For the Love Of All Disney Parks!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 2:25pm

I think we need to change this thread to a general 'Disney Parks' thread. God knows we've hard enough about them on Broadway...



We waited all summer for it! They were supposed to have a press showing this morning at 4 am but canceled it at the last minute.

But here's what the new dragon looks like!


*EDIT This is at Disneyland in CA*

Link

Updated On: 9/9/09 at 02:25 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 2:30pm

I don't remember the old one in Florida, but I do remember being terribly disappointed with the show, half of which consisted of video clips from various animated films.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 4:31pm

They have those sections as well at DL, but it's not the whole show.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 4:42pm

The new dragon is in the Disneyland version, not the WDW version. I'll be in Disneyland beginning September 9, so I'm excited he finally seems ready to appear.

There are a number of differences between WDW's and DL's Fantasmic. Disneyland's came first, and is staged on the Rivers of America. The WDW version is performed in a large stadium/ ampitheatre, specifically built for the show. Both shows contain the animated scenes on the water screens (which I agree get a bit boring). WDW's has a Pocahontas sequence, while DL has a Peter Pan sequence (which is REALLY cool, with a pirate ship and everything). They're both enormously popular, and a little dull at the beginning. However, the final 10 minutes in each makes the entire show worth it.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 4:51pm

That's it?
It looks like all the other animatronic attractions at those theme parks.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 4:53pm

Yea, and they are saying ?The dragon in Fantasmic! is technically complex and the largest and most fully animated Disney character ever created for a live stage show. We want to make sure it?s perfect before adding it to the show,? said Mike Hyland, director of Disneyland Resort public relations."

I'm sorry, but Abe Lincoln and the new Johnny Depp AA figures move more than the dragon.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 5:44pm

I wonder if his sheer size is what is giving them so much trouble. When Lucky the Dinosaur first debuted, he gave them all kinds of trouble. He was pretty big, too.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 7:17pm

Well... that was anticlimactic.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 7:36pm

Lucky turned to Bucky after he caught fire during her original testing. They were left with the "head on a stick" and large puppet wings with a lot of smoke after that.

But for all of the talk and the hype, yes, it's BIG! But so were the dinosaurs in "Walking With The Dinousaurs", and those 'walked' around...

[Jilani]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 8:00pm

Thanks for posting this! I was there a few weeks ago and disappointed that they STILL hadn't fixed the problems - the version of the show without the dragon is truly anticlimactic (Maleficent just gets taller).

For the true Disney park and Fantasmic! fans, here is a video comparison of the two versions of the show, albeit an outdated one at this point. Needless to say, watching something like this on a youtube video doesn't begin to convey the scale and spectacle of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMna0JIHg_w

I've seen the show in both parks, and while I agree the animated sequences are lame, I think the live performers and especially the pyrotechnics make up for them. When I was in Disneyland earlier this summer, they told me the new dragon there was supposedly more like the one in Florida than whatever DL had previously had.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:11pm

What was the DL dragon like before? Was it the same as the head-on-a-stick WDW one?

The new DL one is really big, and like you guys said, with big animatronics come big technical problems. I can't remember the last time Betty the Yeti over in Expedition Everest was in A mode (fully operating). She's been in B mode (stationary with some lame strobe lighting) every time I've been to WDW since probably a year after Everest opened.


(Also, adamgreer, I loooove Disneyland's Peter Pan sequence, with all the performers climbing all over the riggings of the pirate ship and swinging over the water... WDW's Pocahontas section just doesn't compare. All it's got is John Smith being manly and swinging around the cliff.)
Updated On: 8/31/09 at 10:11 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:13pm

^They've promised the Yeti will be in A-mode this fall. I'll believe it when I see it. The strobe light is very cheesy, and is the only thing keeping that attraction from being perfect.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:20pm

They've been promising that for months, haven't they? And the strobe light is very cheesy (not as cheesy as that fake bird they used to have at the end of the tracks; I loved that thing), but there's really no other way to go about it if the yeti's broken. It's that or just a roaring yeti statue. But yeah, back in the good old days when the yeti was always in A mode, it was pretty awesome.
Updated On: 8/31/09 at 10:20 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:25pm

I'm not sure I even understand what that was I just watched, but it looks like it might cause some children to wet their pants. And if they can make a dragon that moves around and stuff, why must Mickey's face be frozen in a perpetual smile like Joan Rivers after her latest "spa treatment"? It seems inappropriate for such a scary scene, like maybe Mickey's had electro convulsive therapy to control mood swings.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:27pm

Yes, but this is what happens when the "brains" of the TDO operation is Rasulo, Lutz, Weiss, and now Crofton. The one member of that operation that seemed to get it was Jim MacPhee, and once he started speaking his mind and running his park (Epcot) his way, he was banished to the useless position of "Special Projects Coordinator."

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:31pm

"And if they can make a dragon that moves around and stuff, why must Mickey's face be frozen in a perpetual smile like Joan Rivers after her latest "spa treatment"?"


They actually do have new models of costumes that have articulated mouths and eyes. They're slowly introducing them in Disney World; I don't know if they have any at Disneyland yet. The only thing I don't like about them is that now you have to make sure Mickey isn't blinking when you take a photo of him, LOL.



Goofy is broken. Updated On: 8/31/09 at 10:31 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:38pm

Will they ever be able to talk or must the costumed characters forever be Ellen Jamesians?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:41pm

I doubt that any of the characters beyond the "face characters" will speak, given how iconic the voices of the non-speaking characters are.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:42pm

I think I heard Imagineering was attempting to think up ideas of how they could do that, but who knows how many decades it'll be before that actually happens. The articulated heads are controlled by the performers inside, so the problem would be getting the voices to respond to people individually.

(Right now I'm imagining them sounding like one of those programs that pronounces things phonetically, with a pre-recoreded set of syllables. "Heh-lo, li-T-le guh-rull!")


Updated On: 8/31/09 at 10:42 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 10:51pm

The closest I think they'll come is the technology that they use in Turtle Talk with Crush and the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club, which is pretty incredible (and proprietary).

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 8/31/09 at 11:10pm

Yeah, those are pretty cool. I can only hope they'll improve the animation and fluidity of movement and expressions, though. The graphics look like they're from a video game.

The Stitch Live one they have in Paris is pretty neat, as well. When I saw the show (the English version), the performer actually did a pretty good American-trying-to-sound-like-an-alien accent, as opposed to having a Brit/Frenchman-trying-to-sound-like-an-American-trying-to-sound-like-an-alien accent.

Updated On: 9/2/09 at 11:10 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 3:30pm

I can't remember the last time Betty the Yeti over in Expedition Everest was in A mode (fully operating). She's been in B mode (stationary with some lame strobe lighting) every time I've been to WDW since probably a year after Everest opened.

That's so sad to hear! That Yeti was the most impressive display of animatronics I'd ever seen at any of the Disney parks. The whole scene they set up is jaw-dropping, even if you can only see it for an instant. It was very effective. I only wish they could update Space Mountain to include the visuals from the Paris Space Mountain, which are actually more reminiscent of the original effect of the WDW Space Mountain when it first opened, which is not only dated now, but is too brightly lit now. But I don't care for the coaster itself in Paris. It's basically just a copy of the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. They are practically identical.

As for Fantasmic, it was our least favorite nighttime show at WDW. I actually preferred the original MGM Studios firework show. Wishes at Magic Kingdom is the best now.

I've never been to Disneyland, but I'm planning a trip next summer. How is California Adventure? Is it pretty easy to do both in one day?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 6:59pm

You'll want a weekend to do both. It would be too rushed.

I fianlly saw a video with the Yeti and couldn't igure out what the big deal was. The animated spots were cool, but the darn thing went by so fast that you couldn't see it at all.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 7:04pm

Are there videos online of the moving Yeti? I've only ever seen the be-strobed stationary one.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 9/1/09 at 7:16pm

I found one that goes into super slo motion when the figure appears, but I couldn't tell a thing from it.