D23 Announcements so far...

So here's the list of changes I've found so far...

FOR WDW...
1) Tron ride behind Space Mountain (but not taking over the speedway)
2) new Willis Wood Theater on Main Street (similar to Hyperion at DCA)
3) Ratatouille ride in France (2021)
4) Guardians replaces Ellen (2021)
5) Space themed restaurant near Mission: Space
6) Mission: Space new mission(s)
7) Minnie Van Uber like service (flat rates on property)
8) Toy Story land to open in 2018
9) Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (name revealed) to open 2019
10) Star Wars themed immersive Hotel
11) Mickey's Runaway Railway replaces the Great Movie Ride
12) Riviera Resort the newest DVC resort near Epcot
13) Skyway Gondolas from select resorts to Epcot
14) Epcot Entrance redone

FOR DLR...
1) Paint the Night moves to DCA (WDW gets shafted again)
2) Pixar Parade moves to Magic Kingdom
3) Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens in 2019 (and before WDW)

MOVIE NEWS...
1) Many release dates given:
a) Incredibles 2 (6/15/18)
b) Wreck It Ralph 2 (11/21/18)
c) Space themed Cars/Planes movie (4/12/19)
d) Toy Story 4 (4/21/19)
f) Frozen 2 (11/27/19)
2) Will Smith will be the Genie in the new live action Aladdin
3) Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito star in Dumbo live action.

**will update when I remember everything I've missed**


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My reaction: Not much that we didn't already know about and I was disappointed that the new announcements continued the trend of replacing unique experiences with IP. At least Tom Fitzgerald is in charge of the EPCOT refurbishments.

 

True... the only things new to me were the Willis Theater on Main Street and the restaurant in Mission:Space. Everything I heard as leaked rumors. Would still have liked to heard a new night time parade was coming...


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Some more detailed thoughts:

1) Tron ride behind Space Mountain (but not taking over the speedway) - Nice to have a new coaster. I hope the building theme doesn't clash with the rest of tomorrowland too much. I also hope they take into account whether it can be seen from other areas of the park unlike the Tangled restrooms.
2) new Willis Wood Theater on Main Street (similar to Hyperion at DCA) - Ok. Hopefully that will allow them to remove the stage from the castle.
3) Ratatouille ride in France (2021) - From what I've heard its a cool ride. Although I hate to see them remove a country expansion pad for an attraction. Would have been better if they found a way to build the show building behind the country.
4) Guardians replaces Ellen (2021) - Ellen was getting old, but I hate to see the original pavilions go in favor of IP related rides. I was hoping Future World would go back to its roots. Guardians would fit in DHS better anyway.
5) Space themed restaurant near Mission: Space - Sounds cool.
6) Mission: Space new mission(s) - Nice to see them change it up from time to time. Although if I remember correctly this is only a Green Team refresh?
7) Minnie Van Uber like service (flat rates on property) - How long before this kills Uber on property and they jack the rates?
8) Toy Story land to open in 2018 - Ok. Not that excited, but nice to have something to photograph at the Studios.
9) Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (name revealed) to open 2019 - Looking forward to this one. I'm not a Star Wars fanatic, but I think it will stand the test of time better than Avatar and should be fun to photograph.
10) Star Wars themed immersive Hotel - Not sure how this will work long term. I'm hearing ridiculous rack rates and charges. I wonder how sustainable it is long term.
11) Mickey's Runaway Railway replaces the Great Movie Ride - Couldn't they have put this somewhere else? The great movie ride could use a refresh, but should stay the Great Movie Ride. A flat Mickey ride doesn't pass the sniff test on it being better than what it replaced.
12) Riviera Resort the newest DVC resort near Epcot - Eh. Not that bothered.
13) Skyway Gondolas from select resorts to Epcot - I think this is a waste. Didn't the Skyway have to shut down when there was lightening? Have they solved that problem? Since its serving Pop and AoA, you know the rates are going up, or they will be changed to Moderates due to this new service.
14) Epcot Entrance redone - Is the entrance being redone? The blue sky rendering was from World Showcase looking back toward SSE, so you really can't see much of the entrance at all. I'm not holding my breath on an awesome redo of Future World until we see more info in the coming years. The blue sky rendering looks nice, but its too early to tell exactly what they're doing.

 

1) Tron ride behind Space Mountain (but not taking over the speedway) - excited for this to come, but probably won't be able to ride it for a while as I'm guessing it will have some size restrictions similar to Flights of Passage...
2) Willis Wood Theater on Main Street (similar to Hyperion at DCA) - will be nice to have a stage show on par with Aladdin and Frozen that was/is in DCA. My guess is that it will be somewhere on the bypass route from Main Street to Tomorrowland. Rumors are that it will replace the Kodak building and Tony's but think that's just guessing at where it would fit on actual Main Street.
3) Ratatouille ride in France (2021) - very excited for this just from seeing the ride videos from DLP.
4) Guardians replaces Ellen (2021) - I think that Ellen is getting stale but I agree that it seems that IPs are taking over Epcot. Looks like they are trying to tie this into Epcot by saying that Peter Quill (StarLord) visited Epcot as a kid. Using that logic then nearly any IP could be put into Epcot. The real question is if it will be a coaster or a dark ride and what the story of the ride is.
5) Space themed restaurant near Mission: Space - will definitely eat there once. And if the actual restaurant is even half as good as the concept art then I think it will be a hit. Though it looks to be a premium sit down restaurant. So I'm thinking similar to the Coral Reef just with a space theme.
6) Mission: Space new mission(s) - either way they go (rehash of Green Team or completely new) won't effect me because those capsules are way too small for me. The only time I've ridden M:S I felt like a sardine.
7) Minnie Van Uber like service (flat rates on property) - can definitely see this affecting Uber pricing but don't think it will replace it completely. If only for the fact (or possible fact) that the Minnie Vans only operate on property. So unless that changes and the MVs can take you anywhere (grocery store or airport or Universal) then I don't see a total replacement.
8) Toy Story land to open in 2018 - excited for this only in so much as I can't wait to see the theming of the area.
9) Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge (name revealed) to open 2019 - HUUUGE Star Wars fan so this is the biggest thing for me. Can't wait to fly the Falcon and see the new meet-n-greets. Probably won't go right away (just like Pandora) but so excited for this.
10) Star Wars themed immersive Hotel - initially I was excited for this this but think it's going to be out of my price range. Seeing that it is all-inclusive you really have to compare it to the cruise line rather than a typical vacation at wdw. Len Testa tweeted that it was going to be $1250 a night for a family of four (which puts it just under the price of a 4 night cruise in an inside cabin). If the opportunity presents itself to go then I will... but I won't hold my breath.
11) Mickey's Runaway Railway replaces the Great Movie Ride - this is probably the only thing I'm truly disappointed about. Not so much that GMR is getting replaced but that it's going to be in the new "edgy" animation style. And seemingly mostly screen based rather than animatronics or a combination thereof. This will probably be a one-and-done for me.
12) Riviera Resort the newest DVC resort near Epcot - it's just been announced that this will be next to Caribbean Beach Resort and have a Skyway stop next to it. Would consider staying there depending on the price point but as long as it frees up rooms at other DVC resorts I'll be happy (though I suppose at the rate they are increasing DVC memberships will max out rooms no matter what.
13) Skyway Gondolas from select resorts to Epcot - Meh... will ride to the parks at least once but just see this as another way to get stuck 30 feet in the air when it breaks down (and it will break down)...
14) Epcot Entrance redone - I guess the biggest thing I've heard is mostly that the Legacy Plaques will be removed so I doubt the entrance will change much.




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I must have missed that news. Glad to see the tombstones gone.

 

As far as I know I think it's that their "lease" is up... similar to how the bricks at the Magic Kingdom are a leased purchase and will most likely be removed at some point in the future.


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