Report on DL 50th Celebrtation

[larworth]

Found this article interesting mouseinfo.
Marcie always has a very positive spin on things, so her disappointment about DL’s 50th celebration is revealing.

With the new E-ticket attraction, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Rangers, and the scene enhancements of the 5 E-tickets now out of the picture, what will be coming to Disneyland for its golden anniversary? A grand parade to replace the unexciting Parade of Stars, an all-new fireworks show, and a possible golden painted Sleeping Beauty Castle are part of the plans for the park in 2005. There will be more Marketing aspects added for the 50th Anniversary, but nothing on the scale of what many of you were originally expecting…… Bottomline, I’m disappointed about some of the plans being dropped, but I’m excited about the new parade and fireworks show. And I’m confident that Marketing will come up with other little mini-events and “gimmicks” they will create to tie-in with the golden anniversary. Regardless, if the celebration doesn’t feel special enough and grand enough Disney faces a backlash from its loyal base that could be damaging for years to come..

I think some early reports said WDW would get more attention than DL anyway, but it doesn’t sound like we should expect any major new attractions to be part of the WDW 50th celebration mix, given this mentality.

An E-ticket attraction was never even considered for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary from the outset. For one thing it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to open a major E-ticket attraction in the same year of the 50th Anniversary. Both the anniversary and the E-ticket attraction are major draws for the park, therefore it would not be good business sense to open a new E-ticket attraction in the same year as a large-scale celebration like the 50th.

Here were some other interesting tid-bits

As I mentioned in #1 above, there is an all-new E-ticket being slated for 2008 at DCA. Both the E-ticket attraction slated for Disneyland in 2006 and the DCA attraction in 2008 are expected to be original and new not found in any of the other Disney parks around the world. There is a feeling that the duplicating of existing attractions needs to come to a stop for now.

YEAH!

The Project Gemini plan currently being developed by WDI for Epcot, which included a replacement for Spaceship Earth and the additions of a Soarin Over California type ride and a Hyperion type theater are all on hold for an indefinite period of time. Many of the Imagineers who were assigned to Project Gemini are currently scrambling to find work elsewhere in the organization until the project in some form is green-lighted to move forward.

BOO!

 

[Another Voice]

Boy, a public relations firm sees that its work is being reduced and suddenly they get all nasty….

I’ll add that the film is most likely to be cancelled too. It would have cost too much money to clean up Disneyland’s CircleVision theater and to take out the figures from the Magic Kingdom’s.

Disneyland’s daytime parade is all but certain now to be the Magic Kingdom’s Walt 100 parade with very few changes. At one point they were going to move the Electrical Parade back from California Adventure for the 50th, but that will probably happen this summer instead (more merchandise sales in Disneyland than DCA).

There are rumors that marketing still wants some kind of joint attraction for all the Disney parks in the world to tie in the marketing campaign (which the film was supposed to serve), so there might be some parade elements or fireworks elements added to WDW’s Magic Kingdom.

All the talk about redoing rides was just WDI trying to justify jobs; Burbank never had any real serious interest in the plan. The general clean-up at Disneyland is being done mostly at the initiative of Anaheim. Anything similar at WDW (like fresh paint or a Stitch make-of of ‘Alien Encounter’) will have to be funded locally as well.

The only event that seems to be of interest anymore is the 50 Hour party “rumored” for July 16-17-18, 2005. They did something like this for Disneyland’s 25th when they kept the park open for a straight 25 hours. It’s not known whether Disneyland is in any shape for fifty straight hours of operations. There are rumors that one of the WDW parks may participate in this as well.

My favorite rumor (and one I’m sure won’t happen) is that in “honor” of Disneyland’s anniversary California Adventure will be folded into the park to create a mega-Disneyland. This would involve creating a new Town Square linking Main Street with the Sun Court and anchored by a new Main Street Hotel (which would also pay for the project). But this is simply blue sky thinking…


P.S. – “Project Gemini” was mostly a way of impressing Bill so he would hand over a really big check. While the concept of splitting Epcot in two is still alive, the project was never really serious.

 

[KNWVIKING]

"My favorite rumor (and one I’m sure won’t happen) is that in “honor” of Disneyland’s anniversary California Adventure will be folded into the park to create a mega-Disneyland. This would involve creating a new Town Square linking Main Street with the Sun Court and anchored by a new Main Street Hotel (which would also pay for the project). But this is simply blue sky thinking…"

...if it were to ever happen. I've only been to DL once,in Sept when the parks were basically dead, and thought that whole area between DL and DCA was a wasted no-mans land. I have no idea how this space is utilized in the crowded summer months, maybe the hotel is not do-able, but with land at an extreme premium in this area it might be worth investigating.

 

[pheneix]

An "update" has been posted at source of the article that pretty much puts out the fire started by last weeks "article." You all can believe as much as you want to from it (I wouldn't recommend this site as a credible source of information though) but I did want to share this little quote:

>>>By the way, there is absolutely no truth in the rumors that the parade from the Magic Kingdom in WDW was ever considered for a move to Disneyland to be used as the 50th Anniversary parade. The rumors are just plain wrong.<<<

Either AV or myself ruffled some feathers over there...

http://www.mouseinfo.com/mousetalk/showthread.php?postid=60385#post60385

 

[Another Voice]

Of course, this comes from the same camel* that last year swore there would be absolutely no discounts at the “exceeding expectations” California Adventure and those that did mention discounts were vile malcontents out to mindlessly bash Disney when they weren’t running over puppies. Of course, within a matter of days Disney announced a whole slew of discounts for the park.

Personally, I still expect to see the snow globes gliding their way down Main Street next year. Internal Disney economics all but demand it (unless the Japanese or the French are waiting with their check book in hand). Then again, it could also very well be true (according to another rumor) that it would cost too much to ship the parade west. At that point the “fabulous return” of the Main Street Electrical Parade all the way from DCA will be trumpeted as a magical® celebration of Disneyland.

* - Inside Joke Definition: Based on the experience with ‘Aladdin’s Magic Carpet’ ride at WDW & Paris, it’s assumed that all Disney spinners have spitting camels.

P.S. It would be interesting to find out what kind of phone calls sprung forth from Anaheim over “her” original posting.

 

[pheneix]

>>>It would be interesting to find out what kind of phone calls sprung forth from Anaheim over “her” original posting.<<<

Oh damn, there goes my theory that the whole thing was done intentionally...