DBJ

Glad they purged the Purge out of HHN! Such a visually dead horror franchise. Nice to see the Titans back. Bouncing between doing the killer deal discount night or waiting until Oct. and doing the Gate A pass. Really want to see how they handle "The Shining" in maze from too.

I couldn't find any info on that actually. I imagine they sold it off. In new attraction news, they are bringing "The VOID" experience to Downtown Disney with the Star Wars theme of course. Read about it on Disney Parks blog, sounds really interesting. Probably taking over the Build A Bear shop. Part of the return of the "Season of the Force" for the holidays?

I don't think Scream should be removed. In my coaster designer dream, I would have them remodel it after the Hulk at IOA. Viper on the other hand, unless a refurb can fix, like New Revolution, maybe it is time. Although they have a eyesore level junkyard behind Apocalypse, which would be a perfect spot for another large coaster installation. They really should relocate Slingshot to a place where people might walk by it, like say the Full Throttle plaza.

The one thing that would make me really love the Max Pass is to be able to do FP reservations before arriving in the park. As it is now, it will save some walking when park hopping, which is nice. With the Pier makeover, I would be more enthused for it, if it meant a new flat ride. Just something to increase the overall capacity. The capacity of the park remains essentially the same until 2019. Maybe Paint The Night can peel off some of the Fantasmic crowd? Not sure they can get ride of the warehouse, given that Paint The Night is coming over.

Thanks for the report. Some pretty amazing stuff coming to WDW. I am fascinated mostly by the Star Wars hotel. Sounds like it an incredibly ambitious concept. Really looking forward to see how that develops. Amazing to see how they are developing all the parks in FL. The Disneyland/DCA stuff is pretty vague, some of it promising. Pixar Pier, without another attraction besides Toy Story Mania, seems pretty cosmetic with some added character meet and greets. Love that Paint The Night is returning, DCA needed another night time attraction prior to WOC. And that means goodbye trolley lines on DV street. I wonder though if Pixar Play parade is the only day time parade for DL? The Spider-man and Avengers ride concept sounds like one to watch as well. Very excited to see how all this develops over the next few years. Pretty amazing to think that all this takes place within a relative short amount of time!

Thanks for the pics! I am glad SFMM is moving in this direction. If they can position themselves as the home of the DC universe with the right attractions, we can have a Marvel vs. DC fight for all the comic fans.

Thanks for the recap! Very impressive list for WDW!

The model looks amazing! If they can achieve that by the end of 2019, it will be incredible.

The park is pretty busy consistently, summer days can be hectic. I was there on June 28th (a Wednesday), and July 4th. It was busier on the 28th than the 4th. Really odd. There are a few web sites with crowd trackers. One thing to check is the AP blackout days calendar. Luckily, two tiers of the AP are blocked out weekdays during July. On Saturdays in July, the deluxe pass holders are blocked out as well. That might be the best day to go. As far as name change, the name DCA works if it is not taken too literally. It is not like there is any representation of skiing/winter sports or surfing in the park either, which are "California" adventures. Although, wouldn't it be great to see a attached waterpark near Paradise Pier? Huge lagoon/wave pool and a lazy river, like say Mandalay Bay in Vegas. With Pixar, Marvel, and Disney Animation being headquartered in CA, there is that connection to the DCA name. Plus, with the Marvel attractions coming up being "exclusive" adventures available only in CA (vs. WDW), the DCA name will make more sense as the years go on.

For the parks, I don't think they will pull the trigger on a Marvel Land reveal quite yet. Maybe Disney will just do a slow rolling build up to it? Clone over Iron Man from overseas, doing a Marvel attraction every two years until it is a land. In my personal opinion, would be best to add something significant to DCA the same year as SWL, just to divert some of the crowds but that is highly unlikely. I actually am hoping for a bit more detail on how the guest interacts with Star Wars Land and the reputation system. I think sounds really interesting. I would expect the park focus to be on Star Wars Land, here and in FL, maybe something on Toy Story in FL. I expect a presentation on the new edition of Fantasmic, and about the return of the trains. It would be nice to know a bit more about how they are transitioning Halloween time over to DCA vs. Disneyland, and if/when Paint The Night is returning. Maybe PTN goes to DCA and MSEP stays at Disneyland?

I will be curious to see if they do any more with the landscaping for sun/heat protection. The area seems a tad sparse, so far at least. Will be there Sunday to check it out.

I would like to see them update Pirates. Altering one set piece is a good start. I don't think that changing the nature of the auction will be that impactful, unless they alter it to have more dynamic movement. It is pretty stationery right now. If just from a theme standpoint, there are several spots along the course of the ride that could use some re-Imagineering. Speaking of updates, finally saw GOTG:MB. I don't think I have ever seen a bigger disconnect between an exterior and an interior of an attraction. While I still find the exterior on the garish cheap side, I was amazed at how well the interior turned out. Very, very impressive design work and some of the clearest video screens I have ever seen in a theme park. Oddly enough, the FP machines are still suitcases, maybe in the future that will be changed. As we exited into the gift shop, some interesting merchandise, especially the Spider-man bot, the GOTG offerings are pretty bland. Lot of empty registers. The ride experience itself, to me, is superior to TOT. We heard two songs, on different rides, and saw two video segments. The segments are brief, but wow, so clear. As far as I can tell, we did have different drop profiles both of which are superior to what TOT offered. The Rocket Raccoon AA looks fantastic. Easily the only highlight of the summer of heroes.

Had an odd thing happen with the FP on the 28th. Got a FP for Screaming at 11am, and the return time was listed at 11:10. The standby line was 40 minutes btw. I overheard some other guests had that happen on a other FP machines too. I think there might be some bugs in the new system as they are gearing up to the Maxpass. It is quite handy to have it linked to the AP/ticket now. They still give you a little reminder ticket.

Thanks for the info! Be nice to see what changes were made to Fantasmic.

Southern CA had a lot of rain this past spring. The rain also delayed our new football stadium as well.

Any word on the Disneyland railroad opening date? I am planning a trip for some out of town friends. And one of them loves trains. I am looking forward to it, as it might help the crowds at least. The BT trail turned out quite nice, good design work. I did see the trestles are pretty close to being done. Compared to the concept art, they are a hare on the small side. So I am wondering if they get "grander" as more of the exterior of SW land is finished up.

With Mario Kart, I think the Raptor coaster track would be great. If you ran say like 6 coaster tracks on the course through a combination of physical sets on the scale of RR and screens, would be quite the stunner. However, I think for USH, it will be yet another simulator, in which case I can only hope it is more like Transformers and less Despicable Me. I think it really is just the USJ/USF parks that has the best chance of doing Mario Kart ride justice.

It does indeed look much better at night. I am never opposed to Disney improving the ride experience with new tech, and it sounds like with the new video content they have achieved that goal. The mind boggles however as how they are going to make the exterior fit into a land though doesn't it? Bugs to one side, Frozen to the other, with a Trolley line passing by. Maybe Thanos and the Infinity Gems can be blamed.

Oh wow, the ride does look incredible! Love the visuals of it.

With the next movie being in 2020, I think this land is perfect for introducing people back to the franchise. I would not be surprised if the kids who are going to grow up with the theme park as their first exposure to Avatar will think that Avatar 2 is based on a Disney World ride. Some really amazing design work there by Disney. They truly are masters of theme park design. I imagine that the overseas parks are looking into adapting this land as well.

Randomized video segments for the ride is a good idea, and could be adapted to the other TOT's out there.

Just to be a tad cynical, but it could be a cost savings move too. I am sure there is some kind of royalty paid to Lucasfilm for the imagery and music, depending on how the acquisition was handled. Disney is going to riding how on nostalgia for the summer, between the train, MSEP, and now reverting back to 2005 for Space MT. Hope they take Path of The Jedi out too.

If you look at the Tower from Bug's Land, the colors almost work. From anywhere else, not so much. I am kind of hoping that at least it has amazing lighting at night. Maybe it looks better illuminated? Really odd though that the character of the Collector does not appear in the new movie (maybe later on in the Avengers?), yet the park went with that concept for the redesign.

I was there Sunday. It looked like TSMM line wasn't that bad. Until you read the 120 min standby line notice! I thought it was an error, but looked like the ride was solid with FP people standing in part of the line. The return for the ride was 7:45, so we skipped it. I think in the future it will be quite handy to have it added into the system. Getting rid of the loophole is a good idea, as it hopefully help control the amount of FP guests between the two parks. What I liked was how the FP area was designed in the same architecture style as TSMM, very nicely done.

Well, in positive DCA news, some of the food options at the Food & Wine festival are quite good! Really like the lemon macaroon. There is an AP sip and dine card available over by the Paradise Grill, can save a few bucks with that.