A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Next Big Thing]

You lost me at Six Flags.

Why does the coaster being at Six Flags have to have a negative connotation? You specifically said Hulk was the best steel coaster on the east coast. I disagree, as Bizarro is a much more intense and thrilling coaster. It also happens to be on the east coast.

It's a mega-coaster, standing 208 ft tall with a 221 ft drop that goes beneath the ground. Speed tops out close to 80 mph. Here's a quick ride through:

 

[PhotoDave219]

Why does the coaster being at Six Flags have to have a negative connotation? You specifically said Hulk was the best steel coaster on the east coast. I disagree, as Bizarro is a much more intense and thrilling coaster. It also happens to be on the east coast.

It's a mega-coaster, standing 208 ft tall with a 221 ft drop that goes beneath the ground. Here's a quick ride through:

It's 230 am. I don't feel like arguing.

Why does Six Flags have a negative connotation? Well for me, it has to do with a mix of Dan Snyder (previous owner), Mister Six (those awful commercials) and my experiences with a monkey trying to attack me at Six Flags great adventure in 1979.

Not sure why everyone else hates it.

However it's late and I want to watch some Dollywood videos.

 

[Next Big Thing]

It's 230 am. I don't feel like arguing.

Why does Six Flags have a negative connotation? Well for me, it has to do with a mix of Dan Snyder (previous owner), Mister Six (those awful commercials) and my experiences with a monkey trying to attack me at Six Flags great adventure in 1979.

Not sure why everyone else hates it.

However it's late and I want to watch some Dollywood videos.

I'm not arguing at all, I just sort of left a tongue in cheek comment and you seemingly dismissed it because of the simple fact that it's at a Six Flags.

Point is, you said something about Hulk being the best steel on the east coast. I countered. You dismissed because it's Six Flags. That's all that bothers me. Had you said "Best on the east coast that i've ridden", then that's a different story. But there are plenty of better coasters on the east coast better than Hulk. It's not like Hulk is themed any better than they are anyway. Carowinds alone probably has multiple that are better than Hulk imo.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm not arguing at all, I just sort of left a tongue in cheek comment and you seemingly dismissed it because of the simple fact that it's at a Six Flags.

Point is, you said something about Hulk being the best steel on the east coast. I countered. You dismissed because it's Six Flags. That's all that bothers me. Had you said "Best on the east coast that i've ridden", then that's a different story. But there are plenty of better coasters on the east coast better than Hulk. It's not like Hulk is themed any better than they are anyway. Carowinds alone probably has multiple that are better than Hulk imo.

I wanna ride the Roller Coaster in Smokey & the Bandit.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I wanna ride the Roller Coaster in Smokey & the Bandit.

Yeah, about that....

 

[Next Big Thing]

Because it immerses him in an experience, and he doesn't know that an E-ticket is the designation of the scope of an attraction, not a land.

Just saving you some time based on my interaction, LOL - he just doesn't understand that NFL is two C/D ticket attractions (depending on your opinion of the C/D rating scale) with some pretty landscaping thrown in.

Well, to be fair, people have argued that Diagon Alley proper is an E-ticket in itself so I can see where he's coming from. But Diagon vs. NFL.... It's not even close. Which one totally immerses you? Which one takes you out of the rest of the them park environment to make you feel transported? etc.

NFL is a nice addition, but it is no where near as immersive as Diagon is.

 

[Next Big Thing]

It does, doesnt it? But thats how I see it. Its a headliner attraction but its not super thrilling. Its a family ride.....

Hey, family rides can be E-Tickets. BTMRR and Space are both E's, but they are both firmly family coasters.

 

[marni1971]

Much like how Euro Disney shuttered Newport Bay Club for a few winters early in the resort's history, if I'm not mistaken.

Yep, Newport Bay was closed for winter 1992-3.

 

[MarkTwain]

I've been checked out for a bit but I wanted to chime in on the Marvel/Black Widow debate, because it's a good one. Regardless if you care about whether sexism has prevented Marvel from making a stand-alone film with a female lead, or even whether you care about Marvel films at all... the situation says a LOT about how Disney views its consumers, and how they feel they ought to be managing the Disney and Marvel brands.

Here's a really thought-provoking (and somewhat alarming) article from a Marvel insider:

http://www.themarysue.com/invisible-women/

Editor’s Note: The author of this piece is a former Marvel employee and wishes to remain anonymous.

Disney does not care about Marvel’s female market, which makes us virtually invisible. I could probably populate Pluto with the amount of Princess items Disney makes. But where are Gamora and Black Widow? This exclusion of women from Marvel movie merchandise is completely purposeful. I know; I was there.

...

While working at Marvel post-acquisition, I saw a deck circulated by Disney’s Brand Marketing team. I’m prohibited from sharing the slides, but the takeaway is that, unlike the actual demos, the desired demographics had no females in it whatsoever. I asked my supervisor why that was. Ever the pragmatist, he said, “That’s not why Disney bought us. They already have the girls’ market on lockdown.”

I’d entered the comics industry because I was a comics fan. It hurt to see so plainly that to Disney, people like me didn’t matter. My demographic was already giving them money anyway, with Disney Princess purchases. Even now, there’s no incentive to make more Marvel merch for women, because we already buy Brave and Frozen products.

The article makes it clear that Disney doesn't make Marvel movies or products that appeal to women or girls, because, frankly, that's not the business they're in. Disney bought Marvel for one reason only: to secure the boys' market that eluded them for so long.

While undoubtedly a successful move with impressive results, this attitude does a major disservice to the countless female fans of the movies (go to a big Marvel movie opening night or even a convention and see how many women are there), and frankly, it is a bit sexist. It is likely a business mistake as well - Disney is expressing no interest in a major potential market.

It also shows how much Disney has demographically segmented its portfolio of brands, some of which are huge and have very long history in themselves. Disney acquired a 76-year-old company, with thousands of publications attracting a wide audience, and reduced it to its "brand for young boys." That shows a major disrespect to the more nuanced aspects of the brand's history, and the attempts it has made to attract other audiences.

Maybe we should be asking what other brands Disney is doing with. Do they respect Star Wars' female fans as well? What about ESPN's? They exist, but do they care?

All rhetorical questions, but they ask a bigger one... Does Disney even accept the idea of a brand or product that reaches a truly wide audience? Where do Disney parks fit in? Can Disney still design an attraction that appeals to the whole family, or are we stuck with plastic sing-along rides for kids and alcohol stands for the parents?

Sorry for the ramble. In short, knowing demographics are important, but it shouldn't come at the expense of shutting out major portions of your business.

 

[flynnibus]

I want top know her backstory

Nah, we just want more about her back.. side

 

[flynnibus]

Ironic, since if you were watching ABC, you could have seen this:

Is that supposed to make me want to see the show? Because it doesn't...

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Was reading an article about how Memphis was already looking to expand it's new riverboat terminal docks for the oncoming onslaught of new passenger vessels with Viking looking to put up to 12 boats on the Mississippi with 6 of them coming in the next 4 years and thought maybe Disney Cruise Lines should get in on the fun with a paddleboat geared to kids cause none of the existing or upcoming boats have any thought toward that.

 

[Kingoglow]

I'd say Black Widow is a strong female character. I want top know her backstory. I want to see her as a female assassin. I want to see how she became who she is.

The already gave us her origin story in MARVEL'S Agent Carter. The story has been done before and the truth is that Black Widow's lore is not very compelling to begin with. A movie about her would end up being a another Jason Borne movie.

MARVEL did a great job introducing her in Iron Man 2 and pulling her along into the avengers but I just don't see audiences lining up to see MARVEL'S super spy kill an unknown politician in an unheard of country just because he is a bad guy.

Captan Marvel is the answer to all of this; the bombastic female audience just has to wait for now.

I have noticed that the group that is bemoaning a lack of female super-hero movies is (not surprising) quiet on the topic of Disney Prince movies.

 

[Kingoglow]

Meh. That was..... eh.

No disagreement here but that IS in fact her story. And we can all see why that wouldn't make a good movie.


EDIT: and on the topic of the Iron Man toy being sold with the motorcycle, I would argue that, in the lore, tony Stark probably built that bike, so it is 'his' motorcycle. I just wanted to toss this out there.

 

[WildcatDen]

Give me a break. If anyone want to praise Dollywood for it's creative energy and outright beauty it's best to say it to someone that has never been to both Disney and Dollywood. The difference will take your breath away and not in a positive way. It is a once and done park for me. Before anyone sends out a hit squad after me, I know many people find it quaint and charming. Fine, I won't try and stop you from going there.

I think you missed the underlying message behind my madness. . . You glossed over the fact that my post had no "Wood" behind "Dolly".


That last phrase may be physically impossible? 20 years ago?

 

[Kingoglow]

My last thought for now about the sexism debate.

I think the easiest solution to pull all sides together would be to campaign for Disney to lighten up on (or stop altogether) the princess movie franchises. That is what is causing all the stress on the boy vs girl debate. As mentioned elsewhere here, Disney is too lopsided on the little girl demographic and needs to bring in little boys. That is what the pirates franchise and Jake the Neverland Pirate were suppose to do, but Disney has done a really c-rappy job of bring those franchises into the theme park experience (certainly not to the extent of the princesses). If they stopped with the friggin princess movies and let go of some of the branding around them then we could have a world with female MARVEL fans and female Star Wars fans.

As it is now, as long as they continue to push out new princess movie after new princess movie with balancing out the male element, everyone will continue to feel like there are significant demographic segments being ignored.

But we all know that Disney will never let go of that nut. And as a result Disney will continue to suffer at the lack of interest from boys and therefore as a result girls will continue to suffer with feeling ignored in the new MARVEL and Star Wars marketing.

The Captan Marvel movie is still a long way away.

 

[Hakunamatata]

My last thought for now about the sexism debate.

I think the easiest solution to pull all sides together would be to campaign for Disney to lighten up on (or stop altogether) the princess movie franchises. That is what is causing all the stress on the boy vs girl debate. As mentioned elsewhere here, Disney is too lopsided on the little girl demographic and needs to bring in little boys. That is what the pirates franchise and Jake the Neverland Pirate were suppose to do, but Disney has done a really c-rappy job of bring those franchises into the theme park experience (certainly not to the extent of the princesses). If they stopped with the friggin princess movies and let go of some of the branding around them then we could have a world with female MARVEL fans and female Star Wars fans.

As it is now, as long as they continue to push out new princess movie after new princess movie with balancing out the male element, everyone will continue to feel like there are significant demographic segments being ignored.

But we all know that Disney will never let go of that nut. And as a result Disney will continue to suffer at the lack of interest from boys and therefore as a result girls will continue to suffer with feeling ignored in the new MARVEL and Star Wars marketing.

The Captan Marvel movie is still a long way away.

How about we let market forces drive what Disney produces and not attempt to socio-engineer an end result.

 

[culturenthrills]

I've been checked out for a bit but I wanted to chime in on the Marvel/Black Widow debate, because it's a good one. Regardless if you care about whether sexism has prevented Marvel from making a stand-alone film with a female lead, or even whether you care about Marvel films at all... the situation says a LOT about how Disney views its consumers, and how they feel they ought to be managing the Disney and Marvel brands.

Here's a really thought-provoking (and somewhat alarming) article from a Marvel insider:

http://www.themarysue.com/invisible-women/




The article makes it clear that Disney doesn't make Marvel movies or products that appeal to women or girls, because, frankly, that's not the business they're in. Disney bought Marvel for one reason only: to secure the boys' market that eluded them for so long.

While undoubtedly a successful move with impressive results, this attitude does a major disservice to the countless female fans of the movies (go to a big Marvel movie opening night or even a convention and see how many women are there), and frankly, it is a bit sexist. It is likely a business mistake as well - Disney is expressing no interest in a major potential market.

It also shows how much Disney has demographically segmented its portfolio of brands, some of which are huge and have very long history in themselves. Disney acquired a 76-year-old company, with thousands of publications attracting a wide audience, and reduced it to its "brand for young boys." That shows a major disrespect to the more nuanced aspects of the brand's history, and the attempts it has made to attract other audiences.

Maybe we should be asking what other brands Disney is doing with. Do they respect Star Wars' female fans as well? What about ESPN's? They exist, but do they care?

All rhetorical questions, but they ask a bigger one... Does Disney even accept the idea of a brand or product that reaches a truly wide audience? Where do Disney parks fit in? Can Disney still design an attraction that appeals to the whole family, or are we stuck with plastic sing-along rides for kids and alcohol stands for the parents?

Sorry for the ramble. In short, knowing demographics are important, but it shouldn't come at the expense of shutting out major portions of your business.

[/QUOTE]

It just goes to show you how stupid they are. One of the reasons why comic book movies are as successful as they are now is because women are going to them. Go to any comic con and it is mind blowing how many women are there compared to 5-10 years ago. Women are the largest growing segment of this market. Disney is ignoring this demographic at there own peril. I see so many young women walking around with Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn apparel. They should have had a whole line of Black Widow and Scarlett Witch apparel at Hot Topic or another retailer. But that wouldn't fit in there BRANDS plan.

 

[MKCP 1985]

Was reading an article about how Memphis was already looking to expand it's new riverboat terminal docks for the oncoming onslaught of new passenger vessels with Viking looking to put up to 12 boats on the Mississippi with 6 of them coming in the next 4 years and thought maybe Disney Cruise Lines should get in on the fun with a paddleboat geared to kids cause none of the existing or upcoming boats have any thought toward that.

In my humble opinion, that would dilute the brand. Memphis needs Disney a whole lot more than Disney needs Memphis or any other Mississippi River port, I would think.

Now a Frozen Alaska cruise on the other hand . . . shoot me now. :lol

 

[Katie G]

Except you are glossing over this 'accomodation' we just highlighted as the major differentiator of this property vs other deluxe properties.. hence justifying the delta. I was highlighting how that conveniently worked one way and how the company that supposedly is known for it's customer service did squat for those impacted unless you made a stink about it. For a four diamond hotel.. I should not have to complain to get that elevated customer service that is expected of a hotel of that caliber.

I suggest you take a closer look at what has been happening at the Poly recently... additionally the monorail service changes were NOT advertised far in advance and have been dynamic at periods over the last two years. What Disney is good at is allowing you to be re-homed if you complain... but the Poly is a good example of where Disney didn't put customer service first and instead opt'd to wing it and just deal with the complainers as they came up.

Did you stay at the poly during construction? Poly was proactive recovery (many things were done without the guests asking for it), Monorails were reactive (done if it caused a problem for the guest). I happen to know that rooms were reclassified as Standard when previously they would have received a premium for location/view. Effectively reducing the rate during construction. Also, Poly was given many promotional discounts as well as Water Park tickets because the themed pool was down. The quiet pool was still available and access to neighboring themed pools was available. Not as convenient, sure, but guests were informed online prior to making reservations, through multiple emails after reservations were made, and guests that had reservations before the refurb was announced were contacted and given recovery.

Regarding the monorail, downtimes were advertised as soon as the teams knew when it was happening. Downtimes are restricted to mid-week, during the middle of the day when the lowest volume of guests use it. Both monorails are not down at the same time, so if the express isn't working, then the resort one is. Downtimes are suspended during peak weeks like spring break, Easter, and summer. If it was shut down completely for as long as it would take to update, people would complain that it isn't available at all. Every major technology asset has to be taken out of service for a time, and Disney tries to be the least impactful as possible and help guests who are impacted.