News Round Up 2017

[Roxyfire]

As is probably obvious now, my emotional connection was more about the fantasy of making wishes and having them come true (plus a lot of nostalgia with Jiminy Cricket), not necessarily the number of times I saw the show. I think the Wishes song was full of emotion vs. the new one being more inspirational, and it didn't hurt that Wishes had the child (or child-like?) voices singing. As I type, I think that maybe it was about reconnecting to the innocence of childhood when Santa and the tooth fairy were real (spoiler alert!) and wishes could come true!

I will say, I did like the voices/singing in Wishes better. But I think the new track does sound more like Pop music than Wishes' track did. It sounds like you connected with Wishes immediately which must make it so disappointing for you that it's gone now. But I do think people in general tend to associate these fireworks shows more with the family being there, the memories of seeing it, and having that show become a tradition over time. That's why I will be really curious to see what happens if they change it in the future.

 

[jade1]

DH & I got to enjoy 5 park days together JUST THE TWO OF US right after Irma passed through. It was fabulous! This is not really in response to @jade1 in particular, but I did want to put my opinion out there...we did not like HEA. We both were very impressed with the projections - that technology is incredible! But, I had no emotional connection to the new show. The message of "make your own magic" just doesn't quite give me the feels the way Wishes did. I like to suspend reality in the parks and believe in "wishes" and "magic"
- you know, fantasy stuff! This new show - IMO - kinda takes the "magic" out of it...it's having a dream, yes, but YOU make that dream happen, you have to have friends and family who help you along the way, you have to overcome adversity, you have to be willing to fight for it...and that's a little too much reality for me...

I had an open mind going in and I was really looking forward to seeing the new show, but it just fell flat for us.

I can see that, and miss Wishes as well-so avoided the comparison. Agree the projections are impressive and the technology is incredible (enough right there for me). What blew us away was the amount of quality and qty of pyro-as many on here suspected this was all about saving pyro dollars were completely wrong. That and the length is much longer than I thought it would be when this first started, which is great as well.

So whats left its the show itself, and it is heavy IP characters and songs so if that's not somebodies thing I can see that for sure. But crowd levels even in Sept, and crowd reaction were both incredibly high when we were there-if that's any indication.

And I'm trying not to be very trip-reporty...but a comment or two on Pandora. We loved FOP - so much fun!!! The land itself IS impressive, but there was something off about it. I thought about it a lot, and I think that the "Pandoran" flora needs more movement. It's all very static, for example, if a breeze blows, they don't move. I kinda felt like I was walking through a set.

I reported (in vain I'm sure) the only negative thing about Pandora to CM's (that appeared a bit more in charge) at EPCOT and MK.

That was "lighting" at night. The big trees are just dark/black. The first CM was standing/controlling traffic into the back area at EPCOT for a party that had "WAY" better tree lighting displayed for the party back there. I mean these trees were bright blue and green completely-like 50 feet high.

The second was at MK where HEA has also an incredible display of trees in bright reds etc to the right and left of the castle.

Not only that, the trees next to Walt also light up with thousands of fireflies, another feature Pandora could use IMO.

Here is a web pic from disneybysteph that kinda shows some of the color the trees get during HEA. Would like to see that type of color at Pandora.

 

[mcd2745]

Disney Store online is now shopDisney

https://www.shopdisney.com/
http://blogmickey.com/2017/09/disne...assive-overhaul-rebranding-become-shopdisney/

Instead of focusing on re-branding, they need to fix their operations. Last two times I've ordered from Disney Store online it took more than two weeks for the items to be shipped. Like it or not, Amazon has set the standard all online merchants will be measured against. Every order should be packaged and shipped out the door within 48 hours of the order being placed. Period.

 

[Irish_Mike]

Instead of focusing on re-branding, they need to fix their operations. Last two times I've ordered from Disney Store online it took more than two weeks for the items to be shipped. Like it or not, Amazon has set the standard all online merchants will be measured against. Every order should be packaged and shipped out the door within 48 hours of the order being placed. Period.

To be fair, doesn't Amazon's two-day shipping either require Prime ($50-100/yr) or simply paying extra on each purchase?

Though I do agree that two weeks before shipping is unacceptable, and have experienced it before with Disney.

 

[mcd2745]

To be fair, doesn't Amazon's two-day shipping either require Prime ($50-100/yr) or simply paying extra on each purchase?

Though I do agree that two weeks before shipping is unacceptable, and have experienced it before with Disney.

Yes it does. But I wasn't talking about receiving the order in 2 days - just that it should be processed, packaged, and out the door in 2 days. If it takes another 5-7 days in transit, that's fine.

 

[danikoski]

To be fair, doesn't Amazon's two-day shipping either require Prime ($50-100/yr) or simply paying extra on each purchase?

Though I do agree that two weeks before shipping is unacceptable, and have experienced it before with Disney.

Even if you don't have Prime, Amazon ships with in 2 days, usually, and items are received around 5 business days. Disney takes forever...if I'm doing Christmas shopping via the Disney shop I try to get it done by Thanksgiving to make sure items show up on time.

 

[Redcon1]

at least they have the Pinocchio dark ride at Disneyland (which is one of the better dark rides) - all we get on the East coast is a mediocre quick service location

Bambi would be kinda hard to do as a ride - but definitely feels a bit underappreciated.

If only they had had an attraction that was set up to show scenes from various movies that was in need o updating and could be used to highlight the evolution of Disney animation ... oh, well

I always thought the lack of representation of films like Bambi could be remedied by theming parade floats to them. Some films that are used over and over again, like Pinocchio, could be given a rest.

A Lady and the Tramp float with a reenactment of the spaghetti scene (including a rolling meatball) would be awesome!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I always thought the lack of representation of films like Bambi could be remedied by theming parade floats to them. Some films that are used over and over again, like Pinocchio, could be given a rest.

A Lady and the Tramp float with a reenactment of the spaghetti scene (including a rolling meatball) would be awesome!

Or even more in the firework/projeciton show. It was nice to see Hercules and Hunchback in Happily Ever After, but a Bambi or Lady & the Tramp scene would be nice - though guess they don't have super catchy songs

 

[rteetz]

News

new-hollywood-studios-starbucks-mug-features-alien-swirling-saucers

 

[rteetz]

Photo Update

PHOTOS: Savannah Bee Company Opens New Location at Disney Springs

 

[rteetz]

News

Disneyland is in a battle with Anaheim and the LATimes has been all over it lately.

How one election changed Disneyland’s relationship with its hometown

Is Disney paying its share in Anaheim?

 

[rteetz]

News

Disney Stores to get a revamp

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/26/media/disney-store/index.html

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes it does. But I wasn't talking about receiving the order in 2 days - just that it should be processed, packaged, and out the door in 2 days. If it takes another 5-7 days in transit, that's fine.

I've wondered though does Disney have 1 centralized processing center or ones scattered throughout the country like Amazon does?

For example the vast majority of my items purchased from Amazon comes from the fullfillment centers in my area (of which there are several) but when they don't Amazon tells me that additional processing time will be required.

 

[SureAsLiz]

Or even more in the firework/projeciton show. It was nice to see Hercules and Hunchback in Happily Ever After, but a Bambi or Lady & the Tramp scene would be nice - though guess they don't have super catchy songs

Lady and the Tramp did have a part in Celebrate the Magic. And I feel like they are in the final moasic scene of HEA, but I'd have to keep an eye out next time I watch it to be sure. Plus there's always Tony's

 

[rteetz]

News

Get a Tomorrowland Speedway Drivers license

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/09/photo...e-kiosks-tomorrowland-speedway-magic-kingdom/

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Lady and the Tramp did have a part in Celebrate the Magic. And I feel like they are in the final moasic scene of HEA, but I'd have to keep an eye out next time I watch it to be sure. Plus there's always Tony's

LatT definitely have been spotted in projection shows - not really featured though like other properties

yeah, not sure if Tony's is a plus or a minus for them

 

[SureAsLiz]

LatT definitely have been spotted in projection shows - not really featured though like other properties

yeah, not sure if Tony's is a plus or a minus for them

No one ever specified they wanted good representation

 

[wnwardii]

I've wondered though does Disney have 1 centralized processing center or ones scattered throughout the country like Amazon does?

I recently ordered some items from the Disney website and the Parks app. I think both of my orders had items shipped from different locations that were delivered by different methods (e.g. UPS, USPS, Fed Ex). It was pretty confusing. Also, they took different amount of times to arrive.

My guess is that they may have some centralized places for certain types of items. But I don't think there is one big warehouse for everything. I was also surprised that when using the Shop Parks app that the items came from some warehouse and not actually from WDW. *shrug*

 

[rteetz]

I recently ordered some items from the Disney website and the Parks app. I think both of my orders had items shipped from different locations that were delivered by different methods (e.g. UPS, USPS, Fed Ex). It was pretty confusing. Also, they took different amount of times to arrive.

My guess is that they may have some centralized places for certain types of items. But I don't think there is one big warehouse for everything. I was also surprised that when using the Shop Parks app that the items came from some warehouse and not actually from WDW. *shrug*

And for me it seems the majority of the time items from the parks app come faster than ShopDisney/Disney Store.

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

News

Get a Tomorrowland Speedway Drivers license

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2017/09/photo...e-kiosks-tomorrowland-speedway-magic-kingdom/

The Autopia driver's licenses we purchased in DLR were one of the best souvenir purchases we've made. The kids have kept track of those cards and now even when we go to WDW they make sure to bring them along. A very simple Magical Moment for us was when the CM at the Speedway asked my then 8-year old daughter if she had her driver's license. She was beaming when she whipped out that card and the CM inspected it before giving us our car assignment. Glad they have installed these at the Speedway,too.