Originally Posted By Bellella I'm only glad that the overall design concept for IASW is the same as always- beautiful, whimsical abstraction. And the new America room fits right in with it. Long live Mary Blair's masterpiece!
Originally Posted By mousermerf What...? The America scene is like a bad forgery of Mary's style. Irvine's "art" sitting next to Blair's in the Disney Gallery to try and justify it just does the opposite and further illustrates my point. It's one thing to attempt this sort of thing, it's another to do it poorly.
Originally Posted By Bellella Well, it doesn't stick out too much. The Hollywood Bowl archway? A bit tasteless.
Originally Posted By danyoung I gotta go with mousemerf here. I thought most of the characters fit in quite well. But that America scene was just strange - totally different style, didn't at all fit in with the rest of the attraction.
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes I have to leave for a meeting, and only got through post 50, so forgive me if I'm restating another's post. My own experience has been that it has turned into a Disney version of Where's Waldo - that's based upon the chatter I hear in my boat every time I ride. Much earlier someone (I think K2M?) posted, 'so why did they do it anyway?'. I guess no one has the keen eye that I do. Haven't you seen all the merchandise that is in the park with the Disney characters appearing in their Small World guise? There are pins, cups, dolls, etc. IMO it was done based on merchandise (greed). I can't say they ruined it, but they dumbed it down.
Originally Posted By Socrates I only get to DL once a year, so can someone tell me how Disney is capitalizing commercially on the characters? A new plush line? More Disney characters in the shop at the exit? I haven't been there since July and I didn't notice anything then. Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Originally Posted By oc_dean Didn't Schmitty's post answer that for you? OC_Dean "Disney characters in Small World are not worth living."
Originally Posted By plpeters70 Someone mentioned earlier that they didn't think that the new songs were blended-in for the holiday version, but when I rode earlier this month, I clearly remember hearing the new songs in the ride. They weren't quite as obvious as in the normal version, but they were still clearly there, and still didn't quite fit with the main theme. I've said this before, but I feel that adding the characters was just a lazy way to "update" this attraction. Instead of finally getting rid of that ridiculous looking "flume" and using all-new technology to bring the dolls to life (like in the Tokyo Sinbad ride), they instead took the easy route and dropped in a few character dolls. WDI, and the Disney company, just aren't what they used to be.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>but when I rode earlier this month, I clearly remember hearing the new songs in the ride. They weren't quite as obvious as in the normal version, but they were still clearly there, and still didn't quite fit with the main theme. << Let me see if I'm following you correctly .... The Disney Character additions that have their own audio are playing their own tune .. ON TOP of the main song, with the intermingling of "Jingle Bells" - RIGHT? If that isn't just plain ignorance by overlapping THREE pieces of music simultaneously .... I don't know what to call it! Funny how articulate Abe, Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough came out .... yet ..... the chaotic mess in 'small world' is just amazing!
Originally Posted By Socrates I thought Smitty was being sarcastic. I didn't notice anything this summer. Guess I'll have to look closer next summer. Socrates "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance."
Originally Posted By FerretAfros The characters' music is still playing, but I think it's only during the time that the iasw theme is playing, not during Jingle Bells. The full orchestra backup definatley helps cover it up more than the normal version, where it's very exposed (but still enough of the background is there to crunch with it). I would agree that it's not as jarring during the overlay as it is the rest of the year, but it just doesn't sound good. The characters' music can only be heard near them, so you don't have much time to catch it. It only plays for part of the music loop (during the holidays, it's a segment of the iasw theme, and nothing the rest of the time), so you don't hear too much of it when you go past. Because of this, it's really hard to tell what tune it is, but you still hear enough of it to know that it doesn't go with the rest of the music. It all just seems like it's in the wrong key or something, and it's played by instruments that aren't in the background tracks. Funny that the original idea for the music was to play all the different national anthems, but then they realized it would just sound like mud so they switched to the single song in many languages. If only the people in charge had read that story...
Originally Posted By oc_dean You would have thought Kim Irvine would have learned from her famous parents, since she was in charge of the whole "change"! Old .. but a bit interesting: <a href="http://thedisneyblog.com/2008/04/15/imagineer-kim-irvine-talks-about-its-a-small-world-changes/" target="_blank">http://thedisneyblog.com/2008/...changes/</a>
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes I wasn't being sarcastic. Check the pin shops. I also saw stuff on Main Street and even posted pics of the stuff on LP Live many months ago.
