Disney's Hotel Santa Fe refurbishment — New "Cars" touches

smurfy74 · September 24, 2010, 07:24:50 PM

i know what you mean Dagobert - we stayed at the explorers and the kyriad this year and they werent bad at all - the kyriad had the plus of free wifi in the rooms to and seeing as this is the cheapest partner hotel i was pleasantly surprised. both hotels had complimentary tea coffee and biscuits in the room too - which is a pretty basic thing but you have to either ask or pay those at the Santa Fe and Cheyenne and pay 50% more for the room!!!.

MissTinkerbell · September 27, 2010, 11:30:38 AM

I've had 5 stays at Santa Fe and I can agree that they could do some touch ups here and there, but I've never had a problem with the standard of the hotel.
I like the idea of making it Cars themed

The current theme fits well and a few additions from Radiator Springs will be welcome to me

The new billboard is the same one that they had at studio 1 and I like how the colors match the colors of the hotel. Personally I've never been a fan of Clint Eastwood, and I don't mind seeing him go, but that's just my personal opinion

But either way I think I'll wait to pass judgement until I see the finished result

It could be just the refreshment Santa Fe needs :thumbs:

MattyD24 · September 27, 2010, 05:45:35 PM

but thats the thing though, many of us who stayed at Santa Fe back in the 90s will remember seeing Clint when you first arrived there, and if it wasn't for disney i would probably have never have heard of Clint Eastwood when i was 4 years old

Festival Disney · September 29, 2010, 06:33:35 PM

Small announcement on DLP's English Twitter...

QuoteDisney_ParisEN New! Lightning McQueen and Sally from Cars welcome guests at Disney's Hotel Santa Fe http://twitpic.com/2t3mg1

never2old · September 30, 2010, 11:56:47 AM

More bad news.... Lightning McQueen and Sally are here to stay :cry:

DLP's English Twitter confirms change it's permanent

QuoteDisney_ParisEN @DLRPStuff yes it will be permanent. Hope you will have the opportunity to see it soon!

dagobert · September 30, 2010, 12:23:26 PM

Quote from: "never2old"More bad news.... Lightning McQueen and Sally are here to stay :cry:

DLP's English Twitter confirms change it's permanent

QuoteDisney_ParisEN @DLRPStuff yes it will be permanent. Hope you will have the opportunity to see it soon!

That's really bad news, but I expected it to stay. Very sad.

ed-uk · September 30, 2010, 08:33:15 PM

I like the new billboard from Cars. After all what did Clint Eastwood have to do with Disney. He was the star in spaghetti western films. I think route 66, Cars and the hotel Santa Fe fit quite well.

eyore · September 30, 2010, 10:19:42 PM

Don't often post but just had to on this one.
We have stayed at the Santa Fe on 15 occasions (1992/3/5/6/7/8/9/2000/01/02/03/05/06 and 07 (extra spring break at Newport Bay in 94 and Cheyenne in 94 for the summer) so that giant picture was always the "rush" when we saw it. For the last 3 years we have roughed it at the Hotel Disneyland though

For us, the refreshing thing was the fact that the hotels were themed by location and the characters were confined to the Hotel Disneyland (apart from the greeting etc). That made it rather special - as though we were IN those areas (we did visit all the other hotels over the years). There's something sad (to me) about mingling/mixing/messing about the themes with the Disney characters. Sometimes one needs an off switch after a day in the parks.
If you really think about it, few Disney rides are actually linked to Disney films anyway (Fantasyland excluded of course).
There's no Disney link to Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean - well, until they brought out the film, anyway - Phantom Manor (as for Pirates re film) Orbitron, etc. Even the film-based ride Star Tours isn't Disney. Indiana Jones was a quick makeover of an off-the-peg ride to get a thrill ride in for 1993 so that doesn't even count (unlike the US ones)
There does seem to be a trend now to inserting Disney Characters into places they don't belong. Maybe, just maybe, there's a feeling that Mickey and the gang are getting too many "who is that" from the kids these days so they need to link in with later movies. The problem there is that they go out of fashion. Santa Fe was a well themed hotel - even down to the mickey cutout outside the restaurant (see, they sneaked him in) but to theme to a single movie (or series of movies) is going to date things very quickly.
Regarding the hotel itself. It IS 18 years old (and I'm sure they still have the same bed covers etc). It was getting in need of a clean up and decoration (the carpets were getting worn and the wallpaper starting to be stuck back with glue - not to mention numerous cigarette burns by the wash basins). OK, the place was a sweat box in the summer and those fans didn't really help, did they.
It does break my heart to think of Clint being replaced though. That sign had become quite iconic and, regardless of the age of the movie, still THE movie for that area. Classic movies never age or become old fashioned.
You may not be aware of this but the BGM for the Santa Fe has also now been changed to now include some tracks from Cars. That makes it pretty final, I think.
Sorry for the long ramble but I needed to share my pain................. :cry:

ford prefect · October 01, 2010, 12:05:24 AM

yeah, that!

never2old · October 01, 2010, 08:57:28 AM

Nicely put eyore! I think many of us here feel the same pain

dagobert · October 01, 2010, 10:24:23 AM

Well said eyeore. Many here think the same way.

ed-uk · October 01, 2010, 12:31:38 PM

Well for me if it's about the billboard, I would of thought a gaint billboard featuring Clint Eastward dressed as a cow boy would have fit in at the hotel Cheyenne, because it featured him in a spagetti western. It could have even worked at the WDS on a smaller scale because he is a movie star, anyway. But I wouldn't be disappointed or surprised to find Disney characters at a Disney hotel in a Disney Resort. So for me a billoard featuring Disney/Pixar successful movie Cars doesn't come as much of a surprise to me at the hotel Santa Fe. Now if it was a christmas Carol or Alice in Wonderland I wouldn't like it.

Soap · October 01, 2010, 12:53:25 PM

Oh men, this is bad

I normally ain't that negative about DLRP, but this billboard and the "cars" theme is a bad thing.
I just loved the "not character theming" at the Hotels, this is only a little kids add, for the
grown-ups it's a sad thing....

Is the sense really lost at DLRP management and Imagineering? :shock:

ed-uk · October 01, 2010, 01:31:22 PM

Clint Eastwood hasn't got a lot to do with Disney Imagineering though. I suppose DLP think Cars would have an appeal, after all plenty of adults enjoy Disney cartoons and animation. Just no character themeing in the hotels. Should Disney characters be band? I think a lot of families enjoy seeing Disney Characters. Thats one of the appeals of an on site hotel. I was happy with Clint, but I can see why DLP might want to make a small change after 18 years.

Soap · October 01, 2010, 01:56:15 PM

Quote from: "ed-uk"Clint Eastwood hasn't got a lot to do with Disney Imagineering though. I suppose DLP think Cars would have an appeal, after all plenty of adults enjoy Disney cartoons and animation. Just no character themeing in the hotels. Should Disney characters be band? I think a lot of families enjoy seeing Disney Characters. Thats one of the appeals of an on site hotel. I was happy with Clint, but I can see why DLP might want to make a small change after 18 years.

No off-course Disney is also the characters, sure thing, i love them as much.
But the thing is, it isn't only about that and all the last choices and adds are all about cheap characters
and none of them like the old days something surprissing or orginally new.

I know this is an opinion, so i respect that you may like it :thumbs: