HoP Thread - 3rd Time's a Charm?

Doesn't seem odd to me, other than it may not have been written and posted by the usual suspect. (It is vacation season, after all.)

They're clarifying the official company position - since everyone else is going bananas and messing it up. As far as the formatting is concerned, they're getting around the 140 character limit. All the cool kids are doing this now.

(Observations: Recording session has NOT taken place yet. Attraction is on schedule for originally announced reopening. And if you're still using Vice as a credible news source, this is your weekly reminder to stop it.)

 

As a Brit I've never visited the HOP as I just don't feel like it's meant for me. As a general rule, is it something that foreign visitors would enjoy or it it all a bit too patriotic?

 

I'm probably not coming at this from the right perspective, but it seems to me it's something that foreign visitors would enjoy because it's too patriotic.

 

What "mawnck" said, sort-of. And the same can be said about Lincoln, in DL, and American Adventure, in Epcot.

And there's something else: really, any amusement facility (or large science, technology, or history museum, for that matter) can have rollercoasters, drop-towers, trains, large-format movies, simulators, and even movie-themed dark rides. HoP, AA, Lincoln, GMR, CoP, Roger Rabbit, Mania, Soarin', and so forth, are things that simply couldn't happen anywhere other than a Disney theme park.

 

I'm curious what this will do to attendance for HoP and how Disney would react if attendance took a nosedive. Would they change it? Replace it? Any action they take will seem political regardless of the reasoning so I wonder if the political divisiveness is getting to the point where Disney will just decide the HoP is too much political trouble than it's worth and replace it with something else. I feel like the HoP is becoming a no-win situation despite their good intentions.

 

At HoP? Would they even notice?

Actually, I predict a huge increase in (1) attendance, (2) Rocky-Horror-style interruptions, and (3) people being ejected from the park for beating the snot out of each other.

As for removing HoP, they've been trying to close Mr. Lincoln in California for something like 40 years now. The backlash has always been more than sufficient to dissuade them. And when you consider how much money they've got tied up in HoP ... well, sunk costs aren't supposed to be a thing, but I bet in this case they will be. There's not really much else that that huge building is good for - or for that matter, the 45 animatronics (42 or so of which can only stand and look around).

Maybe they can get Iago and Zazu to host an "Under New Management" version of it? I'd travel to Florida to see that! Especially if it features all the Presidents diving for cover when Uh-Oa shows up.

Then when it's all over, Iago can go take a nap in the Tiki Room.

 

Outside of museums and historical sites, you really don't see something like Mr. Lincoln, the American Experience or HOP anywhere else. These attractions are the patriotic soul of the parks. They are as important as the flag raising/lowering ceremony each day. They provide something that is severely lacking in this entertain-me-24-hours-a-day-on-my-tablet society. We haven't seen people be patriotic about their country since shortly after 9/11. It's sad that we need to be reminded about how great this country is when someone attacks us. I think these attractions are good things to have. There will always be the self centered jerks that heckle the principals presented in those attractions but at least everyone else that watches them will have their patriotic pride refueled a little and maybe learn something about our history that our education system failed to do.

 

All this controversy over some dumb show. Here is what's going to happen.

A high chance there will be crowds and then it'll dwindle as any update would. There are plenty of people in Florida who like him and they will visit. Then there's the novelty of it even if you don't like him. Then they'll realize it's as boring as ever.

There will be cheers and boos.

There is a moderate chance the animatronic or any other likeness of trump (such as a portrait if it exists) will be vandalized. The problem is that there is no easy escape route for the vandal and who wants to endure the wrath of Disney? But there are crazy people out there so I give it a chance.

Vice had to retract its story and I doubt the trump administration was that difficult to work with. Trump will say some nonpartisan things and that'll be that.

The media will take any angle they can to hurt this guy and that undermines their credibility on issues people who are not me believe are legitimate.

 

I've never seen

American Adventure for much the same reason as HOP. I did try to see Mr. Lincoln at DL, but it was closed and who knows if I'll ever get back...

 

Different attractions bore different people. Case in point, ever since the Great Wolf Lodge chain opened up a Southern California location, I've been seeing ads for them on TV, and this summer's ads, make the assertion that you won't be bored. I take a look at their own web site, and (given that I don't swim, and have precisely zero interest in learning to do so, or in any water sports in which the water isn't frozen) that place strikes me as the biggest yawner I've ever seen. Even worse than my 1976 visit to (pre-Six-Flags) Magic Mountain (elementary school graduation trip; I've never felt any desire to return there).

It's attractions like AA, CoP, HoP, CBJ, GMR, and Ellen that draw me to WDW in the first place. (And last fall, I made a point of doing GMR 3 times, and making sure I caught both scenarios, and given all the talk of permanently shutting down Ellen, I made a point of catching that one three times as well.)

 

I'd imagine foreigners would roll their eyes hard at this attraction. But then, I'm an American and not a fan.

 

You're joking, right? You can't escape patriotism in this country. It's almost a fetish. Just the fact that there's a flag raising and lowering ceremony is evidence of that.

 

EXACTLY. Where else can you go for such an entertaining eye-roll? (Well, this week notwithstanding.)