I don't know where they found the drawings for those projects, but they do a good job of showing how much work and preparation goes into projects, even if they seem really simple. I'm also impressed by how permanent the scaffolding at the Frontierland fort and Alice maze castle look; they practically look like buildings of their own! It's also interesting that they're turning the Star Wars gift shop into a meet & greet location, especially since it's dual-sided but with only one character on each side. I'm sure the capacity will be nice, but it seems like a ton of space to dedicate to just one character. Looking at the upper left corner of the drawings, is that building connected to some sort of tunnel? It looks like there are stairs down in the plans, but I didn't think that DLP had any utilidors (though it would explain how they plan on getting the characters to the building without having to cross guest areas)
The Star Wars gift shop is not that big, so I was surprised that it is big enough for two characters. The new SW gift shop will be located in the former arcade at the exit of Star Tours. This shop will be big. I'm impressed that WDI didn't just put the existing X-Wing on top of the building. Since the X-Wing has landed the wings have to be closed and they are according to the pictures. The current X-Wing's wings are open.
I wonder if there will be some way to modify the existing one to close the wings. I agree that it seems strange that they're not just reusing the same one. Or maybe the concept art is wrong? I'm pretty sure the old X-Wing in the long-abandoned upper level of the Starcade at DL (lower level now abandoned too) had the wings closed. I doubt they would relocate a prop that big to Paris, especially since it was created for indoor use, but maybe they're using the same set of plans to build a new one?
I really hope that the concept art is not wrong. In all SW movies, after the X-Wings have landed, the wings closed. So someone at WDI hopefully knows that. The X-Wing looks like it has landed, so the wings have to be closed. That's a detail like Disney is usually known for.
Although all news and tweets have been deleted already, I ues ED SCA announced the fiscal year 2016 numbers too early, DLP had another terrible year forcing TWDC to waive the royalty fees for two more years.
The river is being refilled. Big Thunder Mountain hits milestone as Rivers of the Far West start to refill
TWDC's 4th quarter earnings call is later today, so I would bet we'll get more detail (or at least official acknowledgement) during that. It's too bad that DLP has had a bad year, since they seem to be doing so many things right lately Given that they seem to have left a lot of equipment in the river as its being filled, I wonder if they're planning to drain it again. I know when DL was rebuilding its subs for the Nemo version, they had to fill the lagoon a couple times during construction to move the submarines around, before draining it and resuming work. Perhaps they have to move the riverboat to work on the section of track that it's been sitting on for all these months? The US parks got the new Mickey & Minnie heads a couple months ago, and I'm still not used to them (haven't seen them in person either).The expressions just look a little too cartoony. It's also weird to see that commercial with all the classic characters, and then Darth Vader and R2-D2 at the end; I know Star Wars is a part of Disney, but it just doesn't feel like it yet
I don't have any details about the results, I just read some tweets and they weren't very promising. As for Star Wars being part of Disney, for me it felt always like Disney, because of Star Tours and Indiana Jones. It took me much longer to accept Marvel as being part of Disney than Lucasfilm. When we have been to Disneyland Anaheim in June, the Marching Band performed Hooked on a Feeling from GOTG and it felt so right. Many disagree but I love that Marvel is part of Disney now.
As alredy mentioned above, DLP faced a terrible fiscal year. http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/CORP/EN/Neutral/Images/uk-2016-11-10-FY16-Press-release.pdf
Here's what they say about the international parks in the TWDC release: "The decrease in operating income at our international operations was due to lower results at Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, partially offset by the benefit of the first full quarter of operations for Shanghai Disney Resort. Lower results at Disneyland Paris were primarily due to decreases in attendance and occupied room nights. At Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, the decrease in operating income was due to lower attendance." https://ditm-twdc-us.storage.googleapis.com/q4-fy16-earnings.pdf Oddly, it says that WDW is up and DLR is down slightly, which goes against everything we've heard previously. WDW has been struggling due in part to a variety of outside factors (Zika, Pulse shooting, gator attack, Hurricane Matthew), while DLR has been chugging along on the momentum from the 60th
Just watched that advert. I agree that Darth Vader and R2D2 really seem to jar at the end there. I can see why they're included what with all the new Star Wars stuff coming, but it seems odd to see them opposite Mickey and Cinderella. In general though this ad did seem to play up the thrill element with RC Racer and Indy getting cameos so I think despite using the classic characters this might be aimed at a different audience to some of the traditional marketing.
Looks nice! I'm especially impressed with the scale of all the entertainment offerings. The US parks have the parades (which look very dated compared to the DLP one) but other than that there are few seasonal additions (though existing musical acts do holiday music). Although DLP's entertainment can be sparse at times, it looks like they have several big additions for the season I also like that DLP still gets garlands over Main Street. Both DL and MK have stopped doing that in recent years due to the height of parade floats.
DLP really improved their offerings during the main seasons of the year. The low seasons don't offer a lot, but I don't mind that.
Looks like they're busy with a lot of different project right now! It's good to see water around Big Thunder again, but the color looks more like a clean Apline stream than a muddy American river. Is it on the same water system as the Adventureland waterways? The crummy weather really shows how thoughtful the original DLP designs were, having lots of indoor/covered spaces, and picking lots of warm colors. WDSP looks pretty bleak under nice weather, so all the construction walls and rain aren't doing that park any favors
I don't know on which water system the river relies on, but I can imagine that they are somehow connected. As for the colour, it looks so much better than tthe years before when the river turned into that ugly waterway. Hopefully this time they can keep the quality of the water.
