Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <<Well that's almost as much of a stretch as Iron Man is.>> "Disagree. An attraction set in modern day Hong Kong is a significantly bigger stretch." Since when are thematic inconsistencies unusual for Tomorrowland?
Originally Posted By leemac <<Since when are thematic inconsistencies unusual for Tomorrowland?>> In HK? I'd argue never. It all knits together well.
Originally Posted By dagobert Even at DLP Discoveryland never had a consistent theme. Star Tours didn't fit and later Buzz Lightyear too. Although Tim Delaney mentioned in a podcast that Discoveryland presents the visions of the future of H. G. Wells, George Lucas and Jules Verne. I guess Tim didn't know that Star Wars is set in the past and not in the future.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt ^^ Exactly. I don't buy the lazy WDI-speak when it comes to Tomorrowland. What well known visionary came up with the Autopia in Discoveryland?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros According to the vague backstory from the queue, I believe that Autopia is supposed to be something that Captain Nemo created. At least that was the impression I got. It's an interesting thought, since the cars look like speedsters straight out of the 1960's (On a side note, there's a neat feature in that queue: a viewing area for folks who aren't riding. There's a bunch of stools on a tiered platform overlooking part of the ride. Nobody was using it during my visit - despite huge crowds of people watching from the walkway near the restrooms - but I thought it was a nice touch)
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "According to the vague backstory from the queue, I believe that Autopia is supposed to be something that Captain Nemo created." LOL, see what I mean? All they have to do with Iron Man at HKDL is say that we're leaving the spaceport for a visit HK in the year 2113 or something. Naturally, something goes horribly wrong and Iron Man appears to save the day. Done.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I believe that Autopia is supposed to be something that Captain Nemo created. At least that was the impression I got. It's an interesting thought, since the cars look like speedsters straight out of the 1960's>> I don't think so - it is just meant to be a trip through a futuristic city of tomorrow - Solaria - in 50s retro "super fast" vehicles. There isn't anything in Discoveryland that is based on an extension of the stories of Verne, Wells etc., (Visionarium was the exception). Tim didn't create new stories from those writers.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>I don't think so - it is just meant to be a trip through a futuristic city of tomorrow - Solaria - in 50s retro "super fast" vehicles. There isn't anything in Discoveryland that is based on an extension of the stories of Verne, Wells etc., (Visionarium was the exception). Tim didn't create new stories from those writers.<<< In my opinion Autopia is a perfect fit in Discoveryland. However I still think that the Discoveryland theme had never worked at DLP. Star Tours and Captain EO never fitted the theme. I have never seen Captain EO, but Star Tours is based on Star Wars and that franchise takes place in the past an not in the future. So Star Wars can't be George Lucas' vision of the future as Tim Delaney discribed it in the Season Pass Podcast about Disneyland Paris. Buzz Lightyear has the same problem. It doesn't fit the theme and what's even more important, that the new colour scheme of the building doesn't match the colours of Orbitron, SM, Autopia and Videopolis. I like Buzz, but the land is now an even bigger mess. The look of the land has always been fatastic, but the theme wasn't consistent from the beginning. H.G. Wells and Jules Verne worked fine for the visions of the future theme. As for Iron Man in HKDL's Tomorrowland, I agree that it doesn't fit. Iron Man takes place in the present and not in the future. But I have given up on WDI. They aren't the industry leader anymore.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>...Star Tours is based on Star Wars and that franchise takes place in the past an not in the future.<< You could argue that the Verne stories also took place in the past too. When they were written they were contemporary or a few years in the future, but those eras were already in the past (by 80+ years) when DLP opened (Though I agree that Star Tours, Captain EO, and Buzz don't really fit the theme of the land)
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<All they have to do with Iron Man at HKDL is say that we're leaving the spaceport for a visit HK in the year 2113 or something. Naturally, something goes horribly wrong and Iron Man appears to save the day. Done.>> Except Iron Man doesn't take place in 2113... <<You could argue that the Verne stories also took place in the past too. When they were written they were contemporary or a few years in the future, but those eras were already in the past (by 80+ years) when DLP opened>> That was the point of Discoveryland, though. It was supposed to be the view of the future from the 1800s.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <<All they have to do with Iron Man at HKDL is say that we're leaving the spaceport for a visit HK in the year 2113 or something. Naturally, something goes horribly wrong and Iron Man appears to save the day. Done.>> "Except Iron Man doesn't take place in 2113..." And Star Wars doesn't take place in the future.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt And what year, decade, or millennium is Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blast supposed to take place?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>And what year, decade, or millennium is Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blast supposed to take place?<< The signage on the attraction in DL says that it's based on Toy Story 2 (which includes a portion of the fictional Buzz Lightyear TV show), so I would say it's set circa 1999. Why else would there be all those AA batteries lying around?
Originally Posted By believe $100m budget? Is that hong kong dollars or US dollars? Too low for hk dollars, but kind of excessive for us dollars if they are using body wars simulators. And for 2016? That is a longtime from now. Maybe they'll do a mystic manor and finish early.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: That's why I was asking when the construction will actuall begin. Thus far no one seems to know.
Originally Posted By friarthe Saw the construction walls yesterday. Not much to say -- they say "Iron Man Experience Coming Soon" and "Stark Expo". There were three or four cranes working on the site, which eats up all the space between the Autopia queue and the statue of Buzz Lightyear. Even the Astro Blasters FP distribution area is gone or roped off at the moment. They got ride of the space where the stage is set up at Halloween, and a stand (refreshments or souvenir? I never noticed) next to the robot water-play area. I almost took photos to send to LP, but... Well, a construction wall isn't exactly news.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros A wall is HUGE news! Haven't you ever seen us go crazy over a construction update before? : ) Thanks for the description! It sounds like they're definitely doing work, but there's really nothing to see yet. I wonder how long it will be before construction goes vertical. Did you happen to ride the train or Autopia (the track that goes over UFO Zone)? Can you see anything from either of those, or is the view pretty well blocked off?
Originally Posted By tonyanton I read the railroad was closing for a year for the Iron Man construction...perhaps it is closed already?
Originally Posted By friarthe The train didn't seem to be running, but to be honest I didn't try. As much as I love the idea of the train, not having Primeval World/Grand Canyon (or really much to see at all) and the weird restrictions on if you can ride the whole circumference of the park (sometimes? or is this always?) kind of spoils it for me, here. Autopia -- should've gone on it. Now kicking myslef a little in retrospect. The load system makes that line seem incredibly long, so I've only ridden twice in 3 years! But the holiday weekend crowds, which were mighty big at 2 when we arrived, thinned out a LOT by closing, and we were riding MM and Grizzly Gulch multiple times with no line to speak of.
Originally Posted By dagobert I still think that they should have chosen Star Tours instead of IME. In my opinion SW fits the Tomorrowland theme better. IM takes place in the present.
