Originally Posted By Malin So we are now heading into the final countdown for TDL's 25th Anniversary and I feel its time to reflect once more on your thoughts of this Anniversary. Has it lived up to your expectations, and what were the highlights for you. Did anyone get a chance to enjoy the special menu's, stay in the new TDL Hotel, or buy some of the merchadise on offer, and finally what do you really think of the new Parade Jubilation, now its come to its 1st year of performances? I never had a chance to make it out to Tokyo this year, as I was holding out for Monsters Inc, do I have any regrets, mainly no, but would of liked to have seen a couple of the events, like Halloween. But over all stuff like the Tiki Room with Stitch can wait! Your thoughts?
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But over all stuff like the Tiki Room with Stitch can wait!*** Weren't you the one commenting on people who critique stuff they haven't experienced yet?
Originally Posted By Malin Thats true and I do stand by that, I only commented that the attraction didn't look like anything worth making a trip just to Tokyo for. When I do see the show, which I plan to do, I will be sure to give you my full thoughts and review of the show, but not until than!
Originally Posted By leemac Overall I'm disappointed that the theme - Treasure The Moment/Unlock Your Dreams - was ditched in favor of a more general theme. The celebration felt as disjointed as the 20th. Jubilation! was undoubtedly the highlight for me - a wonderful parade on a scale that I've never seen before in the parks. It is visually stunning and the energy of the parade is better than anything I have ever seen before. The rest of the 25th was far more average. All of the castle stage shows were weak to good at best. Lacking in creativity and originality on all fronts. Starlight Dreams last summer was the perfect example - completely culled from a series of previous shows with yet another Fantasmic! overlay. I did enjoy the Summer Splash shows last summer though - there is something entertaining about watching thousands of Japanese decked out in plastic trying to decide if they want to get drenched or just splashed. The fireworks show was the biggest disappointment - no improvement at all. The rest of the offerings were okay but lacking any cohesion. The historical boards around the resort were fun to read but hardly informative even to casual guests. The photomosaic images were about ten years behind WDW and I don't really see why they were the right investment. TDS Special Events continue to generally disappoint. Bonfire Nights last summer was probably the worst theme park show I've ever seen. Awful staging, terrible lighting, substandard music and no storytelling.
Originally Posted By Malin Thanks for being the only one so far to contribute towards my thread Lee, I guess from the lack of response the Anniversary doesn't hold much of an interest to the online World. *** Overall I'm disappointed that the theme - Treasure The Moment/Unlock Your Dreams - was ditched in favor of a more general theme. The celebration felt as disjointed as the 20th. *** I have no reason to question this, but I'm just amazed and confused that your opinion which I would of likely had agreed with, does not reflect in the attendance numbers. And I wonder just how differnt our taste differ to that of the regular TDR park crowds, and the sentimental vaule there must feel for Tokyo Disneyland.
Originally Posted By Mr X I was planning to contribute my thoughts, but I was waiting for more replies first lol. As for attendance, I'm sure the anniversary had SOMETHING to do with it, but I also believe the theory that they are getting a large boost due to people staying closer to home during this deep recession. I could be wrong, of course, but it seems plausible to me (and the crowds certainly are out there!). As for me, I agree with most of what Lee said. It was similarly disappointed in the 20th anniversary, which is a real bummer since my first TDL experience was the 15th and I thought that one was cohesive, exciting and a lot of fun (I know Lee doesn't agree, but I thought that was the best castle show they've ever had..even though there wasn't much of a story ). The fact that they dropped "treasures" but kept all the keys (for no reason) made this a real head scratcher for someone trying to make sense of the whole concept.
Originally Posted By Mr X It's sad too, cause there's so much more they could've done with that "key" concept, but what they did imho just ended up seeming like artsy nonsense. What if they had a bunch of "treasure boxes" all around the park, with nearby "hidden" keys whereby you could unlock the box and find a small "treasure" such as a hidden mickey, a character's voice, or even candy or something like that (they do it at halloween, anyway...). I haven't even begun to think about the logistics, but I think even something as simple as that would've made more sense and contributed more to the theme at a relatively low cost in comparison to what we actually got!
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi Interesting concept Mr. X. I heard from "someone in the know" that Disney had drawn up those similar plans but OLC rejected the idea. Apparently treasure chests only belong to pirates. (hehehe) -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, then it's a darned good thing they don't let the likes of Jack Sparrow roam around the park! Er..wait a sec..... N'ver mind.
Originally Posted By Megara I loved the 25th anniversary celebrations and themeing. I bought the 25th song on CD and found it was in Japanese, even though they played an english version at Cinderella Castle. I loved the themed souvenirs, and bought almost everything. A great celebration !
Originally Posted By DuffyDad I loved it, too. I don't know about the "scrapped" Treasures theme, but I thought the message of 「Unlock Your Dreams」 was pretty cohesive, and I loved the Dream Keys. I bought lots for friends. Actually, my "gateway" into Disney was really Kingdom Hearts (i can hear you park purists groaning...if you even know what KH is...so be it, we all have our hooks^^), so the Keys were a special attraction for me since there's nothing from Kingdom Hearts in the parks, but I could imagine the Keyblade connection. I went with a friend yesterday to see the 「Dreams Within」 show one last time. It actually nearly made me cry the first time I saw it. I just thought the message of not being shy and believing in yourself as an individual was so appropriate to the audience and really powerfully presented. I thought of SO many of my students - from five to thirty-five - over the years. I really hope some of them saw it, and since it was in their "holy place," took its message to heart. It seemed, to me at least, to actually move beyond being just entertaining and actually emotionally charged. I honestly thought that show brought the theme naturally to a new, more significant place. Even as it dished out character "fan service," the way it used "withholding" Mickey for most of the show as a device demonstrated a deep understanding of the target audience, and also underscored the theme of the fans, represented by the brother and sister, being the "stars." The long wait for Mickey, the absence of princesses, and the fact that the Magic Key was ultimately not as important as (or not different from - open to interpretation) self-reliance...these things really seemed connected to the theme of unlocking your dreams by believing in yourSELF to me. Maybe I'm thinking too much, but I really felt there had been a progression of the theme into a truly appropriate "Grand Finale." I thought someone had given that show quite a LOT of attention and I was very impressed. Alas, the weather was not on our side yesterday, and although we finally had dead center seats, the show was canceled. We still had a good day, and I went to Mickey's house for the first time. I realized that I was actually really going to miss the Anniversary, and without it, I probably wouldn't have cared so much about meeting the Mouse at all. I went to both parks for the first time at Christmas, and I thought 「Mickey's Jolly Snow Time」 was so much fun, and so much bigger and more professional than what I'd imagined as theme park shows (though I agree with many that the stage was obtrusive from almost every angle...an issue that was fixed for 「Dreams Within」). Though I only witnessed the 4th Stage and Grand Finale, I really enjoyed all the special merchandise, and I loved the park decorations. And the music! The main theme "Dream Goes On" and "Dreams Within" are just wonderful! I'm actually not too upset I missed the first half of the Anniversary, though, since I'm more excited about this year's fairy-themed Spring Carnival and I've heard villains are gonna be back instead of ghosts for Halloween - cool! Some of the mystique for me, too, comes with being in Japan for the events. My love for TDR is as much (or more?) about Japan as it is Disney. Plus, last November was my first time in a Disney park *ever*, so I probably have a lot of biased emotions about the Anniversary that have nothing to do with the events themselves, like people's memories of their first (LUCKY!) trips to Disneyland as children. I freely admit that, and to not being an expert on anything Disney...except maybe Duffy. Oh, yeah! The Duffy costumes were fun, too, though I only bought two of them. And, of course, the 25th Anniversary Christmas bear, was my very first Disney park purchase. For me, the 25th Anniversary did what I wanted - it created a distracting "magical" event to entertain the child inside me. It gave me endless opportunities to waste money on illusory-but-gratifying moments of empty material happiness so I didn't think so much about all the real-world issues we all have to deal with every day, like the fact that most people surviving on Earth will never be able to step foot in a Disney park, much less complain about one, for even one day in their lives.
