What YOU Thought of New Fantasyland so Far

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Whats with the Gaston "statue"......wasn't this or isn't this supposed to be an FOUNTAIN? I could have sworn both the older artwork and revised artwork with the barrels, showed running water???
It is a fountain with running water. Maybe it was turned off when you were there. It's still in soft opening.
 

Rescue Ranger

Well-Known Member
It is a fountain with running water. Maybe it was turned off when you were there. It's still in soft opening.
Oh ok, awesome!
I haven't been yet, just that I have only so far seen it referenced as a statue and not a fountain by anyone, so I wasn't sure if the idea had been scrapped.

It looks great though. First I have seen of it with the water running. Thanks for the pic!
 

BCVTalsJam

Active Member
My wife and I got into all the new fantasy land stuff including the little mermaid ride! It was amazing. We got a drink in gastons tavern...bought some beauty and the beast dinner plate set and tea cups and went into be out guest. We also saw belle and heard some of her stories! All simply amazing! Thankfully we didn't have to register I heard it didn't end well! Just luck of being In the right place at the right time! If ur going ull love it!!
 

cba

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When is the seven dwarfs mine training opening? I'm going in summer 2014. I was wondering if it will be open by then.
No official date, but I doubt it will be still closed by then. I only know that it's 2014.
 

Polydweller

Well-Known Member
It's been in dress rehearsal all week so far and we've been in it twice including LM twice. The theming is very good and better than the pictures I've seen so far can capture. It's a bit hard to judge though since the green construction walks for Seven Dwarfs run along the one side and you must go in and out the same way. Because of that it's not fully emersive at this point but if they theme SD to the same standard it should be spectacular.

I agree with a no more than B+ for LM and may have rated it a notch below that. The queue is terrific, one of their best, but the ride is a little flat and if you don't know the story it doesn't really tell it. We do so we knew what was going on but really wonder what others who don't know the story might get out of it. And the animation of the characters is very limited and for us didn't come alive, just missing that undefinable something that is Disney magic. That said, it's a good attraction but not a great one.
 
Upon experiencing the new additions to fantasyland over the weekend some thoughts that came to mind were, ”awe inspiring, epic, entertaining E-ticket with fully functioning animatronics.” Yeah I missed those elements from past Disney expansions but I liked the fantasyland ”expansion.”

It noticeable how the beasts castle has portions both on the outside and in that vaguely resemble Hogwarts. I also found it entertaining that they tried to top butterbeer. The sad thing is that having restaurant specific items was a practice Disney had been doing for years ala enchanted groves strawberry swirl or the handwich. It's interesting that they abandon it, universal adapts it so successfully and Disney magically brings it back again.

The recent additions to fantasyland will certainly help spread out the crowds but how many people in the crowds are just so relieved to finally see something new?
 

MissMorrow

Active Member
Went on Sunday and I'd say overall I was pleasantly surprised. The facades are all beautiful and I think will create a nice atmosphere when construction is totally complete.

The BaTB restaurant is far more impressive in person and the lack of a true domed ceiling in the ballroom isn't noticeable. I'm happy it turned out nicely since the construction videos didn't look at all promising to me. I would have liked to have seen the other rooms, but I guess that will have to wait. Gaston's is rather cute, but entirely too small for the amount of traffic it will likely generate. I didn't do the Enchanted Tales meet 'n greet so I can't comment. Overall an A pending food tasting.

LM queue is simply gorgeous with an impressive level of detail. It builds up the anticipation quite nicely. Then I got on the ride. I haven't been on the DCA version so I can't compare, but I can't imagine they improved upon anything. After the second ride through I concluded that the lighting is truly horrendous. It's visible and glaring, not dark enough, and blank walls are visible in parts. Correcting this would improve the ride dramatically IMO. Since this is only a soft opening, I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume they are still working out the kinks. I also couldn't help thinking how awesome the Under the Sea scene could have been had used the trackless Hunny Hunt system, but that point is kind of moot. So a C- for the ride, A+ for the queue, overall a B-.

My only other "issues" were the visible show building behind Beast's Castle, it's just a pet peeve, and the forced perspective on the castle. I've read here that it works form certain angles, but I never saw it. Maybe I was never standing at these angles or it's because I'm short, but it just didn't work for me.

So overall for the whole area at the moment B+.
 

RonAnnArbor

Well-Known Member
Seen this past week, it looks really nice. Arial's ride is very very cute. Be Our Guest looks amazing (though did not eat there). Everything is really pretty, and designed more like the buildings in the international parks than WDW, so it looks very real. The Seven Dwarves Mine Ride not being open is a huge problem. It makes everything just look like a construction site, since its in the middle of the land and everything you look at is ready in one direction, and 180 degrees to the other is just a big, walled, noisy, development site with a crane swinging around in it. While I go to WDW a few times a year, I do not plan on going back to visit the expansion until the walls are down in 2014 and everything is up and running.
 

bubbles1812

Well-Known Member
I think it looks beautiful. The theming is truly great. Well done Disney in that area. That being said, I don't think the attractions are quite on par with the theming. They are cute and nice to be sure but I wish they'd have spent a little more to create some more unique and new ride experiences than they have. Overall, I know I will enjoy the rides but I still think there was potential for more than was created.

It's Wednesday and the FLE is still better than Cars Land.

Yeah jt... like anyone takes you seriously... you haven't been to the parks in what? A decade?
 

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
I think it looks beautiful. The theming is truly great. Well done Disney in that area. That being said, I don't think the attractions are quite on par with the theming. They are cute and nice to be sure but I wish they'd have spent a little more to create some more unique and new ride experiences than they have. Overall, I know I will enjoy the rides but I still think there was potential for more than was created.



Yeah jt... like anyone takes you seriously... you haven't been to the parks in what? A decade?

I agree with your review and comments. Went today (forget the cattle herd passholder previews they are putting together) and the theming is incredible. In terms of mermaid I felt like I was in a new world showcase pavilion or something (its the closest will ever get anyway). The queue is stunning, the load/unload is beautiful, the ride...

...okay the ride. The pics and vids dont do it justice, its much nicer in person. But its evident they spent way more on the exterior/queue than they did on the ride which is a shame. Its a nice ride, colorful and (freezing in there too). But way too much plastic, too many barren spots that need more added, and as already stated in these threads the kissing scene near the end with the animation and ursula is pathetic! Thats all they could do there? It feels like a toys r us or a store window display or like being in the toy isle in walmart, totally horrible and cheaped out. The finale scene is no different than riding through a warehouse and seeing all the infrastructure. Its not hidden from the unload enough. I dont like all the hard big plastic hair on all the ariel figures and eric etc, I mean if there was to be a sponsor of this ride it should be a plastics company. It reminds me of my legos when I was a kid and you could change out the top hair head peices on the little figures.

Exterior A+++++, but how they are going to keep all this clean I dont see working out. Theres already bird droppings all over the rock work. Same thing is going to happen in the beauty and the beast village on the props and what not. Qeue A+++, Ride B - to a C+.

Didnt get to go in beasts castle, from the outside though its stunning, but for those unaware its going to be disspointing that its only a restaurant. It looks like a major attraction walking up to it.
The new gift shop is nice but wayyyyy too small for the amount of people. They were filming in gastons so couldnt go in there. Actually the whole beauty and the beast village was very small and cramped. I was expecting this to be laid out larger, its just too small for the throngs of people coming into here.
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Checked out FLE today. I was surprised by how good the facades, rockwork, and queue for Mermaid look. Gaston's was not open. Did not do Belle's but honestly don't have much desire to. Its nice to see a basically completed Storybook Circus. A few weeks ago I rode Mermaid in DCA for the first time, so I guess the ride itself had nothing new for me. But man is that queue fantastic. Its... kind of a shame that so much effort was spent on the queue, and yet the ride is forgettable (and in some places, downright cheap) in comparison.

Still, all the fancy scenery can't change the fact that they will not be able to unveil this as a big grand opening - there's still a big ugly construction site smack dab in the middle of it. And even when 7 Dwarfs is finished, when all is said and done, MK only really gained two rides. I really feel that MK deserved a true, showstopping E-ticket like RSR, but we're not going to get it.

It's Wednesday and the FLE is still better than Cars Land.
I've now been to both, and I'm probably correct in assuming that you have been to neither, and NO, it absolutely is NOT.
 

luv

Well-Known Member
The theming is pretty good. I am not gagging on amazement, but its good overall and very good in some places.

The Mermaid ride is a very good one...but I love the movie and have been thinking Ariel deserved this for a mighty long time. They can now shut down the puppet show at DHS and put something better in there.

The queue is ridiculously long. I don't get that. There are openings in the ceiling. If you're in there while the fireworks are going off, you can see some fireworks through the openings, just like you're in the movie, lol. Very nice touch!! I don't know that I'd have thought of that, but I was simultaneously happy to see that and impressed that they'd thought to do it and accomplished it. Mega Kudos to the Imagineers there!!! I wondered if it would be very hot on hot days and if it could rain in...I wonder if it closes off for those kind of things. I noted that the whole queue area is designed to hide dirt, lol.

The ride itself is not all screens, thank God. It is Disney, so you do ride past some characters on screens, lol...they can't make anything new without that!...but most of it is not. And I liked the water bubbles thing. There is a scene where an animatronic Flounder actually appears to be floating. He's on an arm, but I had to look back ("How'd they do that?!" style) to see it. Loved that Flotsam and Jetsam were in there. :) but the best scene is the "Under the Sea" one. Magnificent. Like you're in the movie.

Again, I'm a big fan of that movie and hold Ariel near and dear to my heart...but I was very happy with this ride and intend to ride it over and over again. My first ride through TSMM, I was done. Never needed to do that again, lol.

The BOG dining room is pretty. I like the gargoyles a lot.

Gaston's tavern has the antler chandelier...love it! Also like the statue out front. There was an extremely nice woman working in there, where the tables are. I should have gotten her name and wrote a note about how nice she was. She was short, black and wore a white uniform. If you see her, give her a smile for me.

None of it left me amazed, but it is very nice overall...and new. :)

I don't like the circus area. I've waited a long time to say it. I kept thinking I'd warm up to it and change my mind. I wanted to give it time. But I don't like it. All that red is annoying and it's all just a little...I don't know the right word...the details are a little busy. "Busy" isn't really the right word, but the correct one escapes me. I do like the garbage cans there, though. :)
 

Huckleberry

New Member
Hello Everyone,

First, I'm new here and this is my first post. I think WDWMagic is awesome! Now back on the topic. :)

I have been to both Cars Land at DCA and now the new FLE at MK. I thought both of them were incredible, but I thought Cars Land was better. When you are walking down the street in Radiator Springs, you really feel like you are in the movie! It had 3 new rides and RSR is by far the best ride Disney has made in a long time. I felt like I was going to cry when I had to leave and come back home to Florida. Being a Florida resident I have a annual pass at WDW and visit there all the time. So when I got to see the new FLE I was expecting the same as Cars Land.... I was not disappointed because it was beautiful. They really went all out making it look breathtaking. My only disappointment in FLE right now are the attractions or the lack of them.
I saw the Storytime with Belle and it was incredible, but it is only something I will do occasionally or never again. I didn't get to see the restaurant inside Beast's castle, but I did get to visit Gaston's and tried the LeFou's Brew (It was GREAT). Lastly, I road the LM. I already have ridden the LM at DCA so I was hoping it was going to be different or better...but Nope... it was exactly the same ride inside. That really disappointed me because we just got a copy of what DCA has had for a year or two now. The only thing that was different about the two rides was the outside. FLE has a gorgeous but HUGE facade while DCA doesn't.
While the new FLE is amazing, I still feel let down right now. If I hadn't been to Cars Land or road the LM at DCA then maybe I would be totally in LOVE with the new FLE. Of course, I haven't given up on it. The Dwarf Mine Train could be so awesome that it balances it out and makes it equal to Cars Land.... I really hope it will. It is sad for me to say this, but until the Mine Train is finished then there is really no reason why I would ever go into the new FLE unless it was to grab a glass of LeFlou's Brew. :(
 

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