Originally Posted By leemac <<It's 3 weeks before 2013 and the FLE and the revamped Test Track officially opened a few days ago. Wouldn't they be the things to trumpet for 2013?>> Traditionally that spot has always been for the upcoming projects - so they will market FLE in particular to death over the next year. The problem is that WDW Co. think they are in an arms race with Uni now. And Uni has clearly had the better new product for over a decade now. And that order doesn't look like changing any time soon.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Will the figures in the new coaster be new? They look suspiciously similar to the ones that were in the Snow White dark ride (especially the ones of Snow White and the dwarfs dancing in the cottage). I guess it owul dmake sense to reuse them, but I don't know how they will look in a larger scale environment, where they will be farther away from the guests
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Will the figures in the new coaster be new?>> Set the Way Back Machine to 1989, Sherman, and ask that question again. America Sings AAs recycled into Splash Mountain. It's a totally safe bet that the SW characters will be recycled from the dark ride.
Originally Posted By Manfried I agree with leemac. Way too many of these "behind the scenes" pre-visualizations being released. There's also too much star treatment of some Imagineers. Time to start recognizing some of the others, or shut up WDI.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I think it's part of the PR department trying to figure out how to adapt into the new world of social media. It's not at all obvious how best for big corporations to do this, and there are going to be missteps, including situations not unlike the old guy comically trying to be young and hip.
Originally Posted By HauntedMansionFan Once again, Aurora gets absolutely no love at the Magic Kingdom -- even though she was originally supposed to get her own cottage in New Fantasyland. Why the "Sleeping Beauty" neglect in Orlando, I wonder?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "The problem is that WDW Co. think they are in an arms race with Uni now." What is Uni pushing in 2013?
Originally Posted By dshyates Not only does Universal have Transformers with the N.E.S.T. Restaurant, they have Simpson's Springfield with Moe's Tavern and Duff's Beer Garden.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Duff's Beer Garden. >>> WDW could respond with Duffy's Beer Garden.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<The problem is that WDW Co. think they are in an arms race with Uni now.>> Considering WDW has failed to top Spider-man after 13 years, on top of Forbidden Journey and soon Transformers, they're a bit behind the 8 ball. On top of what Uni already has, they'll have Gringotts, the Hogwarts Express, and who knows what else open by the time Avatar is even close to opening << Set the Way Back Machine to 1989, Sherman, and ask that question again. America Sings AAs recycled into Splash Mountain. It's a totally safe bet that the SW characters will be recycled from the dark ride.>> They said last week the AAs would be "advanced". Take that as you will. <<What is Uni pushing in 2013?>> Transformers, Transformers restaurant, Simpsons land with a Dumbo-type ride, Moe's, new food stands, a beer garden, and a redone counter service restaurant.
Originally Posted By leemac <<They said last week the AAs would be "advanced". Take that as you will.>> I think the AAs are from Garner - I don't believe they are coming from the in-house team. So I'm not sure how advanced they can be - Garner hasn't pushed the envelope on AA design.....yet.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>So I'm not sure how advanced they can be - Garner hasn't pushed the envelope on AA design.....yet.<< They may not be cutting-edge or top-of-the-line, like Lincoln, but Garner Holt has done some quite nice AAs over the years. The one that immediately comes to mind is the Jack Skellington AA for DL's Haunted Mansion Holiday (replacing the graveyard caretaker). It didn't really push the boundaries too much, but it is a fully-functional AA that is rather impressive, due to its size and proximity to the guests. It's certainly a big step up from the limited motion figures from the Snow White dark ride.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I'm not going to put down the 7 dwarfs coaster that quickly. As far as I'm concerned, once it's built things can always be added to it. Yeah, I really want it to be scene intensive like BTMRR. But, so far that has not been promised. Lets just hope it will be a step up from a ride through a garden full of Gnomes. And even then, more can always be added to it. No reason why it has to be incredible out of the box.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Also in some ways, we are being very critical about this coaster when the special effects in Space Mountain, the big e-ticket ride in Tomorrowland, are all pretty lame. If there is anything in that part of the MK park that could use some major improvements to special effects it would be Space Mountain.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<Also in some ways, we are being very critical about this coaster when the special effects in Space Mountain, the big e-ticket ride in Tomorrowland, are all pretty lame.>> Space Mountain is also 30+ years old and is the worst version of itself in the world haha
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Yeah, I really want it to be scene intensive like BTMRR. ... Lets just hope it will be a step up from a ride through a garden full of Gnomes. >>> I forget how this ride is supposed to be positioned. Isn't it supposed to be somewhere in between a ToonTown ride and a regular E-Ticket? That is, isn't it supposed to be something like a traditional Fantasyland dark ride, but in roller coaster format? Perhaps it's supposed to be tame and relatively simple, and will have a very low minimum height, so that it can be ridden by younger guests. I don't know. That's just the sense I get from it.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom And that is fine to me if it is a lame coaster. The highlight of this attraction should be the 7 dwarfs. I think it would be best to be a heavily featured show scenes depicting Snow White, the 7 drarfs as well as the evil queen.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>As far as I'm concerned, once it's built things can always be added to it.<< Like Grizzly River Run at DCA? They did a great job of developing the setting there, but did little to create a backstory on the ride itself. Even in the park's recent upgrades, when the ride was slightly rethemed, they simply replaced modern props with ones that looked like they could be from the 30's/40's, without really adding anything extra. >>That is, isn't it supposed to be something like a traditional Fantasyland dark ride, but in roller coaster format? Perhaps it's supposed to be tame and relatively simple, and will have a very low minimum height, so that it can be ridden by younger guests.<< That was also my impression. I also imagine that they'll try to keep the height limit low to keep the number of jokes about the dwarfs not being tall enough to ride their own attraction to a minimum. : )
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Even in the park's recent upgrades, when the ride was slightly rethemed, they simply replaced modern props with ones that looked like they could be from the 30's/40's, without really adding anything extra." We know that there were ideas floating around to upgrade this attraction, but they probably dropped those plans when costs for all the other park upgrades started to add up. I'm willing to wager that there'll be an upgrade to GRR eventually. The 7D Mine Train looks fun, but hardly something anything that someone would travel across the country to see. I'll at least give them credit for dumping the princess meet & greet that was originally planned to be there.
