A Spirited Perfect Ten

[WDW1974]

That will help his personality how?

And being a waif isnt a bad thing... it did wonders for Kate Moss.

Tom Staggs isn't Kate Moss and despite what a few fanboi friends think, Tom ain't exactly a stud with or without the bulk. As to how it will help his personality, who knows? From what I've been told, it can't hurt!

 

[WDW1974]

Anaheim just signed off on a $1B for Disneyland without saying what it was for... MyMagic cost $2B for WDW, so it's possible that $1B is for the Disneyland roll-out of the tech.

Going to assume you neglected to add your sarcastic emoji here ...

 

[WDW1974]

He sounds really jet-lagged and exhausted, like the whole process has been a real drain on him.

Yes, because I'm sure he is. ... Dealing with the Chinese is ''complicated'' ... but Legacy Building doesn't come easy.

 

[WDW1974]

Before he leaves for his Spirited summer vacation, I'd really like to thank @WDW1974 for all his accurate and well-researched information, especially about the Shanghai situation. He along with other insiders such as @Lee, @marni1971, @articos, @whylightbulb and @PhotoDave219 and others behind the scenes make this site the most accurate source of Disney-related information on the internet. They have proven themselves time and time again and demonstrated journalistic integrity that it so rare on sites such as this. And thank you @wdwmagic for providing a place for this to happen.

No, thank you. For reading. For contributing. For appreciating. For thinking.

And thanks to all the guys you listed, some good friends of mine -- all people I respect greatly, for what they do here too!

I'm a little surprised @wdwmagic didn't play up the fact that a poster on his site broke almost every major story about this resort project, including placing the entire park planning menu out on WDWMAGIC.com over 18 months ago in 2013 as it is the most important development of Disney's in the 21st century. But I'm not sure the folks at Disney are at all happy by my 'coverage' of their business in China at all. Oh well, they'll be happy soon as I head for the beach and the mountains and nowhere near WDW soon. (But I do plan on being back in the fall. So, no Spirited quarterly results comments or no D23 Spirited thoughts either ...)

 

[WDW1974]

Insider? I'm the worlds greatest secret agent, Duh!

I've always thought of you as the world's greatest something ...

 

[wdwmagic]

No, thank you. For reading. For contributing. For appreciating. For thinking.

And thanks to all the guys you listed, some good friends of mine -- all people I respect greatly, for what they do here too!

I'm a little surprised @wdwmagic didn't play up the fact that a poster on his site broke almost every major story about this resort project, including placing the entire park planning menu out on WDWMAGIC.com over 18 months ago in 2013 as it is the most important development of Disney's in the 21st century. But I'm not sure the folks at Disney are at all happy by my 'coverage' of their business in China at all. Oh well, they'll be happy soon as I head for the beach and the mountains and nowhere near WDW soon. (But I do plan on being back in the fall. So, no Spirited quarterly results comments or no D23 Spirited thoughts either ...)

I tend to like things to speak for themselves Everyone knows WDWMAGIC is where the action is - despite those who pretend they don't visit here - they all do.

 

[WDW1974]

So is Bob too good to show up for the Disneyland 60th ceremony? Baxter, sklar, Gurr, Colgaizer, Sherman were there but no Bob. Also Disneyland is using the magic eye theater as a Cupcake giveaway center today.

I imagine he is more focused on Shanghai for the moment rather then worrying about such tiny things like Disneyland's 60th.

I don't see why Bob should be there. The 60th isn't one of those milestone anniversaries really. And he showed up for the media/marketing kickoff of the Diamond Celebration in May. That is what Bob cares about.

And, yes, right now he's much more concerned with Shanghai than ANYTHING else. Star Wars is a distant second. Everything else (yeah, sorry Marvel fanbois) is far, far down the list ... WDW, now that the BoD approved funds for the Studios rebranding/rebuilding, isn't even on his radar at all. AT. ALL.

 

[WDW1974]

You guys know Marvel is making a sequel Figment series that debuts in October I think right?

Make sure you let the EPCOT Explorer know. It doesn't mean much.

BTW, EE ... 3700 words on the thematic and cultural importance of Trader Sam's Grog Grotto?!?!!! Oh vey!!!

 

[WDW1974]

How the hell did we end up on Figment today?

Two weeks before another earnings call.... gonna be a long two weeks.

It's all yours my friend. I won't even drop by with a cameo post. I'd start another thread and invite @ParentsOf4 by to take them apart. A quick prediction: record revenue, record profits etc etc.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm still curious about Shangahi Disneyland being brought up in D23. I heard Shangahi is getting a Winnie The Pooh ride but themed similar to the Mad Tea Party rides. I think this might also be the first Disney park to not have the Haunted Mansion attraction. I heard it's due to China's views on Ghosts and the afterlife.

SDL is getting TWO Pooh-themed rides. One is the Hunny Pots (think Mad Tea Party themed to Pooh's hunny!). The other is a dark ride that I'm guessing is very similar to what was opened at MK last century and copied for HKDL in 2005.
There have not been any plans for a Mansion-type attraction. But has nothing to do with Chinese views on ghosts or anything of the sort, that's simply Internet/urban/fanboi legend. I wouldn't be surprised if they got some new version (much like HKDL did) a few years down the road.

 

[BrerJon]

My main reason for attending the Expo is for the chance to see Tony Baxter in person.
...
I DO want to spend some time in the WDI Pavilion, see the Archives Exhibit for DL's 60th, and of course check out the varied scene on the main Show Floor.
I am keeping my expectations low....and hoping to be blown away.

You should be happy. I bumped into Tony Baxter while he was strolling around the halls at D23 in 2011, he wasn't surrounded by minders Iger style and seemed happy to talk to fans.

You should enjoy the WDI pavilion too - I found sometimes it had a long line, sometimes it didn't, but nothing like the lines for the panels.

 

[WDW1974]

To quote the man himself from a EPCOT related panel at the November 2012 IAAPA Convention -

" I don't think the Imagination Pavilion works anymore....'


And that is putting it mildly...but that was publicly spoken.

He is not a fan...by any means.
I think everyone here can figure it out without me saying any more.

Must have ripped the man's heart out when they decimated what i consider his masterpiece of Show Concept.
I'm just as happy as he probably is by the fact that regardless of it's removal , this Attraction has never been forgotten by the many of us who experienced it back in the day.
It is also comforting in some respects that today those ideals and characters from that Original experience still live on in new ways and in new forms.

@Lee, @marni1971 and I had the pleasure of running into him (in my case multiple times) during a madcap Fanboi DayTrip for Lee and I in September of 2010 (I wrote about it on anotherdisneyplace.com, I don't think I put it here too!) and we spoke at length about the ''disaster'' that Imagination was then and remains now.

I think it kills Tony to see what they did with one of his great works.

 

[WDW1974]

That's sensible. It can be great fun outside the panels but the chances of getting into any of the main ones are slim.

Expect at least a 5 or 6 hour line for Parks and Resorts panel, an infinite line for the Legends and Movies panel (anything with star appearances will have a huge line) and even smaller panels will be at least an hour.

Go to hang out with other Disney fans and you'll have fun, go expecting to get into the arena to see the cast of Civil War or Force Awakens, or George Lucas, or hear Tom Staggs show Avatar concept art, you'll likely be disappointed.

I've never gone to a D23 Expo. I think I'd disguise myself if I ever did because I wouldn't want to be seen! ... But I think the way they handle the crowds for these things are assinine. I think they should do lotteries for all major panels and events, so there's no one sleeping outside or standing in lines 21 hours ahead of time etc. That's just insane and it discourages people who are fans, but not the crazy Comic Con/Ricky Brigante without press lanyard types, to stay away.

I'm shocked that they've gone to a system like this long ago in TDR for shows, but not for something like this.

 

[Mike S]

@Lee, @marni1971 and I had the pleasure of running into him (in my case multiple times) during a madcap Fanboi DayTrip for Lee and I in September of 2010 (I wrote about it on anotherdisneyplace.com, I don't think I put it here too!) and we spoke at length about the ''disaster'' that Imagination was then and remains now.

I think it kills Tony to see what they did with one of his great works.

I almost had the opportunity to meet Tony. I was in Orlando at the same time he went to Diagon Alley but I was in Disney. If only he went a day earlier when I was at Uni too.........

 

[PhotoDave219]

It's all yours my friend. I won't even drop by with a cameo post. I'd start another thread and invite @ParentsOf4 by to take them apart. A quick prediction: record revenue, record profits etc etc.

Record Q3 attendance too.

 

[BrerJon]

. But has nothing to do with Chinese views on ghosts or anything of the sort, that's simply Internet/urban/fanboi legend. I wouldn't be surprised if they got some new version (much like HKDL did) a few years down the road.

I think the whole 'view on ghosts' thing is a, erm, Chinese whisper, that is a misremembering of the oft-repeated 'fact' about Tokyo that Mansion is in Fantasyland because the Japanese view on ghosts is not as the dead but as fantastical beings.

Pretty sure that's a myth too though, and the Tokyo Mansion is only in Fantasyland because they hadn't developed the idea they would later use in Paris of working it into Westernland, so it's just in Fantasyland because there was nowhere else it would fit.

 

[WDW1974]

I tend to like things to speak for themselves Everyone knows WDWMAGIC is where the action is - despite those who pretend they don't visit here - they all do.

They do ... and they do ... daily!!!

I wish they contributed here. No, I'm not looking to put you in a mansion, but I do feel it would be nice to have one place where the entire community could truly talk (or shout or whine!) at each other. Twitter and, to a lesser extent, FB have made that impossible. Plus the fact that everyone feels that just because they can blog or podcast that they should. We all know that isn't true!!!

The idea that you come here, grab your info and take it elsewhere to consume reminds me of the crazies who are ashamed to eat at McDonald's or Wendy's and go thru the drive-thru and then pull over in the back of the parking lot or the shopping center next door and chow down.

 

[BrerJon]

I've never gone to a D23 Expo. I think I'd disguise myself if I ever did because I wouldn't want to be seen! ... But I think the way they handle the crowds for these things are assinine. I think they should do lotteries for all major panels and events, so there's no one sleeping outside or standing in lines 21 hours ahead of time etc. That's just insane and it discourages people who are fans, but not the crazy Comic Con/Ricky Brigante without press lanyard types, to stay away.

Absolutely. I can't speak for whether things have improved as I swore I'd never go back, but in 2011 it was a disorganised shambles, with lines not even being cut off when panels were full, no communication, and no guidance given on where to wait, different staff giving different instructions... so many people left with a bad opinion of the D23 organizers, and it does nothing but reflect badly on Disney.

 

[Figments Friend]

You should be happy. I bumped into Tony Baxter while he was strolling around the halls at D23 in 2011, he wasn't surrounded by minders Iger style and seemed happy to talk to fans.

You should enjoy the WDI pavilion too - I found sometimes it had a long line, sometimes it didn't, but nothing like the lines for the panels.

Thank you for these words!

 

[nor'easter]

Spirited Signs It's Time to Take a Nice Long MAGICal Break:

Talking about Figment;
Future plans aside, two of Disney's FL parks have never offered Guests less to see/do/experience and charged more;
The realization that many Lifestylers have FAR more Twit followers than people of import -- both in the entertainment industry and out;
The continued misunderstanding and downright ignorance over what Disney announced in Shanghai and how it does/doesn't affect WDW or anything else;
The fact I've read half a dozen reviews of Ant-Man today (no, Marvel fanbois, don't read A.O. Scott in the NYT!);
The fact I didn't bring half my Chipotle home for a second meal;
I want to express anger about DL changing its namesake band on its 60th B-day, yet as the kewl kidz say 'I just can't ...';

You're leaving just in time. Someone started a WalMart thread.