Originally Posted By Doobie This topic is for discussion of the October 9th article covering the unveiling of Pooh at Disneyland and Michelle Smith's interview with the Show Writer at <a href="News-ID506470.asp" target="_blank">http://LaughingPlace.com/News-ID506470.asp</a>.
Originally Posted By Futurist It's amazing the opening is some 7 months away .. and they already pretty much have the queue all set up. Maybe they want to see how the paint holds up well before it opens ... and then do touch-ups for the grand opening. In the pictures of WDW's version I notice the usage of 2-dimensional plywood props as appose to rounded 3D designs (or even AA figures) is a little on the cheap side. I hope they don't go that far with this version of Pooh. I have had enough of Disney chintzing out on their latest efforts. Since they didn't have to build a whole new structure from ground up .. I hope they had enough money to make the quality for this one new single Attraction for Disneyland something to "write home" about. But, just judging on the queue ... this looks to be a promising "C" or possible "D" in my books. Not everything has to be an "E" .... but across the way on the east side of the park, I know of a water area that should get the "E" level attention. I'm glad Fab had the guts to bring up Tomorrowland with this guy even though he evaded the issue. Probably because he knows nothing will be happening for a while. Still, I'm THRILLED I have a "C Ticket" dark ride in Disneyland to look forward to.
Originally Posted By aracuanbird Wow...looks like someone put too much make-up on grandma. I mean, do these Pooh themed elements look out of place or what? Put aside any concept-indigestion that may come out of an English Bear ride in an American backwoods setting and just absorb how synthetic and disconnected these pots, painted signs, and that "seeping" honey is from the log carvings, overgrown foliage, and general naturalness of Critter Country. Maybe in person it will feel different, but I fear it will be more jarring. I mean, how will all this mesh against an ambient soundtrack? Will they play "The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers" with a banjo? And what are these vehicles? Do they make any sense? And is anyone mildly offended by the stick coming out of the rear end of these ride vehicles? Until I saw this, I thought TDL would maintain the distinction of having the most flawed Pooh queue. I might be changing my mind...
Originally Posted By KoreaDisney Wow aracuanbird, The way you describe it, it sounds like people are going to need counseling after seeing this area.
Originally Posted By ahecht I think the queue look great. At the little touches (like the bees in the blick and yellow strip) look nice -- except for the hunny pots (which just look out of place).
Originally Posted By amazedncal I think the queue looks fun. Very Poohish. I'm expecting it to be like Roger Rabbit, a lot of eye candy and the ride itself just sort of takes you through it. Although I agree that having Pooh in Critter Country is sort of stretching i, and I was also a fan of Country Bears, I think that Pooh will ve a great addition. Just my 2 cents worth. Oh, I also think the article was GREAT
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Great coverage - THANKS FAB!!!!!!!!!!! This looks to be a wonderful addition and I look forward to seeing it in 2005. The outdoor area looks charming. It will be interesting to see if there is a TOKYO influence. Where did that Happy Birthday pic come from? I don't recall that show scene in the Florida version. And YES ... the Florida version is VERY popular as will DL's version be popular I am sure. GREAT JOB !!!!!!!
Originally Posted By fabdisbabe I'm glad Fab had the guts to bring up Tomorrowland with this guy even though he evaded the issue. Probably because he knows nothing will be happening for a while.>> It may look that way to you in print, but the way he said it was totally open and honest - I discussed TL with him a tiny bit outside of the interview, but he's got as much of a clue about what's going to happen there as anybody else. Someone privy to the 8-year plan in development said he hadn't seen much of anything about Tomorrowland there. Michelle
Originally Posted By JohnS1 Er...why did this interview just sort of ... end so abruptly? I was fully expecting more of it on the other pages, but it turned out to be this brief little piece that stopped short of giving me any depth about the project. Maybe that's all the guy wanted to talk about or something???
Originally Posted By Trebor411 I hate to say this but I'm very disappointed in the new Pooh Ride. I was hoping we were going to get the ride system they have at Tokyo Disneyland. It's a trackless system. You ride in a honey pot and three pots enter the ride at the same time. When the ride starts the pots all take different directions and you never know where you will go. In the dream sequence 6 pots are in the room and are moving around the room at random. The ride is so cool. They should of put this ride system in since they ripped out Bear Country.
Originally Posted By fabdisbabe Er...why did this interview just sort of ... end so abruptly? I was fully expecting more of it on the other pages, but it turned out to be this brief little piece that stopped short of giving me any depth about the project. Maybe that's all the guy wanted to talk about or something???>> Man, this boards full of bad mindreaders today! Why all of these negative comments about Kevin? He was nice enough to give me an interview when my scheduled interview failed to show up (exhausted from being up all night for the final preps, he went home). I talked Sonny Eclipse with him because he's Sonny's creator. I'm a huge Sonny Eclipse fan. He wasn't in charge of Tomorrowland in WDW and he's got nothing to do with any tomorrowland project here. Why should he know about the project? Also, no, I didn't ask about the details of every scene of the ride - another Imagineer on the project to whom I'd spoken to that morning said he wanted to leave things to surprise and as I respect him, I respect that, too. After seeing HMH last year without knowing every detail and being delighted, I decided I'd do that more. I didn't see A Bug's Land til opening - my choice. I don't like to open my Yule presents early, either. I've learned that it's more fun that way. It was his birthday, he'd just opened a new land with about as much sleep as the guy who went home, and did me and my readers a cool favor by agreeing to do the interview. He told me everything he could about the attraction, the interview timer person waved the "two minute" fingers at me, and we wrapped it up. How about that Buddy Baker/Richard Sherman story? That's priceless! I should, however, put in this disclosure statement: Kevin Rafferty is major Imagineering Hero Worship Material to me. He rocks. Everything he's worked on has creativity and wit, and if you check out the themeparkadventure.com site, he even helps people get a peep into the world of what it's like to be an Imagineer. He's one of my heroes. Michelle
Originally Posted By JohnS1 "Why all of these negative comments about Kevin? He was nice enough to give me an interview when my scheduled interview failed to show up (exhausted from being up all night for the final preps, he went home)." Michelle, I honestly meant no disrespect toward Kevin. When you explain the circumstances of the interview as you did above, that answers part of my question. It helps to know the circumstances of a reporter's interview and now you have explained them. Finally, I certainly didn't expect any questions or replies about Tomorrowland. Nowhere in my post do I mention that. The topic, obviously, was Pooh. Nor did I want detailed descriptions of the ride's interiors. I can look at the pictures of WDWs version to get that. I simply meant that the interview seemed to abruptly end. Now you've explained why.
Originally Posted By amazedncal Michelle, now that I know that you are checking in, I want to thank you for that fun information about the kazoos, I already re told your story to my DH as he always bores my kids with stories of his kazoo band in 6th grade LOL, Thanks again for GREAT report
Originally Posted By haiderodes Well at least they themed that darn black and yellow strip that is appearing everywhere!
Originally Posted By sdimon Fab, For the record, YOU ROCK! What a great story. I would presume that even though it "looks" like the attraction is really far along, that most of the interior has yet to be "populated." Having never been on the WDW or Tokyo version of the attraction, I am looking forward to this one...I just hope, as has been stated by several others, that we don't get a lot of the cutouts that seemed to be all over in the pics that I've seen of the WDW version. As far as Pooh being in Critter Country -- well, he's a Critter, ain't he? I think he fits in rather well here -- and as sorry as I was to see the CBJ leave, I think this will be a great addition to this formerly underutilized corner of the park. Now, if only someone *would* take a serious look at TLand....<sigh>
Originally Posted By Davko58 The thing looks great. While I always thought that Poop belonged in the Motorboat Cruise area, now that I've seen the pictures it fits in great with Critter Country. Critter Country has no theme other than a bunch of cartoon characters anyway. Poop is also a cartoon character, so there's no problem there. No one except obsessed Disney geeks even know what Splash Mtn is supposed to be about, nor do they know anything about Poop other than that he's everywhere and kids seem to like him. And no normal person has any idea what Poop may be like in Japan, or even if there's a Disney park in Japan. The trees, the water, the pots and honey all work together to make this one very elaborate kiddie dark ride queue area. It's more elaborate than any Fantasyland queue, and the one at WDW looks like an entrance to a factory. Capacity sure doesn't seem to be an issue either. 6 person vehicles, with up to 26 of them in the ride at one time? Wow. And I guess those vehicles do a bit of an Indy style shuffle as well. The Country Bears was a horrible attraction when it was built, and it became even more horrible over the years. Good riddance. I love dark rides, and this one looks pretty darn good.
Originally Posted By Westsider The capacity on this ride is around 1150 an hour, about what Splash Mountain now gets with the new logs. Point of reference to other major attractions in the area and their average hourly counts at full capacity staffing: Pirates 2600 an hour Mansion 2150 an hour Splash 1200 an hour Canoes 650 an hour Rafts 700 an hour Thunder 2100 an hour Expect very, very long lines for Pooh when it first opens and during the first summer.
Originally Posted By bxtrlnd I agree with how this is shaping up. Looks very good! I feel Pooh will be a nice addition to Critter Country, even though I suspect the area will become a nightmare to navigate. The one question I had, regarding the outdoor load/unload area... what happens during inclement weather? There doesn't appear to be any type of covering over the track or loading gates. Will the ride be able to run when it's raining? Or will it have to temporarily shut down, like Alice does? (Although Alice's issues pertain mostly to the sloping track down the giant leaves, which obviously isn't an issue for Pooh.)
Originally Posted By tonyanton Since someone mentioned the party scene from WDW: if I remember correctly this is the last main scene of the attraction. It's also the only part of the ride that disappointed me. The rest of the figures throughout the attraction are AAs...for some reason, at the party table only a few characters are...the rest are those painted "flats" as Disney calls them. I'm not sure if they ran out of money in the budget or had too little amount of space in that area, but considering the rest of the ride feels so full, it was bit jarring. All in all though, it's a very cool C ticket, maybe even a D. The vehicles do some cool things (even without the famed 'trackless system") too. It sounds like DL will be even better with some additional (or stronger) effects.
