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[dagobert]

Thanks for summing up all the new attractions, hotels and other things connected with toons, Dave. It's so sad that Disney is doing that. The best attractions Disney ever created aren't connected with movies and toons. For example ToT, Expedition Everest, PoTC, PM or Soarin.

Buffalo Traders was the shop replaced by Starbucks, am I right? It was very well themed, nevertheless I'm happy that there is a Starbucks in the resort. Now you can get a real cup of coffee. But they could have used another shop for Starbucks.

We have start a petition to bring back Clint Eastwood!!! Thanks for the beautiful picture of Santa Fe. It was our first Disney hotel and so it has a special place.

[dagobert]

If people didnt want too much Disney on thier holiday they stay elsewhere! if ur in a Disney hotel surely the expectation is that Disney stuff will be all around? i certainly expected that my first time! i was kinda dissapointed when there wasnt! Of all the things they could have done i dont think this is a huge deal! Im just always happy to be there, infact i'll see it in two months! maybe my opinion will change when i see it....who knows! :thumbs:

But Disney stuff doesn't mean that there have to be toons everywhere. Most Disney hotels don't feature anything related to a movie or to characters, but you realize that you are in a Disney hotel and not in any other. It's the theming and story telling that makes Disney hotels special.

If people want to see characters and toons everywhere, than Disney has to get rid of all the attractions without movie connections ar they have to add them, like they did in it's a small world in Anaheim. But that would be a nightmare.

[MattyD24]

Plus the other thing that was cool about having Clint was it was a nod to Europe too, as most of the films he was famous for as a cowboy were filmed in Spain.

the good old "Spaghetti Westerns", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" being one of them

also Dave, i think you may have forgotten "The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management" in that list of yours... also i think The Barber Shop Quartet is more unigue  :thumbs:

The Santa Fe was our first Disney hotel and we have some great memories about the hotel. I always loved to see Clint Eastwood when entering the hotel parking lot.

something we both have in common  

[davewasbaloo]

Plus the other thing that was cool about having Clint was it was a nod to Europe too, as most of the films he was famous for as a cowboy were filmed in Spain.

the good old "Spaghetti Westerns", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" being one of them

also Dave, i think you may have forgotten "The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management" in that list of yours... also i think The Barber Shop Quartet is more unigue  :thumbs:

The Santa Fe was our first Disney hotel and we have some great memories about the hotel. I always loved to see Clint Eastwood when entering the hotel parking lot.

something we both have in common  

Oops, I thought Under New Management was older than that, I thought I recall seeing that in 2000.

Also in the club, I checked into the Santa Fe on April 11, 1992!

[Adam]

I think we can see a trend, and it is a worrisome one. Hence perhaps my passionate slating of TSPL. Look at it in the whole. When DL opened in 1955, there were very few characters at all, and as a kid growing up in the 70's and 80's, they were a very small part of the Disney experience. Now people focus on them and I think it is killing the parks.

Which is more unique - a barbershop quartet or a spotty teenager dressed up as Mickey Mouse?

Whilst I agree that having characters involved in every ride/hotel is not good, the majority of original DLP rides are based on them. Non character rides are great, such as TOT (which is still based on a TV show), but it is logical to relate rides and characters/movies together at DLP. Also, with regards to the reflection on the Pixar movies and characters, it is also logical to use them and not the older characters, as they are more well known these days and are key to marketing a new ride. Would a ride with Chip and Dale have the same appeal as a Pixar one?

However, I do think that they need to be subtle with the theming - that bedspread is a bit OTT!

[-breeno-]

One last thing entered my mind, if Santa Fe get's an all round Cars retheme, would it mean that Cars billboard we saw on Studio 1 will replace the Clint Eastwood one?  Now that's a scary thought :shock:

Breeno forsaw the future  :lol:  

I feel kinda responsible for this now, as if my sarcastic post gave them an idea.  Please, don't start a witch hunt!  8-[  

Seriously though, this is appalling.  I don't think I need to explain why because it's already been said here, this is a huge step in the wrong direction.  That Clint Eastwood poster [strike:7etiewo6]is one of[/strike:7etiewo6] is my favourite element in any Disney hotel, (yep, better than NPB's lighthouse, better than Sequoia Lodge's trees, hey even better than Fantasia Gardens!).  This very much reminds of the when they had that Walt Disney poster covered up by the Princesses in one of the WDS stores, only this is a bigger scale (literal-wise) and that poster had a very symbolic controversy in my opinion.

Hopeful though, like the Walt poster, this will eventfully be taken down and Clint will reign over Santa Fe once again.

[MattyD24]

on the subject of Clint, i know the image was abit to dated, so why not replace it with this one of Clint

[smurfy74]

I dont mind this infact someone in my household smiled when they saw it ( they are huge cars fan and the reason we are postponing our DCA trip to 2012 for the opening of cars land ), I personally didnt like the clint billboard and thought it looked rubbish. The hotel desperately needs an update, and i feel some of the resorts harshest critics are those that stay at the santa fe. For me the best news is that the hotel is getting some TLC, despite the controversial nature of the update.

[Tuvok]

Ah, I love this new theme for Santa Fe. It fits perfectly and the hotel realy needs a fresh new look. Cars is hugely popular and I'm betting the bookings for Santa Fe 'Cars-style' will be much higher then with Clint.

The new Bambi make-over for Sequoia Lodge is also exciting!

[Reiana]

I still don't know if I like it nor not. I think I don't. Something in my heart says yes, the "refurb" is a good thing for the Santa Fe. But on the other hand it feels wrong for me.
Santa Fe was always my least favourite hotel, themeing wise, but somehow I started to like it during our two stays in june last year and september two weeks ago.
I never really liked the Eastwood billboard, (I don't like Eastwood western either) but now I start to miss ist. It gave the hotel a heart.
But maye they are right to change it. I know themeing is not only for the kids, but how many teens (and younger) know Clint Eastwood. My little daughter didn't even care about the billboard above her head. Think she didn't even recognised it. Wonder she didn't ask, "Who is that strange guy up there?" It wouldn't have made much sense if i told her he was a famous movie star 20 or 30 years ago.
She liked the cars pictures on the wall on our way to the restaurant and watched them several minutes every day.

I think we have to change our view of Disney. This is the Disney(land) for the next (3D/CGI/Pixar) generation.
The 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s are over. To all who are born in this years, we have to accept that we are the "old" generation.
Disney is moving on, maybe in the wrong direction. Maybe the have to learn their lesson.
I think we have to accept it, if we want it or not. The old Disney times are over. We can complain about it and hope Disney is willing to hear, but I think we can't change it. If we can't accept it, we have to leave Disney alone.

[pussinboots]

But maye they are right to change it. I know themeing is not only for the kids, but how many teens (and younger) know Clint Eastwood. My little daughter didn't even care about the billboard above her head. Think she didn't even recognised it. Wonder she didn't ask, "Who is that strange guy up there?" It wouldn't have made much sense if i told her he was a famous movie star 20 or 30 years ago.
She liked the cars pictures on the wall on our way to the restaurant and watched them several minutes every day.

Well, it just so happens I learned who Clint Eastwood was because of that poster!

I'm so tired of this notion that kids only respond to things they already recognize. I was introduced to classical music and Frankenstein through the Looney Tunes, opera through Tom & Jerry and goodness knows what through Disney comic strips — to this day I can't think of Genghis Khan without thinking of Scrooge McDuck. These things didn't dumb anything down and made me want to inquire and dive into all sorts of new worlds. Nowadays, if commerce can possibly help it, kids stop being introduced to any form of novelty after the brief preteen period in which they get Buzz Lightyear, Shrek and Spongebob Squarepants rammed into their young craniums through bath towels and lunchboxes.

I'm not even against the inclusion of a few Disney characters; certainly there is a place for, say, the Three Caballeros at the Santa Fe and for Chip and Dale at Sequoia Lodge. But this sort of thing was once dealt with in a critical and subtle manner — framed Fantasia artwork at the Disneyland Hotel, say — and putting that same stupid image of Cars that we've all seen six million times before on a hotel is not that!

And no one is going to book a stay there because of that billboard. If they want to see that image, I'm sure they have it on a spittle-stained bib somewhere, or on a diaper bag, or on a wallpaper border, or on a roll of wrapping paper, or on a key chain, or...

God I wish Disney would raise their standards just a little bit.

[Owain]

This very much reminds of the when they had that Walt Disney poster covered up by the Princesses in one of the WDS stores, only this is a bigger scale (literal-wise) and that poster had a very symbolic controversy in my opinion.

Hopeful though, like the Walt poster, this will eventfully be taken down and Clint will reign over Santa Fe once again.

Sad to say but from this picture, i think its gone.

see this picture:



Kenny

It looks like just wooden boards behind it now.

[Samninetysix]

TBH I'm getting a little pi**ed off with all the Pixar involvement in the parks, are they just shoving more money in via a sponsorship deal like a premiership football team (and don't you dare call it soccer). I like the TS films but it's everywhere you bloody look.

[pussinboots]

Oh by the way, do you know what most kids today also haven't heard of? Fantasia. Very few daycare centers play that DVD. The pacing is too slow and there isn't enough dialog. I suppose that's bad news for the Disneyland Hotel, then.

[Aveen2008]

I never thought I would say it but I am really sad to see Clint go!    My mum and I used to have a laugh because I used to forget who it was and call him John Wayne by mistake almost every time we stayed there. I am a bit fed up of that cars picture from when it was used in the studios on building 1. As someone else said in their post, I just hope people don't start calling it the cars hotel! :roll:

I have to say I like the vibrant colour of the new duvets.

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