networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Watered down ? Disney has to protect their cast members and characters here in the East. If ya'll had the influx of people from the North East you'd have the same situation.
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Mickey Mouse Now Roaming Magic Kingdom in Surprise Character Encounters
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Watered down ? Disney has to protect their cast members and characters here in the East. If ya'll had the influx of people from the North East you'd have the same situation.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I've always thought the problem had more to do with the fact that the characters don't interact with everyone.The problem is some guests aren’t just happy with a quick, fun interaction. They need the full Instagram/TikTok photo and video shoot.
WDW sold a great many Photo passes and autograph books with the understanding that their customers would get many photos and autographs.
People won't buy either product unless it has some value.
Second, every family that lines up for an autograph = a family that is not in another location. If I want to distract crowds from heading directly to 7D at rope drop, an easy/low-cost solution is to position 7 character greets in the Hub for an hour and let the lines form.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I don't think that is entirely the situation.
Especially because they never entirely disappeared from WDW. WDW has a history of offering roaming characters and un-advertised meet and greets during busy weeks like Easter.
In AK, I've seen Kevin many times. DiVine also has periodic appearances.
Though when I think of roaming characters in Orlando, the ones outside the Mummy ride at Universal Orlando are regularly out and having fun with patrons.
DisneyDodo
Well-Known Member
Less popular characters are less likely to be mobbed by crowds. This is why in TSL you can find Green Army Men roaming around and interacting with guests, but you have to wait in line to meet Woody, Jessie, or Buzz.
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
While I think there’s some truth in this I think it’s a mistake for them to ignore the goodwill and memories the characters create. My very first trip to WDW was a 40th birthday present to myself and also a solo trip, I felt very out of place as a 40 year old man and suspect that must have shown because Stitch ran up to me and gave me a hug on my way to Space Mountain, I had been in the park for about 10 minutes at that point and what was an uncomfortable experience instantly turned into a truly magical experience… that single act has likely resulted in $100-200k in revenue for Disney over the decade plus since, just from me and my gf.
I still wonder if I’d have become a parks mega fan had that one instance not happened, I went from an uncomfortable “old man” to an overgrown kid in an instant and was absolutely hooked on the parks.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Hopefully Josh can bring his Disneyland standards start to applied at Disney World.
He only had 6 years as head of DPEP to make it a thing. You can't expect him to rush things like that.
donsullivan
Premium Member
I really don't understand why folks think his elevation to CEO will change things. He's been running Disney Experiences (parks, DCL, DVC, ABD, merchandising, etc..) for 6+ years now. Everything that is happening there has been with his approval/support. Folks really need to let go of this perspective there will be a massive change in the parks following this change. Everything in place in the parks now has been under his watch as Chairman of Disney Experiences
FigmentFan82
Well-Known Member
He also had to answer to the ceo. Now he is the ceo
Biff215
Well-Known Member
But he was also WDW president.
These aren’t changes coming from the very top. Josh will have far more to worry about than some random character appearances once he’s the man.
Let’s also not forget these new roaming characters are mainly there because they’ve been displaced from the castle stage show for now. I wouldn’t count on anything once that is over.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
It may not, but on the reverse side, I don’t understand how people think the head of parks isn’t getting his marching orders from the CEO. If he did disagree with Iger, it would have been in private. We just don’t know what he legit wanted, what he just accepted, or what he pushed for unless there was some insider info I missed.
Anyway, I think most of us understand he isn’t going to wildly change things off the bat… Well, at least not if he wants to keep his job, but there are a lot of small changes he can slowly implement to get things moving in a different direction.
“A different direction”? I thought you and dozens of others were giddy at Josh’s “$17 billion for WDW” announcement.
Tom P.
Premium Member
I don't think decisions about whether or not to have Mickey Mouse roaming the Magic Kingdom are being made by either the CEO of the company or the chairman of Disney Experiences. Maybe occasionally they would happen to get involved in a discussion about minutiae like that, but generally they are going to have much bigger fish to fry. I think people overestimate the level to which the top leadership gets involved in every little day-to-day decision at the parks. Walt Disney World has its own president, vice-presidents, and managers for a reason.
Biff215
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I think the old Eisner stories might make some think the CEO is more involved. Even then though, while he was notorious for micromanaging decisions like resort room theming, those projects had huge money implications for the company.
Today’s CEO is pretty much there just to keep the Board and Wall Street happy.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
Think you might have me confused with someone else as I don't think I have ever been giddy. I certainly wasn't upset that they were planning on spending some money at WDW, but WHERE and HOW they spend it was always going to be the key and that is where I have not been happy with many of their choices.
The question is, was that all Josh, was it all Iger, or (most likely) was it a mix? If it was all Iger or a mix then we should expect some changes over time, hopefully for the better. If it was all Josh, then yes, what we have seen in the last number of years is what we are going to get going forward.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
Mickey roaming and similar, no, likely not directly, but all these people who decide if Mickey is going to roam or not get their general direction ultimately from the CEO which can change things on the ground.
I'm sure the current round of roaming characters is just in place to help deal with increased crowd levels for the holiday, but let's pretend it was a more permanent change and use that as an example.
If a CEO comes in, sits down with his core group and says that they are now going to place additional emphasis on GSAT scores as a primary measure and no longer care as much about something like profitability per square foot (yes, in case someone was wondering, that is a thing) then something like roaming characters becomes more likely. Additional options like increased park hours and/or staffing are suddenly on the table.
On the other hand if they come in and say our margins stink and we need to fix them now, we get hours cut, staff reductions and no little extras like roaming characters, etc.
Fair. You may have gotten some friendly fire there, my apologies.
The new boss isn’t going to change anything from the old boss.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
You may be right, and I completely understand those that are suspicious of how this is going to go. My only position is we should wait and see what he actually does once he is on his own.