A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[Cesar R M]

I think you conflate lack of a line with lack of demand Horizons and Imagination 1.0 were Omnimovers done RIGHT with ride capacities undreamed of today. Think pre FP+ PoTC and HM did those ever have a line... with the exceptions of Holiday peaks and NYE.

Well its pretty clear that the modern attractions are more used to spit people as fast as possible out again, so they can keep "purchasing".
Same way that they removed benches, so they are forced to seek space to rest in the quick serve and sit down restaurants.

 

[Cesar R M]

Nick and Judy from Zootopia are set to join the "Creepa Crew" for this year's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

videos are out already.

 

[Bairstow]

Same way that they removed benches, so they are forced to seek space to rest in the quick serve and sit down restaurants.

Has this been confirmed or is it just speculation?

 

[Cesar R M]

I LOVE Soundsational, but it's now been around for 5 years. I wouldn't mind a new parade.

considering the cuts.. I wonder how probably is that NOTHING will replace it.

 

[Cesar R M]

I forgot Celebrate! A Street Party even existed until you mentioned it now. It only lasted for a year (or less) before being scrapped.

isnt this parade in magic kingdom now (I mean as in similar.. aka Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! )?

 

[Cesar R M]

You do seem to have difficulty understanding the difference between Box Office Receipts and actual revenue to Disney.

The Studio who produces the movie in the end only gets 25-30% of the box office receipts the movie theater and distributor and taxing authorities get the other 70-75% of the cash generated by the movie.

I'll be generous and assume Disney is getting 30% of the movie cash
So out of 4 Billion gross, Disney gets 1.2 billion (a much less impressive number) and out of that assuming each movie averages about 200 million in production cost. That adds up to 800 Million, So in the end Disney ends up with 400 Million in spendable cash - not chump change by any means but nowhere near what P&R, Media Networks and Consumer Products generate in spendable cash, hence - my barely moves the needle comment.

Of course movies have what's called the 'long tail' and continue to generate modest income flows for years after the initial profits are booked and that's in the end why movies continue to be made because with a sufficiently large catalog there is a nice continuing income stream which requires little effort to maintain.

They can still pull a hollywood accounting method to chunk more money in.

 

[Cesar R M]

2 + 2 = "inequality" ...Triggered!!!!!!

you forgot this important image.

 

[Cesar R M]

Everest currently is more of a Disco Band kind of ride.

I see what you did there

Poison? Cinderella? Skid Row?

I'm guessing they will mostly have Ratt up there. Cheap and it will keep all of the furor about thematic cohesion to a minimum. Just remember, "love will find a way just give it time".

those puns...

 

[Cesar R M]

Has this been confirmed or is it just speculation?

Its pretty much business logic 1+1=2.
remove benches = force people in to the only seats with shadows and A.C.
aka restaurants and bars.

 

[Quinnmac000]

the theme parks, Iger says that there’s been “no discernable impact” in attendance in Orlando due to concerns about the Zika virus.

His newest park, Shanghai Disney, “has exceeded our expectations” — at least in its handling of creative, cultural, and logistical matters.

And he sees additional “margin expansion possibilities” by improving efficiency, and investing in attractions.

“We’re going to open a huge Pandora or Avatar Land in Animal Kingdom” in Orlando. “It will become a full-day experience…We’re also building two Star Wars attractions for Florida and California. We haven’t been specific about when they will come on line, but we’re in the building process already.”

Iger believes attendance and sales will be helped by the strong economy, saying he sees “no sign whatsoever of a consumer slowdown….advanced bookings are relatively strong.”

I actually doubt this from what multiple non biased sites are showing.
http://deadline.com/2016/09/bob-iger-disney-figured-out-keep-movie-making-profitable-1201823893/

 

[Bairstow]

Its pretty much business logic 1+1=2.
remove benches = force people in to the only seats with shadows and A.C.
aka restaurants and bars.

If people get hot and tired, won't they be just as likely to leave the park and stop spending money?
Besides, aren't there other reasons for their removing the benches, like people needing to walk or stand where they were.
Where exactly were those things?

 

[doctornick]

I know it won't make the Weatherman happy, but a $500 WW gross for "Rogue One" should be considered a success. With China's disinterest in Star Wars, It won't get close to a billion.
http://variety.com/2016/film/news/star-wars-rogue-one-vs-force-awakens-bob-iger-1201866852/

I can't tell if you are being serious or not, but there is no way in the world that Rogue One is doing that poorly. If it does, a lot of head are gonna roll. There's a huge gap between "not matching The Force Awakens" and a terrible performance like $500M WW. Iger is trying to (correctly) temper any unreasonable expectations that Rogue One is going to come close to TFA.

If critic reviews and world of mouth are poor, I could see Rogue One doing only maybe $650-700M. But that's really a floor. Even just an "okay" film and this should get to $850-900M WW without much trouble and a billion and even being the highest grossing film of the year could easily happen if it is well received. It can do all that and not come anywhere close to TFA.

FWIW, China is nice and all but it's not everything. Suicide Squad has managed to get to over $720M worldwide despite horrid reviews and not even being released in China. And who knows how Rogue One will do there -- it might actually get a bump due to the presence of Donnie Yen (whom I've heard is very popular in China as an actor).

 

[lazyboy97o]

If people get hot and tired, won't they be just as likely to leave the park and stop spending money?
Besides, aren't there other reasons for their removing the benches, like people needing to walk or stand where they were.
Where exactly were those things?

Something being accepted wisdom is not necessarily predicated on it being true or a successful practice. Like most of Disney's current business model, the idea of removing amenities such as benches comes from malls. People dwelling in common spaces are people not in stores. Malls also show how the notion of needing the space for circulation is a crock as benches and planters were replaced with kiosks. The thought is that since people who spend more time in stores tend to be those who purchase and then also spend more, that people can be tricked into making impulse purchases by more fully surrounding them with merchandise.

 

[Bairstow]

Something being accepted wisdom is not necessarily predicated on it being true or a successful practice. Like most of Disney's current business model, the idea of removing amenities such as benches comes from malls. People dwelling in common spaces are people not in stores. Malls also show how the notion of needing the space for circulation is a crock as benches and planters were replaced with kiosks. The thought is that since people who spend more time in stores tend to be those who purchase and then also spend more, that people can be tricked into making impulse purchases by more fully surrounding them with merchandise.

Accepting that as true, is there any indication that this way of thinking is what is motivating Disney, or is it just the current trend on this board to ascribe to the company whatever motivation is the most offensive?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Accepting that as true, is there any indication that this way of thinking is what is motivating Disney, or is it just the current trend on this board to ascribe to the company whatever motivation is the most offensive?

It is part of why there is such a strong preference for seat walls in new construction. Benches would not be a problem in new areas because they would account for current crowds. In rebuilt areas, if benches were a safety concern related to capacity and circulation, then seatwalls would not so readily be added since they do not make a great amount of additional space available over benches.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

I can't tell if you are being serious or not, but there is no way in the world that Rogue One is doing that poorly. If it does, a lot of head are gonna roll. There's a huge gap between "not matching The Force Awakens" and a terrible performance like $500M WW. Iger is trying to (correctly) temper any unreasonable expectations that Rogue One is going to come close to TFA.

If critic reviews and world of mouth are poor, I could see Rogue One doing only maybe $650-700M. But that's really a floor. Even just an "okay" film and this should get to $850-900M WW without much trouble and a billion and even being the highest grossing film of the year could easily happen if it is well received. It can do all that and not come anywhere close to TFA.

FWIW, China is nice and all but it's not everything. Suicide Squad has managed to get to over $720M worldwide despite horrid reviews and not even being released in China. And who knows how Rogue One will do there -- it might actually get a bump due to the presence of Donnie Yen (whom I've heard is very popular in China as an actor).

I was surprised that Iger announced that they have a writer working on the next SW due to come out in 2020.

 

[Siren]

Sigh. If you miss just a few days on this forum it takes like a years worth of reading to get caught up on everything. It's like totally impossible for me to get caught up on everything, lol. I didn't see this news anywhere so instead of starting new threads, I will just put this here.

Okay so, for the second time this month Disney has been forced to remove something online that offended thousands of people.

The first being entire state of Louisiana and gumbo lovers around the world with Tiana's Healthy Gumbo recipe -- the kale and quinoa substitute just set people off and it went viral. LOL. http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/14/news/disney-takes-down-gumbo-recipe/



People were so ticked off by Disney's gumbo that it went all the way to Congress. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-disney-ruining-gumbo

The second thing that Disney had to take down and remove was a 'Moana' costume sadly dubbed as 'polyface'.

Disney issued a statement on the issue:

"The team behind Moana has taken great care to respect the cultures of the Pacific Islands that inspired the film, and we regret that the Maui costume has offended some," the company said in a statement. "We sincerely apologize and are pulling the costume from our website and stores."

What can happen will happen but what truly matters is how an individual or organization chooses to respond. I think Disney handled both incidents very well with grace and sensitivity. And, it doesn't hurt for a business to be relevant and stay in the headlines.

 

[Californian Elitist]

That reaction video was the best thing I've seen all week. I'm HOLLERING.

Anyone with a horrid recipe for gumbo like that deserves ridicule. That was not gumbo, that was soup Disney created. The first couple of ingredients just didn't do, but kale and quinoa???? FAIL. Whoever created this recipe must have been a native Californian, and I say this as one myself. The recipe screams vegetarian restaurant option on a cool day on the corner of Wilshire and Bundy, with a glass of strawberry water. And to put Tiana's name on it... Wow.

About a week ago, I saw a recipe for sweet potato pie that included parmesan cheese. It was all wrong from the beginning, but to add parmesan cheese to the mix put the cherry on top for one of the worst recipes I've ever seen.

 

[RoysCabin]

Something being accepted wisdom is not necessarily predicated on it being true or a successful practice. Like most of Disney's current business model, the idea of removing amenities such as benches comes from malls. People dwelling in common spaces are people not in stores. Malls also show how the notion of needing the space for circulation is a crock as benches and planters were replaced with kiosks. The thought is that since people who spend more time in stores tend to be those who purchase and then also spend more, that people can be tricked into making impulse purchases by more fully surrounding them with merchandise.

I just finished reading a biography of Victor Gruen, the man who essentially created the American shopping mall and whose book The Heart of Our Cities was in Walt's office collection when he passed away (huge influence on Walt's ideas for EPCOT). What's funny about this concept is that such a concept would have driven Gruen crazy, as he wanted malls to act as community gathering spaces, emulating open squares and boulevards in European cities like Vienna, which he had grown up in...yet Gruen was constantly coming up with ideas to attract and allure shoppers which, taken to its logical extreme, would mean less people using amenities like open courtyards and benches and what have you to relax. A guy caught between utopian urbanism and the simple demands of capitalism, and he never seemed to fully figure it out.

 

[ford91exploder]

I just finished reading a biography of Victor Gruen, the man who essentially created the American shopping mall and whose book The Heart of Our Cities was in Walt's office collection when he passed away (huge influence on Walt's ideas for EPCOT). What's funny about this concept is that such a concept would have driven Gruen crazy, as he wanted malls to act as community gathering spaces, emulating open squares and boulevards in European cities like Vienna, which he had grown up in...yet Gruen was constantly coming up with ideas to attract and allure shoppers which, taken to its logical extreme, would mean less people using amenities like open courtyards and benches and what have you to relax. A guy caught between utopian urbanism and the simple demands of capitalism, and he never seemed to fully figure it out.

The key to Gruen's work however is balance because most people don't 'shop until they drop' so you have social spaces where people can gather and decide what they want to do as @Bocabear pointed out at one time malls were FUN places to be and much effort went into placemaking and having an appropriate MIX of stores so the entire family had something to visit (sound familiar???) not simply the stores who could pay the highest triple net numbers.

Unfortunately the trend of removing social spaces tends to drive people to goal oriented shopping with I need to get X from store A and Y from Store D and I'm outta there.

This is driven by people in the executive suite who have NEVER visited or worked in a mall. They have 'personal shoppers' or only visit boutique stores where of course the whole place is a social space with merchandise as an 'afterthought' so to speak. And comfortable spaces with refreshments are the KEY feature of stores like these.

Once again we see the very bad trend of 'Nobles and Serfs' developing in the US.