The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[CaptinEO]

Walt agreed the Jungle Cruise should be more humorous and he assigned Marc Davis to creating the now-beloved scenes that added fantasy and laughs to the ride.

The version of JC that Walt opened in 1955 was… lacking in many departments. Walt immediately looked for ways to improve it and make it more light hearted and whimsical.

Even real-wildlife Kilamanjaro Safaris in AK has jokes and humor. In fact, Walt Disney pretty much decided quickly that humor was the way to go.

Abe Lincoln is the only serious attraction at DL. And people aren’t breaking down the door to see it.

Walt added humorous scenes to the ride but did not make it into standup routines.

I have been on AK Safari probably a dozen times and don't recall any jokes besides maybe when they drop you off at the end. It's always animal facts. Maybe its just me?

 

[Rich T]

Walt added humorous scenes to the ride but did not make it into standup routines.

I have been on AK Safari probably a dozen times and don't recall any jokes besides maybe when they drop you off at the end. It's always animal facts. Maybe its just me?

I took 2 trips on KS a few months ago, and it was a laugh riot from beginning to end… Same day, different guides, each with a completely different routine. Nonstop joking, but with plenty of appropriate pauses to respect the awesome wildlife and lots of facts. A perfect balance. I loved it… the whole group loved it.

My favorite was the male guide who said, “Here’s a fun fact for you; it’s actually been proven that elephants have excellent memories. Unlike me. I wish I was an elephant.” And then a minute later he repeated it verbatim, in the exact same tone, totally serious. And then again a minute later. And again—Every single time we saw an elephant or he could work the word “elephant” into the narration.

Best tour ever! He got a huge round of applause at the end.

 

[CaptinEO]

I took 2 trips on KS a few months ago, and it was a laugh riot from beginning to end… Same day, different guides, each with a completely different routine. Nonstop joking, but with plenty of appropriate pauses to respect the awesome wildlife and lots of facts. A perfect balance. I loved it… the whole group loved it.

My favorite was the male guide who said, “Here’s a fun fact for you; it’s actually been proven that elephants have excellent memories. Unlike me. I wish I was an elephant.” And then a minute later he repeated it verbatim, in the exact same tone, totally serious. And then again a minute later. And again—Every single time we saw an elephant or he could work the word “elephant” into the narration.

Best tour ever! He got a huge round of applause at the end.

Wow no way about KS, thats so strange to me. I didnt even know the CMs could do comedy there. I was last there in December and again never been on a joke version of KS. I think I prefer it educational but would love to hear a comedy version at least once.

That guide sounds hillarious.

 

[Disney Analyst]

An entire year of HMH?? Absolutely not.

The only think I want is HM through Halloween, then switch to HMH.

I DON'T CARE HOW POPULAR IT IS.

 

[No Name]

How come? The comedy take on it only happened much later into its life, it isn't the ride Walt opened. I don't like it tbh even though I enjoy stand up comedy it's the same jokes over hard to hear speakers.

People associate jokey jungle cruise skippers and yetis with 50s Disney when it was never a thing back then.

There’s a reason they changed it the first time. If the ride didn’t work without jokes in 1955 Disneyland, it’s not going to suddenly work in 2023.

Also I love corny jokes.

 

[TP2000]

Pardon me if someone already said this, but this Tweet just hit me that suddenly clueless Disney execs who decades ago stopped pushing WDI to design high-capacity attractions now have a reason to demand higher capacity attractions from WDI!



If they can now sell seats on E Tickets for up to $25 bucks per ride, per person, the bonehead senior execs in TDA and TDO and Burbank suddenly have a reason to demand more available seats on any new ride that gets built. For decades now, even mid-level execs in TDA got free valet parking, free Fastpasses/Maxpasses loaded onto their tickets, or even a VIP Guide to usher them around the park and whisk them on to any ride their adorable little executive children wanted to. Also, reserved folding chairs waiting for them curbside for parades and water shows. So why should execs care that the idiot tourists are waiting 3 hours to ride low-capacity E Tickets that Richard Nunis and Walt Disney never would have allowed to be built for their "guests"???

But now? There's money in every seat on every big E Ticket that gets built! More seats! Higher capacity! Bigger vehicles! Faster dispatch intervals! Double stations! We gotta sell more Individual Lightning Lanes now!!!!

Suddenly, the executives in charge of the parks that never have to wait in line are interested in capacity.

 

[smooch]

Stunning! Hoping to quickly stop by Switzerland in May during my Milan trip.

Are you there now?

I know this is an old post but I'm just now catching up and was curious if there were any specific things in Milan you wanted to do / see? I'm a huge fashion lover and my favorite designer Rick Owens has a flagship store there that looks incredible. I didn't make it to Milan when I visited Italy but next time I go I am definitely gonna make a stop there and just enjoy all the designer stores I've never been able to visit in person.

 

[PiratesMansion]

@Rich T I too can vouch that Kilimanjaro Safaris has always been played straight when I've ridden, with no real attempts at humor.

Which I appreciate, honestly. Real animals are impressive, and you shouldn't need jokes if you're presenting them well in a compelling environment. Which is why I hated the Great Adventure Safari when they were running it as an attraction and it was just non-stop jokes the whole time.

But I haven't been to Animal Kingdom since 2017, so maybe they decided to go in a different direction since then, or maybe you got the spielers who would have been happier on the Jungle Cruise.

 

[smooch]

Agreed. However, even if the execution had been spot on, I'm still dubious about if there is a big enough audience out there to maintain this indefinitely. You have to be 1) a Star Wars Fan, 2) afford the cost of "voyage", and 3) enjoy LARPing. That's a pretty select group of customers.

It will be interesting to see where they go from here.

See, I'm a huge Star Wars fan and even enjoy roleplaying, to a degree. My problem is I only enjoy RPing in a small group with people I know (playing Dungeons & Dragons, roleplaying in video games, etc.) and would rather die than be stuck in an enclosed space with those ultra Star Wars fans who spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for a "Star Wars cruise." If it was genuinely themed to Star Wars and didn't look more like Star Trek with Star Wars characters randomly inserted into the environment. if it was a more reasonable price, and if it functioned like a normal hotel (different lengths of stays, make all the RP events and such optional / post the times in advance for people to plan their days if they wanna RP / play the games then I think they'd be printing money, not throwing it out the airlock of their Starcruiser.

As others have said, this should have 1,000,000% should have gone in the parks and not this overpriced hotel (like the entertainment they promised in the announcement / reveal) but how would Disney have directly profited in that case? Make people pay to enter a theater show like they're seeing a movie? As someone who is a big Star Wars / Marvel / etc. fan which people consider nerdy, I genuinely can't imagine anyone who would go there except insanely wealthy families taking their kids or the Star Wars ultra fanboys who already have $900 NeoPixel lightsabers and will lean into the roleplay 200%.

I'm not trying to be mean or judge others but there are just some Star Wars fans doing way too much out there and having that be the core audience of this hotel heavily dissuades me from ever wanting to go.

 

[Rich T]

@Rich T I too can vouch that Kilimanjaro Safaris has always been played straight when I've ridden, with no real attempts at humor.

Which I appreciate, honestly. Real animals are impressive, and you shouldn't need jokes if you're presenting them well in a compelling environment. Which is why I hated the Great Adventure Safari when they were running it as an attraction and it was just non-stop jokes the whole time.

But I haven't been to Animal Kingdom since 2017, so maybe they decided to go in a different direction since then, or maybe you got the spielers who would have been happier on the Jungle Cruise.

These two guides I got definitely gave off a Jungle Cruise skipper vibe, but it wasn’t obnoxious or distracting. They both came across as very friendly, at-ease and extremely knowledgeable about the animals. On both tours, the guests were laughing and enjoying the jokes, so I think the guides “read the room” and kept the tone light-hearted and casual throughout.

Oh, I should mention that both tours featured long hold-ups due to animals in the road, so that left way more room for gags.

With the male guide especially; there was an Ankole bull that would not let the vehicles pass, and we and four tour trucks ahead of us had to wait about 15 minutes for the animal handlers to arrive and lure the bull out of the road, so we got 15 extra minutes of performance, and he did a great job with a mix of animal facts, operations tidbits and lots of jokes.

I loved both the humorous tours. And I’m flabbergasted at the skills of the guides, as they have to give that narration, including improvising during unexpected events, while driving those vehicles and keeping an eye out for roving animals, both for safety and to point them out for the guests.

KS turned out to be my favorite attraction at WDW, followed by Flight of Passage and hilariously-terrifying-in-probably-unintended-ways Space Mountain.

 

[CaptinEO]

Pardon me if someone already said this, but this Tweet just hit me that suddenly clueless Disney execs who decades ago stopped pushing WDI to design high-capacity attractions now have a reason to demand higher capacity attractions from WDI!



If they can now sell seats on E Tickets for up to $25 bucks per ride, per person, the bonehead senior execs in TDA and TDO and Burbank suddenly have a reason to demand more available seats on any new ride that gets built. For decades now, even mid-level execs in TDA got free valet parking, free Fastpasses/Maxpasses loaded onto their tickets, or even a VIP Guide to usher them around the park and whisk them on to any ride their adorable little executive children wanted to. Also, reserved folding chairs waiting for them curbside for parades and water shows. So why should execs care that the idiot tourists are waiting 3 hours to ride low-capacity E Tickets that Richard Nunis and Walt Disney never would have allowed to be built for their "guests"???

But now? There's money in every seat on every big E Ticket that gets built! More seats! Higher capacity! Bigger vehicles! Faster dispatch intervals! Double stations! We gotta sell more Individual Lightning Lanes now!!!!

Suddenly, the executives in charge of the parks that never have to wait in line are interested in capacity.

This bugs me so much. I think the executives don't understand the full growth and profit potential of just making their parks nice places to visit.

Instead the parks are the pursestrings to pull anytime the company is in trouble. Imagine if these executives planned and visited Disney Land or World like a day guest?

They should be improving their product every day and focus on being able to handle and gain more customers.

We should've had 50 more years of high capacity attractions. Carousel of Progress, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion are 5 decades old and yet continue to be the highest capacity attractions Disney has ever built.

I don't mean to sound like doom and gloom but Universal is actively improving their parks and operations. You can go into Universal Hollywood today and visit a full sized well made Super Mario Land and Harry Potter Land.

A decade ago this was unimaginable. Disney was known for their high quality and customer service, it is supposed to be the Disney difference.

Universal literally is eating Disney's lunch and Disney is letting it happen. The new Universal Orlando Resort seems like it is going to be a killer attraction, and Universal does not feel the need to nickel and dime their customers to fix their bottom line.

At one point the people that grew up visiting during the 50s-90s won't be frequenting these parks anymore.

You think this next generation is going to grow up attached to the park where you have to plan every meal on your phone and get into virtual queues and schedule lightning lanes? Is that something they want their future kids to experience? Will the new generation be attached to Web Slingerz or Smugglers Run and call them classics?

Disney's goodwill is running out the more they cut, and the more their old audience ages out. Most Disney fans are going due to nostalgia of times passed.

 

[Ne'er-Do-Well Cad]

I know I’m a minority here, but even for everyone, I think a rotation would be better. One year they do Haunted Mansion Holiday, the next year they do PotC, then Jungle Cruise, etc. That would make each one a bigger event while giving people time to enjoy it.

I like the idea of HMH being less of a permanent thing, but the prospect of spreading holiday overlays to additional attractions (beyond Mansion, Jungle Cruise, & Small World) gives me anxiety haha.

Did anyone watch the POV (or actually ride) the Space Mountain holiday overlay at MK this year? Looked like a total trainwreck. Not sure how much faith I have in Disney overlays at the moment.

 

[No Name]

I like the idea of HMH being less of a permanent thing, but the prospect of spreading holiday overlays to additional attractions (beyond Mansion, Jungle Cruise, & Small World) gives me anxiety haha.

Did anyone watch the POV (or actually ride) the Space Mountain holiday overlay at MK this year? Looked like a total trainwreck. Not sure how much faith I have in Disney overlays at the moment.

It looked like a total trainwreck because that’s what it was!

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Messing around with the Walt Disney historical AI chatbot:

 

[mickEblu]

A few random thoughts from my trip yesterday…

IASW had very short lines yesterday. They could have took HMH out of its misery sooner.

Boardwalk Pizza is much better than Alien Pizza Planet but that’s not saying much

Those new castle moat fountains are really nice but I’m not sure I want them to stick around after the anniversary. The sound of the water really takes away from the ambiance of Snow Whites Grotto.

Really loving my black Nike Dri Fit Golf/ dad hat I bought yesterday.

The patty melt I had at Carnation Cafe absolutely obliterates that nasty burger I had at Toads Cafe a couple weeks ago

 

[mickEblu]

This kid got in trouble with his parents and created trouble for me when my son realized he wouldn't be able to go up there. This was yesterday afternoon when I thought all was lost for MMRR so I took the kids to TSI where almost everything is roped off and nothing is working. This kid took some initiative and made his own fun.

 

[PiratesMansion]

A few random thoughts from my trip yesterday…

IASW had very short lines yesterday. They could have took HMH out of its misery sooner.

Boardwalk Pizza is much better than Alien Pizza Planet but that’s not saying much

Those new castle moat fountains are really nice but I’m not sure I want them to stick around after the anniversary. The sound of the water really takes away from the ambiance of Snow Whites Grotto.

Really loving my black Nike Dri Fit Golf/ dad hat I bought yesterday.

The patty melt I had at Carnation Cafe absolutely obliterates that nasty burger I had at Toads Cafe a couple weeks ago

View attachment 695370

Making MMRR go all virtual queue or ILL kind of negates the reasoning for shifting the closures of IASW Holiday & HMH.

People aren't going to congregate and flood into IASW if they already know whether they're getting to ride MMRR before they go anywhere near the new ride.

 

[mickEblu]

 

[mickEblu]

 

[Rich T]

View attachment 695377

Love that view!