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The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
So, this is going to bother my pal @WDWFigment, who to be fair disappeared from this thread and site when I compared him to @KevinYee (who also doesn't check in here much anymore), but while DSP may be the ugliest park in the Disney UNIverse and least photogenic (at any time of the day!), I will quite boldly say it is worlds better than TPFKaTD-MGMS in terms of actual attractions.
The FL Studios park has four attractions that I have any interest in now (perfect for FP+ and dropping in for three hours and spending no money at all) while the Parisian Studios has eight (possibly nine) and a short parade that brings back happy memories.
The FL Studios park has four attractions that I have any interest in now (perfect for FP+ and dropping in for three hours and spending no money at all) while the Parisian Studios has eight (possibly nine) and a short parade that brings back happy memories.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
This reminds me of the D23 when one of the Disney people said something to the effect that the resort isn't a museum and they can't hold on to attractions forever. Well, that's fine, but just make sure what you pull out equals or exceeds what was put in. I think haunted mansion is the only upgrade that was an improvement.
SJN1279
Well-Known Member
From what I hear, Gringott's is about the same level of intensity of Seven Dwarves, and Hogwart's Express is basically an under 3 minute transportation ride with TV's instead of windows.
I think you can compare Seven Dwarves to either attraction. Maybe we can call Grigott's a kiddie coaster with screens.....
Not sure I mentioned this in my observations from my recent travels, but one thing that pleased and bemused me was how Knott's Berry Farm boldly and proudly sells Disney merchandise in its shopping area outside the park and in it as well. Not DLR stuff, but everything from Mickey coffee mugs to Jim Shore and Dept 56 collections to Jack Skellington tees AND still has room for plenty of themed area and attraction specific items.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
I'm at WDW right now too and couldn't believe how empty Hollywood Studios was (we got there at about 7pm). We just left Magic Kingdom and Splash Mountain was a walk on. Maybe everyone IS over at UNI
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Go over and check it out! When was the last time you were there?I'm at WDW right now too and couldn't believe how empty Hollywood Studios was (we got there at about 7pm). We just left Magic Kingdom and Splash Mountain was a walk on. Maybe everyone IS over at UNI
AEfx
Well-Known Member
Probably very unlikely, especially on that scale - but I'd sure love some Wreck-It-Ralph attention in the parks. It's such a great film, easily my favorite Pixar all-time - gosh, do they even have meet and greets??
It's not that folks don't understand it - and I'm sure it is well organized. That said, from an administrative standpoint and from a user standpoint, what is "plentiful" is going to be debatable.
For me, it has nothing to do with my understanding or not of it - it's the practical application. It takes me an average of 45min-1hr to get from one park to another via the bus. Sometimes it's closer to 30 min, but a lot of times it's over an hour. I can drive myself in an average of 20 minutes. Sometimes 15, occasionally 25 (if I've parked far away - the MK takes longer than any of the other parks where you can walk right out to the parking lot).
Since I generally hit 3 parks a day one way or another (usually one in AM, maybe back to resort, one in PM, and wherever I'm spending PM/nighttime shows - even if it's two parks, I still come and go 2-3 times), that's 2-3 hours of the day I am spending messing with buses, when even the worst case scenario is usually half that driving myself. Plus I don't have to deal with the coughing "We had reservations and had to come anyway" folks, I can listen to my own music, or, egads, pop off property to buy a Diet Pepsi, LOL.
They aren't terrible, but they aren't ideal unless you really are a one park/day person, but then you have the worst waits of all (I can't believe I ever stood in those 1+ hour lines for the buses at closing, who the heck wants to end their day like that).
I think underestimating the lifetime of Potter is like folks who say the same about Star Wars - Potter Mania has been going on for nearly 20 years now, it's not going anywhere. There are more books coming. More films. But, even so, Disney has pretty much disowned Song of the South for decades now, most folks don't even know Splash Mountain is based on it - but it's still a headliner attraction because of the experience.
Universal is building quality attractions. Spiderman spending nearly a decade as the top theme park ride in the world wasn't due to Spiderman fans, it was due to the ride, as one of countless other examples.
The association with Potter, no matter what, will always be better than "that park that hasn't added a major headliner attraction since Bush I was in office", which is what the MK is often looked at as.
And just look at how quickly Universal went from "the little park that could" to being a major contender. Even ten years ago, after IOA (which didn't have a lot of capital investment until Potter), it was unthinkable that UO could even begin to approach the numbers they are today, to be a serious threat.
It's like Pepsi and Coke. Is Coke still the king? Yes. But at one time, Pepsi was seen as never being able to even approach them. Then they brought Joan Crawford in to attract the older folks, had a smart ad campaign for younger folks (the "Pepsi Generation") and suddenly, there was stiff competition, and although Coke hasn't been toppled - they certainly have never been the same undisputed, untouchable, no-one-is-in-our-league brand again.
That's it, in a nutshell. And over the past ten years we've watched it happen.
I just turned "10" a week or two ago - ten years at coming to this site. And when I look back over those ten years - being excited about Everest, and then, well, you know that story; of going years where the most exciting new attraction was a refurb of Alien Encounter with a reviled character overlay, where the big new addition to Tomorrowland was a screen-based comedy show (they couldn't even have animatronics???), and the big draw new attraction at the studios is rather realistically recreated with two television sets, a Wii, and a rolling office chair - and you look at what Universal has just done in the past five years (where we have waited for that little kiddie coaster hill to be built, as much as I do like it) - it's mind boggling how Disney has just rested on it's laurels.
Also in those ten years, I've seen this topic go from predicted by the fringe - to getting more agreement, to pretty much universal (no pun intended) understanding of the above, with just about everyone but, frankly, lesser experienced folks who are still in awe of the whole Disney thing and can't see the individual trees that make up the forest, and how Universal may not have as large a forest - but dang, those trees they have just make pretty much everything we have at this point pale.
TL;DR? The last really impressive attraction Disney built was 20 years ago, in ToT - and even that wasn't all it could be, the last one they really went all out on was two years earlier with Splash Mountain. They tried with Everest, but we all know how that one ended up...
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BryceM
Well-Known Member
No, that is my favorite part of Toon Lagoon, and one of my favorite parts of the park! I like how it has a distinct thematic design, unlike the rest of Toon Lagoon. It's always uncrowded, shaded, and offers gorgeous views. I also love the music that they play.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
There was some free entertainment in the Twittersphere today.
Approximately, it went like this.
Ol' Hokie Skipper corrected Devin Faraci (of geek culture blogging fame) about the "Harry Potter park" being a "land" which launched a debate that will likely go down as one of the seminal moments in modern history.
Faraci took offense to the correction. "Park, land, it doesn't matter. Theme parks are for kids," he said.
"No, they're not," other people responded.
"Yes, they're juvenile," Faraci retorted.
"You write about comic book movies, so what do you know?" they said.
"I write about movies that are serious, too," he replied. "Besides theme parks only exist to get your money."
"So do movies," they said. "Or was The Amazing Adventures of Spectacular Ultra Spider-man 14 created for aesthetic reasons?"
"Movies tells stories," the great blogger announced. "Theme parks don't."
The fanbois got a gleam in their eye. They could crush this one. "Everything in a Disney park is there to tell a story. Even the urinals."
Then, another country was heard from.
The reporter of the AP story on Gringotts (which was cited earlier in this thread) chimed in to say the story didn't misrepresent the expansion by calling it a "Harry Potter park" because "We don't say 'Park' in the story. We don't 'misrepresent' anything."
Someone responds, your article mentions "park" three times in the first paragraph.
So the reporter says (direct quotes):
"You are correct. It does. Sorry. I was busy writing and didn't see the final version."
"And I think that if @UniversalORL wanted a correction, they would have contacted us by now."
"I am not sure that you fully understand how much copy I write each week and day. Not just theme parks."
"I do the best I can with the time I have an I try to get everything correct. I feel that our coverage was good."
"Sorry. It's been a long week. I have also written about executions and crime in addition to 3 park stories."
And then even later, someone attempted to find middle ground.
"Theme parks are juvenile and capitalist breeding grounds, but they haven't always been," he said (approximately again). "Once upon a time there was Epcot."
An audible gasp could be heard. A single tear ran down a fanboi's cheek.
"Yes," this defender said, "Epcot was different, but it's all been lost. Now all theme parks build rides that are like summer blockbusters. They don't build rides like 12 Years a Slave or Short Term 12. If only we could build rides that make you reflect on human slavery, or roller coasters about at-risk teenagers. Then these theme parks would really be on to something."
One fanboi could even be heard saying, "But Disney isn't just about rampant consumerism. My proof? Disney brought back the Orange Bird."
Approximately, it went like this.
Ol' Hokie Skipper corrected Devin Faraci (of geek culture blogging fame) about the "Harry Potter park" being a "land" which launched a debate that will likely go down as one of the seminal moments in modern history.
Faraci took offense to the correction. "Park, land, it doesn't matter. Theme parks are for kids," he said.
"No, they're not," other people responded.
"Yes, they're juvenile," Faraci retorted.
"You write about comic book movies, so what do you know?" they said.
"I write about movies that are serious, too," he replied. "Besides theme parks only exist to get your money."
"So do movies," they said. "Or was The Amazing Adventures of Spectacular Ultra Spider-man 14 created for aesthetic reasons?"
"Movies tells stories," the great blogger announced. "Theme parks don't."
The fanbois got a gleam in their eye. They could crush this one. "Everything in a Disney park is there to tell a story. Even the urinals."
Then, another country was heard from.
The reporter of the AP story on Gringotts (which was cited earlier in this thread) chimed in to say the story didn't misrepresent the expansion by calling it a "Harry Potter park" because "We don't say 'Park' in the story. We don't 'misrepresent' anything."
Someone responds, your article mentions "park" three times in the first paragraph.
So the reporter says (direct quotes):
"You are correct. It does. Sorry. I was busy writing and didn't see the final version."
"And I think that if @UniversalORL wanted a correction, they would have contacted us by now."
"I am not sure that you fully understand how much copy I write each week and day. Not just theme parks."
"I do the best I can with the time I have an I try to get everything correct. I feel that our coverage was good."
"Sorry. It's been a long week. I have also written about executions and crime in addition to 3 park stories."
And then even later, someone attempted to find middle ground.
"Theme parks are juvenile and capitalist breeding grounds, but they haven't always been," he said (approximately again). "Once upon a time there was Epcot."
An audible gasp could be heard. A single tear ran down a fanboi's cheek.
"Yes," this defender said, "Epcot was different, but it's all been lost. Now all theme parks build rides that are like summer blockbusters. They don't build rides like 12 Years a Slave or Short Term 12. If only we could build rides that make you reflect on human slavery, or roller coasters about at-risk teenagers. Then these theme parks would really be on to something."
One fanboi could even be heard saying, "But Disney isn't just about rampant consumerism. My proof? Disney brought back the Orange Bird."
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Mansion was just a refurb and one that absolutely plussed it (no comments on the FP+ interactive graveyard!), but it's very tough to find a WDW 'replacement' attraction that equals let alone surpasses what was there prior. THAT is the problem.
Epcot is pleasant enough to dine, drink, shop, walk and talk at ... but it has so little worth doing compared to EPCOT Center. Disney knows this. They also understand if not for their three annual festivals, that there would be tumbleweeds blowing through the place. That's what happens when you close things and replace them with either nothing, crap or 90-second thrill rides.
SJN1279
Well-Known Member
Me Ship The Olive also has some awesome slides. Popeye was my fav when I was 3 years old, so the entire area bring back memories.
Mike S
Well-Known Member
The last time I was there was earlier this year (yes, I go to Orlando a lot. Sue me
). I am definitely going to UNI. I actually have a small hope of maybe catching a soft opening of Diagon Alley if I can.
SJN1279
Well-Known Member
Loved Seven Dwarves. Felt the whole attraction was very well done, and the ride had impressive airtime in the back seat.
StageFrenzy
Well-Known Member
I was trying to decide where he stayed. Portofino for the beauty, HR for convenience or JW for space. Eh he probably has a luxury condo.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
Nothing like a firebreathing dragon to get an editors pick....
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Canada's Wonderland does this with not only Disney, but other branded character merch not owned for theme park use by Cedar Fair. I guess they sell whatever they think makes money.
Can I ask you something? Are you associated with any Disney blogging site? Podcast? Friends with any Lifestylers? ... Have a Disney travel agency in the family?
Just have to ask ...
I'm at WDW right now too and couldn't believe how empty Hollywood Studios was (we got there at about 7pm). We just left Magic Kingdom and Splash Mountain was a walk on. Maybe everyone IS over at UNI
I have heard anecdotally that June has been slow for WDW, but not for UNI. But I don't have numbers to back that up ...