Nightastic!
 

The tweets didn't provide much info, so how are the new Nightastic! additions? Don't know when we'll get out there to fight the crowds to see it...

Lots of video clips at Mouseplanet.tv

Witnesses are here. They say the following:

No Dumbo during Fireworks (but I've no review yet on the show itself).

Fantasmic mania, with people camping out from noon onwards, annoucement that viewing area is full ... which neither they nor I have ever heard in our lives.

No new dragon, of course. But new Croc is awesome, moving jaws, arms, eyeblinks and sitting directly IN the water.

Flotsam and Jetsam were causing too much splash wake, so they slither about very slowly and are very creepy.

Main Street Electrical Parade in DCA had difficulties and was delayed. No word here yet if it ever stepped off.

Every-15-minutes Tink Hollow night lighting craziness is a WIN.

But nearby Astro Orbiter has been painted ONLY, and they did NOT fix the moving planets. Bah.


All in all, we are dubbing it Summer Failtastic. Might take a while to work the kinks out.


Sigh, I'm glad my AP doesn't renew till July. I'm going to wait till 54th Birthday to watch new Fantasmic!

It's dayrific!

I got some video of the eels passing. I'll put it up on YouTube later.

I went to see Dumbo. No Dumbo.

Near me on Main Street a group of people gathered to watch fireworks together. A number of them had Believe (or was it Remember, all the names of these shows are the same to me) crew jackets and they obviously knew the tech people on the roof. Wanted to get closer after to hear their reactions but it was too mobbed.

Kids loved the confetti. Forget the Dustbuster crews, just give the kids a little time and they'll take it all home.

I'm avoiding video, I just wanted to hear reactions.

Failtastic! :p

I almost went last night to see the fireworks, but didn't make it. The main reason is to see the flying Dumbo. So, is it not working yet? I hadn't heard about any problems with it.

I know about the broken "Murphy" dragon. I'll wait for it to be working before going.

I haven't been able to see Pixie Hollow yet, and I'm glad. I'll have to check it out with all of the new additions.....

From a reliable source, some operator instructed the new dragon to open her wings while still in the pit. Distaster ensued, and repairs are not expected to be complete for 3 more weeks.


Nice.

Summer Failtastic indeed.

Where's the security footage!?!?

When we saw the fireworks Monday, we were sitting in the SW mall area. We could see Tink swing back & forth. Dumbo made it out, but he didn't seem to be moving very well and was pulled back in pretty quickly.

I saw Dumbo during the test firings last week. Pretty cool, IMHO.

I can't wait to see the new Bucky (eg: dragon)

Also saw Dumbo during testing and it was tons cuter than I was expecting. The whole fireworks show started off kind of meh, but ended strong. They appear to have an actual vocalist on the recording, instead of a pop princess, which is strangely disconcerting.

Haven't seen any of the other new options yet. Not sure how soon I'll be able to see them as the Rat is a bit Disneyed out.

Houseguests report Dumbo was a win and fireworks were Magical, as advertised.


I'm not likely experiencing any Summer Nighttastic till Disneyland's 54th. It's a Friday Night, so we should make a grand Nighttastic of it!!

Does someone can save some Park Maps for me ? i'll be glad to trade them for Disneyland Paris maps of Course .

I'm a HUGE Electrical Parade fan and on the DCA Map there's Pete's Dragon from DEP .

Sure Louis, I'd be happy to.

At least you are not an Electrical Fan Parade. As much fun as that sounds. :)

I know the Electrical parade made it to other Disney parks, but did it ever show in Paris?

Just wondering.....

Flotsam and Jetsam look great. They're bigger than I thought they'd be.
Nice addition.
:)

And, to me, Dumbo looks... well, dumb.

RStar: Yes

Hey anyone noticed the new Mickey balloons at night?

Here is some video I took of Flotsam and Jetsam.

And here is some of the new TicToc.

The Nebulas are awesome!!!!!!!

A balloon related tangent: Have they started selling Up themed balloons? 'Cause that'd be awesome.

Or even having Carl the character selling balloons on Main St... I mean, that seems like a no brainer...
:)

I just want a little cardboard house suspended by a huge bunch of tiny balloons.

OMG, now on my to-do list. Awesome.

Send me $50 and I'll make something up.

Hey, I'll make something up for $25.00. Chimichangacorndog! There. That one was for free.

(What are we talking about?)

Yes, that is a bit of brilliance.

I want an Up themed ride - some kind of a Star Tours/Soarin/Tower of Terror hybrid.

HMM... DCA pretty much being Pixarland at this point anyway... they could always retheme the Jumpin' Jellyfish ride

Since it is already using suspended ride vehicles I vote for converting Peter Pan to an Up dark ride.

(actually, I don't vote for that, I just like to imagine the howls of outrage if Disneyland actually did it.)

The April Fools Overlay

Alex: I like the idea... not as an overlay, but perhaps as a new installation. After all, DCA doesn't have a Peter Pan, and guests freaking love it.

yes we had the MSEP from 1992 to 2003 then it has been replaced by Disney's Fantillusion and the fun part is that we took your Pinochio and snow white floats had been added to our Parade in 1997 then now the Parade has been shipped to California and you took the floats back .

Remember Pinnochio and Snow White were missing since 2001 .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQHRvkExrKY

May be Morrigoon saw the Parade when she was here in 2001 ?

I missed it in 2000 but I did catch it in 2001. Made me cry (because we still didn't have it at all then)

I'm somewhat strongly of the opinion that if Peter Pan had never been built and were opened as a completely new ride that it wouldn't be any better liked than Winnie the Pooh in Adventureland. Actually, I think that's true of all the Fantasyland dark rides.

I think technology is better appreciated in the context of what was available when it was built. Plus the whole nostalgia thing. Pooh is barren, thematically. If you really look around at the amount of barely-filled space and compare that with the level of detail available in the older dark rides, Pooh comes off weak. IMHO.

Yeah, I'd have to disagree, speaking just for myself. I love Monsters, Inc., built afterwards in typical dark ride style.

So it's not the form or the limitations of it ... it's the limitations on creativity, storytelling, and implementation. Pooh sucks.


Oh, and since Peter Pan is likely the most popular attraction in Disneyland, I think it would be a success if built tomorrow.

That's cool. I remember it went somewhere, but I wasn't sure if it was Paris.

And I disagree. I think Peter Pan is popular precisely because it is old and the best of the old ones.

I explicitly didn't include Monsters, Inc., in the comparison. If a Peter Pan ride were opened today then I believe (as always with the subjective, IMO) it would have to be much more kinetic than it is to receive the same adoration it gets now.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd say that for most people this particular group of people interacts with regularly on matters Disney, nostalgia is driving a significant portion of appreciation. But I think it leads to an overestimation of how well old ideas, generally recreated today, would do (and I know that nothing Morrigoon said necessarily was a description of such, just rambling).

People like flying cars. (or pirate ships) They can't help themselves. And the bit flying over London is magical.

I like Monsters, but there are parts of that ride that bother me. Mostly, the end with the CDA and all the tarps. But again, that's because there's very little in that scene besides a bunch of tarps and an animatronic with a fan. The scene in Harryhausen's, by contrast, is alive with fine details. Actually, most of Monsters is great, but the weak finale weakens the overall impression of the ride.

I think you're on to something there. If built today (as it probably is, in the newer parks, but I'm not going to the trouble of looking it up now), I would expect Peter Pan to have better animatronics and a smoother ride system. Other than that, though, I think the ride holds up well.

I don't know what nostalgia factor Alex is on about. The tykes who love Peter Pan have no idea it wasn't built in 1998, nor any clue that the movie it's based wasn't released direct to home video in 1986.

It's beloved because it's a flying ride.


I'll grant that if it had competition, that might be another story. If there were an Aladdin flying carpet ride over Agrabah, an UP ride over Paraside Plateau, and a Dumbo ride soarin' over Florida all giving Peter Pan a run for its money, the populariy of the Pan ride might be less.

But while it's the only flying game in town, it remains arguably the most popular ride in Disneyland. Well, at least the most difficult ticket.

What He Said !!

Peter Pan was the one that always fascinated me most because you flew over the sets.

At least some percentage of those tykes are influenced by the encouragement and excitement of their parents. If the parent is thrilled to be sitting next to their 2 year old on their favorite ride, the odds of that 2 year old being happy go up. If the parent is sitting in a wiggling honey pot rolling their eyes and generally not being as excited as they are on a flying pirate ship, that 2 year old is less likely to enjoy it.

Really? So why are 2-year-olds screaming in terror during that Haunted Mansion ride their parents so obviously enjoy?

Could it be because that attraction's sometimes creepy tone is not appropriate for all children? Perhaps. But if so, then parental enjoyment of a notalgic experience is hardly the only criteria for passing that enjoyment to the child.

Please tell me with a straight face flying has nothing to do with a child's delight with the Peter Pan ride.

Jesus, is the hostility really necessary? Really?

I thought Winnie-the-Pooh was quite pleasantly air conditioned.

No, hostility was unnecessary. I thought sarcasm was called for, and it came off a little too blunt, I suppose.


Let me say, then, in a completely straightfoward manner that I find the contention that children, or adults for that matter, derive their main enjoyment of Peter Pan's Flight from either nostalgia or the demeanor of their ride companions to be entirely without merit.


You're in a pirate ship. FLYING. Over London. Over Neverland.

Nostaliga? I call shenanigans on that.

As for the demeanor of your ride companion, it's impossible to test whether that has any effect ...since the demeanor of your companion is universally happy .... due to the flying over London and Neverland as aforementioned.

Of course children are truly enchanted. But I'm not talking about the perception of children. Of course children don't have a sense of nostalgia. To fling back some sarcasm, exactly how big of an idiot do you think I am that you seriously suppose I claim that young children are suffering an excess of nostalgia?

The perception of the child is, however, for many the seedbed of the nostalgia I'm talking about. It is my claim that for the adults (on average as a group) who love Peter Pan it is the nostalgia factor, the fact that it's old, that it speaks to them -- if not to a ride they experienced when young then to a quaintness of 1950's "wow." If Peter Pan, exactly as it is today, were to open for the first time this Saturday, it is my contention that most adults who love it now would be unimpressed.

Children, I agree, would continue to react very much as they do now.

And it is all a purely academic discussion since it posits a test that can't possibly be constructed beyond the fact that a dark ride (Pooh), very much on par with other Fantasyland dark rides (though not necessarily Peter Pan which does have an added hook) is widely regarded as vastly inferior to Snow White or Pinocchio).

Let me throw my 2 cents into the Peter Pan debate. I took a ride on it last time I was in Disneyland a few years ago. I hit it first thing in the morning and only had to wait a few minutes. I only rode it the one time that visit and I had no desire to ride it again. To me it is not worth the wait. The overhead thing is nice and all, but the ride just did not impress me. I rode it on past trips to DL, but once is enough. I think it is very overrated.

Peter Pan's Flight is the only inch of Disneyana I actively collect. As a child (so yes, nostalgia factor) the idea of soaring over London and Neverland and through stars (yes, the flying factor) was thrilling to me. And it still is. Not just because I loved it as a child, but because I love flying over the scenes from something that, still to this day, makes me feel whimsical and elated and creative. Far more than any other ride in any of the parks.

PeterPan is my favorite of the dark rides.

I am still disappointed with Monsters Inc. I wanted it to be an overhead rollercoaster type ride, using the closet doors sceen as the reason.

I haven't watched Up, and right now, it doesn't look as if I will any time soon.

Peter Pan is a fantastic dark ride and the flying over the sets is an amazing time for the 2-3 min. ride.

I think alot of the talk surrounding the popularity of the ride stems from the fact that whenever non-disney geeks talk about the ride, the long lines are what come up. So, I think there is a faux idea in the general population that Peter Pan is a great ride because there is always a huge line. But the geeks know that is more of a ride capacity issue.

Just a thought.

So.

How about that Nightastic stuff? I know a bunch of you were at the park on Sunday.

I have a coworker who was very emotional about Dumbo's flight, saying it was adorable and realistic.

Dumbo doesn't need a white feather to fly, just a cable! ;)

It was really adorable. I'm not a huge Dumbo (the movie - never seen it - will make me way to sad) fan, but the effect was super cool. I also uploaded and linked some video from Fantasmic of the Eels and the new Toc.

Goat trick seems to work better as you get older too ;)

Link?

Why? is Peter Pan in it? :p


BTW: just to note a worthy punny moment - Alex is right... the Peter Pan ride does have an added Hook. :D

.

But did it snow at the end of the fireworks?

Oh, wait....

I still think they should have used the Indy fireballs on top of the castle during the Dumbo sequence.

Ok, I LOVE the new MSEP additions, except for one... (And, yes, to me, it's still the MSEP, even though it's presently at DCA.)

What the hell is Tink doing in a hot air balloon?!?! Can she not fly now? Did she break a wing? Why the heck do fairies need hot air balloons?

If they're going to replace the main lead icon that's been there since 1972, as least make it look good.

It's craptacular. She's barely even visible on the float, and at first glance, I thought, "Wow. It's a giant orange ball on a green something. Hmmm, is that Tink?" NOT a good first impression.

I say turn that float around to show the pretty flowers, lose the stupid balloon, and have her sitting atop a large tulip in the middle or something, and most importantly, move her further back and put the Blue Fairy back in her rightful lead spot that always presented the "wow" factor upon first glance, rather than the present "what the hell is that thing" factor.

All of the other changes and additions I absolutely love. But the new lead float SUCKS. It's bad enough that I refuse to look at it again and will focus on the train engine as being the start of the parade.

Meh.

Who sits there and think this crap up? And who signs off on it? Are drugs and alcohol allowed in the blue sky room??

I thought they fired all the brains behind Light Magic:confused:

Oh, with the additional dancing fairies that surrounded her float, I had major Light Magic flashbacks. I had to go shower to get rid of the rash. ;)

What about the music, tho? Did the switch from classic electrical parade Baroque Hoedown to the MIDI keyboard Tokyo mix seem distracting? Was it even noticeable to the uninitiated?

I only noticed it because Isaac said it had changed. I wouldn't have noticed it without it. I did notice the lack of the voice that says "Disney's Electrical Parade"

It seemed different at the beginning, but after the intro it sounded normal to me...

They look like something you'd see in a Hubble Space Telescope image... SO AWESOME!!!

Most everything that was working thus far has been impressive. If the dragon is anything like the new croc and the eels... Oh man! We're in for a treat!

Disneyland
Croc is way better! Sits in the water and snaps and looks around and nods and wags tail...

Flotsum and Jetsum (sp?) are just creepy, in an awesome way!

Magical? Well basically it's magical! It's magical! It's magical! It's magical!
It's magical! It's Wonderful! It's magical! It's Beautiful! ;)

Dumbo is awesome. So freaking cool!

Pixie Hollow Enchantment is well thought out and orchestrated... It totally makes that part of the park so much more awesome! I can't wait to see the other 3 enchantments! (There are 4 different ones- one every 15 minutes...) I'll definitely go out of my way to catch this when I'm in the park at night from now on!

The Other Park That Has Less And Less To Do With California Every Year
New (and "new" old) electrical parade floats are decent... I wasn't really impressed by the supposed "fairydust enchantment" that was added to most of the floats. If I hadn't read all the press releases I don't think I would have picked up on what that was supposed to be. The parade looks great- it really does, but I'm not the most excited ever about it... Like Disneyphile said, the new intro float is more "WTF is that supposed to be?" than anything. My favorite addition to the parade is definitely Mickey's Fun Wheel! It's great to look at when there are H U G E spaces between the floats!

Your 54th birthday or Disneyland's?

Um, renewing on my 49th birthday, July 2. Watching Fantasmic on Disneyland's 54th, July 17.


I think that precludes dinner plans that night. Fantasmic is once again a camp-out type thing. But with all the new stuff, and especially the dragon likely working only recently by then (and finally the dragon that was first advertised over a decade ago), Fantasmic! should be quite the birthday event on July 17.

We posted about it elsewhere, but we will be there with my father on the 17th.

Yes, I know. But I saw something there about plans for dinner. Um, picnic dinner on blankets at the rivers edge is all I'll be able to participate in. I'm happy to save space for people, but I can't save too much space for too too long. It could get ugly there at the Rivers of America.


(K had some really interesting stories to tell about the crowds on Nightastic opening night.)

I haven't actually said anything there except that we'll be there. Others will be in the park by dinnertime. No one has planned anything officially yet. I'm hoping to introduce him to friends, so I'm hoping we can gather in some way. But I haven't set anything in stone (because, honestly, he's having a very hard time and I need to look after his needs.)

I didn't actually think you were going to wait five years to renew... :p

It's MAGICAL IT'S MAGICAL!!!!!!!!!

You know what would make it more magical? NEBULAS!

As for the birthday, I'm sure I'll be in the park. Pretty sure I'm having house guests that weekend who will also be in the park. But beyond being in the park, no plans.

Heidi,

I'd love to meet your dad even if it's just to say hi.

ok, well, I'm planning a Fantasmic! camp-out, and we'd have to watch Magical from Rivers of America, I'd guess.

I'm not even getting a hotel room this time, because prime hotel hang-out time would preclude getting a good view of Fantasmic! That's this summer's BIG THING, so I think we should (suggestion) make it the centerpiece of our birthday celebrating.

I'm gonna spend the day in the Park, so maybe a lunch meet (or is that lunch meat) would work if we want a more formal group meal than blanket picnic.

I already have lunch booked, so I'm out for that.

I don't feel strongly compelled to watch Fantasmic that night, unless Dad wants to. It'll presumably be quite crowded and I'm not sure that waiting for it is time well-spent for us. But I'm sure those who want to will have a good time, and those who don't will as well.

We'll be in the park all day, and if lunch doesn't work out for me and dinner doesn't work out for you, iSm, I'm sure we'll see you at some point during the day. The Powers-Moore household is having to play things relaxed and by ear these days, and that's OK with me.

I have the day off, perhaps I'll spend some of it at the park.

OMG people! There are only 4 weeks and a few days left until the birthday! We better get a minute by minute plan down and no deviations allowed! GO GO GO!!!!!!!!!!!









this post brought to you by sarcasm, bananas, nebulas and the letter Z

Well, I DO want to get a feel for what people want to do. I want to see Fantasmic, and that will be my first chance. If no one's into camping, I'm content to see it from the relatively low-wait Haunted Mansion side.

But I'd just as soon campout and save spots for people as have the usual 3-hour dinner somewhere in Downtown Disney (with an hour set aside for fuking up the check). ;)

If someone wants to camp for me, that's great. I have to work, so I can't get there super early. I'd love to see the dragon, and I'd love to meet Senor Powers, and I'm hoping I get to do both. Maybe I'll bring camping bribe munchies.

We're blocked.

Seems like a lot of trouble but if you say so.

0601 Wake up
0602 Decide that rather than just immediately showering so I can catch the 6:58 train I'll waste half an hour on the internet and catch the 7:28 train.
0630 Get in shower. Enjoy hot water until the 6:36 market opening report on KCBS.
0636 Lather and rinse.
0638 Shampoo and rinse.
0641 Exit shower and dry off.
0642 Brush teeth then a few minutes of internet for post-shower cool down.
0650 Get dressed
0702 Leave for BART station
0719 Arrive at BART station, find middle seat in last car of train
0728 Train departs Dublin BART station
0744 Train arrives at San Leandro BART station. At this point I will almost certainly get a seatmate, adjust myself accordingly.
0801 Train arrives at Embarcardero BART station. Depart train.
0805 Arrive at Mission & Fremont Noah's Bagels. Order peppercorn bagel, toasted, with a bit of mayonnaise and double Swiss cheese (I swear, it's good).
0808 Receive order, depart Noah's.
0811 Arrive at cubicle.
0812 Quickly scan emails and remind myself of appointments for day.
0815 Go throw away the empty soda bottle from yesterday.
0830 Daily work order call followed by actual work (and probably some internet surfing)
0930 Weekly migration status meeting followed by actual work or more likely other ad hoc meetings not currently scheduled. And more internet surfing.
1100 Run paperless exceptions review meeting.
1200 Find coworker to go get lunch with. Say "whenever, in a couple minutes" then take almost an hour before we are actually both free at the same time.
1254 Since it is a Friday, lunch will probably be at the San Francisco Fish Company in the Ferry Building. If weather is good we'll shoot the **** and eat sitting by the Bay and take slightly longer than we should.
1322 Return to office.
1330 Currently no scheduled meetings but the 1300-1500 time slot always ends up filled as people on the East Coast try to accomplish all the things they procrastinated before leaving for the weekend.
1530 Pack up and leave for gym.
1540 Arrive on treadmill or elliptical machine depending on mood.
1640 Depart treadmill or elliptical machine.
1642 Begin shower and change process. Leave gym still damp.
1702 Depart Embarcadero BART station.
1724 Arrive Bay Fair BART station. Enough people exit train for me to get a seat.
1744 Arrive Dublin BART station. Depart train, begin walk home.
1802 Arrive home, get caught up on internet.
1845 Check DVR speed through previous night's Daily Show and the pre-opening of the week's Craig Ferguson.
1945 Ask Lani if she wants to do anything. Be told she signed up for a raid.
1946 Sulk while complaining that there is absolutely nothing on TV to watch.
1948 Get over it. Watch something on Roku until I go to bed.

Hope that helps with the planning.

VAMOMIDKWWBACEHSIAC-WHNBSTI







(Visible Alex Mojo Once More I Don't Know Why We Bother Anymore Cos Everything He Says Is A Cack - When He's Not Being Serious That Is)

I'm sorry, did you just call Alex a cack?

You'd better- we're gonna be there as well! LS- I might finally get to meet you for reals!!! (Happy dance.....)

:D

(And Pru, too!)

Aaaah, another Aussie Vs. USA phrase. I looked it up and understand your horror now. :D

In Australia, to cack oneself laughing (or just: "I cacked myself") means you found something very humourous. Things that aussies find terribly funny are therefore referred to as "A Cack"

ie: "I laughed myself to death last night, Dame Edna's such a cack."
or: "Watch this youtube video, it's a real cack."

Hope this explains it a bit better. :blush:

VAM

Oh lordy! Why did you not say this when you were here! I would have died laughing. :D Especially "I cacked myself!"

I figured all that. But it was more of a cack to think of it the American way.

I have no idea what "cack" means in "the American way." And now I'm at work and not sure I want to be looking it up.

It's not particularly common, but think of a very similar word (different vowel) said with a heavy New England/Boston accent.

I assume "cackle" and "cack" derive from the same root.

As do "cockle" and...oh nevermind...

root

I like this idea

:snap:

Good point.

I know exactly how that feels.

Even just a cardboard house suspended by one balloon made to look like lots of tiny balloons would be cool (and more cost effective).

Any balloon reports? We are totally and inexorably blocked. :(

Besides the nebuloons?

Found out that Tink's balloon float is a set-up for the upcoming second Tinkerbell movie, in which she uses a balloon to fly long distances. :rolleyes:

I think that makes me feel even worse about the new float. Yep. They've now started the MSEP with a big moving advertisement for an upcoming direct-to-DVD flick. Ouch.

What's next? Billboards on the castle?

You mean the castle that was built to promote Sleeping Beauty?

Not that there isn't something slightly more bleh about pushing stat to vid schlock, but using Disneyland to promote their other entertainment properties hardly strikes me as anywhere close to the bottom of the corporate barrel.

Arrived last night just as the fireworks were starting. First time I've ever seen the fireworks stopped in the middle of the show (due to high-altitude winds).

What GD said....and also, the MSEP was always used to promote the newest movie coming out. Pete's Dragon may be a beloved fixture by now but it was it was built as a big glowing billboard, as were all the additions during the 70's and early 80's.

I don't remember the Disney movie "To Honor America"

Yes, I think CP was exaggerating. Pete's was the only film "regularly" advertised in the MSEP (i.e., a film in current release when the parade unit premired). Return to OZ was the only other advertisement, and it was for one summer only.

All other units representing films or attractions have done so for really old films and attractions. No advertising.

I didn't hear the fireworks last night (sat), were they cancelled due to wind? I was going to go but couldn't......

Fireworks went off last night - we got to do a pyro enhanced "Goat Trick".

I remember a Fox and the Hound unit the year that movie was out. I don't mind the movie tie-ins, I would LOVE the Hercules units they built for the NYC premiere, but I hate the Blue Fairy being replaced by an advertisement. Put Tink further back in the parade, say, after Peter Pan. Also really, REALLY, don't like the new music.

I think it's sad that the "enhancements" to the parade are trumped by the Fun Wheel across the way.

Hey, let's keep it clean.

I wouldn't call it "no advertising" as the films were rereleased through the 80's. And I don't think it makes a difference that Return to OZ was for one summer only, as well as....

These are the tie-ins that I was thinking of as well.

I don't understand why an "advertisement" would draw ire, as everything advertises everything else. We purchase advertisements from them all the time and run in to see the new advertisements. Just one very similar example - The Lion King parade was a huge, wonderful advertisement. I have no illusions about any of that.

Hmmm, I don't remember the Fox and the Hound float. Of course, I didn't live in California when that film was released.

The Hercules floats were never in the Electrical Parade, so those don't count. But they were beautiful and, though I hated that movie, I would love for them to be part of the parade.

Um, what the hell is THAT???


Even though I'd seen it a few times, I really don't remember the original Electrical Parade that well. OMG, the "floats" were glorified cardboard flats. There was a Chinese New Year dragon in there somewhere. I can't say whether or not there were any pre-synergy attempts at synergy.

That's the Fox and the Hound addition, only ran during summer '81.

My first trip to the park was 6/21/81 (yesterday was the anniversary of that awesome day) and I don't remember seeing The Fox and the Hound floats during the parade. Then again, it was quite some time ago.

I guess I understand them promoting films no matter how cruddy they may be, but I also feel there are some deserving films that should be in the parade. It would be nice if they could add some floats to MSEP based on Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast...
:)

I really don't care what films are in and what are out. All I care about is that whatever is in there is done well. Pete's Dragon is NOT a good movie, but wow what an Electric Parade float.

So long as the music remains essentially the same it remains the world's most awful parade (unless you're deaf or otherwise render yourself similar). And I once saw a "parade" that consisted of 16 13-and-under marching bands.

I hate the movie, but I still can't for the life of me figure what two Model-T-era automobiles have to do with The Fox and the Hound? Is one car the fox and the other the hound?

HUH :confused:

From the blog that I found that photo on:

I'm still waiting for the Emperor's New Groove MSEP float.

And Widow Tweed and Amos Slade were recycled giant doll heads from the bicentennial's "America on Parade."

Also MIA, the fabulously long IASW unit.

Visible in the background of the F&tH photo.

Just for kicks, I took a look at a video of Light Magic on youtube. OMG! What a piece of sh!t! Where's the acid for my eyes?!

Creepy Riverdance fairies!

Remember when she drove Todd out to the woods? And when Amos drove out to go hunting?

Rather big scene in FatH, when the widow has to drive Todd out there, and she's crying.

Duly submitted for our quoting pleasure. :)

yes, noticed that ... because I remember that one quite clearly.

Was there ever any other Attraction unit in the MSEP? More rare than movie synergy units!

Well, Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice serve double duty on that front.

Yeah, yeah, d'uh. But I believe the Small World unit was the only one ever to be based on an attraction that was, in turn, not based on a movie.


Then there was the 35th Anniversary Sleeping Beauty Castle unit that was quite beautiful.


Any other special units that ran only for a limited time?


Anyone remember any other original units that have long since gone the way of the Dodo? (Another one I recall was a Monstro the Whale, that was part of the original Pinocchio unit in the 70's.)

The NEON ending floats from the 1977 edition of the parade burned their way into my memory, along with the soundtrack that OOZED the 70s.

To this day, I don't like the "To Honor America" float.

If you never saw the original ending - take a look at this.

Wow, I like that a lot better than To Honor America.

That's pretty neat!

Damn....I remember that!

I also remember being shocked when they replaced it with "Honor America".

WOW.

It's neat, but it kinda reminds me of WDW's Electrical Water Pageant (itself based on the Electrical Parade).

I never much cared for To Honor America .... UNTIL (and this is the one good thing about it being in DCA) we got an aerial view by watching from Robert Mondavi's outdoor terrace ... OMG, the unit is unbelievably fantastic from the God View ... not so much from the Street View.

I can tell you that the Electrical Parade is NOT the same one as was out originally in Disneyland. It can't be because I paid for and have possession of not one, but TWO of the original bulbs.

And just like a river is never the same one you saw a moment ago, because the water is different ....

Which is why I reserve the right to like a particular river one moment and be severely disappointed in it the next.

These things are really annoying!

Nuh uh! They are awesome!!!!!!

Who would have imagined the most simple element of Nightastic would be its greatest success (yes, the BALLOONS are incredibly rad and undisputeably awesome) ... and the biggest ticket item most advertised and trumpeted would be its most dismal and embarassing failure (as of July 9, still NO DRAGON - What.The.Fvck???)



FAILtastic continues.

The balloons look awesome. They have LEDs in them? For the first time in forever I'd be tempted to buy one.

$12.00 each.

Yikes. Pricey. Besides, they only look great in a bunch. You'd need to buy at least six.


Anyone want to go in on a bundle for the 54th birthday?

Hmm, on second thought, no thanks. (Though I bet that's less expensive than anything else flashy at DL.)

We've had one of the balloons in our house for nearly 3 weeks now, and it's just starting to deflate now- but the blinky light storm looks great in a darkened house.

How long does the blinky light last? Does it have a replaceable battery?

Yes, but you have to pop the balloon to get at it.

So, at least you have a blinky once the ballon is gone......

If I have some extra cash I'd love to go in on a bunch of nebula balloons!

You can replace the batteries before the balloon deflates- the battery pack is below the balloon, one screw, two CR-02 batteries.

10,000 of them attached to a flying house would look really cool at night!

I finally saw Dumbo the other night so I've stopped sulking.

By accident I clicked on the wrong link & forgot to delete my cookies on Internet Explorer.

As long as my hiatus has been broken, I'll make a post here in this thread.

About the MSEP:

iSm, it was the DL 25th anniversary that the MSEP featured a Sleeping Beauty Castle float. This was the same year (1980) that the Return To Oz section was in the parade.

CoasterMatt: The patriotic finale WAS the original finale. The footage you linked to is from 1977, when the parade returned from a 2 year hiatus (temporarily replaced by America On Parade) and made it's debut in Magic Kingdom. I have an mp3 of the original 1972 vinly as well as an mp3 from the 1977 pressing.

The 1972 version has the runs as follows:
(both sides) introduction (no voice announcement), main theme (casey jr & blue fairy), alice in wonderland, chinese dragon, dumbo circus, cinderella's ball, it's a small world, patriotic finale.

The 1977 version:
(side A) introduction (no voice announcement), main theme (casey jr & blue fairy), alice in wonderland, cinderella's ball, dumbo circus, pinocchio underwater, fades out,
(side B) fade in, pete's dragon, it's a small world, disney medley (glowing cubes finale) fade out.

The Pinocchio Pleasure Island, Snow White and Peter Pan additions came in 1983 when the parade also debuted at Tokyo Disneyland.

The Fox & The Hound section ran only for a single year, as did the Mickey Mouse 60th anniversary float. Disney has used the parade to promote current films so I can understand why they wanted to put Tinkerbell in the parade. The hot air balloon is a tie in with the first of the two Tinkerbell movie sequels. Supposedly Tinkerbell uses a hot air balloon when she has to travel extremely far distances too far to reach by flying alone.

I remember hearing the Dream Lights soundtrack back in 2001 and hated it back then. That hasn't changed. Though I don't mind updating the soundtrack, I don't think this was the right way to do it. Musically, it sounds too cheap & cartoony. I could make a midi file just as good 5 years ago. I'm surprised that so many people didn't notice the music was different. I think I was the only one that noticed the song was in a different key (it used to be in Ab). Then again, I studied music in school so maybe that's why.

BTW: this is the second time TDA 'updated' the soundtrack by copying the TDL version. When the parade came back in 2001, they used the 1983 recordings from Tokyo Disneyland. Again, most people probably can't tell the difference. Sigh :rolleyes:

I'm okay w/ the pixie dust effect on the sides of the floats, but the new Tinkerbell float gives me Light Magic flashbacks.


As for the rest of Nightastic:

The new Dumbo looks nice. I didn't think much of it. I think it's one of the new effects they're testing for next year's new firework show. It's pleasant but not spectacular.

Fantasmic: new Flotsom & Jetsom characters give the Ursula section a much needed boost. The new croc is very good. The projections are better.

The dragon; it's supposed to debut between the 13th & 26th of this month. It broke when they tested it for the first time (just 5 days before the June 11th press event). If we're lucky, it'll be running by the anniversary on Friday.



.......and now, back to my regularly scheduled hiatus.

So Isaac, do you know Phil Stayton? He's ga-ga over MSEP and could give off all sorts of facts like that too!

Whoa, was that just zapppop in here?


Who's this isaac guy?

I'm not sure, but I think you'd recognize his face! ;)





We sure miss that masked man around these parts.......

:(

So I have 3 reserved seats for Aug 7th first showing of Fantasmic! so I hope the dragon is working by then!

I don't even care anymore.

No dragon PLUS no flotsam and jetsam on Disneyland Birthday was not only a reversion to old crappy Fantasmic ... it was to old crappy limping along, stupid Maleficent on a lift Fantasmic-for-Morons.

Total Abyssmal Failtastic from which it is now impossible to recover.

Well at least you're keeping an open mind....

Sorry, bored with it.

I'm not saying the show won't be good. Merely that the summer promotion is a total fail. My reliable sources, in fact, say the dragon will be ready by September, and that they now plan to keep Fantasmic going on weekends through Christmas just so they can use the dragon and claim it worked during Summer Nightastic.

Sorry, summer promotion main event starting in September is a fail to all reasonable people.

Main event not ready by Disneyland Birthday is a fail to me. ;)

We have reserved seats for next weekend. At least I don't have to camp out.

I'm sorry, I think even the old Fantasmic! is still good. The show is well done. Yeah, it's old but so is MSEP but both still draw the crowds.

Old Fantasmic was fine. Transvestite Maleficent retardedly waving and wailing on top of that Jack Lift for 10 minutes while fire erupts on the river for no apparent reason as a substitute for a non-working broomstick-with-dragon head is not so fine as a substitute for the penultimate finale, and never was.


Um, non-Mark Twain finale was never a good substitute either. These are both really substandard versions of Fantasmic. Not the kind of thing you base a summer special promotion on.

Visible curmudgeon bitchslap mojo. ;)

So, iSm, what would be good alternatives to both things?

To keep it relevant for today's kids, Mickey should send a flaming burrito fart out over the water, igniting it on fire.

Then, a 50-foot tall animatronic Hannah Montana should claw her way out of the stage and call to Synergy the computer, which then causes the Jonas Brothers to sing the Disney Villains into submission.

It's dance-tacular!

I would construct a temporary dragon head to place on top of that lift, and then add a pair of collapsable wings to it that can be moved via pulleys, like the old dragon. It could seriously be done cheap and quick enough, and with proper lighting and some fog, actually look pretty decent until the new dragon is repaired.

Exactly. I'm told the old dragon can't work because the thing it was mounted on also rose from the more shallow pit where the broken dragon is now stuck in the deeper pit.

But seriously, no one would notice the difference from the old dragon if you stuck a halloween dragon mask on the end of a long stick and attached some flowy fabric. Disneyphile's details are better, but the same thing could be pulled off without using the mechanism or the pit, for about $85.

When it didn't work by 4th of July, someone should have gone to Home Depot and purchased the stuff necessary for the temporary fix to Old Dragon.

Sheesh.




Ok, Isaac's fix is even better. So funny, it would negate all criticism.

There happens to be an unused Pete's Dragon Electrical Parade float sitting idle in Tokyo ....

... certainly you get the idea by now. And Maleficent could even ride it, where Pete usually sits.

Hilarity Ensues. All is forgiven in gales of laughter.

I'm thinking that they most likely should not have started the new show without the new dragon, especially with the publicity featuring the dragon. You'd think they'd be working day and night on this thing... I guess not.

But I got to say that there have been a couple of these kinds of snafus going on at DL. Is no one paying attention to these sorts of things?
Space Mountain track being wrecked by the heavier cars, the clearance height of the Monorails, air for guests in the Monorails...

We knew about those things of course. But fortunately for Disney, there weren't billboards all over Southern California advertising the cool, comfortable ride in our sleek new retro monorails.

Not so with Dragon.

Hell, I'd donate my dragon kite to the cause.

Actually, that's somewhat tempting... ;)

I have a coworker that has an AP. She had never seen F! as she's not the type to wait around for a show. After I relayed my shock to her I told her how amazing it was. She seemed to have no clue, thinking the show was "for kids" and that you had to wait forever to see it. Yes, I did tell her about the dead dragon.

She just went last week and talked her husband into watching it with her. She was blown away. The show is still powerful and amazing. It just isn't all that impressive to people who've seen it countless times.

Regarding rigging an in-the-meanwhile dragon....I'm intrigued by Disneyphile's idea but is there a way to make it hide under the island while the defunct new dragon is taking up residence there?

I like Isaac's idea. They can keep him on stage practically the whole time and just light the christmas lights when it's time.

How would they do this? So much happens on that stage during the show.

I agree, they should at least rigg up something to look like the old one. But the OSHA regs of testing most likely prevent it.

I had heard they were testing the new one, I had high hopes of seeing it on the 7th. Perhaps I should have pushed the date back a bit....

:(

His internal structure could be built with very strong fiberglass kite rods and connecters, that way, he could literally fold up and collapse. It's like a flexible "tinker toy" skeletal system.

Basically, it's an idea I've had for awhile on a much smaller scale for a costume "mount" for ren fairs. ;) I've already got the head and neck assembly designed, complete with a small pulley system that would animate the eyelids, mouth, and neck. I'm still working on the "spring loaded" wings though. :D I even have the fabric and some suppies in storage already - an entire bolt of translucent black shimmery stuff for the multi-layered wings, "scales" for the body, large Swarovski "flame" crystals for the eyes... the horns and teeth will be paper mached.... it's a long work in progress really. And, one of these days, hopefully I'll find time to actually assemble it all.

ok, let's take your contraption in several backpacks to the Park, assemble it stealthily while camping out in the front row for Fantasmic, and just have "our" dragon come out from the audience at the proper time and freak out the performers (and be visible to the side audience sections as well.)

Entertain people. Embarass lameass Disney. Win-Win. :D

Get banned from the park. Fail.

Great idea, though!

How will they "ban" me or anyone from the park? We leave our ID at home, mail our APs to ourselves once we enter the park. It's foolproof, I tells ya!

Which night are we doing it?? :p

Looks like I'll miss Murphy the Dragon for my reserved seating of F! Al reports that while he is fixed, there is a lot of programming to do as he is computer operated and not just a puppet like before. The end of Aug. is the date now, but you know how that goes. Anyway, I'm bummed that the show won't be in full swing by next Fri. :(

At least "Flotsom and Jetski" are up and running with night vision so they don't crash into any more parts of the show!

We did reserved seating on Saturday (well worth it). No Dragon and no Ursula but everything else seemed to be working. It is kind of an obvious hole with no dragon.

yesss just in time for when i'm going to DL !

Cool, we'll have to do a Fantasmic meet!:snap:

Finally saw the fireworks last night but the castle was blocked by a trees. I really enjoyed it. The music was fantastic and the disney "heart" was there, even though they pile THAT on. But all together, it was a excellent display.

So the reserved seating for F! was last night. Not bad, all things considered. Our seats were between the center and left screens. I was dissapointed because I wanted center stage (I didn't even know they put seats over there!), but it was interesting to see the action on stage with out the water screen hindering the view. And the use of the Evil Queen in place of the Dragon was ok (it kept the story going, but was in no way an equal replacement). The desert box was great, we should have skipped dinner with as much stuff that was in there. It's like a box lunch, with 5 cheeses, crackers, grapes, a cheese cake, two truffles, a huge jelly filled cookie cake thingy, a wonderfull lemon tart, a gnauch, and several other sweets. And all of the drinks you wanted, all served at your seat. I think the desert was worth the $30 right there!

And the real surprise was the view of the fireworks from the seats! No obstructions, close enough to feel the percusions of the blasts, and you can even see Tink and Dumbo briefly.

All in all, a pretty fun night!

You only paid $30.00? When we did it a week ago it was $59.00!

yummmmmm, ganache <drool>

Oops, sorry. Yes it was $59.....

I'd say the $30 worth of food and drink and $30 not to have to camp out for 5 hours is worth it. We plan to do it again next year when the have all of F! working properly. Perhaps it will be a yearly event!

As of Monday, 8/10, still no dragon

When we were there on the 8th the CM's said that Murphy had another accident during testing the week before, fell into the rocks and damaged the head yet again. They were estimating that the dragon won't be back until the winter break shows.

hum hum Disney was not lucky this summer with the new Dragon . Everyone thought that the new dragon would be awesome ( he may be is ) .

They keep trying to fix it and add more wieght. Perhaps it's time to go back to the drawing board and build it from scratch! I know it will cost a bundle, though.

Ok, saw the Electric Light parade this evening. I looks great! They really spruced it up, it looks brighter and flashier than it ever has! The pixie dust stuff on the floats are a bit distractive, I think. And the park was packed!

The Fantasmic! media event that was to take place at 5am this morning was canecelled at the last minute. I guess Murphy is still having problems :( ....

Maybe not a good thing to have a dragon breathing fire and smoke at this moment in time.

Disney did release some official photos though.

Video has been released also.

Cool, then we won't even have to sit through another Fantasmic. :P

Video was up on miceage.com.

It looks pretty neat!

My thoughts exactly. I've seen it now, so I'm done.

Just watched the video here. It's pretty cool. But I have a feeling we won't be seeing Murphy very often. Too many technical difficulties. I'm thinking it'll just be a still dragon that they hit with a strobe light while it just stands there still.
:D

What would happen if they needed to to that with the new BO figure at Hall of Presidents? hmmmmmm.

Well, it seems like it's not that hard to get Obama to make personal appearances.
;)

This is big time Fail Blog material!

You just have to pretend like you're pissed off at him, but could definitely use a drink. ;) :D

I blame SuPeR K!


Seriously, Murphy was all set to premier today, big press event scheduled, announcement made. It was all a go ... because K was in town and set to leave yesterday. That means dragon would have premiered today, because that's the pattern.

When K decided to extend his stay one more day to see the new dragon, I knew there'd be no dragon to see. I told him so, and I think I upset him.



But - ipso facto and Exhibit A, ladies and gentlemen, continued dragon FAIL.

Went to the park yesterday with two friends - Johnny, who had never been to DL and Savannah, who had been 24 years ago, when she was 5 years old.

We watched Fantasmic!, and then I told them about the dragon that ought to be there.

"I like the tall Maleficent," Savannah said.

p.s. I don't really blame K, i just tease. But I won't say I didn't have a bad feeling about it when I heard K was staying just to see it.

I blame the gays. First you queens make hurricanes, and now THIS. I mean, really. Are there any lengths to which you gays will not go to hurt the families that want to see a giant inflatable dragon? For shame. Think of the children.

Ok, biggest DL fails....

Flying Saucers
Rocket Rods
Luminaria

and now, Murphy.

Hmm, what else had to be shut down due to poor design? No, I don't mean "shut down because it sucked", aka SuperStar Limo.

Well, at least it was due to pore design, and not sucky. Have you seen the video? It looks like it will be cool!

Not that it's any excuse for poor planning, mind you. Unlike SSL which was bad story, idea, and execution....

*ahem* forget something?

(Light Magic)

Light Magic was teh suck, not design. The Hatbox Ghost was a victim of the design limitations of the time. The Flying Saucers were also a victim of their era, whereas Luminaria and the Rocket Rods were badly designed AND sucked. Innoventions manages to stay open, despite its suckiness. The new Monorails have been full of design fail, but have failed to be shut down.

I have heard from a semi-reliable source (who supposedly heard directly from Bob Gurr) that the issue with Murphy isn't so much poor design as poor planning. The claim being that he was designed, and functioned, as ordered, but once he arrived, the folks running the show decided to add things to the show that weren't in the original plans and that he therefore wasn't engineered to handle.

Many aspects of Indy are design/engineering fail. Prime among them the roof cave-in effect that they still play the sound effect for, but can't service the dry ice machine they stupidly installed inaccessibly in the ceiling.


It was an awesome-looking effect ... for the first few months. Ok, not an entire ride fail. But the continuing sound effect reminds me of the fail every time I ride.

Then of course there's the giant sink-hole the Matterhorn is built on, necessitating the sub lagoon to keep it afloat.

That's pretty much what I've heard too. You'd think that they'd know what they wanted in advance but noooooooo. They just havent been thinking things through. The planning doesn't seem to get past "build me a cool looking monorail" or "build me a 30 foot tall fire breathing dragon." Disney is not a company that seems to learn from its mistakes. Or to stick with what worked in the past.

But we knew all that already, right?

Adding new requirements after it is no longer prudent or even possible to accommodate them? That never happens.

So you're saying Disney is infested with product managers too?

did i told you that Disney is waiting for me to be here for the Dragon's Premiere ?


ahaha that would be funny .

Why dost thou try to hurt me so? If you prick me, do I not cancel your contract out of spite? Do I not blame a product's failure on the inability of developers to provide quality on a timely budget?

***BREAKING NEWS****

I've heard 3rd hand that Murphy is going to make his debut tonight.

Well if you posted it on the internet it must be true!

Sayyyy, I wish they'd drop the other shoe and throw the spotlights on the dragon and give us a gander at what the new shenanigans is all about. Let's put all this cockamamie Murphy talk to bed. Get? Murphy? Murphy Bed. These are the jokes, kids.

Should we save space for anyone else? Isaac and I are going. This is terrible, but I (half) kidded Keith that the dragon won't premier until the day after he leaves, so would he please teleport back to Vegas. He extended his stay by one day to be here last night when it was supposed to debut. But I told him if he was gonna do that, it wouldn't debut till Tuesday night.


I kinda have to be there in person to see if my theory proves right. :evil:

We're considering going, but I have to repair a garage door first so we'll see.

I seriously doubt I'll be going tonight. Not in the mood to deal with a huge crush of anxious passholes. I'll watch the video and see it when I see it.

I only wanna go if Murphy's gonna roast Mickey...

He's proved to be accident prone ... so ya never know!

According to twitter he made an appearance.

Yes, but in deference to the dire situation in Southern California, he did NOT breathe fire.

Still, he is awesome, wonderful, rad and Maleficale. The dragon we were promised ever since Fantasmic debuted .... 15 or 20 years ago, sheesh.


Sorry for the very poor twitpic, I was shakey excited. Isaac will have video on YouTube shortly.

So no fire due to the fires or no fire due to malfunction?

Loving the Video !!! :snap:

Finally! What a great night with cheering crowds welcoming the new dragon. One slight glitch was that Murphy did not actually "breath fire" tonight, but it's OK. I'm just so happy to finally see it in person.

Here is my video of the new Fantasmic! dragon making its world-premiere, debut performance at this LINK

I gotta say, watching the videos of Murphy's debut gave me goosebumps. So exciting. The crowd's reaction was priceless.
:)

Well, we were a lot further away than Daniel ... but because of that, the show audio wasn't nearly as prominent in Isaac's far less visually cool YouTube, and you can really hear the crowd.

I especially love it when you can't even see the dragon on camera yet, it's not his queue, but everyone in the audience can see his head poking up above the mist in the dark and the crowd goes wild.


It was a really fun night. The crowd there for Fantasmic! was all pumped and the BumbleBee CMs were all happy and giddy. I'm sure everyone in the cast was so excited to FINALLY have the performance they've been waiting for all summer.


And once it's politic to do so, I'm sure Murphy will be breathing fire and it will be even betterer!

So, did they specifically SAY that he wasn't breathing fire in deference to the fires, or is that just assumed ('cause personally I'd assume it's just broken, given the givens).

I think Steve was joking.

Programming problems.....is what I heard!

Here's some more footage and photos if anyone is interested.

17 years later, and that's it? It looked about as menacing as a churro vendor.

Um, yeah, the p.c. reason for lack of fire-breathing is just my continuation of a Murphy delay joke that's been going around for a while. I think that's the part they couldn't get working Monday, but just decided to say "fvck it, let's go ahead" last night.

I agree, the thing is more cuddly than menacing. I don't know if they'll ever get it moving quickly and life-like enough to be menacing. Although, shooting fire from its snout would look pretty badass, I can tell you.


Still, this is the dragon we were promised way back when Fantasmic! first premiered. It was in all the advertisements for the show, and everyone was pretty disappointed with the head on a stick. So this is a vast improvement of It's-About-Time. (I must say that somehow I found the stick-head dragon to be a little scarier, but I'm hoping Murphy will improve his performance over time.)


But with Flotsam and Jetski finally giving some umph back to the Ursula section, the new Croc improvement, and now the real dragon the show's been missing since its inception, I feel Fantasmic! is triumphantly restored in a way that's been missing for more than a decade.

Yay, let's all bring our dancing handkerchiefs and camp-out one night!!

I will admit that I just didn't give two ****s about Murphy all summer, but seeing the footage, I got a little chill.

Problems with something in Fantasmic?!

That's unpossible!

It's kind of sad when one element of a show that's been running for 17 years at Disneyland gets upgraded ALMOST to what was promised in it's original ads, and the fans go CRAZY!

These people's heads would explode if Disney actually built something new...

See? Disney is thinking of the children. Don't want heads exploding at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Ditto to much of what iSm said above. The new Fantasmic! dragon was the star of the evening. The crowds who gathered around Rivers of America loudly cheered as Maleficent first appeared (because they knew her transformation was coming, of course), and then applause exploded when the reluctant dragon finally came out for the world to see. From the timing of the applause, you could tell there were plenty of eager, dedicated dragon-watcher, Disney fans in attendance--which made it exciting to give the wonderful Fantasmic! show a renewed energy.

Side note, I shot the video on the "Pirates" bridge for a more clear view of the dragon to avoid videotaping the back of people's heads. Even though that location was several feet away from the river's edge, the volume of the cheering crowds was evident.

Of course, you all need to fully experience the whole show in person to truly be in awe of the dragon as it fits in with the rest of the show--but, as Disney fans, you know that already. :)

Also, from different photos and videos posted on various boards, it can be interesting to see the dragon from different sides of the river. Next time, I may try being in the audience's far left, closer to Haunted Mansion, to see the dragon menacing over Mickey the Brave Little Tailor, as seen in THIS POST on MC.

And, yeah, a LoT viewing of the updated Fantasmic! would be great! Twirling napkins in unison would be a bonus! :D

Silly Disney, they could have avoided months of bad press and disappointed fans if they had just announced that Pete's Dragon would fill in for Murphy during the down time.

Not particularly impressed by the video. Just looks like a moderately animated car sale balloon. I'm sure it plays better in person and with fire.

The other thing it made me realize is that I am completely unable to picture in my mind what the dragon looked like before, but I know I never found it disappointing.

Yeah I'm thinking the scale of the thing is probably impressive when you see it in person. Hopefully it won't look so much "like a moderately animated car sale balloon" when you're actually there. It's still exciting though, especially after all the build-up.

I'm down for camping out sometime. That's why the Nintendo DS and those bizarre rectangular doohickeys called "books" were invented.

A common mistake, those things are called "Kindles" now.

Something like a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Dragon?

I can't see the video from here at work (trying to decide if it will be a real flailing tube or that bit from Family Guy) but I"m thinking along the lines of this:

OMG he's dressed as the Brave Little Tailor, isn't he? All these years I just thought he was dressed as Prince Phillip. What a bad Disney fan I am.

It's the Family Guy bit.

No, Alex is right. It looks like a moderately animated car sale balloon. But that's better than head-on-a-broomstick. The headlight eyes make it look especially cartoonish and silly. And it definitely has the cuddly look of an inflatable. I guess we're just lucky it's not a giant plush.

Getting the fire-breathing part down is going to be important. The dragon looked really cool for those moments right after the non-happening blast when it was snorting smoke. It also looked cool when it was being zapped by, yes, the Brave Wittle Taywor. If it moved a good deal quicker during the 23 seconds between those two moments, I think it would be a rousing success.

As it was, the cheering last night was as much, if not more, for the appearance after interminable and ironic* delay as it was for the dragon's actual performance. Certainly the non-fire breathing was a notable let-down to the obviously fan-based crowd. So the cheers and screams were likely for Just.Showing.Up.





* hehe, finally premiering about a week after the Summer Nightastic promotion ended

:eek: You made me gasp, for real!

That's ok - just this week I realized why Madonna's greatest hits CD is called "the Immaculate Collection". Duh.

And I just recently got the pun in the "Above the Influence" anti-weed campaign (irony duly noted).

So with the long delayed reveal of Murphy, how were they marketing him?

Dragon shaped flashlights? Balloons? What?

No, the trick is not to market him at all. As soon as the marketing ended, he was ready to go on. (TeeHee, I noticed the dragon signs had been taken down from the tram station as I boarded to see the dragon's debut.)








ETA: I'm not sure if I should refer to the dragon as a girl or a boy. The role of the dragon is a "She," but it's played by Murphy, a "He." Ironic, considering that the dragon is only a She because she's a transformation of Maleficent, who is played by a He in Fantasmic!

Excuse me for my lack of clarity. Please substitute the word "merchandise" for the word "market" in my previous post.

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Dragons?


Hehehehe Thanks, SM, I love saying that.

Actually, I worked with a girl called "Murphy" once. ... and then there's Murphy Brown...

Murphette?

It's a her. Even if it is played by a boy dragon. I mean, Lassie was a girl played by a boy dog (actually several boy dogs).

This is a clip (I think recorded by Disney about a week or so ago). It's a little clearer and has some close ups, though not all effects are working from what I can tell.

Murphette in action

Maddie's impressions-

"oh I thought they were just going to fix the old one"

after I put up a second clip to watch

"Don't people have anything better to do?"

I'm pretty sure there is already a plush version.

KAWAI!

(couldn't help myself... I pictured a Maleficent plush, big and round like those spherical character pillows)

Murphy breathes fire! Video here. Right at about 56 seconds in the dragon breathes fire. I gotta say it looks awesome.
:)

Yeah, the only reason I need to see it again soon is I want the full fire-breathing effect. Interestingly, that video is taken from the EXACT same place I was standing the night before when fire failed, but dragon prevailed.


Seriously, when's our Fantasmic meet???

Hey now that did look very cool! :snap:

This was inevitable.

Well, Louis will be here starting next friday and he wants to see it. D23 Expo will be running then, so I'm not sure how that will affect the park. All of those Disney fans in town, and a working dragon. Oye....

We're tentatively planning to go saturday.

make sure you do the Fantasmic meet while i'm here ahahah

Which weekends are you going to be in Anaheim again??

If your up to it....maybe the Friday night you arrive?

As long as we don't expect him to speak or understand English at that point, apparently.;)

i'll be at disneyland on Sept 11 , 13, 18 , 27 .

Oui oui Monsieur ! The Francais will éssaiera to parler English avec vous !

Is that Frenchlish? ;)

yes sir it is !

I thought I recognised the accent!

Well, with my plans and your dates, Sunday the 27th is the best time I can make a Fantasmic meet. We can make the 9:00 showing. I know Sundays are hard for a lot of folks, but what does any one else say?

I've already requested Sunday the 27th off because of some other friends coming in to town that day. They'll be hanging out at Tomorrowland Terrace, so the Wolfpack could probably make a meet that evening.