Mouse Extra

I would like to take this space to thank Eric and Dan of Mouse Guest Weekly for allowing me on their amazing podcast this week.  The show is available to download now, so go over to www.mouseguest.com and take a listen. 

We discussed the potential changes to the FastPass system, and really go into a great discussion regarding Epcot and the new direction that park has taken over the last few years.  While you’re at their website, take a listen to their past shows.  This a unique Disney podcast .  Almost all of their shows are timeless, and can be really fun to hear no matter how old they might be.  Also, take a look at the website.  It’s absolutely  terrific.  They have some more to go to make it complete, but it has the potential to be the very best Disney fan-based website.  When it’s done, it will be a Disney World addicts dream!

After you hear the show, feel free to let me know what you thought.  Post it on the comments here, or find the both of us over at the Mouse Guest Forum.  Thanks again, guys!

Many people still believe the next Disney Vacation Club property will be at the Contemporary Resort.  The rumor is old and often conflicted, but there is obviously something happening over there.  We just don’t know exactly what.  Some believe it will not be a timeshare property, but many still do.  Lou Mongello has been caught in the confusion, and he’s not alone…

…the rumors of DVC vs. normal guest rooms and suites continues to go on – even to Disney’s own CMs. As shown earlier, documents and plans filed by Disney made reference to a new DVC resort in paper filed in August, 2006, while docs filed in November of 2006 referred to the building as the Contemporary Suites. This has sparked much debate, controversy and anticipation of what Disney is planning to do. In fact, I have heard from a number of sources that they swear each has heard conflicting stories that they swear to be fact.

It is rather confusing, but this is Disney.  Ever since architectural plans for a new DVC tower were leaked to the public via a design firm’s website, something I am certain drove the always secretive Imagineers up a wall, the waters have been all-to-conveniently muddy.  The always present “unnamed source” has been telling everyone something different, to the point where I have even heard DVC experts swearing to sources who’ve told them this building is NOT going to be a Vacation Club resort. 

So why is this happening?  Why are so many people swearing to two different stories?  Well folks, need I remind you the DVC is building a terrifically expensive property at the Animal Kingdom Lodge right now, and sales are going forward.  Regardless of how wonderful that resort may be, the folks at WDI and the DVC are well aware of the excitement that a monorail resort will generate.  Not a few potential buyers would be willing to wait it out a couple of more years to get the Contemporary, sure to be the most popular location of all the DVC properties, as their home resort.  Any announcement must be held until sales at the Animal Kingdom Lodge reach a point where announcing a new property makes sense.

But those plans everyone saw where rather obvious, and one of the most credibly sourced “rumors” in a long time.  The word was pretty much out, and folks were already wondering on various discussion forums if they should wait until the Contemporary was built before they buy.  So don’t be at all surprised if Disney planted some “counter-rumors” in the fan community.  It certainly seems that is exactly what they’ve done.

Today begins a new topic we will surely revisit many times in the future, our suggestions that we would like to give to Walt Disney World officials.  These are not heady, expensive plans for creating e-tickets or resurrecting extinct attractions, but the things we notice could use a little improvement or addition.  For our big ideas, go the Building My Imagineering category.

Has this ever happened to you?  You are walking around the Disney-MGM Studios, it’s hot, you’ve done all the rides, and now you want to get out of the sun and cool off with perhaps an adult beverage.  Does that sound familiar?  It happens to me every time I am in the park, and since the Catwalk closed, there’s no place to just chill out for awhile.  You have to either eat something inside a restaurant, which doesn’t help much at 3 in the afternoon, or you have to leave and go back to a resort.  If you are hoping to stick around for Fantasmic, this is also not always a viable option, or the best one.

What the Studios need is a pub, plain and simple.  The Catwalk used to fill the need, but that closed sometime ago and was essentially not replaced.  Since the Studios does not require a full day to see the good stuff, yet has an incredible night time show, those smart adult guests who like to avoid the lines by being in the park early have nothing to do but bake in the sun.  If you don’t have any children with you, you’re shut out.  A good tavern, even one attached to a restaurant so that every guest, even the little ones, can enjoy it would be the fix.

There are so many possibilities for amazing themes that would fit perfectly into the park.  Who about Rick’s from Casablanca over by Indian Jones?  Perhaps the Star Wars Cantina over by Star Tours would be a good fit.  (Just think how popular that would be!)  There are endless ideas that could fit into the New York area.  What do you think?  Any ideas?

The Pixar name is closer and closer to a permanent fixture at the Disney-MGM Studios, or so it would seem.  According to Mouse Planet this morning, the rumor is heating up…

We’ll start of by saying that this isn’t a certainty, but it looks like at least some part of the Disney-MGM Studios will be renamed to the Pixar Studios. Paperwork filed with Orange County indicates that the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company of Orlando will be installing a “Disney’s MGM Studios - Pixar Studios Facility Package.”

It should be noted that the 555 Stage Lane address specified in the paperwork is in a backstage area behind the soundstages being converted into the Toy Story Mania attraction. So it’s entirely possible that the renaming could just be for backstage areas; however, it’s more likely that either the Mickey Avenue area that’s going to be rethemed for the Toy Story Mania attraction or possibly the entire park will eventually get the Pixar Studios name.

Go to Mouse Planet’s site, and you can follow a link to view the paperwork.  These kinds of filings are cleverly written to leave much to the imagination and to keep open the possibility of interpretation.  But, the rumor of the Pixar name playing a major role in the future of the Disney-MGM Studios is an old one, and one that has always had a level of validity to it.

We believe Imagineering is looking to refocus this park, which has lost its original focus years ago.  The inclusion of Pixar is a natural fit for the movie side of the company.  If this is just a new area, and not a re-branding of the entire park, then we would expect there to be much more added than just the attraction.  However, we have heard very little about any such additions.  While it may not fit with the “studios” theme of years ago, it does fit well next to the Star Wars and Muppets areas.

Today’s Disney News column is by Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.

Stan Lee is a genius. He really is. Along with partner/artist Steve Ditko, he created Marvel Comics out of the rubble of some old comic company. The pair created some of the biggest icons in the history of this country- Spider Man, the Hulk, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and many, many more. Stan Lee brought two important things to the comic industry. First off, like Walt Disney and Jim Henson, he understood that children are, in fact, not idiots. Secondly, he followed the important aspect of science fiction. That is, you need real characters to support these fantastic situations. Good fantasy relies on good characters. Spider Man at its core is about the difficulties of being a teenager. The Hulk is about a man who can’t control his emotions.  The Fantastic Four is about family. The X-Men were way, way before their time. Those characters deal with issues of bigotry and racism in a kids’ comic.

Now, Stan Lee has joined forces with Disney. Unfortunately, Spider Man and Wolverine aren’t coming with him. An agreement has been announced that will have Lee working on developing characters for action films that might also be featured in direct-to-DVD productions, video games, and comic books. Since leaving Disney, Lee’s biggest character creation was that great super-heroine, Strippella, immortally brought to “big” screen life by Pamela Anderson.

Stan the Man has become a bit of a character himself. He appears, ala Alfred Hitchcock, in nearly all the movies based on Marvel characters. He is the host of a Sci-Fi reality show that brings superhero campy-ness to new heights. He claims to have many ideas in filing cabinets just waiting to be produced. I love the man, but this is a wait and see proposition at best. It’s also a nice press event for a day. In the end, it’s likely meaningless. But I hope I’m wrong. Maybe the next Spider Man is sitting in one of those cabinets.

‘Nuff Said

One of the most heated debates in the Disney fan community stems from the introduction of characters into Epcot.  Since Mickey first came to Epcot, reportedly because Michael Eisner thought a Disney park without characters was a bad idea, the purists have lashed out at the very idea.  But in the last couple of years, things of gotten much worse for the purists.  They could barely handle Mickey and Goofy in space suits, or even a double-decker bus filled with all the kid favorites, but now we have character driven attractions.  And the latest, the Gran Fiesta Tour, is proof the concept can work and will likely move forward.

It amazes me how people were convinced this attraction was not right for Epcot even before they ever saw.  Just having characters there, a departure from the original Imagineering concept for the park, was enough to peak their anger.  Usually this type of criticism starts with the “Walt wouldn’t want this” nonsense, but the Epcot we got in the early 1980’s was so far removed from Walt’s idea to make any such argument baseless.  Instead, we get this idea that the original concept for the park is the best one, with no changes allowed to that vision.  This reminds me of my favorite Diane Disney Miller quote about her father…

“…with the park, it’s something you could change, something that can grow.  But the people who really love it won’t let them change any of the old attractions.  I don’t think he ever thought that would happen.”

She was referring to Disneyland, but somehow the same problem has grown with Epcot as well.  Despite the terrific success of Turtle Talk with Crush, and the new Nemo ride, the quality of the experience didn’t matter.  What mattered was that it was not like the original Epcot rides. 

The problem I have with this argument is that the original concept was by no means perfect, to the point where Disney felt the need to re-work it in order to stem falling attendance.  Yes, some of the dark rides were terrific, especially Spaceship Earth and Horizons, but they were all very similar to each other and the overall experience grew dull as a result.  The Living Seas is a more entertaining experience now that Nemo and Crush have arrived.  The same can be said for Test Track (which replaced the campy World of Motion) and Ellen’s Energy Adventure (which replaced a poorly veiled Exxon infomercial called the Universe of Energy).  And nothing better exemplifies an improvement then the Gran Fiesta Tour.  The Three Caballeros have injected energy and an entertainment value into a ride which used to be nothing more than a cool dark place to nap on a hot afternoon.

And what is even more interesting, is that these new character driven rides do a better job at immersing people into a new environment than the ones they replaced.  Donald and his friends are much more engaging tour guides than the faceless voice of El Rio Del Tiempo.  And Crush and Nemo actually get kids excited about the world under the sea, rather than making them sit through a melodramatic documentary followed by a terribly anticlimactic ride through the aquarium. 

Perhaps I am letting my own experience get in the way, but I certainly wish the Epcot we have now was there in the 1980’s when I was a teenager.  Back then, I enjoyed the park once a trip at the most.  If my parents wanted to go back, I would cry boredom and then often go by myself over to the Magic Kingdom to do something fun.  If all of the amazing rides Epcot has now were there then, I would have never complained.  Now, I find myself there more than any other park.  My applause goes to the Imagineers for re-inventing an amazing park and a great ride.