Two Spirited Quickees...Imagination closing

[SJN1279]

That's very interesting. A few key folks on Disneyland boards are still clinging to the belief that Al Lutz has this Anaheim stuff wrong on Monstropolis and Tomorrowland, because, you know, Al Lutz and his sources gets stuff so wrong consistently.

(Sarcasm Alert: The reality is that Al Lutz and his sources are very good and quite consistently accurate.)

This would also bode well for WDW, although the word "modest" is being used by Lutz a lot for the WDW plans. It seems things have been scaled down from the towering heights of a DCA-style 1.2 Billion Dollar Extreme Makeover for DHS. But more modest things are still percolating for that park. All per Al Lutz, of course, but he appears to be on the right track.

Lutz also said that Disneyworld would be getting lesser versions of Toy Story Mania, Mermaid, and Star Tours. When in fact, Disneyworld has the better version of all those attractions, thanks to much more immersive queues, and in Star Tours case, much higher capacity.

 

[SherlockWayne]

With rumors of a new Imagination attraction and gutting Captain EO, I can't help but wonder how the footprint of Mystic Manor compares to the available space of Imagination. I would imagine the JII space is more than enough. Every time I watch that attraction, I see more and more that makes me think it started life as an Imagination concept. I could be totally wrong, but I can't get the thought out of my mind. The way I understand it, the concept of Mystic Manor must stay exclusive to HKDL, but I have a hard time believing that would extend to the ride system. Just a thought (or wishful thinking).

 

[willtravel]

Glad to hear about Imagination, but cautiously optimistic, since we all know how the previous reimaginings have gone...

And Osborne Lights - someone in another thread suggested Blizzard Beach. Charge extra at night to come in? Seems like a good place IMO - a clever rearranging of the rehab schedule and it might be a winner, and pull in some $$ for TDO, because we all know they don't have enough.

I hope not. For what I pay for a 7 day, 2 person pass and all that goes for a vacation to WDW, I think they can throw in Christmas lights for free for me.

 

[JenniferS]

On that same note, that speeder bike sequence is also easily recognizable. Yes, obviously people think of X-wings, the Death Star, the Millenium Falcon, as well when you say Star Wars, but it's not like no one knows what the bikes are. Isn't their a photo op where you can get on the bikes in WDW already? (Or there at least was). Never did I hear people saying "what are those?"

My avatar photo is from November/2012. I had to wait in a rather lengthy line to have my photo taken by the Photopass photographer. Yeah, adults and kids alike still know what the bikes are.

 

[pheneix]

That's very interesting. A few key folks on Disneyland boards are still clinging to the belief that Al Lutz has this Anaheim stuff wrong on Monstropolis and Tomorrowland, because, you know, Al Lutz and his sources gets stuff so wrong consistently.

(Sarcasm Alert: The reality is that Al Lutz and his sources are very good and quite consistently accurate.)

This would also bode well for WDW, although the word "modest" is being used by Lutz a lot for the WDW plans. It seems things have been scaled down from the towering heights of a DCA-style 1.2 Billion Dollar Extreme Makeover for DHS. But more modest things are still percolating for that park. All per Al Lutz, of course, but he appears to be on the right track.

His on the right track because he is on the track I have been riding on for a month now.

 

[AllyInWonderland]

I hope for JII they will at least bring back Dreamfinder. I love that guy. He reminds me of Santa Claus.

 

[marni1971]

They were in talks with potential sponsors last year or so that fell through, Im just wondering if they locked in a deal with one now that plans are moving forward. For Disney to pay in full on an entire pavilion redo is a miracle these days (tho they did with the seas).

Last year? Longer than that. 2010-11 that I know of. Things happened and it was cancelled.

The Seas refurb.... painful. They literally had to scrape the budget together to get anything near usable.

 

[El Grupo]

His on the right track because he is on the track I have been riding on for a month now.

A question on the "modest" plans comment by Lutz for WDW. It has been suggested by some that the budget for expansions in AK will fall between the amount set aside for the FLE and the CA revamp.

It seems that the addition of multiple attractions at DHS would require more of an investment by Disney than what they would potentially set aside for Avatar. With that said, is Al simply speaking about an abbreviated version of Cars Land or is Disney looking at doing much less overall with all refurbs/additions to DHS?

 

[Captain Neo]

So I guess the rumor is true that Imagination is being replaced with a Dr.Doof overlay?

 

[djlaosc]

I just don't understand why they wouldn't have the Osborne Lights running in 2014...

If they decide to take down LMA, Backlot Tour, HISTKMSA, Muppets, Indiana Jones, American Idol, Beauty & The Beast (+ Premiere Theater, former Sounds Dangerous) all at the same time, that's going to leave you with...

1. The Great Movie Ride (difficult access while they remove the hat)
2. Star Tours - The Adventures Continue
3. Toy Story Midway Mania
4. The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
5. Walt Disney: One Man's Dream
6. Voyage of the Little Mermaid (also rumoured to be replaced)
7. The Magic of Disney Animation
8. Disney Junior - Live on Stage!
9. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
10. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
11. Fantasmic! (is it on every night?)

Why not...
January 2014: Beauty & The Beast closes
April/June 2014 (depending on whether Q2 2014 means financial (Oct-Sept) or Gregorian (Jan-Dec)) : American Idol closes
September 2014: Indiana Jones closes
September 2015: Backlot Tour closes
Early January 2016 (day after Osborne Lights 2015/2016 finishes): LMA/HISTKMSA/Streets of America close (hopefully some replacements for B&TB, AIE, Sounds Dangerous, Indiana Jones would be open after 15-24 months)

I know that we don't like to see things dragging over multiple years, but I would guess that people would rather have Star Wars Land under construction 2014-2016, and then Cars Land/Pixar under construction 2016-2018, than half the park closed for an unknown period of time...

If they are going to build quickly, and try to get it done rather than spread over multiple financial years, then there is no reason why they couldn't wait until Early January 2015 to close down the Streets of America/LMA/BLT/HISTKMSA - they may as well get the extra boost from the Osborne Lights at the end of 2014 than close just beforehand...

 

[RSoxNo1]

The use of FP is completely ridiculous at Mermaid. Right now, at 3:17 PM, the return time for Fastpass at Mermaid is 4:00 PM. The posted standby time is 60 minutes. There's such a huge supply of Fastpasses for Mermaid that the standby wait is often longer than the time you would get in if you had a Fastpass. The wait would rarely be over 20 minutes or so if there was no Fastpass and the standby line was kept moving constantly the way the ride is.

That often happens on a bunch of attractions. I don't really oppose adding Fastpass to attractions like Mermaid, Pirates, Mansion, it's a small world, etc, but I do object to them being used on a daily basis.

Come September, Mermaid's wait time is going to be 20-30 minutes w/Fastpass, at that point you can stop running Fastpass daily. Fastpass makes sense for these rides on high crowd days but if the waits are going to top out at 20 minutes on any given day Fastpass should be shut off.

 

[devoy1701]

Lutz also said that Disneyworld would be getting lesser versions of Toy Story Mania, Mermaid, and Star Tours. When in fact, Disneyworld has the better version of all those attractions, thanks to much more immersive queues, and in Star Tours case, much higher capacity.

what's Disneyworld?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Lutz also said that Disneyworld would be getting lesser versions of Toy Story Mania, Mermaid, and Star Tours. When in fact, Disneyworld has the better version of all those attractions, thanks to much more immersive queues, and in Star Tours case, much higher capacity.

I don't doubt that this was said (I remember it explicitly on Star Tours as TDO wanting a cheaper version). However, the capacity at Star Tours was fixed before the overhaul.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

So I guess the rumor is true that Imagination is being replaced with a Dr.Doof overlay?

Just saying, but Disney has not ordered any new episodes of Phineas and Ferb.

 

[RSoxNo1]

With rumors of a new Imagination attraction and gutting Captain EO, I can't help but wonder how the footprint of Mystic Manor compares to the available space of Imagination. I would imagine the JII space is more than enough. Every time I watch that attraction, I see more and more that makes me think it started life as an Imagination concept. I could be totally wrong, but I can't get the thought out of my mind. The way I understand it, the concept of Mystic Manor must stay exclusive to HKDL, but I have a hard time believing that would extend to the ride system. Just a thought (or wishful thinking).

Here's hoping they're dusting off the LPS concept that @marni1971 has referenced in the past.

 

[pheneix]

A question on the "modest" plans comment by Lutz for WDW. It has been suggested by some that the budget for expansions in AK will fall between the amount set aside for the FLE and the CA revamp.

It seems that the addition of multiple attractions at DHS would require more of an investment by Disney than what they would potentially set aside for Avatar. With that said, is Al simply speaking about an abbreviated version of Cars Land or is Disney looking at doing much less overall with all refurbs/additions to DHS?

I think fan expectations of the work to be done at DHS are a little higher than what will be reality. When I first threw in my 2 cents in the DHS Rebuild thread I noted that when I was told about what was being planned for DHS, there was heavy emphasis on value engineering and using existing facilities when possible. The budget that they wanted to stick to for this project was $600 million or below.


Avatar is a larger project, by far. $700+ million I believe.

 

[devoy1701]

I just don't understand why they wouldn't have the Osborne Lights running in 2014...

If they decide to take down LMA, Backlot Tour, HISTKMSA, Muppets, Indiana Jones, American Idol, Beauty & The Beast (+ Premiere Theater, former Sounds Dangerous) all at the same time, that's going to leave you with...

1. The Great Movie Ride (difficult access while they remove the hat)
2. Star Tours - The Adventures Continue
3. Toy Story Midway Mania
4. The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
5. Walt Disney: One Man's Dream
6. Voyage of the Little Mermaid (also rumoured to be replaced)
7. The Magic of Disney Animation
8. Disney Junior - Live on Stage!
9. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
10. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
11. Fantasmic! (is it on every night?)

Why not...

January 2014: Beauty & The Beast closes
April/June 2014 (depending on whether Q2 2014 means financial (Oct-Sept) or Gregorian (Jan-Dec)) : American Idol closes
September 2014: Indiana Jones closes
September 2015: Backlot Tour closes
Early January 2016 (day after Osborne Lights 2015/2016 finishes): LMA/HISTKMSA/Streets of America close (hopefully some replacements for B&TB, AIE, Sounds Dangerous, Indiana Jones would be open after 15-24 months)

I know that we don't like to see things dragging over multiple years, but I would guess that people would rather have Star Wars Land under construction 2014-2016, and then Cars Land/Pixar under construction 2016-2018, than half the park closed for an unknown period of time...

If they are going to build quickly, and try to get it done rather than spread over multiple financial years, then there is no reason why they couldn't wait until Early January 2015 to close down the Streets of America/LMA/BLT/HISTKMSA - they may as well get the extra boost from the Osborne Lights at the end of 2014 than close just beforehand...

I would think that the Backlot would close at the same time as SoA and LMA, I don't see why it would make sense to keep SoA opened later than the rest since SoA is more or less the gateway to those other areas. I guess just delaying 4 months isn't THAT big of a deal. The bigger issue of course I don't want to even think that it could be another 18 months before they begin construction back there.

 

[djlaosc]

I would think that the Backlot would close at the same time as SoA and LMA, I don't see why it would make sense to keep SoA opened later than the rest since SoA is more or less the gateway to those other areas. I guess just delaying 4 months isn't THAT big of a deal. The bigger issue of course I don't want to even think that it could be another 18 months before they begin construction back there.

I did originally write Backlot closing January 2016 as well, but I was thinking that because it was further back, they could have started demolition back there without disrupting the rest of the park/one final Osborne Lights.

Of course, we would all like them to start construction as soon as possible, so it could open as soon as possible, but are they really going to close down 39% (7/18) of the attractions that DHS has all at once?

If they were currently building the Monsters Inc. Door Coaster, had a replacement ready for B&TB, and were keeping HISTKMSA themed to A Bug's Life, then maybe...

Plus, I'm now picturing my already booked trip for December 2014 (to see the Osborne Lights), and the 9 attractions that would be open at DHS that we would have any interest in (and, of those, VOTLM and F! would only be seen once, so basically 7 with any repeatability value - but more than likely 5 [removing Magic of Animation and One Man's Dream after doing them once as well])...

 

[bubbles1812]

So I guess the rumor is true that Imagination is being replaced with a Dr.Doof overlay?

I just threw up in my mouth a little...

I like Phineas and Ferb. It's one of the few redeeming things about the crap that is the Disney Channel. But in no way do I want Imagination to have a Dr. Doof overlay. In my view, that would be extremely short sighted thinking. My hope is that they go back to something closer to the original ride (and add back the track length).

 

[AllyInWonderland]

I highly doubt this would happen, but since the upstairs Imageworks isn't coming back, can't they at least move some of it downstairs and redo the newer Imageworks. I would be cool to get off of the ride and go through the rainbow tunnel to get to Imageworks.





I'm excited yet nervous about this update.