Originally Posted By dagobert I really don't get how this is moving forward. I mean WDI is run by Bob Weis now, he is with Disney for many years. Joe Rohde is leading the Marvel projects and he is known for great theming and quality. Is WDI so out of the decision making process that executives can decide all on their own? I'm still hoping this is just a bad joke and that the outcry will be huge.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Always thought the ToT had one of the most half-assed backstories of any ride in the Disney parks. And that's really saying something. It's just a generic spooky halloween story you have to endure while you're waiting to "do the ride" - and bears no resemblance to the intelligent dramas >> You appear to be an ideal Six Flags customer. I'm hoping that was just satire. ToT is a masterpiece from beginning to end. Winding up the hill going through the overgrown gardens on the way to the hotel. The hotel lobby, grand but creepy at the same time. The library show (which at least for me increases my anticipation). Going through the spooky boiler room (for some reason large boilers have always seemed spooky to me). Then you are loaded onto the elevator, thinking you are headed for the drop. But no, here comes the best part of the ride. The hall with the disappearing family, the fifth dimension room, the blinding light as the door to infinity opens. THEN, after 20 minutes masterful foreplay, you are presented with the drop. BEST. ATTRACTION. EVER.
Originally Posted By hopemax > I'm still hoping this is just a bad joke and that the outcry will be huge. < Outcry only happens if people treat this as a legitimate rumor. Dismissing it out of hand = no outcry. Poster from the Orlando United website, which normally handles Universal stuff, although they have a WDW section posted "So after seeing these rumor posts this morning I decided to give one of my friends at the house that Jack and Stan built [Marvel] a call so we could laugh it off. He wasn't laughing. This has legs."
Originally Posted By RoadTrip They can screw up the DCA version if they want, but for God's sake leave the WDW version alone. The original should at least stay original. I just can't imagine WDW would be stupid enough to go along with the change. ToT has become a default icon for the Studios park. The WDW ToT CM's are legendary... Orlando's version of Maynard. I hate to go on a "Save Toontown" style rant here, but I just can't believe Disney is stupid enough to even consider this for a minute.
Originally Posted By doombuggy I would believe the rumor that they are going to level Hollywood land in DCA to bring the frozen boat ride before this stupid rumor.
Originally Posted By doombuggy I would believe the rumor that they are going to level Hollywood land in DCA to bring the frozen boat ride before this stupid rumor.
Originally Posted By doombuggy I would believe the rumor that they are going to level Hollywood land in DCA to bring the frozen boat ride before this stupid rumor.
Originally Posted By hopemax > They can screw up the DCA version if they want, but for God's sake leave the WDW version alone. The original should at least stay original. I just can't imagine WDW would be stupid enough to go along with the change. ToT has become a default icon for the Studios park. The WDW ToT CM's are legendary... Orlando's version of Maynard. I hate to go on a "Save Toontown" style rant here, but I just can't believe Disney is stupid enough to even consider this for a minute. < Spirit has said 90% chance for DCA, 50/50 for WDW. The hangup at WDW isn't because they recognize that its a bad idea but because 1. Takes the ride out of service 2. Costs money. Apparently, George Kalogridis has suggested changing one shaft at a time, so the ride can remain operational.
Originally Posted By hopemax > I would believe the rumor that they are going to level Hollywood land in DCA to bring the frozen boat ride before this stupid rumor. < Well, at least since the timeline for this to start is beginning of 2017, we won't have long to wait for things to play out. It will or won't be penciled into a refurb schedule soon enough.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I don't know... it could happen at DLR. Despite being the park where Walt walked and all that stuff, it is becoming the Disney Park where these kind of dumb changes are made. I also had a hard time believing it when Space Mountain, another Disney Classic, was given a Star Wars overlay (although at least it seemed relatively minor). But then thinking back through time, DL has been making mistakes like this for quite awhile now. Closing CoP. Closing People Mover. Closing Country Bears. Changing Swiss Family Treehouse to Tarzan. Sure, WDW has made its bonehead moves too (closing Toad), but it seems like it is becoming a real habit at DLR.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Sometimes these changes work, or at least give us a "different-but-just-as-good" version, and sometimes they don't. WDW is hardly immune. Journey Into Your Imagination and Tiki Room UNM spring to mind. I'm someone who prefers the DCA ride version of TOT to WDW's, but prefers the WDW exterior setting, and I think Marvel-izing it would be more egregious there. It would be pretty egregious in DCA too, if they didn't Marvel-ize the immediate area. That's long been a rumor, but what else could they put in there with a 2017 start date besides an M&G or two? Probably nothing much to really make it a properly themed area. That said, if they DO make a Marvel area in DCA, I'd be fine with them expanding into the Bug's Land space. That was fine as a placeholder in the park's early years, but there's nothing there except ITTBAB (which they haven't even shown in a long time) that they couldn't re-purpose to Marvel (a Superhero spinner is just as good as a bug one for little ones), and/or use some of its space for a more all-ages attraction.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<WDW is hardly immune. Journey Into Your Imagination and Tiki Room UNM spring to mind.>> True, but in WDW's defense they were smart enough to change the Tiki's back to the original. They were sadly contractually obligated to change JII, and the change occurred at the same time Kodak realized its film business was going into the dumpster. They wanted to spend as little on the redo as possible.
Originally Posted By doombuggy There is nothing to play out. Guardians only had one movie and the second isn't due out for another 2 years.If if this were a true rumor it would make more sense to make it the Avengers Tower. The whole thing smacks of another PP 13 Just trying to get attention.
Originally Posted By hopemax > There is nothing to play out. Guardians only had one movie and the second isn't due out for another 2 years. < Guardians of the Galaxy 2 comes out May 5, 2017. ToT is expected to close Jan 2017, and re-open to coincide with the movie premiere.
Originally Posted By hopemax Posted too soon. That info came from a different poster, posted in the DL section of WDW Magic, and a completely different thread than the Spirited Post. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disneyland-resort-in-2017-marvel-tot-retheme-in-dca-fantasmic-2-0.911511/#post-7136771">http://forums.wdwmagic.com/thr...-7136771</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I'm hoping that was just satire.<< Nope. Stand by every word, and right back atcha with the Six Flags comment. A buncha random spooky stuff is supposed to stand in for Disney storytelling? The ride is an insult to both Disney and (especially) Rod Serling.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Sometimes these changes work, or at least give us a "different-but-just-as-good" version, and sometimes they don't.<< I would argue that in these sorts of cases, "just as good" means it is a failure. Why shut down the attraction and spend lots of money to convert it, only to end up with something equally popular? From a business perspective it doesn't make sense, and from a park goer perspective it doesn't particularly make sense. Redos like this should be done with the intent of increasing popularity; similar to Maelstrom in Epcot, TOT regularly operates at or near full capacity, meaning that any changes wouldn't be able to bring more bodies on the ride, and therefore into the park. From a financial perspective, it would make more sense to either build something from scratch or redo an attraction that rarely meets its theoretical capacity (in DCA, I think GRR would be the most obvious choice, though pretty much everything in the park operates near capacity) >>...but what else could they put in there with a 2017 start date besides an M&G or two?<< Didn't Flik's Fun Fair open on DCA's 2nd birthday, after they realized the park was in serious trouble? Obviously those are hardly 'great' attractions in the traditional Disney sense, but things can be done quickly, even when the decision is made late in the game >>If if this were a true rumor it would make more sense to make it the Avengers Tower<< Except that most of the Avengers characters are tied up in Universal's contract for the theme park rights on the east coast. If Disney is going to do it, they'll likely want to share costs between both locations (despite development being a tiny portion of construction budgets), so they would need to use characters that aren't a part of Universal's slate. They've previously established that Guardians can be used in WDW, so it would be an easy choice (if not a good one)
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>A buncha random spooky stuff is supposed to stand in for Disney storytelling?<< How is it any different than the random spooky stuff in the Haunted Mansion, which many people believe to be one of Disney's best attractions of all time? I'd argue that the TOT storyline is much more developed than the vague "swinging wake" concept
