reddening's thread of DISNEY PARKS gossip

I have a friend who took their family to Shanghai Disneyland yesterday and took a lot of IG stories. First things I noticed: no masks, maybe slightly reduced capacity but there looked like pretty long lines for the Tron ride, they were able to cram the whole park in a day.

That park has been reopened since May 11th!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3OnQ1CTkkM

this is art

Jungle Cruise about to be less racist

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-01-25/disneyland-plotting-long-overdue-changes-to-the-jungle-cruise

https://www.tiktok.com/@metaphoricallychallenged/video/6901315384029351174

https://www.tiktok.com/@showmelovejete/video/6940050692551822598

Just licking toads to see what happens

https://apnews.com/article/business-lifestyle-entertainment-travel-arts-and-entertainment-071c80ae6c0dabe6e1afbc3b59240131

This is cool

Rolly Crump has passed. Man, the impact!

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-03-13/rolly-crump-dead-disneyland-designer

Those who know, know.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/10/dining/disneyland-disney-world-restaurants-food.html

Separately I am delighted to realize that whatever else with Gawker at least their 'Best Restaurant' series with Rich Juzwiak and Caity Weaver is still up as a subdomain and therefore their extensive grading of nearly everything possible in Epcot is too:

https://bestrestaurant.gawker.com/the-best-restaurant-in-the-world-is-disneys-epcot-them-1700655297

(Though it looks like the links from that overall page aren't working, but if you go to https://bestrestaurant.gawker.com/ itself they seem to be. And so, the key one for Alfred remains:

https://bestrestaurant.gawker.com/shot-sake-margarita-slush-the-best-drinking-around-1699537518

Also, separately, maybe I need to finally go to Disney World?

https://www.foodandwine.com/disney-wine-bar-george-7371523

It's fine? The food, that is.

I once had a dole whip at the grand rapids john ball zoo that was so good because I didn't pay $120 for the opportunity.

.@RobertIger to the state of Florida: FAFO

“Disney pulls plug on $1 billion development in Florida”

via @NYTimes https://t.co/FEr9UgBM9p#FlaPol

— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) May 18, 2023

They're also closing the immersive Star Wars hotel, which is one of the only contemporary Star Wars things that sounds remotely interesting

Wow, didn't last long

I don't really gaf about Star Wars, but I really love the idea of an immersive hotel, and would absolutely love to stay in an immersive hotel for two days.

Galaxy Cruiser seems absolutely in tune with the age of Sleep No More, escape rooms, Meow Wolf, Instagram "museums," etc.

Unfortunately it ALSO seemed in tune with a US economy that increasingly only seems to cater to the needs and wants of the wealthy. Disney stuff was never CHEAP but it always seemed like the type of thing a family like the Griswolds could save up for and enjoy. I did 8 days @ Disney World with my wife in 2014. We stayed at a midprice hotel and still balled out one night at Victoria & Alberts. It was, again, not cheap, but not prohibitively expensive: something I could def do on a music writer's salary

These days it really seems like the whole thing is just made to milk Disney Adults with the ability and desire to drop $4k on a weekend.

The idea for this sounded neat, but I heard nothing positive about it when it opened, and it seemed insanely expensive even for a Disney property, which are all overpriced. But still, I would have thought they'd figure out a way to make it work given the massive popularity of SW stuff.

A relatively low occupancy, luxury priced "immersive" (do the toilets look like RSD2?) experience has got to be about as precarious a concept as some super pricey fine-dining spots (many of which are struggling). Expensive is one thing, expensive and a pain in the ass is another.

stayed at a midprice hotel and still balled out one night at Victoria & Alberts.

My guy.

I wanna say I went on your recco, but I'm not sure

also shout out to Victoria & Alberts who hooked me up with 100% Japanese waygu beef, which apparently has only been available in America for 10 weeks

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Sunday, April 13, 2014 12:09 PM (nine years ago) bookmarkflaglink

...which is a fairytale straight out of Fantasyland lol. Sorry Whiney.

Were you living in NYC at the time? There's a few spots in midtown that have been importing 100% wagyu (then known as Kobe beef) since the '80s.

All I know is that it was really fuckin good.

No doubt!

Best restaurant in Florida.