A Spirited Perfect Ten

[FutureCEO]

At today's WDW, mediocrity rules.

Society as a whole, mediocrity rules.

 

[Cesar R M]

Really? Surely you jest.

You do realize the site you are on has Account Upgrades that are in-effect donations to help support the website?

I find it to be a huge difference in having a "tips welcome" extra addon in a forum
and actively pesting their readers to donate.

Anyone remembers these obnoxious wikipedia donation wall-banners? some of them were almost designed to feel you guilty and make you donate.

 

[Cesar R M]

Society as a whole, mediocrity rules.

unless you're wall street.. thats the only place that still demands ridiculous and overthetop performance a la Apple-heyday.

 

[ford91exploder]

Or how about... "mr iger, would you be willing to do Undercover Boss in the theme parks?"

Contrast Iger to Eisner being a fur character, serving food and being a sweeper guy and doing it on a regular basis

 

[FutureCEO]

unless you're wall street.. thats the only place that still demands ridiculous and overthetop performance a la Apple-heyday.

True but Wall Street wants companies to screw the consumer. ie: Monsanto, Kraft and other companies cutting back on the amount of food in packages while keeping the same price or putting chemicals in food we eat, Coke putting fake sugar instead of real sugar. The list goes on.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I find it to be a huge difference in having a "tips welcome" extra addon in a forum, and actively pesting their readers to donate.

Anyone remembers these obnoxious wikipedia donation wall-banners? some of them were almost designed to feel you guilty and make you donate.

Not being a Lou Mangello reader, never had visited his "radio" website until just now I couldn't find any open solicitations except for links to iTunes for various "guides" that are for sale.

No obnoxious banners, in fact very little advertising unless I am on the wrong website.

 

[jakeman]

Coke putting fake sugar instead of real sugar. The list goes on.

/sigh

There's no such thing as "fake sugar". Corn syrup is fructose. Cane sugar is sucrose. They are both sugar. In fact, just to blow your mind a little bit more, sucrose is made of fructose.

 

[ford91exploder]

Then why have Star Wars Weekends if Star Wars isn't a draw for the park? Why did they spend $4 billion for it if they don't have any confidence in it?

Purchasing it showed the 'Street that TWDC was the big dog in IP management is all.

Oh, c'mon ... it's not all that good. ... But, yeah, sadly it is accurate.

And that's why I'll comment about the whole Us Against Them mentality that has taken over the fan community (and why it's another reason this is my last Spirited thread) in the next day or so now that it's holiday weekend time.

The US would be those WDW fans who fell in the love with the resort and the product from 1971-1996 (largely, I use '96 since that's when signs of trouble first appeared and it marked WDW's first quarter century of operation).

The THEY would be the fans of WDW who became fans in the last 14 or so years.

And THEY most assuredly, due largely to technology and the Internet AND Disney's manipulation of it, have won almost all of the battles.

Of course, as a young fanboi friend and fellow MAGICal member corrected me on a recent conversation, THEY haven't won the war yet. And it's far from over. Change can happen overnight when the right force is applied to the right pressure points at the right time.

That goes all the way back to Archimedes, 'Give me the right fulcrum point and I can move the world'. It was true then and it's true now.

 

[Kman101]

As someone who helps support this site so you can lob accusations of "bad form" around I take offense.

You can take all the offense you want. It wasn't intended that way but OK.

This site has members supporting it. I was going off of Mongello wanting donations for his contests, etc. not as support of his site. It's different. I wasn't insulting Steve or this website.

 

[ford91exploder]

Non-drivers are covered - taxi cabs and Ubers are plentiful in Orlando, and while it's a bit pricey to head up to Universal the whole time, anyone staying off property in a nice hotel and taking a cab to the WDW parks will still be saving substantially over WDW room rates, even including the cab fare in the price.

Just get an international drivers permit, I don't know how it is in Mexico but in the US you go to the AAA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Driving_Permit

 

[matt78]

Purchasing it showed the 'Street that TWDC was the big dog in IP management is all.

But shouldn't they want to do everything they can to earn that money back as fast as possible?

 

[flynnibus]

/sigh

There's no such thing as "fake sugar". Corn syrup is fructose. Cane sugar is sucrose. They are both sugar. In fact, just to blow your mind a little bit more, sucrose is made of fructose.

But hfcs is manufactured from other compound materials instead of being processed from sugar cane. Hence the "fake". We can argue everything is really the same since we are all atoms... But the labeling is true. It's not sugar as it was known for hundreds of years... It's a sweetener made through industrial processes that is used in place of cane sugar. It is by every sense of the word... A substitute...

 

[Incomudro]

But hfcs is manufactured from other compound materials instead of being processed from sugar cane. Hence the "fake". We can argue everything is really the same since we are all atoms... But the labeling is true. It's not sugar as it was known for hundreds of years... It's a sweetener made through industrial processes that is used in place of cane sugar. It is by every sense of the word... A substitute...

It's refined sugar.
It's sugar.
Splitting hairs over it is useless when it comes to ones health.
Avoid refined and processed foods as much as possible - "If man made it, don't eat it!" As Jacl LaLanne said.
Choosing cane sugar over beet sugar, or fructose will have zero impact on your health.

 

[ford91exploder]

But shouldn't they want to do everything they can to earn that money back as fast as possible?

It's more about making sure no one ELSE can make money from Star Wars, DIsney would be more than happy to just bank the licensing fees from use of the SW IP and write down the purchase price for tax benefits.

From a fan standpoint I realize this is unsatisfying, However unlike Lucas TWDC has no passion or love for this IP, To todays TWDC the SW IP is just like a futures contract and if the Chinese or Prince Alaweed offered them a reasonable multiple of the purchase price they would sell it in a NY minute.

 

[MichWolv]

But hfcs is manufactured from other compound materials instead of being processed from sugar cane. Hence the "fake". We can argue everything is really the same since we are all atoms... But the labeling is true. It's not sugar as it was known foe hundreds of years... It's a sweetener made through industrial processes that is used in place of cane sugar. It is by every sense of the word... A substitute...

I almost was ready to agree with entirely, until the last sentence. @jakeman is correct in the scientific sense of the word. Sucrose, fructose, glucose are all correctly called sugar, no matter where they come from. So in that sense of the word (a pretty important sense), HFCS is sugar -- it is not a substitute for it.

In the colloquial sense, however, "sugar" historically has been considered to be those sweeteners that come from sugar beets and sugar cane plants. As such, HFCS is a substitute. It is a sugar (scientifically) that comes from a plant other than sugar cane and sugar beets, and is used instead of them. Calling it a "substitute" is probably a misnomer, as that suggests there is an agreed-upon starting point from which to substitute. Instead, I would say that HFCS and traditional sugars are two possible sweeteners.

 

[BrerJon]

Just get an international drivers permit, I don't know how it is in Mexico but in the US you go to the AAA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Driving_Permit

The point is some people don't want to drive or can't - many from overseas don't want the stress of driving on the other side of the road, different traffic laws etc., plus anyone under 25 can't easily rent a car without taking out a mortgage, so there are plenty of reasons to not drive in Orlando.

But with a combination of reasonably priced cabs, Lynx buses, hotel shuttles and Disney buses, it's very easy for a non-driver staying off-property to get around almost as quickly as anyone staying on property and using the Disney buses exclusively, for far less cost.

 

[ford91exploder]

The point is some people don't want to drive or can't - many from overseas don't want the stress of driving on the other side of the road, different traffic laws etc., plus anyone under 25 can't easily rent a car without taking out a mortgage, so there are plenty of reasons to not drive in Orlando.

But with a combination of reasonably priced cabs, Lynx buses, hotel shuttles and Disney buses, it's very easy for a non-driver staying off-property to get around almost as quickly as anyone staying on property and using the Disney buses exclusively, for far less cost.

Absolutely great points, it's just some people are unaware of this program as I was when I first started to travel internationally for business.

 

[flynnibus]

I almost was ready to agree with entirely, until the last sentence. @jakeman is correct in the scientific sense of the word. Sucrose, fructose, glucose are all correctly called sugar, no matter where they come from. So in that sense of the word (a pretty important sense), HFCS is sugar -- it is not a substitute for it.

In the colloquial sense, however, "sugar" historically has been considered to be those sweeteners that come from sugar beets and sugar cane plants. As such, HFCS is a substitute. It is a sugar (scientifically) that comes from a plant other than sugar cane and sugar beets, and is used instead of them. Calling it a "substitute" is probably a misnomer, as that suggests there is an agreed-upon starting point from which to substitute. Instead, I would say that HFCS and traditional sugars are two possible sweeteners.

Except one did come after the other and was used as a substitute. They are not equivalent... Just both sweetners and both sugars. But in the context of foods sweetened with cane sugar... It is a substance they substituted and changed the product

 

[Travel Junkie]

But shouldn't they want to do everything they can to earn that money back as fast as possible?

They are. They are making movies. A movie’s ROI is so much quicker than a theme park land. Movies are the focus.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I just can't get enough of those chicken waffle sandwiches.

It's a shame though that they are still using the frozen waffles.

So, Mr. Mongello is asking for "donations" now in exchange for extended content/products.
I would have respected the decision more if he just came out and called it a pay wall, or club or something.

That screams bad form to me to start asking for 'donations' ...

This is nothing out of line for podcasts or websites, looking well beyond Disney focused ones, that offer large quantities of free content. It's like PBS stations offering gifts in exchange for donations.