Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>A while back OrlandoBoi wrote about how at DisneySea, not a single attraction dumped you into a gift shop. When he wrote that, I started noticing it as well and I really love that DisneySea has the class to not try to sell you stuff so blatantly.<< You are very correct in this matter. Ironically, I didn't buy anything in that particular gift shop. Hope that makes you feel better. As for our dear OrlandoBoi..he PMed me not long ago and appears to be alive and kicking, but he has not answered my email reply to him. Miss his input on this board.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN One more thing Mr.X.. This new Tower follows a very similar path to that of DCA's. I feel the shoulder harnesses are only there by law and honestly do not help much when the long, sustained airtime happens... You still fly out of your seat for a good 3 seconds, and if you are sensitive about that... maybe you should concider NOT riding. Oh BTW... on a side note.. caught Chip and Dale's Cool Service show and enjoyed the music a lot. However, it was eve more enjoyable to see a certain 'Gorgeous' all soaked from head to toes during the show... So sexy!!!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That lightning effect on the outside of the building looks amazing. It is neat enough just to see it brewing upstairs, but then to see it reach across the building and cause an elevator to drop is just outstanding. I know it is probably fairly simple technology, but for the facade of the building to know where each of the elevators are just seems to be a technilogical wonder to me. And it just looks cool too.
Originally Posted By Megara Excellent pictures, as always. Keep them coming. Would love to see more of the TDS 5th anniversary souvenirs.
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>maybe you should concider NOT riding<<< Naw, I'll ride it. I'm pretty self-abusive that way (as a kid I used to ride the tilt-a-whirl every chance I got even though it made me sick for the whole day!). I don't mind airtime, but riding the Florida tower is better for me cause I can kind of "anchor" myself by pushing down on the lap bar. With just the seat-belt, I ended up trying to hang onto THAT at DCA which did no good at all. Actually, I used to love the seatbelt seat at MGM, and would always request it...then I got old. If you talk to old Brad, let him know X says "hi".
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I *LOVE* the Tilt-A-Wheel!! Now why didn't they put this one in Dinorama???
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>I don't mind airtime, but riding the Florida tower is better for me cause I can kind of "anchor" myself by pushing down on the lap bar.<< They took out the lap bars in the MGM version about 2 years ago. Now they use only the seat belt across the lap, just like DCA's.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< A while back OrlandoBoi wrote about how at DisneySea, not a single attraction dumped you into a gift shop. When he wrote that, I started noticing it as well and I really love that DisneySea has the class to not try to sell you stuff so blatantly. >>> I guess this should not be a surprise, considering how guest spend in the park has reportedly turned out to be below projections (and to answer your question in advance, no I do not work for WDC or OLC!). Do they at least have a gift shop "bypass" like they do at Hunny Hunt? One thing about HH is that the gift store doors close promptly at park closing, such that if you exit the attraction even a minute afterward, you can't go in the gift shop. If they don't have a similar option at ToT, how will they handle guests coming off the attraction up to 30 minutes after park closing? It would be difficult to make them go through a gift shop and not allow them to buy anything.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN YOu have to remember that at TDR, lines close earlier than scheduled park times, just to make sure all the guests have been filtered thru before 10pm hits. Reason why FP distribution times at the end of the day culminate usually 30 mins before park's closing time.
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct <<not a single attraction dumped you into a gift shop.>> The Paris park is mostly like that too
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Wow. The TDS Tower is absolutely gorgeous, inside and out. The effects in the study sound TRULY amazing! I disagree with you, though, TDLFAN, that this scene is the real substance of the attraction. For you... yeah, it is. You love "show," you love technology, you love it when TDR improves over the US parks. And you've ridden various TOT's more times than you can count. But you're a rare case. For most guests, the elevator fall is the huge thrill. Even with this greatly enhanced show in the study, I'm guessing that most Japanese repeat visitors will come to view the stained glass and the idol as elements to endure while waiting for the real thrill. This is our first report of the actual attraction experience. (Thank you for that!) Having read it, overall I'm disappointed that OLC and Disney didn't improve more significantly on what I've voiced as the big three failings of the previous versions of the Tower: 1) An effect that could potentially be VERY thrilling to riders as a surprise -- having the elevator doors unexpectedly open onto the exterior of the building -- is totally revealed to oncoming riders as they approach the attraction. Well, okay. I continue to think this is a weakness of all the TOT's. But I'll forgive TDR's TOT for this because of its incredible exterior lightning effect. Still a spoiler, but done with amazing style. 2) After the attraction ramps up the spookiness by locking a small group of you in the library/study and inflicting really weird and threatening things on you, it then dumps you into a common holding tank with a bunch of tourists, thereby killing the suspense and sense of doom that had been created. Okay, so after the study, the Tokyo attraction sends you into an area that has a lot of impressive props to look at while you wait. Sounds like you're still stuck in a big line in a holding tank with a bunch of tourists, though. What a mood killer. However, I give TDS bonus points for the sliding panels in lieu of elevator doors. 3) The story doesn't flow. There's no continuity to the role of the guests. What are you? Theme park tourists? Hotel guests? When is it? The present? The past? And if it's the past, why are fellow hotel guests using cell phones? This is my biggest disappointment. I thought that having the NY Historical Society guides would be the perfect answer to this lapse in story-telling. And it COULD have been. Just have modern day guides take modern day guests through an old building -- and then have Something Go Very Wrong. Instead, one ends up having to pretend that cell phones existed in 1912 (as opposed to 1942, in the US). Bah. Oh, well, what's a little bad story-telling? It's all about the drop, anyhow. I'm surprised that a Park that presents so much of its information in English offers this attraction exclusively in Japanese -- especially since TOT is such a story-driven concept. It would be cool if they offered an English-headset option. Or if one study and one shaft were done in English, and they allowed English-speaking guests to opt for that tour. Sorry to sound negative, TDLFAN. (For God's sake, don't show G-Fan this post!) The attraction looks great. And once again I am very grateful that you took the time to capture and share excellent photos and wonderful narrative. Thank you!
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>Or if one study and one shaft were done in English, and they allowed English-speaking guests to opt for that tour<<< Unlikely. Not enough demand. In fact, I'd wager that there are at least as many Chinese and Korean speaking guests or at least a good percentage (I don't know the actual numbers...but anyway it's rare to see more than a handful of English speakers in the park on any given day). I believe that the reason you hear so many English ANNOUNCEMENTS etc., is more for the atmosphere effect of it being an AMERICAN park than for the benefit of English speakers per se. Plus, it'd be hard to find enough staff to deal with the attraction in English (I doubt OLC would be willing to pay more for regular cast members to be bilingual, which would have to be the case as in the call center).
Originally Posted By FerretAfros They could use the little translators like they have in the Magic Lamp Theater. Sure, they kind of take away from the mood, but if you have no idea what the mood is supposed to be, they are very helpful. They could be handed out just before the study, and taken back up once in the storage room. They could also function (theoretically at least, I'm not sure about in reality) in other languages, so they could be used for Chinese, Korean, or any other language as well.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>3) The story doesn't flow. There's no continuity to the role of the guests. What are you? Theme park tourists? Hotel guests? When is it? The present? The past? And if it's the past, why are fellow hotel guests using cell phones?<< It is very clear in the scheme of things that we (the guests) are taking a tour of the Tower to explore the many artifacts and such collected by Mr. Hightower. The whole experience is based on being on a tour of the facility. Maybe I didn't make that clear on my post. As for japanese guests using cellphones...that's their way of taking pictures and sharing with friends back home as it happens... you have to excuse them for being so technologically inclined. As for the time.. it is supposed to be 1912, 13 yrs after Hightower disappeared, reason for the old fashioned CM costumes. Hope that helps clear those questions.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Take a close look at pictures of signs and you will see.. "Restoration Society's invitation to TOUR the Tower, and discover it's many secrets..." jada jada...
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Which really makes a whole lot more sense than why we are in the US Towers. Here, you just sort of wonder in off the street, and there happens to be this old delapidated hotel there. In Tokyo, there is a reason to pull you in off the street. It is very well done, IMO, and something that most attractions are missing so we simply take it for granted.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<In fact, I'd wager that there are at least as many Chinese and Korean speaking guests or at least a good percentage (I don't know the actual numbers...but anyway it's rare to see more than a handful of English speakers in the park on any given day). I believe that the reason you hear so many English ANNOUNCEMENTS etc., is more for the atmosphere effect of it being an AMERICAN park than for the benefit of English speakers per se.>> Thanks, X. I guess that, based on (1) the number of English-speaking LP'ers who post about TDR and (2) all the English I see in TDR's signs and brochures, I assumed there were more English-speaking visitors than there are. Well, duh, Inspector! Of COURSE English-speaking TDR visitors are over-represented on an English website. And it honestly never occured to me that TDR purposely uses some English in the Parks just for the overall cachet of it. <<It is very clear in the scheme of things that we (the guests) are taking a tour of the Tower to explore the many artifacts and such collected by Mr. Hightower. The whole experience is based on being on a tour of the facility. Maybe I didn't make that clear on my post... As for the time.. it is supposed to be 1912, 13 yrs after Hightower disappeared, reason for the old fashioned CM costumes. Hope that helps clear those questions.>> <<Take a close look at pictures of signs and you will see.. "Restoration Society's invitation to TOUR the Tower, and discover it's many secrets..." jada jada...>> No, you were very clear. I think it was me who wasn't. It's also apparently only me who has a problem with the fact that while we're supposed to feel immersed in 1912, our fellow tour-takers are wearing FUBU t-shirts and snapping pictures on their cell phones. I think I have realized, though, why TDS can't solve this one for me. The whole of New York Harbor is set in 1912, isn't it? So they CAN'T very well have a "Preservation Society of 2006" offer tours, can they? In other words, we have to suspend our disbelief regarding the timeframe as soon as we enter the LAND, not when we enter the specific ATTRACTION. By the time we enter the Hotel, we're presumably used to pretending that we're in 1912, right? After I rode DCA's Tower and well before I heard of TDS' plans for its Tower, I complained about the holes in DCA's TOT storyline. I suggested that a good solution would be to have modern-day docents take us on a tour through a historic landmark, and then let Something Go Horribly Wrong. I can see, though, that this could not work in TDS, since we're already supposed to "be" in the past. Does all of this make sense to ANYone other than me?
Originally Posted By Mr X >>>And it honestly never occured to me that TDR purposely uses some English in the Parks just for the overall cachet of it.<<< I don't know that for a fact, it's just an idea I've come up with (and others have said similar things, so it's not only my perception). Otherwise, if it were for information reasons, why wouldn't they also include Chinese? They do have at least 1 safety speil in Chinese that I know of (in front of Space Mountain), and Chinese is offered at MicroAdventure along with English. Anyway, that's just my perception (same as the reason that the characters often "speak" in English even though most guests have no idea what they're saying). As far as language practicality, this is much more obvious at Hong Kong Disneyland (and Disneyland Paris, I've read), where Jungle Cruise is offered in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese for example (because there are a good number of guests who speak any of those 3 languages)...nothing like that exists at TDL where the VAST majority of guests speak Japanese only.
Originally Posted By Mr X As far as your comments about New York Harbor, Inspector, that's a good point.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros But at the same time, should everybody have to change clothes every time they change lands? This has been a problem since Disneyland first opened. There were people in modern clothes walking down Victorian Main Street, through the old west Frontierland, and around the futuristic Tomorrowland, ruining the illusion. I think that is why the CM's have always had such detailed outfits, in order to make up for everybody else. Just about every land ever made in a Disney park has a specific time period other than modern day. This automatically puts guests out of place, but is also one of those things that people are supposed to just look past, and use there imaginations.
