Cars Land and a Tale of 3 Rides

Cars Land Artwork from Disney Parks Blog

There is the old saying, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.  This saying has far ranging application from us as individuals to governments to theme parks.

Cars Land is now less than 30 days from its grand opening. Disney fans are chomping at the bit to get in and get a look ignoring the cautions being thrown out that the demand to get into the place may exceed its physical ability to fit everyone.  As I’ve said before, I’m in no hurry to stand in a long line. A quiet Tuesday in mid-November may seem like a nice time to pay the place a visit.

The pictures of Cars Land look spectacular especially at nighttime when its oozing with brightly colored neon lights. They really did recreate the town of Radiator Springs from the Cars movies. I’m still not convinced that theming a large piece of real estate after a movie is the best thing to do but the verdict is still out. Will the popularity of the Cars movies sustain through the decades? Hard to tell. Look at ToonTown or A Bug’s Land both themed after movies that few people ever watch anymore. What is now Cars Land was originally conceived as a land based on the old mythical Route 66 and the wide open spaces of the desert Southwest. I would have preferred that it be kept that way but apparently that isn’t the most marketable way to introduce a new land. This is all about money and consumer products based on the Cars movies that sell in incredible numbers.

So Cars Land now comes down to a charming main drag with a large counter service restaurant (Flo’s V8 Café), a quick snack area (Cozy Cones), a couple of places to buy stuff, and 3 rides. It’s the rides that I’m taking a look at here.

Radiator Springs Racers Artwork
Disney Parks Blog

Radiator Springs Racers is a slam dunk E-Ticket attraction that covers an astounding 6 acres of land and is based on the highly successful Test Track ride in WDW’s EPCOT. But RCR offers some features that Test Track does not have which is primarily an undulating track which shows off slight elevation changes. This ride would be a success whether or not the movie Cars ever existed. Quite frankly, I’d prefer my Radiator Springs Racer car to not have a face painted on it. But this is going to be a winner for Disney and DCA for years to come.

Mater's Junkyar Jamboree Artwork
Disney Parks Blog

Meter’s Junkyard Jamboree is a big step down from RCR but hey, you need something for the little kids to have some fun in and getting gently flung about in a trailer behind a tractor seems like a nice way to go. Reminds me of kind of like a tea cup ride. Sure it’s a C-Ticket attraction at best but the park needs those as well. I just hope to heaven the voice of Larry the Cable Guy doesn’t blare at you constantly. That voice is like fingernails across a blackboard to me.

Luigi's Flying Tires Artwork
Disney Parks Blog

And finally we are back to our story about history that began this post. The third attraction Luigi’s Flying Tires. On the surface of it, it’s a great idea for an attraction as giant tires which serve as ride vehicles move about on thousands of air jets just like an air hockey puck – yes, it’s a hover craft. But didn’t Disneyland have hover crafts in the form of flying saucers a long time ago? Why yes they did. The original flying saucers attraction ran in Tomorrowland from 1961 to 1966 but did not make it when Tomorrowland was refurbished in 1967. The old flying saucers attraction used to be where the Magic Eye Theater (Captain EO) now sits. The flying saucers attraction failed because of high upkeep and maintenance costs and the fact that it was a slow loader which only a relatively small number of park guests were able to enjoy in the course of day.

Guess what they are saying about Luigi’s Flying Tires before the ride officially opens? It is tremendously slow loading. The ride vehicles are difficult maneuver without practice and experience and one you do get it figured out a little bit on how to get around, what do you actually do? The original flying saucers failed as a ride attraction. Why Disney thought they could make the almost identical ride succeed 40 years later is anyone’s guess? Luigi could have problems, trouble, and controversy written all over it. Will it survive 5, 10, 15 years? I have my doubts. So do others.

Do I expect to spend a lot of time in Cars Land as the years wear on and the novelty wears off? Only as a means to get to the Radiator Springs Racers I would guess just like Roger Rabbit is my only reason for setting foot in ToonTown. Kind of the same deal.

 

Betting On Pixar - A 'Brave' Prediction

Merida from Pixar's Brave - A Disney Parks Blog Photo

I can't say that I have been particularly impressed with the still publicity photos and YouTube trailers for Pixar's new Brave movie which will open June 22nd. That changed yesterday when I saw the 3D preview in front of Marvel's The Avengers. The trailer was stunning and convinced me that Brave will be a winner. Brave marks the return of Pixar in bringing an original story to the screen. We last had the dreadful Cars 2 and previous to that was the astonishingly well made Toy Story 3 but Brave marks Pixar's first original film since Up. And if were I betting man, Up would be a good benchmark for Brave as would Ratatouille. A lot is made of animated movies that feature female leads and their relative success. I believe Merida from Brave will transcend that bias or at least put up a good spirited fight.

Up brought Pixar its customary Oscar for best animated film (Cars 2 was not even nominated). It was a solid box office performer with global appeal. So that is where I kind of seeing Brave ending up and that certainly isn't a bad place to be. When all is said and done, I think Pixar and Disney will pat themselves on the back for this film. A great story, beautifully filmed, with memorable characters is always the best place to start. I couldn't say it before yesterday but now I am looking forward to seeing Brave come to life on the screen.

Oh! By the way, Disney announced it was putting in a Brave Meet and Greet with Merida and friends over by it's a small world in Disneyland and adding a Brave promotional segment to World of Color in Disney California Adventure. This should come as a surprise to.... nobody.

Disneyland Traveler Finally Sees The Avengers

I've been excited to see Marvel's The Avengers for months now. I was not alone as 19 days after its world wide release and a week after its release in the United States, the movie has already raked in over a billion dollars in box office receipts. I had to hold off my viewing of the film at the theater because.....well.....I have a problem with crowded movie theaters and claustrophobia. Crowded theaters limit my ability to enjoy movies.

With that in mind, I saw the movie yesterday, a Monday afternoon. Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I took in a 2:00pm matinee in a 3D theater with about 10 people watching the film including us. Just the way I like it. I had no doubt the movie would deliver the goods after reading other reviews the last couple of weeks. It did. Was it a great movie? Well, I wouldn't call it great but it was solid storytelling (almost like reading a comic book), very entertaining, and really pretty funny in spots since you can't take this stuff too seriously. Not a great movie but a very, very good movie that will keep most viewers riveted to the screen. 

The Hulk steals the scenes he is in with the mild mannered Mark Ruffalo giving the perfect counter balance to the raging monster. Robert Downey Jr. gets the best lines as always (though the wise guy act is wearing a little thin). The 2 Chris's - Hemsworth and Evans get to flex their muscles. And Scarlett Johansson is Scarlett Johansson for better or worse.

When the Blu-Ray home video packages come out in what my guess is mid September, Mrs. DLT has already said we are going to pick one up. This is the kind of movie where you just really want to see all the bonus features you can get. To get a large cast together to make a successful movie is never an easy feat. All credit goes to director Joss Whedon and Marvel producer Kevin Feige. Marvel runs a tight operation with their films and it shows with a classic movie experience that is The Avengers.

A billion dollars and counting. Disney's Bob Iger really did know what he was doing when he laid out the big bucks to bring Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios under the Disney umbrella. These are fine days to be a Disney accountant.

P.S. - The scene that is shown after the credits is priceless. That's the poster I want to see.

Marvel's The Avengers is a solid E-Ticket movie. Can't wait for the ride.

My Disneyland Bucket List - Item #4

I said I was going to do it. When Disney announced that is was now accepting reservations for the new Carthay Circle Restaurant in California Adventure, I knew it had to go on the bucket list. Now if I were I a betting person, and I'm really not, I'd be willing to wager a meal in this new high end restaurant is going to make a meal at the Blue Bayou seem like a deal so for Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I, we'd have to look at our projected park budget. If we were going on the cheap, a meal at CCR may not be practical as a meal there probably is going to equal and entire days food budget and maybe then some. But sometimes we really do treat ourselves and this where Carthay Circle dining experience comes in. It's going on the bucket list. We may not go on our next trip (hopefully later this year) but we are definitely going to eat there.

We have eaten at every table service restaurant in Disneyland and DCA, we can't leave CCR out. 

Disneyland's Tomorrowland - Reaching for ... Futility

"A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man's achievements.... A step into the future with predictions of constructive things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure, and ideals, the atomic age, the challenge of outer space and the hope for a peaceful and unified world."

Walt Disney's Dedication of Tomorrowland - July 17, 1955

The world was much different when Walt Disney dedicated Tomorrowland in 1955 than it is today.  There really was a world of tomorrow in space exploration, earth exploration, science, and technology.  The future was as big as imagination would allow it to be. But it's 2012 and Walt Disney has been dead for 45 years or so. The future is still unknown in the big picture of it all but in today's world things change rapidly, too rapidly for anyone to keep up let alone a theme park. The Dell notebook computer I am typing this blog entry on right now is probably a year a old and was outdated by the time I got it out of the box. Everyone has a cell phone but its lifespan is about as long as it take to learn how to use it. Manned space travel is coming to an end probably because someone figured out "wow! this is expensive". The deepest trenches of the oceans have been explored and for the most part it's been discovered that it is cold, dark, and kind of boring down there. Advances in medicine and science occur so fast that it boggles the mind and unfortunately the driving force may be said to be for the betterment of mankind but often its "there's a lot of money to be made in this stuff".

For years, Disneyland was able to fit Walt's dreams and vision of a land of Tomorrow with it rides and attractions. But everyone knows for the last couple of decades Disneyland's Tomorrowland has deteriorated into a mish-mashed collection of rides and attractions, most having nothing to do with tomorrow at all.

Stand on the upper of level of the Innoventions building and survey the Tommorland landscape. To the left is what most people feel is Tomorrowland's best attraction, Space Mountain, an imaginative ride not based on a movie (what a concept!). It's great but here we go. Off to the right is Autopia, still a great ride for kids and a popular one, but it has nothing to do with tomorrow other than kids actually do grow up and drive cars in their futures. Next to it is Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage. The subs WERE great once upon a time but now they get to explore what basically is a cartoon.

Speaking of cartoons, a little further down is Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, a really good ride that Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I enjoy thoroughly, but is it a ride of "tomorrow"? No, Buzz Lightyear when you come down to it, is a toy. 

Across from Buzz sits the recently rebooted and great Star Tours with its impressive motion simulation 3D technology. Lines are long again and people love it. With 56 possible story combinations, its a way to get people hopping back on again and again. But Star Tours is based on the Star Wars movie franchise and the creative mind of George Lucas, not Walt Disney. Accompanying Star Tours is the Jedi Training Academy which allow kids to have a great time interacting with Star Wars characters. Even if your an adult, it's fun to watch as you sit out on the venerable Tomorrowland Terrace.

Then there's Captain EO, a refugee from the 80's, that was a bad idea to bring back to Tomorrowland and everyone knows is going to be given the boot sometime in the near future. Does anyone even go in there anymore to see the silliness of it all?

And there's Innoventions itself which is supposed to be all about tomorrow but other than ASIMO, the amazing robot built by Honda, what goes on in there is essentially a big commercial for companies like HP, Microsoft, and Yamaha that pay Disney big money to pay the light bill in there.

So what's the point? The point is there is little tomorrow left in Tomorrowland. The theme of the original land is obscenely askewed. There will probably be a Marvel attraction based on the Avengers somewhere in Disneyland (or DCA) at some point and a lot of people look to the cavernous, under-utilized Innoventions building as a likely piece of real estate to acquire for a major attraction. But again, there is nothing tomorrow about The Avengers though comics certainly do have the ability to bend time and space.

Here is the thought of a heretic - just dump the concept of a Tomorrowland. To theme to that name is an effort in futility. Rides and attractions cost millions (even hundreds of millions) to build. Why try to strap them to an unachievable effort in Tomorrowland theming? CHANGE THE NAME for crying out loud. I don't know the name yet, I'm sure one will come to me but there has to be something better than Tomorrowland that will allow the popular attractions of Space Mountain, Nemo subs, Autopia, Buzz Lightyear, and Star Tours to co-exist with Marvel's The Avengers.

Now some may think this is sacrilegious going against a land that Walt Disney himself put into his park but the time has come. I wrote yesterday in a forum that many will think the dumping of a conceptual Tomorrowland would have Walt spinning in his grave. But Walt Disney has been dead for 45 years and at this point, I believe he is done spinning.

  

Cars Land at Night - 30 Amazing Seconds

The video below is only 30 seconds long and was shown in ABC's Modern Family Disneyland episode last night. The Mater voice drives me up a wall but the spectacular video of Cars Land lit up at night more than makes up for it. This place is going to be amazing. This place is going to be CROWDED.

Carthay Circle Restaurant Now Accepting Reservations

Angus Steak Cobb Salad - Carthay Circle Restaurant
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Disney Parks Blog just posted that the new Carthay Circle Restaurant on Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure is accepting reservations for June 15 and beyond. From the looks of the 256 seat restaurant based on photos that have been released and the menu put together by Napa Rose Chef Andrew Sutton, this is going to be one expensive dining experience but one that promises to be a memorable one. Sometime in the next few days will come post to this blog where dining at the Carthay Circle Restaurant goes on my official Disneyland Bucket List. Expecting Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I to spend about $200+ on this one.

Crispy Firecracker Duck Wings - Carthay Circle Restaurant
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Jamaican Jerked Kingfish - Carthay Circle Restaurant
A Disney Parks Blog Phot0

Finally, the ultimate in decadence....

Fried Banana Split Monte Cristo Sundae - Carthay Circle Restaurant
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

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