Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer Yeah, that was a snooze. Probably why I won't be returning as often... my money is better spent in historical places and cities.
Originally Posted By leobloom When the head fanboy blogger says it's a disappointment, then it's a major disappointment. But there was at least one very visible website administrator who was doing damage control MINUTES after the show ended.
Originally Posted By leobloom Stevie. Spinning like crazy, saying that there are new things on the horizon. They just weren't announced. I guess the question is how far off are those things. I saw where some fanboys in denial were trying to convince themselves that something would be announced on Oct 1. Tee hee. I've got some perfectly good swampland to sell them.
Originally Posted By magic0214 Leo and EE, what did you guys think of the Shanghai Castle though, thought it looked pretty neat.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 Personally I'd love it if when I visit CA next year there is not one damned construction wall in sight! While the end results are(sometimes)good, it will be nice to see pictures of the various parks and NOT see friggin walls EVERYWHERE. It's like the idea of never being able to visit DL and have it be in its usual "reset" "as is" state - that there must ALWAYS be some lame "celebration" overlay with gaudy, tacky banners everyhwere. I just want DL - in all its basic glory. That's more than enough for me!
Originally Posted By TP2000 Yeah, unless you live in Anaheim or Shanghai that was a total snoozefest. That "Themeparkone" kid on Twitter must be feeling kind of silly about now. He sure talked big the last two months about all the stuff coming to North America and to be announced at D23. Not so much.
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer ^ Heh, I thought of that too... Not a peep from him.... >>>Leo and EE, what did you guys think of the Shanghai Castle though, thought it looked pretty neat.<<< If anything, that looks to be the most interesting thing they talked about. The first Castle with actual SPACE in it. Love it.
Originally Posted By MousDad Lessons learned (or should I say re-learned): No one is better at dressing up nothing than the Mouse. They are consumed with playing to the addiction, rather than defeating the competition. D23 is the ultimate manifestation of the emptiness that is the Igerian Walt Disney Company.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo And people pay a small fortune for their fix and get dang nasty when you try to show them that the wizard is all smoke and mirrors. and us critiques, well why do we still do it? Because we know what Disney can achieve, or at least what they used to.
Originally Posted By DlandDug Hmmm. I saw the presentation. Not a lot I wasn't expecting, but some nifty things, nonetheless. I guess I'm missing something, though. To me there seemed to be a fairly even mix of old-school Disney theme park projects along with the new stuff that everyone here seems to hate, but that the public wants. Meet 'n Greets? I have zero interest, but I've seen the lines and understand that for some people, this is a MAJOR component of a successful Disney vacation. Technical doodads? They leave me baffled, but the kids are all wired. And the kids are the next generation (NextGen?) of Disney fans. It's an old adage, but true: Youth must be served. Time shares and cruise ships? They are a legitimate profit center, and Disney does them better than anybody else I've looked at. I would prefer a presentation that was more Oprah-esque (You Get na E Ticket! You Get an E Ticket! You Get an E Ticket!). But I recognize that it will be more like Regis and Kelly. A certain amount of banter, a couple of oddly baffling observations, and some good, solid entertainment.
Originally Posted By magic0214 I was disappointed, especially since now I have to save for 5 years to get to Shanghai, darn you concept art...DARN YOU!
Originally Posted By WDWVacationer I didn't think what WAS in the the presentation was bad. It would have been great if we had announcements. I think at this point WDW announcements don't need to be made to satisfy fans, but to compete with Universal and simply to fullfil needs at the Resort. And ThemeParkOne had backed off his statements as to what was to be announced prior to the Expo. Much like posters here, he had initially thought there would be multiple announcemnts.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>Time shares and cruise ships? They are a legitimate profit center, and Disney does them better than anybody else I've looked at.<<< I recommend Marriott Vacation Club and Princess Cruises for your attention.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Lessons learned (or should I say re-learned): No one is better at dressing up nothing than the Mouse. They are consumed with playing to the addiction, rather than defeating the competition.>> That's what it IS all about when it comes to D23: addiction. Taking fandom to the next step and allowing those who live The Disney Lifestyle to hang around others who will encourage the dysfunction and, in some cases, insanity. What did GFCer Lee call it? The Pixie Dust Cartel? That was oh so accurate. Someone told me our own Leemac opted not to attend stating he'd rather 'slit my wrists' ... couldn't put it better myself. I'm so looking forward to DL in a few weeks when I only have to deal with the usual crazies there and not the entire online Lifestyle crowd reinforcing that 'yeah, we're all fine!' <<D23 is the ultimate manifestation of the emptiness that is the Igerian Walt Disney Company>> He couldn't even be bothered to show up this year (unless he's going to ride in on Silver with Tonto tomorrow ... and I wouldn't bet $250 million flakes of Pixie Dust on it!) ~GFC~
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<And ThemeParkOne had backed off his statements as to what was to be announced prior to the Expo.>> A poser. Who regurgitates things he sees online (such as what others have said) and uses his DL access to occasionally actually gain a tidbit of info. But they showed even less at the Expo than I even thought possible. Almost nothing. The only 'new' thing was the Tony Baxter special meet-and-greet taking the place of Plaza Gardens, which wasn't really unknown. EVERYthing else mentioned about EVERY resort they talked about (I believe Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris were totally ignored) was something widely known. And Staggs came off like a bad animatronic. The imagineeers were even worse. When Georgie K is the 'life of the show' you may be presenting something like Spidey: Turn Off the Imagineers, No PLEASE TURN THEM OFF AND SAVE US ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~GFC~
Originally Posted By IceMiser Hey, newbie here, with my 2 cents about D23: I agree with some here. The parks presentation was something of a letdown, but at least it beat the movies presentation. The only really good stuff was a couple of hints from Pixar, which is making a movie about dinosaurs (hell, why not, it worked for Blue Sky Studios) and something about what goes on inside a person's mind (???) But the worst was when the Muppets came on, with the always-insufferable Jason Segal, and it was balls. There were Muppet fanatics in the crowd who cheered every move he and the frog puppet made, but left a lot of the rest of the crowd cold. The clips from the Muppet movie they showed were dopey beyond belief. I'm okay with Muppets, liked them as a kid, but this new movie looks awful. The voices sound off, jokes didn't make a lot of sense, Kermit looked like a wadded-up green sock on that chair he was sitting on next to Segal, and then Miss Piggy came on and did her painful I'm-a-big-star routine. The line from Family Guy's Stewie ran through my mind as I watched all this, the one where he asks his dog Brian about Kermit: "What's his appeal?" What's the appeal indeed. I loved Dick Van Dyke's appearance on Friday, though. I swear, if he used a little Grecian formula, you'd swear he was in his late 50's instead of whatever age he is now. (80?) He's amazing. I liked the Disney Legends ceremony, especially when the voices of Arial and Belle were given awards (I've always had a bit of a crush on Paige O'Hara). I'm not sure what made Jim Henson a Disney Legend. Why, because he sold his company to Michael Eisner? What's legendary about that? All in all, this D23 was a letdown from last time. I doubt I'll be going to the next one. I'd rather go to one of the parks (went in fact to Disneyland today, first time in years. Love it still. Best Disney park ever).
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I had the opportunity to go to this same D23 event and opted to let ourselves be tortured by the Horned King instead.
