Dear David Duffy

drew81

drew81

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
BuddyThomas said:
You could probably mail him the letter instead of posting on a chat board where he is unlikely to see it. And you could sign the letter with your name and not “humanity” which is a broad exaggeration and incorrect, to say the least.
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He’s already seen it, Buddy.
 
W

WoundedDreamer

Well-Known Member
drew81 said:
Dear, David Duffy.

Hey! Yes, you David!

Since you are VP of WDW Live Entertainment, let's talk.

David, you have a good track record. Some of your projects have been great. Some have been not so great. I will leave it at that.
But you certainly know, the Disney fan community knows and all of WDWMagic knows that WDW Entertainment offerings have been downgraded year after year. Daily parades at Studios and Animal Kingdom are gone and have been for years. Magic Kingdom's night parades are gone. Characters that were out for years at WDW are gone and rarely seen and when they do, it causes mass chaos. Citizens of Hollywood and Main Street are gone. Animal Kingdom has an unused amphitheater that is dark. When something new was placed in it (a kite show that lacked production value) guests left confused and perplexed. Both of Magic Kingdom's hard ticket offerings have grown stale. We finally saw a few different characters out (White Rabbit, Toy Soldier, Stitch) which was a good step. The Tomorrowland Christmas show was closed and replaced with a dance party. A dance party no one cares about. Then at that dance party, Nick and Judy were added-characters guests would actually like to meet. Make it make sense, David!

Speaking of hard tickets, Not So Scary is the same year after year. Characters are cut, no villains or anything different. It's an endless cycle of mediocrity. I think you care, David. I think you do, at least. There have been several improvements. Fantasmic's production value and Luminous are steps in the right direction. Both are much improved, core nighttime offerings. With that being said, there are so many things that have went away and will never be seen again. Did you know there is a large number of characters that used to appear at hard tickets? Characters guests enjoyed meeting and seeing? Did you know there are characters the company could literally use and make millions of dollars off of? Literally, make millions off of. Such wasted assets. I was at Villains Unleashed. I know what happened. To continue to use that as an excuse for not allowing other rare characters is lazy. This is Walt Disney World Entertainment we are talking about. It's supposed to be the cream of the crop. It was the cream of the crop until some in higher management stripped away what WDW Entertainment was and should be.

David, I beg you along with many others, please work some magic and make WDW Entertainment special like it used to be. I think you are up to the job. I hope you are. I pray you are. I believe you can and hope you will. I know there are many wonderful hard-working people amongst WDW Entertainment. I especially like the blue-sky entertainment ideas for AK your team has. Those would be wonderful-especially if/when an entire land goes away for years.

Anyways,

Save us, David. You are our only hope.

Sincerely,
Humanity
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I agree with pretty much all the sentiments here. When it comes to entertainment, 100% batting average is impossible. The key to longterm success in live entertainment is a willingness to try new things and then respond to feedback. Walt Disney World will have some serious misses, but when they respond to feedback it doesn't matter in the long run. Why? Because they'll keep responding to feedback and eventually they'll get it right.

What has been somewhat disturbing over the last few years has been the elimination of existing and proven live entertainment. I'm willing to cut Mr. Duffy a fair amount of slack, since I'm willing to bet that many of these cuts are the result of constraints on budgets. Which is kind of curious.

It shouldn't be too expensive to pay a costumed performer, a handler, and a photographer to meet with guests. And a parade, while expensive, can easily hold a captive audience of tens of thousands for 45 minutes to an hour when you include the time before the parade. A stage show can easily hold thousands of people too. This has more to do with Josh D'Amaro than David Duffy unfortunately.

This is kind of pathetic, but one way to get Walt Disney World entertainment back on track is by better monetizing it. The existing "viewing areas" and entertainment packages are not all that premium. Maybe Disney could invest in upper-story viewing areas where people can watch the parades in comfortable assigned seating and climate controlled temperatures. An assortment of beverages and snacks could be provided in these viewing areas, much like a "viewing box" at a sports arena. These viewing boxes would (obviously and unfortunately) be an additional fee. But then at least there would be an additional offset to the cost of running a parade or other entertainment offering. The same strategy could also be employed for stage shows. These special boxes could be filled multiple times throughout the day as parades, shows, and fireworks are run.

I'm actually perplexed that people would pay $120-$130 for the existing dessert party at the Magic Kingdom, but it suggests further monetization is more than possible and for more events.
 
W

WoundedDreamer

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
I know for the thousands I spend per year at Disney and ever rising expenses I love to hear Iger talk about the "leaner Company" he is running... while most of the guests have noticed the decline in experience....and despite added trees, a water play area and color-changing lightbulbs, there are still fewer attractions at the parks than there were at one time... Shuttered attractions, diminished entertainment, Higher prices, reservations and planning for every little thing. It has certainly given us pause about spending more time at the WDW Resort...
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It is crazy that Walt Disney World has never been more successful, but it's being run like it's on the verge of bankruptcy. Pretty much every perk, benefit, and feature of a Disney vacation has been discontinued. It would be one thing if they were removing features, but the prices were remaining constant as inflation rose. But park price increases have easily beaten inflation over the last decade while at the same time experiencing the reduction of benefits and charging for things that used to be free. It's wild.
 
bmr1591

bmr1591

Well-Known Member
That’s what happens when you have to subsidize other areas of your company with your only successful area.

If I were Iger, I’d take a heavy look at what movies are getting approved. Just glancing at what came out the past few years, so many look like flops just from concept, much less execution.
 
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DisneyDreamerxyz

Well-Known Member
A replacement for Rivers of Light and The Little Mermaid stage show would be ideal, large spaces sitting empty for years is not ideal...and let’s revive that Main Street Theatre project as more indoor character spaces are needed (and no we don’t want anything replaced to get them RIP Snow Whites Scary Adventures)
 
Bocabear

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
DisneyDreamerxyz said:
A replacement for Rivers of Light and The Little Mermaid stage show would be ideal, large spaces sitting empty for years is not ideal...and let’s revive that Main Street Theatre project as more indoor character spaces are needed (and no we don’t want anything replaced to get them RIP Snow Whites Scary Adventures)
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Matter of fact, get a designated meet and greet facility in place behind main street...move all the character meet and greets there, then put an actual ride back in the Snow White space... Maybe a clone of the Pinocchio ride... I would say Tangled, but I am hoping that someday they build an all new Peter Pan's Flight in a new building where the Circus meet and greets are and convert the old Peter Pan into a Tangled ride ...across from the Tangled Toilets.....
 
ChrisFL

ChrisFL

Premium Member
bmr1591 said:
That’s what happens when you have to subsidize other areas of your company with your only successful area.

If I were Iger, I’d take a heavy look at what movies are getting approved. Just glancing at what came out the past few years, so many look like flops just from concept, much less execution.
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Agreed and Iger would argue that a lot were green-lit by Chapek....though I don't think that accounts for all of them.

The strikes didn't help their bottom line either this year but there's a paradigm shift happening that Disney is just as guilty of...the move to streaming services. It's becoming a lot more challenging to measure an individual film's success when the theater returns are only part of the picture now and people who don't pay to stream THAT movie specifically makes it difficult to measure.

But that's for another thread.

One thing that previous Disney execs knew is that the WHOLE picture adds up to making it a special experience. It isn't just attractions themselves. It's the theming between areas, the food offerings, the entertainment, the cast members, the unexpected interactions that add to it all.
 

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