A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Mike S]

I don't know. It just looks like a variation of the DAK aesthetic with more vines and trees. It's not terribly distinctive. Hogwarts was a recognizable and mysterious place people wanted to visit. Diagon Alley is a bustling place that is the secretive wizarding market.

That picture? It looks like the viney and leafy archway. I'd be concerned with it resonating in commercials and print ads.

Point taken. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with this.

 

[WDW1974]

A topping out ceremony! Where's the picture of Bob Iger at the site?

Nah, that's not even a Georgie K gig ... that's a low level exec VP if anyone. ...Besides, why would I ever care about staying there when Disney will offer me a room at the A$$ and the ASMu all summer for $107 a night?

 

[WDW1974]

Long long time lurker. Spirit's Iger/Disney-China conflict has to be unsettling on many levels, whether publicly acknowledged in the press, as of today, or not. From what I understand of the CCP's practices, Iger and Staggs' itineraries were planned well in advance of either one stepping on a plane and undoubtedly were originally cleared by the CCP. Usually these higher level dealings are planned down to the minute detail, size of the table, where people sit, pens to be used, etc. So at some point there had to have been a CCP meeting once they landed and wherein it was "decided" by the CCP that Iger and Staggs would be unavailable for further public festivities. When was that meeting, who else would have been there (CCP officials), what happened and why? Sounds like Mr. Spirit knows and hopefully will share the extent of what he has heard soon. How one could not find this curious and at least unsettling without additional info. I fail to comprehend.

I do know (some) ... I will (comment more) and it is (unsettling).

And welcome to you as well!

 

[bhg469]

if they have a starfox simulator.. I'm sold.

Do a barrel roll!

 

[Funmeister]

You said it yourself when talking about how Harry Potter was promoted, the land itself was the selling point. If (once again, big if) what Disney creates is anything like this,
View attachment 94312
coupled with rides that get people talking, promoting the land could be no problem. One problem could be what could they do with food and merchandise? More of the same won't cut it. Another problem could be a repeat of New Fantasyland's style over substance.

I thought the same exact thing. These "mountains" do not look anything like the ones from the movie or from the original conceptual drawings. Looks like a giant mossy arch.

The only reason this will have any type of success is because it is the first major attraction/land to open in a while. I do not include New Fantasyland because with the announcement and the drawn out development it already became somewhat stale by the time the entire land opened.

Stale? Yes. Stale.

 

[WDW1974]

Just saw Tomorrowland.
Enjoyed the hell out of it. Promptly ordered the t-shirt.

You get 15 likes for seeing a movie and buying a tee. You should get in the social media biz, my friend, because you are good at whoring!!!

 

[PhotoDave219]

On behalf of the entire cast of WDWMAGIC.com, welcome to The WDW Talk Kingdom of the World.

And I'd like an answer to No. 2 myself (leave the pooh jokes out, please ... yes, Dave, I'm looking at you!)

Hey hey hey.... I said nothing about your red shirt and love of honey.

 

[WDW1974]

I understand the issue (Why they close ToonTown early)... Perhaps relocating the firing position of the pyro would work... I have no expertise in that area. I will say that it's not much area to work with. The cast building and monorail support takes up space behind IASW building. There is maintenance and storage behind the Town Mountain skyline. Height issues abound in that part of the park. Its a really small area... That might land 1 new attraction and 1 re-purposed (Roger) You won't get anything that needs a big footprint...More screens....

Also, why have Star Tours all the way across the park? Again odd.... As much as I would love to keep Tomorrowland and have it realize it's name, there isn't the will it seems.

*1023*

The Toontown/SW/pyro issues are tiny compared to the issues brought up when UNI decided to build Potter in the original park and connect them via the Hogwart's Express. You don't know how many posters ripped me and said I was making it up and it was impossible. Seriously.

I was so wrong about that one ...

 

[Funmeister]

I'd never heard of the guy until all the Avatarland threads started here. Then it was explained that he also did Titanic in 1997, and I said "Oh."

Go down to your local Target or Toys R Us big box store. Try and find anything Avatar related. Avatar merchandise doesn't exist because there's no demand for that product. Star Wars exists in big box stores, so does Potter and Cars and Princesses and Marvel and Frozen. But not Avatar.

And there's also my semi-famous annual Halloween tally. In my Villa Park, California neighborhood full of trick or treaters (I go through at least three big bowls of candy every year), I have never seen anyone dressed up as anyone from Pandora. Ever.

That's the part that worries me about WDW putting all this money and focus on Avatarland. There's no market for that product at the nations big box stores, and free consumers choosing to be their favorite character on Halloween never choose someone from Pandora. Quite simply, Avatar is not a thing.

And yet WDW is planning for Avatarland to be this huge driver of attendance and attention. Did no one on the planning team go down to Target to see what the demand was like? Does Bob Iger not answer his own door on Halloween? It's not rocket science; Avatar is not a thing.

Just curious...you really have never heard of James Cameron? Besides Titanic he also known for quite a few other popular films/franchises. Don't judge what he has done based on Titanic and Avater alone...which also happen to be the top two highest grossing movies of all time.

I think Avatar will be a nice compliment for a park that has been lacking since opening day. Not because it is Avatar but because it is something new (finally).

There is no way Avatar will sustain interest in the resort until the next major attraction or land opens. Maybe that is when guests will see the light that they continue to pay more and more for less and less.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000116/

 

[Funmeister]

Hey hey hey.... I said nothing about your red shirt and love of honey.

Was that a first weekend in June joke?

 

[WDW1974]

A Disney park going over budget is nothing new or unusual. Disneyland went over budget. Walt Disney World Phase I went over budget. EPCOT Center went over budget. Euro Disbeyland went over budget. Even the less fleshed out parks went over. MyMagic+ went over budget. It is how Disney operates.

Delays from correcting shoddy construction is evidence against a dead relationship. It is evidence of greater control from Disney. Construction issues and delays caused by them also happen in the swamps of Central Florida.

Except no one inside TWDC has admitted the park is overbudget. And the CEO said $800 million was being added for additional attractions and expanded capacity. I doubt all this intrigue (you know, the stuff that only I think about) would be going on if the only issue in China was cost overruns. That's just a given.

 

[WDW1974]

There are also murmurs that Disney forced the contractors to pay their workers much higher wages than they normally get as well.

That's not true. The rumor being floated is the opposite, that the CCP/Shendi demanded Disney pay higher wages. I'm still trying to ascertain if there's any truth to that at all.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm rather surprised that anyone has a use for movie reviews these days.

Perhaps because I have a difficult time trusting a stranger's opinion of a film. If I want to see something, no random person's review will dissuade me.

Personally, I may watch Tomorrowland again...

You do know I was a film critic in my college days, right?

 

[Lee]

You do know I was a film critic in my college days, right?

Yep.

 

[TP2000]

Just curious...you really have never heard of James Cameron? Besides Titanic he also known for quite a few other popular films/franchises.

Nope, never heard of the guy until the Avatarland threads appeared. And I honestly don't know the difference between a movie producer and a director. Nor do I care.

I have a hard enough time remembering names of famous actors and actresses, and the current crop under 40 all seem the same to me. The following is a list of Hollywood executives that I can identify their work, or can identify from a lineup.

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Walt Disney, Jack Warner, Bob Iger, Michael Eisner, Ron Miller, Louis Mayer, Ted Turner.

The rest are unknown to me, and I imagine most others. When that big dustup happened a few months ago over the bigoted emails that the head of Sony Pictures sent out, I'd never heard of that woman. And I've already forgotten her name. She was fired. But she was also the head of one of the biggest movie studios on the planet. And she's an unknown to most folks.

 

[WDW1974]

A story about the horrible working conditions at the Shanghai Disney Resort site is why Disney would push for raising their costs.

A story that would never be written, even if it's true ... that's what you mean, right?

You do know they have barracks for workers on site and are going 24/7, right?

 

[Funmeister]

Nope, never heard of the guy until the Avatarland threads appeared. And I honestly don't know the difference between a movie producer and a director. Nor do I care.

I have a hard enough time remembering names of famous actors and actresses, and the current crop under 40 all seem the same to me. The following is a list of Hollywood executives that I can identify their work, or can identify from a lineup.

Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Walt Disney, Jack Warner, Bob Iger, Michael Eisner, Ron Miller, Louis Mayer, Ted Turner.

The rest are unknown to me, and I imagine most others. When that big dustup happened a few months ago over the bigoted emails that the head of Sony Pictures sent out, I'd never heard of that woman. And I've already forgotten her name. She was fired. But she was also the head of one of the biggest movie studios on the planet. And she's an unknown to most folks.

To me when I hear James Cameron I always think of Terminator. To me that is what really put him on the map. Aliens didn't hurt either.

Maybe someone can confirm or correct me...I did hear that he was a challenge to work with while creating the Terminator attraction for Universal. True?

 

[LAKid53]

Yup - although I don't use anything but popcorn salt from the grocery store for seasoning (it's just a really fine grind, almost like confectionery sugar consistency).

The trick I have found is to melt the butter in the oil at low heat so it becomes it's own substance, then add the kernels (from the fridge, don't know who told me that trick but it really makes every kernel pop to it's fullest potential). Crank up the heat, and start popping.

I actually use an old beat up lobster pot and since the cover is long gone I just use a sheet of tin foil loosely secured over the pot. I get people who actually regularly ask me to make it to bring to parties because they say it's the best popcorn they have ever had.

Even easier method:

1 paper lunch bag
1/4 cup of popcorn kernels
1/2 tsp oil (I use sunflower)
1/4 tsp salt

About 2 minutes in microwave (or until kernels stop popping, but watch carefully, will burn)

Then I pour as much melted butter (the REAL thing, not that fake stuff) as I want into the bag with the popped corn, shake and pour into a bowl. Beats anything you get at a theatre or that microwave garbage. And I didn't have to stand at the stove shaking a heavy duty pan for 20 minutes popping corn (which is what I used to do as a kid - and then have my mother yell at me for messing up her pan).

I just realized I let my daughter take the fresh caramel popcorn we picked up at Big Top Souvenirs home with her..dang it!

 

[hopemax]

Let's talk about demand based ticket pricing.

Posting as I read, so if this is mentioned on one of the next 3 pages, I have to read, I'm sorry for duplicating.

There is a thread on the DIS Theme Parks board, posted today, about survey questions they were asked, about that specific idea. http://www.disboards.com/threads/new-survey-proposal-tiered-ticket-prices.3413789/

 

[WDW1974]

Yeah, and?

That's the part that many of us don't seem to get. OK, the folks in China are in charge and making the rules. Is this a problem? Why should any of us care? There are people on this thread making it seem like some "big deal" that there's no photo of Iger from China, but from my prospective it doesn't seem like anything of importance. All it does is reaffirm that Disney is letting Chinese officials call the shots because that is the business arrangement to get the access to China they covet.

Your 'perspective' is really not the issue. You clearly don't get how big business operates or how Disney operates ... or how business in China is conducted. I guess that makes your perspective the equivalent of urinating in the wind ... but we keep hearing how ''the optics'' are to most people today, every story is about ''the optics'' ... well, the optics don't look good for Disney, Bob, Tom etc .