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Author
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Topic: Movie theater on the Disney Wonder cruise ship
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-19-2013 03:45 PM
We took a Disney cruise last week and watched a couple of movies in the on-board theatre, called the Buena Vista Theatre (I thought the name was a cool touch and sort of a nod to us "old school" Disney fans).
The ship has two big auditoriums -- the theatre, which also has a small stage, and a larger legitimate stage theater, called The Walt Disney Theater, which presents live entertainment but can also host movie showings. Either auditorium completely makes you forget you're on a cruise ship. The bigger one has just under 1000 seats. They also show movies all day on a huge jumbo-tron type screen attached to one of the ship's funnels.
The Buena Vista Theatre was really nice -- digital projection with Dolby 3-D, surround speakers buried in the walls, beautiful auditorium with maroon velvet curtain. The seats are old-fashioned style with wood backs, and in a continental stadium configuration but not enough legroom. Surprisingly, no cup-holders!
The sound was nothing too spectacular, which surprised me since other sound in the ship was very good. They played both Dolby's Sphere and Countdown clips before the movie but no other pre-show content except one trailer and an ad for "Adventures by Disney." I was a little disappointed that they opened the curtain fully before the image hit the screen, but the picture itself looked fine, except..
The big problem was the screen. It had a severe hotspot. It looked like they were using a silver screen, which I couldn't figure out why since they have Dolby 3D.
Here are a few pics of the auditorium with a shot of the screen. The phone pics make the image look a little fuzzy but it was nice and clear. I wanted to get a booth shot through the port, but couldn't do it because the entire port window was blacked out except where the image came through, and the lens was too close to the window to see anything inside. I asked one of the cast members if I could see in there and she said as far as she knew, nobody ever goes in there. I'd guess the server and controls are in some massive "control room" somewhere.
I forgot to get a seat count but I'm guessing about 300 to 400 or so.
It looks like you can see into the booth, but you can't...that's a reflection of the credits rolling on the screen.
This is an iPhone panoramic shot...makes the curves look WAY more severe than they actually are.
View from the top corner
The dreaded hot spot. The phone picture makes it look worse than it was. This picture makes the image look fuzzy but that's just my unsteady camera hand...sharpness-wise, it was fine.
They were showing "Planes," "Monsters University," (both in 3-D and 2-D), "The Lone Ranger," "Snow White," "Pinocchio" and "Lincoln." We watched the first two in 2-D....I wanted to get back and see at least part of Snow White, but it only showed one time -- at 8:30 in the morning. No way that was happening!
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-20-2013 07:07 PM
Actually the kids aren't too bad. There is plenty of stuff for them to do and they are so busy in those areas that their parents often need to drag them away for dinner and such. And, there are lots of adult-only activities -- quiet pool, nightclubs (both quiet and "crazy"), and deck areas where kids aren't allowed. There is plenty of Disney around, of course, and you will see kids in the elevators and corridors and pools...but the ships are so big that they really aren't a bother.
My wife and I don't have any kids, and our least favorite thing about the Disney theme parks is misbehaving kids, so the fact that we can spend a week on a ship with several hundred kids and not be bothered is a testament that the company handles it well.
The only thing "missing" on the Disney cruise ships is a casino. If you are a big time gambler then Disney isn't for you...but for spectacular service, beautiful surroundings and great food, they impressed me. Also, food service doesn't really happen after midnight, whereas on some other cruise lines food is 24/7.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 09-23-2013 01:06 PM
Given the right amount of resources, Disney sure still knows how to theme stuff.
That hotspot is rather unlike Disney, it looks more like a lamp alignment issue than a silver screen issue though.
The silver screen might indeed be a remnant of RealD days, wasn't RealD the prefered partner for "Disney 3D"?
My last cruise didn't feature a real movie theater, but a "4D theater" with extremely cheap looking 25-minute 3D animated movies. Your seats shook randomly (a lot like D-BOX, but somehow more intense, yet even crappier) and sometimes wind and/or water was blown in your face...
But at least there was food after midnight, although that was limited to some generic fast food and the drinks, which would otherwise be all-inclusive, would now only be served via vending machines, which weren't all-inclusive...
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