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[Columbiad]

That show looks incredible.

The hing about Buzz that really bothers isnt that its in Discoveryland (although it would have been better suited to the Studios) but its location within Discoverland. A location behind Space Mountain nearer to the more franchise-driven Star Tours and Pizza Planet would have beebn far more sympathetic to the retro-futuristic theme.

I wonder if Disney would ever consider relocating an attraction. eg Buzz to the Studios park. Would it be awfully expensive? I suppose an attraction that was guaranteed to draw in the crowds would have to take its place. Saying that, an attraction like Timekeeper 2.0 with its dome technology could become what Soarin' is to California Adventure to Disneyland Paris.

[samuelvictor]

Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast is surely based on the "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" "TV series within a movie" from Toy Story 1 & predominantly 2 (& the spin-off Disney Channel series). Therefore it does fit entirely with a theme of Science Fiction, unless a kids cartoon tv series is not allowed to be Sci-fi now? I guess it also helps bring an element to the area that is familiar to the youngest visitors (though any parents who haven't shown their kids the original Star Wars Trilogy should be ashamed!).

For the record, I & my family love the Laserblast ride, the animatronics & overall technology of the ride are awesome.

BUT, I completely agree that the Visionarium would have been far better left where it was & they should have waited and put Laserblast into Toy Story Playland. Would it have been that much more expensive to build another small building? I like Toy Story Playland a lot for it's theming, but as it stands it feels like three simple kiddie friendly rides. With Laserblast there it would feel more substantial, & would have helped people's opinions of Studios Park.

Unless a ride is completely broken or deeply unpopular, I don't really understand the need to replace it, surely adding more rides and shows increases Park value enormously, rather than swapping one popular ride for another?  

While we're at it I'm still hugely puzzled why Captain EO can't be made to be a standard 3D cinema showing EO, Honey I Shrunk the Audience & Muppets 3D in rotation every half hour or so. No extra cost (especially if the remastered EO is now shown digitally?), 2 extra shows. It's not like EO is jam packed every single time it plays? (perhaps the "4D" elements would go, but these are way cut back nowadays anyway I believe?) Personally I would have preferred "Honey..." or the Muppets to EO, but that's just personal choice.

Back on subject I'm saddened I & my kids never got to see Visionarium. My wife says it was definitely worth experiencing.

[CafeFantasia]

I believe that Le Visionarium actually WAS "deeply unpopular". That's why they got rid of it and replaced it with Buzz.

Yeah, Laser Blast would've made a lot of sense next to Toy Story Playland. But, Disney have Toy Story Mania now, which is a far more high-tech shooting ride. So, perhaps they'll add that to the Walt Disney Studios park in the future, replacing the Costuming/Imaginations Building?

[samuelvictor]

I believe that Le Visionarium actually WAS "deeply unpopular". That's why they got rid of it and replaced it with Buzz.

Oh. Well that's a shame, would have still liked to have seen it!

Disney have Toy Story Mania now, which is a far more high-tech shooting ride. So, perhaps they'll add that to the Walt Disney Studios park in the future, replacing the Costuming/Imaginations Building?

That'd be cool. Though very expensive I imagine - can't see anything of that scope 'til long after the Ratatouille dark ride, whenever that eventually happens.

[Patrick89]

I believe that Le Visionarium actually WAS "deeply unpopular". That's why they got rid of it and replaced it with Buzz.

But the problem is: If it's true that it was unpopular, why couldn't they replace it with a ride more fitting in Discoveryland? As Samuel already said: Buzz would have been perfect for TSPL, but Discoveryland is just the wrong place for it.

Therefore it does fit entirely with a theme of Science Fiction, unless a kids cartoon tv series is not allowed to be Sci-fi now?

But wasn't the Discoveryland theme more focused on the SciFi of the past? How people imagined the future centuries ago? Thus, Toy Story wouldn't be the SciFi of Discoveryland...

[johnd331]

I also dearly miss Le Visionarium. I don't hate Buzz, but it really doesn't fit on that location. The plastic facade clashes with everything around it. Nobody knows why they didn't put it into the WDS, that park REALLY needed a new family oriented attraction back in 2004. And do you really think it was so much cheaper to cramp all this Buzz Lightyear technology into the Le Visionarium building at the hearth of the park while removing the old ride? The only reason this site was choosen was becaude of the many eyeballs it gets.

The attraction didn't seem to be popular when I last visited it in 2003 and the projection quality really detoriated. Aditionally, the Disneyland Park really needed some new attractions, so together with the reboot of Space Mountain they were probably hoping for a new magical revival like the original Space Mountain did about 8 years earlier.

I guess they could have easily fixed Le Visionarium by upgrading its technology. The old projectors could easily be replaced by digital projectors, allowing for a much clearer picture and less maintenance costs and some new effects could have been installed. A complaint I heard from many people was the fact that you had to stand. Well, installing some seats in a slight stadium configuration could have fixed that.

Another problem was lack of knowledge what was going on there. Many people didn't even know it existed or what it was about and it didn't have the same natural pull like many other of the attractions have. I guess, the "in park advertising" for this attraction didn't really work.

[samuelvictor]

But wasn't the Discoveryland theme more focused on the SciFi of the past? How people imagined the future centuries ago? Thus, Toy Story wouldn't be the SciFi of Discoveryland...

Sorry I only just saw this. As I understand, that was the original theme, yes. But with the changes slowly occurring in Discoveryland (not least the changes to Space Mountain) such references have become less apparent. Also, I'm not sure Star Tours, the attached shop, or the Wall-E & Eve statue would fit with a truly "retro" Sci-Fi theme, but to me, they feel perfectly at home in Discoveryland?

I've not watched much of the Star Command cartoon, but the impression I got was it was similar to many of the late 1950s/early 1960s future/space based stories, and styled like a 70s/80s limited animation series, so I guess it is kinda of retro. The Pizza Planet restaurant in Discoveryland certainly has a retro feel looking at the outside of it, presumably this was built at the same time as LaserBlast?

I still stick by the fact that it would have fitted far BETTER in Studios Park, but it's not a complete disaster to add it to Discoveryland. It wouldn't have made ANY sense in the other "lands" of Disneyland itself, so thank heavens for small mercies.  :lol:

[johnd331]

Sorry I only just saw this. As I understand, that was the original theme, yes. But with the changes slowly occurring in Discoveryland (not least the changes to Space Mountain) such references have become less apparent. Also, I'm not sure Star Tours, the attached shop, or the Wall-E & Eve statue would fit with a truly "retro" Sci-Fi theme, but to me, they feel perfectly at home in Discoveryland?

Most fans probably already know this, but again, it might open up a few eyes still

The whole point of Discoveryland was to not repeat the same "mistakes" they made with Tomorrowland in the other parks. So, the whole front part of Discoveryland is based on "sci-fi of the past", especially inspired by Jules Verne.

You cannot only see this in this in the land itself, but also in the *Discovery* arcade and a few shops on the *Discovery* Arcade side. There you will find several large posters, depicting the future of yesteryear of several large cities, alongside several models of old patent applications. The whole arcade serves as a kind of bridge between Main Street USA and Discoveryland.

All the other Tomorrowlands suffer from the fact that their own depiction of Tomorrow fades into history rather soon. So, instead of creating a "Tomorrowland" that will be outdated within a few years, the original designers opted for a far bolder plan. Why not create something timeless, just like the rest of the park?

And that's why so many people object to the more recent changes to Discoveryland. Instead of keeping the timeless Steampunk beauty, they're slowly detoriating it by mixing it up with out-of-place franchise or by some lackluster makeovers (e.g. Mission 2). Many fans have a hard time explaining other people why a Disney themepark is so much more than just another park filled with rides, unfortunately, every now and then, they're giving everybody supporting them in this a hard time. Discoveryland in Paris is a prime example of this.

[samuelvictor]

I was aware of the sci-fi of the past & Jules Verne themes, my point was perhaps other earlier attractions had diluted this aspect of the theme anyway, before Buzz Lightyear came along. The "new" theme as far as the park itself is concerned, appears to be simply Sci-fi as a whole, as you implied.

I was not aware that Discoveryland was explicitly created to be wholly different to Tomorrowland and stick rigidly to those themes. I understand therefore why some new additions or changes cause annoyance in many. However, in that sense, I'm slightly confused as to Star Tours & Captain EO - they don't fit the theme, but have been in the area since 1992? (I'm not being inflammatory by pointing that out, more confused?)

[johnd331]

However, in that sense, I'm slightly confused as to Star Tours & Captain EO - they don't fit the theme, but have been in the area since 1992? (I'm not being inflammatory by pointing that out, more confused?)

Both attractions were there since opening day. The back of the land was always destined to also carry different themes, like the Star Wars theme from Star Tours. Still, Star Wars is a fantasy universe with its own, somewhat timeless style. But, I guess, nobody probably would have protested to have Buzz Lightyear buzzing around in the back of the land, like where Pizza Planet is located.

[CafeFantasia]

Tim Delaney talked about this subject in episode 115 of The Season Pass Podcast. Download it from iTunes and fast forward to 7:40.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/tspp ... i=84309093

"We decided to come up with a whole different approach, and that was, to create an area, a new land which we ended up calling Discoveryland, which was dedicated to the great visionaries of Europe. Each one of these visionaries had a vision of the future, whether it was HG Wells and his stories on time travel, or Jules Verne and his stories of going under the sea and going into outer space, and from the earth to the moon. And, even to somebody like Leonard DaVinci with his mechanical models and the whole look of all that.

But there are also other people that had visions of the future, like George Lucas. So we decided we'll put a George Lucas future in. And the real key to this thing was, when you analyse all the Disney lands (the lands in the Disney parks) is that they're generally all these collections. So we decided, let's do a collection of the futures. And so it's a little bit of a history of the future, and a little bit of the future of the future, but it was gonna be a collection of the futures. And this actually gave us an opportunity to really develop very very strong story elements to it. And so, but on the other hand, I wanted to do more than that. I didn't want to do, like, an old-fashioned place. So, there were some styling issues that we ended up getting into, and talking about."

[ed-uk]

Tim Delaney said that." And so it's a little bit of history of the future, and a little bit of the future of the future, but it was gonna be a collection of the futures" Well I guess Buzz Lightyear must fit into that somewhere, or have I miss understood?

[CafeFantasia]

@ed-uk

Even though that Tim Delaney interview was from March 2010, I think he was really talking about Discoveryland in terms of how he originally designed it. He was talking about the original concept for the land, not the way it exists today.

I have a feeling that, once Space Mountain opened in 1995, Tim Delaney didn't have much involvement with Discoveryland. He moved on to other projects, such as Disney California Adventure, and Discoveryland started to change for the worse. Honey I Shrunk The Audience opened, Space Mountain lost its Jule Verne story, and Le Visionarium was replaced by Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast.

[ed-uk]

@Alan
Comments like "it's a little bit of history of the future" and "a little bit of the future of the future, but it was gonna be a collection of futures" don't make a whole lot of sense to me. I don't except that Discoveryland has changed for the worse, It depends what the alternatives were. To me it's Discoveryland in Disneyland, and Disney want to use their films and characters in their park. It is the magic kingdom after all, you have to suspend disbelief sometimes or nothing will make any sense. A collection of futures doesn't have to be Jules Verne, it could be Michael Jackson in Captain EO, Buzz Lightyear or a scientist inventing a machine that can shrink a human. The real objection some people have to Buzz Lightyear is that he's a toon.

[Scissorsboi]

I've always felt that Buzz could have still worked in Discoveryland, and they could have kept the exterior fitting. Just change the storyline of the queue a little to make it as if you're visiting a planetarium to gaze at the wonders of the universe, when you recieve an SOS call from Buzz himself and are teleported aboard his ship (in the corridor prior to the Buzz-a-matronic), then at that point you keep the ride the same to please the Toon fans, and the external facade still fits the beauty of Discoveryland.

The ride itself is great, I just think it took away from the area with it's slightly less subtle paint scheme. It makes Discoveryland flow worse visually than Visionarium did.