A Take...

A long time ago in a galaxy finally updated...


So, I rode both new attractions early last week before I left for a business trip back East...

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but real life has been pretty hectic lately and I've had to attend to it rather than the musings of the blogosphere. But as I said, I've ridden The Little Mermaid and Star Tours. I've noticed some people, particularly the cast members being somewhat disappointed with the experience. I think this comes from expecting it to be something it's not (ala: Pirates/Indy), combined with a lack of knowledge as to what it is.

It's a dark ride. Many cast members today don't know the terminology and aren't as familiar with what defines this type of attraction. Many went in expecting something with the bells and whistles associated with a fast paced attraction, which is what this ride is not. Let me tell you what it is. If you go in expecting to see something along the lines of Pinocchio, Snow White or Peter Pan, but with animatronics instead of statues then that is exactly what you get. That is what a dark ride is. And it's very lovely and extremely detailed. It's the story you all know, so anyone going in expecting something else? This is a Fantasyland attraction that's not in Fantasyland. And it's going to bring in the crowds in droves.

Star Tours on the other hand is exactly what you would expect, and more. While I knew it was an update to an older attraction, one which I've ridden very few times of late, particularly because it's long in the tooth and Tomorrowland isn't my bag (I'm a New Orleans Square, Adventureland, Frontierland kinda guy). While the area is a mix of dated attractions and a chaotic collection of uneven themes, this revamp is just what is needed to turn this area into the land of tomorrow. Now if TDA and WDI can just get together and iron out all the differences they have and have Burbank pick one of two or three projects as well as a cohesive retheme for the area. We can now expect some true excitement for this area when Disneyland becomes the focus after next summer.

I think Imagineers hit a home run with this one. While the overall budget is less than Mermaid (approx $50 million for DL, and the same for WDW), the impact on the area is going to provide a major improvement in the long lines headed to see this classic Disneyland attraction. It's really an amazing site to see and the multiple experience you get will keep guest getting right back in line after exiting.

Now, if they'll just move forward with those plans for Innoventions and the building to formerly be occupied by Captain EO...

A Princess Turns 21...

Twenty-one years ago today a little girl dreamed of being free from her overly protective father...

Walt Disney Pictures released "The Little Mermaid" on this day and the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation began. With all the saturation of Disney Princesses today it's hard to believe that this was the first princess the Mouse had made since the 50's. It took them a long time to get to the position of being known for creating classic, fairy tales.

And it's only taken twenty-two years to get an attraction based on her...

Blue Sky Buzz: Going Vertical...

If you start showing up at DCA over the next few weeks you are going to finally see noticeable change...

After over a year the new pier will opening up to give guest a look at a much more detailed section of the evolving Victorian shoreline that Paradise Pier will become between now and 2011. Then later this year the rest of the boardwalk where the stores are will go down and transform into the same stylings as games near the Midway Mania attraction. The Maliboomer dismantling that was originally proposed, then abandoned, then postponed is now on again and the area will become a meet-and-greet location for guest and characters. The trees, benches and shading should serves as quite a contrast to the cold steel and themeless environment of this horrible import from Knotts/Six Flaggs.

Across the pier we should soon start seeing The Little Mermaid attraction begin to take shape and form surprisingly fast. By the Holiday season you'll be able to get a very clear idea of the detail and size of this new experience.

Around the same time, expect to see a mass of steel heading skyward over in the new Carsland area. This collection of metal and concrete will begin to take form and slowly become the primary focus of the park. It will be the white elephant in the room. You won't be able to avoid. And each day, week, month there will be some new detail to watch come into play.

As the seasons change and the year winds down you can expect to see one half of front entrance go down and then back up again as it's rebuilt to the past. The focus on the late 20's/early 30's will start to transform the entrance into something uniquely Disney and not look like something that was transported from The Block.

After all these years of hearing about expansion, construction and change the largest part of it will begin to happen this year. Next year will be even more chaotic with all the construction, but it will also bring a great deal of excitement. It's as if we're getting a whole new park. A park worthy of being across the Esplanade.

Truthfully, it is and we will...

This Christmas Prepare To Go Back In Time...

When you leave the theater after seeing Disney's new animated release this Christmas, the first thing you're going to do is come home and start looking through your DVD collection. You're going to swear that you've seen this before... in a good way, I mean. It's going to seem like a wonderful film that you could have sworn must have been nestled between "The Lion King" and "Pocahontas" that just happened to get lost in the marketing. Perhaps you were out of the country during its release or perhaps you weren't interested in Disney films back then and must have forgotten about it.

That's the feeling you'll get.

Or at least that's what I'm getting the vibe for with all the feedback I'm getting. I've been hearing a lot of great things coming out about "The Princess and the Frog," the first hand drawn animated movie from the Mouse in over half a decade. The overwhelming amount of compliments that it gets is that it feels like a throwback to the 90's. In terms of feel, the animation quality and most of all... the story.

There's a lot riding on this film. While "Bolt" was the first film to have Lasseter's complete attention since the Mouse purchased the Lamp, it's this film that will have critics and audiences alike taking a much closer look at Disney's animated future. And we're not just talking animation, but what types of animation... as in CG or hand drawn. The Suits up in Burbank are going to be watching this one closely and if you love hand drawn, then you'd better go see it a lot. Over and over... cause this one is the test case. This one is the one that's supposed to prove hand drawn has merit. Five years after Eisner released the last 2D animated film from the Disney Studio comes an example of what can be done if you don't have bean counters deciding plot details. This time there will be no excuse. The film will live or die based on the appeal of how good the story is. I have no doubt that the art and design will be top notch. The story will be what animation fans will judge and if it's good they'll go and see it again and again... and if you like it, then that's what I suggest you do. Because if you want Disney to have another hand drawn film in 2012 or 2013 then that's what it'll take.

So come Christmas, when you come out from seeing this little throwback to the 90's... if you like it then get back in line. Let's all show Eisner how wrong he was for closing shop on hand drawn animation and selling all those wonderful animation desks.

Now that would be a good story...

Endings...

Today "The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning" is released...

It's supposed to be the last release of the infamouse "Cheapquels".

The Cheapquels are dead...

Long live the cheapquels*.





* But not really...

Blue Sky Buzz (Orlando): Part Of Your "Disney" World...

You guys are so lucky...

After all the many e-mails I received asking for a Blue Sky Alert(now know as Blue Sky Buzz, btw), you not only got a full report, but two mini-updates about Anaheim and now...

you get another mini-update about Orlando.

That's right guys, finally something I can report about the Florida part of the Mouse's empire. Kinda good/kinda bad info. At least from my perspective, I'm sure you Disney Fans/Geeks in Florida might have a different perspective. Now, in truth this is sort of an update/commentary so understand that going in...

But I thought I'd fill you in to some of the inner workings of WDI and TeamDisney Burbank. Ahhhh... Suits. Ya gotta love 'em, huh? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Well, the big word is that the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is finally getting a new "E-Ticket". Now this is great news since the last one they got was I believe 1992. Has it really been that long? Wow...

And if you remember that was "Splash Mountain" if I remember. Not that other parks haven't gotten more rides and more "E-Tickets", but I believe that that's the last one the MK got(I could be wrong, but I don't think so).

Now that's good right?

Well yes... and no. You see, they are getting a big, expansive, immersive ticket BUT...

It's going to be "The Little Mermaid" ride that DCA is getting. The EXACT ride. So the unique appeal of this ride will be watered down since there will now be one on the West Coast in DCA and one on the East Coast in MK. Just like "Midway Mania" which was supposed to be a DCA exclusive, TLM will now go into the back part of Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom. It should fit there rather nicely. It should really bring in the guest, but there was something to be said for having it be a ride only experienced at the Disneyland Resort. Those WDW Suits along with the remaining spawn of Eisner's Era that still survives deep in the bowels of Burbank have decided to clone the attraction. The rational is that for the development cost to be justified it helps to have it spread out over two parks instead of one. Can someone please do me a favor and take Jay Rasulo and give him his walking papers? Please? I've written about the death of the "McPark" but as long as Jay is still around this concept will refuse to die because he keeps bringing it up in various incarnations.

While it will be nice to have a new ride at WDW, it's not like WDI is empty of ideas. The problem is the Suits in Burbank keep shooting them down. They have proposed many, many new interesting and innovative attractions. Their logic... brilliant bean counters that they are is that "People are going to come to WDW world anyway, so why should we spend money on a big, new attraction?"... I know, I know. I'm shaking my head that these kind of short sighted lame brained, dim light bulbs are still there. Sorry if I'm a little ticked. I tend to be positive but I'm human and sometimes I even get frustrated. Here's a bit of good news about these Suits: There aren't nearly as many as there was before. But there are still a few in high positions that have enough sway to get things to feel like they were under the Pressler regime.

Just so you know the logic follows that they don't want to risk a lot of money on something very big and expensive unless it's a proven thing. Like Mermaid... which I love, btw. But some of the concepts(before you ask, no I can't tell you what they are) that HAVE been proposed for WDW and DL and even Hong Kong have been amazingly cool. But the executives up in Burbank will only squeeze out the money if they're sure it'll be a hit from the get go. Now John Lasseter has been working with the teams inside Glendale to try and get some of these concepts out, but he's still not able to do everything. If "Wall-E" and the new Disney animated films do well it's going to help dim the glow from Rasulo's ego, but until that man is out of the picture we'll still be subjected to the "Disney Parks" brand which is Jay's attempt to homogenize the parks and resorts like franchises of burger joints all across America. If you go to one, you'll sure know what to expect and get.

Now wouldn't it be nice to have something unique about DCA? Something that would make you want to fly all the way across from say, Florida or some other state back east? Many Imagineers have pressed for attractions that could go into various parks to give them an appeal that would make each stand out. Imagine that... giving the guest a reason to try and go to as many Disney theme parks to experience the aspects of each that are different. Jay doesn't want that. He and the insulated bean counting Suits in his circle want you to see no difference between Anaheim or Orlando or Paris or Hong Kong.

Notice any park I left out? That's right. Tokyo. Try finding some of the rides they have there in another park. "Pooh's Hunny Hunt" is nowhere else in the world and it's an amazing attraction. "Monster's Inc." in Tokyo Disneyland? Wait until this attraction opens up next year and puts DCA's to shame... while both Pooh and Monsters here cost around 30 million, their counterparts in Tokyo cost over 100 million. And it shows... For some reason the Suits at the Oriental Land Company seem to recognize that you need unique and elaborate attractions to get people to keep coming back. The ones in Burbank seemed to have still not learned the lessons of the late 90's and DCA...

I know that some of you are asking: "What about Cars Land, will it be cloned too?". Now, nothing is written in stone, but it's very unlikely that this one will be cloned. It's not just a ride after all... it's a whole new land. It would be far harder to reproduce this in Florida than Mermaid. Not that it would be impossible, but just harder. I would hope that if the Suits were to somehow decide to spend 300 million on a new land or area in WDW that they would approve some other idea they've been presented with. Perhaps use some of that money and greenlight the proposed "Beastly Kingdom" area of DAK that has languished now for over a decade. Right now... it's anyones guess what happens with this project(although Lasseter's involvement in certain areas is encouraging).

Hopefully this didn't sound like too down a report for you. It's just me doing a little editorial venting. It is good news for WDW fans though. You guys get a big, brand new spanking attraction. You just don't get anything original that could make you stand out...

For that you have to go East. Not the East Coast of America, but the Far East...

As in Tokyo.

Life Under The Sea...

The stage version of "The Little Mermaid" which will open in November in New York at the Lunt-Fontanne(former home of "Beauty & the Beast") has got theater insiders wondering if Disney can still create its magic on Broadway. Expectations are high for this production directed by Francesca Zambello, which bows with previews in Denver starting July 26th. With the disappointment of "Tarzan" and the closing of "Beauty & the Beast", many say that Walt Disney Theatrical Productions needs to create a good deal of buzz for this stage version of the Disney classic. Next week, Denver audiences will get their first chance to see what the Mouse has in store for them. Keep in mind that these are essentially rehersals and what happens in Denver may not be what winds up in New York.