Originally Posted By retlawfan By the way, at the end of the commercial was this link: <a href="http://www.tot1899.com" target="_blank">http://www.tot1899.com</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry ^^^ It's been awhile since I looked at the website, but to the point of this thread, it starts out with the music I'm talking about. Also, for you English-speaking readers, there's an English version of the website, that for some reason doesn't have a link on the Japanese home page. Here it is: <a href="http://www.tot1899.com/english/" target="_blank">http://www.tot1899.com/english/</a> If you haven't seen this website before, check it out. You could probably spend hours in there - there's a ton of material. Talk about the notion of "every Disney attraction starts with a story" !
Originally Posted By oc_dean Hey SuperDry ... in your time at D23 ... did you get to learn anything, and I mean ANYTHING, (no matter how small it was) on the future of new attractions for DisneySea or the "magic kingdom" park? I'm still waiting to hear about plans to turn Tomorrowland into some sort of Sci-Fi city, or .. whatever they have in mind for the future of Tomorrowland.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Interestingly, I did not hear anything about any future plans for TDR (either park). I did ask an Imagineer in the booth something "off script" and they immediately told me that they were allowed only to talk about the projects that they were exhibiting in the booth. I didn't think to ask about future plans for TDL, but I suspect that they would not have told me anything, and I don't recall anything in any official announcements. Perhaps part of this is that it might be considered OLC's business decision as to when to start talking about certain things regarding TDR.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Thanks for responding. Considering TL has not been touched (look of the land) since the park opened in 1983 - that's a whopping 26 years .... my gut feeling is .. something is in development. Just not ready share it with the public.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Oh, one more thing. During the Science of Imagineering session, they had several props that they brought out, including this device called the Big Puffer, which is the device that creates the smoke rings in Indy and Hunny Hunt. It's quite a large device they have hidden behind the walls to create this effect.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "Oh yea, that's right, there is such a Disney resort. I think I chose my AP wisely." Let's back this up with some empirical evidence, shall we? Looking at this week (9/14-9/20) BraviSEAmo! is performed every night of the week at 7:25PM. Fantasmic! featuring the new dragon finale is being performed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. Every day shows like Big Band Beat, Mystic Rhythms and The Legend of Mythica are performed at DisneySea. Over at DCA the Aladdin Show is dark Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Every night Tokyo Disneyland features the electrical parade on steroids called Dreamlights. Every day Disneyland features a rinky dink parade based on the lame "Celebrate!" promotion that runs all year. Also, I don't know what they actually are, but it looks like there are two Halloween themed parades that are both performed two times a day. Do you have to pay for a special ticket to see the Halloween stuff like at Disney World or DCA? Anyway, that is not to mention the smaller entertainment offerings that are happening in the various corners at both parks. There's really no "off" day at TDR. Unfortunately, at Disneyland you pay the same price for an inferior experience if you dare to go on a weekday. Shrug. I'd say SuperDry indeed chose wisely.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones I'm watching a video of some Halloween show at DisneySea on YouTube and Donald is fighting off a demon or God knows what and I have no idea what's going on but it looks cooler than anything happening at DLR.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***There's really no "off" day at TDR.*** There actually are...in the dead of winter when the parks close very early (7pm I think) the night shows are skipped, but it's not for very many weeks and for me the fact that attractions are so much easier to get on makes up for it (as long as you don't mind FREEZING!).
Originally Posted By SuperDry AFAIK, Dreamlights is NEVER skipped, even in the dead of winter (except if it's raining of course). I've certainly sat on the pavement in 35 degree weather for an hour in order to get a front-line seat in mid-January. They may run it at 6:30 or so if the park closes early, but they run it. The only time they have NOT run Dreamlights is when it's been replaced seasonally by Cinderellabration, which had its own nighttime parade, but since that's gone now, it's Dreamlights all year 'round.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris "Anyway, that is not to mention the smaller entertainment offerings that are happening in the various corners at both parks" Add to that - I remember sitting and watching a CM doing a kind of "acrobatic" routine while he was cleaning up rubbish in TDS one day. He would scoop up the(very rare)pieces of paper and flick them into a nearby rubbish bin. If this wasn't enough, I sat mesmerized watching while he took the lid off and ACTUALLY WASHED METICULOUSLY the inside steel rim of it and so on. I virtually couldn't believe my eyes as I watched this impeccably dressed young man doing his job with such attention to detail and care. I said it a long time ago and I still feel this way - the cast members at the TDR are an E ticket unto themselves.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***AFAIK, Dreamlights is NEVER skipped, even in the dead of winter (except if it's raining of course). I've certainly sat on the pavement in 35 degree weather for an hour in order to get a front-line seat in mid-January. They may run it at 6:30 or so if the park closes early, but they run it. The only time they have NOT run Dreamlights is when it's been replaced seasonally by Cinderellabration, which had its own nighttime parade, but since that's gone now, it's Dreamlights all year 'round.*** Perhaps so (sounds right to me, too), but I do believe some other offerings are off the table for a few weeks except for weekends...fireworks spring to mind first of all (though they are so often canceled due to wind it doesn't really make much difference), and maybe the DisneySea night show? At least, I thought that was how things went. I could be wrong, of course. ***he would scoop up the(very rare)pieces of paper and flick them into a nearby rubbish bin. If this wasn't enough, I sat mesmerized watching while he took the lid off and ACTUALLY WASHED METICULOUSLY the inside steel rim of it and so on.*** You think THAT'S cool? Years ago they used to actually stop what they were doing right in the middle to play drums on the trashcans and do comedy routines and stuff! I guess the management got tired of them taking so many breaks. *sigh*
Originally Posted By MagicalNezumi ^^ Yeah, so they got fired and are now cooks who take lots of breaks! (wink, wink) -- MagicalNezumi
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>But then I made a great discovery: the Hearthstone Lounge inside the GCH serves their food menu until "last call" at the bar. At hotels, it's often impossible to get anything to eat after 10pm, but the Hearthstone serves food until they close, which could be as late as 1:30am. And, I found a perfect menu item: BBQ ribs and soba noodles. An odd combination perhaps, but it really worked. I liked it so much I went back for the same the next night.<<< And the GCH offers 24 hour roomservice, unlike in Florida or Paris.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "The big treat for me was that they had as one of the panelists the composer of the music for TDS's Tower of Terror. I forget his name." The composer for TDS's Tower of Terror is Joel McNeely. Here's his website: <a href="http://www.joelmcneely.com/" target="_blank">http://www.joelmcneely.com/</a> He has lots of clips from his various compositions, and here's an MP3 he included from TOT's exit. <a href="http://www.joelmcneely.com/filmography/towerterror/" target="_blank">http://www.joelmcneely.com/fil...rterror/</a>
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara Okay, JEEZ! I think we all get the point already that OLC spends more money on the Tokyo Disney Resort's attractions, parades, and entertainment than The Walt Disney Company does in the other resorts. WE GET IT. Can we move the needle to a different groove in the record? I was also at Disneyland that week, there for the Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary Event (an organizational mess with cheap gifts, where registering and getting your merchandise took half a day). It took an HOUR for ONE cast member to lead 800 people from the event dinner in DCA to the Haunted Mansion. Shuffle, shuffle, stop. Shuffle, shuffle stop. An hour. Idiocy. Tokyo has done ONE collector's event and it was better run than any event in the US that I've ever been to. I spent half a day at the Expo on Thursday and left by 1 pm. Aside from the WDI exhibit, which rocked, and the dealer's area, the rest was pretty dull unless you're a nut about the animated films. All the panels had enormous lines and you couldn't possibly see everything, and many people saw little because things were in venues too small for the crowds. Another organizational mess. Was happy to meet Lindsay at the Laughing Place booth. The Imagineers didn't make a peep about Tokyo. That couldn't have been a coincidence. As the imagineer discussing Mystic Manor was explaining the details of the back story, I said that the main guy sounded a lot like Harrison Hightower and he got this odd look on his face. Then, when he began his spiel about the attraction, going room by room, he accidentally called the main guy Hightower. Sounds like they were thinking about using the character again, but switched to a new character for some reason. To have an event of this size and skip the best run Disney resort in the world smacks of BIG-TIME guilt. The Walt Disney Company really doesn't want its most devoted fans to know about the Tokyo Disney Resort because it makes them look bad. You're spending $200 million bucks on a single ride in Carsland based on the Test Track ride system. Wouldn't you rather see Journey to the Center of the Earth? Wouldn't anyone other than a five-year old boy rather see Journey to the Center of the Earth? Of course they're not going to talk about Tokyo. I was suprised by the large number of Japanese people at Disneyland in the off-season of September--but the Expo explains it. That's why they came.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***To have an event of this size and skip the best run Disney resort in the world smacks of BIG-TIME guilt. The Walt Disney Company really doesn't want its most devoted fans to know about the Tokyo Disney Resort because it makes them look bad.*** Perhaps, but I think it's more along the lines of TDR being a franchise and not "really" a Disney resort (or at least in terms of what they're looking to promote). That and/or the fact that TDR has almost NO foreign visitors statistically speaking (Japan being a very unpopular destination to begin with for whatever reason), they really don't have any reason to promote the place since the Japanese masses take care of filling up those parks all by themselves.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "WE GET IT." We get it, but I don't think they do. I think that with a little more effort we could divert a few would-be WDW visitors to Tokyo.
Originally Posted By The Goddess Mara The Walt Disney Company, if it's not already as obvious as it can be, has no interest in driving people to a park it merely receives a royalty on when it can drive people to a park it owns. It would much rather get people to go to Hong Kong or Paris (and next Shanghai) than even admit the Tokyo Disney Resort exists. Diverting a few Westerners to the Tokyo Resort is meaningless. Diverting even thousands of them to Tokyo Disney is meaningless given the overall number of visitors. And most Westerners who can concieve of going to Japan don't really have the Tokyo Disney Resort in their plans. And if they did go, unless they were well read in advance, they would see the long lines and huge crowds and get out of there damn quick. So, the number of Western folks who give a crap about the Tokyo Disney Resort is infinitesimal and it's always going to remain that way.
