News Round Up 2016

[rteetz]

Wow, I always assumed ToT in California came first, and the one in DHS is over 20 years old, but you're right. It's only been there 12 years. Why did they make it without the 4th dimension and the multiple drop sequences?

I always thought ToT was DL's "gift" to DHS for their 40th anniversary. Didn't they do something like that? Give a ride to each Disney park? I was under the impression that's where the east coast got Soarin and ToT.

*edit* Found it.

DHS got Lights Motors Action - gone
Epcot got Soarin' - sort of gone
MK got the castle stage show - gone
AK got some walking animatronic Dinosaur that I've never seen or heard of.

DHS has the first and arguably the best of the ToT's. They did the gift things for the 50th.

The DCA version only has the up and down because they don't have a lot of space in DCA. I am not sure why it never got the random drop sequences though.

AK got Lucky (I believe that was his name) He was an animatronic dinosaur that roamed dino land. There are videos of him online. I think he became too costly or something that they stopped him.

 

[beer dave]

DHS has the first and arguably the best of the ToT's. They did the gift things for the 50th.

The DCA version only has the up and down because they don't have a lot of space in DCA. I am not sure why it never got the random drop sequences though.

AK got Lucky (I believe that was his name) He was an animatronic dinosaur that roamed dino land. There are videos of him online. I think he became too costly or something that they stopped him.

Pretty sure Lucky was just there temporarily as a plan. He moved around to different locations-- My dd was there years ago and saw him. said he was really cool.

 

[rteetz]

News

Magic Kingdom's Celebrate the Magic will be down in August for tech upgrades

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...ney/os-projections-disney-20160724-story.html

 

[Jetku]

News

Magic Kingdom's Celebrate the Magic will be down in August for tech upgrades

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...ney/os-projections-disney-20160724-story.html

This is my favorite nighttime show. Sad that I won't have a chance to see it this trip, though we are traveling for the first time with our 10 month old so we wouldn't be out this late anyway!

...but I was hoping to hop on the monorail after bedtime one night to see it! Oh well. Can't wait to see how they improve it!

 

[closetmickey]

Pretty sure Lucky was just there temporarily as a plan. He moved around to different locations-- My dd was there years ago and saw him. said he was really cool.

Speaking of which....what ever happened to that flying dragon creature that was unveiled with the new WDW Fantasyland??

 

[CJK]

Magic Kingdom's Celebrate the Magic will be down in August for tech upgrades

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...ney/os-projections-disney-20160724-story.html

No exact dates yet, correct? I just want to make sure I didn't miss it!

 

[rteetz]

Speaking of which....what ever happened to that flying dragon creature that was unveiled with the new WDW Fantasyland??

Well thats almost an urban legend now. Its been said Disney spent a ton of money on it but is maybe afraid to use it and with drone laws now it might be hard to use it.

 

[rteetz]

No exact dates yet, correct? I just want to make sure I didn't miss it!

I want to say its August 4th-ish to August 31st?

 

[CJK]

I want to say its August 4th-ish to August 31st?

Thanks!

 

[luisov]

Speaking of which....what ever happened to that flying dragon creature that was unveiled with the new WDW Fantasyland??

Allegedly a test for Pandora's flying dragons, though we may never see them again.

 

[rteetz]

Allegedly a test for Pandora's flying dragons, though we may never see them again.

Couldn't have been a test for avatar. I believe the dragon flew in what 2012 or 2013? Pandora was still in the planning stages then and didn't break ground until January 2014.

 

[luisov]

Couldn't have been a test for avatar. I believe the dragon flew in what 2012 or 2013? Pandora was still in the planning stages then and didn't break ground until January 2014.

When that happened I remember reading some speculations of Imagineering testing the waters to see how the dragons could potentially work for Pandora, but yeah, that's as far as it goes: pure speculation.

 

[skier_pete]

DHS has the first and arguably the best of the ToT's. They did the gift things for the 50th.

The DCA version only has the up and down because they don't have a lot of space in DCA. I am not sure why it never got the random drop sequences though.

AK got Lucky (I believe that was his name) He was an animatronic dinosaur that roamed dino land. There are videos of him online. I think he became too costly or something that they stopped him.

The story I heard was that the reason DCA never got the random drops was for the same reason - since the ride only has the single shaft that goes up and down, the "Randomizer" changed the amount of time between each loading. Apparently this isn't the case in Florida, since the drop is in a separate shaft. Not completely sure I buy this, especially since they seem to have announced here that there will now be the random drops. Either way, you could still have the "randomizer" but just program each one to be the same length. (There's actually only like 8 different drop patterns even in Florida, so while it is random, it's not like each one isn't specifically programmed.)

Lucky the Dinosaur was only out in AK a few months in the summer of 2005. He then went over to HK for the opening. He's currently housed at Imagineering in Glendale. We were lucky (sorry about the pun) to get to "meet" him. When I asked the Imagineer why he wasn't out in the parks - he said that Lucky's "skin" couldn't stand up to the harsh conditions in Florida. It's too bad because the technology is truly amazing and I have to assume the real reason we don't see free roaming animatronics like that is someone deemed them too expensive to maintain - though it's also possible that the unpredictability of guest behavior makes them impractical as well. I really an hoping that we might see some free roaming AAs in either Pandora (unlikely) or in Star Wars Land (more likely).

 

[mikepizzo]

Speaking of which....what ever happened to that flying dragon creature that was unveiled with the new WDW Fantasyland??

I remember reading about this but never actually took the time to find a video. Maybe I'm naive but, to me, this looked pretty impressive.

 

[hebbynan]

Wow that is pretty impressive!!!

 

[jlundeen]

Couldn't have been a test for avatar. I believe the dragon flew in what 2012 or 2013? Pandora was still in the planning stages then and didn't break ground until January 2014.

It was late 2012, for the opening of the new Fantasyland in MK. I remember because we had a big all family trip that December and FL had just opened. Was great because the crowds were all there, and we were pretty much able to walk on every other ride in MK.

 

[rteetz]

Photo update

Epcot update

http://micechat.com/132781-epcot-news-photos-frozen/

 

[Gastonecrosse]

Wow, I always assumed ToT in California came first, and the one in DHS is over 20 years old, but you're right. It's only been there 12 years. Why did they make it without the 4th dimension and the multiple drop sequences?

https://eeyoreandhs.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/towerofterror2.jpg

The DHS tower has four elevator loading areas with only two drop shafts, so that 4th dimension area is used to merge each pair of tracks into one drop shaft. I believe ToT in DCA only has two load/drop shafts.

 

[mikepizzo]

https://eeyoreandhs.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/towerofterror2.jpg

The DHS tower has four elevator loading areas with only two drop shafts, so that 4th dimension area is used to merge each pair of tracks into one drop shaft. I believe ToT in DCA only has two load/drop shafts.

I freaking love that diagram.

 

[rteetz]

https://eeyoreandhs.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/towerofterror2.jpg

The DHS tower has four elevator loading areas with only two drop shafts, so that 4th dimension area is used to merge each pair of tracks into one drop shaft. I believe ToT in DCA only has two load/drop shafts.

Correct