A Spirited Perfect Ten

[BrerJon]

It is interesting that even if delayed in announcing, Free Dining seems to be somewhat sacred.

I think Free Dining keeps people on property like nothing else, so that's why it remains. It's certainly the key reason why UK guests get Free Dining almost all year round.

 

[BrerJon]

The thing that gets me is that the Magic Kingdom isn't actually Disney's best park. It is simply the quintessential park of Walt Disney World, the resort with the largest base of visitors. I wonder what crowds would be like across the parks if you plopped Disneyland down on the property, with all of its exciting and classic attractions.

Tokyo seems the best test case for that. DisneySea is just as good (in many, many ways better) than the 'castle park', and attendance is about 80% of the park next door. If DHS and Epcot had attendance 80% the size of MK's, that would ease the crowds dramatically. But the parks would need huge improvements to have DisneySea levels of appeal.

 

[Mike S]

No, but I have VERY high hopes to the JW being created at UNI-Beijing. This stuff is BETTER than Potter (at least from an attractions standpoint).

Better than the Harry Potter attractions........ And it's Jurassic World.......

Now, will I need a plane ticket to Beijing or will something come closer to home?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

That guy clearly thinks 2 much. IT'S JUST A THEME PARK PEEPLE! He needs to learn to have fun and not try to be a h8r on vacation!

Yeah!! If he h8s Disney Whirl so much, y does he even go? It's for KIDS and they love ROCKS

 

[jt04]

From the Pixar is Yesterday's News Dept.:

http://deadline.com/2015/07/inside-out-crosses-500m-box-office-worldwide-disney-pixar-1201483971/

And only 40% of the world's markets left for Inside Out to open in ...

Inside Out is the number 1 stand alone Pixar movie. Even adjusted for inflation it has already passed Cars and will easily land in the top 5 globally of all Pixar movies again even adjusted for inflation. Pixar is getting better with age like fine wine.

And The Good Dinosaur looks good indeed.

 

[BrerJon]

The two things I can think of is when you go to a park in TDR you stay the whole day because of how their ticket media works. There's no 3 hour jaunts in on day 9 of my MYW. Second, if MK double counts admits on party nights that adds what? Another 50 operating days?

People are always going on about how they love to go back to the hotel for a nap at WDW, something you'd never do in Tokyo. I wonder if the return visit after the afternoon break means their day is being counted as two attendance clicks?

 

[Steel City Magic]

Yeah!! If he h8s Disney Whirl so much, y does he even go? It's for KIDS and they love ROCKS

Ur post hurted my brane

 

[BrerJon]

Even now, a good 40% or so will leave immediately and not wait. They actually seem ****ed when you are on the aisle (as I always am) and you aren't getting up.

I've *always* stayed until the very end when I see movies, even if people think I'm odd. It's respectful to those who worked on it, who might not get much pay for long hours, but their reward is a film credit.

As a film nerd it's interesting to see how large the crews are and what roles were involved, filming locations, companies paying for product placement, songs that were purchased etc. Sure, you could look all that up online, but it's quite relaxing to take a few minutes and absorb it all, while reflecting on what you've just seen.

A bugbear of mine is when cinema staff turn the lights on or stand there waiting for you to leave, that annoys me. I once had one come up to me and say 'you don't need to stay, there's no extra scene'. I sure took my sweet time to leave on that occasion!

 

[BrerJon]

Now in GIF form. It's Jerry Springer getting eaten.

I think this part ended up being even more improbable then the part where they fight sharks in space.

I have to see this movie!

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Tokyo seems the best test case for that. DisneySea is just as good (in many, many ways better) than the 'castle park', and attendance is about 80% of the park next door. If DHS and Epcot had attendance 80% the size of MK's, that would ease the crowds dramatically. But the parks would need huge improvements to have DisneySea levels of appeal.

Another way to look at it - if Epcot and DHS (or whatever the new version will be called) could pull weight of similar share to Tokyo Disney Sea, Magic Kingdom might not be so crowded.

Let's look at the Disney Theme Park in existence (and opening soon):

Magic Kingdom (x6)
-Disneyland
-Magic Kingdom (WDW)
-Tokyo Disneyland
-Disneyland Parc (Paris)
-Hong Kong Disneyland
-Shanghai Disneyland

Studios (x2)
-Hollywood Studios
-Walt Disney Studios (Paris)

Epcot (x1)

Animal Kingdom (x1)

California Adventure (x1)

DisneySea (x1)

It's striking that only the Magic Kingdom-style "Castle Park" theme has been repeated with great success. Both Studios have experiences varying degrees of success over their live. No other Park Theme has been duplicated yet (I recall rumors that Hong Kong's second gate would follow in Animal Kingdom's footsteps, but I don't know if that still is or ever was true).

Does Disney really believe there is no park concept that can echo the strength of The Magic Kingdom? That nothing can be done to any of these other parks to bring their popularity up towards the almighty "Castle Park"? That style has certainly proved its enduring nature over 60 years, and I don't blame them for leading each resort with that concept. It amazes me, though, that they've yet to implement a second park concept that becomes equally or even nearly as quintessential as part of the Disney Park's experience. Something then worth repeating (with variation) around the globe. I'm sure such an idea exists, and I'm even inclined to believe some working Imagineer has developed such a concept under the company's watch. So what's the deal?

 

[BrerJon]

Yeah!! If he h8s Disney Whirl so much, y does he even go? It's for KIDS and they love ROCKS

I think he just needed to vent.

 

[truecoat]

This is what I worry about for the Star Wars movies. The original trilogy were great stand alone films but worked well with the overall picture, the second trilogy wasn't as good in that aspect. they ran into each other more but still worked for the most part as stand alone movies (better than the marvel phases at least). I hope that this new trilogy work well as stand alone movies that build off of each other and add to the overall story, but are great movies by themselves. I'm really worried, given the formula with marvel, that episode VIII will end in the dreaded 'to be continued in Star Wars Episode IV: Give us Your Money'

I'm not sure I'd call Empire or Jedi stand alone films. Frozen© Han and No, I am your Father almost beg for you to have seen the first and continue to the last.

The only true stand alone movie of the bunch was Star Wars.

 

[bhg469]

I have to see this movie!

You definitely do not need to see it I promise!

 

[Nubs70]

Looks like The hard tickets are where the difference lies.

Using 35 hard ticket events/year, can accountants now claim a 400 day year?

 

[PhotoDave219]

Using 35 hard ticket events/year, can accountants now claim a 400 day year?

47. 2 Night of Joy, the rest MNSSHP & MVMCP.

 

[BrerJon]

I'm not sure I'd call Empire or Jedi stand alone films. Frozen© Han and No, I am your Father almost beg for you to have seen the first and continue to the last.

The only true stand alone movie of the bunch was Star Wars.

The Phantom Menace is also standalone - if you don't know any others exist, and watch it as the only film in the series, it's a self-contained story about a couple of Jedi who help defeat an army and bring peace to the galaxy.

If you have seen the other films, however, it's the story of a couple of Jedi who help create an army and bring war to the galaxy.

 

[ThemeParkJunkee]

Holy whatever! I take few hours off to drive to the cabin and miss a bunch of relavant stuff. Better backtrack a bit.

 

[RSoxNo1]

And The Spirit doubts me when I write that WDW will need a 5th theme park by 2025?

And support that statement with a graph?

View attachment 102282

The counter argument to that is that neither Hollywood Studios nor Epcot have recovered attendance wise from Animal Kingdom opening.

 

[xdan0920]

No, it matters beyond that. Believe me ... or don't.

Just like SDL will be the most visited theme park in the world next year ... even if it isn't.

BTW, y'all know that we have a glut of oil. Never have we had more. Barely have places to store or sell it. That doesn't even count Iran being welcomed back. And yet gas is about $2.69-2.89 for regular here when it should be below $1.50. That's today's Spirited 'No, Nothing is Fixed' public service announcement.

Why should it be below $1.50? That's sort of a ludicrously low #. Let's do some quickie math. 40 cents is state/fed taxes. Let's give the dealers a VERY generous 20c a gallon profit. That means wholesale fuel would have to be 90c a gallon to get to your # of $1.50. If the numbers ever drop to those levels again, unlikely as it may be, production will grind down. Supply will drop, and the prices will rise again.

At the moment, prices are artificially high, on that point you're right. $46 barrels should translate to roughly $2.25ish at the pump. Refiners are slow to lower prices though, as they fear market corrections. If things stay as they are, expect to see $2 per gallon by the end of summer. $1.50 though, that's not a realistic number anymore.

 

[RSoxNo1]

To be fair, though, Disney's trailers have been lousy for years. Even Tangled, Frozen and now Inside Out didn't get people excited.

That said, Good Dino has had its 'issues' (not sure that any Pixar film hasn't) and it isn't a surefire thing.

One of the better trailers was the original Planes trailer, but the Tangled trailers were beyond awful as were the John Carter trailers.