Saturday, October 20, 2012

CHITCHAT, YICK YACK, AND FLIM FLAM:  The NYT goes in deep on the revised Country Bear Jamboree at Walt Disney World, discussing WDW's efforts to satisfying nostalgic interests and modern audiences, noting that the Enchanted Tiki Room is recently back under old management following its 1998 update.

related: The Disney parks will be introducing Limited Time Magic in 2013, with special weeks including Pirate Week, Unleash the Villains Week, and this, for which I imagine many here will have suggestions:
‘Long Lost Friends Week:‘ lesser-known Disney characters will move from the shadows to the spotlight with meet-and-greets on both coasts. Photo opportunities with characters that could include Flik, Clarabelle Cow, Remy, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum will surprise and delight guests. And Disney guests will even have the chance to vote online for which characters they want to see.
#freetherescuers

13 comments:

  1. My granddad drove the truck that delivered some of the bears to WDW for their installation. I still like to imagine the reactions when he got stopped at weight checkpoints/inspections.

    And, hey, good on Disney for easing up on the fat jokes.

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  2. Jordan11:34 AM

    I remember reading, possibly here, possibly in a fever dream, that Disney was planning an Enchanted Tiki Room movie. While this doesn't sound like the greatest idea to me, I was at Magic Kingdom in late 2002 and they were beginning to hype two movies in the park, Finding Nemo, which looked fantastic, and a movie based on Pirates of the Caribbean, which, ugh, really? I remember talking to a Disney employee who kinda shrugged and said that was the new plan, movies based on rides, Haunted Mansion would follow. Turns out it was a little better than it looked.

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  3. Joseph Finn1:38 PM

    That first Pirates movie was a pleasant surprise though.

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  4. Joseph Finn11:56 PM

    Time for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! After all, Disney only had to give up Al Michaels to get him back.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit#Return_to_Disney_ownership:_the_Al_Michaels_trade

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  5. Horace Horsecollar comes to mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Horsecollar


    I remember seeiing him on the cover of Mickey Mouse Disco and wondering what his deal was:


    http://audiopreservationfund.org/graphics/archives/7/Back%20Covers/Big/ARC_7_00423.jpg

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  6. I understand, from a crowd control angle, why meeting characters has now become so regimented, but I do wish there were more wandering characters rather than just purely organized meet and greets.

    And Disney sorely needs a boy-centric character meal somewhere. There's plenty of Princess stuff, but why not one that's Buzz/Woody/Sulley/Mike?

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  7. Also, reports are that the single biggest line at the Halloween event Disney does is to meet the Seven Dwarves. (Who are not generally out in the park otherwise.) Obviously, it's expensive, since with the possible exception of Dopey, no one is going to be terribly interested in meeting only one of the seven.

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  8. lisased9:28 AM

    The husband and I went to Epcot the month before "Ratatouille" came out. I scoured that park looking for anything Remy-related -- nothing, not even in France, not even during the International Food and Wine Festival. It seemed like a huge missed opportunity.

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  9. Adam B.9:42 AM

    Buzz and Woody, or why not just Jack Sparrow and friends?

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  10. I believe they are very careful about not mixing Jack Sparrow with other pirates (Smee, Hook) because of the age gap in the audiences, and Sparrow is the only POTC character that does meet and greet.

    The other big thing for Halloween is Nightmare Before Christmas characters.

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  12. Heather K11:22 PM

    OH MY GOD I LOVE MICKEY MOUSE DISCO!


    That is all.

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  13. Tosy and Cosh9:35 AM

    Wouldn't you think they could create a life-size, "real" WALL-E to tour the park? Remote controlled? Seems like a no-brainer.

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