To Infinity and Beyond

Yes, I know. It’s been a while.

How’s everyone doing?

I’ve been missing for quite some time, so let me explain what I’ve been up to this past month.

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I was planning a trip to Disneyland! WooHoo. In all my 16 years of existence, I had never made it out to the west coast to visit Walt’s original Magic Kingdom (and that other park built on its former parking lot). Now, I can say that I’ve been there, done that, and bought enough merchandise to prove it!

While I was down in the Golden State I was also treated to an amazing Walt Disney Studios tour, thanks to Disney Movie Rewards. Ten years of buying Disney movies and collecting points paid off big time, and the tour was definitely a highlight of my trip!

I’ll make separate posts about my studio tour and my days at Disneyland, but for now I’ll leave you with a picture I took during my tour that gives away absolutely nothing, I just really like it. I hope you do too.

My Thoughts on the 2017 D23 Parks Announcements – Part 2

Click here for part 1 of my thoughts on the 2017 D23 Parks announcements.

Alrightie, welcome back. I’ll be finishing up my thoughts on the remainder of the announcements I haven’t already covered.

Let’s start with that amazing confirmation that the TRON Coaster from Shanghai Disneyland will be coming to the Magic Kingdom for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary!

This announcement makes me so happy. We’re getting an addition to Tomorrowland and nothing is being removed for it! The videos I have seen of TRON Coaster look incredible, and to me it will be a welcome addition to the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom hasn’t received an E-Ticket attraction since 1992! The park needs more thrill rides for the older generations, while not creating longer lines for rides of all ages. This coaster will help with that. Magic Kingdom is also in desperate need of extra capacity, and the installation of TRON will help with that issue immensely.

I’m very excited to ride this.

Also being added to the Magic Kingdom is a brand new theater, just off of Main Street U.S.A..

I probably won’t visit the theater much, because when I’m in the parks I prefer to use my time for riding the attractions, but as I said before, the Magic Kingdom is in desperate need of capacity. This theater will easily eat up over a thousand people per show, thus lowering the amount of guests in line for attractions, and making my trip a little more enjoyable.

That’s it for Walt Disney World attraction announcements. Now let’s look at the rest of the things coming to the resort.

Disney announced a new hotel that will be built on the lake in between EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios to be named the Disney Riviera Resort.

I think the Disney Riviera Resort concept art looks so fancy. It was said that you will be able to view both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ nighttime spectaculars from the resort, which I think is a great bonus (although it will probably mean a hefty price tag).

I understand why some people think the resort looks really plain and unthemed, but I think it looks super classy. Not every resort has to have Polynesian Village Resort level of theming, but I do hope that Disney isn’t straying away from their classic attention to theme and detail at their resorts as well as their parks.

And would you look at that! They aren’t! At least not with the newly announced Star Wars Resort Hotel.

This is something truly innovative and something only Disney can come up with and do properly. It’s a hotel that immerses you in a Star Wars story. You’re given costumes, a hotel room with a view of the galaxy, and your own Star Wars roles. I think this looks like a fun idea, I just don’t know if I would ever pay for it. I’d have to see an itinerary and if I’d ever be allowed to leave the hotel (or “spaceship” if we want to get technical …).

Next is the Disney Skyliner, a transportation system almost like a ski lift, that will take you to and from select Walt Disney World parks and resorts.

I’ve always wanted to ride the original Skyway at Disneyland Park or the Magic Kingdom (heck, even Tokyo Disneyland!). That’s why I’m very VERY excited (what else is new) for the Disney Skyliner! I don’t care if riding the Skyliner will take longer than driving a car around the Walt Disney World Resort, I want to sit back, relax, and keep my hands, arms, and legs inside the gondola at all times. This looks like a very fun way to be transported around Walt Disney World, and a nice throwback to the original Skyway.

An Uber like service, called “Minnie Vans” was also announced. It’s $20 a ride. I don’t really have an opinion on it, besides that the van is quite an eye sore.

So that’s the rundown of the Walt Disney World D23 announcements. Let’s move onto the things announced for the Disneyland Resort.

Pixar Fest was announced.

Woohoo?

My thoughts on Pixar Fest is that it’s a distraction while Disneyland fast tracks Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to open by spring 2019. They’re bringing the Pixar Play Parade across the street to Disneyland Park, and this was received with literally no applause during the panel at D23. Want to know why? No one asked for the parade to come back.

People did ask for the fan favorite Paint the Night parade to come back though! So what does Disney do? They bring it to Disney California Adventure! Personally I think the parade fits better at DCA than it ever did in Disneyland Park because the parade seemed to consist of mostly Pixar characters anyway, but I think most people would rather have the nighttime parade at the park where nighttime parades originated. Just a thought.

There will also be a new fireworks show for Disneyland Park, and I don’t feel great about that. Disneyland Park should be mostly about the classics, not recent acquisitions, and having an entire nighttime spectacular for an acquisition (even if Disney had involvement from the start) messes with that classic formula. I’m sure the fireworks will be amazing, but thematically it doesn’t make sense to me.

Something else that doesn’t make sense to me is Pixar Pier.

Huh?

Disney California Adventure becomes less and less about California with every announcement. I don’t mind the addition of the Pixar characters to the pier, but permanently calling the place Pixar Pier is mind boggling to me. It doesn’t help that we know almost nothing about the changes besides what we kind of see in the concept art.

Will the entire pier be renamed to Pixar Pier or will it still be Paradise Pier but now featuring the Pixar characters? What will happen to the already Disney themed rides on the pier? Will those we rethemed/removed? What about Mickey’s Fun Wheel? The concept art shows that it will be renamed to the Pixar Fun Wheel. Are you telling me that you’re going to take down the gigantic Mickey head (also known as the icon of the park) and replace it with a giant Pixar icon?? Also what does this whole thing mean for the Paradise Pier Hotel? This announcement has created so many questions, and I need more information before I can make any conclusions.

Small announcements such as Halloween coming to Disney California Adventure is nice. The concept art for that looks very cool.

I love me some Oogie Boogie!

More Marvel expansions were also announced for DCA, but nothing besides some hints were actually talked about. Also, they can’t use the Marvel name, so Super Hero Universe is what they keep referring to it as. That makes me laugh.

Disneyland Paris can use the Marvel name though, so they’re revamping Hotel New York and turning it into Disney’s Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel. Quite the mouth full.

It looks nice enough to me, but I don’t think the Marvel characters lend themselves well to a hotel. They seem more like action packed E-Ticket attraction characters to me. Maybe I’ll be surprised.

Disney Cruise Line is adding another ship on top of the previously announced two, to their fleet.

I LOVE the Disney Cruise Line, and the more ships the merrier. I’m going to guess that as more ships are introduced, the prices for the other cruises will go down significantly. That means more trips on the Disney Magic for me!

 

I think that covers all the major announcements that were made at the 2017 D23 Expo. As you can probably tell, I’m very excited for pretty much everything. All the concept art looks great and I know that the Imagineers will definitely deliver! The next few years will be a great time to be a Disney Parks fan, and I’m anticipating my visits in the coming years to experience all the new things!

 

 

My Thoughts on the 2017 D23 Parks Announcements – Part 1

I’d love to one day go to the D23 Expo. It would be fantastic to be one of the first people to see exclusive Disney content before it becomes public, while also hearing about it directly from the creative team.

I also want to visit the expo to stock up on the merchandise. Did you see that EPCOT Center 35th anniversary poster?!

(If not I’ll show you. It’s pretty cool if you ask me. Although it was $90 …)

But alas, I wasn’t at the D23 Expo this year. I was at home, like many of you I’m sure. A minor perk of not going to the expo is that I was able to read about everything that was going on at the convention as it happened. It didn’t matter if two events were going on at the same time! I was able to get live updates for BOTH.

 

And I got live updates indeed. Many, many, live updates. So many in fact that I won’t be able to cover my thoughts on them all.

However I will cover every single Disney Parks and Resorts announcement made during the 2017 D23 Expo. From Disneyland in California, to Walt Disney World in Florida, I will go through my thoughts on them all.

So here they are. My thoughts. Enjoy.

Let’s start with one of the arguably biggest announcements. Star Wars Land’s official name was revealed. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!

Ok, to be honest I don’t really care what the name of the land is, but I’m so glad that it isn’t Star Wars Land. Giving the land an actual name (rather than Insert Movie Here Land *cough* Cars Land *cough*) makes it feel more grounded in our reality as we visit a fantasy reality. We already know that SW:GE is a new area that has never been explored in the Star Wars film canon, so to give the land it’s own unique title will help it stand on it’s own. Not that it will need any help because after looking at the model for the land, I just know it’s going to be awesome.

Next up is the announcement of the brand new ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway!

I’m really excited to see how this ride turns out. The Imagineers seem incredibly optimistic about it, and they’re saying it will be Disney’s most ambitious and innovative attraction yet. I totally believe that it can be. I wish we got some more information about the ride, but from what the concept art shows, and the small testing clip Disney has released, Runaway Railway seems to be a fun E-Ticket attraction.

The only problem I have with Runaway Railway is that it’s replacing The Great Movie Ride. Eek. The Great Movie Ride is Disney’s Hollywood Studios last opening day attraction (back when the park was Disney/MGM Studios). The Great Movie Ride has kind of been neglected in recent years, apart from a recent “refurbishment” thanks to a TCM sponsorship, but I still think TGMR is a solid attraction. It’s sad to see a classic ride about classic movies, in a theme park that used to be about making movies in the golden age of Hollywood, close after almost 30 years.

R.I.P. The Great Movie Ride. I’ll miss being hijacked by a gangster (or a bandit. Although I don’t think I’ve ever got the bandit version …).

Toy Story Land was announced to open in summer 2018. I’m very excited for Toy Story Land. Slinky Dog Dash looks like so much fun.

Moving over to EPCOT, an untitled Guardians of the Galaxy E-Ticket will be replacing Ellen’s Energy Adventure and the Universe of Energy.

Bring onnnnnnnnn the Guardians!! I don’t even know what’s going here but I’m ready for it. Ellen’s Energy Adventure is a charming ride and I love the dinosaur portion of it, but if we are being real, it’s way past it’s expiration date. I visited the Universe of Energy once back in 2015, and enjoyed my 40 minute lesson on energy. I’m sure the 7 other people in the building liked it too, but the problem wasn’t so much the ride, it was that there was barely anyone in the attraction! What good is a massive people eater such as EEA, when only a handful of people are riding it?

Disney had two options. Either update the pavilion to modern standards, or bring something new in. I think they’re doing a little mix of both and I’m all for it!

You know what else I’m all for? Ratatouille and the expansion of EPCOT’s France Pavillion!

This is so good for the park. It’s an expansion of an already existing pavilion, and it adds a ride that will be a slightly modified version of a beloved Disneyland Paris attraction. What’s not to love about that? I can’t find any faults with this announcement. 2021 can’t come soon enough!

Other minor EPCOT announcements such as an updated film for the China pavilion and an updated Orange Mission with a brand new Green Mission for Mission: SPACE are all positives in my book. I’ve never actually seen the current film in the China pavilion, but I’d think that an update would be a positive for most.

EPCOT’s final D23 announcement was that they are building a new table service outer space restaurant, right beside Mission: SPACE.

Wow, I think that looks super cool. Obviously the atmosphere is the main draw here, but I’m interested to know a couple things.

A) How the heck Disney is going to pull this off.

and B) What will the menu be like? Will astronaut ice cream be served???

Only time will tell. This is expected to open in or around 2021.

 

And that does it for part 1 of my thoughts on the 2017 D23 announcements. There is so much to discuss, so I figured I’d break my thoughts down into two parts. Hopefully it will be a little easier to read that way as well 🙂

See you in part 2!

To All Who Come to This Happy Place, Welcome!

Thanks for coming to my blog! This is a brand new thing I’m trying so things may be bit slow while I get this place set up, but very soon this blog will be fully functioning and a great place for me to discuss the Walt Disney Company.

I’ll hopefully get to start posting real things by the end of the week, but for now have a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Da day!