The Hall of Presidents now closed for refurbishment ahead of today's presidential inauguration

owlsandcoffeeJul 19, 2021

I reaaaally do not want The Muppets in HoP. The show they did in Liberty Square looked good. I can understand why TDO might want to integrate further. But no. I get that the HoP can be boring for some but it's kind of the "soul" of the Magic Kingdom. The Muppets could get a ride in Storybook Circus or something (better yet...DHS...)

Brer PantherJul 19, 2021

For now.

GimpYancIentJul 19, 2021

Rich BrownnJul 19, 2021

Turns out... no Muppets after all ... reopens in Aug

Sharon&SusanJul 18, 2021

Don't take the main post as Word of God as it's A) a rumor and B) at least one part of the post proved to be inaccurate already (though he did say it was a "hunch"). It's important to note that even if it opens by Thanksgiving, it'd still have been closed for less time than it took when they added Trump.

owlsandcoffeeJul 18, 2021

I obviously have not attacked you but I am one of the people that a) don't think this'll happen and b) don't WANT this to happen. If I am wrong and it does I will be the first to admit it, lol.

AndriadisneyJul 17, 2021

I said this exact same thing months ago on Twitter. I was attacked verbally by absolutely everyone. I said that the reason it is taking longer to open was because something was going on behind the scene and some kind of animated show was being added. Everyone, and I mean everyone on Twitter called me foul names and quoted that it hasn’t been closed long and I didn’t know what I was talking about. I really hope this happens as I will be asking for a full apology from the people who defeated and belittled me. 🥸

PrinceCharming617Jul 16, 2021

I'll take "America Sings" and that is my final offer.

TrainsOfDisneyJul 15, 2021

Ah! Yes that makes sense.

MerlinTheGoatJul 15, 2021

There's a BB8 atop the X Wing outside. But it's not a real animatronic. It just has a single axis swivel on the head. The one inside at the preshow at least rolls around and moves its head in a computer programmed manner, with synchronized droid noises. So in spite of his otherwise limited range of motion, i'll consider him an AA.

TrainsOfDisneyJul 15, 2021

Yeah that’s my problem with Rise - it feels very empty and sterile so the video screens stick out more than if they are in the background. Aren’t there 2 bb-8’s - one indoors at the preshow and one outdoors? Again not a full AA but still counts for something. So a grand total of 8 AA’s for the entire attraction?

MerlinTheGoatJul 15, 2021

Rise has a grand total of 5 real animatronics while you're on the ride. Finn, Hux, two Kylo Rens and the Admiral Ackbar replacement. With two more in the queue I believe (though one of these is BB8, nowhere near the same amount of axes/movement as a humanoid figure) None of the droids are real "animatronics". They vehicle astromechs and the probe droid only have two axes of movement (head swivel and raising/lowering a little). There aren't even that many simple moving props either, only about a dozen more or less. Most of the perceived motion in the ride is done with flashy lighting and/or projection mapping. And for the record, I don't actually have a problem with a lot of these effects when judged on a supplemental level (Ratatouille and even Mickey's Runaway Railway are far more guilty of video overkill IMO). My issue again is that most of the physical detail is shoved up against the wall, leaving large empty rooms and corridors and again almost no animatronics. Even using a bunch of older "A1" model AA's (instead of more advanced/expensive A100/1000 type) to fill out the scenes would have been a massive improvement. Especially for characters like Stormtroopers or protocol droids who don't need physical faces. By comparison Horizons had about 40 real animatronics throughout, with several individual scenes having more than RotR has in its entirety. The simpler moving props also vastly outnumbered the ones in RotR's scenes. And yes, video projection was used to fill out some of the backgrounds or provide a transition between the scenes (the densely detailed physical sets and large amount of AA's at the forefront ensured these video elements didn't dominate the ride). World of Motion had even more AA's and moving props than Horizons (also with supplemental video). But Sinbad at Tokyo Disneysea tops them all, the entire ride has around 140 animatronics. So many that it's hard to count them all, there's around 45 in just the first scene. And absolutely zero video screens thoughout.

RSoxNo1Jul 15, 2021

Performances were often linked to the Festivals. Eat to the Beat, Sounds of Summer that sort of thing. Voices of Liberty has performed on that stage, but they more often perform indoors in the Rotunda at the American Adventure. It's a flexible stage, and doesn't always get a ton of use during the day. I would welcome a show like "Hits of Hamilton" during the day with the nightly concerts of Candlelight Processional still taking place.

TrainsOfDisneyJul 15, 2021

And threw Ball bearings at him!