A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Hakunamatata]

Like the saying goes...great minds think alike...

But seriously....the potential quagmire that Disney is getting into over there should be of interest to all Disney park fans.

This is true. I question the thought process of investing in a country they has a better than average potential of just taking over ownership.

 

[CentralFLlife]

Star Wars has a great message too.

It's the story of a once great republic that does one too many deals with traders and merchants and ends up a shadow of its former self. Its leaders keep getting promoted for spurious reasons, until one of them manipulates events until he's the ruler of a massive empire.

Despite being a ruthless dictator, nobody seems to notice as they're too busy praising what a good job he's done in bringing order and planning where there was once chaos. Eventually, his hubris goes too far, and a small group of often-mocked rebels find a weak spot, resulting in the empire crashing down, new leaders trained in the old ways taking charge, and the glories of the old republic once more restored.

Well, we can dream, right?

Don't forget the subplot of a father wanting to share his fortune and spend time with his long lost son

 

[GoofGoof]

Based on what? Decoration and light immersion have consistently failed for Disney.

I guess I'm not being clear on my vision of this project. Why would there need to be just decoration or light immersion. The 2 choices aren't replica of a movie set (like Potterland) or light immersion. There are numerous examples of rides/lands in various Disney parks that are not based on exact replicas of physical locations from movies that are both immersive and elaborately themed. If you enter a Star Wars Land which is loosely based on Tatooine or specifically Mos Eisley you can have a main "street" of buildings with a Cantina and other various shops. It won't look exactly like the Mos Eisley viewed in the 30 second clip from the movie but could have some similar architecture. Now add in droids, jawas and other creatures from the movies plus well known space ships from the movies and you have been deeply immersed in the world of Star Wars.

I'm a heck of a lot more worried about the quality of the E-ticket and/or other rides than I am about Disney skimping on theming.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I guess I'm not being clear on my vision of this project. Why would there need to be just decoration or light immersion. The 2 choices aren't replica of a movie set (like Potterland) or light immersion. There are numerous examples of rides/lands in various Disney parks that are not based on exact replicas of physical locations from movies that are both immersive and elaborately themed. If you enter a Star Wars Land which is loosely based on Tatooine or specifically Mos Eisley you can have a main "street" of buildings with a Cantina and other various shops. It won't look exactly like the Mos Eisley viewed in the 30 second clip from the movie but could have some similar architecture. Now add in droids, jawas and other creatures from the movies plus well known space ships from the movies and you have been deeply immersed in the world of Star Wars.

I'm a heck of a lot more worried about the quality of the E-ticket and/or other rides than I am about Disney skimping on theming.

This is the biggest problem (only problem?) I have with Potterland. I grew up with those books and they were a major part of my adolescence (until Deathly Hallows came along and sucked terribly, but that's neither here nor there). I'm disappointed that they went with the "movie version" of the Harry Potter universe featuring the film versions of all the characters and locations. It makes it feel much less timeless and much more a capitalization on a wildly successful film franchise, source material be damned.

 

[BrerJon]

As much as I love Les Mystères du Nautilus, it is not the sort of think that can be replicated repeatedly and anchor a land.

I could easily see them cloning Nautilus and reskinning it as the Falcon, but the trouble is there's much less detail. Han didn't spend decades collecting artefacts or anything, so it will end up being not much more than a long line for a photo-op in the cockpit (with a possible space monster attack replacing the squid).

That's the problem with Star Wars... it's all photo-ops. A giant X-Wing, a Falcon, the bar, the Lars home... they're nice sets to have a picture with, but not richly detailed environments where you'd want to hang out for the day like Jurassic Park or Hogsmeade.

 

[chiefs11]

This is the biggest problem (only problem?) I have with Potterland. I grew up with those books and they were a major part of my adolescence (until Deathly Hallows came along and sucked terribly, but that's neither here nor there). I'm disappointed that they went with the "movie version" of the Harry Potter universe featuring the film versions of all the characters and locations. It makes it feel much less timeless and much more a capitalization on a wildly successful film franchise, source material be damned.

Well, it is at Universal Studios theme park, not a book publisher's theme park.

 

[GoofGoof]

I could easily see them cloning Nautilus and reskinning it as the Falcon, but the trouble is there's much less detail. Han didn't spend decades collecting artefacts or anything, so it will end up being not much more than a long line for a photo-op in the cockpit (with a possible space monster attack replacing the squid).

That's the problem with Star Wars... it's all photo-ops. A giant X-Wing, a Falcon, the bar, the Lars home... they're nice sets to have a picture with, but not richly detailed environments where you'd want to hang out for the day like Jurassic Park or Hogsmeade.

This is the concept I don't get. Why can't they be richly themed? We only saw Mos Eisly or the inside of the Falcon for small periods of time in the films. In my mind the imagineers are a lot less restricted in creating intricate details. The theming isn't contained to the boundaries of how something was described in a book or shown on screen. The details on a ride like TOT are fantastic...The lobby, the outside of the building, the show scenes. They didn't have hours of film footage or pages of a novel to go on. They built around a basic story based off of an old TV show.

I can't disagree with your photo-op point. Half of WDW has turned into a photo-op. Some times I feel like we spend as much time taking pictures of ourselves enjoying the parks as we spend actually enjoying them. I blame digital cameras. My trips to WDW pre-digital cameras I took 4 or 5 rolls of film and ended up with 100 usable pictures. Now it's in the thousands most trips.

 

[GoofGoof]

This is the biggest problem (only problem?) I have with Potterland. I grew up with those books and they were a major part of my adolescence (until Deathly Hallows came along and sucked terribly, but that's neither here nor there). I'm disappointed that they went with the "movie version" of the Harry Potter universe featuring the film versions of all the characters and locations. It makes it feel much less timeless and much more a capitalization on a wildly successful film franchise, source material be damned.

There are still great details in both areas of Harry Potter at Universal. The creative team really had to walk a line between being true to the films, true to the books and being practical. You can't always have things the way you would want from a creative standpoint when you have thousands of guests a day pass through.

 

[GoofGoof]

Well, it is at Universal Studios theme park, not a book publisher's theme park.

But IOA is supposed to be based loosely on literature. Plus the movies weren't made by Universal.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I said this before, but it's worth repeating. Anyone who cares about Disney as a company and especially Disney P&R should care about the fate of this project. I doubt I'll ever step foot in the park, but if it fails any hope of major development for WDW could be sidetracked for years or even decades. This is Iger's legacy (along with his trifecta of acquisitions). The street is not going to be receptive to future P&R capital projects if this one bombs.

As far as the picture itself, I'm not panicking and thinking its a sure sign of major problems but it does seem rather odd. It's Iger's legacy. You'd think he'd at least want a selfie

I'm not saying I don't care about the project. I want the park to be a big success and from what i've seen, I think it is a great take on a Magic Kingdom park.

All i'm saying is that I don't think a photo is really all that important here. What's important in the end, to Iger AND the stockholders (@Mike C ) is that the project is a success financially.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Well, it is at Universal Studios theme park, not a book publisher's theme park.

A natural home for Harry Potter, distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures.

...and Spider-Man, distributed by Sony Pictures.

...and Marvel's The Avengers, distributed by Walt Disney Studios.

 

[chiefs11]

But IOA is supposed to be based loosely on literature. Plus the movies weren't made by Universal.

Maybe so, but that aside, if you tried to model it after what is described in the books, you'd have 100 times more people complaining that it doesn't look like the movies.

 

[ford91exploder]

This is the concept I don't get. Why can't they be richly themed? We only saw Mos Eisly or the inside of the Falcon for small periods of time in the films. In my mind the imagineers are a lot less restricted in creating intricate details. The theming isn't contained to the boundaries of how something was described in a book or shown on screen. The details on a ride like TOT are fantastic...The lobby, the outside of the building, the show scenes. They didn't have hours of film footage or pages of a novel to go on. They built around a basic story based off of an old TV show.

I can't disagree with your photo-op point. Half of WDW has turned into a photo-op. Some times I feel like we spend as much time taking pictures of ourselves enjoying the parks as we spend actually enjoying them. I blame digital cameras. My trips to WDW pre-digital cameras I took 4 or 5 rolls of film and ended up with 100 usable pictures. Now it's in the thousands most trips.

Look you could make a richly themed simulator environment, Imagine launching from the temple base on Yavin to engage the death star or TIE fighters where YOU fly the X or Y wing, This would be best with the Kuka arm's like 'Sum of all Thrills' but you get the idea. yes this would be a low capacity ride but I imagine the lines would be hours long.

or be a gunner in the falcon.

There is much Disney could do to make SW a truly immersive experience for both the fan and casual guest.

 

[ford91exploder]

This is true. I question the thought process of investing in a country they has a better than average potential of just taking over ownership.

A LOT of us do especially a country which has no real affinity for things Disney, Brazil would have been a FAR better choice in large part because the Brazilians love Disney and many of them just like americans will never leave Brazil.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I'm not saying I don't care about the project. I want the park to be a big success and from what i've seen, I think it is a great take on a Magic Kingdom park.

All i'm saying is that I don't think a photo is really all that important here. What's important in the end, to Iger AND the stockholders (@Mike C ) is that the project is a success financially.

I just skimmed over this SDL/Wall St. conversation and might add some insight/color. Wall St sees TWDC as a theme parks and cable channel company. Wall St loves the cable and broadcast channels more than the parks because they are less capital intensive and thus have a consistently higher profit margin. As @ParentsOf4 has pointed out, P&R's record low investments in Capex as a percentage of revenue is an attempt to placate investors who don't like how much money P&R needs. This is one of the main reasons why Disney considered selling P&R so they wouldn't be in such a capital intensive industry which is very dependent on the health of the economy and oil prices.

I cannot understate how much the street loves the media networks, ESPN in particular. Despite increasing, but clearly laid out, programming costs, Wall St loves how Disney can suck $5.54 from 94 million U.S. households for ESPN every month. The Disney Channel is no slouch either with hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world. As I have stated in the past, Wall St wants Disney to have more pay-TV channels around the world, especially in growth markets like China. One of Bob's biggest failures as CEO has been his inability to launch the Disney Channel in China. A Chinese Disney Channel would have been an excellent means to get the public interested in the BRAND and offer a means to educate them on what a Disney theme park is. If you're Wall St, you want to know why a risky, capital intensive theme park was prioritized over a profitable cable channel on the mainland.

This is a long way of saying Bob has prioritized having his name on an opening day dedication plaque over building a strong presence in China, one that is not just in name only.

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm not saying I don't care about the project. I want the park to be a big success and from what i've seen, I think it is a great take on a Magic Kingdom park.

All i'm saying is that I don't think a photo is really all that important here. What's important in the end, to Iger AND the stockholders (@Mike C ) is that the project is a success financially.

Agreed. As a WDW fan I want the park to come in just on target. A complete failure and it hurts future investment. Too successful and they will continue to focus on foreign investment over the domestic parks.

The photo itself has no bearing on whether the park is successful or not. It's just odd and gives me some concern that maybe there really are some problems there. It could also mean nothing.

 

[Cesar R M]

This is the biggest problem (only problem?) I have with Potterland. I grew up with those books and they were a major part of my adolescence (until Deathly Hallows came along and sucked terribly, but that's neither here nor there). I'm disappointed that they went with the "movie version" of the Harry Potter universe featuring the film versions of all the characters and locations. It makes it feel much less timeless and much more a capitalization on a wildly successful film franchise, source material be damned.

Agree with you, the variation of the movie vs the book was very big.
thankfully not as big as the horrible quack job on THE HOBBIT.
the last movie was a big fat cake of special effects... nothing else.

 

[Cesar R M]

This is the concept I don't get. Why can't they be richly themed? We only saw Mos Eisly or the inside of the Falcon for small periods of time in the films. In my mind the imagineers are a lot less restricted in creating intricate details. The theming isn't contained to the boundaries of how something was described in a book or shown on screen. The details on a ride like TOT are fantastic...The lobby, the outside of the building, the show scenes. They didn't have hours of film footage or pages of a novel to go on. They built around a basic story based off of an old TV show.

I can't disagree with your photo-op point. Half of WDW has turned into a photo-op. Some times I feel like we spend as much time taking pictures of ourselves enjoying the parks as we spend actually enjoying them. I blame digital cameras. My trips to WDW pre-digital cameras I took 4 or 5 rolls of film and ended up with 100 usable pictures. Now it's in the thousands most trips.

better have tons of pics and have a choice on keepers.. than miss that special moment because you ran out of roll or they weren't taken correctly.

A natural home for Harry Potter, distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures.

...and Spider-Man, distributed by Sony Pictures.

...and Marvel's The Avengers, distributed by Walt Disney Studios.

In the defence of Universal.. Marvel was recently purchased. Universal had the characters before Disney took a big grab on Marvel.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Some articles of interest:
http://time.com/3745853/apple-fashion-culture

So much of Apple’s “Spring Forward” event last week has been analyzed to death, but I’d like to focus for a moment on the outfit that CEO Tim Cook wore. Yes, I know, such trivial considerations like executive fashion are inane when discussing a company like Apple–or at least they used to be–but bear with me.

The costumes CEOs wear during keynote events have become a part of the marketing message, especially when they involve multibillionaires slumming in something you could buy for $100 at Ross. For years, Steve Jobs wore rumpled, fading 501s, New Balance sneakers and the now-iconic black mock turtleneck. Early on in his keynotes, Tim Cook wore an untucked button-down shirt over nondescript jeans. (Fashion writers sniped that he had “no fashion.”)

That changed this week. Cook announced the sale of the Apple Watch not only with his shirt tucked in, but enveloped by a dark zip cardigan. The jeans looked to be upgraded to selvage denim. The message–coming during a week when Apple’s stock entered the blue-chip Dow Industrials and the company itself started pushing $17,000 gold watches–was clear, if fitting: Fashion now matters at Apple. I’m talking about, of course, much more than Tim Cook’s jeans.

Marriott's big mobile strategy. A good point of comparison to MM+and how they approach mobile technology differently.
http://skift.com/2015/03/16/marriotts-apple-pay-play-is-part-of-a-bigger-mobile-strategy

Egypt attempts to build the city of the future.
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/16/new-cairo-egypt-plans-capital-city-desert

 

[Cesar R M]

A LOT of us do especially a country which has no real affinity for things Disney, Brazil would have been a FAR better choice in large part because the Brazilians love Disney and many of them just like americans will never leave Brazil.

The issue is the economic and violence in Brazill.
My boss tried to open a branch in Brazil and he said its nightmarish.
Mexico's most violent states were "heaven" compared to the Favelas areas that surround the big cities.