21st of May 2011- Shanghai Disneyland:
Work
has finally begun on the long-awaited Shanghai Disneyland. Disney are being
quite secretive about the project, but a spokesperson for Disney said the theme
park will be "authentically Disney, yet distinctly Chinese".
Here
are some of the things we know for sure about the new resort:
· When it opens in
2015/16 the resort will have a theme park, two themed hotels and a shopping and
entertainment complex.
· Access to the theme
park will be via a 100 acre lagoon, and water will play a big part in the
resort due to it's importance in Chinese culture.
· The park will boast
Disney's largest castle.
· Main Street USA will
not be part of the park, instead there will be an 11 acre park for parades,
meet and greets etcetera.
· The park will feature
several classic Disney attractions, as well as some that are unique to the
park.
· The park will offer at
least three themed lands, and judging by the concept art two of those will be
Fantasyland and Adventureland.
Rumours:
· It is rumoured that if
the resort ever expands, it may include versions of Walt Disney World's Epcot
and Disney's Animal Kingdom.
· Disney could make a
land or even a park with the theme of Marvel Superheros, which they acquired
the rights to some years ago. They can't do this in the USA, as Universal have
a Marvel Land in one of their Orlando parks, and own the rights.
· Pirates Of The
Caribbean may get an entire land, or at least a big portion of one. This was
originally planned for Hong Kong Disneyland but never actually happened. Top of
the rumour list for this one is a Pirates Of The Caribbean flume ride, which
would be more like Splash Mountain than the current Pirates ride.
· A Tron themed coaster
could be built instead of another Space Mountain, rumour has it that this
attraction would be located inside the giant dome seen on the left hand side of
the concept art. This dome is apparently in the Tommorrowland area of the park
(if there even is one), but the area looks more like somewhere inside Epcot.
· Several new water
rides could debut, the concept art shows rides with waterways and one with a
mountain drop.
· A new version of
Indiana Jones Adventure could be a part of the park.
My
view on this:
I am extremely excited
about this new resort, as it's going places where Disney has never gone before.
However, I think the park definitely needs to include versions of Space, Splash
and Big Thunder Mountains, as these rides are extremely popular at Disney Parks
around the globe. In particular Splash Mountain, as it's a water ride and also
one of my personal favourites! (Maybe a new layout and storyline could be
brought to it). Also I think versions of Epcot and Animal Kingdom would be
great, but they can't be exact replicas, they need to be different whilst still
replicating some of the attractions. I think Soarin, Nemo and World Showcase
for the new Epcot, Dinosaur, Expedition Everest and Finding Nemo The Musical
for the new Animal Kingdom would all work well. I think that they should also
add a rollercoaster or two to the new Epcot and a couple of water rides (one
being a flume) to the new Animal Kingdom.
6th of August 2011- Disneyland Paris Splash
Mountain Rumour:
Today I am going to talk about the possibility that Splash Mountain may be coming to Disneyland Paris, this rumour has been around for a while, and has prompted huge amounts of activity on Disney forums, blogs, websites and social networks. This rumour hasn't exactly been the talk of the Disney Community, but it has been popular. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this subject, and you can read some of these interesting views by clicking here
Currently there are three Splash Mountains in the world; one in Disneyland California, one in Walt Disney World and one in Tokyo Disneyland. The attraction is one of the most popular in the Disney Parks, and is one of my all time favourites. Many Disney Fans, myself included, would love Splash Mountain to come to Paris, as would many people inside the Disney Company. Alas, that is only part of the bigger picture, as, although Disney were planning to go ahead and build a Splash Mountain in Paris, it was decided that a ride where you can get very wet was not on the cards because of the cold weather. However, there are systems available where Disney would be able to control the amount of splashing, therefore overcoming the excuse of the weather not being suitable for a Splash Mountain.
Personally, I would love to see a Splash Mountain at Disneyland Paris, as I mentioned above, it's one of my favourite attractions of all time, and having a Splash Mountain in Paris would, in my opinion, really enhance the Disneyland Paris experience. There is plenty of room available and if built, it would take the weight off the shoulders of it's would-be neighbour Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is prone to long waits. Some people have said that instead of Splash Mountain, there should be an all-new attraction built in Paris, but I think that Splash Mountain, having already established itself as a firm favourite amongst guests of The Disney Parks, would draw more people to Disneyland Paris. Disney could also make some changes to the storyline of the attraction, and maybe even slightly change the layout of the ride, which would deliver an exciting new experience,, whilst still sticking to the same general ideas and including the most important features of Splash Mountain. I also think that Splash Mountain could easily exist alongside another big new ride at Disneyland Paris.
22nd of September 2011- Avatar Land Announcement:
Disney have just announced that they are teaming up with the creators of James Cameron's Avatar movie to bring Avatar to the Disney Parks. The first phase of this international project will be the addition of an Avatar themed land at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, with construction expected to begin in 2013. Disney say that there will be many amazing attractions in the land, and with two sequels to Avatar currently in the works, there should be plenty more to come.
Personally, I am really excited about this, although I haven't seen it all, Avatar is a great movie and I think it will fit in perfectly at the Disney Parks, especially Animal Kingdom. I hope that the Avatar land will feature some serious thrill rides, as well as some gentler rides doing credit to this wonderful movie. I would love there to be a rollercoaster and a water ride in Avatar Land! I wonder where Disney will put it? It's hard to expand and change parts of Animal Kingdom due to the animal enclosures. Regardless of this, I think it's great to see Disney giving the park some of the TLC it deserves, and I look forward to more details being released.
1st of October 2011- Walt Disney World Turns 40:
Yesterday The Walt Disney World Resort in Florida celebrated its 40th anniversary! It opened in 1971 with The Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts, and has since added Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, River Country (now closed), Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, along with many resorts, two shopping and entertainment areas and a massive sports facility. Walt Disney World is one of the world’s biggest and most popular resorts, and is the largest single site employer in the USA.
Yesterday the resort celebrated its anniversary with all kinds of festivities in the world class magical way that Disney are famous for. There has been lots of simply stunning merchandise available too, which Disney are likely to continue selling too. The Disney Parks Blog posted a timeline showing all the key events in the interesting history of the resort, from the original announcement of the plans to build it, to the reopening of the Enchanted Tiki Room earlier this year. You can find the beautifully presented timeline by clicking here.
3rd of May 2012- Fastpass Rumour:
Currently, one of the biggest and in my opinion most interesting rumours going around the Disney Fan Community concerns the possibility of Disney introducing a paid version of their Fastpass system. For those unfamiliar with the system in question, Fastpasses, which were introduced in 1999 are, as the name suggests, passes which get you through long lines quicker, and onto selected attractions at the Disney Parks without having to wait in the usually longer standby or singles lines. Fastpasses are obtained by inserting your park ticket into a Fastpass machine outside selected attraction entrances, which will return your ticket as well as printing you a Fastpass ticket stating the one hour time window in which you must return to the attraction. For example, if you arrived at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom at 11.00am, you could walk to an attraction such as Splash Mountain, seeing that the Fastpass return time is between 2.45pm and 3.45pm. You could then get a Fastpass from the machine, and then are free to enjoy the rest of the park until your return time, returning at your allocated time to enjoy Splash Mountain with minimal wait. There are, however, limits to the amount of Fastpasses distributed each day, with the return time window being put five minutes further back after a certain number of passes are distributed. Limits are also put on the amount of Fastpasses each person can obtain, you can only obtain another Fastpass when the first Fastpass’ return time arrives, or after two hours, whichever is first.
The rumour which I mentioned above is that Disney may introduce a version of the Fastpass system where you pay for your Fastpasses. It’s almost definite that a Fastpass reservation system is going to be introduced, as Disney filed a patent for such a system a few years ago, but have done nothing much more since. Obviously, in order to charge for Fastpasses, Disney would have to offer something more, and not merely what they are already giving people for free. This interesting rumour has been around for quite some time, but died down slightly. However the recent decision by Disney to begin enforcing the return times completely (until recently they were quite flexible about when you returned, and mostly turned a blind eye if you were late, now, if you turn up late and the attraction was open when your return window was in effect, you will usually be turned away), has meant that this rumour has once again become a talking point amongst Disney Fans.
The rumour says that this paid version would be called the‘VIP Attraction Add-On’, and would cost about $150 (roughly £90). It would be similar to the systems found at Universal and SeaWorld parks, in that it would only be available to a limited number of guests, and would provide unlimited access to the Fastpass lines at participating attractions.
There was always the possibility of a system similar to that of Merlin Entertainment’s Thorpe Park, where guests can purchase in advance or at the park itself, passes to skip the lines at Thorpe Park’s many popular attractions. They offer passes for individual rides as well as different ride combinations (this, I think, would work well at Disney, for example the Magic Kingdom could have a mountains combination available for purchase, including Space, Splash and Big Thunder Mountains), and the Thorpe Park passes also have a return time. This would be good, especially for attractions such as Toy Story Mania, which is usually relieved of all its Fastpasses pretty soon after park opening. However, as I mentioned earlier, it looks like a system where you could reserve a Fastpass is already on its way, and this, alongside the fact that the Thorpe Park system would basically be a paid version of the current system, which doesn’t need updating, makes this possibility redundant, although some elements (such as the attraction combination tickets which don’t cover all attractions), could be used if Disney do go ahead with the system.
However, if the system is given the nod by the people in charge at Disney, it’s most likely that it will be the first variation of these systems which I described. If introduced, it will probably have considerable effects on the parks, which would probably still be felt for a good many years, as returning guests will have to adapt to the system, as well as obviously the parks themselves. This would not only involve people actually getting used to the new system, but also things like queue lines being reconfigured, as well as all the other things the system would bring. Despite this, it’s mostly unclear what the exact nature of these effects, as well as their duration, would be, as the only thing which might give us a vague indication is the use of Gold Fastpasses once in the parks, where an extremely small number of Gold Fastpasses, which allowed you unlimited visits to the Fastpass queue at all the attractions at the park you were in for that day (they were won at competitions inside the parks), were given out. This, alongside a couple of other times where small amounts of similar passes have been available, as well as the systems at other parks, which are dramatically different to the Disney Parks, fail to give a proper prediction of what might happen.
Unfortunately, as just about every other article on this subject will tell you, a paid Fastpass system in any form wouldn’t really work; it wouldn’t be particularly feasible in many people’s opinions. It would be hard to control the crowds, as all the guests who purchase the paid Fastpass would be given freedom to return as they please, which would make the crowds unpredictable. For example, in an ideal world, if there are 1000 guests with Paid Fastpasses in the park at a given time, they would ideally be dispersed evenly around the park, experiencing the attractions which their Fastpass allows them to, with maybe 50 lining up for each attraction, allowing for guests who have the passes, but aren’t experiencing Fastpass attractions at the time. However, the system would give these guests the freedom to go where they want, when they want, which creates the possibility of all Fastpass guests going to an attraction at once, which potentially means longer queues than the standby line. This, as well as a list of countless other factors, impossible to list here in its entirety, means that the system most likely wouldn’t work without some major tweaks to the one people are talking about. As if that wasn’t enough, bringing in the system would make something that is currently free (this helps attract more visitors), cost money, which wouldn’t go down well, especially in the current economic climate, when everybody’s trying to save money. Having this sensational perk free of charge is part of what sets Disney apart from its competitors, and to suddenly make people pay for it would destroy that distinction.
So overall, it seems that if a system similar to the one I’ve described is on the way at Disney, it certainly won’t be soon. Like I said, this rumour is being talked about a lot at the moment on loads of Disney Fan Websites, Blogs and Podcasts, there are some great articles on this subject, which are all extremely interesting, and it’s definitely worth reading some of them!
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