Leaderboard

Not sure whether you meant no jokes of the crude kind, or no jokes about it being the perfect spot for Rocky Express. In any case, good call.

It's good to see that there's a fair amount of work going on inside. Suggests they have been given a pretty decent budget for this, which is good. I believe there's been some rumours floating around that the Duel retheme to Alton Manor could be as high as £5m...would be nice if we're even getting half that here. I'd been holding onto this for a bit, but now that Mr Cottonrock has been able to show inside, I see no reason why I cannot share this now too. Here's a nice look at the hanging carriage scene with the lights on. It doesn't take a lot to see the mirrors in this lighting. Now here's the question: what do they do with this scene if they don't have a floating carriage illusion? Do they just change it to a floating tube carriage? Do they try and transform it to just looking like a station? The trouble with redoing this scene is that it was specifically designed for the floating carriage illusion, specifically a Victorian train carriage. Retrospectively turning it into something else is not an easy task. The time period change (Victoriana to more modern day) is not an issue really. Plenty of train stations still use buildings built from a long time ago, and feel grand and dated. I'm not a fan of the concept art shown for the exterior. It kind of goes hand in hand with what I said just now...there's plenty of train stations which use buildings built a long time ago, and they might have modern retrofitting in place. But it's not the most exciting or visually pleasing thing to look at in the real world. And it certainly doesn't work in a theme park setting either. The concept art is 'fine', but doesn't really strike me as interesting or exciting to look at.

So, I went back to the Parisian Disney Resort. Almost 6 years since my last visit, some things have changed whilst others have remained the same. Both parks were very lively (but not necessarily super busy) during half term week and seemed to feature a lovely atmosphere throughout. On both days Studios closed at 21:00 and the main park at 22:00, making for some excellent opening hours. Besides some refurbishments around the entrance/Disney hotel, (asbestos filled) Small World and other patches around, the park looked great. Maybe better kept than Magic Kingdom (if I’m honest). The 30th celebration show was a delight and I adore the logo, which is a masterpiece! The parade seemed the same as before as did the main nighttime show, which has grown on me from last time, but I still consider dreams better. As much as WDW is the better resort, Paris generally has the best classics, whether it be the tragic mysterious Phantom Manor, the grander arrangement of POTC or the more magnificent Big Thunder ride variant. Space Mountain needs to lose the Star Wars overlay now IMO. Studios is a strange one as some of the park feels the same, but others unrecognisable. The changes to TOT make the ride feel more unique, but still can’t decide whether I like them. Avengers Campus looks more refreshed from the former mish-mash before but feels hit and miss. I liked the Avengers coaster more than I was expecting but still miss RNRC. Webslingers is perhaps the blandest attraction done by Disney, even if the shooting element is fun. Cars Road trip was alright, but feels weird how out of the way it feels from the rest of the park. The new nighttime show was largely enjoyable eventhough I’m not the biggest superhero fan and it meant basically closing half the park an hour beforehand. In contrary to the parks feeling more alive, the Disney Village felt dead and lifeless with no atmosphere at all. The former buildings of Planet Hollywood, Ludwig’s, Cafe Mickey and more all closed and derelict. No atmosphere at all even with the remaining open units. Crowded House’s Don’t dream It’s Over playing whilst passing really summed up the sorry state of this area, which is literally being ripped away from what it once was. As much as I prefer WDW, I can’t help but have a soft spot for this resort, even after all this time. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. I have a soft spot even now for DLRP because it started a whole revolution of park visiting and trips back on my first visit.

There’s a better POV online