Originally Posted By TDLFAN Yours truly had the pleasure of visiting DLRP in late august to check out their version of the night time show "Wishes" and check what's going on at the park. After recent visits by several other fans, I was looking forward the most to alledged improvements in maintenance and the like. Disappointment follows. While I was glad to see very healthy crowds packing DLP and WDSP, and some improvement being made to some areas of the park (like refurbishments in progress at BTMRR and the DLHotel for example), the fact remains that DLP is a long long long way from being concidered "acceptable" in the cleanliness and maintenance category. As you will see on this pictorial... some areas of the park are great, while others are simply NOT. I have stated before that DLP has the gift of being the most beautiful and dirtiest DL park on Earth. Hard to imagine both night and day extremes can be found in one package, but DLP excels on this.. and that is not a good compliment. I am beginning to believe this park will never see the glory days again... the damage done by years of neglect and poor maintenance practices seem to get worst and worst, which means, it will be more costly to fix it in the long run.. Guests don't help either as they mercilessly trash this park, and some CMs seem to be there to goof off rather than work. But I am documenting examples of this on my photos.. Finally, the main reason for my visit was to check out "Wishes", a show that was boo-ed off the schedule last year after a disastrous debut run. I was not expecting much but guess what... TDLFAN was pleasantly surprised. True, the show suffers from a lack of pyro magic, and more so because of the restrictions imposed on DLP to keep these to a minimun height and noise standard. Yet, DLP's Wishes does something the much heralded MK version does not: uses laser and photographic animation to enhance the experience. While the MK's Wishes has extraordinary pyro and minimalistic (if not outdated) castle projections, DLP's Wishes delivers an added layer of fun that elevates the show to a higher degree of quality. Many will continue to argue the show is bad because of the low level pyro and such. We all are entitled to opinions. However, I thouroughly enjoyed this presentation for what it is: a moving tribute to Disney's films with added pixie dust to enhance it. Not a total waste of my time and the crowd watching must have felt the same way as the final applause was quite enthusiastic from the crowd. I rate DLP's Wishes 3 1/2 stars out of 5*****. Here are the photos of the carnage. <a href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4334673&a=32300539&f=" target="_blank">http://albums.photo.epson.com/ j/AlbumIndex?u=4334673&a=32300539&f=</a>
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA The peeling paint reminds me of The Magic Kingdom from 4-5 years ago. Le Ouch!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN You mean DL from 3-4 yrs ago, because you can find peeing paint at WDW MK to this day, if you look for it. In fact, DLP makes the MK look pristine!
Originally Posted By CTXRover Wow. There are certainly some bad conditions at DLP on some of the buildings. Hopefully with their 15th coming up and some of the recent rehabs that they have been doing to various parts of the park they can fix some of those terrible looking buildings. The DLP hotel is looking better already and Advertureland buildings have been getting some attention. Righ now, DLP looks like parts of DL before the big rehab to get it ready for the 50th. Hopefully DLP has something similar, if on a smaller scale, to fix parts of it up. This is evidence though that the MK does do its part to keep things at least looking decent. The MK and other WDW parks, while not perfect, requires more of a discerning eye to find problems. From the looks of things at DLP, you can tell some of these buildings are in bad shape even from a distance.
Originally Posted By CTXRover <<In fact, DLP makes the MK look pristine!>> I posted above before I saw this. Now I know things at MK aren't perfect, but I haven't noticed any buildings in as bad of disrepair as some of the DLP buildings you just showed. Unless your pictorial showed only the bad and the rest of the park looks pristine, I stand by what I said above about MK at least looking decent compared to some of this.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN True about the MK keeping a better standard in regards to maintenance when compared to DLP that is. But the problem I have with the MK are the outdated rides, lack of staffing in custodial and lack of decent entertainment. DLP is a great park with beautiful theming and great updated rides (even if the park itself is falling apart and covered in mildew.)
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Unless your pictorial showed only the bad and the rest of the park looks pristine<< OUCH! That hurts! I think I mentioned in my photo captions the areas of the park I saw in good conditions, like the some of the areas around Main Street (Emporium, portions of DLP Hotel, Hub and the likes) where you can see cleanliness is up to standards. But I also included those areas that stood out to me like a sore thumb. I did not go into Fantasyland at all or Adventureland much, and that is why you don't see photos from those areas.
Originally Posted By CTXRover << But the problem I have with the MK are the outdated rides, lack of staffing in custodial and lack of decent entertainment>> Well hopefully if rumors are true those outdated rides at the MK will see some decent DL-style updates in the next 2 years, including Space, HM and Jungle Cruise. Entertainment at MK is upsetting though and needs a major overhaul and the custodial staff seems to have its good and bad days. I seem to hit more good than bad. Anyway, I look forward to seeing what they've done with DLP next year! I hope they can continue their current rehabs to the places you pointed out.
Originally Posted By CTXRover <<OUCH! That hurts>> I actually owe you an apology. A moment of dyslexia must have happened for me because I thought you said MK makes DLP look pristine (in that DLP is in better condition than the MK) and not the other way around as you obviously typed. My bad.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Great pics as always, my friend. You could have another career if you ever tire of dealing with all those free-loaders like me in First Class ;-) Wishes does look good ... if different. As to the condition of the park, it looks very much the same as it did in May. (except the Emporium is now completed and BTMRR is under wraps). The wood rot that you photographed on the Plaza Pavillion, Lucky Nugget and Silver Spur was all very noticeable on my trip ... not to mention the mildew all over the place. The castle also showed so many obvious signs of neglect. Then, there's the potholes (especially in the Hub and Discoveryland). The lights on the DLH are quite reminiscent of the state of the lighting on both the Yacht and Beach Club Resorts now. The thing to realize is that many of the things you've pointed out have likely NOT been touched in any significant way in the 14 years the park has been open. Nothing at all. Just the elements and the abusive guests. Good thing you didn't head over to the Treehouse were the wood planks are rotting away and people could fall right thru at any moment. Boy, did Jay Rasulo do a great job there. The idiots in charge of the park now, Karl Holz and George Kalogridis (both WDW castoffs) have their work cut out for them ... you should email them a link to your photos. But likely most of the worst stuff will be cleaned up in time for the media to descend this spring. The question is what the place will look like when the VIPs go home and the celebration winds down. I wonder if Tony Baxter, and the amazing design team, cries when he visits the park he so lovingly created. DLP is easily the most incredibly designed, detailed MK created. But it's also the absolute worst when it comes to upkeep ... and considering how bad the MK is, that's saying a lot!
Originally Posted By RandySavage TDLFAN, you should forward these photos to bob.iger@disney.com or some permutation thereof. I remember a time when Disney proudly described to the press how paint touch-ups were done on a nightly basis to ensure the highest quality guest experience.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<TDLFAN, you should forward these photos to bob.iger@disney.com>> That isn't the correct email ... I should know, I have two of them
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Maybe I can put my photos in a photopass and send them to him.. with love.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Great pics as usual. Although, I was a bit disappointed to not see a photo of the gum on the floor of the Phantom Manor queue - is it all still there?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Quite likely. It seems to be everywhere (even with a number of cast members scraping every day).
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>I was a bit disappointed to not see a photo of the gum on the floor of the Phantom Manor queue - is it all still there?<< That would be because I did NOT ride Phantom Manor this time around... but I may do so when I return to DLP on Oct 6th. But if gum is what you want to see, check out WDW's Splash Mountain queue and some ride scenes...
Originally Posted By CTXRover If you want to see gum, you may also want to check out the one wall in the Indy queue at DL (CA). This was back in July, but the line farthest on the right as you are walking down the stairs to the loading platform went past a pillar literally loaded with gum from the floor to as high as one could reach. I had never seen anything like it, and was a bit surprised given the attention DL was getting (Matt Oiument was still there, so don't blame this on the new guy)
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I blame it on Grad Nights and trailer park trash visiting the parks at both coasts. I think it's ver very very sad people do this to anyone else's property. Obviously most people forget that even though we are paying a fee to enter these parks, we are still concidered "guests" and should behave accordingly. ARGH!
