News Round Up 2016

[ej119]

Got tickets to Dory for Friday night and I'm very excited! We rewatched Nemo last night.

 

[leholcomb]

News

It appears Disney has removed Louis from tomorrow's Mickey's Friendship Faire castle show.

I find this unnecessary. Jokes in Jungle Cruise? Sure, suspend that temporarily. Eliminating an entire character from a show, silly.

 

[rteetz]

I find this unnecessary. Jokes in Jungle Cruise? Sure, suspend that temporarily. Eliminating an entire character from a show, silly.

Tic Toc Croc has also been missing from the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

 

[leholcomb]

Tic Toc Croc has also been missing from the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

At least his character is aggressive. Louis does not portray that image.

 

[eXo]

Honestly, with as sensitive as people act about things these days, I'm surprised they haven't put a costume on the crocodile in the Peter Pan ride yet. Maybe a little light up elsa dress and wig or something.

 

[eXo]

Universal Hollywood is holding a press conference on June 21st in regards to "the future" of the park. While not explicitly related to Orlando, I did find it interesting that they *just* opened Wizarding World there and they are already about to announce the next thing.

Meanwhile, Universal Orlando seems perfectly content operating in total secrecy in regards to it's giant elephant in the room.

 

[skier_pete]

I think it is fitting that this will go where part of the Adventurer's Club used to be. At least something mildly original and creative will be taking up the space.

I think it is kind of ironic, at least for me, that the one thing (or two, depending on if the tunnels are actually coming to be) is the last thing to be built when everything else is done.

Right - other than checking out Jock Lindsey's, for how pretty it is, there's not a darn thing that interests me about visiting what is essentially an outdoor shopping mall. The Edison / Neverland tunnels peaks my interest - while I am not expecting anything as funny and charming as the Adventurer's Club, at least there's a chance it will be a fun adult environment that is still missing from DS.

 

[skier_pete]

But who in the world would have imagined a gator to GOBBLE A KID UP RIGHT ON THE BEACH SHORE????

Well - I think anyone that has lived in Florida for any length of time knows this is possible. Alligators attacking children are not uncommon, though it doesn't happen a lot, though literally hundreds of dogs/cats per year are gobbled up by gators. Tourists on the other hand can be blissfully unaware....

Here's how gators hunt: They scout out a spot where animals come to the shore to drink. They may sit there hidden for days or weeks. (Gators only have to eat about once a month.) They can move around underwater silently and not even cause ripples. When they feel the timings right - they spring at the next thing to come to the shore. The gators won't attack on the shore, because they know generally that the creatures they are stalking will have time to get away. They wait until someone is at the edge of the water.

Playing on the shore of a lake in Florida is not unlike laying on a surfboard in shark infested waters of the Bahamas and splashing about. Disney tries to control the gators, but they aren't easy to spot. Generally there are a lot fewer in Disney lakes than in most lakes in Florida. (And they are EVERYWHERE in Florida.)

The ONLY thing we should all learn from this is when you are in Florida - stay out of the lakes. And especially keep your small children away from the lakes.

Well, that and don't feed the alligators off your bungalow.

 

[Indybill]

Got tickets to Dory for Friday night and I'm very excited! We rewatched Nemo last night.

Make sure and stay through the end of the credits.

 

[skier_pete]

Meanwhile, Universal Orlando seems perfectly content operating in total secrecy in regards to it's giant elephant in the room.

Are you talking about Kong? There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz, does there?

 

[nkosiek]

Are you talking about Kong? There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz, does there?

But does there need to be. I mean they've got Volcano Bay, they announced they bought a huge plot of land, do they really need to keep dropping more?

 

[MichiganScott]

I find this unnecessary. Jokes in Jungle Cruise? Sure, suspend that temporarily. Eliminating an entire character from a show, silly.

On paper, something like this may seem silly or unnecessary.

In reality, it's sensitive, respectful and above all, human.

 

[Phicinfan]

Are you talking about Kong? There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz, does there?

I assumed he was talking about the huge property buy they made, and future plans for a third gate

 

[rteetz]

Are you talking about Kong? There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz, does there?

Well universal did cancel their press event for it. It's been open for soft opening for a few days now. A lot seem to be disappointed that the 3D parts are pretty much the same as hollywoods version but everyone loves the Kong animatronic.

 

[rteetz]

I assumed he was talking about the huge property buy they made, and future plans for a third gate

They are not ready to announce a third gate yet.

 

[eXo]

Are you talking about Kong? There doesn't seem to be a lot of buzz, does there?

I left it nebulous on purpose, as I feel there are a large number of things they could address.

Yes, I do think that Kong is oddly quiet. Now, part of that is because they had a huge opening event planned and they canceled it after the shootings. The incidents that have occurred in Orlando this week make for a very bad release week for anything.

Beyond Kong, there are several sets of plans that are fairly well documented. One would be The Secret Life of Pets ride, which appears to be going right next to Kong in the old BMX theater. Originally there was talk of it going into a fairly small space in USO, however that would have required a considerably scaled back version of the ride.

All that has been said about Nintendo land is that USO will get it last and the date 2021 has been thrown out there.

Then there are the ever changing plans for the destruction of the Fear Factor theater.

And of course, the giant plot of land / third gate.

Granted, they have two rides under construction currently, so maybe they feel that shows enough progress that they don't need to announce anything else. But the reality of it is, just like Kong, one of the rides is simply an expanded version of an almost 100% screen based ride in USH (F&F), and the other promises to be a side show at best (Fallon). When you have Disney rebuilding one of their parks and adding 3 new lands over the next few years, it seems that you would want to generate a little more buzz than simply rolling out 2 mid-grade level screen rides.

 

[eXo]

They are not ready to announce a third gate yet.

The only reason they would not announce yet is if they didn't have all the licenses and such squared away yet or if they honestly didn't feel as though it was worth beginning construction on yet. If the first is true, then I would be surprised as one would assume they would have had a huge catalog of blue sky projects to cherry pick from. I'm sure Disney has a 5th gate designed in a book somewhere just in case the need ever arises.

If the second is true, then I would be surprised because the pressure is on right now. It's a theme park arms race down in Orlando right now.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I find this unnecessary. Jokes in Jungle Cruise? Sure, suspend that temporarily. Eliminating an entire character from a show, silly.

I definitely get taking out the "Ginger snaps" joke and even Tic Toc Crock ... and this I guess I get as it is a debuting show and if they kept him that would get more of the focus rather than the show itself

If it didn't debut until another month from now I would think they would keep him. Not sure what they would have done if the show had already been playing though

 

[skier_pete]

I'm sure Disney has a 5th gate designed in a book somewhere just in case the need ever arises.

Disney has designs for multiple "fifth gates". Some are further along than others. Remember not to long ago when "Night Kingdom" was getting close to reality (2008 I think?) and then the economy tanked. That was a high-end specialty tour 5th gate like Sea Worlds Discovery Cove.

I am not saying I don't believe in Universal's 3rd gate concept, it makes some amount of sense - but that would be a SERIOUS investment for them - again it means they are targeting the full week traveler, similar to what Disney did in the 90s. I don't think they do it lightly.

Edit: One problem Universal has is they already have the issue that they're two theme parks really aren't that different. Sure one has more of a "themed lands" concept, but really not that different. Finding the right theme for a third park that's different enough to justify a third park might be very tricky.

 

[rteetz]

The only reason they would not announce yet is if they didn't have all the licenses and such squared away yet or if they honestly didn't feel as though it was worth beginning construction on yet. If the first is true, then I would be surprised as one would assume they would have had a huge catalog of blue sky projects to cherry pick from. I'm sure Disney has a 5th gate designed in a book somewhere just in case the need ever arises.

If the second is true, then I would be surprised because the pressure is on right now. It's a theme park arms race down in Orlando right now.

From what I've seen we won't see them start construction on a third gate for another year or two. I'm guessing an announcemeant will come sooner to that.

Disney does have a 5th gate designed and was very close to actually building one prior to 9/11.