Biggest Disappointment about Disneyland 60th Special

[samsteele]

I agree with the PPs. I watched about 30 mins of it. Loved Elton John and Kermit the Frog. It isn't Idina Menzel's fault that her song is now grating because of over exposure. She sings well & did a good job, too. The rest of the show was like one big infomercial/marketing showcase. @SorcererHeidi is right. As usual & didn't miss much. It would have been a great opportunity to take a walk through the park with someone like Joe Rohde giving us a then and now commentary. He's certainly entertaining enough & would have kept viewers spellbound. I guess I'll have to get my real Disney nerd fix by waiting for the next TCM (Turner Classic Movies) series.

 

[disneysteve]

We turned it on and it was just performance numbers in some theatre.

That bothered me, too. So much of it didn't even take place at Disneyland.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I wasn't amazed by it. The bits with Elton John and Josh Gad were the best. I didn't expect the teaser trailer for Pete's Dragon, or the look at Star Wars Land. I should have known there would be a signature restaurant in there.

haha, my first reaction to seeing the Star Wars Land info was: Cool, a cantina and a higher-end restaurant!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

There was less about the Parks than I would have liked, but friends of mine (that are Disney fans, not so much Disney Parks fans) loved it. It's in a prime-time slot on Sunday night, so it doesn't surprise me there was a lot of entertainment bits and promotion of ABC properties.

There are so many hidden treasures throughout Disneyland they could have done the whole two hours on that with Josh Gad. I'm a park geek though, so I could have watched a 2 hour documentary on how they overlay the Haunted Mansion.

I have it DVRd and I suspect I will enjoy it - though agree with most of the post here that this was specifically billed as for the 60th anniversary of Disneyland Park - not a celebration of all things Disney

I love you ideas by the way ... maybe they can release a "Directors Cut" of the special that does actually show a lot about the park

 

[disneysteve]

They used to do specials that were much more park-focused, especially back in the Eisner days. I loved those.

As much as the Star Wars expansion is exciting, it's a little hard to get too worked up about something that we won't actually see for 5 years. If they want the show to encourage people to come visit now, they should highlight what there is today.

 

[rteetz]

Absolutely. Have you seen the video of him from D23?

Yep. Have you seen his birthday celebration at Disneyland?

 

[disneysteve]

Yep. Have you seen his birthday celebration at Disneyland?

Yes.

 

[EricInPA]

As much as the Star Wars expansion is exciting, it's a little hard to get too worked up about something that we won't actually see for 5 years. If they want the show to encourage people to come visit now, they should highlight what there is today.

Now that I think about it, this was probably what I was most disappointed in. Not what they talked about (attractions, star wars dining, etc), but what they had to show.

Concept Art is just concept art, and doesn't get me real excited. Now a 3D rendering that shows Hollwood Studios before/after the expansion, that would be cool, but I doubt the plans are firm enough to show that right now. A lot of the show's audience probably didn't know Star Wars Lands were coming to Disney Parks and now they do, so mission accomplished there.

Hopefully we get another one of these:

 

[dwheaton]

I recognize that this special was not made for me. I'm a fan of the parks but not a diehard follower of the Disney company, its TV shows, and its IP. That said, I thought the execution was still not good. There were a few moments here and there (Josh Gad, Dick Van Dyke, Elton doing Circle of Life), but most of it was dull.

I'm not a fan of a lot of the artists (or had even heard of them), but that wasn't what still bugs me today. It just felt really odd to have a special celebrating Disneyland's 60th anniversary barely mention Disneyland. The segments that did were so basic ("Did you know that Disneyland once just had one park?") that they became laughable.

It didn't need to be a hard-hitting documentary, but there needed to be more substance underneath it all.

 

[samsteele]

It didn't need to be a hard-hitting documentary, but there needed to be more substance underneath it all.

And that is what's so incredibly sad about last night's special. The Disney Corporation/Disney IP consistently underestimates the intelligence of its consumers. Walt set the bar high every Sun night. He played to our higher brains and gave us exciting, creative and thought-provoking content. Classic Disney gave us brain food. The stuff last Sun night was junk food.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So I just watched the show and I must say I really enjoyed it (though perhaps my expectations were lowered reading this thread). I do wish it was more about Disneyland though, being as that is what it was billed like, and could have done without a few of the non-Disney songs but I thought the good outweighed the bad

loved the "live" star wars music and the dance numbers (I may have marked out a bit when Dick Van Dyke came out)

 

[AyraBelle]

Now that I think about it, this was probably what I was most disappointed in. Not what they talked about (attractions, star wars dining, etc), but what they had to show.

Concept Art is just concept art, and doesn't get me real excited. Now a 3D rendering that shows Hollwood Studios before/after the expansion, that would be cool, but I doubt the plans are firm enough to show that right now. A lot of the show's audience probably didn't know Star Wars Lands were coming to Disney Parks and now they do, so mission accomplished there.

Like someone else said, this was not made for me and the biggest example was when they were talking about Star Wars Land and I learned exactly zero new things about it - literally everything they said I already knew was happening. It was cool to see the concept art, though their hyping this up as a 'Learn about the new land!' fell flat for me.

Overall it was an enjoyable Disney special - like I really liked the movie and girl power montages - it just wasn't up to par as a Disneyland special. It was cool to see the Elton John parts, though - I was in the park when they were filming that back in January so it's neat to see the finished product.

 

[mikelan6]

The show was ok. The Fantasia portion, while good, was totally out of place.

 

[OKW Lover]

There was a story on CNN today about Disneyland's opening that incorporates more of what I would have liked to see in this special.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Like someone else said, this was not made for me and the biggest example was when they were talking about Star Wars Land and I learned exactly zero new things about it - literally everything they said I already knew was happening. It was cool to see the concept art, though their hyping this up as a 'Learn about the new land!' fell flat for me.

Overall it was an enjoyable Disney special - like I really liked the movie and girl power montages - it just wasn't up to par as a Disneyland special. It was cool to see the Elton John parts, though - I was in the park when they were filming that back in January so it's neat to see the finished product.

I think that is important to remember ... the vast majority of people watching that special aren't on Disney forums, etc. As someone pointed out the Modern Family "tips" weren't really tips, BUT I would thing the vast majority of people watching had no idea what a hidden Mickey was, so to them, some of what was said was "tips"

I still think they could have done more specifically about the park (this felt more like "a celebration of Disney featuring a bit on Disneyland") and would have preferred all the songs be famous Disney songs, but still, I thought there were some really good high points

 

[Halloweenqueen]

It reminded me of the 60th fireworks. While I enjoy them, I was surprised that they focused so heavily on movies. The previous fireworks were more about park attractions and music.

I would have enjoyed musical numbers of park music, etc.

 

[Cherinva]

I forgot the show was on and didn't record it. After reading some posts about it, I wanted to see for myself and I was able to see the show on Demand. While I did enjoy the show, I wish it would have had more to do with the park itself.....more of what it was like when it opened to the transformation of what it is today. It was great seeing Dick Van Dyke come out, but I'm really surprised that Jody Benson wasn't part of it.

 

[PurpleKomodo]

It was enjoyable from an entertainment standpoint, but I did not know who many of the artists were. I did want to see more Disneyland like most people have mentioned. We are planning our first pilgrimage to the homeland and I was hoping to see more of the parks. That being said, my biggest disappointment was, during the dance montage, they kept zooming in on the singer and you couldn't see the dancing. I wanted to see more of the dancing.

 

[connie1042]

I was disappointed. I wanted to see footage from the rides from when the park opened, and to see more of the park as it is now. I did not watch it to see a variety show.

 

[kbelle8995]

I watched it last night. I had recorded it. It was nothing I didn't expect. The star wars concert was enjoyable and I am not surprised that Star wars land includes a high end restaurant. Still would have liked more time in Disneyland park and less let's talks about dreams and magic and Disney new stuff. I did enjoy Step in time as well as Helen Mirren. But I ended up FF through most of it.