Originally Posted By PeterPan1313 Just for fun, ;-) Got that chorizo breakfast burrito ready yet? Is that cup of hot cocoa within your grasp? Good, because we’ve got a lot of news to hash over, so let’s get going! This past Sunday Team Disney Anaheim continued the tradition of large increases in the price of a variety of park tickets, as well revealed more tightly held plans limiting the number of annual So-Cal annual passes being sold to only those seeking renewals. If you haven’t been to the parks in a couple years, the sight of large prices at the ticket booths might leave you thinking you’ve woke up in a Rip Van Winkle novel, and Southern California residents hoping to enter the annual passholder market have had their options whittled down. All of these recent changes were spearheaded by Michael Colglazier, TDA’s transplant from Orlando who is much more accustomed to a guest base that relies more upon the high-rollers than selling annual passes to the masses. In fact, Colglazier wanted to go as far as ending the So-Cal annual and select pass holder programs when career folks from TDA’s sharp pencil department encouraged him to go only as far as a temporary freeze in the sale of So-Cal passes as they realized they’d be picking up the pieces long after Colglazier leaves. In lieu of a new night time parade, or upgrades to Fantasyland dark rides, TDA is banking on a new ad campaign for the 60th Anniversary, the ‘Living the Magic’ promotion in which TDA will use a lottery to determine who gets one of dozens of special supervised in-park experiences, such as getting to pilot a Jungle Cruise boat under the watchful eye of a cast member and unsuspecting guests, having lunch in Tarzan’s treehouse, getting to dress-up as your favorite Disney princess and appear in a parade, welcoming guests to the Haunted Mansion, and one that is sure to make longtime fans drool, the grand prize awarded daily: a special sleep over on Tom Sawyer’s Island for 20 lucky guests who will get to sleep in the fort on Tom Sawyer’s Island, in addition to participation in a special campfire sing-along near the banks of the river. If you're wondering if these excursions would make good YouTube videos it's because TDA plans on using clips of these real life adventures for ads during the 60th. As a part of the new drive to lure the big spenders to DLR, an ambitious plan to expand Club 33 is well under way, though construction was temporarily delayed for a day when it was discovered that a section of the roof over the French Market had been leaking undetected for years into what once was a wine cellar for Club 33. The damage wasn’t severe enough to change the opening date, and work continues on the project, including the ornate skylight. High quality copies of concept art from the Princess and the Frog has been transported from the archives to Disneyland, as well as several hundred pounds of glass prisms and a special homage to Louie the alligator from the film which loosely inspires the decor in the expansion. In an effort to model suave Silicon tech valley companies like Apple, whom guard corporate secrets like dwarf’s guarding their jewels, Colglazier has cracked down on inside leaks, though dozens of small details have slowly begun to emerge. Foremost is TDA’s longterm plan to buy the underperforming Anaheim Garden Walk, a deal frustrated by the fact that the Elliott Management Group, a part investor in the Garden Walk, recently became embroiled in a lawsuit with Stan Lee—against Disney. Elliott aims to claim some of the Mouse House’s bounty from Marvel films like the Avengers, and should the lawsuit be decided in Disney’s favor, the company would then be in a better position to negotiate with Elliott. As the legal entanglements with Elliott and the Garden Walk acquisition are expected to continue for some time, WDI has contracted Scott Trowbridge to work on a focused project, a Star Wars themed land inside of Disneyland’s Simba Parking lot, as well as the development of Star Wars themed attractions for other Disney parks. Given the proximity of Simba to surrounding residential areas, Disney has been understandably low-key with regards to their approach to this expansion of DCA. A group of Imagineers working in Trowbridge’s Star Wars Studios made a secretive trip to Boeing’s factory in Everett Washington four months ago to get a feel of what the world’s largest building, (actually as big as Disneyland), feels like on the inside. The reason being is that WDI plans on building what will be the largest show building, by far, at DLR in a good chunk Simba Parking, in order to create rain-proof environments for a Wookie sub-section of the park, as well as the all-indoors Tatooine pod racers ride, which will allow WDI to project Tatooine’s double sun as a perpetual sunset desert sunset, as well as for the construction and maintenance of a complex ride system that will allow pod-racers to feel as though they’re spinning and slamming into each other as they race. WDI has been working with Lucasfilm to get the look of the “space port” transitions between the different areas of Star Wars land built accurately down to the smallest detail. With high-efficiency solar panels mounted unseen on top, this show building will also provide an important acoustic barrier between the Simba expansion, and the houses west of Walnut street. Meanwhile, in Disneyland a new Frozen-themed musical is expected to open at the Fantasyland theater this summer, while WDI eyes land to the east of the Circle D corral, and the Fantasyland theater itself, for an expansion of Fantasyland in Disneyland. Plans are for a show building disguised as a mountain just beyond the train tracks, which would house both a lower-level Frozen sleigh ride, utilizing snow scene technology developed for a never built attraction, and a Beauty and the Beast attraction utilizing a ‘carriage’ ride vehicle that weaves around a side of this new expansion’s mountain before entering the combined show building. A medievalish-themed restaurant based on the movie Brave is also being considered, in addition to a Cinderella themed eatery. The new land would be accessible via Toontown as well as from the Small World esplanade. One reason why both projects could break ground at the end of 2015 is that construction schedules, especially the work on the show buildings, could be timed to take advantage of cost savings. Well, that’s it for now, see you in the park!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Nice parody of the style, but you've got to come off this Star Wars in Simba thing.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt This is funny, but what is up with the MiceAge obsession? Am I the only one who thinks it's strange?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Jim when was the last time I posted about Duffy?<< At 7:36 this morning ; )
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Let's imagine a world where Hans did nothing but post about Duffy and all the latest Duffy rumors. And he posts in Duffy" style, and no matter how hard anyone tried to change the conversation Hans always brought it back to Duffy. Do you have goosebumps yet?
Originally Posted By phruby What? No mention of the new Duffy ride to be built where Casey Jr and Storybook are?
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Let's imagine a world where Hans did nothing but post about Duffy and all the latest Duffy rumors. And he posts in Duffy" style, and no matter how hard anyone tried to change the conversation Hans always brought it back to Duffy. Do you have goosebumps yet?" This would be less tiresome than the Morva schtick.
Originally Posted By monorailblue The real tell is mentioning a special Tarzan's Treehouse experience without noting that Al has (as have I) always hated Tarzan's treehouse and it's cartoony, gimicky scenes. No one who knows Al would be taken in by that. Also, you forgot to mention how Disney plans to use an existing high-rise hotel towers for two different hotels as part of it's new Star Wars "land," which land is totally unconnected to any theme park.
Originally Posted By Mr F I'm sorry but I need to be brutally honesty. I am glad you are not an Imagineer. A Star Wars Land in the Simba lot as part of DCA? 1st of all, the Simba lot is not even connected to the park, since there is a road and hotel separating both. 2nd, what does Star Wars have to do with DCA? Every land in DCA is themed to a place in California, and NOTHING in the Star Wars universe takes place in CA. Plus, we already have Star Tours in DL, it just wouldn't make sense to build a new Star Wars land without Star Tours being part of it. Sorry, but this is a very bad poorly though out idea that only a fan would come up with. Logistically Simba lot would be better proposed for a separate money making en-devour like a hotel or water park, or even DTD expansion. 2nd, You want to replace the Circle D Ranch to build a mountain with 2 rides in it? That space is big enough to build a brand new land (like Cars Land), There's already enough Mountains in DL. B & B and Frozen have nothing to do with each other, again, it wouldn't make sense to put these 2 things together. If Disney is going to spend millions of dollars to develop that area, it needs to be an idea that will bring in a big return, and 2 children's dark rides just won't do that, it needs to be marketed as a brand new land. Again, another obvious fan created idea. Also, Disney just opened "Mickey & The Magical Map", That show is budgeted, and built, they need to get their money out of it before they replace it. A "New Frozen show this summer" just wouldn't make sense. I know these are just fantasy ideas, but you could do much better, and come up with something that would make sense.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Also, Disney just opened "Mickey & The Magical Map"...<< That show opened a full year ago. During the 'golden age' of the Fantasyland Theater, it seemed like there were 3-4 different shows in it each year. It's sad that they must run a show for years now to make it work from an accounting perspective; it's a relatively simple venue, so I blame the expense on the TV screen And don't get me started on Aladdin's never-ending run. Between that one and Beauty and the Beast in WDW, it seems like the worst shows have the longest runs! (yah, I said it)
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Well they TRIED to change Aladdin, they were going to put Toy Story in there, remember? But the APs/locals FLIPPED and then they announced they were keeping Aladdin. :/
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I remember that, but my impression was that the outrage wasn't "Oh no! I love Aladdin; how could you change it?" but rather "Ugh. A musical based on Toy Story, taken from the cruise line? That's the best you can do?" Granted, one of the best theme park shows I've ever seen originated on the cruise line (Golden Mickeys at HKDL, which would be a perfect fit for the backlot area) so I suppose there's some potential. But the general reviews of the DCL TS show were "good but not great", which made it seem like a strange choice to clone. I keep hoping that they'll update the show at some point, but I'm not expecting it to happen any time soon
Originally Posted By Socrates "This would be less tiresome than the Morva schtick" Can you imagine people would pose as someone they're not? Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."
