D23 Announcements UPDATED

Snow's Mom;2504609 wrote: The problem is, I can't excited about that. Maybe that's where "too old" comes in. None of those movies interest me in the least. Oh, well, looking forward to the Pandora rides.

Avatar, I totally agree.
GoTG, I'm too old to want to see a bunch of, and doesn't strike me a classic film. NOt like when Jurassic Park came out, and you knew, hey, this will stand the test of time.

Tron, well. When it came out, made me even more interested in computers. Waited for Tron 2 for all these years. So, as long as they don't mess up anything iconic, i'm good with it. Ever touch my Wedway People Mover, and "Cry Havoc!!!"

So once GMR goes dark there will only be four rides and four shows left at the Studios,plus fireworks and Fantasmic! for almost two years. Just shut it down, get the work done and reopen faster than planned now. Not very ethical to charge full price for what's left.

I'm generally pretty happy about these changes with the exception of the GMR.

The Movie Ride truly will be missed. There is no doubt it needed a complete update and overhaul, but I would have much preferred that to it being replaced.

Having said that, I think that a Mickey themed dark ride makes complete sense and am stunned that they haven't done such a thing before. I'd perhaps just have preferred it to be somewhere else.

The Tron news is fantastic, the ride in Shanghai looks great and a superb addition to Tomorrowland. As for the Speedway, I'm glad that a family attraction is not giving way for the new thrill ride, but I would rather this were changed or updated as well. I know it's old but I think using the term "Classic" to describe the Speedway is really stretching the definition of the term - the thing stands out as an unusually standard piece of fairground fayre.

Guardians of Epcot I'm excited for. I wouldn't have been when I held out any hope that Epcot retained the Edutainment edge, but edutainment has been dead since the millennium at least. Therefore I'm just hyped for a new attraction and restaurant in "Future World".

Star Wars and Toy Story I'm very excited for. The new full lands across all theme parks recently havoc been at an outstanding level.

Altair;2504622 wrote: Not very ethical to charge full price for what's left.

Their souvenirs are made by 5 year olds in some 3rd world country for a nickel a day..

Passholder email went out confirming UoE's last day as August 13th...

Rhetoric2000;2504646 wrote:
Having said that, I think that a Mickey themed dark ride makes complete sense and am stunned that they haven't done such a thing before. I'd perhaps just have preferred it to be somewhere else.

Mickey seems to barely exist outside of the Theme Parks these days. What once seemed like a no-brainer feels more like a "Who even cares at this point?" now. I got the impression they wanted to get rid of Great Movie Ride more than they wanted a Mickey Mouse attraction.

Altair;2504622 wrote: Not very ethical to charge full price for what's left.

I've felt that way for a while now. Looking up DHS in the app produced an hilarious list of "attractions" and even that is about half the size it was a few years ago.

As to DHS, they should re-open the Animation Academy somewhere---the part where you get to draw characters. I know they do something similar at the AoA resort, but how tough would it be to put in somewhere in the park? At least until Star Wars opens.:twocents:

Imagine how many DVC booths they can now open until everything is ready.

Snow's Mom;2504783 wrote: As to DHS, they should re-open the Animation Academy somewhere---the part where you get to draw characters. I know they do something similar at the AoA resort, but how tough would it be to put in somewhere in the park? At least until Star Wars opens.:twocents:

We will miss the Animation Academy. That was always a favorite stop of ours. My guess is that the cost per user probably doesn't justify its existence.

Hey hey! Disney actually putting some big $$ back into the parks is long overdue. A lot to soak up but that's a good thing. I like that by the initial concept art for the TRON attraction - it appears the Speedway still lives on! I unfortunately can't do the motion sickness-type rides (did Passages of Flight on our trip this past week and I barely survived) so a few of these new ride "experiences" will be a wait and see for me. Star Wars Hotel, new skyway transportation, new restaurants, another cruise ship....should be fun seeing it all come to life over the next few (read several) years....

RavsRuleDisney!;2505890 wrote: Hey hey! Disney actually putting some big $$ back into the parks is long overdue. A lot to soak up but that's a good thing. I like that by the initial concept art for the TRON attraction - it appears the Speedway still lives on! I unfortunately can't do the motion sickness-type rides (did Passages of Flight on our trip this past week and I barely survived) so a few of these new ride "experiences" will be a wait and see for me. Star Wars Hotel, new skyway transportation, new restaurants, another cruise ship....should be fun seeing it all come to life over the next few (read several) years....

I too am really glad to see Disney building again. It seems that they went through a long period of doing nothing to build new experiences and rather spent a fortune on figuring out how to drain every last cent out of those that do visit. I admit this is an overly cynical view (I do like the Magic Bands, but FP+ not so much). Anyway, I think it took Universal's building boom to light a fire under them and get them to build again.

It is great to see that they are doing something, and it seems that they are adding in many cases rather than just substituting. My only real issue is that to me it seems like it took Universal to make them build, and it is odd for me to see Disney being a follower rather than a leader, and it seems to take so incredibly and painstakingly long for them to build the new attractions. And, I further agree with others that don't understand how they can keep shutting things down in HS before new things are open.