Oh no... changes on the way.

I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about what this guy is saying. He seems to be missing a lot of the substance that these very same rumors have had through the years, which really puts his credibility in question. Other than his wish-list project for Frontierland, everything he talked about has been rumored and/or confirmed for 2-3 years now. He also puts way too much faith in MiceAge, since many of their rumors/updates are simply pulled from other places online (like the TOT/GOTG conversion, which was first leaked by WDW1974 on the WDWMagic boards) and aggregated on their site

If you're concerned about Fantasyland, I don't think it will be too bad. Everything I've heard about it (other than what's quoted in this video) claims that the project will focus on the space currently taken up by the Fantasyland Theater, an expansion pad between the east side of the Star Wars project and the west side of Toontown, and possibly some/all of Toontown. The existing courtyard area behind the castle wouldn't really be touched

The rumored details of that project (Frozen dark ride and village area, Beauty and the Beast village area) sound okay in theory, but the scale seems completely off for the cramped-yet-cozy Disneyland, especially in conjunction with the extremely high density of Fantasyland. I expect it to be well executed, but not entirely appropriate for the design of the park (similar to Star Wars); we'll see how it turns out

All that said, we often hear of projects with phase 2, 3, etc. in the pipeline, but how often do they actually make it past phase 1? Almost never. Given Disney's capital improvement agreement with the City of Anaheim, they're obligated to spend a ton of money in the coming years to stave off a ticket tax, it sounds like there will be a continuous stream of projects in the near-to-mid-term future. What those projects are, however, will continue to change until shovels are in the ground.

Personally, I just hope that they get around to Tomorrowland sooner rather than later. Most of these projects seem like they would be nice additions to areas without existing problems, but TL has been in need of a major fix for over a decade at this point. It would be a shame to have to wait another decade for the solution

 

Yeah if they do anything to Fantasyland it's got to be behind Storybookland and next to IASW. Everything else is perfect. I mean, they've already updated the dark rides. What more can they do?

Tomorrowland: Autopia stays but goes all-electric. Space Mountain stays. The subs stay. Star Tours goes out. They do something with the Peoplemover track. Astro Orbiter gets the ax. And I'm really sorry to say this, but if they can't think of anything cool for the Carousel Theater that doesn't involve a franchise then they should just lose it.

 

I didn't bother looking at the video.

But Autopia going all-electric? That should have happened a while ago. Along with getting rid of the physical guide rail (in order to make it a demonstration project for smart collision avoidance, and maybe even giving guests some level of choice and control over where they go in the process). Only reason it didn't is because it once again (after many years without it) has oil company sponsorship.

As to the Carousel Theatre, well, what about a new version of the show it was originally built for? The present version of CoP (I was about to say "current," but considering that the finale, the one scene that was subject to periodic updates, was last updated at least 20 years ago, it's hardly "current") still draws enough guests in WDW-MK to be worth keeping open, even at off-peak times.

 

They need to ship those unused Hong Kong Autopia electric cars to Disneyland.

 

>They need to ship those unused Hong Kong Autopia electric cars to Disneyland.<

Great idea. So easy!!! And no, Honda isn't Chevron. They do cars, not oil.

I would love to see the Carousel of Progress without having to go all the way to Florida. That is the only logical solution. But will it happen? It will be a tough job to keep updating the finale scene. And if they can, they should restore the original narration with Rex Allen and the other actors in the first three acts of the show and have doppelganger voice doubles in the final scene. I bet no one will know the difference. Or do they do that already?

 

That is correct. They also sponsored the all-electric Autopia in Hong Kong, so clearly they don't have requirement to use gas-powered vehicles. I know there were some operational issues with having to frequently recharge the cars, but I'm surprised that a conversion to electric wasn't part of the sponsorship agreement at DL

I believe the current version uses sound alike voices for the entire show. Most of the show was rewritten in the early 90's, focusing more on general life in each era than just the current technology, so all the voices had to be rerecorded. I think Rex Allen's voice can still be heard in the short preshow video though

Interestingly, the original 1964 version took a much more modern approach to gender roles, highlighting that the appliances gave Mother the time she wanted to pursue her own interests. The entire 4th act was narrated by her. It also highlighted how even after women were allowed to leave the house, they were still expected to be in charge of the household tasks, something that's only really been discussed in recent years. Yes, the 1993 version has Father cooking in the final scene, but it's mostly played for laughs. There was a surprising amount of social subtext in the original show

 

I would not panic based on the video. Disney changes their minds more often that I change my socks. Also size and scope of the project change quite a bit over time. What might start as a big project gets scaled down, which was the problem with the last Tomarrowland over haul. The thing that the video left out the most was such things as the new parking structure and other resort wide changes.

 

You know darn well that Toontown is not going to be touched AT ALL!

You also know that WDW1974 is just as unreliable as MiceChat (heck, the Evil Spirit is also a MiceChatter)!

 

I don't know...

They were right about the Tower....