Mostly reblogs about Disney Parks

[whyismangososour]

though it’s very understated in the story of dark universe and I’ll never be able to fully understand it on a personal level (given I am as white as a stereotypical sheet ghost) victoria frankenstein’s blackness is so important to me. the first original character to reach the major orlando parks in over a decade, created by a team that works in a very white industry, carrying the evolution of well loved films/books with heavy social baggage, and the central pillar of a world that merges history and modernity to create something that’s never been done before. and she’s a mixed race black woman going to extreme lengths to prove herself. to prove that she won’t just continue a long cultural and artistic legacy but will make it even better.

[inkskinned]

Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.

At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and it’s not to watch the shoppers. See, we can’t actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.

At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didn’t exist in my household. It’s normal now. Here is something that is not for me.

“What the hell, I’ll take another,” says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.

The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.

I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. He’s not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. He’s not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadn’t spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldn’t have spent any. I go home. I don’t own a watch.

I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.

I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht. 

I’m not worth the cost of a watch.

[inkskinned]

i wrote this while i was working at orlando’s walt disney world parks.

i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.

as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.

disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (“cast members”) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even “face” characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.

at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.

i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.

i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.

we are both worth more than the watch, anyway.

[lebalroyal]

Disneyland in the Spring <3

Just some pictures I took on my camera during a trip. I love how dreamy the film makes it look

[idreamofthemeparks]

BRIDE FLOAT! BRIDE FLOAT! BRIDE FLOAT!

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

The Mission Breakout movie...that isn't a Marvel film

  Since my last post here was about Tower of Terror (1997), and a response to that post by @shaydystheshadowqueen led to the subject of thi

@shaydystheshadowqueen suggested I should check out Thir13en Ghosts (2001) because it looked like Mission Breakout, and the original 13 Ghosts (1960) was reminiscent of the Haunted Mansion. When I researched further, it turned out the connections go MUCH deeper and get MUCH weirder than just appearances...

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Just saw this HIGHLY unusual ride evac of Haunted Mansion posted to reddit. Guests are made to evac themselves with no CM assistance as the show elements are still running!

Anyone know what could cause this? The only reason I'd think an evac like this would happen would be in an extreme emergency, which doesn't seem to be the case here. People over there are just as confused.

[plustheshow]

MURPHY PROFILE PIC anyway there’s a DVC lounge on half of the upstairs floor and then nightly fireworks packages on the balcony for innoventions. I’m not counting launch bay bc that place has been decimated over the years there’s really not anything in launch bay anymore. So they’d lose the revenue of nightly fireworks packages/probably face flack from DVC members if they closed to refurb the building

Haha yesssssss! Gotta love her!

Ahhhhh. Thanks for the update. I must admit, I don't tend to keep up with what closed-to-the-public buildings are used for. At any rate, there is extremely little chance of Disney closing the land to refurbish/reinvigorate it, let alone actually do something with a single closed attraction.

[idreamofthemeparks]

Can I just say, why not just make a new muppet 3D over in the rock and roller coaster area?!

Also why can’t Disney ever make not like D and E ticket attractions anymore that aren’t either thrill rides or simulators. Give me people eating boat rides and dark rides filled with animatronics and scenery to look at!

Easy: they did a Rock n Roller Coaster overhaul because that was the cheaper option. They only make D and E ticket attractions (unless you count stage shows that are basically just dance parties for little kids) because that's what they can put on the billboards and that's what sells Lightning Lanes. There's money they don't have yet, you see. The quality of the average guest experience doesn't matter. Ambience and lowkey experiences to enjoy between big ticket attractions and fun things that don't involve money or several hours of staring at the app, none of those things matter. Just Disney+ analytics and money. That was Walt's dream.

[disneylanddilettante]

Tragically, the view of the average guest--i.e. not the theme park enthusiasts like us, but Mom and Dad and 2.5 Kids Midwest--seems to be that all rides shall be judged by two criteria and two criteria only: 1) is it Fast(TM) (simulated speed can also count) and 2) does it feature Characters(TM). Anything that lacks both could be the slickest, most advanced, beautiful, thoughtfully designed attraction you or I could imagine, but the Midwests will find it "pointless."

[idreamofthemeparks]

You mentioned the Tomorrowland speedway. I’m still trying to figure out why they’re doing this with Carousel of Progress when the Stitch’s Great Escape building is literally just sitting there empty!

And Disneyland’s carousel of progress building isn’t really being used either! If they /really/ want to do this, why not do it there??

This also just seems like such an odd time to do this.

They always seem to replace rather than add especially at World and it irritates me so much. I’ve seen some people confused as why people are upset and I think it’s cause they’ve removed/messed with so many classic attractions and things in such a quick succession.

The Stitch and Disneyland spaces are also things I hadn't considered and now I'm even more mad. If they were making this new version of Carousel from the ground up and putting it in Disneyland I'd be cheering it on wholeheartedly. It would be unfeasible to put a Carousel-type attraction into the Stitch space obviously, but if the goal was to make an optimistic attraction about progress and/or the future, surely they could've done SOMETHING in that space with that concept.

It's taken a while for my opinion on this to solidify, but my final answer is "what the hell, why don't they just change the final scene, there were so many other options... ugh okay fine the concept isn't so bad, they'll probably do sonething kinda cool with it, but I'll be shaking my head during the whole thing to show I don't approve of the change"

[disneylanddilettante]

Unfortunately, Disneyland's Carousel Theater no longer carousels since I think one of the Innoventions renovations that installed something overlapping the spinny parts. So that wouldn't have been an option.

[plustheshow]

Unless they tore the building down and rebuilt it. Which I don't see them doing at Disneyland anytime soon, unfortunately. Which is criminal, because right now the Carousel Theater is nothing (I just checked the website to make sure I wasn't forgetting about something) except maybe storage/breakroom/corporate meeting space, and Tomorrowland is kind of lacking at the moment. Since Innoventions, the theater has housed a sort of hybrid meet and greet/museum first for MCU and then for Star Wars, and between Avengers Campus and Galaxy's Edge, neither of those are needed in Tomorrowland anymore.

I've always found it kind of charming when Disneyland and WDW played leap frog with attraction improvements, like they do with the Monorail. Considering the current state of the building, it might actually be in their best interest to tear it down and rebuild. But, again, I don't see that happening. I don't know how closely tied to the infrastructure of the old People Mover/Rocket Rods track the Carousel Theater is.

IMO, the whole land could use another overhaul. Space Mountain, Astro Blasters, and the Subs/Monorail area can remain as is, but I don't think Autopia is much of a draw anymore, and Star Tours is redundant. (I know they wouldn't get rid of it, since it still pulls a crowd, but one can armchair imagineer). The previously mentioned People Mover/Rocket Rods track takes up way too much footpath real estate. Astro Orbitor is no longer a weenie, since it's right at the entrance, and the theming (or lack thereof) in the area is a mess. Tomorrowland has needed a complete overhaul for decades.

[court-of-angels]

Disneytrip Photos (via)

[idreamofthemeparks]

the fact that it starts at Halloween at the end of the year rather than progressing from spring to summer to fall to winter pisses me the fuck off im gonna. i

i

Oh shit you're right

[disneylanddilettante]

it...what

Did they MISS that aspect of the original? Just not notice it?

Does it take place in the Southern Hemisphere now?

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

I'm not sure I like a year I personally remember being included on the Carousel of Progress as a historical era. Like I know that's how the actual inevitable march of time works but still... ouch

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Also I don't think the new eras map as clearly onto the attraction as Disney thinks they do. 1900-1960s was an INSANE advancement in technology, going from horses and gas lamps to space travel and computers. 1960s-Now is going from space travel and computers to...better space travel and computers?

There's the internet I guess?

We certainly didn't get Horizons style ocean cities or space cities.

Now I'm wondering not "should you change this classic attraction" but instead "does this concept even work outside of the specific historical era that it portrayed and was created in."

[idreamofthemeparks]

Well, the long-speculated Carousel of Progress overhaul is coming

[idreamofthemeparks]

My take is that Imagineering will do a decent job with this (not great, not terrible, just decent) but it won't matter because this shouldn't be happening in the first place. Also I would love an explanation as to why Tomorrowland Speedway is being left alone but a legacy attraction like this isn't.

[disneylanddilettante]

I don't have any dog in the Orlando fight per se, but similar angst ensues every time they announce changes to a classic attraction in Anaheim and I've started worrying that this attitude is holding us back as theme park fans and holding back theme parks as an artform.

Because theme parks aren't like other artforms--they're huge, permanently installed, extremely expensive landmarks. They're not like books and movies, which can be copied indefinitely and archived digitally. They're not even like famous paintings, which can if necessary be stored in relatively compact facilities so that other paintings can be displayed. To a large extent, the only way to get a new theme park attraction is to demolish an old one to make room. And the inverse of that is that the only way to preserve older attractions in perpetuity is to deny the creation of new ones. And I think it sucks balls to say "This earlier generation of artists produced work so sublime that no one else can ever create in this field."

[idreamofthemeparks]

I was a bit bullish on the era choices at first until a creator pointed out that the 1900s were 60 years ahead of the Worlds Fair where the 1960s were 60 years from present day

Also the more I reflect starting with the moon landing and ending on a “future” on a space station also makes sense

I am manifesting the final scene has horizons Easter Eggs

Yeah, I don't disagree with you and I'm not against this as a standalone concept. My problem lies with the fact that Carousel is such an important piece of Disney history (and I really enjoy it the way it is tbh) and overhauling it feels like painting over a piece of classic art. It carries an important function as a legacy attraction.

However, if some change has to happen no matter what, I'm not against this concept. I'm interested by the eras they chose and I know they can put a good new version of the show together if Imagineers are given proper time and resources to do so. An old Epcot-style optimistic vision of the future would be welcome even if it's not realistic. And yeah, good point about the start and end, I didn't think about that. Once I get past the bargaining and depression stages of grief I'll probably be pretty excited.

[idreamofthemeparks]

Well, the long-speculated Carousel of Progress overhaul is coming

[court-of-angels]

Photos from 2017 (via)

[burglarsonarceny]

was rewatching defunctland and i paused on this picture and i can't stop laughing