Disney! Wheeee!

[tifosi77]

Not sure if I should put this in here or in the Star Wars thread.........

We're going to Disney!and in a couple weeks, and I plan on doing the Savi's Workshop lightsaber thing. I want to build one with a yellow kyber crystal, but it looks like all the videos I can find are either from the Before Times, or still just have the 4 basic options (blue, green, violet, red). However I see the occasional video of people building Darksabers, and blades of other off colors, and I get confused. I know you can buy aftermarket crystals that work with the Savi's hilts, but I'd like to activate it in its desired color. Is there a hack I'm unaware of that gets you different colors? Like a secret passphrase or handshake or something?

mini meow did this when we were there. Amazing experience by the way. He only had the choice of green, blue, purple or red. And then they divided the room into two and someone walked around with a device with crystals you can pull out. Problem being that there are not enough of each color for everyone. mini meow did not have the choice of purple because he was the last one on his side to choose. Not a big deal because he is apparently a Sith Lord and wanted red. I imagine you can take it apart and buy an after market crystal, but as far as I know, you have to build it with one of the four colors offered.

Did a bit more looking into this, and there seems to be a gift shop near Savi's that sells different crystals for $15 a pop. You can get yellow and white there, but as you say you have to build with one of the 4 OG colors.

[meow]

Nice. That makes sense. There are quite a few shops around there. Also, across the walkway from Savi’s waiting area is a spot that stormtroopers come out and talk **** to passerbyers. It was a great way to spend the 15 minutes we had to wait. That might be my dream job

[tifosi77]

meow, s**t-talking Stormtrooper.

[meow]

mrs meow was the one that brought it up. She said that would be the perfect job for me. And it would. **** talking is my answer to “what is your greatest strength?” question

[nocera]

Don’t they have pre-recorded sound bites?

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

we can say for sure the ya boy meow's gr8est strength is not his contributions to 5af

[meow]

Jabroni, please. Don’t make me make a best of meow thread. Remember the 1,000 off topic thread thread? **** was lit

[tifosi77]

The masked character dialog is pre-recorded and is triggered by a combination of hand gestures and weapon manipulations. But I also thought there was a limited ability for the Cast Members to freelance, in a sort of sotto voce sense.

[meow]

We saw a bunch of characters out and about, but there is definitely a sense that they want them to stay away from folks. At Chef Mickey’s, they want you to stay in your seats when characters are out. mini meow wanted to play Rock Paper Scissors with Mickey and he stood up and turned around because his back was to Mickey. Mickey jumped back like five feet. It was weird, but understandable.

Saw a ton of princesses, a wookie, a Rey, the stormtroopers, all of Mickey’s pose. Just about everyone.

[willeyeam]

we can say for sure the ya boy meow's gr8est strength is not his contributions to 5af

Do... Do we know that? What if it is?

*shudders*

[NAN]

We saw a bunch of characters out and about, but there is definitely a sense that they want them to stay away from folks. At Chef Mickey’s, they want you to stay in your seats when characters are out. mini meow wanted to play Rock Paper Scissors with Mickey and he stood up and turned around because his back was to Mickey. Mickey jumped back like five feet. It was weird, but understandable.

Saw a ton of princesses, a wookie, a Rey, the stormtroopers, all of Mickey’s pose. Just about everyone.

Yeah, that is the big difference right now. Pre COVID, many more characters were out and about, they had a lot more character meals, and the kids could interact with the characters (hugs, autographs, etc).

This recent trip, you did see some characters, but they were FAR fewer, and most were behind ropes, and like Winnie the Pooh was just walking around in a field at Epcot.

The evil step sisters did talk to people and were joking around with my daughters, and when you did the visit Tiana/Cinderella or whatever near the Peter Pan and Small World ride there, they talked, but again, you couldn't hug or stand next to them for pics. You had to stand in front of the ropes with your mask on.

[tifosi77]

I don't think they're in a hurry to return to the days when the Parks were dark, so they're still being extra cautious. We were still tracking for the start of in-person hybrid work up until like the week before we were going to roll out, so who knows.

It will be interesting. Gov Newsom is lifting the statewide masking/social distancing order next week, but localities are still free to implement their own more strict rules. In LA we're still probably another 2-3 weeks away from following suit, but I'm sure Orange County (Disneyland) will be mask-free by the end of next week.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I know way too many people who'd want to live in one of these places.

And you thought your homeowner's association was weird. Disney is working to build multiple planned communities inspired by its team of theme park designers, which are intended to permanently immerse its most dedicated fans.

"Storyliving by Disney" is a master-planned residential community that is "designed to be the perfect setting for Disney fans to write the next exciting chapter in their lives," said Josh D'Amaro, chairman of Disney's Parks, Experiences, and Products division.

Angling to combine the "warmth and charm of a small town" with the "beauty of a resort," the first of these towns will be named Cotino and located in Rancho Mirage, California, just outside Palm Springs, where Walt Disney himself once lived. Cotino is expected to be home to 1,900 housing units, including single-family houses, condos, and larger estates.

Cotino is expected to host a hotel, a range of business and dining locations, and an entire oasis powered by Crystal Lagoons, a company that builds large "public access lagoons" in urban regions.

Residents will be able to attend Disney-themed activities and programming throughout the year, in addition to special club memberships for an extra fee. Public visitors will be able to purchase a day pass to access the community and its various shops.

“Every single element of these communities will be steeped in a story,” D’Amaro told USA Today. The residents, he says, will be active participants in the stories. It's not entirely clear what D'Amaro means, though. Will residents be incorporated into theme park-style events, or encouraged to exhibit certain habits? Considering the public will be able to enter the community for the price of a day pass, will residents be afforded some sort of special privilege?

Notably, Disney is not developing Cotino, merely marketing it. Disney is partnering with independently owned housing developers to take on the responsibility of developing and selling houses. For Cotino, Disney is partnering with DMB, a luxury community developer responsible for locations in Hawaii and Arizona.

This isn't the first time Disney has attempted to convert its theme park extravagance to real-world communities. Celebration, Florida was established in 1996 as a master-planned community near the Disney World parks, with home prices starting at $1.6 million. Walt Disney himself famously wanted to make Epcot the "experimental prototype community of the future."

Cotino and other planned communities will be serviced by Disney cast members, but it remains to be seen if they'll be members of the community itself or a commuter class. It's also evocative of the concept of "company towns," the infamous communities wherein all property is owned and operated by a single company that also employs all residents. Though employment with Disney isn't a requirement for Cotino, having one of the world's biggest media companies owning a stake in your living situation seems like it will come with some unexpected caveats.

[nocera]

This didn’t work out so great for Celebration.

[Shyster]

Add cameras everywhere and you have the Truman Show.

[nocera]

Celebration feels exactly like The Truman Show. It's a weird place.

[tifosi77]

I mean, wasn't that essentially the plan behind EPCOT? There may not have been a 'story' component, but the residents were definitely part of a story. (Does that even make sense?)

[nocera]

I mean, wasn't that essentially the plan behind EPCOT? There may not have been a 'story' component, but the residents were definitely part of a story. (Does that even make sense?)

That was Walt's original idea but it never made it past the model table.

[DigitalGypsy66]

We closed out Animal Kingdom with Avatar: Flight of Passage. Really, really excellent ride. Probably could shorten the pre-ride video stuff, but a great ride. Pandora looks awesome at night, as a lot of it is fluorescent/glow in the dark. We tend not to eat a lot at the parks because of previous experiences - overpriced Applebee's level of food. But we ate at Flame Tree Barbeque and it was both reasonable and tasted good.

We rawdogged Magic Kingdom on Saturday without Genie+, and was pretty miserable. Universal Sunday was an absolute zoo, with 100+ minute waits for everything all day long, so we ponied up for the express pass there. Very, very costly but we were able to ride most everything with minimal wait - except for Hagrid's Motorbike and Velociraptor, which weren't eligible for that pass. Both had 2-3 hour waits until close, and we'll save those for another time.

Universal Express Pass vs. Lightning Lane is interesting: Universal's isn't instant access to the front of the line, and they claim it cuts down the standby at least half for popular rides. Disney's Lightning Lane, at least in Animal Kingdom, cuts the wait down much more significantly.

Back to Magic Kingdom today. Ponied up for Genie+ this time around, and our first available Lightning Lane choice is at 7:30 tonight (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad). I think it's going to be a zoo in there again today.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

@DigitalGypsy66 You probably already know this, but you can make another Genie+ choice for today 2 hours after the park opens. Once you are finished checking in for that ride, you can then make another selection. You can keep doing that as long as they don't overlap with another choice

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, we did that pretty well yesterday in AK. The issue with AK is that there are so few rides available, it was tough making late day choices - especially with Expedition Everest closed.

We bought Lightning Lane passes for Space Mountain - we were afraid that would be sold out completely. That ride is separate from the Genie+ system.

We're not staying in the parks, so we're at a disadvantage when it comes to getting first dibs on Genie+ or Lightning Lane selections, unfortunately.

[tifosi77]

Had been checking the reservation situation at Savi's every day, and on Friday (one week out) reservations at all time slots were released. So we're booked for 10:30am; I chose the early-ish time as an incentive to get our asses underway asap in the morning.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Magic Kingdom was a zoo, but we made the best of it. I really recommend trying to get on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at night and during the fireworks. Really cool, as it sort of turns into Space Mountain where you can't see what's ahead.

Speaking of fireworks, all of the ride times drop in half or more for that magic 45 minutes or so before, during, and after the fireworks. Some of the popular rides got into sub 30 minute waits, which was rare for this trip.

Jungle Cruise was never under 80 minutes, and usually over 100 for the two days we were there. It dropped to 35 minutes during the fireworks, but we had Lightning Lane reservations elsewhere. I always thought that was a dated, garbage ride, but it was renovated to coincide with the Dwayne Johnson film that just came out.

We were the last ones let into the Space Mountain line right at 10 PM. So we closed the ride down for the night, which was cool.

[meow]

Had been checking the reservation situation at Savi's every day, and on Friday (one week out) reservations at all time slots were released. So we're booked for 10:30am; I chose the early-ish time as an incentive to get our asses underway asap in the morning.

Nice. It was amazing. I hope you have the same actor as Savi as we did. Dude was perfect

[tifosi77]

Wasn't Jungle Cruise so dear to Walt that he chose to put his on-site apartment in the Main Street fire station because it overlooked that ride? Like, it became special to him during construction of the park.