The Off Topic Topic

[Whombex]

On 10/06/2016 at 0:23 AM, djmcbell said:

I have to confess, I only thought Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey was "alright". It was all too much of a muchness, if you know what I mean. The ride itself, the way it's been put together is fantastic and it really does feel like you're in a film, but I couldn't follow the story and found myself being pushed up against a giant video screen all the time just got annoying, as well as the sudden jarring motions. In the end I decided to look to the side (you can *just* see around the side of the bench) and watched the other benches coming up the track to see how it worked.

I must say it did make me feel a bit ill - and this is coming from someone who's ridden Hulk 19 times in the same day.

Nineteen times?

JEALOUS. I only got to ride it twice, yet it is still the best I've ridden, enough to make it my avatar!

-

Such a tragic incident with the Alligator. I remember being at Kennedy Space Center and seeing Gators in the waterways, roadside channels, and even in the median strip depressions, there's even some in the lake inside the Visitor's Center near the Astronaut Memorial. Sadly I'm wondering already, maybe too soon, how many lawyers are lining up at the family's front door to offer their services against Disney.

Edited June 15, 2016 by Glubbo

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Gators are a fact of life in Florida.

News reports showed images on TV last night of signs that warned people specifically of 'alligators' rather than just 'no swimming'

The kid wasn't IN the water, rather was playing on the sand by the waters' edge

The Gator grabbed the kid and dragged him INTO the water

The body of the child has now been found

One wonders how, with SO GOD DAMN FUCKING MANY things to do in Walt Disney World Resort, how they could have possibly run out of things to do that they decided playing in the sand beside a lake was the only thing left?

Cue mass hunts throughout the lake systems to capture gators by the boat load now. Actually - Disney are unlikely to kneejerk that reaction without a lot of public pressure, so maybe not. I hope they don't. Its an eco system, man made or not, animals live there.

[grrofunger]

It was a Disney movie night on the 'beach'

They didn't just wander down for a frolic with the gators out of boredom

[JacobSibbald]

As an incoming cast member, I'm in one of the Facebook groups with other college programmers. Whilst a lot of the comments have been conjecture, there are some interesting details. Basically, Disney has previously allowed guests to stand in the water up to their ankles, any further and they'd be told to get out. A lot of the lifeguards have said quite rightly that guests have an illusion that Disney is safe so they needn't worry about the risks associated with Florida wildlife. However, the child was apparently not in the immediate vicinity of his parents at the time (about 6 metres away). With the speed of attack, despite the parents immediately rushing to the child's aid and apparently wrestling with the alligator, they were unable to save the child. Interestingly, the body was found still intact and with small puncture wounds, indicating that the alligator only contributed to the child's drowning. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Yup - pretty much per the last two posts.

 

http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/alligator-drags-child-into-late-near-disneys-grand-floridian-resort--spa/news-story/fd2d0fcd5976673e8da05c754f84ad56

 

[Original]

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

Cue mass hunts throughout the lake systems to capture gators by the boat load now. Actually - Disney are unlikely to kneejerk that reaction without a lot of public pressure, so maybe not. I hope they don't. Its an eco system, man made or not, animals live there.

News stated this morning in the search that 4 gators had already found and destroyed. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

34 minutes ago, Original said:

News stated this morning in the search that 4 gators had already found and destroyed. 

@grrofunger stated that last night

14 hours ago, grrofunger said:

They have now killed 4 gators with still no sign of the child (who is obviously gone sadly)

[djmcbell]

Whilst there is quite a lot to do in Disney World, a lot of people do like to go down onto the shores of the lagoon and watch the fireworks. People who aren't going to the Disney parks will often park up at the hotels, grab a drink and watch - my wife and I nearly did that.

Definitely a tragedy, and sadly one where pretty much everyone - the parents and Disney - are blameless, in my opinion. From the sounds of it, Disney really do their best to ensure tourists and dangerous wildlife don't meet, and the only thing they could do would be not to build the lagoon in the first place. And the parents can't have expected anything like that could possibly happen.

[Zanstabar]

Bit of a long shot, but I'm thinking of heading to MW on Friday to see what's happening. Anyone want to meet-up?

[Theme Park Girl]

@Zanstabar what time? I'll be heading in during the morning. I think @JaggedJanine was thinking of doing the same (we usually meet up and wander around together ) so that could very well be possible if you'll be there early

[Zanstabar]

4 minutes ago, Theme Park Girl said:

@Zanstabar what time? I'll be heading in during the morning. I think @JaggedJanine was thinking of doing the same (we usually meet up and wander around together ) so that could very well be possible if you'll be there early

I'll definitely be there early that morning. Hopefully I'll bump into you two!

Edited June 22, 2016 by Zanstabar

[joz]

 

So Frozen opened at EPCOT

 

And here's a handy side by side of the ride it replaced

 

 

Predictably, despite the new ride being better in pretty much every way, the Disney Fans can't quite bring themselves to like it.  The comments on the different videos are hilarious, and since I can't sleep, I've decided to answer their comments on here, so here are the things that people say they don' t like about this ride, along with my response:

 

'The ride has no story'.  Actually the story is simply that you're visiting Arendelle in summer and they're letting you in Elsa's fortress- it's the story of your trip to Arendelle.  Ok so not much of a story maybe, but it's certainly more than Maelstrom's 'these scenes are all kind of about Norway but there is no coherent plot or really anything else connecting them'

 

'It lacks heart'. Yeah because that oil rig and random polar bear statue had so much heart

 

'They've closed in the outside but'.  So?  The outside bit did nothing when you were on the ride except let light in and it wasn't that amazing when you were outside looking in.

 

'Frozen is a fad and it won't be relevant for long'.  Yeah, in the same way that Snow White, Dumbo, Cinderella Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast have been totally forgotten, soon Frozen will be forgotten too.  Yeah, just because it's not in theatres, doesn't mean that the next several generations of little girls (and boys to a lesser extend of course) won't be brought up with frozen as a big part of their lives.  

 

'It doesn't belong at EPCOT'.  I can kind of understand that as its changed the direction of the park, but times have changed, move on.  The direction of the park is changing, and people are voting with their feet. I'm sorry about that but it's true.

 

'It's not much of an upgrade than what was already there'.  Ah what?  Did you see the old ride?  The new is better.  Seriously, name one bit of the old ride that is better?  Maybe I'll give you the waterfall before the drop.  Somewhat related to this, someone else also complained about getting rid of Maelstrom for a short ride, without realising this is longer

 

'There's too much blue'  Yeah, it's a Frozen ride, what did you think the main colour palette would be?

 

'I liked Maelstrom because it didn't have a line'  Unpopular rides = better rides?  Well then, bring back Superstar Limo and I hope they never replace Stitch at MK!

 

'It's not educational, the park is supposed to be educational!'  The park is supposed to be entertaining and profitable.  They've found out that want to have fun when they're on holidays.  And really what did you learn on Maelstrom?  That those who seek the spirt of Norway face peril and Adventure, but more often find beauty and charm?   

 

'It's not worth waiting 5 hours for'  I don't think any ride is.

 

Most of the complaints are pretty light weight.  I've got a theory that most of the complaints are from adults who can't accept Frozen as a Disney classic (which it clearly is) because it's not a beloved part of their own childhood.  New Disney stuff is always supposed to take a backseat to the classic stuff they grew up with.  'Frozen wasn't around when I was a kid, and I don't want it interfering with  the Disney that I grew up with and love!'.  Anyone who just admits that's that why they don't like it instead of making up lame excuses to try and justify themselves will have my respect.

[MaxxTheMonster]

Having a son that was absolutely obsessed with the movie...  I think it looks great and something that my son would go crazy for and to see that look on his face I would line up with him...

 

The only query I have is the faces of Anna, Elsa and Kristoff...  Are they projected onto a blank head as something about their faces just doesn't look right..

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Thanks for the videos Joz. Looks like a great upgrade. 

Honestly when your best argument for the old ride was 'it didn't have a line'... pathetic argument. I think they've done well, and having never been on Maelstrom it was cool to see the comparison, and how much of the existing show space they reused.

[Theme Park Girl]

Was cool to catch up with you at MW today, @Zanstabar!

[Zanstabar]

17 minutes ago, Theme Park Girl said:

Was cool to catch up with you at MW today, @Zanstabar!

It was good fun. It was great to see some movement on Doomsday for once !

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

so after a long conversation with AusParks earlier today,  I'm going on AusParks's ParkChat show next week (not this week) on Facebook, can't wait to see how it goes... 

be sure to check it out  

also anyone planning to go on Wednesday to Movie World? if you do, you might bump into a Theme Park Ninja  

Edited June 26, 2016 by The_Ninja_59
needed to make sure the post makes sense... :P

[Theme Park Girl]

@Clayton please stop stalking my profile. You're really bloody creeping me out ???

[rac2703]

The way I like to look at the changes (especially in Disney parks) is to imagine that the "new" ride is the original and the "old" ride was replacing it. Would anyone have been happy if the Frozen ride was there from the start and then replaced with the Maelstrom, I don't think so. A lot of people are just opposed to changes in Disney. 

Edited June 26, 2016 by rac2703

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

change of plans, I will be off to Movie World tomorrow instead, high chance of seeing a Theme Park Ninja taking his camera out taking photos,  

also I'm not sure if I have told you guys this already but I'm going to America by the end of year, can't wait to go WDW, USO, Legoland Orlando and Six Flags Magic Mountain, and of course New York, ?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

If we see you, that tells me that you won't be a very good Ninja.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

ssssssh! ?^

[Cooper Olsen]

I bought this from Disneyland!

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Looks defective - I'd take it back and get one that is the right way up...

[Whombex]

On 27/06/2016 at 7:58 PM, Cooper Olsen said:

I bought this from Disneyland!

 

Awesome!
Um, guessing you're going to go over your baggage allowance on the trip back home?