Originally Posted By oc_dean >> I have to admit now having seen it in person................. ........the characters, for the most part, were not glaringly obvious nor particularly out of step with the attraction. In fact, I think most would have escaped my notice entirely, especially with the holiday overlay. My worries that the characters would become the focal point and a distraction were wrong.<< Hey K2oony ... thank you for your thoughts. One point I'd like to mention: 'it's a small world' is almost 2 separate attractions between the normal and the holiday version. In the holiday version .. there are SO many decorations and additional sets. I'm sure it's easier to loose the Disney characters in all the additional Christmas decorations. Plus "Jingle bells" is played fairly loudly .. intermingling with the 'small world' song. In the normal version .... you do hear most of the Disney characters with their own music. Cinderella, Alice, Pinnochio, etc ... all play their own tunes. Now .. I have not seen the holiday version this year ... but I doubt they are overlapping the main theme song, with Jingle Bells, AND "In the Golden Afernoon", "I've got no strings", etc ... ALL with each other. Before you say - I'm hear to eat my words, You need to see it in the normal version .. and then you can assess the Disney character additions.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>> trekkeruss Sat 12/12/2009 6:17a <<Has there been a single instance of a person being totally transformed by this attraction?>> Your incantation will conjure up oc_dean any minute now. LOL. <<<<< Thank you Trek ... I got a good laugh out of that one! Thanks!
Originally Posted By oc_dean This from the new Sylvania sponsorship: "Considered a quintessential Disney theme park experience, "it's a small world" contains more than 300 Audio-Animatronics® figures, representing children around the globe. It also features more than 250 toys and 80 animated props. After a full year of work, an enhanced version of the attraction opened in February 2009, including stylized dolls and toys dressed as several classic Disney characters seamlessly integrated and geographically located in the lands where their stories take place." "Enhanced"? "Seemlessly integrated"? Well Disney Marketing/Corporate is entitled to their own opinion! ;O) LOL
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>In the normal version .... you do hear most of the Disney characters with their own music. Cinderella, Alice, Pinnochio, etc ... all play their own tunes.<< Hmmmmmm... I had forgotten about that aspect of it. Well, dang. <--- puts rest of words in airtight container in the 'fridge, waits to ride again in the non-holiday season... ; )
Originally Posted By oc_dean Since Disney loves touting .... "seemlessly integrating" .. then why the counter melody per each Disney character? I don't call that seemless at all. If they want "seemless integration" then the Disney characters would be singing the same tune with the rest of the cast. By having their own song ... then the point becomes "A spotlighting" on to the characters themselves.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I agree. I still haven't seen it live, but watching the videos, the visual intrusion of the characters usually didn't bother me so much (except I thought Stitch and Ariel looked out of place), but the audio intrusions did kind of bother me. If they wanted them to blend, why introduce these melodies which by and large do NOT blend with the iasw song? It calls attention to them, which is the opposite of blending.
Originally Posted By ShivaThDestroyer My initial gut reaction, when I heard about the impending insertion of characters into IASW, was negative. None of we die-hards like it when any of the "classics" get messed with but I've learned to keep an open mind. I admit that I hated to see something that, I felt, "belonged to the world" become commercialized but the toons have generated new interest and fun into the attraction and the characters don't feel out of place to me in either the normal or holiday overlay versions. When you come right down to it, few things are so universal and unifying as a love of Disney. The original message is still there, it's just been diluted a little bit.
Originally Posted By Bellella If the Tiki Room is so old and stale, why is it packed every day? There's no way to "seamlessly integrate" characters on that one. I haven't seen it lose any of its popularity since they refurbished it. Therefore, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Originally Posted By mousermerf And the WDW version of the Tiki Room "under new management" is terribly unpopular.
Originally Posted By danyoung I'm not so sure about that. Yeah, it gets a lot of bad online press. But I think the average park visitor in Florida just takes the attraction in stride. And the crowds are usually right up there with other attractions of that level.
Originally Posted By mousermerf No, no they're not. Sorry, that's just not true. It suffers from poor attendance.
Originally Posted By Lady Starlight So does DL suffer the Winchester Mystery House syndrome? Just keep building lot's of things that sometimes don't go anywhere? No matter, DL is not what it used to be due to the Greats being gone. No one will ever have the mind that Walt did. He truely had the Magic that made it work.
Originally Posted By Lady Starlight Dang it. I hit enter again. UGH! I wanted to say that DL has so many wonderful things in all the rides and attractions and although some of us like some of the rides or show's untouched sometimes, we know that time changes things and I for one can enjoy new things,but still appreciate the way it used to be.
Originally Posted By Pixiedust345 IASW is not educational nor was it ever. It's fun, and cute, and I have always loved how big it feels, but it's full of racial and cultural stereotypes, which are not educational. >>My concern (and I haven't seen the new changes yet) was that it would turn into a disney version of "where's waldo", where people would be trying to spot Mary Poppins and Peter Pan and Stitch. << that's the whole fun! after riding iasw every year since I was 3, it was great to have something new, and puzzle like, to look out for.
Originally Posted By danyoung >Sorry, that's just not true. It suffers from poor attendance.< What's your source for this? Every time I've been there, the Tiki Room UNM has attracted crowds just like any other attraction. The lines aren't huge, but they're steady.
Originally Posted By onlyme I've been going to DL my whole life. I'm one of those uptight people who always get their panties-in-a-bunch whenever a change is made to a park 'icon'. Anyway, I must be getting slow or shallow in my old age. I've ridden iasw several times since the change and my only thought was, "oh look, it's Mulan".
Originally Posted By Manfried Disneyland will change as long as there is imagination. But what comes across to me is that many posters on this discussion do not want anything changed at Disneyland that was created in the sixties and instead preserved as a museum. I'm glad you're in the minority.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>> 77 Manfried Tue 12/15/2009 7:50p Disneyland will change as long as there is imagination. But what comes across to me is that many posters on this discussion do not want anything changed at Disneyland that was created in the sixties and instead preserved as a museum. I'm glad you're in the minority. <<<< Some happen to prefer the level of execution ONCE took by Disney imagineers. I think the likes of the fist generation imagineers who worked with Walt had a much higher standard then the current crop .. who prefer to push Synergizing and Commercializing brands.
Originally Posted By danyoung >I still contend it was just a waste of money.< Judging from the level on interest online, and all of the people who indicated that they couldn't wait (for better or worse) to see the new attraction, and judging from reports of much longer lines than the previous year, I'd say you're mistaken.
