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A Spirited Perfect Ten
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
Bravo.Parks and Resorts has become 100% risk averse because they still view Parks and Resorts as mature. The financials are so delicate that they feel they can't afford the slightest misstep. Despite all that, a $1.6 billion investment in Next Gen has yielded next to nothing. Any one of us on this site could have better spent that money in the parks.
You have executives afraid to take risks, and Imagineers that now live to cater to these executives. This means unimaginative, safe projects. A major Star Wars expansion should have been green lit as soon as the ink was dry on the Lucas contract. Fixing Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios should have been green lit as soon as Disney execs saw this pictures:
Instead, you get guys like Bruce Vaughn leading the charge. Making statements at D23 like, "bring it on!" He's just as delusional as the executives living quarter to quarter. I know he's the red headed step child around here, but I need to steal a paragraph from Jim Hill's series of Beastly Kingdom articles that are 14+ years old:
You see, Disney CEO Michael Eisner is a very competitive guy. He hates to lose -- at anything. If attendance at WDW started to noticeably slip due to the Mouse losing customers to Universal's new theme park, Michael would have to do something. Eisner's enormous ego just wouldn't be able to handle the idea of Disney being No. 2 in the Orlando market.
So he'd turn to the Imagineers and say: "Make the best attractions you can."
Not "Make the best attraction you can on a limited budget." (i.e.: WDI's recent controversial rehab of Epcot's "Journey into Imagination" ride. During its three months of operation, the revamped version of that Future World attraction racked up more guest complaints than most shows produce in a year.)
Not "Make the best attraction you can with minimal changes to the pre-existing ride building." (i.e.: The Magic Kingdom's "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin" actually runs its ride vehicles along the very same track and layout the building's previous tenants -- Delta's "Dreamflight" and the unsponsored "Take Flight" -- used.)
Not "Make the best attraction that reflects the sponsor's agenda" (i.e.: Any exhibit you'll find inside either version of "Innoventions.")
Just "Make the best attractions you can." Period.
Look at Epcot, the two new things going to that park are shoehorning Frozen into an existing facility that doesn't fit it, and Soarin' 2.0. As an Imagineer how, can you possibly get excited about creating some of this stuff? Disney is putting the least amount of effort behind these additions in what is wholly uninspiring. If they can't get behind their own innovation, why should fans?
When was the last time Imagineering was told to "Make the best attractions you can"?
Lee
Adventurer
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure I saw Pandas during that time. I believe they went to my local zoo as well (Roger Williams Zoo in PVD).
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
The way it was explained to me was that zoos for educational purposes were completely fine. A full on, for-profit theme park? That would take some serious negotiations.
hpyhnt 1000
Well-Known Member
Don't forget @ParentsOf4. Need somebody there to analyze the numbers.
Welcome back, @WDW1974. May the year 2015 be a calmer one for you.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Maybe I should just post this here and let everyone else analyze what it means.
However, to @RSoxNo1's point, I will add that this graph explains why Parks & Resorts has become risk adverse.
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ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Maybe I should just post this here and let everyone else analyze what it means.
View attachment 78905
However, to @RSoxNo1's point, I will add that this graph explains why Parks & Resorts has become risk adverse.
Because of the small delta relative to years where things were added vs not added?
ezralou
Member
I read this as adding Epcot gave the largest increase by far. So obviously the large delta was due to monorail expansion...Maybe I should just post this here and let everyone else analyze what it means.
View attachment 78905
However, to @RSoxNo1's point, I will add that this graph explains why Parks & Resorts has become risk adverse.
The Duck
Well-Known Member
Money talks and Disney has plenty.
Getting them to spend it is another matter entirely.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
Perhaps a blessing in disguise, makes for good timing around the Iron Man Experience and a peek over the wall at that yet to be revealed HKDL E-ticket.
I'm not sure at this point how enticing openings are (especially if you aren't local to the area). I had a much more pleasant time visiting Diagon Alley the month after it opened than I'd likely have ever had at opening. I understand the draw and the excitement Day one of a new park, but the trade off is a less "buggy" and much less busy experience with only a minor delay.
But frankly, I have two timeslots: Jan 2016 or May/June 2016, in which to go. As long as they get their act together to accommodate me, that's really all that matters.
tissandtully
Well-Known Member
So does this mean the RapidFill machines are getting phased out?
GymLeaderPhil
Well-Known Member
One can only hope.
Like everything else MyMagic+ related, Disney took a something simple and made it overtly complicated.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
That's fantastic question. It looks like it was just a tour.
StageFrenzy
Well-Known Member
Beer for pandas?
I remember going to see the pandas, they were in a purpose built habitat that later became the koala exhibit after they left. It was a very big deal at the time and was very crowded.
Smiddimizer
Well-Known Member
I'm not holding breath but...Jurassic Park jeep ride?! Perish the thought!
Also, could you lend an ear to the accuracy of those concept maps released last fall? If they're not just idealizations then there are already glaring similarities to their previous parks and properties:
PirateFrank
Well-Known Member
Maybe I should just post this here and let everyone else analyze what it means.
View attachment 78974
However, to @RSoxNo1's point, I will add that this graph explains why Parks & Resorts has become risk adverse.
I love your posts and most of your graphs....I think nearly everything you post is practically spot on, with very little exception.
This one bothers me though. I tell you why -- An astute reader would realize that the Y axis is a percentage of revenue -- not actual revenue. Graphs like that can be misleading if the reader doesn't have an understanding of the how the revenue progressed over parks. If the change in revenue, year after year, is fairly constant -- then this graph, pictorially, tells a clear picture. If the change in revenue, year after year, is not constant -- this graph becomes distorted. I don't know what the underlying revenue trend is, but I would hazard a guess that before major capital expenditures, there was a dip in revenue, due to park guests holding off on visiting until after the project was completed. Epcot, for example, was built during a time where the company as a whole was floundering and WDW had only one major income stream, the MK. It stands to reason that P&R's revenue was quite lower in the year preceding Epcot's opening (the same year they built it) than the year following. With suppressed revenue and a large capex going on, that's going to make the Epcot line on this graph appear much larger than the rest of the lines.
Moreover, unless Disney was able to survive without making returns on their investments, I would expect revenue to take a notch upward after each capital project was completed....so over time, you would expect the normal trend of parks and resorts revenue to be upward...with similar cap-expenditures (or slightly increasing due due to inflation) year over year, this graph would show lower amounts as a percentage of revenue, year after year. That might be misleading.
Now, I'm not suggesting that what you're presenting here is wrong. They might very well be spending less money, year after year. But I do not think this graph should be viewed without also viewing a table showing actual revenue each corresponding year to present a clearly picture of how the numbers are actually moving.
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
We had a pair of pandas here at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium back in 1992, oddly enough before the zoo had nearly the notoriety and world class status it enjoys today.
For anybody interested, here's a great Dispatch article from 2013 that talks about Columbus trying to get pandas... again.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...-hopes-to-be-a-host-of-pandas-from-china.html
For anybody interested, here's a great Dispatch article from 2013 that talks about Columbus trying to get pandas... again.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...-hopes-to-be-a-host-of-pandas-from-china.html
bhg469
Well-Known Member
We visited the zoo a few years ago. Top notch place for sure.
PREMiERdrum
Well-Known Member
Get back when you can... Heart of Africa opened in 2014 and is absolutely stunning. As close to a Harambe I've seen at a municipal zoo (SDWAP notwithstanding).