A Spirited Perfect Ten

[71jason]

I'm pretty sure that HP would have had the Frozen treatment.
a crappy rehash of an older ride and Iger will call it a day.
Rowling was smart.

Don't forget the Harry Potter Hoopla, where a tarted-up Hermione and Bellatrix have a dance-off to "Party Rock Anthem."

 

[xdan0920]

Don't forget the Harry Potter Hoopla, where a tarted-up Hermione and Bellatrix have a dance-off to "Party Rock Anthem."

Change out the song, and you just might have something.

 

[Mike S]

It is true that JKR passed on Disney, At the time the HP franchise was HOT and she wanted creative control for her creation, Disney basically had the C-team do the proposal and they fumbled it BIG TIME, Disney would have been better off had Tony Baxter or Joe Rohde do the proposal.

Tony Baxter actually did make his own plans for Harry Potter that he hasn't shown anyone. I remember this old post from @Figments Friend in the Spirited Seventh.

That did not stop Mr. Baxter however from coming up with his own concepts for a *Harry Potter* themed Attraction.
He had some interesting concepts indeed for a themed experience....and he has kept them.

Storytime....

Last year someone in the themed entertainment fan community visited his cozy home and talked about a moment when the topic of conversation turned to Universal*s HP areas.
As the topic progressed to what Disney might have done if they had won the right, Mr. Baxter pulled out some papers from his personal collection.
They were concepts for a HP Attraction to be built for one of the Disney Theme Parks....being held in his hand a few feet away from the visitor.

These were, from the impression i received as the story was told, various ideas Tony had come up with and may have been part of the preliminary gathering of concepts.
Said visitor admitted to how awesome a moment it was to see him tease with these, but alas, those concepts were not to be revealed.
The visitor admitted to desperately wanting to see them ....curiosity was just killing him at that moment, but Tony smartly kept those cherished secrets to himself.


Tony Baxter - the ultimate showman, still....knowing full well how to keep a audience entertained and wide eyed, even today.

Would love to see those plans surface one day.

I did not know the history behind all this and I had no idea about how the events, when Potter was first pitched to Disney, went down. But this, more than anything I've discovered lately about Disney really just puts me in a bad mood. The sheer ineptitude of that whole situation just feels so deflating. I used to think pretty highly of Disney Imagineering and their Creativity. But ever since I started reading these boards I have sort of started getting this bad taste in my mouth towards Disney. Not really sure I can ever see Disney the same way. I really hope all the rumored expansions and current projects are really a huge success and knock it out of the park. For that might restore some of the faith I've recently lost in Disney.

/rant sorry

Same happened with me after reading the truth. It really sucks doesn't it?

 

[sshindel]

Same happened with me after reading the truth. It really sucks doesn't it?

Just remember, there is a whole lot of opinion presented alongside the "truth" here, and anywhere else.

 

[ford91exploder]

Since we're going to rip on F&W for serving alcohol, can we at least agree that parents need to keep their children out of bars?

I mean, I don't drink in their daycare center. Can they extend the same courtsey?

I'm not ripping TDO for serving alcohol, If these were wine TASTINGS it would be a bit different, But let's face it F&W is now more about being a single site pub crawl than anything to do with good food or good wine. It's become Drunkytown and that's sad.

 

[spacemt354]

Same happened with me after reading the truth. It really sucks doesn't it?

I take everything with a grain of salt. While it's great to have a place with such a wide variety of knowledge, the "truth" is often muddled or biased so I tend to make my own opinions based on what's presented.

 

[George]

I'm pretty sure that HP would have had the Frozen treatment.
a crappy rehash of an older ride and Iger will call it a day.
Rowling was smart.

HP in Norway would've been awesome! I love their printers!

 

[Mike S]

I take everything with a grain of salt. While it's great to have a place with such a wide variety of knowledge, the "truth" is often muddled or biased so I tend to make my own opinions based on what's presented.

The "truth" I was referring to is that Disney is not at all what it used to be even from when I was a kid. Things have changed for the worse in some ways (maintenance, Frostrom, how long we've been waiting for a new major E Ticket, etc.) and it was a pretty tough pill to swallow. I can only hope things change for the better, eventually.

 

[JimboJones123]

I'm not ripping TDO for serving alcohol, If these were wine TASTINGS it would be a bit different, But let's face it F&W is now more about being a single site pub crawl than anything to do with good food or good wine. It's become Drunkytown and that's sad.

Don't forget expensive arsee pub crawl.
Seriously - $50-60 to just get buzzed? I cannot even imagine trying to keep a buzz rolling for 4-6 hours. Eeks....

Patrons are insane.

 

[ford91exploder]

Don't forget expensive arsee pub crawl.
Seriously - $50-60 to just get buzzed? I cannot even imagine trying to keep a buzz rolling for 4-6 hours. Eeks....

Patrons are insane.

Agree - I remember when F&W was worth going to when there were cooking demonstrations etc.

 

[Rasvar]

Don't forget expensive arsee pub crawl.
Seriously - $50-60 to just get buzzed? I cannot even imagine trying to keep a buzz rolling for 4-6 hours. Eeks....

Patrons are insane.

I've always gone for some food and alcohol sampling. If I want to get buzzed, I'll just hit some place cheaper. I did enjoy the beer flights this year. I've become a bit of a beer snob over the last few years. So I actually like tasting my beer.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm not ripping TDO for serving alcohol, If these were wine TASTINGS it would be a bit different, But let's face it F&W is now more about being a single site pub crawl than anything to do with good food or good wine. It's become Drunkytown and that's sad.

Its not.

You want Drunkytown? Go to any SEC home football game. Hang out in downtown afterwards.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Don't forget expensive arsee pub crawl.
Seriously - $50-60 to just get buzzed? I cannot even imagine trying to keep a buzz rolling for 4-6 hours. Eeks....

Patrons are insane.

And Patron is not a very good tequila - just well marketed.

 

[JimboJones123]

Agree - I remember when F&W was worth going to when there were cooking demonstrations etc.

And honestly, I just cannot drop $100 for a night on the town that wraps up at 10pm.

And that is just my tab. Not adding somebody on my arm. And a way to get home.

 

[George]

Not adding somebody on my arm.

How much does this surgery cost? I've been thinking about doing the whole Zaphod Beeblebrox double head thing for a while now.

 

[JimboJones123]

And Patron is not a very good tequila - just well marketed.

Touché.

When you get the kind of kickbacks from the pop music industry that likes of Jack and Patron get -- all the guppies line up to join the party that the radio is selling.

 

[Excitable Boy]

Change out the song, and you just might have something.

How's Flashdance?

 

[ford91exploder]

Its not.

You want Drunkytown? Go to any SEC home football game. Hang out in downtown afterwards.

Thanks I'll pass on downtown sports 'celebrations' unless I happen to be driving a Bradley or a MRAP.

 

[ford91exploder]

How much does this surgery cost? I've been thinking about doing the whole Zaphod Beeblebrox double head thing for a while now.

Don't forget the green filter.

 

[PirateFrank]

Disney's pitch to Rowling was, at best, minimal; a cheap budget in the worst traditions of Rasulo's 8 years as head of Parks & Resorts. (Think Toy Story Mania, whose entire cost amounted to little more than a rounding error in Parks & Resorts massive budget.)

When Rowling wanted to retain creative control and thought an immersive land would be more successful, Disney pushed back and basically told her to take a hike. She stormed out and pitched the idea to Universal, who could not believe their good fortune. I know some folks at Universal who called Disney executives "idiots".

Rowling was right. Disney was wrong.

It demonstrated just how bad Disney management's judgement was when it came to Parks & Resorts and how the "We're Disney" attitude under Rasulo cost Disney a huge windfall.

After Disney had its head handed to it on a platter, Iger's knee-jerk reaction was to give the equally demanding Cameron essentially everything Rowling wanted but for the inferior (for children) Avatar property.

No matter how you want to slice-and-dice it, the whole sorry episode was an epic fail by Disney management.

I need to quote this post -- just so more people read it....and those that read it the first time will read it again.

Seriously. You read the book Disney War, which heartily eviscerates Eisner for a handful of bad decisions and missed opportunities....and it's hard to imagine any of them coming close the idiocy displayed by Rasulo and Iger over Potter.....such morons.