Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts Tres

[flynnibus]

and might be apocalyptic over one.

So THATS where they were going to build the Hanna Montana attraction...

 

[WDW1974]

Well, I did lose my temper a bit, there, and I apologize for that. But some people here are assuming that Travers was this poor little author that mean old Walt ran roughshod over, and that is not true. She was impossible to deal with. Everyone at Disney who worked with her thought so. That's just the truth.

True, but it was her property that Walt wanted.

And he was extremely difficult himself to work with as any of the greats that worked with him -- and are left -- can attest.

He was a visionary and a genius, but also obstinate and not nice at times. In other words, he was human.

sad thing is many people likely believe he is a character created by TWDC ...no, I am not kidding.

 

[muteki]

What's with the ASian characters?

A rogue chrome extension that I forget is on most of the time.

And why does it seem like she is reacting to online Disney fan criticism? Is she looking for a free vacation?

Why write a blog?

Muppets and Phineas and Ferb

*covers ears*
LALALALALA

 

[flynnibus]

Looks like it was around post #2085. I have no idea how to link it, and I don't care to learn

The post number on the page is the link to the post.. just right click and copy link..

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Don't know how long Tom has left at WDI.

WDI: Where doing a good job gets you fired. Failing up since the 90's!

 

[Disneyhead'71]

What about guest attire?

Kudos to anyone who can shoehorn in a pic of Honey Boo Boo et al into one of Spirit's threads.

 

[flynnibus]

What's funny is.. what Disney is spending millions on building... start-ups are going to do similar with crowd-sourcing.

http://www.thetileapp.com

Basically you put little bluetooth tags on things.. and via your phone or someone else's phone.. you get location data on the tag. Basically the same thing as the location tracking in the magicband

 

[WDW1974]

Yep. I still don't get it.... You have a door coaster ride -- originally planned for DHS -- going into DCA. You have an empty building in Soundstage 1. You have a plan to remake DHS to draw people to the park and keep them there longer. You have decision makers who want to do things as affordably as possible, including reusing existing infrastructure as much as possible.

How is putting the Monsters Inc door coaster into Soundstage 1 not a complete no brainer?

I didn,t say I understood the decision ... This is Disney. They do whatever they choose whether it makes sense or not. They are very much like our government in that regard.

 

[WDWFanDave]

Spirit...almost forgot to mention...ordered the 2013 WDW DVD vacation planner, and it finally arrived. It has some new stuff! Not much, and still has some outdated stuff (like in the 'resorts' section, mentions that in 2012 they'll be opening the new rooms at Riverside), but it's at least different. Not better, but different.

 

[HenryMystic]

True, but it was her property that Walt wanted.

And he was extremely difficult himself to work with as any of the greats that worked with him -- and are left -- can attest.

He was a visionary and a genius, but also obstinate and not nice at times. In other words, he was human.

sad thing is many people likely believe he is a character created by TWDC ...no, I am not kidding.

Arguably, they have created a new Walt Disney, one who is squeaky clean and often misquoted.

 

[John]

Theme park attendance.....just think if the Brazilians decided to pass on WDW. I heard from a family member who lives right outside the gates that the business on 192 is way down.

Disney knows I only visit on a CM discount, for the first time ever they sent me a pin code. Maybe it was just a computer spitting out my name.....or was it desperation. I normally have my January visit booked by now. Have for the last 17 yrs. Not this time. Nope. Oh I am still going....but this time it will be a room only ressie. No food plan......no nothing. I will use my heavily discounted room as a base of operation. Going to Uni and SW for few a days. Hitting the Disney parks for MAYBE three days. Still waiting to see if I can get a discounted DCL cruise.

 

[WDW1974]

The economy is showing a little glimmer of life. I liken it to a movie where the character is feared dead and you see the hand or something twitch and slowly they crawl away. The economy is seemingly 'twitching'... But it should have been fixed long ago. Here's to a better future!

It's amazing when people give up on life after 2-3-4 years of unemployment and wind up living with family and friends and basically play out the stretch like a last place baseball team in August that anyone can claim our economy is better.

The economy is not better, not by a long shot, for most people.

Oh, and things just make you wonder how screwed we are. Like we're about to become the top oil producing nations on the planet, yet we pay $4 plus a gallon ... While other oil producers have gas that is close to free. It's all fixed. We have allowed it and now we get to enjoy life in the Homeland with the Illusion of Choice, the Illusion of Freedom. ...But maybe I shouldn't post while paying attention to the news.

 

[WDW1974]

I don't think gas prices are going to help there cause either.

Nor does the fact most everyone had a larger chunk of take-home pay taken away starting in January. I touched on both these issues back in January (too lazy to look up the post), but I'm beginning to think WDW guests run about 6 months behind the "real world." Spring Break 2013 trips had already been planned by then, Summer 2013 had not.[/quote]

Absolutely true.

The economy started to tank in 2007 when the housing market had peaked and was starting its drastic slide, but WDW did just great in 2008 because people had booked and, often, paid for vacations in advance. The nation was falling into an abyss, but that didn't start to register until the Christmas holidays and early 2009.

 

[WDW1974]

So someone posted this blog, from a casual park goer, husband and wife, with 2 kids.. on their WDW vacation. these people aren't disney fans, just regular vacation goers.

"...Oh, and we watched the 1980's movie "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson. It was creepy. Mostly because this is clearly the forgotten park and you can tell no real effort or money has gone into making this park worthwhile for people to go to. You never hear anyone say, "Man- Epcot was a blast!!". You know why? Because it's not. It's a huge disappointment and at $371 or so for us to get in? Should have went to another park. Or Sea World. *sigh*..."

http://strandupdate.blogspot.com/2013/07/vacation-day-2-epcot-or-bust.html?m=1

I find the entire post very telling of what I keep hearing from people about WDW, and the general sentiment of the product.

I think you pulled out a perfect and telling quote. However, she does not come off well at all beyond that point.

 

[WDW1974]

I tried reading that but after only a couple paragraphs my head started hurting and I gave up. I'm not sure what is worse, that Epcot is so off base from the general public or that some of the general public don't - and never will - "get it".

A lot of people didn,t get it 20 years ago. The difference is that now the product is a mess, so you can't totally blame them. How does one even describe EPCOT today?

A place to eat and drink and shop with a nice night time show?

 

[rael ramone]

On Imagination again, I have heard that two franchises were being considered for this pavilion a while back. In the interest of community sanity, I refuse to put them out here because 1.) this was a ways back; 2.) I have never been able to confirm; 3.) most fans would not be pleased with either choice, and might be apocalyptic over one.

No, don't ask me, even in private. You don-t want to know and I don't know how serious they truly were/are.

Apocalyptic, heh?.... Must have something to do with the Disney Channel. Something involving a lot of screens. Something even cheaper to run.

TSMM clone, but with Hannah Montana and/or Jonas Brothers tie-ins? What can match the aspirational yet accessible spirit of the original Epcot Center like that?

When Walt was watching his daughters on the carousel at Griffith Park, do they think he was thinking of an enterprise that progressively caters more and more to sheltered 4 year olds and people who like an 'international theme' to get hammered, to escalate the price of said operation, and then harvest their tracking data and sell to the highest bidder?...

 

[muteki]

A place to eat and drink and shop with a nice night time show?

Really that is the best description for the average guest these days. Calling it a "theme park" will set the wrong expectations for people if they have been to any other park in the country. The other stuff has more in common with local science museum fare than anything in any other non-disney park. When people ask me what there is to do there that is pretty much how I describe it to them, any other value they get out of the other things to see there is more a surprise. I also don't go crazy saying it is a great place for kids either because really, it isn't. It will be hilarious to see what my kids reaction will be to the place once he is old enough.

Now is it worth the cost of admission for "A place to eat and drink and shop with a nice night time show" without the other stuff? With that description should it even exist? I dunno. But somehow people are buying tickets.

 

[Lee]

TDL will reboot its jungle cruise attraction lasting from January 6,2014 to a fall 2014 debut. It will cost a little over U.S.$16 mil and enhancements include new lighting effects, other special show effects, and a specially written musical soundtrack will be composed for this attraction. There will be a night cruise as well. The OLC announced this today.
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201307/3562/

Want...need...some love for my favorite ride.
Hey, TDO...remember that Jungle refurb you've been bumping for years now? Stop.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I have little interest in seeing Pacific Rim. First I am not a real big Sci FI fan and most of all nothing that has been mentioned about the film seems like it is exactly cutting edge ( in plot or script). Even mentioned that yea it might seem from the outside that it looks like Transformers.....and I see no reason why it wouldn't looked that way from the inside. It may well turn out to be a huge film....turn into the next Star Wars ( doubt it) , Star Wars was unlike any film made up to that point. No matter what this new Transformer 2.0 movie is like it isn't original. I also I think it boils down to taste, no matter how exciting the fight scenes might seem to some it has zero appeal to me.

There is no such thing as "original", everything is based on something.

 

[djlaosc]

Spirited Friday Musings (this time featuring paragraphs for a certain MAGICal member):

So, anyone want to go back and pull the post -- because I don't have a clue where I posted it -- that said Disney would be lifting Maingate MK blockouts by about the second week in July?

Here you go...

And this can change overnight ... if say Monsters U or Lone Ranger disappoint ... or if the NBA Finals ratings plummet (and after tonight's 'game', I could see that happening!) ... or if they have to delay ... nah ... let's just say that's the typical report of an analyst who wants to crow about a company they follow. We'll see how things play out.

BTW, anyone want to bet they stop MK maingate blockouts well before they intended to?