Originally Posted By dagobert Some pictures of a refurbed NPBC hotel room: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/designingdisney/status/383174942147104768/photo/1">http://twitter.com/designingdi.../photo/1</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/magicforum/status/383174275890286593/photo/1">http://twitter.com/magicforum/.../photo/1</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/magicforum/status/383176127218323456/photo/1">http://twitter.com/magicforum/.../photo/1</a> >>>All 3 star hotels and above will get rid of the shower curtains and replaced by glass screens<<< Great news. I've always hated these curtains. Nearly no one in Europe uses them anymore, especially not hotels. I would have prefered showers instead of bathtubs.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The refurbishments look nice, but I'm disappointed that they're adding character 'touches' everywhere. I really liked that the themes of the various hotels at DLP and WDW were strong enough to work on their own. It made for a nice place to return after a day in the parks, where everything is so Disney-branded. Now it seems like you'll leave you're Disney-branded experience at the parks and head straight for your Disney-branded hotel room. Sounds like true Disney-branded magic. I'm sure that they will be popular, since most people (especially in Europe) gravitate toward character-branded things, but I'm just not a fan of it
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I'm sure that they will be popular, since most people (especially in Europe) gravitate toward character-branded things, but I'm just not a fan of it<<< Me neither. But as you have said, Europeans like the characters and they want them everywhere.
Originally Posted By dagobert More informations from the lunch with Joe Schott, COO of DLP: - Important refurbishment projects will include Main Street USA, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Big Thunder Mountain! - He told me that investments in refurbishments will triple in the next years! - Stunt Show will go back to normal the coming months. There were technical challenges that should be resolved soon. - He was very passionate about improving the quality and acknowledging things weren't done right in the past. - He promised the park will no longer look in the condition it currently is in the coming 4-5 years. - The Temple of Peril will completely be leveled soon and rebuild put of real stone. The entire loop will be replaced too. - Town Square Photography will be ripped out and made into a new shop. - Rehabs won't be superficial, but replacing with durable materials. - Intensive rehab of Main Street building facades, including inside and outside Main Street Station. - Regarding the geysers, my question, he said they were no priority and they will never come back as the used to be, but something will eventually replace the geysers that will be equally unique. - Joe confirmed they're working on the Space Mountain seats that will make it more comfortable. - Joe wants to see a nex single riders line at least one a year. First will be Crush's Coaster which will get a new entrance. Thanks again to Magicforum and DesigningDisney.
Originally Posted By dagobert More Informations from Magicforum and DesigningDisney: - The High School Musical theme will be replaced in Blockbuster Cafe! He joked Iron Man. Not sure if that's true. - They're also gonna implant new safety systems in the native rides (like BTM) that will make it easier to restart after down time. - He didn't like Armageddon at all, it will be replaced but not now. They need to build new rides and add capacity first. - They're building two new tractors for the Studio Tram Tour trams. -
Originally Posted By dagobert DLP Halloween 2013: - Halloween will continue to grow over the years. - Main street Station and town Square will be decorated. Similar to last year. Lots of orange banners etc - Goofy's Candy machine will be back with regular character appearences. It's sponsored by Haribo - Lamp posts will get mickey pumpkin heads with fall leaves around it. Looks nice and classy! Photo by InsideDLParis: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/insidedlparis/status/383133415802810368">http://twitter.com/insidedlpar...02810368</a> - The fab 5 pumpkin heads will be back on Central Plaza. - Minnie's Couture Workshop will go in front of the meet 'n' greet location across Casey's. Lots of purples. - Villains meet 'n' greet behind the Castle. This year a whole group of villains will come out and there will be a band playing. - Pumpkin Men characters are confirmed! - Talking about the cavalcade now. (Joe said it will go big the coming years). Showing concept art for the dancers costumes. Fall leave colors. Looks nice! An entire float for the ducks: donald, Daisy, nephews and Uncle Scrooge. - Soundtrack for the parade will be called Vive la vie and is all new. Will entirely be in English. - Parade unit with Winnie the Pooh characters and pumpkin girls. - Nightmare before christmas photo location will get the fountain from the movie. - 7 musical bands are listed for different lands. - For the soiree, show on Castle Stage with Maleficent and show with Hook on Galley - The old Villains float will not be reused in the cavalcade, because it didn't fit the look - The 'new' cavalcade floats are Fantillusion floats stripped down. :-(
Originally Posted By dagobert DLP Christmas 2013. Infos again provided by Magicforum-Twitter-Account. - Christmas Season begins 10 November, ends 6 January. - Main street Station decorations from last year will be back with new logo. - New christmas tree will have a lot more decorations and special lighting effects. - The new tree lighting cermony will be called Les voeux Magiques de Noel in French and wont feature characters. - It will feature the voices of pinochio and jiminy cricket. Will be in French, English and Spanish. Snow machines on town square. - All new music for the tree lighting written for this show. - Tree Lighting will be 360° experience around the tree to allow better viewing for everyone. - Next: Christmas cavalcade. Got bigger compared to last year. Opening float will be old snow white one (wwodp) - Gingerbread men characters from the States are coming to DLP! - Next floats will be reindeer and santa. Then Buzz and Woody. More toy Story toys on their float. - Santa Clause will also be part of Disney magic on Parade. Magic Everywhere song will be christmasfied. - Concept art for the Rapunzel / Frozen float! Ice mountain with ice castle on top and olaf. - Jingle Bell Boys will come back to Videopolis as well as other bands throughout the lands. - It's a small world celebration will be back too. - Nothing new at WDS for Christmas, that's for next year. - Castle Lighting will similar to last year.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's great to hear that they're semi-publically acknowledging the lack of maintenance, and working to fix it While I'm glad that they're going through the effort to repair Indiana Jones for the long run, I was hoping that the ride would just be replaced. It doesn't seem to have the same draw that it did when it opened, and it's just not that great of a ride for being tucked away in a quiet corner of the park. I doubt they'd ever get the Indiana Jones Adventure from DL or TDS, but it's nice to imagine >>Soundtrack for the parade will be called Vive la vie and is all new. Will entirely be in English.<< Well that's ironic. While it's great that they're switching up the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, it sounds to me like they might be removing any performers, and just using a recording and the lights. That would fit with the removal of characters and being equally visible from a 360 audience
Originally Posted By dagobert Here's a good summary of "Waht's new, what's next": <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlptownsquare.com/2013/09/whats-new-whats-next-day-1-recap.html">http://www.dlptownsquare.com/2...cap.html</a>
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt That's a ton of refurbishing. Is it me or has Disney been doing a better job of maintaining their older parks in the past several years?
Originally Posted By u k fan There's a lot of interesting information there, but there's still very little being mentioned in terms of actual attractions (whether existing or new) and lots of very vague "something's happening" and "wait and see" comments. I understand that refurb needs to be done, but considering WDSP is supposedly where anything new is going to go it barely gets mentioned outside of the fact that Armageddon's days are numbered, but replacing it isn't a priority and Crush will get a single-rider line. The hotels do really need some work, but I'm very frustrated at the lack of hearing even a rumour or two about anything new. I guess whatever they replace the geysers with could be interesting, but again there is no sense that that will be any time soon. I am pleased that some love is being shown to DLRP and I don't want to come off as completely negative, I just think that we're still suffering from past mistakes and while everyone talks a good talk actions aren't speaking louder than words!!!
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>There's a lot of interesting information there, but there's still very little being mentioned in terms of actual attractions (whether existing or new) and lots of very vague "something's happening" and "wait and see" comments.<<< I didn't expect any new informations about ned rides. DLP hardly ever releases any informations about new attractions. >>>I understand that refurb needs to be done, but considering WDSP is supposedly where anything new is going to go it barely gets mentioned outside of the fact that Armageddon's days are numbered, but replacing it isn't a priority and Crush will get a single-rider line.<<< I can imagine that Lucasfilm changed the situation again. Maybe there's a chance for something related to Star Wars. Honestly I don't need new rides as long as some parts of the resort are in a very bad state. >>>The hotels do really need some work, but I'm very frustrated at the lack of hearing even a rumour or two about anything new. I guess whatever they replace the geysers with could be interesting, but again there is no sense that that will be any time soon.<<< Didn't leemach mentioned that the occupancy rate isn't that good and so there is no need for a new hotel. At least the old one are getting a lot of attention. While I'm not a big fan of adding characters everywhere, I'm just glad they try to improve the quality as well. The DLP Hotels are far beyond other European hotels of the same standard. >>>I am pleased that some love is being shown to DLRP and I don't want to come off as completely negative, I just think that we're still suffering from past mistakes and while everyone talks a good talk actions aren't speaking louder than words!!!<<< I think that it is great that Disney is investing into the resort, even if it's just maintenance. Recently they have redone the resort hub and the floor around HNY.
Originally Posted By dagobert Here are some recent updates by the French Disney Gazette. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.disneygazette.fr/gazette-ratatouille-disneyjunior-rehabilitation-artondemand-halloween-news-1341.html">http://www.disneygazette.fr/ga...341.html</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.disneygazette.fr/gazette-ratatouille-esplanade-rehabilitation-merchandising-news-1337.html">http://www.disneygazette.fr/ga...337.html</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.disneygazette.fr/gazette-legostore-ratatouille-villagesnature-merchandising-news-1327.html">http://www.disneygazette.fr/ga...327.html</a> And another update about Indiana Jones by Disney & More. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2013/09/disneyland-paris-update-indiana-jones.html">http://disneyandmore.blogspot....nes.html</a>
Originally Posted By u k fan It just feels that there's very little to get excited about. It's very easy to say "wait and see" knowing that there's nothing to back it up. I'm pleased that some refurb is being done, it really needs it, but the fact of the matter is that DLP hasn't had a new attraction since Buzz (shows and parades excepted) and I feel that if they wait too long they'll be playing catch up for years. As I say we're paying for the mistakes they made on WDSP as they have to spend all their energy on anything new there instead!!!
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I'm pleased that some refurb is being done, it really needs it, but the fact of the matter is that DLP hasn't had a new attraction since Buzz (shows and parades excepted) and I feel that if they wait too long they'll be playing catch up for years. As I say we're paying for the mistakes they made on WDSP as they have to spend all their energy on anything new there instead!!!<<< I totally get what you mean. DLP and WDSP need new rides, but I stopped hoping for something new, since the financial situation isn't very good. I'm just glad we are gettin Ratatouille which looks fantastic in my eyes. And before we get another bunch of carnival rides like in TSPL, I'm fine with refurbs.
Originally Posted By dagobert The Dlp.info Blog has covered the news from last week's event as well. And it's in English. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/09/the-art-of-disney-on-demand/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...-demand/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/09/iron-man-vs-high-school-musical/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...musical/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/09/halloween-halloween/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...lloween/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/09/tarzan-returns-someday/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...someday/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/09/jack-and-sally-are-staying-for-christmas/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...ristmas/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/09/new-look-for-the-disney-hotels-the-past/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...he-past/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/10/a-crush-for-one/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...for-one/</a> <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/10/new-look-for-the-disney-hotels-the-present/">http://www.dlp.info/News/2013/...present/</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>The DLP Hotels are far beyond other European hotels of the same standard.<< That seems to be a Disney thing. The hotels in WDW are nice (if you go for the most expensive ones), but they're not nearly as nice as Disney likes to make you think. For what they're charging, the WDW Deluxe hotels should be 5-star quality; in reality they're about 3-star quality. The Moderates are probably charging around 3.5-star prices for 3-star quality, so I think they're the best value that Disney offers. The hotels at DLR are all reasonably nice, but the prices are just absurd for the minimal benefit of staying at a Disney hotel. I recently stayed at the Hilton across the street for 1/3 of the cost of staying at the cheapest Disney hotel, yet it was at least as nice (if not nicer). Disney gets away with a lot because they're Disney. They've been stretching it for years, and it seems like some people are starting to catch on
Originally Posted By u k fan When you look at all of the properties that Disney now have available such as Star Wars and Marvel that would be so at home at WDSP I think it's criminal that someone isn't exploiting those marketable possibilities right now, even if it were just to host European Star Wars weekends, and if you take that into account then DLP could be celebrating it's 30th birthday with nothing new since Buzz. Everything just seems so slow!!!
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>That seems to be a Disney thing. The hotels in WDW are nice (if you go for the most expensive ones), but they're not nearly as nice as Disney likes to make you think. For what they're charging, the WDW Deluxe hotels should be 5-star quality; in reality they're about 3-star quality. The Moderates are probably charging around 3.5-star prices for 3-star quality, so I think they're the best value that Disney offers. The hotels at DLR are all reasonably nice, but the prices are just absurd for the minimal benefit of staying at a Disney hotel. I recently stayed at the Hilton across the street for 1/3 of the cost of staying at the cheapest Disney hotel, yet it was at least as nice (if not nicer). Disney gets away with a lot because they're Disney. They've been stretching it for years, and it seems like some people are starting to catch on<<< Good to see that someone else thinks the same. Disney charges way too much for the quality offered. However they can do so because of the name and the resort experience including the parks. I have only stayed at the Pop Century in WDW and the Santa Fe and Sequoia Lodge at DLP. I have to say that we had the best experience at the Pop Century, and it was the cheapest hotel as well.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>When you look at all of the properties that Disney now have available such as Star Wars and Marvel that would be so at home at WDSP I think it's criminal that someone isn't exploiting those marketable possibilities right now, even if it were just to host European Star Wars weekends, and if you take that into account then DLP could be celebrating it's 30th birthday with nothing new since Buzz. Everything just seems so slow!!!<<< I get your frustration, but with no money it's hard to build something new. I really hope that Marvel and Lucasfilm will be used for something new in the upcoming years. At least for the 25th birthday DLP should get something new.
