Thoughts on New Fantasyland

[Bocabear]

This past weekend, by 11am the line for lunch went out the front door, across the bridge, and down the path to Gaston's Tavern... Don't have any idea how much time that would take but it looked like several hours as it was not moving. The restaurant we toured during AP Previews and is beautiful, and hopefully when the hype dies down we will actually get a chance to eat there.

 

[TRONorail10]

It was my understanding that they had a short window of time between lunch and dinner that you could walk around and see the restaurant. I would never (and hope no one else would but know that is nieve) linger and make those actually eating feel uncomfortable.

There is a lot of mis-information out there about BOG. This style of restaurant has never been done before, so a lot of people don't understand how it operates. This includes cast members, travel agents, reservation people, etc. Once the queue line is cut-off for lunch, the restaurant is closed to all guests till dinner. This allows the guests who are already inside to finish their meal and then exit the building without being forced out. As well as allowing the cast members to clean the entire restaurant and then set up for table service all within usually less than an hour.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

It was my understanding that they had a short window of time between lunch and dinner that you could walk around and see the restaurant. I would never (and hope no one else would but know that is nieve) linger and make those actually eating feel uncomfortable.

When I was there, this was not offered. You come to eat, or you can photograph the outside only. Beforehand, the line was queing up 40 deep- they weren't letting people in just for photo purposes. Afterwards, they had to clean and prep for dinner, again, no admittance just for photos.

Sorry. :\

On topic, what do i think of the whole new fantasyland?

Aside from a ridiculously long trip report that's barely worth reading... I like the idea of FLE. But the BoG castle doesn't look right from 9/10 angles, and the entire BoG experience was a nightmare. Food good, logistics, bad.

TLM ride was cute, but lacked personality... it lacked depth. And it shows. If you go, go right after the fireworks- there's no line whatsoever and chances are (like me!) you won't have to even get off if you don't want to, and can ride back through a second time. I did just to get a few more shots of Ursula, who by far is the star of the attraction. If you don't know the story of TLM, the ride makes no sense. And the cieling looks awful, simply because you SEE the cieling in the scenes you're not supposed to. It felt... cheap.

Storybook circus, circusland, whatever you want to call it... also felt out of place. Having it not connected to the rest of FLE, it felt tucked in a corner and inaccessible. However now I think they opened the walkway so they are connected... regardless, I wasn't a huge fan. The AC in Big Top Souveniors was nice, though.

I don't really understand what the point of putting up the castle walls was. Maybe it'll make more sense when the 7DMT opens ? In the meantime, it feels disconnected.

I'm glad MK got the addition, but it really could have used a lot more. Beautiful to see, if you ignore the construction walls, and giant lines for BoG.

Oh, almost forgot the Belle areas. Meh, totally didn't miss much here.

 

[Yankee Dale]

I really liked New Fantasyland. They did a great job with the theming and the details. I thought the Little Mermaid was a very good dark ride. While its no haunted mansion, it was certainly on par with pooh or pan. My daughter loved enchanted tales with Belle, and I thought it was a really innovative and fun character meet.

The new air conditioned Dumbo playground queue was a big improvement and I thought the circus themed area worked well. We got to eat dinner at BOG which I thought was great. The food was good and the atmosphere and details were terrific.

 

[Sped2424]

Lol okay, I was thinking that as well but the rest of the post doesn't sound sarcastic at all. I'm confused.

Me too lol

 

[Sped2424]

This past weekend, by 11am the line for lunch went out the front door, across the bridge, and down the path to Gaston's Tavern... Don't have any idea how much time that would take but it looked like several hours as it was not moving. The restaurant we toured during AP Previews and is beautiful, and hopefully when the hype dies down we will actually get a chance to eat there.

it takes about 20 minutes. Honest, last time I was there my cousin was dying to go so we decided to wait even though we were on the other side of the bridge, the cast member working the lines said it would be an 1 hr and 30 minute wait. 20 minutes later I was inside and ordering. the line moves very quickly

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

Can anyone tell me whether I would miss anything interesting in the Little Mermaid queue if I did Fastpass instead of standby? I really do enjoy little details and a wait won't bother me too much if I have some interesting things to see and take photos of but if it's basically the same queue (a la Splash Mountain) I may just try to grab a FP if available.

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

Can anyone tell me whether I would miss anything interesting in the Little Mermaid queue if I did Fastpass instead of standby? I really do enjoy little details and a wait won't bother me too much if I have some interesting things to see and take photos of but if it's basically the same queue (a la Splash Mountain) I may just try to grab a FP if available.

The queue is really cute once you get to the covered part. But, I would simply wait until the fireworks and go then. There will probably be no wait, and you can take your time enjoying the queue. We went during spring break and were able to do this each night we were in MK, even with parks to capacity most of the day. The first time I rode, it took an hour to get on. Then, that night we went over during the fw's and no line at all. So, we did it each night we were there.

 

[DisneyWall-E]

C+ overall. It has a lot of polish and no substance.

 

[bethymouse]

Hoping when the mine train is ready to go, it'll be in "full effect" so to speak!

 

[Sped2424]

While I really do like the addition of new fantasyland, I can't help but wish that instead of a belle meet and greet, we got a beauty and the beast dark ride. As disneyland's fantasyland can have all the classic walt dark ride attractions how cool would it have been if our fantasyland had focused on more the disney renaissance classics and modern soon to be classics? and have more than one new dark ride to boast about I think 3 new dark rides and the mine train would have done the trick. So the little mermaid ride, a beauty and the beast dark ride, and a tangled dark ride would have been great. Add all that with the addition of the mine train and I think more people would have been much more satisfied.

 

[Turtle]

It's a nice addition but for the hype it's received, no.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Can anyone tell me whether I would miss anything interesting in the Little Mermaid queue if I did Fastpass instead of standby? I really do enjoy little details and a wait won't bother me too much if I have some interesting things to see and take photos of but if it's basically the same queue (a la Splash Mountain) I may just try to grab a FP if available.

Not sure. I went on right after the fireworks ended (happened to be in the general area) and it was a walk on. Took longer to walk through the ungodly long (empty) que than to actually board the ride! I stopped briefly to check a few details, but really, I barely noticed any of them. :\ Too excited by a walk-on no line ride, lol

Ditto Splash Mountain (it had just reopened after being down for a few hours due to 'technical issues') and BTRR...which line moves very quickly.

I dunno about BoG, though. Someone above stated the line moves fast however when I was there, there was a group wearing neon eye piercing hot pink shirts at the back of the line when I went into the building.. and when I came out, they were maybe 30 ft ahead of where they were previously.

Maybe it's different earlier in the day when it first opens?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I think that the FLE is the Kardashians of theme park expansions. Pretty, yet overly plastic and devoid of substance.

 

[Bocabear]

I think that the FLE is the Kardashians of theme park expansions. Pretty, yet overly plastic and devoid of substance.

Hysterical and true... The overall theming is really beautifully done, but there is little to actually do... I am hopeful that Seven Dwarves Mine Ride will help with the capacity, but for what is being touted as a HUGE expansion, we really only got a replacement for 20,000 Leagues, a replacement for Snow White, a meet and Greet and a restaurant. Very little net gain. Oh boy, and an extra Dumbo....

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Hysterical and true... The overall theming is really beautifully done, but there is little to actually do... I am hopeful that Seven Dwarves Mine Ride will help with the capacity, but for what is being touted as a HUGE expansion, we really only got a replacement for 20,000 Leagues, a replacement for Snow White, a meet and Greet and a restaurant. Very little net gain. Oh boy, and an extra Dumbo....

....and the dumbo wait was STILL 30 minutes. Granted, I could have Fastpassed it... but, really, I didn't want to be stuck in that area for any longer amount of time, or have to return to it, for a 30 second ride.

It's eye candy. The whole area is eye candy. Minus the massive amount of construction walls. At least there wasnt a lot of construction noise to go with it.

 

[Ignohippo]

This seems oddly like another completely identical thread:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/your-fantasyland-expansion-review.856224/

 

[Ignohippo]

I don't really understand what the point of putting up the castle walls was. Maybe it'll make more sense when the 7DMT opens ? In the meantime, it feels disconnected.

I agreed with everything you said, but especially agree about the walls. They completely segregate the area and, instead of making it one great Fantasyland, they make each area feel incomplete.

...and they probably spent millions on them.

 

[Bocabear]

That said, Mermaid does not fall into an "E" ticket category. It is a classic Fantasyland Omnimover dark ride... A C ticket ride with an E ticket Queue. But not an E ticket attraction... Peter Pan is popular but was never an E ticket attraction...

 

[rangerbob]

My feeling on the addition is YAWN...