A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[Hakunamatata]

That's apples and oranges.

The new Mickey Mouse Cartoons do not look a thing like the classic cartoons (or even the computer animated Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) animations that we see. They are done at the cheap in order for them to be made. Why make a new attraction with a character that does not resemble the character we know?

Now, back to the original thread.

Can you clarify what you mean by cheap? Cheap looking or cheap to produce?

 

[Mike S]

I gave them a chance the other night and enjoyed them. I don't think they're as cute as the originals (obviously there the originals for a reason) but I'm a little less concerned about the visual of the new ride now than I was

Well of course. New animators and such will never capture the same feel which is why I'm happy they seem to have mostly done their own thing.

 

[WDW1974]

I think we should all be busy decorating our houses for Halloween since it is Labor Day Weekend and all ... wonder if all the bloggers breathlessly doing PR for Celebration Place will be yearning for Christmas by the end of September!

 

[ford91exploder]

Income inequality in the United States is the single greatest inhibitor of organic growth for WDW, DL and the tourism industry at large.

Not so much income inequality rather naked greed where once companies shared successes down the line. Now

No, no, no, stop making stuff up.

Over the last 10 years, Maintenance Fees (MF) at the WDW DVCs have gone up an average of 3.5% per year, with BLT leading the way at 5.5% per year. Every other resort has seen an average increase of less than 4.0%, with most under 3.5%. Despite the increases, BLT still has the second-lowest MF of any WDW DVC resort.

The best WDW performer over the same period is BWV, which saw an average annual increase of only 2.9%.

BLT's MF started unusually low. Many DVC members have commented on the poor wear-and-tear of the furniture & fixtures there. BLT needs the funds to fix and replace substandard items used during its original construction.

If you are so unhappy with BLT, pm me and I'll trade you an AKV for a BLT. AKV is a beautiful resort, (IMHO) WDW's best. Heck, I'll trade you a BWV.

Better yet, if you are so unhappy, sell your BLT now. With resales way up, I'm sure you'll turn a profit. No reason to be an "unhappy DVC camper" when you can make a profit on it!

And if you want to keep it and just rent points, then stop complaining. WDW's popularity has given you an opportunity to make a profit year-after-year with practically no effort on your part.

I'll let you know when i'm ready to sell I have OKW/AKL/BLT and they are all going

 

[WDW1974]

Just a note that everyone's favorite twink in the desert, Dakota (who still somehow doesn't have a job with Disney ... he hits on all the marks for Disney ... young, gay, monied and did better social media work on SDL for free than the pros have done) is headed back to SDL, which sorta surprises me because you'd think he'd want to visit WDW (nah, too smart for that!) or one of the other international resorts too.

I can't wait for his Tweets. I find them so amusing and informative ... not in the LOL way that Scarlett's Tweets elicit ... not in the "I have a major mental illness" way that her ex-beau's Tweets do ... not in the shaking my head in agreement way that Andy Castro's do ... but they are great for pics and info as to what is going on at the newest Disney resort.

Again, Disney -- HIRE THE BOY!!!

 

[WDW1974]

Disney needs to give up on putting Marvel in the US parks. Marvel is better suited to the UNI parks and nothing Disney has proposed and will build matches what UNI did almost 20 years ago with MSHI and Spider Man.

Now China... Marvel is China's Star Wars. That's where the focus needs to be.

I agree on your point, but never going to happen. The fact GotG are going into EPCOT shows you how desperate and pushy Disney wants to be with its Marvel IP. The confusion with having Marvel at both IOA and WDW should be enough for Disney to have stepped back as UNI doesn't care at all. Disney actually removed Marvel merchandise from the MK years ago because people were asking where the Spidey and Hulk rides were.

I disagree on the quality, though. If the proposed Marvel attractions for DCA ever happen, they will be great (one bar- raising). But do they fit? No. They just further dilute what is Disney.

But in China ... Marvel is huge ... so Disney, naturally, keeps trying to force feed the masses Star Wars. And, sorry Bob, they're just not that into Rey and BB-8.

 

[WDW1974]

this x100
the experience has gone down across the board more or less.
look they want over 100 bucks a night alot of times to stay at the pop? are you insane?

I wouldn't say people who spend $100-plus on Pop are insane. I would question their sense of value and ability to understand the O-Town hotel market. I have never paid more than $69 to stay there (and have stayed for half that). Location isn't what it once was as transportation and security have become such a hassle that I often wonder if simply going to the parks is worth the time and effort required.

 

[WDW1974]

It's possible to have a "wow" factor and still not focus your business strategy on frequent visitors. Look at professional sports as a perfect example. When I was younger I knew many families who had full or partial season tickets for the big 4 professional sports in Philly. It was possible for a blue collar middle class family to go to many games a year. Flash forward to today and I can barely afford to bring my kids to a handful of games a year. It's mostly just corporations that own season tickets these days. The leagues have all gone from a focus on a hard core small group of fans attending a large quantity of games to a larger pool of fans attending only a few games. It's not because the NFL or NBA are lesser products or lack a wow factor. It's exactly the opposite and they are printing money.

You fail to realize that Disney parks are still wildly popular. The normals don't care whether Star Wars or Marvel or Avatar are owned by Disney. They just want fun stuff to do. I've never heard anyone question that Universal has Harry Potter attractions when it's a WB movie. If you think the pure Disney brands are losing popularity check out how long the lines are to meet the classic characters and how long the lines are for Peter Pan or 7 Dwarft rides. Since WDW opened there have been plenty of people that described it as too hot/crowded/expensive. This is nothing new. It's an urban legend that everyone who went to WDW in the 80s loved it unconditionally. There were people who didn't like it then for a lot of the same reasons. It's been hot in FL most of the year since 1971. Can't blame that on Iger.

To bring the professional sports analogy around to WDW it's possible that in the not so distant future it will be much more rare for someone to visit WDW multiple times a year just like it's less common for an average person to go to the bulk of a teams home games in any sport. The frequent, regular visitors may be the ones impacted the most but the normals as you call them won't really be impacted a whole lot.

The sports analogy sucks and I wish people would stop using it. You want to talk value at WDW? Compare what a WDW vacation was in 1987 or 1997 versus today. Compare a WDW vacation with other Disney and non-Disney family resorts. But leave sports out ... because it absolutely is comparing apples and avocado and crab dip.

You are correct that some people have had complaints about heat, crowds and prices since the 70s. But some people will complain about anything (see my fans here). A simple look back at prices versus average salary and inflation shows that WDW was an infinitely better value proposition in 1977 or 1987 than it is today. As to crowds, some people have no tolerance for waiting for anything. I don't like it, but I never minded waiting at WDW pre-FP because I never waited more than 20-30 minutes for anything except on say July 4th or Christmas week. (I don't want to point out that 30 years ago, the MK would have closed every day in September at either 6 or 7 with no fireworks and no upcharge parties and that EPCOT would have closed at 8 or 9 every night).

Weather has gotten hotter though. Summer didn't use to start in April and go until Halloween. But global warming is a liberal snowflake myth designed to destroy business ... You gotta love living in today's USA when the EPA head comes out says "We're not going to base everything we do on science." And we wonder why we are the laughingstock of the world right now.

 

[WDW1974]

For as many of us who don't find the same value, WDW isn't exactly hurting. So someone still finds value in it.

That is a very weak defense of current management and business practices.

At some point, you can't simply raise prices, add upcharge events and cut costs (that means quality and things that made you special to begin with).

And let's not confuse people visiting with people finding value in the product. Many come, have miserable times or just don't get what the fuss is and never return. One and dones.

And even some of us who are tied to the resort to some degree with DVC ownership and/or APs don't necessarily spend like we once did or visit as much as we did. I am three hours away. I have had an AP since 1982. I haven't seen Pandora yet. I haven't been to WDW since April (and was only there because a dear friend, and member of this community, passed away). I have been to DLP, SDL and TDR instead. No regrets at all.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I agree on your point, but never going to happen. The fact GotG are going into EPCOT shows you how desperate and pushy Disney wants to be with its Marvel IP. The confusion with having Marvel at both IOA and WDW should be enough for Disney to have stepped back as UNI doesn't care at all. Disney actually removed Marvel merchandise from the MK years ago because people were asking where the Spidey and Hulk rides were.

I disagree on the quality, though. If the proposed Marvel attractions for DCA ever happen, they will be great (one bar- raising). But do they fit? No. They just further dilute what is Disney.

But in China ... Marvel is huge ... so Disney, naturally, keeps trying to force feed the masses Star Wars. And, sorry Bob, they're just not that into Rey and BB-8.

With UNI, is it really that hard to renegotiate the contract? The royalty structure, signed by a desperate cash strapped Marvel, predates WWoHP so they basically get nothing from the most substantial and popular theme park presence of these characters. Is Bob Iger's ego so fragile that they cannot just push a redo the royalty structure in exchange for the MCU version of Marvel?

 

[WDW1974]

I think they are fondly referred to as "rubes" in these threads.

Ah, one of my addicted fans. Yup. I view (as does TDO and Georgie K himself) most of the people who enjoy WDW as just that. I know you think it's all me ... you are mistaken.

 

[WDW1974]

What is interesting is that historically the parks were downright cheap. Pre-Eisner era at least.

I also think there's been a change at least for WDW from focus on return guests to more one time shots. DLR is still primarily a locals park run more with an emphasis on return visitors. With the massive growth at WDW in the 80s/90s transforming the resort from more of a daily visit park to a week long vacation they are a lot less reliant on repeat customers or locals. That's also why we see shows and events stick around longer at WDW. The return cycle is much longer so things tend to linger longer. For locals and regular visitors (like a lot of us here) it feels stale at times but a lot of people will be seeing some of the dated shows for the 1sr or 2nd time even if they have been around for years or decades.

WDW has always been more of a destination. Dating to its opening.

No excuse for it being stale, neglected and rotting (in places).

Those are just talking points. Plenty of WDW Guests are returnees and regulars. You truly think that on any given day (take today) there are more first-timers? Not even close. You have DVCers, APers, locals etc etc. And I don't buy for a second that they want to see a 1972 night parade or ride a 1975 rolley coaster that hasn't been updated or see shows that have been around since the early 90s etc.

 

[WDW1974]

For decades, Disney made sure the tide would not turn against them. Now they are brazenly daring it too.

I agree. But UNI is just as bad or worse. It's amazing how Potter (and soon Nintendo) will cover for amazingly bad leadership. Volcano Bay is more the rule than the exception.

 

[WDW1974]

Personally they (finally) have several projects forthcoming that I'm extremely excited for.

Like?

 

[WDW1974]

Definitely in the past decade to 15 years up until this year. Very little added and constant price increases. They seemed to be testing the breaking point.

Agreed. It seems like maybe TWDC has finally decided to invest significant money in the swamps again. The only question is will the price increases accelerate when some of these projects come online or will we just see the normal annual increases (which are steep enough already).

Spending doesn't equal adding quality and quantity and reasons for people to spend their $$$ on WDW. ... The more I hear about Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the more confident I am that whatever they call that park will still be in trouble in three years.

 

[HMF]

For as many of us who don't find the same value, WDW isn't exactly hurting. So someone still finds value in it.

Most of the value many of us see was not created in the last decade, or arguably even in this millennium.

 

[WDW1974]

Me as well. And I'm sure you're aware of things coming the rest of us aren't.

People on here may be disenchanted with what they're doing, a lot of their decisions haven't thrilled me, but for the handful of us, there's thousands more people who still eat up what they do.

It's also not a never-ending market ... if so, you wouldn't see all the desperation discounting and the upcharge events etc.

 

[HMF]

Sounds like California may not get Marvel after all? Doesn't seem they got the boost they wanted from Guardians..

JUSTICE!

 

[WDW1974]

Please tell me marvel is cancelled. Then when Chappie is gone, we can clean up the guardians mess.

Would love to. But can't.

I can tell you that everything that was planned mere months ago is not moving ahead ... or moving ahead in the same fashion or on the same timeline.

 

[WDW1974]

Sounds like California may not get Marvel after all? Doesn't seem they got the boost they wanted from Guardians.

Maybe I've just had a long day but I'm having trouble deciphering Spirit's latest posts ...

I didn't say that. ... As to the boost, Chappie will crow that Mission Breakout is the highest rated attraction at the DLR. Because if you take a survey and set it up to get certain responses, you do wind up getting them! I don't for one minute believe that attraction is more 'liked' than everything from RSRs to PotC to the Matterhorn.