Originally Posted By ni_teach The way things are going at Mater's Junkyard Jamboree it gave me a thought. Because of it's location, they could open this early before the rest of car's land as a sneak preview. I don't think that they would do it... but it was just an idea. What do you think?
Originally Posted By TP2000 I think they know they've got a winner on their hands with Cars Land, and I doubt there's any reason to debut it piecemeal or chunks at a time. Doing that might even diminish the "message" if the first bit of Cars Land media exposure they get is for a relatively basic spinner C Ticket ride. I would imagine they'll want the first Cars Land marketing/media message to be the "WOW!" sentiment of seeing the land in its entirety and the E Ticket mega-attraction of Radiator Springs Racers, with Mater's and Luigi's rides as extra cherries on top. In short, I can't imagine why they would need or want to open Mater's any earlier than the rest of the land.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros If this was 5 or 6 years ago, and they could have quietly opened the front part of the land for 'soft openings', it might have happened. In today's culture of instant information, Twitter, and schlocky news stories that are headlines before they even happen, there's no way they could open the attraction without everybody making a big fuss out of it. In the past, they've been able to debut shows and attractions before the 'grand' openings, but it seems like everything they've added in the last couple years has become a fairly large internet story overnight. The park needs the capacity, but I agree that it just wouldn't make much sense from a marketing standpoint.
Originally Posted By 9oldmen And yet, what ni_teach is suggesting is just about exactly what Universal did with "Harry Potter". I know. I was in Orlando for the first two weeks of June in 2010. There were days well ahead of the grand opening (10 days and more), where either the entire land was open, with all the attractions, or where they had it open, but you could only ride "Dragon Challenge", "Flight of the Hippogriff", and take "Castle tours"(basically, you could walk through the extended "Forbidden Journey" queue, but the ride itself was closed, or forbidden, if you will). And, of course, you could dine at the 3 Broomsticks, shop at Honeydukes, etc. during all of this. I don't think that did a THING to diminish the impact of that grand opening ceremony with John Williams and the kids for the movies. I don't think opening an outdoor spinner attraction is going to reveal anything we don't know already. It certainly won't expose anything that people are not already blogging, tweating, etc. about anyway. And let's not forget the unofficial contruction photos already being posted. And I could see them opening the shops and eateries($$$$$!!!) ahead of time as well. The only thing that I see as being a big secret is what's going to happen in the indoor parts of that Radiator Springs Racers attraction, and I'm afraid that at some point, they're going to have to soft open that as well and let the internet do what it will.
Originally Posted By phruby Why would this be any different from any other ride they've opened? There will be soft openings and the land will be open to walk thru well before the dedication ceremony. They did it for Star Tours. I don't see this as any different. I see the whole land opened but no rides open yet or in soft opening mode.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros From the general looks of pictures online (which may or may not be an accurate representation of the actual status of the techincal components of the construction), it appears that the Mater area could theoretically be ready several months ahead of the rest of the land. I'm sure that the entire area will be opened for testing prior to the grand opening (from an attraction reliability and crowd-control perspective, it would be foolish not to test things out first), but I don't know if they would open part of the site early. The most recent point of reference for something like this at DLR would be a bug's land or TL98. Since abl is all contained within a walled-off area, there was no piecemeal testing of its segments. I don't know if TL98 opened attractions as they became ready, but there were guests going through the area the entire time (I remember navigating through the maze of walls to get to Space Mountain), so it's possible that they may have had certain elements open months ahead of time.
Originally Posted By 9oldmen I remember being at IOA on June 6th last year, and riding "Dueling Dragons", which entailed going through what could be described as a "maze" of portable black screens, behind which the tops of the Hogsmead structures were clearly visible. Then on the morning of June 7th, they had the whole land open, with the big coaster now being referred to a "Dragon Challenge", with the ride operators wearing different costumes and everything. "Forbidden Journey" was also open. A few days later, they had the area opened, with only the "FJ" queue, like I described above. There were also some days when the land wasn't open at all, especially as the hard opening drew closer. And WWOHP is kind of set up like the original "Bugs Land" or Toontown, with only one way in or out. Opening the area on a limited basis, with only certain elements online is not unprecedented, and is probably what they will do anyway. And it's been done both before, and after the internet explosion.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Is Buena vista Street set to open before or at the same time as Carsland?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros They're both supposed to open in "summer 2012", though recent things have begun to say a more generic "2012". If Carsland opens before Buena Vista Street, I suspect they will have some real crowd control issues getting guests in and out of the park.
Originally Posted By tonyanton I think we'll see round-the-clock work to get BVS ready at the same time as the Cars Land opening. A worst case scenario would be to at least have the "street" itself open and maybe a couple of venues while they continue to finish off interiors on everything else. This would at least open up the traffic flow for the park.
Originally Posted By dshyates Concerning staggered opening of Carsland, they are doing it at the new Fantasyland Expansion at the MK.
Originally Posted By Bellella I just can't hardly wait for both expansions to be finished. I especially can't wait to go on the new tires/flying saucers ride. And when I do go to WDW, I want to experience everything I can, which includes the new rides in Fantasyland.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< Concerning staggered opening of Carsland, they are doing it at the new Fantasyland Expansion at the MK. >>> But the MK doesn't have the attendance and financial problems that DCA has. Carsland is the final piece of a very expensive project to redo DCA and hopefully change the general negative reputation it has in the eyes of many guests. I don't really have an opinion about a pre-opening, but I'm fairly certain that the major marketing push for DCA won't start until everything is in place and open.
Originally Posted By dagobert The official Disney Parks blog has posted a video about the ride testing: <a href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/12/maters-junkyard-jamboree-begins-ride-testing-at-disney-california-adventure-park/" target="_blank">http://disneyparks.disney.go.c...re-park/</a> It seems to be a similar attraction like Cars Race Rally at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I would expect it to be a little different Dagobert as Francis Lady Bug Boogie is the same ride system as Cars Race Rally (albeit with a different seating system that makes Cars in WDSP a better version IMHO).
Originally Posted By dagobert It seems Cars Race Rally can accomodate more passengers. We have ridden CRR twice and I have to say that I enjoyed the ride. The cars spin really fast.
Originally Posted By HMButler79 Oh My GOOOSH. How will Universal EVER compete with THAT?? It's too much. Harry and Optimus Prime surrender....
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Same number of passengers Dagobert, the key difference is you sit like in a teacup rather than 2 rows.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Finally got to watch the video. Looks like it could be fun, though I hope it speeds up, I thought it was going to be a bit faster.But as it is a test, it may speed up (though the slowness of Slinky Dog at WDSP and the poor excuse for dodgems on Tuck n Roll, I am sure it will be this slow. Cute though....for a toon attraction 8-D
Originally Posted By Manfried Having just watched the video, I don't think I will be in a hurry to visit DCA this summer. At least to ride that Mater thing. They should at least make the tractor's eyelids blink.
