Tom Sawyer Island

[Schmidt]

The riverboats, the island, the river itself all helped create an evocative land. Rides are great but you need atmosphere. What makes the Harry Potter land so great to visit is NOT the rides, it's the world and atmosphere they built.

I swear Disney is trying to turn MK into another Six Flags

I don't see Disney making a dumb decision here. Yes the River will be gone but in its place will be mountains, waterfalls and geysers. They aren't removing a river and putting up a parking lot. They are putting up a world class E Ticket attraction. Disney generally does environ.ments really well. Im waiting for the final products before I judge.

Regarding your fears of Disney turning into an amusement park, I would tell you that your fears may be overblown.

 

[Beacon Joe]

Aerial Look at Tom Sawyer Island & Rivers of America Before Draining, Demolition at Magic Kingdom

Take an aerial look at Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America before draining and demolition begin in 2025

blogmickey.com

Well, now we know the reason behind that NOTAM/TFR exception he reported on earlier this year, and it wasn't about taking pretty, low-altitude photos like he had thought.

 

[Schmidt]

One other aspect of Cars Land replacing the river and TSI is that I am sick of dealing with construction projects. This one will be unavoidable, after seeing what happened with Epcot, this payoff is not really worth it IMO.

Its not good but It is what it is. I remember when Splash was built in MK. There was no hiding the construction.
This could be tougher to hide.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

I don't see Disney making a dumb decision here. Yes the River will be gone but in its place will be mountains, waterfalls and geysers. They aren't removing a river and putting up a parking lot. They are putting up a world class E Ticket attraction. Disney generally does environ.ments really well. Im waiting for the final products before I judge.

Regarding your fears of Disney turning into an amusement park, I would tell you that your fears may be overblown.

Would you say Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge are great environments? Especially when juxtaposed with what Universal has done in recent years? The end product never looks close to what they tout when they make announcements.

 

[Beacon Joe]

Would you say Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge are great environments? Especially when juxtaposed with what Universal has done in recent years? The end product never looks close to what they tout when they make announcements.

Not to mention the D23-released concept art and what was later shown in the Odyssey Pavilion preview room... versus what they actually did to EPCOT's Future World. They built an office park and a generic airplane terminal-like space The company's recent track record of environment building should not inspire confidence.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The riverboats, the island, the river itself all helped create an evocative land. Rides are great but you need atmosphere. What makes the Harry Potter land so great to visit is NOT the rides, it's the world and atmosphere they built.

I swear Disney is trying to turn MK into another Six Flags with this kind of move.

Lol dude.

You know what's one of the top 5 most immersive themed lands in the world? Cars Land at California Adventure.

They're not building friggin Rip Ride Rockit. What they're building will be beautiful.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Not to mention the D23-released concept art and what was later shown in the Odyssey Pavilion preview room... versus what they actually did to EPCOT's Future World. They built an office park and a generic airplane terminal-like space The company's recent track record of environment building should not inspire confidence.

Gee did anything happen between August 2019 and October 2023 that may have disrupted the development cycle?

It's actually shocking to me the extent to which people have ALREADY forgotten what a nightmare of misery COVID was.

 

[DW Aficionado]

I don't see Disney making a dumb decision here. Yes the River will be gone but in its place will be mountains, waterfalls and geysers. They aren't removing a river and putting up a parking lot. They are putting up a world class E Ticket attraction. Disney generally does environ.ments really well. Im waiting for the final products before I judge.

Regarding your fears of Disney turning into an amusement park, I would tell you that your fears may be overblown.

Maybe they will sell bottles of the water from Rivers of America as souvenirs

 

[Schmidt]

Would you say Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge are great environments? Especially when juxtaposed with what Universal has done in recent years? The end product never looks close to what they tout when they make announcements.

Let me guess. You think outdoor coasters and cheap animatronics is the bees knees.

Look I’ve been to Potter. ALOT!!!
Personally I easily prefer the amazingness of starwars land. Potter gets old. I’m not a child. I don’t need to wave a wand in front of the same window to see cheap theme park tricks. Do yourself a favor and just hang out at SW land. Amazing!!! The ride also has no comparison imo, so yeah I prefer starwars land over HP.

Toy Story land isn’t an e ticket land and yes it is light years better than Dreamworld land. I think that’s the comparison you wanted to make. Have you been to pandora. Look I hate theme park comparisons but the truth is I love universal but I don’t like baseless bashing.

Seriously I don’t think Universal has done as much recently as you think. I’ll judge Epic when it’s done. I’m not excited like others if I’m being honest. More outdoor roller coasters and a Mario ride that most would describe as underwhelming.
I am most interested in Dark Universe though.

 

[Schmidt]

Gee did anything happen between August 2019 and October 2023 that may have disrupted the development cycle?

It's actually shocking to me the extent to which people have ALREADY forgotten what a nightmare of misery COVID was.

Haters going to hate! I totally agree with ya though.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Lol dude.

You know what's one of the top 5 most immersive themed lands in the world? Cars Land at California Adventure.

They're not building friggin Rip Ride Rockit. What they're building will be beautiful.

And yet somehow a little space in Anaheim has maintained its river and Island while having Cars Land. There is no reason a Cars Land could not be added elsewhere.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Gee did anything happen between August 2019 and October 2023 that may have disrupted the development cycle?

It's actually shocking to me the extent to which people have ALREADY forgotten what a nightmare of misery COVID was.

What's the excuse for Galaxy's Edge? No themed restaurant and missing a ride....

 

[CaptainAmerica]

What's the excuse for Galaxy's Edge? No themed restaurant and missing a ride....

Galaxy's Edge is excellent. Its only problem is that we knew what it was "supposed to" have so therefore we knew what was "missing."

I'm very much team "stop making promises and publishing concept art years before project completion."

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Would you say Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge are great environments? Especially when juxtaposed with what Universal has done in recent years? The end product never looks close to what they tout when they make announcements.

Toy Story land, no it isn’t.

Galaxy’s Edge however is quite spectacular. I think Disney fans have gotten so hung up on it not looking like the concept art that they’re intentionally looking over the merits of what is there which arguably looks more ripped from Star Wars than the concept art did.

Galaxy’s Edge is excellent. It’s time to stop clinging to Blue Sky concepts for it and start acknowledging what they did manage to achieve which is beautiful architectural work, a wholly unique environment never seen in a theme park before, a completely unique backstory, and the single greatest theme park attraction ever built.

 

[bwr827]

Toy Story land, no it isn’t.

Galaxy’s Edge however is quite spectacular. I think Disney fans have gotten so hung up on it not looking like the concept art that they’re intentionally looking over the merits of what is there which arguably looks more ripped from Star Wars than the concept art did.

Galaxy’s Edge is excellent. It’s time to stop clinging to Blue Sky concepts for it and start acknowledging what they did manage to achieve which is beautiful architectural work, a wholly unique environment never seen in a theme park before, a completely unique backstory, and the single greatest theme park attraction ever built.

I wasn’t following Disney park stuff during the time of Galaxy’s Edge development. I knew “Disney is building Star Wars land” and then I eventually heard about boarding groups for Rise.

When I finally visited Galaxy’s Edge last year, I was blown away. It looks awesome. It sounds awesome.

Seeing the Millennium Falcon was a “holy !” moment. And we get to go inside and fly it?!

 

[Master Yoda]

Lol dude.

You know what's one of the top 5 most immersive themed lands in the world? Cars Land at California Adventure.

They're not building friggin Rip Ride Rockit. What they're building will be beautiful.

I have little doubt it will be awesome. I simply hate that we have to lose a good thing to get another good thing.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Toy Story land, no it isn’t.

Galaxy’s Edge however is quite spectacular. I think Disney fans have gotten so hung up on it not looking like the concept art that they’re intentionally looking over the merits of what is there which arguably looks more ripped from Star Wars than the concept art did.

Galaxy’s Edge is excellent. It’s time to stop clinging to Blue Sky concepts for it and start acknowledging what they did manage to achieve which is beautiful architectural work, a wholly unique environment never seen in a theme park before, a completely unique backstory, and the single greatest theme park attraction ever built.

There are aspects of Galaxy's Edge that are fantastic. But it also has a lot of dead, uninteresting space, IMO.

 

[John park hopper]

Walt Disney World is roughly 27,000 acres - about the size of San Fransisco. As of 2011, only 35% of that acreage was developed.

It's a shame we have to loose something to gain something when WDW has so much space to expand

 

[WorldExplorer]

Walt Disney World is roughly 27,000 acres - about the size of San Fransisco. As of 2011, only 35% of that acreage was developed.

It's a shame we have to loose something to gain something when WDW has so much space to expand

They used that Walt quote about having room for everything they could imagine in the modified Enchantment opening; it was sad to hear then, and it's even sadder now.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I have little doubt it will be awesome. I simply hate that we have to lose a good thing to get another good thing.

By what metric is Tom Sawyer Island "good"?