The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[lazyboy97o]

Even when Disney used their A-B-C-D-E coupon system in the parks, it was still a matter of personal opinion on which attractions one would want to choose. My mother never deemed the Enchanted Tiki Room worthy of a precious "E" -- there were just too many other "E" attractions to go on. And how could Storybook Land Canal Boats be considered to be in a higher category than Adventure Thru Inner Space??!!

For its first years (@TP2000 could likely give us more exact dates) the Enchanted Tiki Room was more of an E+. It was not part of the Ticket system, instead having a completely separate admission that was higher than what one would pay for an E-Ticket attraction. According to Yesterland in 1966 an E-Ticket was 60¢ and if memory serves me correctly the Enchanted Tiki Room was 75¢.

 

[WDW1974]

Yep, heard the ads many times when I used to listen to his podcast. I guess you could make a living from that though Spirit has alluded to the fact that he's got family money...I have no clue if that's actually true.

I doubt that business is making him rich. But growing up as an affluent Miami kid ... well, I am reasonably certain that money has never been an issue for him at all. As a Faux Top One Percenter, I'd love to know what that feels like!

 

[WDW1974]

There are enough mini-discussions about multiple topics raised in this thread already. Please don't throw in more. Thank you.

I have a mini-discussion ... more like a question: Has @The Mom been to any exotic lands recently? (No, Sanford and Lake Nona do not count!)

 

[WDW1974]

Channeling my best Nelson.

HAW HAW!

Mr @HenryMystic I owe you a drink my good man. You made my day

Did I miss a post?

 

[GoofGoof]

I sadly never got to experience those attractions in their original form. Blame my parents. They never took me to WDW. My first visit was in 2010, well into adulthood, and I actually enjoy both rides. I didn't know I was supposed to hate/skip them until I discovered this forum 2 years ago. Too late I guess.

I'll reserve my judgement until I get off the boat once it's open.

And as I found with SDMT, it's actually nice to head to a new attraction that's panned here before it opens (kiddie coaster, shortened track, Lackluster AAs) because you have really low expectations. And then you go and ride it, like I did Sunday and am just blown away.

You aren't supposed to hate Gran Fiesta Tour. It was unnecessary to add toons but it's not the end of the world. No reason to skip it.

Imagination...I do hate what they did to that ride. I really think if you experienced the original it's hard to not feel that way. Just my opinion.

The idea of repurposing Maelstrom for Frozen is by its nature "cheap". It will save them a ton of money over building a brand new Frozen ride. That's a fact. Will the ride look cheap or disappoint? That's to be seen. I think there's a good shot at having some decent AAs and the scenery could be well done. It will still be a short ride, but so is Mine Train and I wouldn't say it looks "cheap" at all.

 

[WDW1974]

Incredible....notice the attire, also interesting was the fact that few children were scene. Appealing to a totally different demo then WDW. Amazing this is somehow connected to an American park. Just amazing. Although this particular ad would never fly here in the states. The wife at times seems to be walking ever so slightly admiring her husband/boyfriend. I think woman might have a problem with that portrayal here. The message is the same in the American parks though. To leave your world behind and find your inner youth. Your spirit. I think for the more conservative and reserved Japanese culture this was a perfect ad. Pure quality.

TDR is an amazing place and I wish I could take all my fanboi minions there on my Spirited private 747 (yes, I do have a jungle room on the upper deck, thanks for asking!) to Japan to experience it.

That said, I think some (many?) WDW regulars wouldn't like it. They'd have an issue with the strange (to them) culture. They wouldn't want to respect that in Japan rules are made (and expected or demanded) to be followed. They wouldn't like that the OLC doesn't cater to nutjob guests/Lifestylers like WDW and DL do etc.

But I know visiting TDR is good for this Spirit. Even if he gets asked to move back literally three inches over seated guests for the Christmas Parade by a 90-pound, tiny Japanese girl. Yep, didn't even ding my pride.

 

[Omnispace]

Your mother was right. The Enchanted Tiki Room was designated as an "E" ticket because it was owned (personally) by Walt Disney himself and he collected all the income from that attraction. ATIS was a free ride sponsored by Monsanto and did not require any ticket. Same thing was always true for CoP. It was free and sponsored by GE and was an "infomercial" for their products including electricity and electrical appliances.

That's interesting. I didn't realize that the monies brought in for the different attractions were divided that way. I wonder if Walt's estate still gets some money from that Tiki Bird show...?

When Monsanto ended their sponsorship of Adventure Thru Inner Space it became a "C" attraction, while Storybook Land Canal Boats were still a "D". I could never figure out why the canal boats were such a higher cost attraction. ATIS was a much newer show and more elaborate than the Fantasyland dark rides.

 

[WDW1974]

@WDW1974 - Any opinion about the news going around that Sony is partnering with Marvel to give the screws to Fox? From what I see Fox was not allowed to produce any toys for X-Men missing out on huge profits from movie tie-ins. Rumor has it Spider Man will/could make an appearance in the next Avengers as a way to play nice so they are not blacklisted like Fox. Your thoughts? Sorry for taking the thread in a different direction.

No opinion yet as I've been busy 'plotting' (I do wonder how many folks get a cold chill when I say that!) and dealing with the real world. Hell, you wouldn't believe the pile of entertainment/industry magazines that have piled up from late April until last week.

If I ever develop an opinion, then I'll drop it in this thread!

 

[WDW1974]

I stated earlier in another thread that wdw would probably go and pull a NFL construction time line with the boat opening later, and I got chewed out for even suggesting they would do that! LOL

Glad I'm hearing it from someone else who is actually reputable! Thank you Spirit!

By the way, the land clearing from the recent pics of the Avatar area looks like it's gonna be huge! Can't wait to learn more concrete details of the land!

I am feeling more confident that it will open relatively close to the rest of the land or with it at once after talking to a friend a little bit ago.

But that chatter persists ... lots of happy folks at Disney these days, methinks.

 

[cheezbat]

I think that a lot of people do not realize that WDW is a victim of its own success. As an example, the most visited National Park in the USA (Great Smokey Mountains NP) has less visitation in a year than Disney Hollywood Studios. The total annual visitation of the top ten most visited National Parks is far less than the annual visitation at WDW.

I find it funny you mention the Great Smoky Mountains...seeing as how I'm on vacation there right now! I wanted to get as far away from WDW and Central Florida as I could, and man is this vacation a nice breath of fresh air! It's a shame so many people are absolutely(and blindly) enamored with Disney and don't see the other awesome things there are to see in life.

 

[WDW1974]

Just a question @WDW1974 but when should We expect a 60th anniversary announcement from Disney? It's getting awfully close for not one peep of info yet.

I think under other circumstances it would have already happened. I can't see a summer announcement in a non-D23 Expo year. I'm going to guess this fall they'll spill the details. ... BTW, we are all in agreement that the subs are coming back (even if for a limited engagement), right?

 

[WDW1974]

Blue Sky Cellar re-opens July 1st, which is two days before Alice comes back online and is technically the start of the 60th roll-out. So I imagine it goes out on the Parks blog not too long before then or on the 1st.

Is that for certain?

And Alice's redo may be 60th related, but it won't be played that way this year.

 

[wdisney9000]

What is Pandora/Avatar Land comparable to in size judging by the ariel photos?

 

[WDW1974]

I asked before but perhaps it was lost in pages on other discussions, but what do you think about Wright walking away from Ant Man, 74? Disney letting good talent walk away in order to have it their way? (insert burger king joke here) Seems mostly over creative differences and rewrites in the script. Who is making the rewrites he didnt approve of?

Much like the previous Marvel question, I'm not up enough on the circumstances to offer much of an opinion beyond they let a very talented guy, who was passionate about the project, walk late in the game ... you probably know more of the whys than I do right now.

 

[wdisney9000]

Much like the previous Marvel question, I'm not up enough on the circumstances to offer much of an opinion beyond they let a very talented guy, who was passionate about the project, walk late in the game ... you probably know more of the whys than I do right now.

It just seems like this project was his baby and they let him go over rewrites. Silly

 

[TalkingHead]

Did I miss a post?

No, you didn't. But I think it was in reference to Jason Surrell (aka 2Manhattans, aka fan of the forum) taking down his Twitter. Shocking, huh?

 

[WDW1974]

Not necessarily. He would just have to use his annual pass and be with us commoners, doing the same things.

They all could. But the reality is that access is a key ... hell, I recall hearing the crowing of the LaughingPlace.com crowd (yes, they still exist sorta like Montgomery Ward exists) when they relocated from SoCal over a decade ago about how much better they'd be able to cover Disney from FL (which makes no sense as all the power of Disney is west-coast based).

Speaking of old names in the online world, if @KevinYee writes a column on Miceage and nobody comments here, did he really write it at all?

 

[PhotoDave219]

What is Pandora/Avatar Land comparable to in size judging by the ariel photos?

Aerial. Ariel photos are something entirely different.

 

[Rteetz]

In the avatar threads they had a aerial photo of the construction area and an aerial photo of the Carsland area in DCA both to scale. They were very very close in size.

What is Pandora/Avatar Land comparable to in size judging by the ariel photos?

 

[PhotoDave219]

No opinion yet as I've been busy 'plotting' (I do wonder how many folks get a cold chill when I say that!) and dealing with the real world. Hell, you wouldn't believe the pile of entertainment/industry magazines that have piled up from late April until last week.

If I ever develop an opinion, then I'll drop it in this thread!

Well it all depends on who you're plotting against. If its the Turnpike Authority, I'm completely with you on that. Same with FDOT.

Or were you thinking of robbing the Bellagio, The Mirage and the MGM Grand?