It looks like they might finally be planning the BR renovation.
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Hopefully they will lighten those dark rooms up while keeping some of that classy BR theming - Carolwood Railroad, incorporating WL’s backstory, etc.
I’m torn about this.
On the one hand I do think the lighter, brighter rooms that have come from recent renos look so fresh and clean and just plain nice. On the other hand, dark and brooding seems to fit better with a PNW theme, doesn’t it? I don’t like the idea of the resort-specific theming being lost as rooms get updated.
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100% agree, but is that is what is happening?
I thought the only one that really did this was the Contemporary with their incredi-rooms. And it was addressing the years-old complaint of the Contemporary being boring (albeit quite ham-handedly. Not sure we needed bright-orange carpet )
I think it’s more the Values (All Stars and Pop) with their “rehab chic” rooms. Those are almost all completely interchangeable.
Ah ok.
Others may have other resorts, but I think the updates have largely been resort-specific other than those Values.
Poly got Moana, Stitch remains a bit in the Studios.
SSR got the horse theme which fits for Saratoga Springs
CSR has southwestern touches.
Contemporary has Incredibles (which I don’t get…I wish they’d gone more with the Mary Blair styling they did in the lobby).
Wilderness Lodge is wildernessy with Chip and Dale and Bambi hiding around.
AKL is themed more to Africa with some Lion King touches.
Yacht Club is yachty.
And so on.
I know I’ve seen pics of test rooms somewhere - I’ll try to find them.
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I can explain that one: 50s Futuristic is the main aesthetic of the Incredibles. And the Contemporary is considered to be an offshoot from Tomorrowland. So it…kinda…sorta…barely…fits?
Personally, I would’ve preferred more of an Imagineer tribute. Like that of Mary Blair. Make it almost a livable museum of imagineering achievements.
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It’s just weird to me that they did the lobby in more of a Mary Blair theme but didn’t carry it to the rooms. Either do it all that style or all more Incredibles. And with the Grand Concourse murals being so celebrated, I’d have voted for the first option.
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There must be some major story behind the mural that’s off the books. Cause everything I’ve read on it doesn’t quite add up to why they have such reverence for it. Even in 1990, the staff was HARD CORE pushing the mural as one of THE things to see here at Disney World.
Like “Here’s your key, welcome to Disney World, be sure to check out the mural on the 4th floor!”
Upon seeing it, I remember as a kid thinking “it’s nice…but uh… what’s the big deal?”
Not that i’m saying it’s not impressive, but…it’s a non-disney-specific mural. Not exactly “exciting” to the average guest.
I guess, reading the rest of the responses, they have thus far managed to update the rooms without losing the theming.
It was just a thought, since I’ve recently heard it mentioned in a few places about how the darker tones fit the PNW more than lighter tones.
Yes, I can see that. That does still feel “lodge” to me, even in its brightening up.
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As a child of the 50’s, I totally get it. I was elementary age in the 60’s, with all the excitement of space travel and the Sunday night Walt Disney show. I’ve always wanted to stay in the tower at CR. The sight of the monorail going through that modern concrete architecture is my go-to image of WDW. And now that the rooms have been redone with the Incredibles theme (one of my favorite movies), I REALLY want to stay there - someday.
Mary Blair’s mural works, even with the Incredibles theme. It’s modernist style, and she’s credited with introducting modernist art styles to Walt and his studios. Some of her painted murals for DL have since been painted over.
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That just looks like IKEA.
There’s a whole back story to WL around the Pacific North West and the railroads. What in that picture shows anything resembling that? They stripped everything theme wise out of the rooms when they converted them to CCV.
I don’t know that those will still be used. They were done several years ago and I’m pretty sure the response was muted to say the least. As in, very negative.
Mary Blair is a “Disney Legend”. She was an animator and did a lot of concept art for some of the classic Disney movies like Cinderella and Peter Pan,. She was also responsible for the IASW doll designs.
I assume they asked her to design the mural because her modernist style suited the concept of the Contemporary Resort. And she added her own version of the “hidden Mickeys” to it.
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Yup, I’m aware of all that, but my point is that doesn’t match up to treating the mural like it’s the Sistine Ceiling.
You’d think the mural suddenly appeared overnight one night or there’s some super-special-secret to it the way it’s revered.
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