News Round Up

[skier_pete]

Or they start tiers at AK...

I expect that to happen when Avatar opens, I am not sure they would add tiers just for Rivers of Light.

 

[mom2rtk]

IF they do use a FP booking system - they should do the similar technique to what they do at DLR. You make FPs available on a first-come first-serve basis in the morning. NO pre-booking of FP for the show. There is no 100% "fair" way do it (you would still be "punished" if you come to the park late), but I think this is the most equitable way. Otherwise, the show will always book up at close to 60 days out.



This is the one concern - DLR is run with a "what's best for the local" attitude, WDW is run with a "what's best for the tourist" attitude. I always thought they should save some amount of FP+ for "day of" selection, but I don't think Disney sees that as necessary. They want to drive the best experience for the traveling tourist, and the best experience is to allow them to book the best rides up front.

I hope for the sake of the locals that they find a way to balance their concerns with that of the tourists.

However, I don't think "fairness" is their primary concern. I think filling hotel rooms is.

 

[DDLand]

Disneyland update

http://micechat.com/115754-star-wars-season-of-the-force/

That guy they brought on was harsh, to the point of being just out of touch with reality. I've known MiceChat to take an intense bent on things, sometimes I agree that criticism is needed. They have a lot of power and they can wield it for good. In this case they went after Disney without taking into context what Seasons of the Force is. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be Star Wars Land? Nope. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be a permanent fix to Tomorrowland? Nope. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be compared to Cars Land, Frontierland, or Grizzly Peak? Nope.

Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be a temporary offering that gets people excited and thinking about Star Wars? Yes. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to bolster Star Wars in the parks so Disney can capitalize on the anticipation of two films coming out over the next few months? Yes. Does Seasons of the Force accomplish these two purposes? Absolutely, judging by the videos of nighttime excitement and long lines for Hyperspace Mountain.

With all that in mind is it okay that Disney didn't go all in with this? Yeah, I think so. The offerings look fun (which is what theme parks are supposed to be, even before artistry comes consideration of what guests will like) and many will be satisfied. Will some or even many people want more? Probably, and that's not a problem because this January Disney is going to start building the largest themed land ever.

I actually ended up feeling bad for Disney and the Imagineers who worked on Seasons of the Force as this David fellow ripped apart every detail. That usually doesn't happen.

What's funny about this situation is Disney almost built something exactly like Seasons of the Force as the one and only Star Wars Land. It's eerily similar to what many of the concepts we heard of talked about. Of course we would've got another E Ticket, a Millennium Falcon, and Probably some more extensive theming and attractions. So better than this for sure, but still losing one of the original lands. That would've been a shame, and I'll gladly sacrifice Rivers of America for saving the idea of Tomorrowland no matter how broken it is now.

 

[WDWChloe]

We have a monorail wrap for Star Wars

https://twitter.com/wdwnt/status/668821930674397184

I'm surprised it's not like the wraps they've had with Marvel movies. This seems less "obnoxious", for a much bigger movie

 

[wareagle57]

That guy they brought on was harsh, to the point of being just out of touch with reality. I've known MiceChat to take an intense bent on things, sometimes I agree that criticism is needed. They have a lot of power and they can wield it for good. In this case they went after Disney without taking into context what Seasons of the Force is. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be Star Wars Land? Nope. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be a permanent fix to Tomorrowland? Nope. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be compared to Cars Land, Frontierland, or Grizzly Peak? Nope.

Is Seasons of the Force supposed to be a temporary offering that gets people excited and thinking about Star Wars? Yes. Is Seasons of the Force supposed to bolster Star Wars in the parks so Disney can capitalize on the anticipation of two films coming out over the next few months? Yes. Does Seasons of the Force accomplish these two purposes? Absolutely, judging by the videos of nighttime excitement and long lines for Hyperspace Mountain.

With all that in mind is it okay that Disney didn't go all in with this? Yeah, I think so. The offerings look fun (which is what theme parks are supposed to be, even before artistry comes consideration of what guests will like) and many will be satisfied. Will some or even many people want more? Probably, and that's not a problem because this January Disney is going to start building the largest themed land ever.

I actually ended up feeling bad for Disney and the designers working on the as this David fellow ripped apart every detail. That usually doesn't happen.

What's funny about this situation is Disney almost built something exactly like Seasons of the Force as the one and only Star Wars Land. It's eerily similar to what many of the concepts we heard of talked about. Of course we would've got another E Ticket, a Millennium Falcon, and Probably some more extensive theming and attractions. So better than this for sure, but still losing one of the original lands. That would've been a shame, and I'll gladly sacrifice Rivers of America for saving the idea of Tomorrowland no matter how broken it is now.

Agreed. I had to quit reading and just scroll through the pictures. I am really looking forward to seeing the Launch Bay in 2 weeks. Complaining that you had to wait in line for the meet in greets to see some of the replicas? Really? There is some cool stuff in there that any Star Wars fan would like to spend time looking at. I'm not really sure what they expected.

 

[wareagle57]

I expect that to happen when Avatar opens, I am not sure they would add tiers just for Rivers of Light.

I sure hope not. Why would they add tiers with the addition of MORE offerings. I guess you could argue that if they don't then both Avatar rides will be unavailable. But if you make RoL a tier 1, then you aren't going to be able to allocate very much space for FP since almost everyone will want to use that for one of the rides. It would make for an interesting touring strategy though. I might actually consider booking morning fastpasses since 4th and 5th FPs for Safari, Everest, Kali, and possibly even ROL (like Fantasmic) would be plentiful.

 

[rteetz]

Agreed. I had to quit reading and just scroll through the pictures. I am really looking forward to seeing the Launch Bay in 2 weeks. Complaining that you had to wait in line for the meet in greets to see some of the replicas? Really? There is some cool stuff in there that any Star Wars fan would like to spend time looking at. I'm not really sure what they expected.

Thats typically what i do just scroll through the pictures and ignore the commentary because sometimes its just not good.

 

[skier_pete]

I sure hope not. Why would they add tiers with the addition of MORE offerings. I guess you could argue that if they don't then both Avatar rides will be unavailable.

That's exactly what I was going to imply. They'll likely have a tier that has the two Avatar rides, preventing people from getting FP+ for BOTH. I know this seems cruel, but it's an effective way to spread out the wait for these two new rides.

 

[wareagle57]

That's exactly what I was going to imply. They'll likely have a tier that has the two Avatar rides, preventing people from getting FP+ for BOTH. I know this seems cruel, but it's an effective way to spread out the wait for these two new rides.

Well, I think it would be more about being fair to off-site guests and AP holders than it would be for spreading out the crowds. They are going to have the maximum FP allocation regardless. The only difference will be, either everyone will wait standby for one or the other, or some people will wait standby for both and some people will wait standby for neither.

 

[Goofy2015]

IMO, I think the Season of the Force at Disneyland is exactly what I expected. I expected only displays and meet and greets at the Star Wars Launch Bay, I expected a fun movie for the preview center. Hyperspace Mountain looks dope. Sure the Star Tours TFA sequence is a little of out of place for the story between episodes 3 & 4, but who cares. I cannot wait to see the sequence. The food is just the usual food with Star Wars themed names.

Overall, I didn't expect anything else. In the end, this is essentially an extreme sneak preview for a movie (e.g. Inside Out, Ant Man, etc.). It is giving Star Wars fans more then just Star Tours in the meantime before Star Wars Land even starts breaking ground.

One thing, I would say is that Disney World's potential version will not be as good as Disneyland's and it sucks that SOTF is replacing Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios, which is way better.

 

[luisov]

Zootopia Trailer is out and it makes fun of the DMV

https://twitter.com/insidethemagic/status/668843479972360192

Talk about accurate depictions. Can't wait for this movie. It seems like a lot of fun.

 

[Keels]

I just hope they give us plenty of warning when these FPs start being available. Now that we are local and have APs the fast pass system really sucks for us. Getting any of the hot ticket items is next to impossible.

I had a completely opposite experience. I went daily from the middle of October through the second week of November, in most cases either making my FP+s either the night before or early that morning.

I always had access to everything I wanted - even TSMM, 7DMT, A&E. Granted, I let the times available for FP+ dictate what times I arrived at the park, but I never felt like getting a popular FP+ was super difficult, let alone "next to impossible".

 

[Keels]

Also, as far as DLR goes -- in September, they were testing out a process where on top of paper/legacy FP+s, that AP holders of a certain level could walk up to any FP queue, have their pass scanned and basically get a walk-on FP for that ride.

We saw it happen numerous times on RSR and, since I was curious, I asked a couple of different parties about how it worked and they told me that they could either walk up and they'd "schedule" the FP for now, or they'd give them a pass to come back at a different time.

 

[wareagle57]

I had a completely opposite experience. I went daily from the middle of October through the second week of November, in most cases either making my FP+s either the night before or early that morning.

I always had access to everything I wanted - even TSMM, 7DMT, A&E. Granted, I let the times available for FP+ dictate what times I arrived at the park, but I never felt like getting a popular FP+ was super difficult, let alone "next to impossible".

Are you looking for a FP for 1? Even 30 days out for a early December trip, I had trouble staggering FPs for Peter Pan. I'd look for one at a time to get them closer together and often there would be no times available.

 

[Keels]

Are you looking for a FP for 1? Even 30 days out for a early December trip, I had trouble staggering FPs for Peter Pan. I'd look for one at a time to get them closer together and often there would be no times available.

Rarely, but sometimes 1. Most days were either 2 or 3. No problems with Peter Pan - the one we had the most "trouble" with was TSMM, but we could still grab them 1-2/week.

 

[rteetz]

More Star Wars predictions

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-chief-downplays-huge-star-843388

 

[skier_pete]

More Star Wars predictions

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-chief-downplays-huge-star-843388

He right that it may not quite hit the lofty opening predictions of many. However, one has to remember that there is not only zero real competition for this movie for the holidays (The Point Break remake may be the ONLY thing in a similar category - and that movie has ZERO BUZZ going.) it has nothing in it's way until literally mid-February. This is what allowed Avatar and Titantic to take the top spot - they stayed at #1 forever. IF The Force Awakes is good - and I don't necessarily mean great, remember Avatar again - then it will be pressing the top spot for 10 straight week. Late January people will be like "what are we gonna see? Well, let's go to see Star Wars again." That compounded with the Star Wars fanatics that will go and see in 10 times in the theater. (I was one of those - seeing Return of the Jedi 9 times.) It might not break the all-time opening, but I think (again if it is good) will crush the all-time record.

 

[soniam]

He right that it may not quite hit the lofty opening predictions of many. However, one has to remember that there is not only zero real competition for this movie for the holidays (The Point Break remake may be the ONLY thing in a similar category - and that movie has ZERO BUZZ going.)

They are doing a Point Break remake Wow! They must be desperate for story lines. It was a fun movie when it came out, and I am known to watch it on cable occasionally, but a remake!

 

[Flyerjab]

The folks over at OTPN have another great photo update for DAK, including the Pandora expansion, Tiffins signature restaurant, Riverside Depot, etc.

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/11/animal-kingdom-update-pandoras.html

 

[rteetz]

Blue Friday deals at SeaWorld

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/11/seaworld-announces-exclusive-blue.html?m=1