Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>Nope, then again I think people's recollection of what an E ticket was has clouded a bit since coupon books were used. Back then the Monorail at DL was an E ticket and so were snoozers like the Country Bears and Hall of Presidents.<<< Which is exactly why I put almost no stock in labeling things as "E" ticket or whatever. Means nothing and is an individual determination. Disney labeled them based on what they thought would draw a crowd. That, of course, changes over time. When the public started to determine that totally escapes me. I feel that it is also designated by where it is located. If you presently look at Fantasyland...I think the Mine Train has a good chance of being the FL "E" ticket.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Yeah, but if that were the case then Universal would be attracting as many people as Disney. I agree that population is key, but WDW has built an enormously strong and loyal brand since 1971. You are absolutely correct on that part. Without the loyalty to brand that was all perception for the majority of east coasters, WDW never would have gotten that strong. It was the memory of Uncle Walt on TV that originally moved people to go there. My parents never showed any degree of having any special feeling about Disney, but, when WDW opened on the East Coast, they went and came home all excited about it. Things they had never seen before, which were common to those of us in small rural communities on the east coast, caused excitement and word of mouth advertising. Finally a place that was accessible to the East Coast people and on top of that it was ranked as high quality and worth the travel. That has been a reason why WDW has stayed strong in spite of weak leadership.
Originally Posted By barboy ///You left out the most important one: the global strength of the WDW brand./// yes, and I think that would be another way of saying or at least expanding on my A) "fancy marketing"
Originally Posted By barboy ///Am I the only one who finds the idea that Small World is E-ticket quality laughable?/// Have you been on Disneyland Parc Paris' version? That is a legitimate E.....WOW! And Hong Kong's aint half bad either. davewasbaloo, dagobert, U K Fan, ANYONE where you at to back me up?
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Goofyernmost: Absolutely no one has ridden it yet, but your all so sure that it sucks. I don't understand this type of mentality. Perhaps someone could explain it to me. What about it is going to be a disappointment? Is it because it appears that it is heavily themed? No, can't be that, everyone one has wanted one of those. Is it because it won't be a towering, cloud bumping roller coaster? Can't be that because someone would have to be insane to think that something like that would go into Fantasyland. So I'm at a loss here...what was/is everyone expecting?<< I was hoping for a couple more "show scenes" to make it a total of 3 .. to just the 1. More than exterior theming, Disney's calling card has always been the indoor "showbuilding" elements it creates for it's vast canon of attractions. From the simple bus-bar dark rides, to the biggies like HM, and PotC. Seems the only show room element they have will be of a decent size? And if they padded it out to contain 2 more that are of a smaller scale ... coming out ... going outside .. back inside .. back to outside ... that would have been one fairly ambitious ride to put it beyond a "D" ticket.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>davewasbaloo, dagobert, U K Fan, ANYONE where you at to back me up?<< Leading up to the last year of the ticket system .. I would like someone to tell me - What Disney park ride do they know of .. that is 15 minutes long, in a massive showbuilding ... with dozens to hundreds of AA figures, with hundreds of lighting effects ... all in a long trough carried through by 16 passenger sized boats .. that was dubbed a C or D ticket? I got the answer - Try - NONE! When someone is snarky about ISAW ("Oh, that annoying song, those annoying dolls" - You know - The usual cynical crap some people love to say) ... right there ... they are someone who just have to be negative .. because they just love to be.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "yes, and I think that would be another way of saying or at least expanding on my A) "fancy marketing"" Well sure, but at this point tens of millions of people would still come next year even if there was zero marketing. A vacation at WDW is practically a right of passage for the average American family living east of the Rockies. The WDW brand is ingrained into American popular culture.
Originally Posted By barboy Ya, I know you're one of the fewer on here who has been to DLP so that question was meant for Yokeroo. But since you jumped I'm curious to know if you found Small World noticeably superior(show scenes/sets nicely appointed, better sound and lighting)to the US versions like I did.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>///Am I the only one who finds the idea that Small World is E-ticket quality laughable?/// Have you been on Disneyland Parc Paris' version? That is a legitimate E.....WOW! And Hong Kong's aint half bad either. davewasbaloo, dagobert, U K Fan, ANYONE where you at to back me up?<<< I wouldn't say that IASW is an E-ticket ride, but it is a wonderful ride. I can only compare it with WDW'S version, and DLP's ride is so much nicer. It starts with the facade and ends with the boat ride itself. But nearly everything at DLP's Magic Kingdom is better than in Florida, dispite some maintenance issues. At least this was my impression a few years ago. And of course the MK is a lot older than DLP, which helps to get a dated look.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Have you been on Disneyland Parc Paris' version? That is a legitimate E.....WOW! And Hong Kong's aint half bad either.<< Honestly, I can't say that the Paris version stood out as significantly better to me. Yes, it had some differences (like the open floorplan so that the scenes blended together easier, and the overall cartoony look rather than Mary Blair stylization), but as far as scale and scope are concerend it seemed quite similar. Same with HKDL's; it took a slightly different approach to the attraction, but the scale and scope of the end result was quite similar, IMO As a general impression, they all seemed like they were a pretty similar level of quality (though I honestly can't remember if I rode it in TDL), except WDW's which seems to be a notch down for me. The lack of a facade and overall shorter ride length just don't create as grand of an experience as the other versions. I still think that WDW's qualifies as an E ticket, for the reasons that Dean pointed out, but it's not as strong as its counterparts around the world
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Have you been on Disneyland Parc Paris' version?" Yes. "That is a legitimate E" No.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>"That is a legitimate E" No.<< Legitimately, only the DL, MK, and TDL versions are/were E tickets. DLP and HKDL never had ticket books, so they can't truly be considered E ticket attractions. As far as I can tell, the other versions were E tickets for the entire time that their respective parks used tickets; none of them appear to have been 'downgraded' at any point to a D ticket. However, given that all 5 incarnations of the attractions are roughly the same scale and scope (give or take), I think it's moot to try and argue that any of them aren't E ticket-caliber attractions.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost ^^^^Well, that's putting an even finer point on a ticket situation that actually doesn't exist anywhere anymore.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "But since you jumped I'm curious to know if you found Small World noticeably superior(show scenes/sets nicely appointed, better sound and lighting)to the US versions like I did." Absolutely. I was kind of surprised at how much better it is to previous versions despite being shorter. In fact, I think all of the classic E tickets at DLP are superior to their predecessors.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I agree. All the classics are better in DLP. The lack of vision at Disney in general and the MK specifically is maddening. I love the dark rides in Fantasyland, but lets be honest, how many great animated features have been released since Peter Pan, Snow White and Winnie The Pooh? And the Little Mermaid is 24 years old. I still think if Disney had been updating and adding things in the MK the current additions to Fantasyland would be applauded. But the lack of new experiences and then turning Snow Whites Adventures into another meet and greet makes me frustrated. Had they closed Snow White and put in another dark ride in its place it would been better. I love WDW but really hate the current business model of the theme parks.
