Originally Posted By leemac Did you see the new Mary Poppins show in Town Square, Kieran? I managed to miss it both days I was there - too busy in WDSP.
Originally Posted By u k fan Ok, so as Dave pointed out I haven't finished this yet. It's funny how he found my only post over the last 3 days to remind me! I will admit that some facts will be hazy, but I'll do my best! Day 2 As we were staying at the Elysee we had planned to take advantage of the extra magic hours, but when the reality of getting up at 6:30 hit we decided not to bother, opting instead to be on hand at WDSP at rope drop. We were actually about 10 minutes too late! First, I have to mention the new placemaking. It looks fantastic! Sis and her kids didn't know it was there and it was a massive shock to them. It has made a phenomenal change to the area and makes entering the park a much bigger event. TOT looks great against it all and the Partners statue suddenly looks much more at home. We checked out the times for Stitch and decided to see a show in about an hour. I should mention at this point that I was slightly stringing people along when I said 2 new attractions. I did in fact see 2 new attractions, but neither of them was TOT. I know, I know. Once again we decided before we even got the resort that unless something amazing happened we would leave TOT for another time. Nephew, despite having ridden the DHS version seemed a little reticent and I felt guilty about not having my first ride with the rest of the family so we decided to leave it. Had I got lucky with a short line or something I may have ridden, but in the end we didn't ride it. So I'm afraid I have no TOT review to share. (Hopefully in June - for those that care, DLP is coming out significantly cheaper than Alton Towers)! So anyway, we decide to head to RnRC. Sis heads off to feed the little one while Nephew and I head over to the ride. It was down when we got there so instead we got fast passes and went to join the others. After breakfast we decide to head on over to Stitch and see what the queue is like. I like the fact that the display counts down the number of available seats for each show. There were 100 seats left for the show we wanted to see so we hopped into the holding pen and we were quickly ushered into another waiting area to watch Disney Channel trailers. As much as I love a good Hannah Montana trailer I can't help but think that some kind of preshow that's relevant to the attraction might have been just as good or (dare I say it) even better! Anyway, it was inoffensive and I'm sure that half a dozen people who give a rat's @$$ about the Disney Channel loved it. The theatre for the show itself is minimal, but inkeeping with the theme. Kids sit up front on the floor and adults sit on benches at the back. There is very little rise on the benches - if kids do sit on them they'll likely see next to nothing. The show itself is really fun and is Neice's new favorite (mind you she has a new favorite daily). I won't spoil it here, but the interactive elements really work and the kids in the audience were spellbound. For them this really is what Disney magic is about. It's a massive improvement on what was there already and this is one toonification I am happy to see. Whilst it fits perfectly in the studios I can see how this attraction would fit into Tomorrowland quite easily. I'd probably go as far as to say that if you could swap Buzz for Stitch Discoveryland would be more intact. It was now time to return for our RnRC fastpasses. Very little to report except that we got "Dude looks like a lady" which is my favorite so that was cool! We really wanted to see the new HSM2 show (the second new attraction) as we are all fans and there was logistically only one show available so we decided to head off to finish up our shopping in Studio 1. As I said before we really struggled, but after much wrangling I found something for everyone. A quick note to whoever decides these things: Please can we get some new Potato Head pieces in Europe? We have them all now, but the kids want more. I'd gladly plonk down a wad of cash for more, but there's nothing new to buy. I'll have to finish off day 2 later as I'm at work and need to actually do some work!!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo You tease Kiz. To be honest, I was more interested in your review of Stitch since ToT is virtually identical to DCA's. It sounds cute. How does it compare to Turtle Talk with Crush? Also is the language issue well handled? Interested to see how HSM compares to HSM2 - we loved the show last year, and HSM2 at DCA was fun too. As for ToT, you exhibited far more willpower than I could. How was the wait for Crush and Cars - still huge? Glad Liesl et al enjoyed the new placemaking. And yep, we looked into the Alton Towers hotel for our anniversary, but decided to skip it as DLP is not much more, and far better value!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I can't wait for the summer now. We are likely to go either in July or August to try out all the new stuff and see the fireworks/fantillusion.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I can't wait for the summer now. We are likely to go either in July or August to try out all the new stuff and see the fireworks/fantillusion.<< I know fireworks at DLP are strictly regulated, what months do they usually have fireworks?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo They tend to run from Bastille Day week (week of 14th July) till the end of August (has been known to finish a little earlier). The fireworks at DLP are a much smaller scale too, think more Fantismic level with projections. Also there is Fantillusion on offer which is a nightime parade (a la MSEP/Spectromagic) with some very cool transitions in a show stop (stand in the hub for the best view). and the park is open till 11pm nightly!
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I had the pleasure to go to DLP on Guy Faulks day last year and saw an incredible show with the Bonfire Celebration this past year. Hoping to go next summer and check out the summertime activities at DLP myself.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Yep, fireworks tend to be for New Years (2nd biggest - but has been cancelled due to weather in past years), St Patrick's Day, St David's Day, Bastille Day (biggest ones), Summer Season, and the Halloween Soiree. For a few years, they had some Christmas Fireworks. I wish they would come back, they were awesome!
Originally Posted By u k fan Dave, this was my first encounter with a "living character" so I can't really compare it to Crush. The language thing was fine. The show I saw was in English and interestingly the English shows seemed far easier to get into than the French, which I would have thought would be the other way round. They have 2 different queue lines for each language similar to the old Tram Tour set up. At several points before the show CM's would ask for a show of hands to count who spoke what languages. The show itself was entirely in English though I noticed several other nationalities were present. The majority of the audience seemed to be British. Crush was still swamped. The line went way back. We didn't ride, but I'd say a good 75-90 minutes as it was well past where I had queued in the past and my longest wait is about an hour. Cars was around the 30 minute mark. I'll be honest and say I think they were fiddling the wait times that day as I've read on another site that the TOT queue was running much longer than the 30 minute wait time posted!!!
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 UK Fan, it's good to see WDSP finally getting some crowds. Hopefully this leads to an even bigger expansion of the park.
Originally Posted By u k fan One thing I did forget to mention and I might get flamed for it is that the new placemaking actually helps the theming of the Backlot area by differentiating it from the rest of the park if that makes sense. That area now works better as a Backlot!!!
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 One question I do have, when I visited in November I noticed some shops and buildings that were themed in the style of ToT, are those empty buildings or do stores or food places exist in those buildings? Thanks.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I bet! I actually like the backlot vibe if it is a portion of the park. I know I adore the music in backlot. I think WDSP is a great day out. If we could simply add a nice highly themed table service restaurant, an AA laden attraction, and Muppetvision 3d, I would prefer it to its sister park in Florida.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I'm sure UKFAN will chime in. They were designed mainly as facades and have mannequins in most. But there is room for a pin station and La Terrasse serves food.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 an AA laden attraction, and Muppetvision 3d,<< I think Phillarmagic would be more suited for WDSP, unless they update Muppetvision 3-D, it seems really dated.
Originally Posted By u k fan The actual facades that head towards the Tram Tour are all facades except for one very tiny (yep, you guessed it) pin store. There is also a new shop at the exit of TOT which I did visit and will review later!!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I suppose the big diff is I like MV3D and it has AA's. I am not really a fan of Phil, and it is similar to Animagique.
