You are pretty accurate vaspine. We did the disneyworld one earlier this year and while I loved the bleacher seating and beer delivery, Disneyland has the better fantasmic show.
You are pretty accurate vaspine. We did the disneyworld one earlier this year and while I loved the bleacher seating and beer delivery, Disneyland has the better fantasmic show.
Here is some more information
Along with the river being drained, the railroad will be rerouted to cut thru Tom Sawyer Island. The island itself will shrink along with the Rivers of America being shortened by 25%. This change is scheduled to be completed sometime around April 2017. Since the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are being heavily modified/truncated it will take a few extra months to have Fantasmic back up and running under the new modifications. Latest report I am hearing says sometime in the Summer of 2017.
The plan for Star Wars Land started about 3 years ago when Disney obtained the rights. The original idea was to tear down Autopia and the Submarine ride and build a speeder bike ride and have the Star Wars themed area north of Fantasy Land (somewhere north or west of Toontown)
This whole thing also pretty much delayed the testing of the new FastPast+ hybrid system that they were going to use at Disneyland. Basically if you haven't heard of it, FastPast+ allows attendees to schedule up to 3 fast pass rides ahead of time online or through the mobile app. The current system in WDW I believe uses the RFID magic band (which also acts as a room key and allows you to charge to your room through the wearable tech), but it seems that the Anaheim property will be using RFID embedded annual passes and everyday tickets.
Ok, now I'm mad.
You do not fuck with Tom Sawyer Island.
I think I read somewhere that Tow Sawyer Island has the record for most Disney related deaths. Completely due to people being stupid and thinking they will swim to the island and end up drowning.
Keep in mind that is rumor, and nothing exactly has come out on how they will be redoing the railroad. Also that part of Tom Sawyer Island people can't go to, so it won't affect what people have over there.
The rerouting of The Rivers of America was confirmed on Disneylands twitter a few days ago. So even though it's a rumor about the train reroute it makes the most sense since the train follows along the northern part of the river.
Another possibility is that the train could run along the backside of Star Wars Land so it continues to go around the park perimeter, however that would feel a bit strange having a locomotive in a galaxy far far away.
It will be interesting. The other thing about that reroute is that there is rumor of expanding fantasyland, and that's why they want to get rid of fantasyland theater (which sucks cause mickey and the magical map is a really good show) and rumor is the train will have to go through where the theater is.
The location is speculative, but this is just my guess on what it will look like. Ignore my horrible photoshop of the truncating of the Rivers of America
Using the ruler measurements the highlighted area is a little over 14 acres which is the proposed size of Star Wars Land. This also makes some space where the theater is for a small Fantasy Land Expansion.
I liked the idea of getting rid of autopia and the smelly ass nemo submarine ride. Fuck those lines and the rides.
Hell no to both. Yeah they are slow loaders but kids would riot if autopia went away and the subs were always one of my favorites. There was a rumor a little over a year ago though the subs would be gone due to the cost and the fact it can only do about 900 guests per hour. By comparison, the 3 coaster mountains can do 1800-2200 guests per hour at max capacity
They could get rid of the sub ride and make something similar to the Sea pavilion at Epcot with a nemo ride in it.
Also rumor is (I won't believe it till I see it) Disney I'd planning a secret price hike on the 4th.
Supposedly premium is getting reclassified as Signature and going up to $849/year with blockout dates on Christmas and New years. A new pass called Signature Plus will debut at $1049/yr no blockout dates, free photo pass downloads and other TBD incentives. Deluxe will go up $50 and SoCal/SoCal Select will be non renewable.
So there will only be 3 passes: Deluxe, Signature, and Signature Plus.
Edit: Shit just got real
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/today/
Premium is now Deluxe with Blockout dates a week before Christmas until after the new year. Here is the pricing:
So Cal Select - $329
Deluxe - $599
Signature - $849
Signature Plus - $1049
I'm really okay with the hike because I expected something had to give for the expansion. While we weren't renewing due to other reasons I love the addition of PP PLUS with it !
I've looked at our days visited and it's still a great value for us and we aren't especially local as we're 6 hours away.
I think the revamp in AP structure was needed though. Being so much a locals park with exceptional high numbers of people it was only a matter of time.
Now I am even more determined to pretend my daughter is 2 until our current passes run out. I am going to renew, but I hate the idea of having two separate due dates to remember, so was waiting until ours ran out before finally getting her own.
We get the deluxe, which works out perfectly for us. We'll probably stick to that.
We heard the rumor last night around 10pm and were on the verge of getting new passes since we haven't had one since 2012 after the big price increase. I was skeptical about the whole price hike because usually the media gets a hold of this info, but we took a chance and got the premiums and we are kind of glad we did. The only bummer is that premiums are not renewable.
Right now there is a lot of anger on social media about the whole situation and people are saying that they did this because of Star Wars Land. While it may be one of the reasons, the main is crowd control. Disney is trying to lower the amount of people that hold annual passes (they keep the So Cal because those days aren't blocked out on their non peak days during the week) and I heard they were considering making single day tickets seasonal based where off peak days would be discounted and on peak days/holidays would cost more.
All I can say is that right now Disney is feeling like this:
There's always backlash from the masses especially under the guise of "this isn't what Walt wanted". Bullshit he was a businessman pure and simple and not capitalizing on it would be foolish. I hate the argument that Disney was intended for everyone because like any life luxury it's just that. People complain about ticket,food ,parking prices but will spend 5 bucks a day or more on Starbucks or fast food ,etc. and fail to see how all that adds up and if they made choices they may be able to afford it easier.
I'll miss my AP but I'm excited for the additions and changes because there were too many passholders I agree. In recent months there have been more offers and benefits for passholders than previous years and I think you'll see that's trend improve too.
Ironically WDW runs such great offers once you find airfare deals it canbe cheaper to do that for a week including tickets ,dining and on site stays. So it's all relative.
Bump, stuff closes this Sunday. Got lucky yesterday and was able to do standby for Big Thunder Ranch BBQ since their reservations have been booked for weeks. Also was able to do the Lilly Belle train and see the Aladdin Show (go see it if you havent) which also ends its run on Sunday.
The Lilly Belle (presidential car on the train) was interesting and full of history. Durring our tour the Cast Member that accompanied my group said Fantasmic was going to be closed for two years which is different than what the media has been reporting. Also two random facts that the Cast Member provided to us: 80% of the plants in Tomorrowland are eadible, and the reason why there is a basketball court in the Matterhorn was to get around the city of Anaheim's height restrictions on structures. Placing the court inside the Matterhorn categorized it as a sporting complex allowing them to build it as high as they needed.
Bump...
Looks like we have a map of star wars land and how much space it will take up.
I like the fact that Critter Country will no longer be a dead end and it will allow for more walking space. Going towards the haunted mansion/splash mountain was always a clusterfuck because there was no other path to take to leave that area.
Holy fuck that looks big... Like, in comparison to other lands that is massive...