a night. I intend to spend two nights at the Mira Costa on my next visit to TDR. But they will not be days when I am also paying to go to the parks. At most, I'll buy a Starlight Pass and spend a night of that time inside the park. ... And I never would have paid $300 for the Hilton either.

I'm sorry that your room was lousy. I guess that can happen even in Tokyo. As to the place I suggested, my friend is there right now and paying under $100. It is a great place, if you can stand a 20-minute bus ride to TDR ... you know, like at WDW!

 

[WDW1974]

Tangled was better.

Not a ringing endorsement to me.

 

[raymusiccity]

FP+ backups have made the FP lines at timesbe 10-15 minutes to scan bans while standby lines were walk on. That's totally messed up. Happened to us with paper passes on the Safari and Jingle Cruise this past week.

It looks like we're headed in the right direction. The bugs haven't been worked out yet, and already the crowds are being more equally distributed. 10 to 15 minutes for FP+.......oh! the humanity!

 

[WDW1974]

Today is a very special anniversary, the day Roy E. Disney resigned from TWDC to form SaveDisney.
Here is his resignation letter.

I like Roy. I got to meet him a few times. I respect him greatly. He was real and genuine (something you absolutely can't say about 90% of the execs that work for Disney in ANY division).

But that said understand his resignation was a stunt pulled when he was going to lose his seat on the Board -- and when Disney stock was tanking. It was very easy to suddenly have an issue with Michael's leadership in late 2003. He was silent when the company was rolling in profits in the mid-late 90s yet setting itself up for disaster (see: The Weatherman today). Only when his money and power were in question did he suddenly speak up. If he had contacted me a few years earlier, I could have helped and things could have been different. Maybe we don't even suffer the blight that is Robert A. Iger. Yes, I am serious. Deadly serious.

 

[WDW1974]

Hey, @ParentsOf4 ... how about some general trip observations?

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I am strongly suspecting you'll see a large amount of cheap fares coming out in January. I still doubt it will change my plans ... unless @Buried20KLeague picks up my airfare and hotel and food and plush, I won't be headed to Tokyo until next fall.

Well... I COULD use a good manny for our little one while we're soaking in an onsen. We might be able to make this work!!

And purely for selfish reasons, I'm hoping fares don't go down again. . I bought our tickets for March at what I felt was a good price, but even then it dropped $100 per for about 24 hours and it ticked me off. So you'll excuse me if I'm pulling against you for a fare drop in Jan. . But right now I feel good about what we paid.

I toyed with hitting Hong Kong and Tokyo both on this trip too. That may well be my one real regret. Then again, I've already got Shanghai and HK penciled in for 2016.

 

[nytimez]

He was silent when the company was rolling in profits in the mid-late 90s yet setting itself up for disaster (see: The Weatherman today).

People seem to forget the stock topped $100 a share and split in '98 or '99 -- not coincidentally when Disney seemed invincible and was out and about and buying other properties/companies.

Then, just a few years later...

 

[ParentsOf4]

Reports from O-Town fanboi minions of Disney destruction report that EPCOT wasn't all that crowded Friday and that DAK has been slow most days this week. MK and IOA have been noticeably busier (no surprise there).

Was at DAK on Thursday till 1 PM and Epcot on Friday till 3 PM. Both felt like they had typical Thanksgiving crowds.

I would not be surprised if both DAK and Epcot cleared out later as crowds (such us ) headed to either DHS for Osborne's or MK for the usual evening festivities.

Also was in the World Showcase Wednesday evening and crowds were light but that's consistent with my experience on previous Wednesday and Thursday evenings during Thanksgiving week. I'm guessing that a lot of visitors save the World Showcase until Friday when the Christmas festivities start.

Overall, it felt like typical Thanksgiving crowds to me.

Have to comment, I noticed plenty of adults lined up by 11:30 AM at all the World Showcase carts serving adult beverages. Saw a few tipsy adults but none unable to walk. It was 3 PM when I left though.

I will admit a soft spot for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It's the primary reason we still visit during Thanksgiving but even that might not be enough to bring us back in 2014. It's too much effort just to spend an hour admiring the lights and even my children are bored with the same old attractions year-after-year. After enough trips, "classic" devolves into "tired".

DW thought the Christmas decorations were truly weak this year. For example, she thought MSUSA looked fine but the rest of MK looked Spartan, hardly Christmassy at all.

Just feels like WDW tries less and less every year. This is the first time since the kids were in diapers that we have no upcoming trips planned to WDW. On the trip home, DW called this an end of an era for us.

2014 might finally be the year we return to Disneyland.

P.S. We still have 28 days of unused "No Expiration" park tickets purchased back in 2005 when a little birdie warned me about which way ticket prices were headed.

And I think we have enough water park days left to spend an entire summer at Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach.

I'm sure we'll use some more when Avatar opens up. I'm going to reserve judgment until I get to experience it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I saw Frozen today, it was enjoyable. It subscribes to the theory of needing a tertiary character for moments of levity (Olaf) and it's done well. Olaf isn't as good as Dug, but he's a solid character. Sven the reindeer also works well in a similar Maximus type role.

Some of the songs are decent, but I don't think you're going to have a soundtrack that's as memorable as Aladdin, Lion King, Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. For recent "Disney" songs in movies, I'm still more partial to Touch the Sky from Brave more than anything in Tangled or Frozen.

Being more of a theme park fan than a movie fan, I looked at this from the standpoint that really great environments could be created from it, however it would probably look like a hybrid between the Be Our Guest restaurant and Hogsmeade Village. There are a lot of similarities, obviously drawing from the European inspiration.