DisneyOutsider
Well-Known Member
LOL, have you actually ever been to ETWB? Something tells me you saw a picture and decided that it's cheaply done.
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A Spirited Perfect Ten
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
LOL, have you actually ever been to ETWB? Something tells me you saw a picture and decided that it's cheaply done.
Travel Junkie
Well-Known Member
Yes I have. Something tells me we look at theme parks in a completely different way. Which is fine. Glad you enjoyed it.
Kman101
Well-Known Member
I have no qualms at all in believing the closures as we have them now are purely financial. They weren't about show, but pragmatic moves given what they know the future holds. Just the woeful show that has been removed makes me think 'no loss'
It is interesting as you say about what level of announcement will we get. A land? Trickled one by one? A slow painful rolling conversion of the park? Or can we get a DCA v2 program. I just wish they'd close the whole park and get the stuff done quicker. Ok, I'll compromise, let people park-hop in for free and keep TSMM and sunset blvd open. Shutter the rest to shorten the turnaround time. I know it won't happen... but I only wish the company was so bold as they were just 30 years ago (DL 1983 Fantasyland for example, or even the awful TL redo).
I also believe the closures were purely financial driven.
Losing the tour and Jack Sparrow are no loss to me. Neither was Idol. All three of them were very smart closures.
I agree about the level of announcement. I'd prefer a DCA type announcement but I just don't believe that's what we're getting. I'd LOVE to be wrong and be a very happy Disney fan this summer (D23 is in August?) but I just don't see it.
I feel like we'll hear about Toy Story Land for DHS, some basic/general Star Wars announcement (if we're lucky and I'm not convinced on that one for DHS. I think we will hear about Disneyland's Star Wars land instead).
D23 or any event has never been a guarantee of an announcement (although it should be that platform where they announce major plans). I just don't want to see everyone set their expectations high on this. And, again, I'd love nothing more than to be wrong.
Basically I think it's going to be a slow conversion of the park.
It would have made sense to me with the announcement of TCM taking over sponsorship of the Great Movie Ride and the hat removal that they announce the overhaul of DHS. But ... nothing.
We don't even have walls up anywhere but the hat. It's not like they're starting construction and saving the announcement for later. Insiders aren't even spilling the beans on this. What does that say?
They absolutely should just shutter the park and renovate it the fastest way that they can but they'd never do that. This is the same team that can't shut down Pirates in MK for more than a few months (at best, if we're lucky) to give it the refurb it needs.
And is attendance even hurting at DHS? To me all this does is show those in charge that closing three attractions affects nothing. So why renovate the park? Why spend money?
Thankfully I don't think it's up to TDO.
Travel Junkie
Well-Known Member
SDL footage. Good God the smog!
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODg2NDQwMTU2.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODg2ODMzMjIw.html?from=y1.2-1-91.4.1-1.1-1-2-0
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODg2NDQwMTU2.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODg2ODMzMjIw.html?from=y1.2-1-91.4.1-1.1-1-2-0
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
But it's MAGICal cardboard...
Smiddimizer
Well-Known Member
Seriously, I wanted to avoid this, but, what exactly do you recommend, actual armor to fit every possible participant. And why would it be uncomfortable to watch you children having a good time. Does riding Dumbo make everyone comfortable or the Tea Cups. How about the hours of boredom people experience waiting for and then riding Pooh? Oh, yea and adults just feel really mature riding on the Carousel. In reality by the time we have finished sitting in a slow moving boat looking at almost inanimate dolls spinning around and forced to listen to how small the world is just about all our dignity is shot in the butt anyway.
It's a puppet show on steroids. I don't recommend anything, I'm inferring that it was a mistake to begin with.
No matter how many dollars they threw at this thing, it doesn't get a passing grade. I'm not saying amusement park rides are anything cerebral but like making movies there is an art to what you do with your money. That art translates to how good an attraction turns out. You see it from the outside and think "wow", you stand in line, you experience it in all its cringeworthy glory....even if you do go in for that kind of thing you feel cheated. You got a glorified meet and greet (it's not elaborate enough even to pass as a show)....but you were prepared from the outset for something greater.
Enchanted Tales is stuck between deviations. It's not an attraction...but it's so lavish that it kind of has to be. It cheats your expectations.
Smiddimizer
Well-Known Member
Soarin' looks different...
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
I'm in the camp, "if they like it, they like it." It doesn't have to be some incredible technical wonder for customers to genuinely enjoy something. (Although it sure helps.)
However, I just had to give you a 'like' for calling Enchanted Tales with Belle a "puppet show on steroids" because, well, it is.
Darth Sidious
Authentically Disney Distinctly Chinese
I prefer examining percentages over raw numbers because they adjust for changes within the business itself, including how inflation has affected that specific business.
I also shy away from inflation calculators. At best, inflation calculators are questionable for the types of numbers we're looking at. At worst, they are downright wrong.
Disney doesn't particularly care how much the price of a gallon of milk has increased across the country since 2000. Instead, they care about how much the cost of their labor has increased in central Florida.
$2 billion in profits in 2000 is not the same as $2 billion in 2014. Similarly, $2 billion might be a great number in 2014. In 2028, it probably would be considered a terrible number. Without some adjustment, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.
In 2000, Disney's Parks & Resorts generated $1.62 billion in operating income. In 2014, that number was $2.66 billion. "Wow," you say, "that's $1 billion more." Yeah, but over 14 years, that's a compound growth of only 3.6%. Sorry, but 3.6% annual growth for a business like Disney sucks. Financially, P&R was healthier in 2000 than it is in 2014, and this is reflected in my earlier post.
With all my disclaimers in place (
View attachment 81783
I was talking percentages, however less of an internal comparison. Comparitive to Jay, Tom has done well running P&R but compared to their competitors they are investing less, bringing in huge revenues, yet have far worse margins. I believe in 2013, CMCSA reported 44% margins in theme parks. While I wouldn't expect 40%+, I would like to see at least 30%. They are seemingly hemorrhaging cash somewhere and we all know where it isn't.
Maybe I'll dig in and post a better write up later. Keep in mind I am likely missing something obvious here as I didn't really do a thorough job.
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
The art looks nice and OLC-WDI Asia generally do a good job with these things (such as the Mayan-themed Lost River Delta Mickey & Friends Trails).
Kawaii is what drives their business and their primary audience, young Japanese women, seem to eat it up and ask for seconds. But, personally, I'm not a big fan of the ongoing and relentless kawaii-ifying of formerly non-toon, non-cutesy areas at TDR (or anywhere). Aside from the Jungle Cruise/Star Tours/PotC updates, I believe every change/addition to the Tokyo resort in the last 9 years has been kawaii-based (toon, cute, cuddly), with 2006's Tower of Terror being the last non-kawaii addition.
Fantasmicguy
Well-Known Member
I thought it was going to be themed to buzz lightyear. The mater clone would be woody themed.
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
Hey don't you know Disney is not a museum!
Smiddimizer
Well-Known Member
Honestly I'm feeling borderline schizophrenic about all this. It might be easier to just call the show a piece of crap (because it is) and move on..
RandySavage
Well-Known Member
Been following this project closely for years now and am pretty saddened by just how bad the air quality looks in most pics. A blue sky seems to be a rarity to be treasured: "Remember that day last year when the sky turned blue!" What happens when you pay for a castle view room at the SDL hotel but the castle is hidden behind the smog? Makes one appreciate our environmental laws.
The castle color scheme seemed to be a typical blue-grey in the earlier art and models, but seems to have been modified (I like the new marble scheme alot) in light of the air quality issues:
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
I'm with Virtual Insanity on this, I stood awkwardly in line, doing my duty as a Disney fan to see what it was like, and yeah the wardrobe effect was neat, but the whole storytime thing was just basically a load of people tapping their feet waiting for it all to be over so they could hurry up and get their picture with Belle.
It's fun for those who get picked, and I'm sure the kids enjoy it, but if anyone here was challenged to come up with the cheapest, easiest and most obvious Beauty and the Beast attraction they could think of, ETWB would probably be pretty close.
There once was a time when Disney was known for *not* doing the cheapest, most obvious thing at every opportunity.
jensenrick
Well-Known Member
Is that seriously happening? That's so pathetic, it's funny. How long so they stand there handing out hoops? All day?Meanwhile, in Orlando...
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
With all the smog flying through the air around there it would be more Chokin' than Soarin'.
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DisneyOutsider
Well-Known Member
Hmm I think the difference is I knew exactly what it was before I went. It's not a show. It's a M&G, a photo op. Those expecting to be entertained by Belle will be disappointed. I think the wardrobe is well done, I think that Lumierre is well done, and I thought the intro/mirror room thing was really neat.
BrerJon
Well-Known Member
Many areas in WDW have 'hanging out with guests' as an assigned task for CMs to pick up. In many cases that's just hanging around answering questions, giving directions, but it can also be fooling around with stuff like hoops or street games. You won't always see it, but if the park is quiet and the Cast Members have been called in to work with nothing to do, or have a spare half hour, they might be sent out to do stuff like that just to add a little bit of magic to a now very quiet corner of the park - that's all that pic from the tour shows.