Disneyland/World and Universal parks discussion thread (where the magic never ends... until a ride you loved is knocked down and replaced with something lame)

[Graeme 936]

Heres the whole ride through. 

[Graeme 936]

The ride is gorgeous, the Animatronics are amazing and the trackless vehicles really show off how the ride experience is different than a tracked one, where you enter a room, see the whole scene and then leave, unlike the classic fantasyland rides or even The Little Mermaid, where you catch a bit of a scene on your way by. 
 

Unfortunately it is a stripped down retelling of the story from the movie, and suffers a bit because of it. Compare this to Mickeys Runaway Railway, which is very similar is a number of ways, and I think Mickey comes out on top as it is an original idea and story and even features original music. It can make the ride just that much more memorable and special since it’s not just memberberries.

 

Yes this ride will be popular, but will probably be a bit of a hollow experience (much like Little Mermaid), and highlights how just basing something on a popular IP is not really enough. Original ideas and stories carry a lot of weight too, unfortunately they are a bit riskier. 
 

And I am not saying the a Beauty and the Beast ride should have been anything other than retelling the story and having most of the music that people love, that would have been a disaster. If anything, maybe I’m saying that this ride doesn’t need to exist. 

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

I never tire of hearing Disney songs in other languages. The fluidity of even the smaller animatronics, like all the household characters that have suddenly all appeared on the table during Be Our Guest when the vehicles spin back around, is quite brilliant.

 

I've always favoured the original attractions at Disney over the so called storybook attractions that just re-tell the movie (that's really why I fell so in love with it all in the 80s as I went knowing I'd see a castle and familiar characters, but there was so much more beyond that). I think I'd say that the film arguably being the pinnacle of that Disney renaissance period in the 90s justifies the ride though. Certainly there's a factor however, like Little Mermaid, where it feels like it's arrived two decades too late. The Little Mermaid Ride was conceived in the Eisner era but sat on a shelf for years. This, or something close to it, I think really should have surfaced in Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland instead of the underwhelming restaurant (and awful forced perspective effect of Beast's castle) that they got. 

[Graeme 936]

The cars for the Jurassic Park/World coaster are being installed. They have Ingen wraps

 

 

[Graeme 936]

Also HKDL is opening back up in a few days

 

 

[Graeme 936]

Jurassic World VelociCoaster has been officially announced. Opening summer 2021. 
 

 

[ChrisBardon 458]

Very cool-looks like more of a "standard" coaster than Hagrid from the renders, but still not sure exactly what's in the show buildings.  It really is kind of neat what they're doing with launch coasters down there.  Earlier ones seemed to just use the LIM launch as a way around having a big lift hill, but ones with multiple launches mean being able to create layouts that you couldn't get before (like this one seemingly having its biggest drop near the end of the ride). 

[PHiL 163]

It was just a matter of time. 67% of the laid off workers will be part timers. Ok now back to happier posts 

 

 

[kelley 772]

October 1st is going to be a bloodbath of layoffs as the Coronavirus government agreements expire then. 

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

That's bleak, particularly coming a month after the moratorium lifted on their pandemic related pay cuts for company executives.

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

Japan's Super Nintendo World will now target Spring for opening:

 

 

In the meantime a store on the Hollywood streets of the park will be turned into a Nintendo pop up shop and cafe from the 16th of October:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Graeme 936]

Is “Who’s cap?” a thing?

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

You know, I asked myself that very same question. In the west I don't think it is. 

 

Amazing new photos of the land:

 

 

[Graeme 936]

It looks amazing, but I’m most interested to see what’s inside the grey buildings behind it!

[Graeme 936]

Do we know if there has been any progress on the Nintendo land in California? I haven’t seen anything since the parks shut down (although I haven’t been looking much either). 

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

5 hours ago, Graeme said:

Do we know if there has been any progress on the Nintendo land in California? I haven’t seen anything since the parks shut down (although I haven’t been looking much either). 

 

I did a quick search online to see if there were any new photos or video and found this:

 

 

Mario Kart building is done and they're working on a courtyard area now. There's even some coloured backdrop pieces in place which is kind of random, but they might be testing them to see how they hold up in Californian weather (though it's unusual for such things to be tested on site).

 

[Graeme 936]

Joe Rhode is retiring. Somehow I think he’ll get a Disney Legend award. Hope they’ll just wait until they don’t have to do it over Zoom. 

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

Shame to lose him. Seems like the final end of an era for WDI.

[Graeme 936]

First look inside and at the Mario Kart ride vehicles. 

[Graeme 936]

https://dtimes.jp/post-430970/
 

More pictures, including the AR glasses. Looks amazing. 

[Graeme 936]

 

 

[Graeme 936]

 

[Graeme 936]

Amazing!

[Graeme 936]

I’m still very curious to see what Mario Kart is like in action. 4 people in a car, everyone has a wheel, so I’m curious as to what the wheel does. I really hope that it’s not just an AR version of Toy Story Mania or something. 
 

The dtimes article above mentions that it is a combination of AR, screens, projections and practical effects, so it should be quite the spectacle at the very least. 

[Angry the Clown 4,173]

Looks stunning. Really is the anthesis of Star Wars Land (which is not a knock at SW land. You can only do so much if you choose to design a land around a series about a galaxy existing under under the iron fist of a fascist regime).