Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

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thehowiet

Wilson King of Prussia
I love waking up to brand new Spirited thoughts, let alone a new thread.

Ohh, Bob Marley's! I do hope you had the delicious appetizers there. I brought my cousin there to celebrate his passing the bar, and it was our fave meal of the weekend.;)

Phenomenal food, music and atmosphere ...showcases the fundamental difference between business models of the resorts. You walk up. You get seated. You order an entree that is amazing and $8.99 BEFORE your discount.
My wife and I ate dinner there on our eye opening day away from WDW back in June, after a great day at both Universal parks. I can't get back to Uni or Bob Marley's fast enough. Disney, not so much...

Oh yeah, and the Wolfgang Puck's @ The Venetian is cheaper than Naples at DD. Mr.Puck was better service and cheaper prices.

I was just at The Venetian/Palazzo a few weeks ago for business. Unfortunately I didn't eat at the Wolfgang Puck's there, but a colleague of mine did and really enjoyed it. I did make it across the street to see The Beatles Love at the Mirage yet again. That show never gets old to me.

@WDW1974 , thanks for getting things started in the new thread. I'm sure I speak for a lot of us when I say that what you put us through the past few days was borderline abuse ;) I kid, I kid.

Can't wait to hear more and it sounds like this is just the beginning. Could this thread turn out to be the most interesting Sprited News thread yet?
 
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Tim_4

Well-Known Member
Actually, nothing major will be coming before late 2015 or 2016 at the earliest (Wishes replacement). Here's a quick tidbit. Pandora construction has been delayed not by WDI and not by Cameron, but by TDO to cover NGE cost overruns. There's some news you won't likely read elsewhere until folks start stealing it from here.

Will talk about DLR later, but they will be getting new product in both parks.
NGE is falling apart at the seams. Many of the executives who had been putting on a brave face and walking the line are now more openly pessimistic. Some of the enhancements will be nice but almost all of the revenue generating elements are crashing and burning.
 

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
NGE is falling apart at the seams. Many of the executives who had been putting on a brave face and walking the line are now more openly pessimistic. Some of the enhancements will be nice but almost all of the revenue generating elements are crashing and burning.

I don't get how they keep getting more budget allocated to it? Are they simply using the line "well we've sunk this much into it...we only need a wee bit more..." What are the expenditures at now? Where have the cost overruns been?
 

Lee

Adventurer
NGE is falling apart at the seams. Many of the executives who had been putting on a brave face and walking the line are now more openly pessimistic. Some of the enhancements will be nice but almost all of the revenue generating elements are crashing and burning.
Not that I find any joy in other's failures, but....

roflmao.gif
 

TRONorail10

Active Member
NGE is falling apart at the seams. Many of the executives who had been putting on a brave face and walking the line are now more openly pessimistic. Some of the enhancements will be nice but almost all of the revenue generating elements are crashing and burning.

Once the NGE support teams give the system its finally green light and leave it in the hands of CM's, the true test of NGE will be before us. CM's are not computer programmers and everything they are creating for NGE is based on new systems that have never been done before in the parks. If anything goes wrong, then basically Disney is back to square one before CM's were walking around with iPads all day.
 

Atomicmickey

Well-Known Member
Actually, nothing major will be coming before late 2015 or 2016 at the earliest (Wishes replacement). Here's a quick tidbit. Pandora construction has been delayed not by WDI and not by Cameron, but by TDO to cover NGE cost overruns. There's some news you won't likely read elsewhere until folks start stealing it from here.

Will talk about DLR later, but they will be getting new product in both parks.

OK, well, at least that makes sense. "We spent too much money on crap, so we have to wait to spend it
on something that is actually an attraction." It's not good, it's awful, but at least it is a solid explanation
of why they haven't started yet. Stupid NGE is why we can't have nice things . . . .
 

Tim_4

Well-Known Member
Once the NGE support teams give the system its finally green light and leave it in the hands of CM's, the true test of NGE will be before us. CM's are not computer programmers and everything they are creating for NGE is based on new systems that have never been done before in the parks. If anything goes wrong, then basically Disney is back to square one before CM's were walking around with iPads all day.
Many elements now look like they will never ever get that green light in the first place. It just doesn't work. Even the programmers and engineers can't get a lot of it right, let alone front line functionality.
 

rodmansju

Member
I don't get how they keep getting more budget allocated to it? Are they simply using the line "well we've sunk this much into it...we only need a wee bit more..." What are the expenditures at now? Where have the cost overruns been?

As a Project Manager, from the outside I would LOVE to get involved in a project like this....but seeing how it is performing as a project, in many other business areas such a project would have been killed long ago. i think this one has been a bag of hurt for Disney, in that it was put out there before a lot of the bugs were really tested on a small scale. understanding part of the execution depends on it working parks-wide (ok, a huge part), but the system should have been something tested small scale first in a manner where a lot of the bugs and kinks emerge and are worked out. now, as you've said, i do think they are past the point of turning back....it is just somewhat disappointing that its costing more, taking longer, and in the end, won't get more rides in the parks, and as '74 mentioned, is actually causing new attractions to be delayed because they can't control costs.

i wouldn't want to be someone involved in NGE rollout at the moment.....talk about a hot seat
 

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
More and more it's sounding like the trustworthy people on this site were entirely correct about NGE from the start. Sounds like the failures are piling on and on for Disney too, even the people who were convinced this would make them assloads of cash. My questions though-

1- Is there any way at this point that this project could fail so hard when they roll it out officially that they just scrap the entire thing? Or has it become a "too big to fail" situation for them?

2- What likely consequences are we looking at from its inevitable failure? What aspects of the company are going to be hit? Could they actually finally fire the idiots who need to be kicked out (the corporate heads who thought this would be a good idea) and get people in who actually know how to run theme parks the right way? Or are they just going to take it out on cast members, guests and the parks themselves to once again cover up the fact that they ****ed up big time?

I'm very glad to see this thing is doing very badly and even the people in the company who were convinced it would work are now crapping their pants in fear and dread for what they did. On one hand I'd love to see it crash and burn as a monument for how not to handle theme parks (more and more that appears like it's going to be a reality at this point), but I have to wonder what the consequences will be for its failure. Will they scrap the entire thing, get some better leaders in the company that know what they're doing and start investing in quality again to make money the proper way? Or will they instead escalate their current line of thinking by raising prices exponentially on guests, firing cast members and lower level people (keeping the people who came up with this garbage), further degrade the maintenance of the parks and scale back and even cancel new theme park expansions and projects? Even coming up with ever more buttheaded scam-schemes to replace NGE with?

Sadly, I think this may be a lose-lose situation for guests overall. Even if the project somehow had a chance to succeed, they'd just use that as an excuse that they're doing the right thing neglecting the parks and spending money on stupid things. It's looking like it's going to crash and burn now though, and I doubt they'll learn anything from it still. They'll probably even find a scapegoat to blame so the person(s) who came up with this can keep their job and continue making massive bonuses.
 
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devoy1701

Well-Known Member
As a Project Manager, from the outside I would LOVE to get involved in a project like this....but seeing how it is performing as a project, in many other business areas such a project would have been killed long ago. i think this one has been a bag of hurt for Disney, in that it was put out there before a lot of the bugs were really tested on a small scale. understanding part of the execution depends on it working parks-wide (ok, a huge part), but the system should have been something tested small scale first in a manner where a lot of the bugs and kinks emerge and are worked out. now, as you've said, i do think they are past the point of turning back....it is just somewhat disappointing that its costing more, taking longer, and in the end, won't get more rides in the parks, and as '74 mentioned, is actually causing new attractions to be delayed because they can't control costs.

i wouldn't want to be someone involved in NGE rollout at the moment.....talk about a hot seat

well you know how it is...most of these projects come with huge Egos of whoever is put incharge of the project. It must be completed no matter what. And UAT phases always ended up being User Acceptance Testing...meaning regardless of the bugs you find, accept it because this thing is happening whether you like it or not.
 

devoy1701

Well-Known Member
Scrap NGE, and just get back to building world class attractions, that's what will make them money. But unfortunately I'm afraid this will not happen that ship sailed long ago!


It won't do us any good at this point if costs have already exceeded $3B. The money's been spent! I would hate to have to write off that failed capital expenditure!
 

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
From the sound of things its like Disney World sold its heart and soul to all this NGE mess, and to heck with quality and worthwhile attractions, they could care less. Doesnt look like that sentiment is going away either, its here to stay, but I hope it does eventually and sooner rather than later but just not seeing it.
 

Funmeister

Well-Known Member
NGE is falling apart at the seams. Many of the executives who had been putting on a brave face and walking the line are now more openly pessimistic. Some of the enhancements will be nice but almost all of the revenue generating elements are crashing and burning.

The problem is it is too far along to "fail." It will never be what they intended it to be but it will always be here in some capacity.
 
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