The Mouse Minute (Formerly Brad's Everything Disney Blog)
Pictures and comments by Brad Chowen from the parks.
Cartoon Reviews, Attraction and Restaurant Reviews from Disneyland, Disneyworld and just generally everything Disney
My Disney Facebook page is here
https://www.facebook.com/braddisneylandblog
Disney's Hollywood Studios announced a new Christmas Spectacle called "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam" Which will feature music, Projection technology and fireworks and will incorporate Disney Christmas themed films.
Dr. Strange is set to open on November 4th.
If you are at the Disney Theme Parks you can catch a sneak peek of this Strange Marvel film and see Dr. Strange's costume in DCA.
Pete's Dragon flies onto DVD on November 29th. Can't wait to finally see this film which got great reviews.
The Lost Ark from Raiders of the Lost Ark is currently on display at the Great Movie Ride in Orlando.
For those in the California ---There is currently an exhibit at the California Science Center featuring the Science Behind Pixar.
I totally have mixed feelings about the DCA Tower of
Terror getting changed. I’ll start off
by saying that the Tower of Terror is one of my favorite rides in the Disney
Parks.I once meet a group of people on
Friday the 13th to ride the Ride 13 times on Friday the 13th.So I obviously love the attraction.
1. Nostalgia factor: Negative
Every time Disneyland announces that they are going to
replace an old Attraction the Disney Community goes a crazy.It doesn’t matter what that attraction is or
whether they even go on it anymore.I
watched a month ago people getting all upset about the old Skyway building
getting torn down for Star Wars Land.People were seriously upset about an abandoned building that hasn’t been
used for anything in over a decade being taken away.The first thing Disney fans will say is that
Walt would have never done that or gotten rid of that attraction.Then within minutes someone will respond back
with the Walt Disney quote about how Disneyland will never be finished.The battle will then go back in forth for
hours.My thoughts on this is generally
in the camp of “If it isn’t broken –don’t fix it”.
That being said I love that they occasionally update Pirates and the
Haunted Mansion with cool new effects---but I would never want to see them
replaced.Unlike Disneyworld where they
pretty much have a ton of space, the Disneyland Resort has limited space.When they want to do something new and
exciting they generally have to remove something.This is unfortunate, but just a matter of
fact.They pretty much expanded into the
remaining space they had with Carsland. The Twilight Zone is one of my favorite TV shows.The Tower of Terror fits perfectly into the
theme of Hollywood Blvd and the feel of the Buena Vista Street area.The ride is still popular and as far as I’m
concerned it is a nearly perfect attraction.I would prefer that they don’t touch it.I will miss it when it is gone.I love the Tower of Terror so much that I wrote about a concept for a
Tower of Terror bar earlier this year.
This idea coincidentally spread as an actual rumor for
something going into the park about 3 weeks later.I was
excited that my idea may actually have been shared by Imagineering, but the
rumor turned out to be false. Then
this rumor popped up and I thought there was no way that it could be true.
I would love to see a Guardians of the Galaxy ride---just
not at the expense of the Tower of Terror.
2. The Balancing
Factor: Positive
The new ride itself looks awesome.Guardians of the Galaxy was a great
film.I had no idea what Guardians of
the Galaxy was before I saw the amazing 4-D trailer in the old Captain EO theater.I blew me away and I’m excited to see
something done with the property.The
Official announcement via Video from Joe Rhode makes the new ride look
absolutely amazing.If the announced
this ride on its own without redoing the Tower of Terror I would be
immediately on board.The thought of
walking through the Collector’s collection before going on a ride with Rocket
the Raccoon sounds awesome.We could even
get some of the amazing soundtrack from the movie as well.Again this ride sounds great and I’m sure I
will absolutely love it.But the ride
itself will basically be the same ride with just a visual makeover.So although I’m excited for it –I’m not sure
that excite is enough to overcome the sense of loss for the Tower of
Terror.I will mourn the loss of the
Tower of Terror at first and will probably get used to the great new ride.Again I wish they could just build a
Guardians ride without touching the Tower---but the fact that the Twilight Zone
will remain in Orlando for now makes it hurt (just a little) less. Here is a look at why Tower of Terror will be so exciting
3. Is DCA heading
into a Dangerous area with this change? Worried
I’ve established that I will miss the Twilight Zone
version of the Tower.
I’ve established that I will probably love and enjoy the
new Guardians Version.
My main concern about this change of the ride is the loss
of Lands.
Disneyland is the perfect theme park design with main
street leading to the hub that then branches off into perfectly themed
lands.DCA was originally setup in a similar
way with themed areas representing different areas of California.Many may say that this theme was flawed from
the start.The executives have slowly transformed
DCA over the years moving away from that theme with the additions of A Bug’s
Land and Carsland and Monsters Inc. Then Disney rethemed the entire entrance
into Buena Vista street and combined the Soaring area and Grizzly Peak into one
land.It seemed like they were moving
the park back to the California theme.My concern with this change to the Tower of Tower, which is based on a
building in Hollywood will start to create a feeling of a less themed
park.I’m sure the Disney Imagineers
will put some thought into this and unlike the Tower in Orlando –our tower is basically
hidden behind Hollywood street –so it will be a less abrupt transition, but I
just don’t want DCA to turn into Universal Studios.At Universal Studios you used to walk around
and see attractions like the Terminator 3-D right next to a London themed street and Back to the Future next to Conan the Barbarian. It was just a mess with no theme at all and
despite being a fun park it didn’t immerse you in an experience the way a
Carsland or Adventureland does.I don’t
want Disney to lose their ability to immerse you in a Land.I’m confident that they are going to find a
way to do that with Star Wars Land.But I fear DCA move further away from that with this change.
When we took our family trip to Disneyworld last year, the
one thing we missed out on was getting to visit Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto.Unfortunately it wasn’t opening for a few
more weeks.Our trip was planned around
my stepdaughter’s Cheer Competition otherwise I would have planned the trip around
the opening of Trader Sam’s.I was
hoping that it would be soft opened---but no such luck.
I really wanted to go there in order to get the Trader Sam’s
Hawaiian shirt and the cool Grog Grotto T-Shirt. Luckily I didn’t have
to wait to get back to Orlando.The
main store at the Disneyland Hotel is now carrying both shirts.(Actually they have been carrying them for
awhile now—they are just often out of stock).
So for Tiki and Trader Sam’s fans.The next time you head over to Trader Sam’s
for a Tiki Cocktail stop over at the shop near the Hotel Lobby and grab a bit
of Tiki.
I’m a huge Star Wars fan.I’ve seen all the movies.I’ve
watched the Ewok specials.I’ve seen
every episode of the Clone Wars and Rebels and read about 100 Star Wars books.I waited all week for the Rogue One Trailer
and watched it at least 7 times the night it came out.I personally can’t wait for the movie so as
far as Disney is concerned they have this Star Wars fan wrapped around their
finger.
The problem Disney faces with Rogue One is the casual
Star Wars fan.The marketing for a Rogue
One is a challenge for Disney.This
movie has no recognizable characters from previous Star Wars films with the
exception of Vader.As I sat mouth a
gape in front of my big screen TV during the Olympic coverage as the Rogue One trailer
rolled across the screen my wife turned to me about one minute in and said “Are
there any characters we know in this movie?”And that is the problem.The
diehard fans like me get that this movie takes place right beforeA New Hope.The average casual fan that showed up to see Han Solo in the Force
Awakens remains confused.As much as
Disney will try to get the message out as to what this movie is about and when
it takes place in the Star Wars Timeline---there are going to be people that
show up to the theater and wonder ……”Where is Luke?”“BB-8 isn’t in the movie?”Despite the ads people are going to think
this is Episode 8.People are going to
ask “ I thought Vader died?”How is
Disney going to solve this problem?How
will they get the message out to the average fan and how will that effect the box
office for the film?Disney can’t expect this film to even come
close to what The Force Awakens did.The
Force Awakens marketed itself. It was the right movie at the right time. I assume Disney will expect Rogue One to be more like a Thor or Antman at the box office movie when compared to The Avengers, but what if they mistakenly think this will be just as big? Personally I think the are doing a good job of explaining what this movie is.....But is that enough for the average viewer to get it?
