reddening's thread of DISNEY PARKS gossip

are there actually *any* 4yos that go 3 1/2 days w out meltdowns, asking for a friend

Perfect age for the kids, really. Disney was not only built to steal your entire net worth, but to make your kids enjoy it. Your older ones are beyond full-blown meltdown age. Is your 8m old walking yet?

well he's def not walking yet since he's only 4m atm.

lol sorry for my misread.

The hardest part is that the rides you might want to ride have hellish lines and the only way around those lines is a second mortgage to pay for the privilege.

Things that surprised me about Disney:
- they generally make everything great for little kids, and lines for most stuff is tolerable
- there are a lot of rides for really little kids
- there are a lot of big people

you have to pay extra for an easy pass whatever now?

I'll be in WDW for Thanksgiving.

Mordy, The Unofficial Guide is acerbic and thorough.

ah I forgot about that! Alfred OTM

Moody, I'll also be there in March. Let's grab some pineapple whips.

A necessary read

https://www.ocweekly.com/disneyland-resort-workers-true-magic-makers-survey-shows-many-toil-poverty/

Huh, sort of the same story:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/disneyland-employees-wages.html

Is the Avatar ride worth a 3 hour wait?

Was Avatar worth its 3 hour runtime?

Haha, we tried re-watching Avatar this past week to warm up for this trip and my son had never seen it. Made it half way through. Maybe I should wait in the line for an hour, then leave?

They could actually play the movie for people waiting in line because probably 90% of them don't recall what it was about. Of course, that may make the wait feel more like 6 hours.

We decided to go on the Avatar boat ride instead because the wait was only 1 1/2 hours. The ride was slow, but colorful with some cool visual effects. It lasted about 3 minutes overall. I'm glad I tried it, but wouldn't do it again unless the line was much shorter.

It's unfortunate that Animal Kingdom doesn't have a fireworks show because I would recommend hitting the popular rides then. I didn't think I'd even get to go on the new Snow White thing last time I was there because of 90-minute wait times I didn't care to indulge, but once the fireworks started, the line cleared out completely and we rode it something like six times in a row.

I love the design details of Animal Kingdom. Food, too!

http://leftvoice.org/The-Price-of-Wonderland-Homeless-Disney-Worker-Dies-in-Car?var_mode=calcul

We are in line for the main Avatar ride now. It appears to have shrunk considerably during lunch.

We were considering trying the line during tonight's light show, but then noticed that it had emptied out while we were eating.

I’m still baffled by Disney doing an entire Avatar land because either
a) it was a massive mistake that’s going to age poorly or b) the whole “EVERYONE thinks Avatar sucks and has forgotten about it” is just a creation of media and twitter people

Change is slow at WDW but I would not be surprised if it's a whole different thing in a decade. It was a really dumb and short-sighted IP to build a whole section of the park around.

They can just reskin it tho to a new IP it'll be Moana or something like turning the Aliens ride into Lilo and Stitch.

we'll be in DW from around the 29th to the 8th btw idk if anyone else is gonna be in the area for impromptu disney fap

It's definitely strange to have an Avatar land. Also extremely strange to have 4 planned sequels. I really don't think many people remember this film at all. It was a big deal at the time because of all the CGI stuff, but that all seems horribly dated now, and the actual plot and acting were always terrible.

So we made it through the big Avatar ride in 1 1/2 hours, which I consider a minor miracle. The ride was somewhere between Soarin' and Harry Potter. It was much more immersive than either, but Harry Potter still has it beat in terms of coolness, thrills, and overall design

Now I'm off to the river rapids on my own as the rest of the family seems kind of unexcited about rides and more into food and shopping.

I guess it's a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at a massive scale. No one remembered The Wind in the Willows. That's why Disney yanked the ride and replaced it with Pooh in the mid nineties.

Avatar land is ridiculous for a number of reasons. 1) It's not a Disney property (or wasn't; I guess maybe it is now?) 2) it's a section of the park dedicated to fake worlds and creatures nestled within the park dedicated to the ecology and well being of *real* worlds and creatures 3) no one gaf about Avator 4) with still barely any Star Wars/Marvel/Pixar presence, Avatar is bound to get overshadowed when that shit finally kicks into gears, unless the fifteen Avatar sequels somehow capture the world's attention.

Re: repurposing, Disney has done that a little with Toad and ... Frozen/Norway? But that seems like something Universal Studios is into more.

Very very bummed about the repurposing of the Maelstrom into a Frozen ride. It was one of my low-key favorites.

FWIW, Animal Kingdom was initially intended to have a separate 'fantastic creatures' area that never got off the ground: https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20131017/14745/avatar-what-was-beastly-kingdom

Luckily you can still enjoy Mr. Toad at Disneyland.

I'm hoping to try out the frozen ride, although I'm sure it will have an absurd line for a mediocre ride, but I have to ride everything at least once. The old Norway ride was door though.

The first time we took my son to Epcot, some 12 years ago, we went to the Norway restaurant and it was fantastic. I was very sad when they turned it into a princess experienced and doubled the price for food.

I think much of the Disney food, esp. at Epcot, is really underrated. Epcot food is usually prepared and served by people from that country, and in Magic Kingdom all the themed stuff (Cape Cod, or whatever) is pretty authentic. Compared to Universal Studios, which is just the usual fried shit, bar a couple of themed corners, like the Simpsons, which is still fried shit but at least themed fried shit.

Yeah, if you're willing to pay for more than the generic counter service stuff, it's pretty easy to find decent-to-excellent food at WDW (although perhaps not quite as easy to get a table). Going to Epcot during the Food & Wine Festival or Flower & Garden Festival (currently running, I believe?) is highly recommended if you haven't already if you're looking to sample a wide range of good food & booze.

Starship is playing the Festival tonight, Moodles. Starship featuring Mickey Thomas. I mean...come on. Don't let your family miss out on this one.

Nomad Lounge at Animal Kingdom is highly recommended if you need to chill out for a while with some quality cocktails and small plates

Food has improved, no joke, by a factor of 100 in the last twenty years. Disney was among the first to exploit the Food Channel phenomenon. Now you can spend two days at the MK and not touch fried food.

Huge lines at Magic Kingdom today, I think in part because a bunch of rides are temporarily closed.

Got on the mine cart ride pretty quickly. It was decent, but really aimed at little kids. Both short and low on thrills. Goofy's Barnstormer is more intense. Everything since then has been along wait.

The number of ride shut-downs seems to have increased by a factor of 100 in the last ten years. Shit was breaking down left and right the last couple of times I was there. Do not recall that being terribly common in the past.

Disney's keeping parks open later and milking that Early Magic Hour shit. More strain.

Ahhhh, yes, I suppose that would explain it.

We are biding our time with snacks and stuff like Country Bears, hoping some times will come down. Also have some fast passes lined up after lunch.

i miss disneyland so much , it was a huge part of my childhood. i went there so many times because my aunt was a long time employee .

Make it happen! I'll tell you, getting into the habit of going to WDW every couple of years is pretty much the only unimpeachable decision I've made in my adult life.

who wants to buy some stuff

https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Disney-Disneyland-art-auction-Dumbo-ride-Van-Eaton-13138736.php

Our March trip fell through for complicated and stupid reasons but the airport gave us vouchers to use in Nov which we rescheduled for. The kids are marginally older now. Also to avoid the dreaded meltdown we are going to take them to 2 (maaaybe 3) parks while we are there and let them play in the pool in between days.

Holy shit:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/08/16/worker-dies-after-falling-into-vat-at-plant-that-recycles-disney-world-food-waste/

A man died early Wednesday after falling into a vat of oil and grease at a plant near Walt Disney World that recycles the resort’s food waste, authorities said.

The industrial accident occurred shortly after midnight Tuesday at Harvest Power, a Central Florida facility that converts food waste into renewable energy and fertilizers.

There, two men were emptying oil and grease from a semi-truck into a vat when one of the workers — identified as 61-year-old John Korody — slipped on a grate and fell into the vat, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Korody’s co-worker tried to pull him to safety but fumes from the oil and grease byproduct overwhelmed both of them, and Korody slipped further into the vat, the sheriff’s office said.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Reedy Creek Fire Department helped recover his body, the sheriff’s office said. An investigation is underway.

supervillain origin story

this is kind of bullshit imo: https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Disneyland-alcohol-star-wars-galaxys-edge-cantina-13194749.php

fuckin Star Wars ruining everything

Okay Alfred, time to get out here for a visit and continue the drink experience.

Trip report in WDW in November!

alfred when in nov? maybe we can hang out???

Thanksgiving weekend. I've got a day to myself before family arrives.

aw too bad we'll be there the week of the 4th

wait you can't drink in disneyland? but you can get sloshed at disneyworld, right? wtf