Apparently the Mission Tortilla Factory Tour at Disney California Adventure is closing its doors to make way for a Ghiradelli display in the same venue. We will miss the free tortillas.
Monthly Archives: May 2011
New Fort Wilderness Dining Pavilion Faces Design Changes
The powers that be at the Florida water management district have requested revisions to Disney’s initial plans to build a new dining pavilion on the lakeside at the Fort Wilderness resort and campground. The dining pavilion, as previously designed, would have a new golf cart parking lot nearby and be located near the current boat dock at the Fort Wilderness resort. As a “dining pavilion” it’s likely to become the newest restaurant at Fort Wilderness. Possibly part of a larger overall expansion at the resort, as part of Project 2011-2B. (Project 2011-1A is the Grand Floridian expansion wing.)
The requested changed seem minimal, but will require Disney to submit amended paperwork on the project once the changes are made. The details of the change request can be found attached to the original filing and are dated May 27, 2011 and can be viewed here.
We’ve included the general site-plan from the original filing we posted earlier this month for reference. The site plan shows the golf kart parking and pavilion clearly – the other documents submitted with the permit application detail the purpose of the pavilion as a “dining pavilion.”
Click to enlarge.
Full details of the plans for Project 2011-2B can be found at the water management district’s website. You can find the specific file about this project here.
2011 Eat to the Beat Concert Series Lineup
It’s that time of year again – when we learn what bands will be playing at the American Gardens theater for the duration of the 2011 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival this fall.
- Taylor Dayne: Sept 30th – October 2nd
- 38 Special: October 3rd – 5th
- Jon Secada: October 6th & 7th
- Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp: October 8th & 9th
- Billy Ocean: October 10th – 12th
- Starship starring Mickey Thomas: October 13th – 16th
- Sugar Ray: October 17th – 19th
- The Orchestra starring former members of ELO: October 20th & 21st
- Howard Jones: October 22nd & 23rd
- Boyz II Men: October 24th – 26th
- Gin Blossoms: October 27th & 28th
- Sister Hazel: October 29th & 30th
- Hanson: October 31st & November 1st
- The Pointer Sisters: November 2nd & 3rd
- Night Ranger: November 4th – 6th
- Air Supply: November 7th & 8th
- Richard Marx: November 9th & 10th
- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: November 11th – 13th
Resort Monorail Station Gates to be Upgraded by September
Disney filed a notice with the county to begin work to upgrade the station gates at each of the monorail resort platforms. The filing says that Disney has until 9/30/2011 to finish the project, so expect to see some construction work at the resort monorail stations soon.
The filing covers the stations at the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian resort. As always, feel free to give the paperwork a once over yourself.
Norwegian Press pushes for answers about pavilion’s fate.
An article and televised segment that ran on Sunday (May 22, 2011) in Norway has brought more attention to the ongoing disputed between Disney and the Norwegian government over funding for the country’s Epcot pavilion. The news coverage has evoked a strong response from the Norwegian people. Roughly 80% think the current film is shameful.
Geir Ness, who sells popular perfume products in the pavilion’s shop, calls it a “rubbish film” and says “I find it absolutely appalling that we have not done anything better out of this at all.” The Norwegian press also spoke to members of Norway’s government. The Progressive Party in the Norwegian parliament thinks the film is an embarrassment. “Yes, I believe this is nothing less than a scandal that a failure to follow up on this” said Harold T. Nesvik, Member of Parliament for the Progressive Party. The Progressives believe funding should be given immediately to cover the government’s 5 million or 20% share of the projected cost (the remaining 15 million or 80% would be covered by private companies in Norway).
Industry Minister Trond Giske, however, wont promise anything and says that Norway needs to carefully consider if the money can be better spent elsewhere. He admits the film is completely outdated though.
You can read the Google Translated article for yourself here.
For more background on this developing saga you might want to check out older posts of this site such as Disney threatening to strip the pavilion of the Norwegian flag and turn it in to a general Scandinavia pavilion and WDI rejecting Norway’s proposed replacement film. To say the pavilion has been troubled is a bit of an understatement – if you want to understand the big picture, the full history of Norway’s falling out with Disney is chronicled in the text of The Epcot Explorer’s Encyclopedia.
Star Wars trench scene ride that never happened.
It’s a question that comes up now and again: What became of the iconic trench dogfight on the Death Star from the original Star Tours? Certainly Disney and Lucas Films didn’t just throw out the concept of riding through that scene entirely – did they?
Well, it appears someone may have intended for Star Tours to become a “multi-track multi-vehicle roller coaster with special effects” instead of an updated simulator. Click the link to see the full patent, originating in 2005 (getting final approvals in 2010) or keep scroll down for some highlights.
Essentially it’s a tangle of track with multiple paths that intertwine. The vehicles would be TIE fighters and X-wings from the Star Wars universe. They’d travel in pairs or groups through scenery and the guests within would experience the battle between the two groups. Here’s an overview of the patent’s version of the theoretical ride layout.
The vehicles, as mentioned before, would be TIE fighters and X-wings. They’d each hold six passengers.
There would large set pieces and film sequences the vehicles would go past in a synchronized manner. There would even be some nice heads-up displays in the vehicle itself to help simulate the battle.
As mentioned above, the vehicles would be able to travel in groups – to sort of form formation, with the X-wings even “interlocking” as seen below.
It really looks like it would have been a fun attraction. Perhaps one day Disney will revisit the idea or possibly find a new theme that will work with the concept as well as or better then the TIE fighter / X-wing battle.
B-reel footage of Star Tours queue and on-ride
Disney released some promotional footage for various media outlets to use in their coverage of the Star Tours opening – generally called B-reel footage – that shows the queue and on-ride in high quality. It also includes actors in logo-free colorful clothing.
Epcot’s Kaki-Gori getting upgrades, expansion
The Kaki-Gori (flavored shaved ice) kart at Epcot’s Japan is scheduled to receive some major attention soon. The current kiosk on the World Showcase promenade will soon close and a temporary location will be setup on the other side of the pavilion. During this period, a more permanent building will be constructed in the old kart’s place. The new building will feature the banner of the Mitsukoshi company (sponsor of the pavilion’s shopping and dining in the main building) and an increased selection of frosty treats.
On a larger scale this looks to be another project that was the result of the recent contract renegotiation Disney had with vendors throughout the World Showcase. Disney seems to have put a lot of emphasis on adding to the current pavilions. Perhaps all this work will eventually culminate in a larger expansion – they certainly now have the dining capacity to support a busier World Showcase.
Our #StarTours Meetup Recap
Your intrepid explorer’s managed to get into the Star Tours blog/twitter meetup. We brought back some photos and factoids for your enjoyment. There’s going to be plenty of website that cover the new attraction in epic detail, so we’re just going to recap what we saw and enjoyed.
First off – the event. Everyone parked at Blizzard Beach and despite arriving 15 minutes prior to the defined window of time (10:45pm) we were still behind several people in line. Disney had a party Hummer out with video screen windows, LED ground effects, and a DJ playing some strange mix of Ke$ha and Star Wars music. After signing a waiver to be used in various media as Disney filmed the event, we loaded onto buses.
Despite being behind several dozens of people, there were several dozens more to come behind us. We had to wait in the buses until just before midnight to be driven over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and in the through the backstage area. We unloaded by that big gate where the parade comes in by the Jedi Training Academy stage and Star Tours itself. We got walk down a red carpet into an archway filled with fog that opened to a barrage of Star Wars characters from the Hyperspace Hoopla waving and being all paparazzi for our awesomeness.Here’s a quick shot of the arch we took on the way back out – minus epic fog effects.
Notice the planet thing floating behind it? The whole area was decked out with those planet-balls floating around in various spots. We’re not gonna lie – we’re pretty sure Disney reused the event setup for the press event earlier that night. There were tables with orchids suspended in goo as far as the eye could see (otherwise known as all the way back to Sounds Dangerous). It was far too many tables for the 550 attendees, so again, we assume they just used the same setup from earlier.
On the nearby Jedi Training stage the hosts of the Hyperspace Hoopla were explaining that they’d been up for 72 hours and had caffeine stored in humps on their backs like camels. After a short sort of pre-show and welcome, we were allowed into the ride proper.Around this time is when yours truly realized the memory card for the camera was back home.. so all the photos are courtesy of the lovely companion-type for the night.
So.. the queue is laid out much the same as before. The Starspeeder is repainted and the overhead projection screen has been replaced.
The next queue section has the droid area totally redone. All the droids are shiny and new. We’ll take this opportunity to play Flash-On/Flash-Off and show you the droids under show lighting and then with the flash to show the details.
Aren’t the droids cute? Look at their adorable feet:
Adorable droid feet aside, the queue in general has new graphics and lighting to give it a really clean and futuristic look.
The boarding and grouping area is pretty much the same as it ever was. Newer LCD screens are over the entry doors and of course the exterior of the Starspeeder has been repainted to match. Inside the cabin new lighting has been installed but otherwise is looks the same.
We rode the attraction three times for the event and we’ll warn you, by the third go-round both of us were very dizzy by the end of it. To the point of closing our eyes and just bouncing around until it was over. We’re not sure if it was the three rides, the Kashyyk segment (that’s where we both started feeling ill during the third ride – and we didn’t get that variation until the third ride) or the combination of sleep deprivation, eating ice cream with brownie bits and sprinkles, and the general heat/humidity outdoors. Regardless, for us by the third time we were out of it. We saw many of the ride options, but not all of them. Here’s a breif video that shows some highlights without really giving anything away:
We’ll say one thing – the visuals are much higher quality and the movement in general seems better synchronized then the old version. We’re not too sure if the 3D is used in a totally useful manner, but it’s not distracting at least. The 3D glasses do make the cabin very dark and aren’t exactly the most comfortable things to wear. About the show programming – in the first Star Tours the vehicles never really went in reverse very much. In this version it does, frequently. It’s a bit unexpected and creates some interesting sensations. Also, from the rear row the leap into hyperspace is a bit intense as it has the vehicle tilting backwards and dropping a little.. so being well behind the pivot point of the ride mechanism the rear row has the sensation of the floor dropping up from under you.
The general rule with these sorts of simulators is that the middle rows – particularly row 3 – will have a less intense ride due to being placed centrally over the various pivot points of the ride system. The further from the pivot and center of gravity, the wilder the ride. Due to the raking of the seating, the rear row is really askew to the other rows and thus is very bumped. In the rear row the average adult also has their feet dangling due to the height of the seats, impeding a really braced stance for the bouncy movement. Long story short – want a milder ride? Ask for the middle. Want it wild? Sit in the back – in particular the 9th seat which doesn’t have any seats in front of it. You’ll bounce around like crazy. The ride itself is 4:40 from the time the CM launches the vehicles from outside the cabin thereby starting the film, to the time the exit doors of the cabin open.
Back to the party… it was a generally fun time with various Star Wars characters coming and going and even riding with groups of people as they went through the attraction. It was an intimate but enjoyable affair.We were afraid it’d be a big marketing ploy that treated us like meat puppets for promotional photo ops but Disney took the path of asking if we wanted to be interviewed on camera, etc.. rather then forcing it.Yay for keeping it classy Disney. Also, the DisneyParks blog people were mingling and making sure everyone was having a good time, so props to them.
There were also some dancing aliens.. we’ll leave it up to you to figure that out…
WDI rejected Norway’s updated film, watch and judge it for yourself
(Update 5/25/2011: The latest on this story can be found here.)
In the seemingly never ending saga of Walt Disney Imagineering vs. Norway there’s another bit of information that has found its way out into the light of day. In an attempt to replace the woefully outdated film after the ride in the Norway pavilion attraction at Epcot, the marketing/tourism division of Norway (Innovasjon Norge) produced a promotional film Norway: Powered by Nature. It was submitted it to Imagineering to be re-cut to fit into the post show – both in time constraints and theme.
Instead, WDI flatly rejected the film and declared it below their quality standards. This would be well and good, assuming the alternative wasn’t to keep running the old film in theater, but sadly that’s exactly what has happened. Disney keeps on insisting that the country of Norway pay for upgrades to their pavilion- lest the country continue to be represented by outdated technology and styles or worse, replaced by another country pavilion entirely. Not only that, but WDI wants Norway to pay Disney above and beyond what the normal production of such a short film would cost Norway to produce the film itself. As the submission attempt has shown, Disney will not approve a film to be shown in the pavilion created outside of WDI.
Was the film really that bad? You can judge for yourself. It’s a longer-form travelogue then the pavilion’s post show would need, so substantial cutting and editing would be needed. Our personal opinion? A few days worth of work and the pavilion would have had a fresh and shiny new film. There’s plenty of good quality footage in the reel to make it salvageable for a 5-7 minute post-show presentation. If fact, we bet a few folks who are good with editing software at the various Disney blogs could edit a decent 5:00 cut from the 11:30 film in less then a day.
This entire fiasco has spurred a grassroots movement in Norway to salvage their pavilion while Disney and government fight over funding. If you want to help, you can join their Facebook page Norway in Epcot – we need your help (translated from: “Norge i Epcot – vi trenger din hjelp” – fair warning, the site is primarily in Norwegian) and write to Disney urging them to stop stalling and posturing for a better price while the pavilion gets further and further outdated. Epcot should be a point of pride for the company, not a bargaining tool to wield.