Originally Posted By spacejockey The Princess meet and greets are going into Ariel's Grotto Resturant in DCA to be renamed Princess Palace.
Originally Posted By oc_dean This is my response to the idea of getting rid of Casey Jr. Circus Train & Storybook land canal boats in favor of this new wave of Meet & Greets - which I find are a cop out (cheap-out!) to new ride technologies and Innovation: <a href="http://www.fugly.com/media/IMAGES/Funny/freaked_out_kitty.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.fugly.com/media/IMA...itty.jpg</a>
Originally Posted By plpeters70 So do we all really agree with Jay that "interactive" is what the public really wants? I mean, wouldn't most of us on here be happy with just some new traditional style dark rides? I know I would rather experience a ride-through attraction than "interact" at a princess meet-and-greet. Is making birthday cards for princesses really what the theme park going public wants these days?? And even if it is, why couldn't we get both? Why not a traditional attraction with these meet-and-greet attached to them? Could it really be that expensive to build and run these things?
Originally Posted By Hista98 i would like to meet the guest who said they wanted more emersive exeiences i think jay made them up!! How many people do you know who say emersive in daily theme park conversation.
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS I know this is all would-a/should-a/could-a when it comes to DL, but if this did happen, it would be a big mistake. I have talked to many families for many years regarding Casey jr. This is a big favorite for many kids - it appears that the Monkey cages are very popular. It's fun for the parents, too, to see their kids so excited. I think removing this attraction would be a mistake. Sure, it seems tired and old to some, but it would be nice to have a few rides that remain a bit unchanged and pure. Just my two cents.
Originally Posted By KittyPrincess1206 I personally love Casey Jr. It gives a whole different view of Storybook land. Especially at night. I would be extremely disappointed if it closed.
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 Gaston's Tavern and the Be Our Guest restaurant will probably be pretty awesome as themes go. I can't say that I'm sad the changes won't be coming to DLR. The idea of visiting the princesses in their villages and interacting with them is a great idea for kids and I'm sure the ideas will go over great with parents. Once again though, those of us who aren't kids and don't have kids will be left out.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "So do we all really agree with Jay that "interactive" is what the public really wants?" What motive would he have as a manager looking to increase guest attendance and sales to build things that haven't proven to be big draws? I tend to believe that there's at least some truth to what he said, and there is a fairly long history of interactive attractions at Disney, most notably when EPCOT opened in 1982. Also, isn't Universal building a new coaster where visitors can choose the soundtrack for the ride?
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "And even if it is, why couldn't we get both? Why not a traditional attraction with these meet-and-greet attached to them? Could it really be that expensive to build and run these things?" TSMM does this. There's an interactive Mr Potato Head in the queue, and the ride involves guest participation.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Okay .. it's Tuesday people .... those of you who have gone .. are settled back into your daily routine .. and I'm seeing nothing reported in anywhere other than this: * Official Confirmation of Star Tours 2.0 for DL (No New news to us, we've already known for over a year) * Official Confirmation of Walt Disney World's New Fantasyland (Only a semi surprise, as the plans where leaked weeks ago) * Three new mini-lands for HKDL (Also, already known to the internet crowds for several weeks, prior to the Expo) And that pretty much wraps it up in terms of new attraction projects for the entire 11-theme park empire. To me ..... the idea of going to a "D23 Expo" was to hear and see whats new and coming to the various parks. In my opinion .. if the Walt Disney Co. has very little to show off in terms of new rides in the pipe-line .. I see this expo thing a waste of time. I need to look no further than LP, Miceage, Micechat, Screamscape, etc, for all my news on new attractions .. as the net seems to be the forefront of news and developments. I've been to the NFFC conventions years ago. Been to so many of them ... I couldn't see how Disney's own "D23" was going to show off something anymore special the NFFC and other similar clubs that put on large conventions each year, couldn't pull off themselves.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt I get the impression that these official announcements are meant to a) confirm the rumors and b) give the marketing department something to talk about with the press. What I'm curious to know is how many of the attendees were not locals from Southern California.
Originally Posted By BellesLibrarian Back to the princesses ... I miss the days when the princesses were visible in the park. Tucking them away in Princess Fantasy Faire land is just wrong, just as it is wrong to not use the theater. If they can find a way to create something similar in FantasyLand it would be a big hit. As it is now, during a slow week families waited an hour to see three random princesses, then back in line again to see 3 more. This would be so cool.
Originally Posted By BrigmanMT 2 I don't know why Storybookland would be on the chopping block when the the ugliest piece of the park is right across the parade route. Those giant light magic towers with the concrete stairs and metal railings are the prime spot for something like this. The motorboat lagoon is adjacent to this area. The corridor is themeless all the way to the sea serpeant topiary across from Small World. The area should remain as a great green corridor for the park. There needs to be lots of water and "fantastical" manicured plantings here. The princess housing plays right into that idea. The pavillion treatment would work great. I have wanted an Alice or Gaston themed restaurant here for a while. The matterhorn would look great out of Gaston's front doors. It would be a nice manly cap piece to the princess/small world corridor. Lots of those events seem repetitve, and the investment of new infastructure is rediculous at Disneyland. They don't need a beast library or a room for arts and crafts. That kind of stuff exists in the Animation building in DCA. A nice strollable Park-like princess area would be great between the matterhorn and small world. Use lots of water features and incredible disney horticulture, which already has a nice presence in the area. The princess homes will only add to it. An inventor's farm, a hidden cottage, a stately country home, and the lost boy's tree sound like great additions to fantasyland. As for storybookland not being ground breaking, just take a look at the landscaping. Look at the scale of everything. It is an artistic masterpiece. Remember Walt's scaled train at his house? Walt's park honors that love for detail and appreciation of scale in Storybookland. I would love to see additions like this with the removal of no existing attraction. There is plenty of open space at Disneyland. As a side note, I would love to see more Beauty and the Beast at Disneyland. Gaston's tavern and belle's fathers farmhouse laboratory would be great additions.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "I don't know why Storybookland would be on the chopping block when the the ugliest piece of the park is right across the parade route." Well, all of that would probably change in a scenario where that entire area from the Teacups to the Skyway station would be demolished. I would love to see additions like this with the removal of no existing attraction." I would too, but the reality is that DL isn't big enough to continue adding without removing something. Even at WDW several attractions and an entire land (Toontown Fair) are being removed to make way for the new Fantasyland additions.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>I don't know why Storybookland would be on the chopping block << Lets just all remember .. It's only suggested at, in this topic. Nothing more. Those rides will not be taken out anytime soon. So we can relax. But if Disney is keen in duplicating that they are going to do to WDW's Fantasyland to DL's .. There's really no place to do it. And the Motor Bt. Cruise location is apparently slated for the Tinkerbell dark ride.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt ^^Since that news came from Al I wouldn't get to worked about that either.
Originally Posted By BrigmanMT 2 The site plan still shows the barnstormer attraction, doesn't it? Disneyland has the Fantasyland theater, half of toontown, the entire space from big thunder trail/Rivers to the Railroad. That chunk of land including Fantasyland Theater and the Skyway is about 1/7 the size of the park. You could fit another two lands back there. The carousel theater, HISTA, Starcade, Rocket Jets platform are additonal empty spaces. Look at the creativity of the Indiana Jones placement. It is incredible that it fits between a reworked Jungle Cruise, exisitng treehouse, and up against the Pirates of the Carribean building. Creative planning is a marvel. With every addition since they seem to have forgotten all of those skills. (Buzz is actually a pretty impressive amount of track for the old space)
Originally Posted By BrigmanMT 2 Winnie the Pooh, Stitch, Millionaire, and Pirates are all overdone and have managed to evaporate to some extent. To continue this huge ivestment on the flavor of the month does not seem like a good practice. I hope they don't whore out the princesses too much. They are classic characters. Their brand is in danger from this over marketing. No way will there be a tinkerbell attraction (aside from Peter Pan). The princesses really have staying power. I could see something like this happening.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Sign me up for #34. If they insist on expanding princess meet and greets, the motor boat area makes a whole lot more sense than StorybookLand.
