DHS Disney plans to reboot Voyage of the Little Mermaid stage show at Disney's Hollywood Studios

[celluloid]

Compared to DHS opening day lineup, of 8 listed attractions, DHS will have 20 attractions when Mermaid and Villains opens, dropping down to 19 when Muppet Vision closes. Once the Monsters Door Coaster and Monsters Stage Show open, DHS will have 21 attractions, the largest number of attractions that park would have ever had. DHS just suffers from a lack of rides, with most of its filler attractions being shows. And if you're not into the shows, the attraction lineup just looks small

Yeah, it Definitely does not have a capacity problem. It has a waning interest vs the investment size issue.

You did forget it will be down another for awhile when RNR closes for its changes.

 

[Ayla]

What makes you think that?
Equity cast members aren’t CPs.

Because they are dressed like teens on their day off of work.

 

[peter11435]

Because they are dressed like teens on their day off of work.

They are not CP’s

 

[Comped]

Because they are dressed like teens on their day off of work.

That's just how Equity members tend to dress.

 

[Agent H]

Because they are dressed like teens on their day off of work.

How? Those are nicer outfits than I wear at my actual job.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Because they are dressed like teens on their day off of work.

I mean you have to be young to portray Ariel and Eric.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Hercules has been mentioned which I could see but Tangled is the most underutilized hit with a great soundtrack. I wish they would have had a plan from the start to keep the shows at MGM/DHS fresh, then you could capitalize on the latest and greatest without them becoming stale. For the frequent guest, LM and BatB both became easy skips after a decade or so.

Again, I’m thrilled to see them reopen the theater and even freshen up the show, but if DHS was the only place LM was represented, I’d understand it more.

Disney MGM Studios used to have shows and parades for whatever the latest movie was. Dick Tracy, BatB (new at the time and in another location), Aladdin, Pocahontas, Toy Story, Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan etc

In the 2000s they got lazy, like a lot of the rest of WDW, plus the new movies from Disney feature animation at the time like Brother Bear didn't lend themselves to that kind of entertainment.

Then Disney made a whole slate of movie musicals starting with Enchanted, Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Moana and they only made a show for Frozen for this park after it became a hit (and initially on the cheap).

Lots of untapped potential for shows from the studio's library.

 

[Jedi14]

How? Those are nicer outfits than I wear at my actual job.

You forget. Once you turn 18, you have to wear a suit and tie to be considered an adult.

 

[Agent H]

You forget. Once you turn 18, you have to wear a suit and tie to be considered an adult.

If that applies to imagineering then the job is not as fun as it used to be.

 

[Comped]

Disney MGM Studios used to have shows and parades for whatever the latest movie was. Dick Tracy, BatB (new at the time and in another location), Aladdin, Pocahontas, Toy Story, Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan etc

In the 2000s they got lazy, like a lot of the rest of WDW, plus the new movies from Disney feature animation at the time like Brother Bear didn't lend themselves to that kind of entertainment.

Then Disney made a whole slate of movie musicals starting with Enchanted, Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Moana and they only made a show for Frozen for this park after it became a hit (and initially on the cheap).

Lots of untapped potential for shows from the studio's library.

Oh look a subject I happened to know a lot about! Warning - this might be a small rant...

This was back when Eisner was very much obsessed with the idea of synergy. Every new animated film, sometimes television series, and even the odd live action film, would get something in the parks. Mostly parades because those were relatively cheap and are still one of the better ways of promoting a film to people (while fireworks are cheaper than parades on a per guest basis, fireworks are also significantly more time consuming to update, which is why the Orlando parks have so rarely gotten new firework shows). And it wasn't just MGM that got stuff, MK would get the higher profile parades like Aladdin, Epcot sometimes pulled in characters from the latest films if they were vaguely country related, and so on and so forth. Obviously MGM was the biggest beneficiary in this regard, and it really helped kept the park from getting stale. It wasn't really the intent, but it also helped drive attendance to the smallest park by physical size and offerings. After all Eisner quickly realized that because the park was underbuilt, a relic of it originally being designed as a half-day park and not a full day park, entertainment had to fill the void and by God it did.

We also have to remember that entertainment starting in went on what could be called an extreme diet. In early 2001 Walt Disney Entertainment, which had total control over entertainment across not just the parks, but the cruise line, Broadway, and elsewhere (minus Feld handing Disney on Ice and Disney Live, which no one could figure out why they never bought), was effectively gutted due to complaints from the operation side of the parks, as they perceived any dollar heading towards an autonomous unit of the company completely separate from themselves, but relating to the parks, as essentially a way to not get money to build rides. That eventually led to it being forced into Imagineering, and entertainment being put under the control of operations parkside. It was the worst decision that could have been made, in terms of how live entertainment was created across the company, and it was purely a power move by Eisner who was afraid that the man in charge of it at the time was turning it into a bit of a personal fiefdom from which he believed he could take control of the company through support of the Disney family. (If only that would have happened...)

Imagineering has, quite literally, treated it as more of a redheaded stepchild in terms of how much they care about it actually being part of them, then the Muppets. (In fact they care far more about the Muppets than they do live entertainment.) I believe that this arrangement has caused them to dramatically fall down the totem pole in terms of importance to the company, and in terms of how much entertainment is valued within the parks. Under WDE MK used to get a new parade every few years, and there were parades running at all four parks at one point (even though most of them were not designed for one). Live entertainment was proliferated throughout the parks, resorts, and elsewhere, with live music being consistently featured. (No coincidence that multiple executives, either at the Orlando level or higher up, including those in charge of WDE, wer musicians themselves.) we had shows that were longer than 18 minutes, large scale events actually executed properly instead of whatever the 50th was, and Disney was actively producing halftime shows for everything from the Pan American Games to the Superbowl, and appearing around the world in everything from Fan Fest in East Asia to Carnival in Brazil. It's not me putting on rose tinted glasses, legitimately back then the company invested in entertainment. It has nothing to do with the quality of the shows, but rather who is in charge of funding and producing them.

I've often said on here that Disney couldn't create another show like Illuminations ROE if they tried, because basically everyone involved is retired, dead, or has moved on significantly. And that extends to a lot more than just a lagoon show... It extends to proper stage shows except when they have OLC breathing down their necks (or Paris/Shanghai forces them), it applies to regular fireworks shows (at least until the community and fans in general bash their heads against the wall hard enough like we saw with the 50th shows), and it applies to parades (seriously? Eisner would have never let FoF go on this long considering that New Fantasyland stop being new 8 years ago). I could talk about atmosphere entertainment, regional entertainment outside the parks, and Disney in general pulling back from being the biggest name in ceremony production for major international sporting events, among other things, but you get the point. It didn't have to be this way, it was a choice made by people who would rather see money go to rides. Instead of Tron, only God knows what kinds of shows we could have gotten.

I really should write a book, and I have been meaning to for so many years that the people I have been planning on interviewing have often died before I've had a chance... I just have no darn clue where to start.

 

[Polkadotdress]

And it wasn't just MGM that got stuff, MK would get the higher profile parades like Aladdin, Epcot sometimes pulled in characters from the latest films if they were vaguely country related, and so on and so forth.

Small correction: MGM actually got the Aladdin parade, in the form of "Aladdin's Royal Caravan". Not MK.

 

[drew81]

Oh look a subject I happened to know a lot about! Warning - this might be a small rant...

This was back when Eisner was very much obsessed with the idea of synergy. Every new animated film, sometimes television series, and even the odd live action film, would get something in the parks. Mostly parades because those were relatively cheap and are still one of the better ways of promoting a film to people (while fireworks are cheaper than parades on a per guest basis, fireworks are also significantly more time consuming to update, which is why the Orlando parks have so rarely gotten new firework shows). And it wasn't just MGM that got stuff, MK would get the higher profile parades like Aladdin, Epcot sometimes pulled in characters from the latest films if they were vaguely country related, and so on and so forth. Obviously MGM was the biggest beneficiary in this regard, and it really helped kept the park from getting stale. It wasn't really the intent, but it also helped drive attendance to the smallest park by physical size and offerings. After all Eisner quickly realized that because the park was underbuilt, a relic of it originally being designed as a half-day park and not a full day park, entertainment had to fill the void and by God it did.

We also have to remember that entertainment starting in went on what could be called an extreme diet. In early 2001 Walt Disney Entertainment, which had total control over entertainment across not just the parks, but the cruise line, Broadway, and elsewhere (minus Feld handing Disney on Ice and Disney Live, which no one could figure out why they never bought), was effectively gutted due to complaints from the operation side of the parks, as they perceived any dollar heading towards an autonomous unit of the company completely separate from themselves, but relating to the parks, as essentially a way to not get money to build rides. That eventually led to it being forced into Imagineering, and entertainment being put under the control of operations parkside. It was the worst decision that could have been made, in terms of how live entertainment was created across the company, and it was purely a power move by Eisner who was afraid that the man in charge of it at the time was turning it into a bit of a personal fiefdom from which he believed he could take control of the company through support of the Disney family. (If only that would have happened...)

Imagineering has, quite literally, treated it as more of a redheaded stepchild in terms of how much they care about it actually being part of them, then the Muppets. (In fact they care far more about the Muppets than they do live entertainment.) I believe that this arrangement has caused them to dramatically fall down the totem pole in terms of importance to the company, and in terms of how much entertainment is valued within the parks. Under WDE MK used to get a new parade every few years, and there were parades running at all four parks at one point (even though most of them were not designed for one). Live entertainment was proliferated throughout the parks, resorts, and elsewhere, with live music being consistently featured. (No coincidence that multiple executives, either at the Orlando level or higher up, including those in charge of WDE, wer musicians themselves.) we had shows that were longer than 18 minutes, large scale events actually executed properly instead of whatever the 50th was, and Disney was actively producing halftime shows for everything from the Pan American Games to the Superbowl, and appearing around the world in everything from Fan Fest in East Asia to Carnival in Brazil. It's not me putting on rose tinted glasses, legitimately back then the company invested in entertainment. It has nothing to do with the quality of the shows, but rather who is in charge of funding and producing them.

I've often said on here that Disney couldn't create another show like Illuminations ROE if they tried, because basically everyone involved is retired, dead, or has moved on significantly. And that extends to a lot more than just a lagoon show... It extends to proper stage shows except when they have OLC breathing down their necks (or Paris/Shanghai forces them), it applies to regular fireworks shows (at least until the community and fans in general bash their heads against the wall hard enough like we saw with the 50th shows), and it applies to parades (seriously? Eisner would have never let FoF go on this long considering that New Fantasyland stop being new 8 years ago). I could talk about atmosphere entertainment, regional entertainment outside the parks, and Disney in general pulling back from being the biggest name in ceremony production for major international sporting events, among other things, but you get the point. It didn't have to be this way, it was a choice made by people who would rather see money go to rides. Instead of Tron, only God knows what kinds of shows we could have gotten.

I really should write a book, and I have been meaning to for so many years that the people I have been planning on interviewing have often died before I've had a chance... I just have no darn clue where to start.

Isn’t it sad thinking about what WDW Entertainment used to be?

 

[peter11435]

Disney MGM Studios used to have shows and parades for whatever the latest movie was. Dick Tracy, BatB (new at the time and in another location), Aladdin, Pocahontas, Toy Story, Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan etc

In the 2000s they got lazy, like a lot of the rest of WDW, plus the new movies from Disney feature animation at the time like Brother Bear didn't lend themselves to that kind of entertainment.

Then Disney made a whole slate of movie musicals starting with Enchanted, Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, Moana and they only made a show for Frozen for this park after it became a hit (and initially on the cheap).

Lots of untapped potential for shows from the studio's library.

A lot of those shows, parades, and characters for the latest movies were partially or fully funded by the studios (the real one not DHS/MGM) marketing budget. The studio paid to promote their films and the park gladly accepted. This is even how things like Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee happened. This is why they usually had limited runs unless they were so popular that parks decided to pick up the cost and continue them after. Over the years there’s been a huge shift in how the studio chooses to use its marketing budget. They have migrated to other methods that reach more with less. Not unlike the same factors that have deteriorated the sponsorship model.

 

[JD80]

I was in DHS nearly two weeks ago and we used a full day in the park and didn't do any shows.

We did Muppets with food and a drink and Mama Melrose.
Then we did all the Star Wars stuff with food and drinks at Ogas.
Then we did MMRR with food and a beer at Baseline.
Then we did TSL with food and a beer at Baseline
Then we did RnRC with food and drink on Sunset Boulevard
Then we did Food and Drinks at Brown Durby before Fantasmic where we had food and a beer.

Quite the fun day.

 

[Agent H]

I was in DHS nearly two weeks ago and we used a full day in the park and didn't do any shows.

We did Muppets with food and a drink and Mama Melrose.
Then we did all the Star Wars stuff with food and drinks at Ogas.
Then we did MMRR with food and a beer at Baseline.
Then we did TSL with food and a beer at Baseline
Then we did RnRC with food and drink on Sunset Boulevard
Then we did Food and Drinks at Brown Durby before Fantasmic where we had food and a beer.

Quite the fun day.

Eating. The 2nd best part of a Disney vacation.

 

[JD80]

Sitting down and drink a beer with friends is much better than chasing waits. We had LLMP, arrived at the park close to 10am and managed to do everything except ToT and the shows.

 

[UNCgolf]

I was in DHS nearly two weeks ago and we used a full day in the park and didn't do any shows.

We did Muppets with food and a drink and Mama Melrose.
Then we did all the Star Wars stuff with food and drinks at Ogas.
Then we did MMRR with food and a beer at Baseline.
Then we did TSL with food and a beer at Baseline
Then we did RnRC with food and drink on Sunset Boulevard
Then we did Food and Drinks at Brown Durby before Fantasmic where we had food and a beer.

Quite the fun day.

This sounds like a 6000 calorie day.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This sounds like a 6000 calorie day.

Calories don’t count in a 97 degree DHS.

 

[Agent H]

This sounds like a 6000 calorie day.

And the grilled cheese from Toy Story land is 90 percent of that.

 

[mattpeto]

This sounds like a 6000 calorie day.

Hello Christine McCarthy please help us cut portion sizes.