Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I think at our age it's pretty much impossible to suspend disbelief with anything at Disneyland. I've come to terms with characters being endlessly placed around the parks. Given Disney's tendency to do this the Fantasy Faire concept and execution seems almost revolutionary.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>I think at our age it's pretty much impossible to suspend disbelief with anything at Disneyland. << I can still be drawn into certain worlds ... especially PotC and H.M. .. and forget about the real world. They are done so well .... my imagination still allows itself to get wrapped up into it. And any actor .. or actress who is great in improvisation ... can hold my attention. The ones who act like robots with one or two lines ... don't capture my disbelief not even for 2 nano seconds.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>I still want to know if the "secret" bathroom is in there.<< It's certainly not a part of the Fantasy Faire. I am sure it has been removed. >>Swing dancing would work nicely in Paradise Gardens in DCA.<< No, not at all. World of Color would also interfere with the schedule. Now, a "Victory Canteen" street dance over next to Soarin' Over California in Condor Flats-- that might work...
Originally Posted By TP2000 Valid points all on the bad logistics for swing dancing at Paradise Gardens. Those trees and planters are the big ones, so that venue is out. I do like the "Victory Dance" idea for Condor Flats. Although that would be a hard theme to pull off graciously with Japanese and German tourists in the park. As for the Princesses, I can skip them. And I am forever thinking "That girl goes to Cal State Fullerton... that one probably flunked out of beauty school... and that one is waiting for the call back on the Dr. Pepper commercial". That said, I'm often struck by just how gorgeous the girls are that Disneyland gets to play their Princesses; just strikingly attractive feminine beauty on display there. Compared to WDW Princesses, and especially Princes, where it's noticeably a less attractive crowd. Several times at WDW I've seen Princes or Princesses that are just unfortunate; I remember vividly an "Aladdin" in Adventureland who looked like a pudgy Italian-American from New Jersey dressed up at a costume party. It was painful. Disneyland does the Princess thing vastly better than WDW, as they simply don't have the depth of beauty and talent to pull from in Orlando that Southern California does. I'm really looking forward to this Fantasy Faire thing, even though I will only check it out once and then never have to visit it again. It just looks extremely well done from photos thus far.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Although that would be a hard theme to pull off graciously with Japanese and German tourists in the park.<< I don't think that would be a big issues. For one thing, there aren't *that* many German or Japanese tourists in the park (and they're much less likely to complain than the typical APer from Fullerton). Additionally, there are plenty of southerners who visit both DL and WDW, yet nobody seems to complain about how Mr Lincoln or The American Adventure give a decidedly one-sided depiction of the Civil War, completely glossing over many of the reasons for secceding and struggles that the Confederates faced. Also, I'm pretty sure they could do the whole thing tastefully enough that it didn't even really need to mention who they were fighting; just have some generic "Welcome Home, Troops!" banners and leave it at that (though it would be neat to see a walk around Donald from Der Fuerher's Face, I would be shocked if that ever happened!). I think a bigger issued for me would be redoing yet another area of the park to be in that same general time frame; while it's great to move away from the modern day, if the entire park is set in a 40 year period (roughly 1910-1950), the areas still all kind of feels the same. >>One time I did burst into laughter, and feel like one of them was real ... Is a video when the Mad Hatter went into a rage over the tacky tarps that were just put into place, over the ride. I loved it.<< I remember that video! It was certainly one of the best character interactions I've ever seen. Didn't he determine that they must have been fumigating the ride? Too good! And for the record (speaking of prerecorded soundbytes), what are your thoughts on the meet & greet tests they've done with the articulated Mickey head, where he actually talks to the guests?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>For one thing, there aren't *that* many German or Japanese tourists in the park<< Maybe not Germans, but Japanese are another story. There's also a large Japanese-American community in Southern California, many of whom had (or have!) relatives who were in the internment camps. Not that WWII references don't appear in the parks. (Isn't there a performance of Rosie the Riveter in that one show in Condor Flats?) But it makes sense to not get too much into that stuff.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo " I'm often struck by just how gorgeous the girls are that Disneyland gets to play their Princesses; just strikingly attractive feminine beauty on display there. Compared to WDW Princesses, and especially Princes, where it's noticeably a less attractive crowd. Several times at WDW I've seen Princes or Princesses that are just unfortunate;" The Belle on the big Studios' Beauty and the Beast show wssn't very attractive. So Cal just has a much bigger pool to draw from and fewer roles to fill compared to Orlando. "yet nobody seems to complain about how Mr Lincoln or The American Adventure give a decidedly one-sided depiction of the Civil War, completely glossing over many of the reasons for secceding and struggles that the Confederates faced." There weren't many reasons. There was one. All the other "reasons" are directly related to that. "..Is a video when the Mad Hatter..." The Mad Hatter I always see is quite good at his job.
Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s <<The Mad Hatter I always see is quite good at his job.>> I've interacted with some very good villans, namely Cruella and Snow White's Evil Queen. I imagine it is much easier to 'play' a character with some type of depth - the pricesses are pretty flat and really, other than sweet voices that give compliments to the little girls, what else are they going to do?
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I think Ariel and Rapunzel could get away with being a little zany and have better interactions. The others are a little too one-dimensional. Belle could be fun too with the right actress. It's really Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora that get boring, with not much they can fall back on for material.
Originally Posted By Manfried I have determined after long study (30 seconds) that there are some who will never like meet and greets, no matter how much happiness it brings to the children and their parents.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I can still be drawn into certain worlds ... especially PotC and H.M. .. and forget about the real world. They are done so well .... my imagination still allows itself to get wrapped up into it." I see what you mean. It's a little like watching a good stage play or a movie.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "That said, I'm often struck by just how gorgeous the girls are that Disneyland gets to play their Princesses; just strikingly attractive feminine beauty on display there." Yep, there was a Mary Poppins at DL last summer that was probably one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: I thought I was supposed to be the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen!
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: I think it's very easy for any one of us to forget that Disneyland was created specifically for any ONE person. It's too easy to start complaining about things that don't appeal to us, personally, and then mis-judge the park as if only our personal tastes mattered. For many, the characters in general and the princesses in particular still have lots of appeal so that's why they are still around. If you don't like them, nobody is putting an archer's arrow to your head and threatening to kill you if you don't want to see them. If only guests could let themselves enjoy what they like while letting others enjoy what they like and stop acting as if anything so terrible is happening with the addition of this latest meet and greet area. It just makes some of you come across as being so selfish and short sighted.
Originally Posted By berol "ORDDU: I thought I was supposed to be the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen!" Yes, you were supposed to be...
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I have determined after long study (30 seconds) that there are some who will never like meet and greets, no matter how much happiness it brings to the children and their parents.> I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys that (and I haven't seen anyone here - at least recently - who does); in fact, I kind of got of kick out of seeing DH's young niece enjoying them some years back at WDW. I'm just saying they don't hold much appeal for me personally. But that's fine; the parks are supposed to have broad appeal. Plus, this is just replacing one Princess meet-and-greet location with a nicer one that at least has some nice eye candy for everyone: win-win. The only thing I object to is when the balance seems to tip too much: too many toons or too many things only small kids can enjoy or too much sameness in the shops as opposed to unique selections, etc. As this is the replacement of one such area with another, this doesn't represent that. That said, I admit I'd like to see something with more adult and/or all-ages appeal in upcoming additions. DCA had more of that adult/EPCOT-ty appeal in version 1 (flawed as it was), and I wouldn't mind seeing more of that after the recent mostly toon-centric additions (though some of BVS arguably fills that bill). Certainly if the long-awaited TL or FrL additions go forward, I'd like them not to be toon-centric.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>I have determined after long study (30 seconds) that there are some who will never like meet and greets, no matter how much happiness it brings to the children and their parents.<< No one is begrudging any child a meet with any character .. which they can do ANYWAY ... any time, anywhere in the parks ... with the walk around characters. And for added bonus ... There's plenty of Character Breakfasts, plenty of Character Lunches .. and Character Dinners ... Not to mention in just about every parade the parks put on, and lets not forget Toon Town, and Pixie Hallow....... So, I can pretty much assure you Schnieder ... no child is going to go without HORDES of precious character meet opportunities .. for the little "Manfrieds" ... and little "Mary Anns". The issue is when building new attractions is thrown to the side in favor of building more meet & greets. People should be careful what they wish for - If Meet & Greets are good enough for them ... You know Disney of today is all too happy to build more of them - They are far cheaper than building Attractions!
Originally Posted By Manfried Someone is overstating something just because they don't like something. I may not have kids because of my life choice, but I love the smiles on their faces when they meet the characters they love. I hope you never work at any Disney theme park.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Someone is overstating something << News flash Manfried .... We are in a format called "DISCUSSION boards". >>I hope you never work at any Disney theme park.<< Oh, thanks. Says the ex Peoplemover CM (and former WDI employee .. hmmm pity) .... Who is obviously so burned out from the ride, you pleasure yourself in saying nothing but negative rhetoric, every time it's brought up. Talk about overstating!
