InLikeSin
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2009
- Messages
- 170
I don't know how to link to his update but a couple of interesting things...
We should probably start with the latest news on Murphy (the new Fantasmic! dragon), since his failure to appear will be what the summer of 2009 is remembered for. All of the mechanical and structural repairs and alterations have been completed on the dragon as of last week.
The story of exactly what went wrong with the robotic dragon in the first place is a tricky one, and the information that has fallen into place over the last month now points not to mechanical design flaws or errors in the installation process, but rather how the dragon was being operated by Disney's own people once the outside contractor had installed the robot this past spring.
The good news is that the dragon has been running through his paces correctly in recent days, and the delay now is more about waiting for unique valves and replacement parts for the ferocious fire breathing effect and the need to get in some quick rehearsal time before the public debut. Barring any unplanned setbacks, the dragon could appear later this week.
Space Ghost
By late September, more DCA construction and the latest version of HalloweenTime will be underway, with the nightly Halloween Screams fireworks featuring a flying Zero sure to be a crowd pleaser. While official confirmation of getting Captain EO into the mix in time for Halloween is not yet clear, the Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy will create plenty of buzz on its own.
There is a real concern now that the Halloween overlay for Space Mountain, featuring rather creepy onboard music, screeching ghosts and ghouls, and frightening visual effects, may prove too scary for young children tall enough to ride but not yet ready for an intense fright-fest. Ghost Galaxy is definitely a more amped up version of the regular Space Mountain, and park management is now trying to decide how to make it clear this could be a very scary experience for school-aged children.
Muppet Message
With all the talk about D23 and Halloween and upcoming park plans, it's easy to forget that the What Will You Celebrate campaign is winding down. The replacement ad blitz obviously will be featuring the Muppets, as they recently wrapped up a very full week of filming all over Disneyland.
The new campaign will still have a free give-away component, but they are going at it much smarter this time. The free on your birthday gimmick in 2009 was a huge headache for the Main Entrance ticketing departments, and the free retail gift cards handed out to hundreds of thousands of Annual Passholders who wanted their piece of the action were not only a drain on park profits, but also caused quite a bit of drama for the Guest Relations Cast Members who had to deal with any passholder who didn't want to follow the rules based on the block out dates of their particular pass.
The new campaign for 2010 will allow anyone a free ticket to Disneyland, but only after they complete a certain number of volunteer hours in their community with a Disney approved charity or nonprofit organization. It's looking like a much classier angle to take to free admission, and it should eliminate much of the hassles the front line Cast Members had to deal with during 2009.
We should probably start with the latest news on Murphy (the new Fantasmic! dragon), since his failure to appear will be what the summer of 2009 is remembered for. All of the mechanical and structural repairs and alterations have been completed on the dragon as of last week.
The story of exactly what went wrong with the robotic dragon in the first place is a tricky one, and the information that has fallen into place over the last month now points not to mechanical design flaws or errors in the installation process, but rather how the dragon was being operated by Disney's own people once the outside contractor had installed the robot this past spring.
The good news is that the dragon has been running through his paces correctly in recent days, and the delay now is more about waiting for unique valves and replacement parts for the ferocious fire breathing effect and the need to get in some quick rehearsal time before the public debut. Barring any unplanned setbacks, the dragon could appear later this week.
Space Ghost
By late September, more DCA construction and the latest version of HalloweenTime will be underway, with the nightly Halloween Screams fireworks featuring a flying Zero sure to be a crowd pleaser. While official confirmation of getting Captain EO into the mix in time for Halloween is not yet clear, the Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy will create plenty of buzz on its own.
There is a real concern now that the Halloween overlay for Space Mountain, featuring rather creepy onboard music, screeching ghosts and ghouls, and frightening visual effects, may prove too scary for young children tall enough to ride but not yet ready for an intense fright-fest. Ghost Galaxy is definitely a more amped up version of the regular Space Mountain, and park management is now trying to decide how to make it clear this could be a very scary experience for school-aged children.
Muppet Message
With all the talk about D23 and Halloween and upcoming park plans, it's easy to forget that the What Will You Celebrate campaign is winding down. The replacement ad blitz obviously will be featuring the Muppets, as they recently wrapped up a very full week of filming all over Disneyland.
The new campaign will still have a free give-away component, but they are going at it much smarter this time. The free on your birthday gimmick in 2009 was a huge headache for the Main Entrance ticketing departments, and the free retail gift cards handed out to hundreds of thousands of Annual Passholders who wanted their piece of the action were not only a drain on park profits, but also caused quite a bit of drama for the Guest Relations Cast Members who had to deal with any passholder who didn't want to follow the rules based on the block out dates of their particular pass.
The new campaign for 2010 will allow anyone a free ticket to Disneyland, but only after they complete a certain number of volunteer hours in their community with a Disney approved charity or nonprofit organization. It's looking like a much classier angle to take to free admission, and it should eliminate much of the hassles the front line Cast Members had to deal with during 2009.
