reddening's thread of DISNEY PARKS gossip

i was the projectionist at its director's 90th birthday celebration

what's it called?

Country Bear Jamboree, iirc?

in his opening remarks he called it discovery; the title card read disneyland discovery; its release title i believe was ron and chuck in disneyland discovery

yes

the director phoned into the Lincoln Center screening, and gave out his number in Hawaii. "call anytime"

Disney's lawyers threatened him w/ prosecution, but to avoid publicity instead banned him from the parks for life.

it was sweet and iirc featured good ecstatic use of "when you wish upon a star"

i hope lincoln center had better turnout

wow I would love to see that!

a few dozen in a smallish theater; sound was fuct up tho

xp

now Disney makes a mint on Gay Days.

while I'm here, might as well show off these sweet Star Wars glasses done in the style of classic Disneyland posters that my sister-in-law brought back from Orlando

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/a8t03c5q2s8l9ua/20160608_153553.jpg?dl=0

wow those are super cool

Last I read there is a lot afoot at the parks, including longer hours for Animal Kingdom, which now lights up on cool ways and gives safaris in the dark.

i was the projectionist at its director's 90th birthday celebration

― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, June 8, 2016 9:43 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this post crossed my mind for no reason while i was driving and i realized it's ridiculous; it was not his 90th birthday. sorry. i forget how old he is but i was confusing him with a venerable member of the local japanese chamber of commerce. the program was extremely long -- don't know what context you saw the film in morbz but i am p much a major scholar of his now. there was a sort of hitchcock pastiche, or maybe it was a blow up pastiche -- a lot of prolonged stops at parties. disneyland discovery was the highlight i thought, tho there was Hotter stuff. up in the booth shutting everything down afterwards i missed the chance to claim a t-shirt with his face on it.

while i was driving

As if Orlando couldn't handle more bad news.

Heard that first thing this morning, that story is insane.

Your fun read of the day

http://gizmodo.com/how-i-let-disney-track-my-every-move-1792875386

what a jerk-off, the Magic Bands are great

Like the whole "wau so crepey disney knows where i am at all times" is some serious whogivesashit.jpg. I cannot think of one negative to Disney knowing that I'm waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise after I gave them hundreds of dollars to ride the Jungle Cruise.

WHERE IS MY **PRIVACY** WHEN I EXPLORE YOUR PARK WITH 20,000 OTHER PEOPLE

I like imagining your all caps is the manifesto when you hole up in Spaceship Earth and hack the sound systems to just play BOADRUM 77 on infinite loop.

Certain 21st century indignities I'll endure for the sake of swiping a lock or charging a purchase

speaking of, Whiney, I'll be at Ft. Wilderness over the Thanksgiving holiday.

My sister worked at WDW and can confirm that you're constantly under their watchful eye anyway unless you're like in a bathroom stall or something (and even then, who knows for sure, and maybe the true purpose of the Magic Bands is so they can finally gather important data on visitor BMs).

a sensible comment:

I went to Atlantis in Dubai, after it first opened. I noticed that all the kids had a wrist band. The hotel/park had every kid tracked and parents could check in with staff to see where their kid was.

I remember thinking, man that’s creepy as hell. Because, maybe child abduction was such a real problem that tracking bracelets were needed.But then I realized just how convenient and cool it was. Parents can track their kids, without having to be right beside them the entire time. Plus, for a water park, they place was like Fort Knox.

The reality is that many parks and resorts are going cashless, as is the rest of society. Sure, they want to track you to see what you like and don’t like. Makes deciding on the next improvement easier. Second, going cashless is a lot faster, meaning more transactions and shorter wait times. The last thing someone wants to do is wait in a line on their vacation. Have you ever been stuck behind a mother with three exhausted, hungry, and sensory overloaded kids? She’s trying to fish a wallet out of a purse to buy lunch, only to find she doesn’t have enough cash and then needs to decide which card to use. All while two of the kids are melting down like Chernoble. You only wanted to buy a bottle of water and in doing so, burned 20 minutes and then had to buy a drink, just to calm down. I’ve been there and it’s not a happy place.

My last two vacations were to places that only took room charge. So, you had to have your key every where you went. Judging from the bill, they were tracking the hell out of me. So, these tracking bracelets are just the next logical step. You won’t forget it, like you do your room key and it’s a heck of a lot more convenient.

redbox proves that people will generally still make you wait in line while they decide what to swipe their bracelet on

Oh dear

The main thing you notice when entering Pandora is that it feels like you’re leaving one theme park to go to another. Pandora feels separate from everything else in Animal Kingdom and, while you’re inside, the flora—even the land itself—differs to create the illusion. Every single employee working in Pandora is in character. They greet you in the native language; they swear you are on another planet, not in a theme park, and they refer to James Cameron’s Avatar as a documentary and tell you detailed stories about the animal life, plant life, and mostly, how the wars that raged on Pandora finally gave way to peace and understanding.

Even before you get on the ride, the narrative explains everything else going on in Pandora. How humans link with Avatars, what happened in the past, and why the Avatar program was restarted in the first place by its founder, played by Sigourney Weaver, in a nice nod to the film.

Like in the movies, before the ride can start, everyone has to be matched to an avatar in order to ride the banshee. A good chunk of time is spent creating that illusion and setting you up for the experience, which I won’t spoil. Then, in the attached gift shop called Windtraders, for $74.99 you can have your face scanned and actually have an Avatar of yourself made. This may sound weird and random, but it actually links back to the ride and everything else in Pandora.

As the employee scans you (an employee who, again, is totally committed to the idea you’re all on another planet) they explain that these scans help collect data that’ll improve link connections on the ride, making them stronger and faster. Obviously, this isn’t true, but the fact Disney has linked a little experience to the bigger one just enriches the whole thing.

Alfred can you go get your face scanned so we can see your avatar with a cocktail

It's too big a ship to turn around quickly once they come to their senses, so I'll give it maybe four years before they've changed that entire section of the park into something less stupid.

"And what's this?"

"The Groovy Rave Forest. We have smartdrinks!"

Either I have completely misjudged how the world sees Avatar, but I really don't understand why they are spending all this money to build an immersive land for a movie no one likes.

I love the detail about how it's a generation after the film(s). "Yeah there are a bunch of new films coming out." "Okay so will there be any tension as to whether the whole place survives?" "Well, um, no..."

Like people write multiple thinkpieces like this

http://screencrush.com/back-to-pandora-why-is-avatar-forgotten/
http://www.avclub.com/article/read-how-avatar-made-27-billion-and-garnered-almos-230327

Is that all just ELITE MEDIA BUBBLE BIAS nonsense?

There are four sequels coming. Avatar will be popular and remembered forever. I guarantee it. Nothing could possibly go wrong. This will be a success on every conceivable level. Cross my heart.

cmon whiney get yr blue on! dont be avatardy for the party!

sorry

Planning a DW trip for next year. Now I feel like I have to go to animal kingdom just to check out this nonsense

This will be a great addition to the Disney Parks...for me to poop and/or apply other bodily wastes on.

Either I have completely misjudged how the world sees Avatar, but I really don't understand why they are spending all this money to build an immersive land for a movie no one likes.

― Jay Elettronica Viva (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, May 26, 2017

nine years later!

Hollywood Studios, which was dead when I visited in December save for the (admittedly impressive) Imperial stormtrooper march, is supposed to transform into a Star Wars park iirc

I think they're just building a Star Wars subdivision.

yes Paris Disney is adding a new Star Wars section in the regular (non studio) park, replacing the star tours thing.

Avatar thing sounds crazy

~$75~ to be turned into an Avatar? Jesus. May as well pony up for actual plastic surgery

Trump may get silent treatment in Hall of Presidents

~$75~ to be turned into an Avatar? Jesus. May as well pony up for actual plastic surgery

esp considering the avatars in the movie looked nothing like the real people (blue Sigorney Weaver avatar not exactly a dead ringer for Sigorney Weaver) and this probably has all the sophistication of a Skyrim character creator

I request Alfred to buy one of these spots so we can all visit and stay for free.

https://www.disneygoldenoak.com/

I'm so obsessed with that fucking singing Na'vi shamen animatronic. It's horrifying and sexual and beautiful and sickening

We need you to go to Florida and create the unauthorized sequel to Escape From Tomorrow, except, you know, good.

It's horrifying and sexual and beautiful and sickening

I've been called worse