The Spirited Back Nine ...

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Yeah, I was just getting to those columns...

ugh.. LOL, how about you tell me what you actually like about Gringotts.
Seems like it might be a shorter list.

I have to be honest. I never stared at the columns long enough to notice. The line was moving so fast that I did have time to stop. I'm sure most theme park guest won't stop and notice either though unless they are waiting in line for hours which doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

 

[TalkingHead]

So I understand a Yacht and Beach Club employee has met with rather severe misfortune.

I wondered if anyone would bring that up. I saw in the story that the victim was a CM. Frankly I'm surprised we don't hear more tragedies involving hourly CMs given the living arrangements many of them have.

 

[PhotoDave219]

One could argue that HHN has more tangible offerings for them to exploit. If Disney could get away with front of the character line passes they would and it wouldnt be worth it.. An express pass to avoid standing next to a sloppy drunk college dude... Priceless.

Yes but.... For example, my HHN ticket cost 45. If i wanted the express pass? An additional 70.

 

[TalkingHead]

Gringott's is without a doubt is an E Ticket. It may not be the greatest E Ticket ever, but it is an E Ticket. A quite nice one at that.

I really think the trifecta of Despicable Me, Transformers, and then EFG may have been too much sameness in short succession. They are all great attractions, but there is, no doubt that they are all from the same line of thinking. We get it. Uni Creative does the screen thing better than anyone else. Now let's see what else they can do.

I rarely ride all three on the same day, but I could see how it might get tiresome.

On the other hand, it's a bit like sex. You never say, "Ugh, this again?!"

 

[BrerJon]

The swinging is a cool added minor thrill around some parts of the track, but they've been having TONS of trouble even keeping this ride running.

The swinging is also massively dependent on the weight distribution in the car. The first two times I rode it there was a larger person on the opposite side and the weight on that side fixed that cart down so it wasn't swinging anywhere. It took until the third time for me to see what it was meant to be doing.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think Gringotts is definitely an e-ticket, it just has some questionable design choices, a boring queue, and some severe pacing flaws.

Mine Train's only problem is that it's kind of short.
Oh, and those annoying photopass spotlights in your face in the evening.

I will give you the Mine Train criticisms, but Gringotts queue is better than nearly every Disney queue.

 

[BrerJon]

I would say that Mine Train succeeds more at being a kiddy coaster than Gringotts succeeds at being an e-ticket-plus ride. At least Mine Train knows to save the best for last.

What, that old shed with the abandoned and immobile Scary Adventures animatronics? Not my idea of the best ending.

 

[BrerJon]

Oh, and those annoying photopass spotlights in your face in the evening.

Is that what they are. I thought that light was some kind of torture device designed to blind you to the shortcomings in the rest of the ride.

 

[BrerJon]

It needs more small details to savor, like Forbidden Journey has. The bulk of my queue time was spent in the completely unardorned exterior area, which could have used, at a minimum, the sort of theming you get at the greenhouse area at Journey.

I wonder how much enjoyment of EFG depends on queue time? The line when I rode it was never long enough to go outside, so I think of it starting in the bank hall. I think on days when it's stretching outside they should have a live entertainer there to keep people occupied - maybe a creepy guy wondering around asking people if they'd like to open an account and telling stories of past customers or something.

Of course, it seems as though a lot of the interior queue/preshow experience is lost until the Gringotts Security Pass thing is properly implemented, if it ever is.

They need to get rid of the stupid photo thing. When I did it they made you get your picture taken, and it's annoying if you just want to ride for the tenth time and have no intention of buying one, so that should definitely be an optional thing you can do if you want to but skip if you don't.

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

Is that what they are. I thought that light was some kind of torture device designed to blind you to the shortcomings in the rest of the ride.

Lasik sponsors the attraction now.

 

[Frankie The Beer]

Getting back to Epcot and specifically Food and Wine, how long is it until F&W kiosks just become permanent? Its getting to the point where stuffed shirts can make a valid argument that they could be year round money makers, with the exception of the vegan booth. F&W was done well enough for me to go back for the final weekend instead of a return visit for HHN at Universal. And is there any good reason the Odyssey can't become a permanent home to craft beer?

 

[BrerJon]

I was slightly disappointed in the loading area because it just wasn't as impressive as the rest of the queue line.

I was floored by the loading area. It's so high, you really feel like you're in an underground cavern and those spiral staircases are great. I had to keep reminding myself I was in a show building.

The elevator is cool, even if a well worn trick (Living Seas, Mansion, MiB, JtCoE etc.), but the video spoiling the ride is a bit much - I guess that came from the lawyers, sigh.

 

[ford91exploder]

Harbor house is by far one of the most underrated places to eat in the MK. (a park with overall "meh" food choices to begin with). Plus, if you go on an "off hour", you can have the upstairs pretty much to yourself.

Contempo cafe is my new "go to" as well. A short walk (or ride) to a very quiet location that has better food than the entire park next to it. Personally I am a fan of the BBQ chicken salad

That is VERY good.

 

[BrerJon]

I wondered if anyone would bring that up. I saw in the story that the victim was a CM. Frankly I'm surprised we don't hear more tragedies involving hourly CMs given the living arrangements many of them have.

Making grown adults sleep four to a room in bunkbeds every night is pretty unmagical, that's for sure.

 

[Progress.City]

No, not as in golf. Do I look like a typical Bay Hill resident while rockin' the jorts in Dizzy World?

No, just back nine as I'm back from a week in O-Town where I met with my favorite hillbilly -- @Lee -- and his better half and where they now sell moonshine at EPCOT (no, REALLY!)

Back after finally experiencing Diagon Alley (yes, loved it ... but, no, it isn't close to perfect). Back after realizing that the last two weeks in October may be great weather wise (nights in the low 60s!!!) but the crowds are horrendous and every second person at EPCOT or HHNs seems to be drunk or high or both (and they aren't the quiet and relaxed types!) and that's just the people who work there (drum roll @Lee!)

Back for a ninth thread of some news and rumors and discussion and, inevitably, someone saying it isn't news because it isn't me making stuff up about the new Hulk, Groot and Snow White stage show at America Gardens Theater.

Back for a ninth thread that no one on the Twitter (especially my pal Andy 'Fidel's Little Bro' Castro who disappointed me royally by not showing up with Dusty, Fishbulb and the Micechat bois because I sure wanted to give him a hug because he really seems to need it!) will ever read. They'll just absorb it like they have ESPN3 or ESPNU or ESPNME or something.

But just as the 'back nine' in golf are the home stretch (or in Tiger Woods case something entirely different!) for duffers everywhere, this will likely be my wind down here again for a bit due to too much real world stuff.

So, here we go.

First, let's get this out of the way: Stars, Cars and Toys are coming to The Park Soon To Be Formerly Known as Disney's Hollywood Studios ... it will always be TPFKaTD-MGMS to me anyway.

Budgets have been approved. The scope of the total budget is less than what NGE cost, but around what DCA 2.0 got (spread out over five years starting right now).

Since there are conflicting tales regarding the makeup of the new things, why don't you just sit back, unzip those jorts a bit, let the fat ooze on out, open up a cold one and listen to what I do know.

Construction starts in phases right after the holidays, but the most major work will likely commence right after Easter. There are some things still in flux, but understand this:

The only things you can count on existing come 2019 would be ToT, RnRC, TSMM and ST. And two of those could be altered somewhat. It is likely that 1-2 other current aspects of the park will still exist, but possible none will. This huge makeover will affect everything from adding new attractions and reskinning existing ones to adding new food and beverage to retail and restrooms (area development as it is called).

I wouldn't want to visit the park (I didn't on this visit). No matter how great you think the ToT (the one with the consistently bad audio issues now) may be, who goes to a park for one attraction or even 3-4 (are there more than that at DHS?)

I have heard that Disney plans more entertainment during the 'transition' as its being termed, likely a semi-regular fireworks show (could it be Frozen? You know they can't let it go ... so do Bill and Ted, but that's another subject.)

There will be a few major attractions as part of this, and when I say few that usually means two. There will also be ... others, the kind that only insane folks plan $5,000 weeks at WDW on.

I said this last year, but I think I was just off by a year, but don't plan on the Ozzy and Sharon and Fam Lightacular come winter 2015. At least in current form and locale.

When will this be announced? I've been told Disney was (and may still be) going the DVC route ... you know, the one where Contemporary North closed in 9/06 and they started demolishing it and building a giant timeshare tower while pretending nothing was going on?

But realize this is a five-year plan. Meaning Robert A. Iger and George A. Kalogridis and any exec with a middle initial over 50 will likely be gone when it is all done.

Before I move on to other issues, I can't believe the Seventh Heaven is still going strong at 1000 pages. I guess y'all have a lot to say or a lot of time on your hands or you're rich and don't work or screw around while at work or a bit of all of the above.

Wow, the sleeping giant has awoken! I just knew they couldn't keep ignoring the billions Comcast has committed to investing in USO! All I can say is kudos to Disney, kudos to Iger, and kudos to the whole team at Disney who decided to brave it and make this move!

 

[sshindel]

ugh.. LOL, how about you tell me what you actually like about Gringotts.
Seems like it might be a shorter list.

I have to be honest. I never stared at the columns long enough to notice. The line was moving so fast that I did have time to stop. I'm sure most theme park guest won't stop and notice either though unless they are waiting in line for hours which doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

That was part of our problem. The first of a few ride breakdowns happened directly next to one of the columns. Basically behind the main goblin, between one column and the staircase that I fully expected to look like it went much farther down than just one floor. I had plenty of time to look around at the details, and the column thing just bugged me. It looked like they bought a couple huge rolls of this:

When you've got lots of time standing around waiting for the ride to come back online, it gives you time to be critical of the various themed environments.

 

[sshindel]

I rarely ride all three on the same day, but I could see how it might get tiresome.

On the other hand, it's a bit like sex. You never say, "Ugh, this again?!"

Disagree with the last one. My first ride on Transformers, this was exactly my thoughts on the ride.
It didn't help that I had just come from riding the Mummy a few times, which I thought was an utterly fantastic ride.

 

[Next Big Thing]

What, that old shed with the abandoned and immobile Scary Adventures animatronics? Not my idea of the best ending.

Yeah, my first ride I was really enjoying it after the swervy section and it seems like it's just getting started (at least one more true show scene)... yet it just ends.

 

[Bairstow]

ugh.. LOL, how about you tell me what you actually like about Gringotts.
Seems like it might be a shorter list.

I have to be honest. I never stared at the columns long enough to notice. The line was moving so fast that I did have time to stop. I'm sure most theme park guest won't stop and notice either though unless they are waiting in line for hours which doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

It was still the case last week, due to constant breakdowns. We spent a good 35 minutes in the little rotunda entrance, which was plenty of time to notice the dodgy paint work on the columns (the black they used in the colorway is too dark and too flat) and the careless way the vinyl printed "engraved" words on the wall interrupts the pattern of the marble along its edges.

Anyway, Gringotts does some really cool things. I like the preshow elevator (when it's working) and the even big interlocking spiral staircases on the way up to the platform. When the single rider line is full that's a really dizzying and impressive visual. And of course, the big track-moving stunt at the beginning is mind-blowing, even if it should come at the end of the ride rather than the very beggining.

 

[sshindel]

Getting back to Epcot and specifically Food and Wine, how long is it until F&W kiosks just become permanent? Its getting to the point where stuffed shirts can make a valid argument that they could be year round money makers, with the exception of the vegan booth. F&W was done well enough for me to go back for the final weekend instead of a return visit for HHN at Universal. And is there any good reason the Odyssey can't become a permanent home to craft beer?

I've gotta think that they are considering adding one more festival to keep World Showcase in festival mode 100% of the year (or close enough to allow setup/teardown time between them). It's the only thing drawing visitors into Epcot right now, the only thing maintaining even the illusion of it's attendance numbers being ok.