News Round Up 2016

[Spacedog1975]

So wrong place for this but anyway...

Just finished watching Mickey's Soundsational on the liveblog. Wow. That parade's got nothing on the Festival of Fantasy.

 

[Sweettears]

Will it also be a Tier 1 selection? I'm not a fan of long queues, but no standby seems unreasonable to me. Perhaps this is how they are dealing with limited space.

Of course, if it's FP+ only, the FP queue will hardly be "fast".

I would imagine that the popularity once Frozen opens would make the standby ridiculous. I could see them changing once the popularity subsides but given the staying power of the Frozen phenomenon it may take awhile.

 

[luisov]

So wrong place for this but anyway...

Just finished watching Mickey's Soundsational on the liveblog. Wow. That parade's got nothing on the Festival of Fantasy.

It's a fun parade, but it's nowhere near as elaborate as FoF. What I really like about it is that it features many characters you normally wouldn't see, and the music is really good. It's not as good as Paint the Night, but still a fun time.

By the way, here's a report on Zootopia's performance so far. The film remains as a 100% fresh film in Rotten Tomatoes with 19 reviews counted so far, with the previous hits by Walt Disney Animation Studios ranging between 86% and 90% Also, the film's reported earnings are reaching 40 million so far. The film has broken previous records by Walt Disney Animation Studios in various countries. Still don't know what to expect as far as the domestic market goes when it opens on March 4th.

Today marks the 10th anniversary since John Lasseter and Ed Catmull took over Walt Disney Animation Studios, so it's good to see that they're doing really good.

 

[rteetz]

So wrong place for this but anyway...

Just finished watching Mickey's Soundsational on the liveblog. Wow. That parade's got nothing on the Festival of Fantasy.

That's interesting because many say Soundsational is better than FoF. I've never seen Soundsational in person so I won't judge until I do so but I love FoF.

 

[rteetz]

Jim Hill Musings

All about Epcot. Jim and Len recorded their latest episode in Epcot so here we go.

Innoventions really has nothing going on and doesn't have much of anything coming to it in the near future.

Time Racers the ride that would've replaced SSE if the Discoveryland concept got final approval is the same ride system now being used in Shanghai for tron.

Two of the Soarin Theaters will be FP only then one standby only.

Epcot has had parades and is really well built to handle a parade but won't get one because that means they'd have to remove food booths and that means less money.

The frozen ride is getting an added 45 seconds from those two added scenes in the old load station.

Frozen will be FP only.

Disney really wants FAA approval to use drones for a new illuminations show.

An Italian restaurant on the water was planned but the problems that Spice Road Table has had canned that a while back.

Next up Jim and Len are in DHS but that episode isn't out yet. I would guess there be a lot in the episode.

 

[rteetz]

News

Apparently the executive chef of Flying Fish has left the company and that could result in a menu change now with the restuarant under major renovations.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Jim Hill Musings

All about Epcot. Jim and Len recorded their latest episode in Epcot so here we go.

Innoventions really has nothing going on and doesn't have much of anything coming to it in the near future.

Time Racers the ride that would've replaced SSE if the Discoveryland concept got final approval is the same ride system now being used in Shanghai for tron.

Two of the Soarin Theaters will be FP only then one standby only.

Epcot has had parades and is really well built to handle a parade but won't get one because that means they'd have to remove food booths and that means less money.

The frozen ride is getting an added 45 seconds from those two added scenes in the old load station.

Frozen will be FP only.

Disney really wants FAA approval to use drones for a new illuminations show.

An Italian restaurant on the water was planned but the problems that Spice Road Table has had canned that a while back.

Next up Jim and Len are in DHS but that episode isn't out yet. I would guess there be a lot in the episode.

This seems to be 85% made up...up from the usual 75%

 

[rteetz]

Photo update

Everyone loves work trucks and dirt outside their window on vacation right?

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2016/02/disneys-wilderness-lodge-expansion.html

 

[rteetz]

This seems to be 85% made up...up from the usual 75%

Well I've heard the FP only for frozen else where so I can believe that one. Also the two theaters for soarin being FP only isn't surprising and I've also heard that elsewhere. TSMM is also supposed to have two tracks FP only.

I've heard 30 second added for frozen which 45 isn't far off so makes sense there.

Discoveryland and time racers were real concepts that never happened so I can see that being true too.

According to all of the recent filings yes Disney does want to be able to use drones so that makes sense as well.

We all know innoventions is dead.

And finally spice road table is not successful which I can see having an impact on another restaurant from being built.

A lot of it is more common sense and putting pieces together not made up.

 

[LittleDreamer]

Jim Hill Musings

Epcot has had parades and is really well built to handle a parade but won't get one because that means they'd have to remove food booths and that means less money.

Frozen will be FP only.

Does he not remember how badly the millennium parade clogged up World Showcase and with the increase attendance since then it would only be worse. Keep land parades out of World Showcase.

I can see Frozen being FP only for the first year, but that means it's going to be running below capacity most likely. Disney still doesn't have enough data to run a 100% FP ride efficiently yet, but they will soon with TSMM.

2 theaters FP dedicated for Soaring seems excessive, what is the hourly throughput? Maybe 2 theater FP for the morning hours then just switch to a single in evening.

 

[soniam]

Photo update

Everyone loves work trucks and dirt outside their window on vacation right?

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2016/02/disneys-wilderness-lodge-expansion.html

You know I do That's why I stay onsite at Disney Deluxe hotels Seriously though, we got stuck in the Poly refurb when they were doing the GCH and main pool We could hear the construction on our balcony as late at 11pm at night. I won't got back to a hotel that is doing major work, and possibly "minor" work, depending upon what "minor" really is.

 

[rteetz]

Does he not remember how badly the millennium parade clogged up World Showcase and with the increase attendance since then it would only be worse. Keep land parades out of World Showcase.

I can see Frozen being FP only for the first year, but that means it's going to be running below capacity most likely. Disney still doesn't have enough data to run a 100% FP ride efficiently yet, but they will soon with TSMM.

2 theaters FP dedicated for Soaring seems excessive, what is the hourly throughput? Maybe 2 theater FP for the morning hours then just switch to a single in evening.

With frozen they are only worried about crowds. Doing FP only will limit those crowds.

I don't necessarily think so. The hourly throughput is not as high as other e tickets. If anything I could see them have one in the morning and two in the evening because most people show up in the evening at Epcot not in the morning.

 

[luisov]

The frozen ride is getting an added 45 seconds from those two added scenes in the old load station.

I'm really curious about this one. We've heard they added a couple of extra scenes, but I'm really hoping they made it worth the long lines.

 

[rteetz]

You know I do That's why I stay onsite at Disney Deluxe hotels Seriously though, we got stuck in the Poly refurb when they were doing the GCH and main pool We could hear the construction on our balcony as late at 11pm at night. I won't got back to a hotel that is doing major work, and possibly "minor" work, depending upon what "minor" really is.

You know I don't think the views at the poly ever looked that bad though. The worst part is Disney isn't discounting these rooms and people are still paying for them. The only thing they give you is some special pins saying oh we're under construction.

 

[rteetz]

I'm really curious about this one. We've heard they added a couple of extra scenes, but I'm really hoping they made it worth the long lines.

I've heard 30 seconds Jim says 45 so it's not a lot and that time is because they combined the load and unload stations giving them room for two more scenes. Jim also said the AAs are like the dwarfs in the mine train.

 

[rteetz]

Rumor

It looks like this Sunday could be the day where tickets increase...

 

[Budshark]

I'm curious why DLR Splash Mountain is a single width ride when the WDWMK version has riders side-by-side.

To make up for the fact DLR has side by side Space Mountain and MK gets the kiddy version.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Jim Hill Musings

Time Racers the ride that would've replaced SSE if the Discoveryland concept got final approval is the same ride system now being used in Shanghai for tron.

Two of the Soarin Theaters will be FP only then one standby only.

An Italian restaurant on the water was planned but the problems that Spice Road Table has had canned that a while back.

I think SSE would be the ride I'd just freak out if they were to ever remove it. I'd be one of those people who would place candles outside the attraction.

I'm not surprised about Soarin, if that is true. I was actually really hopeful they would do that with TSMM once the new track opens. That line moves awfully quick if there is no FP cutting in, just like Peter Pan at MK.

That bit about the restaurants makes no sense...I'm pretty sure Spice Road Table isn't doing great because a lot of people are picky eaters and/or scared of Moroccan food (even though it is really meat and potatoish). If they opened up another Italian place it would be booked solid. It isn't the location or the fact that there is another Moroccan restaurant, it is the food. Tony's is pretty awful Italian and I think it still does good enough business to justify it being there.

 

[rteetz]

I think SSE would be the ride I'd just freak out if they were to ever remove it. I'd be one of those people who would place candles outside the attraction.

I'm not surprised about Soarin, if that is true. I was actually really hopeful they would do that with TSMM once the new track opens. That line moves awfully quick if there is no FP cutting in, just like Peter Pan at MK.

That bit about the restaurants makes no sense...I'm pretty sure Spice Road Table isn't doing great because a lot of people are picky eaters and/or scared of Moroccan food (even though it is really meat and potatoish). If they opened up another Italian place it would be booked solid. It isn't the location or the fact that there is another Moroccan restaurant, it is the food. Tony's is pretty awful Italian and I think it still does good enough business to justify it being there.

They are supposed to be doing that with TSMM as well.

As for the restaurants I agree a lot has to do with the food but even that you'd think people would still book for the view. It has the best view of illuminations in WS.

 

[soniam]

Rumor

It looks like this Sunday could be the day where tickets increase...

Any idea if it's just an increase or a different type of ticket/charging, ie seasonal, attraction-based.