A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Cesar R M]

I'm well aware of the difference, In China the who and the where is a message in itself the act of meeting a competitor on the property of their chief rival is a major loss of 'face' for Disney.

I've worked for a Chinese boss for the past few years and I've learned much about the culture and how business is done in China.

I didnt know you were "Cesar R. M" too.

 

[ford91exploder]

I know you're a Uni-fanatic and a Disney downer, but let's try to be unbiased for a moment.

I would personally prefer the park setting at the hub. It provided shade, benches, etc. However, that doesn't mean there aren't aspects of the new Hub that are very beautiful. Seen below.

Again, it's not perfect, but it's better than what was there 5 years ago. I'm not sure how they are artistically bankrupt...

The fact that you can SEE the other lands has something to do with it, The hub was designed to provide a barrier and gateway to each land.

 

[spacemt354]

The fact that you can SEE the other lands has something to do with it, The hub was designed to provide a barrier and gateway to each land.

The project isn't complete yet. The trees on the Adventureland/Liberty Square side haven't been planted/fully grown. So I don't know how we can make that assertion now. You could always see Tomorrowland from the Hub in the MK.

Also I thought the Hub trees were meant to provide forced perspective for the castle? The castle looked further away and the forced perspective worked better when the trees were covering the bottom half, making the top part of the castle (the smaller part) seem further away.

It was meant to provide the illusion that the castle was further away. And in the reserve direction towards the Main Street Station, it was the opposite effect. The Station seemed closer so guests would think the exit was closer.

 

[andysol]

The fact that you can SEE the other lands has something to do with it, The hub was designed to provide a barrier and gateway to each land.

No, it wasn't. You could always see multiple lands when the hub was first constructed- and have always been able to see Tomorrowland at all times- even with giant trees.

The hub was a brilliant design to get access to all lands incredible easy. That's it.

 

[ford91exploder]

The project isn't complete yet. The trees on the Adventureland/Liberty Square side haven't been planted/fully grown. So I don't know how we can make that assertion now. You could always see Tomorrowland from the Hub in the MK.

Also I thought the Hub trees were meant to provide forced perspective for the castle? The castle looked further away and the forced perspective worked better when the trees were covering the bottom half, making the top part of the castle (the smaller part) seem further away.

It was meant to provide the illusion that the castle was further away. And in the reserve direction towards the Main Street Station, it was the opposite effect. The Station seemed closer so guests would think the exit was closer.

You are correct in your points, My point is we will never have the gateway effect again because it will block views of the projection shows from the periphery of the lands and the hub.

 

[BrianLo]

You miss the point, They could have had the meeting anywhere in HK, They CHOSE to have it there and let the press know it was happening, This was deliberate and calculated not simply a chance meeting at the park.

I don't think Spirit qualifies as 'the press'.

I still don't get Snyder's angle. He's not a true journalist, and Ya I'd be pretty peeve'd with being censored... But I want to know what he's up to, and why he cared in the first place?

There are two agendas here, we clearly have hints at Iger's/China, but I want to know whose/what agenda @WDW1974 is being leaked info from. Until then we have a weirdly lop-sided story (that doesn't make it false or inaccurate, just incomplete). Does Gary just hate the Iger's too? What is he after exactly?

 

[Goofyernmost]

To me, its bad because your supposed to see the castle in a fairy tale style setting as if you were in an actual land of fantasy. A sea full of people from every angle completely destroys that type of atmosphere.

The thing is that many of the early castles were stormed by the peasants of the area due to the way they were treated. The new design relives that time and you are part of it.

The fact that you can SEE the other lands has something to do with it, The hub was designed to provide a barrier and gateway to each land.

No it wasn't... Who in their right mind would design a hub to help move traffic from one land to another and then "hide" the places that they were trying to find. The hub never did that nor did it even try. The Castle itself is not part of the hub, the Castle is the entrance to Fantasyland and it is and has been clearly visible from day one. (Unless the castle is part of Main Street USA and I don't think it is) You could always easily identify Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Man you folks call the rest of us, Pixie Dusters, but, the dust that controls the minds of some around here are really strong on fantasy.

 

[ford91exploder]

I don't think Spirit qualifies as 'the press'.

I still don't get Snyder's angle. He's not a true journalist, and Ya I'd be pretty peeve'd with being censored... But I want to know what he's up to, and why he cared in the first place?

There are two agendas here, we clearly have hints at Iger's/China, but I want to know whose/what agenda @WDW1974 is being leaked info from. Until then we have a weirdly lop-sided story (that doesn't make it false or inaccurate, just incomplete). Does Gary just hate the Iger's too? What is he after exactly?

It's really very simple, Viacom will benefit from damage to Disney's media business.

Viacom HAS a media channel in China which was DENIED to Disney, Viacom is preparing for ala-carte TV in that they devalued their TV properties recently. TWDC is being positioned between the devil and the deep blue sea.

It would not surprise me if the CCP up and awarded the management of THEIR park in Shanghai to Gary and Company. The spin that would ensue from Burbank/Glendale would be epic.

 

[Funmeister]

I guess the main point that everyone is missing is that the new hub development kills any chance of Disney ever bringing back the swan boats!!!!! #WhyEvenGoWithNoSwans

 

[spacemt354]

You are correct in your points, My point is we will never have the gateway effect again because it will block views of the projection shows from the periphery of the lands and the hub.

But I don't think there ever was an effective gateway effect to other lands since they were visible from the hub.

 

[BrianLo]

It would not surprise me if the CCP up and awarded the management of THEIR park in Shanghai to Gary and Company. The spin that would ensue from Burbank/Glendale would be epic.

Well that qualifies as the most hyperbolic speculation I've heard this week.

It makes for a good fantasy/story though.

 

[Lee]

I wonder if that Dai Haibo fellow could point us in the direction of that $800m that just wandered off...

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I guess in your opinion I don't have any taste because the only thing offensive in that photo is the ugly light poles. The rest looks like people enjoying their day in a park.

But is it "beautiful". It used to be beautiful.

Now it's a flophouse.

 

[ford91exploder]

I wonder if that Dai Haibo fellow could point us in the direction of that $800m that just wandered off...

Probably - perhaps some of it will be used to pay for the bullet

 

[clsteve]

I wonder if that Dai Haibo fellow could point us in the direction of that $800m that just wandered off...

The Baccarat Table.........?

 

[DDLand]

But is it "beautiful". It used to be beautiful.

Now it's a flophouse.

Your camera angles betray your bias.

Not saying criticisms aren't valid.

 

[ford91exploder]

But I don't think there ever was an effective gateway effect to other lands since they were visible from the hub.

But not from each other, Tomorrowland was not visible from Adventureland in the initial design, It surely is today, Remember the whole purpose of the utilidors was to prevent 'Space Cowboys' ie thematically inappropriate elements from showing up anywhere but their intended location.

 

[ford91exploder]

Your camera angles betray your bias.

Not saying criticisms aren't valid.

The camera angle is virtually identical as is the distance based on the size and aspect of castle.

 

[Frankie The Beer]

I like it. Don't love it. But like it.

I like it as well. I'll love it even if it just helps a small tad with the bottleneck after fireworks.

 

[coolbeans14]

Let me just talk through this, and help me if I've misunderstood:

Spirited Smoking Gun?

Let's put some links out, explain a bit and then see where things go ... but this might explain why Bob Iger was so quick and so willing to have his lovely wife, Willow Bay, censor an Op-Ed in the HuffPo ... or, if you would prefer to believe otherwise, then perhaps this might explain why it was so important for the column to simply vanish.

Read this one first:

http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2015/4...fficial-detained-for-alleged-shanghai-di.html

Now this one:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/128...gation/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Also, apparently, even the WSJ has mentioned this major case of graft accusations, although leaving out his role (which I believe to be substantial) in Shanghai Disneyland's approval and development. Chinese language only news outlets in the mainland have reported, in somewhat of a departure from protocol, greater detail of the exact allegations.

Dai Haibo, who was part of the infamous Shanghai delegation to Disneyland Paris in 2006 that I personally witnessed and watched as Karl Holz almost single-handedly destroyed work that had begun in the 1990s when he was still managing food and beverage at Pleasure Island, was reported to have been taken into custody on March 2nd in the government's efforts to crackdown on graft.

On March 17th, the Central Government issued a news release formally announcing a ''serious violation of the law'' by the one-time Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Government.

At one time, and until the arrest, Dai was second only to the mayor of Shanghai in the structure of the local government -- and a rising star for the Party -- with the primary role of heading the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and, more importantly, the Pudong Tourism Development Area of which Shanghai Disneyland is the cornerstone castle.

The investigation as near as I can tell through sources in China and mainland media centers on Dai's role in improperly benefiting from real estate acquisition, demolition, and construction at the very site on which Shanghai Disneyland is now rising.

All of this, largely, occurred just after Gary Snyder's HuffPo column was wiped off the 'net by the freedom loving folks at The Walt Disney Company (I'm sure you 'net savvy people might understand why a tech neophyte like me has decided to write things out versus abbreviating.) In China, this is being viewed as one of the most high profile of recent arrests in the anti-graft campaign.

And to think, it involves The Walt Disney Company ... Bob Iger's Disney ... imagine that ... I can see why Disney CEO Fumbles Entry to China really couldn't stay out there.

Wonder how many news outlets here are opting to ignore this, something widely reported in evil, vile, Godless, Commie, Pinko China, because they are afraid of the Walt Disney Company and Robert A. Iger. I also wonder what that Snyder character, who was spotted by my own little minions of Disney destruction hanging out on Lantau with a couple of Party officials to celebrate Easter or Passover or neither, really knows and if the beloved (by the Chinese Party elders) and well-connected Redstone family was tipped off that this was happening and what more might be coming.

Again, I'm not saying I have all the facts, the news is coming out of China, after all. But things sure are starting to slide together into place ... I'd be very worried if I were Bob Iger. Very worried.

No, I don't expect Brooks Barnes to be writing about this. But I'd love it if someone emailed him this post ... any volunteers? When the China Daily, CCTV, Xinhua and others are reporting what the New York Times and basically every other news outlet in this country don't believe is something you should see or read about ... it does give one pause yet again about our wonderful supposed American democracy and free press.

Or, if you would prefer, it just makes you wonder what Iger has gotten himself and Disney into over in China.

It's really very simple, Viacom will benefit from damage to Disney's media business.

Viacom HAS a media channel in China which was DENIED to Disney, Viacom is preparing for ala-carte TV in that they devalued their TV properties recently. TWDC is being positioned between the devil and the deep blue sea.

It would not surprise me if the CCP up and awarded the management of THEIR park in Shanghai to Gary and Company. The spin that would ensue from Burbank/Glendale would be epic.

So This is how I'm understanding of this whole Shanghai thing:

Iger has potentially gotten involved with a corrupt member of the Chinese government, who gained personally from construction such as Disneyland. The government are now investigating and if he has gotten into dodgy water then it could have serious repercussions on him, and the company.

The Chinese have a majority ownership of the resort, and are now rubbing it into Iger's face? Now Iger has to pretend that he still has control of the situation, but China basically owns this now. (Also I'm guessing Gary is the Viacom chief?)


So did Iger's believe this park would help the relationship Disney has with China? Instead, has it opened him to humiliation. And does this have the potential to ruin his career at Disney?

If I've understood right, then:
A) Wall Street are going to love him a little less
B) the Disney board might avoid a yes man next time they choose his successor
C) Disney has more or less given China access to their IPs and that's potentially very bad news for them
D) they have gained nothing from this venture

Please correct me if I've got this wrong?

P.S. Also, imagine how good this would be as a House of Cards style political drama. Heck, just cast Kevin spacey as Iger doing the Frank underwood stuff!