WDW neglected?

[HauntedGabe]

I haven't seen the new Star Tours, so I honestly cannot comment.

That said, I'd be shocked if it were on the same level as HM. That was a home run of epic proportions.

Forgot to throw Test Track in my earlier post. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

Yep, I agree, Test Track will be a big question mark. They spent a great deal of time and money on Space Ship Earth and I wasn't impressed. Nor was I impressed by Nemo upgrade at the Seas.

I'm sure I wont be a hater of Fantasyland expansion but I am guarded that I will find it more visually useful than an expansion I will spend hours in after the initial opening years. I just spent a hunk of time looking around at Circus, the details are amazing but I know I will not spend time like that again in the Circus area, my curiosity was satisfied.

[Mo Noyz]

Yep, I agree, Test Track will be a big question mark. They spent a great deal of time and money on Space Ship Earth and I wasn't impressed. Nor was I impressed by Nemo upgrade at the Seas.

I guess the rationalist in me would say, "eh, it'd be pretty hard to mess up Test Track". But, the realist in me says, "you're kidding, right?" Honestly though, we need to keep all fingers and toes crossed on this one. They simply cannot afford another "miss" when you get right down to it. One more blemish on Future World could be disastrous.

And I know you already realize you don't want me to get started on The Living Seas vs. Nemo & Fiends...

As for the Fantasyland expansion, I do agree with you, but will add that no matter what, I think it will be better than what they've had over the years. The Little Mermaid dark ride combined with the Mine Train coaster already makes it far better, IMO, based on the concept art. That's two more "must do" rides if all goes right (and I honestly think it will). Just think about the comparison. Mr. Toad's/Peter Pan's/Snow White's/20K vs. Philharmagic/Pooh/Peter Pan's/Mermaid/Mine Train.

That's a pretty serious upgrade.... on paper.

[LTTCMJAKE]

Universal built Harry Potter and now plans to double the size of the area Harry Potter is in, plus they just opened the transformers ride and the despicable me ride. ALL NEW RIDES not re imagined rides or copies of what DL has... I just wish WDW would come up with something no one else has

[HauntedGabe]

I guess the rationalist in me would say, "eh, it'd be pretty hard to mess up Test Track". But, the realist in me says, "you're kidding, right?" Honestly though, we need to keep all fingers and toes crossed on this one. They simply cannot afford another "miss" when you get right down to it. One more blemish on Future World could be disastrous.

And I know you already realize you don't want me to get started on The Living Seas vs. Nemo & Fiends...

As for the Fantasyland expansion, I do agree with you, but will add that no matter what, I think it will be better than what they've had over the years. The Little Mermaid dark ride combined with the Mine Train coaster already makes it far better, IMO, based on the concept art. That's two more "must do" rides if all goes right (and I honestly think it will). Just think about the comparison. Mr. Toad's/Peter Pan's/Snow White's/20K vs. Philharmagic/Pooh/Peter Pan's/Mermaid/Mine Train.

That's a pretty serious upgrade.... on paper.

See, I was OK with Toad going bye bye however I was disappointed with Pooh. It is perfectly fine but they were capable of making Pooh so much better than what was installed along the tracks. Test Track scares me mainly because of all the issues they had and the year delay in opening originally.

I do agree Mermaid and Dwarf will be better than the parking lot that was there however I do wonder if it will be a half a billion dollar draw over time. Only time will tell.

[HauntedGabe]

Universal built Harry Potter and now plans to double the size of the area Harry Potter is in, plus they just opened the transformers ride and the despicable me ride. ALL NEW RIDES not re imagined rides or copies of what DL has... I just wish WDW would come up with something no one else has

Potter is amazing and I love how the new expansion will dip into Universal and slap back to Isles. Creative and wonderful marketing.

And when Universal closes an attraction they put a new one in its place, they don't waste an attraction building on a meet and greet. It took Universal a while but by George I thing they got it. They are focusing on Isles and making it competitive. I admire their "whole world" approach. They have their resort/transportation issues covered, they revamped their City Walk, it is like a college campus, one area leads into the next and all connected by water boats that clip along to your resort. And the parks and evening venues are all hubbed together. Terrific execution. I stayed at the Portofino for four nights and just loved it. Our room faced the harbor and was beautiful. Even their quiet pools had ambiance.

I have a great deal of respect for what had been Universal Parks and the level they are rising to.

[nicholas]

Potter is amazing and I love how the new expansion will dip into Universal and slap back to Isles. Creative and wonderful marketing.

And when Universal closes an attraction they put a new one in its place, they don't waste an attraction building on a meet and greet. It took Universal a while but by George I thing they got it. They are focusing on Isles and making it competitive. I admire their "whole world" approach. They have their resort/transportation issues covered, they revamped their City Walk, it is like a college campus, one area leads into the next and all connected by water boats that clip along to your resort. And the parks and evening venues are all hubbed together. Terrific execution. I stayed at the Portofino for four nights and just loved it. Our room faced the harbor and was beautiful. Even their quiet pools had ambiance.

I have a great deal of respect for what had been Universal Parks and the level they are rising to.

gasp you just said the U word.

[supernova]

Please, if they hadn't done something, DCA would have soon become part of history. It was horrid by most accounts.

Fantasyland isn't some simple refurb. It's the largest expansion ever seen in any Disney park. By itself it's allegedly around half a billion dollars. Pretty hefty chunk of change to improve a park that was already putting all others to shame in revenue.

In the last five years we've seen refurbs of Spaceship Earth, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Moutain, Star Tours, Pirates... Lots of work has been done on Main Street over the last few years.

I don't see any true signs of neglect outside of Future World in Epcot.

While I agree with your premise, I think we're talking apples and oranges when compared with the original post. While a cosmetic change or two to the interior of a ride is nice (ie Haunted Mansion), it's still the same ride, just slightly re-imagined. Check the park map and it's still the same old stuff. Disney is announcing, "Hey folks! Look! It's (still) Haunted Mansion, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Big Thunder, Star Tours, Pirates... just with new stuff inside. No matter how slight they may be." Nothing was new (except maybe for Pixar Place). Adding Soarin' way back when was an 'addition' to Epcot, though still within the Land pavilion. Enough to get bodies back in there, though. Nemo was an actual addition, and it got rid of that awful Seabase Alpha idea. That is more of an addition than taking the existing PoTC and sticking Jack Sparrow into four scenes. While they did update the inside of Spaceship Earth, from the exterior and from the view of a park map, it's still Spaceship Earth.

The original post mentioned adding World of Color, new rides, new lands, new parades. Not taking Star Tours and making it, well, Star Tours: Now With More Bumps. Fantasyland is a new area going in. Plus one for WDW.

[supernova]

Potter is amazing and I love how the new expansion will dip into Universal and slap back to Isles. Creative and wonderful marketing.

And when Universal closes an attraction they put a new one in its place, they don't waste an attraction building on a meet and greet. It took Universal a while but by George I thing they got it. They are focusing on Isles and making it competitive. I admire their "whole world" approach. They have their resort/transportation issues covered, they revamped their City Walk, it is like a college campus, one area leads into the next and all connected by water boats that clip along to your resort. And the parks and evening venues are all hubbed together. Terrific execution. I stayed at the Portofino for four nights and just loved it. Our room faced the harbor and was beautiful. Even their quiet pools had ambiance.

I have a great deal of respect for what had been Universal Parks and the level they are rising to.

I've been touting Universal's accomplishments for quite a while on the boards. When they add stuff, they go all out. It's not Disney's 'quick paint job and call it new' approach. My problem with them is that they tend to select material that is dated and therefore becomes stale after a while (if it even takes THAT long).

-Despicable Me does not deserve an entire ride. Yes there is a new movie coming out, but check back in ten years and see how many people are dressing as minions for Halloween.

-The Hanna Barbera ride would have been 'classic' enough to stick around. But they upgraded it to Jimmy Neutron. When no one knew who he was, they had to revise it again. At least it's giving them a chance to tear down and rebuild every few years.

-When they opened T2:3D, they opted to actually go with the then T2 idea. That immediately froze the ride in 1991 (which is now 21 years ago). How about Terminator 3D? Why identify it with a particular film?

-Back to the Future. Kids don't care about it, so it had to go. Now it's Men in Black. At least they still make films every now and again. Will it still be relevant in ten years? Who knows.

-ET. Awesome ride. Blows Peter Pan away. Love it. Well, except for the trippy part at the end. That's just dumb. But they have the pre-show from 30 years ago that is too dated. The idea itself... is there a single kid who rides the ride and knows what the heck they're seeing? Probably not.

-When Twister was current, they actually came out with a Twister experience. It's still there, though I don't know what they call it. But no one has seen that film in forever. Make it just a disaster sequence in a film, since you're a studio.

-Shrek has a meet-and-greet complete with talking Donkey. Cute idea, but it's buried on a side street and there is NEVER a line. I mean NO ONE goes there.

They have great ideas, but they don't know what to do with it or how to keep it fresh. The classics? Gone. Jaws was a fantastic ride. King Kong... nothing anywhere else like it. Both of these rides are gone now. But the Mummy ride replacement to King Kong is fantastic. And I've said before how awesome Spiderman is. And without it being broken, they've decided to add to the experience. Can't wait to get back there and check it out. The Simpsons is another fantastic ride. Soarin' can't hold a candle to it.

[Mo Noyz]

While I agree with your premise, I think we're talking apples and oranges when compared with the original post. While a cosmetic change or two to the interior of a ride is nice (ie Haunted Mansion), it's still the same ride, just slightly re-imagined. Check the park map and it's still the same old stuff. Disney is announcing, "Hey folks! Look! It's (still) Haunted Mansion, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Big Thunder, Star Tours, Pirates... just with new stuff inside. No matter how slight they may be." Nothing was new (except maybe for Pixar Place). Adding Soarin' way back when was an 'addition' to Epcot, though still within the Land pavilion. Enough to get bodies back in there, though. Nemo was an actual addition, and it got rid of that awful Seabase Alpha idea. That is more of an addition than taking the existing PoTC and sticking Jack Sparrow into four scenes. While they did update the inside of Spaceship Earth, from the exterior and from the view of a park map, it's still Spaceship Earth.

The original post mentioned adding World of Color, new rides, new lands, new parades. Not taking Star Tours and making it, well, Star Tours: Now With More Bumps. Fantasyland is a new area going in. Plus one for WDW.

Doesn't matter, IMO. Neglect is neglect. And WDW has not been neglected compared to the other parks. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Other parks are getting more stuff? Really? When they've got four parks on property, then we can start making fair comparisons.

[supernova]

Doesn't matter, IMO. Neglect is neglect. And WDW has not been neglected compared to the other parks. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Other parks are getting more stuff? Really? When they've got four parks on property, then we can start making fair comparisons.

I'm agreeing that it was neglected. In your post, it sounded like it wasn't neglected, with a list full of updates. To me, a cosmetic change within a ride is not the same as adding a whole new parade, though.

[LTTCMJAKE]

I'm agreeing that it was neglected. In your post, it sounded like it wasn't neglected, with a list full of updates. To me, a cosmetic change within a ride is not the same as adding a whole new parade, though.

EXACTLY how many times can they change the same exact dreams come true parade and with each revise it becomes worse and worse.

[supernova]

EXACTLY how many times can they change the same exact dreams come true parade and with each revise it becomes worse and worse.

Which, again, would be a cosmetic change. Not adding a parade, like they seem to be doing out west.

[Mo Noyz]

I've never been a parade guy, so that aspect of it never bothered me. The only one I ever cared for was Main Street Electrical. Didn't really even care much for Spectromagic.

[supernova]

I'm with you, Scott. I don't do parades or stage shows.

[nicholas]

I've never been a parade guy, so that aspect of it never bothered me. The only one I ever cared for was Main Street Electrical. Didn't really even care much for Spectromagic.

one thing are Scott as in Otis?