Originally Posted By SuperDry We know that iasw is under construction, and perhaps one or two other attractions. But there have been a few other changes that have been announced in the past few weeks in conjunction with the 1st Anniversary: - Introduction of an Annual Passport program is reportedly "coming soon." - HKDL will start having seasonal celebrations of special events, starting with this year's Halloween and Christmas celebrations. All of the details are not announced, but in addition to special decorations, they say that there will be themed menu items available in park (borrowing from a very successful program at TDR). Overall, I like the changes that are being made and have already been announced to be made. After what I perceive as a very rough start, I think that HKDL stands a good chance at being successful. Reading between the lines of what's been said officially, I think that attendance has greatly improved during the second half of the first year, and that it's much less reliant on the "heroic measures" they put in place during the first couple of months.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I also listened to an interview conducted by an SCMP reporter with Bill Ernest, managing director of HKDL. To refresh everyone's memory, a Mr. Robinson was the opening managing director of HKDL, but he was replaced early this year in a management reshuffle that has all indications of being related to poor initial performance of the park and marketing problems. The interview was interesting, but part of it seemed to be an attempt by the reporter to embarass Mr. Ernest in one way or another (perhaps this was the "anti-Disney bias" of the SCMP at work that leemac has alleged in the past). In any event, I thought that Ernest handled things very well. One thing in particular was that at the end of the interview, the reporter conducted a "trivia contest" of sorts. Even though both the reporter and Ernest were very cordial, I thought it was a bit like a "stump the managing director" contest with a particular goal in mind rather than just a neutral game. But so be it. In any event, many of the questions seemed designed to show whether Mr. Ernest really knew his stuff, or was just a figurehead. For example, the reporter pulled out a souvenier keyring sold in the park and asked what the price was. Ernest exactly nailed it, and added how it was in fact the most popular merchandise item in the park. He also guessed correcty on the price of a particular food menu item. On another souvenier, Ernest didn't know the answer, put put it in terms of how much he'd personally pay for such an item in USD, converted to HKD, and was quite close. Another question was "name the Seven Dwarfs" which he got correct after a bit of a struggle. This interview was avaiable on the SCMP.com podcast (available via iTunes and perhaps elsewhere) on Sept 5 - don't know if it's still available online. In any event, if you can't listen to it yourself, the interview definately seemed to have a friendly but slightly adversarial aspect to it (as it should if a reporter is doing his job). It would be an incredible work of acting if the questions and answers were arranged beforehand - I really don't think they were. It seemed that the current HKDL managing director was rather genuine, and it was clear that he knew his Disney stuff. And I don't just mean in terms of the characters, but what it means from the point of view as a guest in the park. This is totally different from a previous head of another Disney park that I can think of that had no prior personal experience as a guest in a park, and in my opinion took the park in a totally wrong direction (and probably would not have been able to name the Seven Dwarfs unless their personal assistant did the research). In any event, I'm hopeful that HKDL will continue to move in the right direction. I'm obviously not the target market, but even from my perspective I will probably look forward to making another trip to see it again in a few years.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Overall, I like the changes that are being made and have already been announced to be made.<< Of course you do. After all, they can't go wrong by imitating everything OLC does at TDR. Can they? I am looking forward to Princess Days. I am sure HongKongDisneyland will be there for that one, after all, it's so hard to be a princess in some asian cultures...
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>We know that iasw is under construction,<< Really? It has officially started construction? Any details? Such as if they are going to go for that rumored notion of a flume over a flooded showbuilding? Do tell.
Originally Posted By leemac <<To refresh everyone's memory, a Mr. Robinson was the opening managing director of HKDL, but he was replaced early this year in a management reshuffle that has all indications of being related to poor initial performance of the park and marketing problems.>> Don left the HKDL management company to take up a post elsewhere. Bill is an (almost) career cast member and is a nice guy to boot. I'm sure he will do a good job.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I've heard that construction started in May or early June. I was there in early/mid June, and have pictures from the airplane that clearly show that there was no construction going on where the iasw site is. It did look like they were doing something around the Storybook Theater, but that is pretty far away from the proposed site for iasw.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Any details? Such as if they are going to go for that rumored notion of a flume over a flooded showbuilding?>> I'm sure I have already stated that the attraction is using the original Mary Blair look and colorscheme. The attraction will be troughed rather than flooded which is in keeping with what iasw should be. The Paris version just doesn't work on so many levels.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>The Paris version just doesn't work on so many levels.<< If you have time, I'd like to hear why you think it doesn't work on several levels. I haven't had the opportunity to see the flooded showbuilding versions in DLP, and TDL ...(yet), but I have at WDW, which is basically the same as it's 1983 & 1992 cousins. I don't see how Mary Blair's original designs are compromised ... based on where the water line is. With a rush to get 'it's a small world' for the New York Worlds Fair (over 40 years ago) ready ... the trough was the only way to go ... PLUS ... no one (to the best of my knowledge) ever attempted a flooded showbuilding .. until Walt tried it with Pirates of the Caribbean just a couple years later. It wasn't INVENTED YET. The hideous thing about going with a trough .. as evident with DL's version ... is all the behind scenes *ugliness*. The ride has been in existance for 40 years .. and the do so little to hide cables, pipes, air conditioning ducks, speakers, mini latters, etc, etc, .. It's butt ugly .. and they've done very little to nothing to remedy this. Seems to me .. doing the trough is the cheap way out. And unless they do a good job to cover all these ugly behind-the-scenes things that SHOULD NOT be seen ... Doesn't sound like HKDL's version is necessarily an *improvement*.
Originally Posted By leemac <<If you have time, I'd like to hear why you think it doesn't work on several levels.>> The dolls look horrible and the color palette is hideous. The DLP team opted to try and reinvent every E-ticket in that park and IMO only Big Thunder is better. POTC is just totally out of whack and Phantom Manor is horrific IMO.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I don't think I went on iasw in Paris (or if I did, I have no memory of it), but just from looking at pictures, I kind of like it better. I like how it appears to be more full and dimensional, using a wider range of colors, and deeper shades. I like how the backgrounds are painted to look 3-D, but that might come off looking really cheasy in real life, as opposed to the obviously stylized versions in the other incarnations. I also like the soundtrack a little more (I remember that from when it was used in DL, and pieces of it are used for iaswh), as it has a more full sound to it. There is nothing wrong with the original soundtrack, but it just doesn't seem as inspired. But again, I'm just going off pictures, so my views might be distorted. As for the trough vs flooded building, the original iasw was the first time that even a trough like that was used for a boat ride. Until that point, boat rides were either circular, with metal poles connecting boats to a rotating center, or had very very primitive flumes. The developments made for the iasw flume were huge, and were really advanced for the time. Taking it to the POTC level and flooding the entire building was another step past that, and was partially due to the fact that the iasw boats (with wheels underneath to guide it through the center track in the flume-check it out some time) would have trouble with the drops and lift hill. So the flat-bottom boats led to the creation of a new flume, where the sides could extend all the way to the scenery.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: Well, if'n leemac hates it, that means me an' my two looney sisters would LOVE it. ORDDU: All of our friends who have seen Pirates of the Caribbean in France have said it's the best one of all, so that seems to indicate the popular trend in tastes is more along the lines of what more traditional Disney fans would like. ORGOCH: Just goes ta show one man's old toad is another man's frog!!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The dolls look horrible and the color palette is hideous. The DLP team opted to try and reinvent every E-ticket in that park and IMO only Big Thunder is better. POTC is just totally out of whack and Phantom Manor is horrific IMO.>> That's the Leemac I know! I couldn't disagree more. POTC is amazing at DLP ... PM is great too, a nice and different take on a classic. I can't think of one attraction that's at DLP and also either DL and/or MK that isn't considerably better, more detailed and advanced in Paris. It's what the attractions should have gone for in HK. New, updated, technologically advanced takes on the classics.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<ORGOCH: Well, if'n leemac hates it, that means me an' my two looney sisters would LOVE it. ORDDU: All of our friends who have seen Pirates of the Caribbean in France have said it's the best one of all, so that seems to indicate the popular trend in tastes is more along the lines of what more traditional Disney fans would like. ORGOCH: Just goes ta show one man's old toad is another man's frog!!>> Yep, Witches. All is right in the world if Leemac is out of whack (with reality)! DLP is a template for what a 21st century MK-style park should be. I don't quite understand the logic behind going with a flume in HKDL's IASW except there has to be a cost-savings.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Yep, Witches. All is right in the world if Leemac is out of whack (with reality)! >>> I don't mean to "dis" Leemac, but I would like to point out that his views are in lockstep with a certain faction with TWDC that has a great deal of power and influence. <<< I don't quite understand the logic behind going with a flume in HKDL's IASW except there has to be a cost-savings. >>> I'm not sure why you say "except" - it's quite obvious that that is the primary reason. Arguments that it's somehow better show to have the trough version are nothing other than mental gymnastics to justify cost cutting.
Originally Posted By leemac <<POTC is amazing at DLP ... PM is great too, a nice and different take on a classic.>> The killer for me on POTC is that the boat immediately goes up a tractor climb into the fort. When do boats ever go uphill? It works at DL at the end as that is the resolution of the attraction. I also don't like having the caverns at the end. Makes little sense to me. I must admit I hate Phantom Manor. It is just a glorified Haunted House attraction and the ending is just ghastly. I personally think they destroyed everything that is amazing about the Haunted Mansion there. The storyline just doesn't hold together and isn't well told at all.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I'm not sure why you say "except" - it's quite obvious that that is the primary reason. >> The primary reason is that the park itself is a nostalgic look at the old DL (especially Main Street) and so it made sense to go back to Mary Blair and the original look for iasw. Now POTC will be different.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< The primary reason is that the park itself is a nostalgic look at the old DL (especially Main Street) and so it made sense to go back to Mary Blair and the original look for iasw. >>> Did Mary Blair have a particular artistic desire to have a trough design rather than a flooded stage for IASW? I very much doubt it. You mention the different look of the DLP IASW in terms of the color palette and look of the dolls. Those may be valid points, but would seemingly have nothing to do with the "trough vs. flooded stage" issue. I'm a big Mary Blair fan, and a book featuring her artistry is one of my three coffee table books on display in my living room. I see nothing in that book that indicates that a trough design vs. a flooded stage is better from her artistic standpoint for a boat attraction.
Originally Posted By Park Hopper >>The primary reason is that the park itself is a nostalgic look at the old DL (especially Main Street) and so it made sense to go back to Mary Blair and the original look for iasw.<< If that is so where is Frontierland? How can you have a nostalgic look at DL without the Mark Twain? Why did they build Tarzan's tree house instead of Swiss Family? >>Now POTC will be different.<< Why is it okay to excuse Pirates (not to mention Jungle Cruise) from the nostalgia while small world must adhear so strictly?
Originally Posted By leemac It is a design choice. The show producer believes that iasw is a classic and should reflect the DL original. I prefer the DL version so I'm happier that they opted for this than the evil dolls from DLP. You can argue it whichever way suits you. I suspect the answer on POTC is that it has been changed at both DL and WDW with TDL's coming next year (with the possibility of it coming online so TDL can host the Japanese premiere of the third movie). The movie is more relevant to audiences today than the original attraction.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN ..and yet, I have not talked to one single person who actually enjoyed the sequel. I will wait for the entire trilogy on dvd. The power of advertizement compells them to this POTC2 movie...
