The Movie Based on the Attraction or the Attraction Based on the Movie?

There are some questions that may never be answered, like whether the chicken or the egg came first. Other questions may have similar themes, yet definite answers.

Such is the case with the many iterations of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Ride Disney Thinks People Won't Ride If They Don't Constantly Change It."

Wait...Where's Jack Sparrow?

No, wait... It's just called "Pirate of the Caribbean." My mistake.

In a more literal world, the ride would have that snarky title. In the actual world, it just lives up to it.

Today, on the Disney Parks Blog, it was announced that the Florida version of the attraction will be undergoing minor tweaks, adding some things from the most recent film, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," because that was such a critical darling.

I understand what Disney is shooting for with these changes. Sometimes, I appreciate them. I feel they inserted Captain Jack Sparrow into the ride subtly enough, at least in terms of the scenes.

What I wasn't psyched about was how they altered the story line of the whole ride to adapt to his presence.

The projection of Davy Jones and later Blackbeard, plus the ability to change on the fly are features I'm in support of. Projecting onto fog looks wicked cool.

What I'm not in favor of is the philosophy behind all the changes. (Beware: the curmudgeon side of this 21 year old is about to emerge: proceed with caution.) The ride has been around since 1967, and until the first movie came out in 2003, the only changes they made were because of people whining about how men chasing women is politically incorrect. (By that logic, wouldn't the reverse be true, too? Oh, logic!) Then came the the Cap'n Jack overhaul in 2006, which closed the ride down for months. Suddenly, billboards and advertisements started popping up, advertising the ride with the picture of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack, as if the ride what based on the movie.

Kudos to marketing department for making a classic attraction look new again, but shame on them for skipping history. Those young, skateboarding kids need to know about the classic attraction's history: that it was Walt's last creation and that it came first, that Jack wasn't always popping out of barrels. I'm not saying they should like the movie because they enjoy the ride, but knowing the origin of things is always useful.

So, if you can't tell, this guy right here writing this post: not excited for the "enhancements." Luckily, they're only going to be implemented at the lackluster, abridged version of the ride at Walt Disney World. Always have to look on the bright side of things.

Yay for DCA!

Disney California Adventure has FINALLY found its audience with the opening of Cars Land. Imagineers have given the park that magical Disney touch that it had been missing since Michael Eisner built it on the cheap back in 2001.


It's been open for around 20 days now, and I don't think a negative word has been written about it. People love it, and honestly, it's killing me that I haven't been yet, so all you boastful visitors, I've probably blocked you on Facebook at this point as a measure of self preservation. Yeah, I'm a little jealous.

I haven't been to the California parks since 2010, before I did the College Program in lovely Florida. Visiting DCA at that point, the re-imagining of Paradise Pier had been completed and World of Color was up and running. They'd already rid of the Eisner-ick that made the park so, well, boring.

Not so with Condor Flats and the Grizzly River Recreation Area, Those areas remain almost completely in tact, as they were from the dreadful Day One.

I've always thought that ripping out Grizzly River Run would do wonders for the park. A river rapid ride is so not Disney. Every Six Flags park has one. It's not unique, fun, or worth the five acres it takes up in the middle of the park.

It was, when the park opened, the icon of Disney California Adventure, the weenie, as Walt would have called it. But, much like the Fantasia hat over at DCA's sister park, Hollywood Studios (which covers up Grauman's, the original, and still superior, weenie), there is something that could be a much better icon. In DCA's case, it's the new Carthay Circle Theater, which stands higher than Sleeping Beauty's Castle across the concourse. With the need for something to print on merchandise to distinguish the park filled, there's no need for the uncreative, unimaginative mountain.

As techskip points out on MicheChat.com's web forum, Condor Flats is a land designed to represent the desert portions of California. And so is Cars Land. And Cars Land does it better, so why two lands representing basically the same California climate? Surely the imagineers have noticed the redundancy, and are planing on doing something about it.

The west side of the park can't be ignored now that the east side has gotten the brunt of the updates. The newly named "Hollywood Land" where "Who Want To Be A Millionaire" and the "Monsters Inc." dark ride (which should also be replaced by something that, at the very least, begs for multiple rides) is currently, also needs some attention.

But, when you look at the money Disney has been spending (A billion in California, a billion in Florida, a couple billion on cruise ships, a billion probably on Avatar land [Still have saying that]) you come to the conlcusion that they've spend a lot lately. They've come to that conclusion, too, and aren't going to make it a trend.

From the Orlando Sentinel: "We should be coming down substantially — substantially — in domestic spending," Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said during a recent presentation to stock analysts.

So, while all this would be fantastic, reports have come out that Disney may be putting some money into Disneyland's Tomorrowland. This news, with the news of the reduction in capital spending, all means that Disney California Adventure will probably look pretty similar to how it does today 10 years from now.

Or maybe, just maybe, Disney will realize what Walt always knew: being cheap puts you on the level of everybody else, and reinvesting money back into the parks, well, that gets you Cars Land.

Walt as a Character

Ever since French Artist Pascal Witaszek posted his faux-film poster of a Walt Disney biopic, the inter web has been ablaze with praise over how real the poster looked, and how people really wanted it to be real. For real.

I am one of those people, with Ryan Gosling being one of my favorite contemporary actors, and Walt Disney being just about my favorite person of all time and with film being one of my favorite things to watch, it would combine a lot of my scattered favorites into one lovely thing. One of my other favorite things: run on sentences.

But 'twas a fake, and the Disney studios have not announced any plans to release a feature about their founder. Yet. It will happen. No icon makes it this long without a biopic.

But much like Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn," Walt may show up in a movie that's focuses on a part of his life instead of the whole thing.

The film, which will be titled "Saving Mr. Banks," is proposed to follow Walt through his 14-year long struggle to turn the pages of Mary Poppins into a motion picture. It's a little-known story that should make for a well-reviewed film. The Australian author of the Mary Poppins series, PL Travers, will be likely be played by Emma Thompson. Travers was unhappy with the outcome of the Academy Award winning film adaption of her book. She was about the only one.

So, it's not Ryan Gosling. Walt was too old during this time of his life to be played by Gosling (who, later in life from the aged make-up job he had in "All Good Things," doesn't quite look like Walt). The actor rumored to be playing Mr. Disney: Tom Hanks: my favorite actor. So I guess it will work out for my preferences.

Hanks, the voice of Woody in the three Toy Story films and yet-to-be-determined-number of shorts, will do Walt quite a justice. He's a two-time best picture winner, and seems to be just a great all around, funny guy.

But this doesn't satiate my desire for the Gosling-as-Walt biopic to be made. Get on that, Disney.

Disneyland More Popular than Walt Disney World? Technically.

According to the O.C. Register, Walt Disney World, on average, had a lower rise in attendance than the Disneyland Resort did this year.

DCA's World of Color

This is probably because California Adventure's opening of "World of Color," the terrific new nightly water show.

Or it's because Disneyland is better, at least as a concise Disney park. I've always held this theory, but numbers don't lie, and they say that I'm right.

Other speculation is that WDW attendance is being siphoned off  by the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter section at Universal's Islands of Adventure. This is probably also true. If it is, it wont last for long. Disney World will eventually open something that far outshines the wannabe Fantasyland "world" at the Universal park.

But look at the statistics on how the opening of the Wizarding World at Universal and the opening of "World of Color" at DCA. According to the OC Register's article, "Universal Orlando’s attendance jumped 36 percent since the opening of the Harry Potter-themed attractions in June" while according to Bob Iger, President of Disney, "California Adventure had a 20-percent leap in attendance since the debut of the “World of Color” show in June."



"World of Color" is a integral part of the DCA update happening in California, but it's not the main feature. Over at Universal, "Harry Potter" is their big shebang, their E-ticket attraction. It's the big thing getting people to walk through their gates. But it only raised Universal's attendance 16 percent more than a nightly water show, that can only be experienced twice in a single day for about 40 minutes total. I think that says a lot about the attractiveness of the things Disney does and thow Universal does things.   

"Harry Potter" world will always attract people, but it will never be comparable to anything Disney does. Attendance will even out, and WDW will reign supreme once again. With the rumors of an Australia section coming to Wild Animal Kingdom or a reproduction of DCA's soon to be opened Cars Land at Hollywood Studios, Universal's Islands of Adventure will once again be a footnote to WDW in Orlando.

Happy 109th Birthday, Walt Disney!

Today marks what would be Walt Disney's 109th birthday. By now, he would have passed away from old age, but sadly, Walt only lived to be to be 65 and 10 days, dying from lung cancer after a life full of chain smoking.

Walt still managed to do some amazing things in a what seemed by many, a life cut short. His achievements include the first sound cartoon, bringing color to cartoons, the first feature length animated film, building Disneyland, buying the land in Orlando, and overseeing the plans for EPCOT, which was never built as Walt wanted it.

One of the best ways to thoroughly learn about Walt's life is to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. I have written a blog post about it in the past, and hope to go back when I am back home for winter break.

It's an odd coincidence that 10 days from now, on December 15, it will mark the anniversary of Walt's death. He died only 10 days after his 65th birthday, having come down with lung cancer, which he had only known about for a short time. But we'll discuss his death more when that day comes. Today is the day to celebrate his birth, and life, and what he did during those 65 years and 10 days.

As I have discussed at length, and will discuss even more, I was at Disneyland for 5 days a few weeks ago. Besides visiting the Family Museum, this is the the best way to explore what Walt loved about life. It was his personal utopia, built to be as close to perfection as possible. A place for both the young and old; not just for children, as many people seem to think. It's a place he loved so much, he would often sleep over there, a place he was an integral part of since day one of construction. A place that frustrated him when the surrounding area was developed by less than classy establishments.

To really celebrate Walt's life, to really walk in his shoes, you have to walk through Disneyland. So today, we celebrate Walt's life, and his greatest achievement, Disneyland.

Happy Birthday, Walt.