A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

[Cesar R M]

FYI ... for all the DCL lovers out there:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...y-cruise-line-spring-2018-20161029-story.html

The wonder is finally out from dry dock! wow.
The new itineraries really interest me.. specially the Wonder going from Puerto Rico and including uncommon ports from most big cruise ships.

Speaking of ship building. Its my imagination or Disney ordered their new ships to be built hella slow as well?
I mean.. Royal Caribbean is churning Oasis and Quantums classes (as well as planning the new design using different power sources) like they somehow had explosive diarreha.

Goodness gracious, what the hell happened to this thread?

Honestly.. Just the usual everyweek on wdw magic

 

[Cesar R M]

So why are you reading his posts on a thread that he created?

Obviously he's a !
He loves having his jimmies rustled.

*edit*
what the hell, that word is banned too?

 

[Cesar R M]

What big acquisition could they make? The latest rumors of Twitter and Netflix are terrible buys and I don't think Disney wants to buy into the cable business (atrocious customer satisfaction). The only big move I could see, is Apple acquiring Disney.

technically, disney and apple seem to be perfect for each other in the BAD WAY.
Both tout failures as "Magical" stuff. Both shove things you dont need and remove things that were required.. and claim "the future".. they all sell overpriced extras (upcharge events and special gargets and accessories with a patented port)

Apple has the money. They can have their products all over the parks. Who knows? I remember reading that Apple has the money reserve to buy Disney. The next few years will be interesting to see big corporations becoming larger and larger - almost monopolies.

Ironically, this scenario was featured in the movie WALL-E with Buy N Large.
Which essentially would be if Disney reached global control similar to what Samsung holds in South Korea (from heavy industry, to even consumer food, and as well huge leverage in the government).

 

[Cesar R M]

It's odd to me that DCL can charge beyond premium rates* from ports within a 3-hour drive of WDW, but can't seem to get customers elsewhere. It's an Achilles heel that I would think would limit their long-term growth.

* Royal Caribbean tweeted at a blogger friend of mine this morning--same itinerary as a DCL boat, one week earlier in 2018, is $1,000 cheaper on their newest boat.

As someone who rode both The Disney wonder and the Royal Caribbean Oasis. I can tell you that DCL service, including food is way superior to RCLL's.
Not to mention that RCLL will literally SHOVE buying and shopping ads 24/7 on your face.

DCL = Pricey but almost everything included.
RCLL = shop & upcharge on almost everything. Lower quality on food.

 

[Cesar R M]

So with the earlier complaints of Disney's hotel prices, I decided to do some checking. I went online to search for Friday and Saturday night hotel options on both Presidents' Day weekend (one of Disney's busiest) and the weekend after 2/24-2/26 (relatively slow weekend). 2 nights, family of 4. Basic room.

I searched Disney, Universal and downtown hotels in the following cities: New York, Chicago, Nashville, Dallas and Kansas City. I chose a reasonable comp for Value, Moderate and Deluxe (you can quibble with my choices, but all were representative of the overall Expedia star categories and price points). I used Disney's site for its hotels, Uni's for theirs, and Expedia for theirs. I didn't include parking or resort fees, but that would mostly have helped Disney.

Here's what's interesting... Disney is competitive with these 5 American cities. Uni was slightly higher than Disney on these weekends, but not out of the ballpark. Simply put, look at these locations during the last two weekends of February. Where do you want to be? Sure Kansas City is cheaper, but would you rather be there or at WDW? Here's the comparison:

View attachment 171708

hmm.. Isnt popcentury 2star (aka value?) vs cabana which is a 3 star (moderate)?

I think the correct comparison should have been PORT ORLEANS vs CABANA
Then Portofino vs Gran Floridian?

I know that during president's weekend COR (last year) was full to the seams and was around between 250 to 300 USD per night.

 

[Cesar R M]

Bad decision... Netflix makes more sense.

Perhaps they feel like they need a communication online social platform. Yahoo has tumblr and Twitter (and probably wanting to sell fast at least one of them). Google as G+ and Youtube.. so they are pretty solid.

Charging per tweet? Subscription service? Ads?

Twitter is already filled with ads.almost as bad as tumblr (one ad every 5 posts. popups and sound ads on top and sidebars)

God bless adblocking programs!

 

[AEfx]

Why you think its just a "floating hotel"?
Do the shows, amenities, events are "nothing"?
Most modern cruises have a ton of variety. And its not just "stay in the ship" all the time. Theres a thing called "tendering" and "docking" where you magically leave the ship to visit other places

OMG I swear you people are being paid by the cruise industry LOL

I'll tell you what - if someone wants to pay for a cruise trip for me, I'll go. Otherwise, I stand by my statement that it's not something that interests me to spend my money on.

 

[AEfx]

God bless adblocking programs!

You do realize that it's cyclical, right? The more people who block ads the more ads they have to show everyone else to make up for it. It's the only way for a website to be profitable.

People just don't realize that ads are the only thing that make money for websites to stay in business yet offer "free" services. How do you think @wdwmagic pays the hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month this site likely costs to stay online?

Most people view that as "not my problem" but it's the same problem as people who illegally download everything. Someone has to pay for the content, or it's not going to be created.

 

[ford91exploder]

As much as I think Disney hotel rates are a racket (which is why I've started renting DVC points) this post is very accurate. Even the Days Inn in Downtown Charleston SC can run $200+ a night (and trust me, this place is a motel no doubt) during their high season. I understand people saying you can get a suite at the Hyatt for the price of a Poly standard view, but the Hyatt doesn't have a monorail that puts you at the enterance of the most visited theme park in the world in less than 10 minutes.

So, are they overpriced? Absolutely. Is there a reason? Absolutely.

As to that monorail, make that 'when it's running' the many days when you have an early ADR at MK yet the monorail starts running at 9 AM or the EMH nights when it stops running a couple hours before the park closes then I can wait for a crowded smelly bus, Or the many many days when the monorail is not operating from 9AM-3PM Tell us again what are we paying for at a MONORAIL resort these days ???.

Yet at a suite at one of the better Orlando hotels I can arrange for a town car to be waiting for me and my family and still pay less than than the parking lot view room at the Poly. So what is the Disney advantage here ?

 

[ford91exploder]

You do realize that it's cyclical, right? The more people who block ads the more ads they have to show everyone else to make up for it. It's the only way for a website to be profitable.

People just don't realize that ads are the only thing that make money for websites to stay in business yet offer "free" services. How do you think @wdwmagic pays the hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month this site likely costs to stay online?

Most people view that as "not my problem" but it's the same problem as people who illegally download everything. Someone has to pay for the content, or it's not going to be created.

Unfortunately ad-blockers have become a security necessity as ad networks are not vetting the ads and even Google has been hit by 'Malvertising' where a hostile payload is embedded in a ad (of course that begs the question of Whyinthehell did ANYONE at Microsoft think it was a good idea to allow video/audio files to contain executable code!!!! and for that matter to allow browsers to run that code automatically!!!!)

One of two things need to happen for ad blockers to go away

1 - Sites need to host and vet their own ads
2 - Advertising networks need to start a robust ad vetting program where each ad is examined by a human before it goes into rotation.

Much of the problem is the ad networks saying Malvertising is 'not their problem' its a few rogue customers, Well kiddies it's not and many companies and educational institutions are adding ad blockers as part of the standard security suite.

 

[Darth Sidious]

That's just it - Twitter doesn't make content. They've tried to make it easier to post videos but in truth it's still easier and more universal just to link to YouTube.

While Netflix has really just begun being a content creator, it's future is really wholly dependent in the US on ISP's current "all you can eat" data policies. When they throw data caps up (which are coming, we know) it's going to be a possible crap show depending on who's palms get greased and on which side that happens.

To be honest, I think a really smart purchase would be Twitch - it would be far cheaper but has a huge growing base of users (some fleeing YouTube for various reasons) plus a really sold infrastructure that could be used beyond gaming.

Twitch was already purchased by Amazon a few years ago.

 

[ford91exploder]

As of this morning Twitter may be back on the table:

http://fortune.com/2016/10/26/twitter-disney-acquisition/

Another money loser for Disney, But hey Iger has to bail out his BoD buddy Dorsey no conflict of interest there not even a smidgen....

 

[ford91exploder]

Bad decision... Netflix makes more sense.

Yes it does - but Iger needs to bail out his BoD buddy Dorsey who otherwise is going down in flames.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: The Saga Continues
http://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/27/ma...cas-museum-designs-san-francisco-los-angeles/

 

[Californian Elitist]

No problem, Princess.

And I promise I will drop into the DL board to see the insanity the old Laughing Place gang has brought with them. ... And it rip the SWE's placement in DL too!

Looking forward to it.

 

[AEfx]

George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: The Saga Continues
http://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/27/ma...cas-museum-designs-san-francisco-los-angeles/

Oh just stick it in Los Angeles and get off the pot, Lucas, LOL.

 

[jpeden]

As to that monorail, make that 'when it's running' the many days when you have an early ADR at MK yet the monorail starts running at 9 AM or the EMH nights when it stops running a couple hours before the park closes then I can wait for a crowded smelly bus, Or the many many days when the monorail is not operating from 9AM-3PM Tell us again what are we paying for at a MONORAIL resort these days ???.

Yet at a suite at one of the better Orlando hotels I can arrange for a town car to be waiting for me and my family and still pay less than than the parking lot view room at the Poly. So what is the Disney advantage here ?

In all honesty the last two times we've been to Disney World we've had no issues with the monorail. We were able to make pre-park opening breakfasts at both MK and EPCOT via the monorail. In fact, we were at EPCOT using the monorail last time before 7:45AM. I know it breaks down a lot and Disney needs to do more the keep it maintained, but personally we haven't had an issue.

I really do respect your opinion, and as I've said, Disney hotels are way overpriced, but there is a reason they can command that pricign structure.

 

[ford91exploder]

In all honesty the last two times we've been to Disney World we've had no issues with the monorail. We were able to make pre-park opening breakfasts at both MK and EPCOT via the monorail. In fact, we were at EPCOT using the monorail last time before 7:45AM. I know it breaks down a lot and Disney needs to do more the keep it maintained, but personally we haven't had an issue.

I really do respect your opinion, and as I've said, Disney hotels are way overpriced, but there is a reason they can command that pricign structure.

My issue with the monorail as up to about 2012 it was news when it was NOT running, Now it's news when it's running reliably on a FULL schedule, As you might recall there was a thread about the monorail running a reduced schedule this summer.

 

[ParentsOf4]

So with the earlier complaints of Disney's hotel prices, I decided to do some checking. I went online to search for Friday and Saturday night hotel options on both Presidents' Day weekend (one of Disney's busiest) and the weekend after 2/24-2/26 (relatively slow weekend). 2 nights, family of 4. Basic room.

I searched Disney, Universal and downtown hotels in the following cities: New York, Chicago, Nashville, Dallas and Kansas City. I chose a reasonable comp for Value, Moderate and Deluxe (you can quibble with my choices, but all were representative of the overall Expedia star categories and price points). I used Disney's site for its hotels, Uni's for theirs, and Expedia for theirs. I didn't include parking or resort fees, but that would mostly have helped Disney.

Here's what's interesting... Disney is competitive with these 5 American cities. Uni was slightly higher than Disney on these weekends, but not out of the ballpark. Simply put, look at these locations during the last two weekends of February. Where do you want to be? Sure Kansas City is cheaper, but would you rather be there or at WDW? Here's the comparison:

View attachment 171708

Hopefully you realize that Disney's Wilderness Lodge is WDW's least expensive Deluxe Resort with small room sizes while Universal's Portifino Bay is their most expensive with large rooms.

A fair comparison would be to use Disney's Grand Floridian. You'll find the Grand Floridian has significantly higher prices than the Wilderness Lodge.

 

[BernardandBianca]

DCL = Pricey but almost everything included.

Really? Excursions, bottles of water to go, wine with dinner, alcoholic beverages whenever, speciality dining? Last time I was on DCL, none of these was included (though it has been years now), but were available on my last four cruises.