A Spirited Perfect Ten

[englanddg]

Has Mr. Bluebird, the one on Brer Rabbit's mailbox at ride's end, ever get fixed? He wasn't moving last time I rode Splash (this was about a year ago).

Heh, it's better than the seizure chickens on the riverboat from 2010 - 2012...

That said, I agree with your point. Attention to detail is important.

 

[englanddg]

And I think you're partially tone deaf.

Lucas can be argued much easier as, much like Pixar, a lot of Disney DNA has been involved in that BRAND and the IP has been in Disney parks globally since the mid-1980s.

Marvel?!? Not so much. Tonally, it fits perfect with UNI, which is why so many people love IOA's rides based on Spidey and the Hulk etc. It is darker and just doesn't mesh well with Pixie Dust and Princesses.

It does, however, mesh with Hollywood Studios.

Not so much Tomorrowland or EPCOT though.

 

[Phil12]

Speaking of Tomorrowland, why can't we have kick butt trailers like this!

I'm guessing because so few people in the USA understand Japanese.

 

[Mike S]

Has Mr. Bluebird, the one on Brer Rabbit's mailbox at ride's end, ever get fixed? He wasn't moving last time I rode Splash (this was about a year ago).

Pretty sure he was pretty hit or miss during my trips last year.

 

[englanddg]

This goes back to a point I raised a few months ago now about what exactly is Disney today ...I'm sorry, but Jar Jar Binks and Iron Man don't shout Disney to me. Good investments for the company? I think you'd be hardpressed to say no. But good or bad long term to Disney itself? That's a whole different question and one most fanbois are incapable of thinking about rationally.

I think you touch on a point here that you've made several times before.

Iger is leading the company in a positive direction with IP acquisition, but through the process is diminishing the Disney brand itself.

Correct?

 

[PhotoDave219]

I think you touch on a point here that you've made several times before.

Iger is leading the company in a positive direction with IP acquisition, but through the process is diminishing the Disney brand itself.

Correct?

Well for me that pretty much sums it up.

I just simply do not agree with how they run their parks and resorts division. It's as simple as that.

 

[AEfx]

And as to Star Wars, it didn't even do well in the overseas Market....The Last Episode only made 468 million total overseas. Even Ice Age: Continental drift outgrossed with 715 Million made overseas. Its nice to be overconfident but lets put so realism based on trends.

Comparing the last released Star Wars film to The Force Awakens is ridiculous and ignores all context.

The prequels were horribly reviewed, largely a joke among the existing fan base, in no way managed the cross-generational appeal of the original trilogy.

I'm for sure a huge Star Wars nerd, but unlike "fanbois" I don't give a whit if my favorite property is financially successful or not. I have no feeling or "ownership" in wanting it to do well.

That said, based on the past two weeks, I'd wager it's not only is it going to be the most successful film of the decade, it's completely in the realm of possibility that it's going to knock Avatar off the top spot of all time, since Star Wars will also have the same benefit of the 3D tax included.

The fanbase is what has been awakened - the ones who have been dormant since the 1980's. Have you seen the reactions of folks? I saw an entire office full of 30 and 40-somethings who grew up with Star Wars absolutely transfixed by the trailer - tears in eyes that Han Solo rides again. People that haven't thought about Star Wars in years, who didn't go see a single prequel, who have been re-energized.

The trailer with Han and Chewie was just the tip of the ice berg - some folks had heard "oh yeah, they are making some new Star Wars films, huh?" but it was a far different thing when folks saw that trailer, and it's only going to amp up from here. Heck, there are "reaction videos" to the trailer that themselves have millions of views - the public appetite has just been whet and it's just begun.

Movies that do spectacularly well do so because of a) repeat viewers, and b) cross-generational appeal. TFA has both of these things going for it in an unprecedented way. There are people in their 60's and 70's who will come out just to see the original cast - Harrison Ford alone guarantees that.

If ever there were a film to be "over-confident" about, TFA is it.

 

[englanddg]

Speaking of Tomorrowland, why can't we have kick butt trailers like this!

Wow. Just...wow...

That trailer is amazing.

 

[PhotoDave219]

This goes back to a point I raised a few months ago now about what exactly is Disney today ...I'm sorry, but Jar Jar Binks and Iron Man don't shout Disney to me. Good investments for the company? I think you'd be hardpressed to say no. But good or bad long term to Disney itself? That's a whole different question and one most fanbois are incapable of thinking about rationally.

To be absolutely fair, Jar Jar Binks doesn't exactly scream quality Star Wars either.

 

[WDW1974]

The bus loop might be LED, not sure but I think I recall reading something like that. Pretty sure GF definitely isn't LED though, that sort of attention can't come soon enough as the hotel has looked ghetto at least since 2010 (I don't even know how long the lights have really been out, 2010 was just my first visit since '97).

Even most of Main Street I believe are still old school incandescent lights. Only the area around the Crystal Palace seems to have been switched to LED so far from what I could tell. The color quality on them looks very good by the way, I didn't realize they were LED's until I looked closely. LED's have come a very long way and some are finally viable incandescent replacements. But the stupid thing is that when I visited in October, there were plenty of those new LED's either broken or switched off on Crystal Palace. A well built LED can last multiple decades, barring the rare defect. Kind of pathetic that there were so many already non working (i'm sure they're less than a couple of years old as I don't recall them being there in 2012), hope it has been addressed by now. It was a real kick in the balls to revisit some of my old home movies from the early 90's, only to see the pristine condition of Main Street, including the lights.

But that was a civilized Main Street for an (arguably) more civilized time (at least in regards to Disney World). Back when the night crews kept the place looking new (lights constantly inspected and changed to prevent them from breaking in the first place, the hub trees were still big and gorgeous and Spectromagic was an awesome new night parade.

I bolded the sentence I feel like responding to. I generally hate LEDs. They give off an incredibly harsh (hospital or prison, I like to say) feel in general. I also don't like how the whole campaign to switch to them was sorta shoved through when no one seemed to be paying attention.

But WDW can still use incandescents as long as it wants as stage lighting/theatrical lighting is exempted from the law if I understand it correctly (if I don't, then I'm sure someone will use it to show what a fraud I am and damage my BRAND!) ... Not that it matters as WDW seems totally incapable of creating proper lighting just about anywhere on property. A few nights back I was walking out of the WL late at night and thought I saw one area where the lighting was all the same and synched and that was the flickering lantern like lights between WL and the Villas. Alas, a few were flickering like they were having a seizure with non-stop blinking ... like I said, Disney can't even get the basics right anymore. They are so totally lost.

You redo pricey hotel rooms at the BC and you don't sand down doors and wooden baseboards, you just throw another coat of paint over the 11 below? And then charge $500 a night for the room.

 

[englanddg]

Well for me that pretty much sums it up.

I just simply do not agree with how they run their parks and resorts division. It's as simple as that.

I've got my concerns as well on that respect, and it's the core of my fandom. The media side of the company I could care less about. Just P&R...

 

[AEfx]

This goes back to a point I raised a few months ago now about what exactly is Disney today ...I'm sorry, but Jar Jar Binks and Iron Man don't shout Disney to me. Good investments for the company? I think you'd be hardpressed to say no. But good or bad long term to Disney itself? That's a whole different question and one most fanbois are incapable of thinking about rationally.

When the best Disney can come up with "on it's own" is John Carter (which isn't even it's own, any more than just about anything else Disney has ever done), then yeah - I think it's good for Disney.

I'm sure people said the same things about 20K Leagues once upon a time.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

This goes back to a point I raised a few months ago now about what exactly is Disney today ...I'm sorry, but Jar Jar Binks and Iron Man don't shout Disney to me. Good investments for the company? I think you'd be hardpressed to say no. But good or bad long term to Disney itself? That's a whole different question and one most fanbois are incapable of thinking about rationally.

I think, for me, it comes back to the fact that there is no longer the folksy facade of Disney as the ubiquitous "America's Family Entertainment Company."

Eisner's Disney always managed to hang onto that "aw shucks, house that Walt built" image that helped make a publicly traded, major media conglomerate seem like a down-home, ground up kind of operation.

The actuality of what Disney is hasn't changed much at all: It's still a media leviathan with hands in many pots, all driven by the almighty dollar.

What has changed is the dissipation of the "Walt's place" veneer. To today's Disney, Walt is just another character in the vault.

 

[AEfx]

I bolded the sentence I feel like responding to. I generally hate LEDs. They give off an incredibly harsh (hospital or prison, I like to say) feel in general. I also don't like how the whole campaign to switch to them was sorta shoved through when no one seemed to be paying attention.

You haven't been looking at the right LED's.

Yeah, LED headlights are like that - but standard bulbs are just like any other bulb, coming in varying hues and coatings and intensities.

I've moved by whole home over to them, they are spectacular - they are rated to last decades, they give off a great, even light, and you can buy various types for various uses - for instance, I have softer lighting where I read, clearer lighting in the bathroom, etc.

LED technology is very diverse; don't write them all off because the ones you were aware were LED's were harsh. I'm sure you've been around a lot of LED's that you had no idea - you wouldn't walk into my house and likely even notice, until I bragged about how much I've saved on my electric bill (even over those awful Halogen pieces of crap).

 

[WDW1974]

The Walt Disney Company is not the same thing as the Disney brand. ESPN is the easiest example. Nobody watching SportsCenter is going to thing they're watching Disney-branded content even though most people know that Disney owns ESPN. The brands of Pixar, Marvel, Lucas, ABC, ESPN, and Disney are separate and distinct. It's Marvel's The Avengers, not Disney's The Avengers.

Except they aren't.

Disney whores all its BRANDS across multiple business units and on as many platforms as it can.

How can it not be Disney's Avengers when you can play Disney Infinity with Thor, Merida, Hulk, Sully, Mickey, Captain Jack, Stitch etc?

In the real world, it's the same. They are all toys in Disney's toybox. Sure, TWDC owns various BRANDS with Disney being just one. But that isn't how it is viewed by most people.

Nothing different than when ESPN comes to WDW for various events. It is all played up to get maximum exposure and attention for both ESPN and WDW P&R.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

And I think you're partially tone deaf.

Lucas can be argued much easier as, much like Pixar, a lot of Disney DNA has been involved in that BRAND and the IP has been in Disney parks globally since the mid-1980s.

Marvel?!? Not so much. Tonally, it fits perfect with UNI, which is why so many people love IOA's rides based on Spidey and the Hulk etc. It is darker and just doesn't mesh well with Pixie Dust and Princesses.

So Tony Stark, Frozone, Queen Elsa, and Rocket go club hopping. 3 bottles of Patron later.......

Now there's a Disney movie I want to see!

 

[VJ]

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/descendants-trailer-whos-the-baddest-one-of-117472913195.html

Trailer for Disney Channel's Descendants, about the teenage children of Disney villains. I'm not sure I like this...

 

[sshindel]

Paraguay? Been to dozens of countries, but that isn't one. What's it like there? Are you vacationing or down on business?

Visiting family (in-law) for a wedding. My wife's family is from here, only her folks made the move to the good old USA. I've spent the week treating the country as my own Fogo de Chao, eating until I'm sweating meat.
I wouldn't be surprised if more folks are coming here on business in the next 5 years. Our good friends in the UAE and Dubai seem to be dumping tons of cash into this place, skyscrapers going up like crazy. I've had lots of family telling me to move down due to this turning into a South American Silicon Valley. I'm not ready to kiss the good old US goodbye yet though.

As for the rest, I think that things are going to calm down a bit around here. I think that some messages were read, digested, and discussed, and hopefully our forums will become a kinder, more gentle place where all our dreams come true for our Disney Side or whatever the marketing folks are peddling these days.
While I disagree with your opinions about WDW being so stale there is nothing to discuss, I'll absolutely admit that topics outside of WDW are out of my wheelhouse. I wouldn't know one foreign Disney park from the other in a lineup. I try my best to let it be known when I'm talking about something I know about, or when I'm pulling things out of my posterior (or as I like to call it, just giving my opinion).

 

[AEfx]

Eisner's Disney always managed to hang onto that "aw shucks, house that Walt built" image that helped make a publicly traded, major media conglomerate seem like a down-home, ground up kind of operation.

Speaking of that era, I do daresay that Star Wars and Marvel are more appropriate to the "traditional" Disney audience than Bette Midler mouthing off with four-letter words, or movies about prostitutes and their johns.

 

[AEfx]

I never said any differently.

That's the point: that these BRANDS are now part of the overarching Disney BRAND and some folks, this Spirit amongst them, would argue that too much of a good thing waters down everything.

I am not the only one who feels this way. I've heard Wall Street chatter about BRANDS like ESPN and Marvel being more valuable as stand alones and not under The Weatherman's umbrella of BRANDS.

Fortunately for me, I really don't care what Wall Street thinks - I like good movies, and Disney is releasing them now, and raking in 100's of millions of dollars doing so which ensures we'll continue to get those films.

That's the definition of "WINNING!"