A Spirited Perfect Ten

Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Right now, Disney's own advance team isn't being allowed access to the SDL site at all
Click to expand...

Funny-gif-Bruce-Lee-laughing.gif
 
Iwerks64

Iwerks64

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Just had some interesting information cross my cyber-desk as the sun rises on a Monday -- but not just any Monday for Robert A. Iger and The Walt Disney Company -- in the Far East.

Thanks to a kind stranger (yet one who has been thoroughly vetted) I have the week's plans for the Iger/Burbank Delegation in China as they attempt to open what's billed as the world's largest Disney Store (I'm thinking chain store here and not World of Disney size), premiere Tomorrowland (in a country where star George Clooney has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese leadership and their human rights record) and do a site tour/staged event out at the Shanghai Disneyland Resort.

Now, I could simply place it all out here. I don't get the idea my source cares one bit if it gets traced back to them, and it is sure to at this point. But I'd rather just wait ... and see, see just how bad the relationship between Disney/Iger and Shendi/the CCP really is at this juncture. Because it sure seems like Disney is going to need a miracle from Walt to pull this one off -- looking like Disney has ANY say or control of 'its' resort in the mainland.

So, I'm going to wait and see what happens ... it should be very telling, as if the past six years haven't been.
Right now, Disney's own advance team isn't being allowed access to the SDL site at all (you'll never read that in the WSJ -- please, someone here send an email to Ben Fritz. Not that he'll do anything, but it's always good to know you called someone out on being in the pocket of the company they cover.) after Disney's ABC News division sent a crew to the resort this week (pre-arranged) to get footage and interviews for the big 'coming out week' and was summarily sent packing in a very hostile fashion.
Click to expand...

Well, absolutely nothing in the local news here in China the past few days regarding this amazing visit, opening the largest Disney store or anything regarding the movie Tomorrowland. Nothing.

If they are truly being denied access to the site, that is extremely telling. I built a large JV factory and operated an engineering center for many years on the road that will soon be renamed Disneyland Avenue. I would not be surprised that if I asked a few of my local contacts for a tour of the site that I'd get one.

I'll be here all week @WDW1974, feel free to PM me Bob's itinerary. I'll see if I'm around his locale.

On a side note, I did get over to HKDL yesterday for a very relaxing visit. I'll try to find time between meetings to post a trip report.
 
NearTheEars

NearTheEars

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Lou Mongello is WDW's No. 1 BRAND Advocate. No, he isn't paid a salary by TWDC. But he is given freebies left and right, and lies completely that he has never taken anything from them.

But it's a mutual relationship and Disney gets someone who has a cult following akin to a Jim Jones. They allow him all sorts of special access to help his site get more clicks, which in turn allows him to sell more products and makes him wealthier. Both sides intimately know what they are doing, what they are getting from the relationship. ... And I know lawyers who wouldn't do what Lou has. My gut says he was a small-time ambulance chaser that wasn't exactly making it as an attorney. I feel quite safe in saying that Lou's empire brings him six figures every year after taxes (if he pay them and all!)



Morgan was/is a small-time Lifestyler. I recall her talking about Disney Security 'stalking' her and her child through DD when she first started selling those band covers. She is of zero importance to TDO and the CP Social Media Cabal. That's why they don't invite her to things and why she wasn't allowed to continue her little business venture, which I said wouldn't last here on the boards and it apparently hurt her feelings. Who know Lifestylers even had feelings?
Click to expand...

Has Lou ever come out and publicly denied getting freebies? Or are you saying it's more of lying by omission?
Because he posts plenty of photos and videos of the free food he gobbles up at the preview events. He doesn't hide that at all.

But he also doesn't post about his bill for airfare and accommodations at Aulani, which I'm sure we know who picked up the tab on that.

I don't see what the big deal would be for him to get officially put on payroll. I think he'd still continue to grow his following. Heck, it might be even greater if he was the official podcast of WDW.

I don't think people trust him because they believe him to be some independent source of WDW info. So why not just set him up in the real WDW radio studio at DHS and call it a day?
 
ItlngrlBella

ItlngrlBella

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Right now, Disney's own advance team isn't being allowed access to the SDL site at all (you'll never read that in the WSJ -- please, someone here send an email to Ben Fritz. Not that he'll do anything, but it's always good to know you called someone out on being in the pocket of the company they cover.) after Disney's ABC News division sent a crew to the resort this week (pre-arranged) to get footage and interviews for the big 'coming out week' and was summarily sent packing in a very hostile fashion.
Click to expand...

I hope it doesn't end as badly for Iger as it did for a family I know that owned a business there - they were basically held hostage within the factory for 2 weeks by vendors and their own employees. They escaped during the night in the trunk of a car:

http://www.ptonline.com/blog/post/w...-to-western-companies-doing-business-in-china

Insane.
 
Last edited:
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
ItlngrlBella said:
Still can't get it.
China totally thinks I'm a b----.
Click to expand...

...... Ive got a lot of comedy. All of it would get @The Mom very disappointed with me. @wdwmagic would probably find it hilarious but wouldn't admit it. @Eeyore Would try to smack me upside the head for dealing with Steve's laughter. Suffice to say, write your own humor.

Here's the article....

WALT Disney Co’s first retail store in China — the biggest in the world — will open in the Pudong New Area on Wednesday.

More than 2,000 Disney products, including clothing, smartphone covers, stationery and bags, will be sold in the Shanghai store at 180 Fenghe Road in Lujiazui.

The store’s opening is part of the run-up to the opening of the Shanghai Disney Resort in the spring of 2016 — the first Disney theme park on China’s mainland.

It will contain a 5.8-meter high mock-up of the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland castle at its entrance, said Disney.

The Tsum Tsum Plush Collection, the most popular Disney toy range sold globally, will also be stocked in the new Shanghai store, said Disney officials.

Prices of products will range from about 20 yuan (US$3.2) to more than 1,000 yuan, it was reported yesterday.

Prices are generally about 20-50 yuan more expensive than in Hong Kong and Tokyo Disney shops, thepaper.cn reported.

The shopping experience will also be interactive.

A three-minute show with clips of Disney movie classics will be shown on screens in the store every hour, when lights will be dimmed.

Favorite Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck and Pluto were suspended from the ceiling in hot air balloons.

There will also be a Marvel section where visitors can see hand-made sculptures of some Marvel characters such as Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America, said officials.

In front of the store will be an outdoor square, featuring flowerbeds in the shapes of iconic Disney images.

The store will be open daily from 10am to 10pm.
Click to expand...

You can translate the article from language to language.... but culture doesnt translate at all.
 
Iwerks64

Iwerks64

Well-Known Member
the English language newspapers in China are a hoot. Obviously written for the expat community with a heavy dose of CCP propaganda thrown in. I can always count on an article about how evil and aggressive Japan is, how China is cracking down on corruption, how the USA is falling behind China in education and how China is cleaning up pollution.

I'd be curious if there is any coverage of Disney in the tune lcal Chinese media.
 
L

Longhairbear

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
Spirited Shoutout to Zenia Mucha:

It would seem that Bob Iger's muscle and mouth is a large part of the problems that Disney is encountering in China. Would you actually believe that people in power there simply don't like the woman?

Well, they really, really, really don't like her. But, please, fanbois, don't tell her that when you hang out with her in August at the D23 Expo (she'll be there in the back with Iger's $1 million plus a year security detail). At this point, they just let her in the country because it is easier than not doing so.

But since her voice and her machinations are seen by Shendi as de facto Bob Iger, she has become a huge liability. This isn't New York politics. It's not Hollywood politics either. And she is waaaay out of her league. People in leadership never thought much of Bob because he comes off as a white-bread (dare I say vanilla?) manager and managers are replaceable. He's not a character like a Michael Eisner or a Sumner Redstone or a Rupert Murdoch and while he wants the stage, it just doesn't seem like he belongs on it (sort of like @Lee singing heavy metal instead of showtunes ... not natural!)

More than anything, she perpetuates the 'tone deafness' of the WDC in its dealings over there. When Shendi ... or should I say, the CCP? ... makes a decision over there she does not get that it is made. Final. Not open to debate. Right or wrong. Good or bad. Her 'difficult' persona, which may work like a charm when intimidating media into ignoring stories in the US press or Anaheim officials into keeping quiet about Disney's role as a giant slum-lord in the city, isn't scary at all to party officials. She is ignored. She is irrelevant.

So, you know what that makes Bob (because Zenia is the one with the balls in the relationship). She is Bob. And if she is ignored and irrelevant ... c'mon, I don't have to connect those dots for you, do I?

Many people view her as a problem over there, but in truth (and not to be fair to the woman because I can't stand her) that's a brutal oversimplification of the depth of the problems Disney is having over there. As I write this, knowing that Bob Iger was originally was planning on cutting the ribbon to SDL about now and not a retail outpost, it boggles the mind to think that a castle park and two modest hotels and a small shopping district will take over five years from groundbreaking to welcoming its first Guest ... all in a country where massive cities are built in less time.
Click to expand...
Giant slum lord! Well, that explains stuff that was hinted to my hubby and I way back in the early 2000's. Those hinted at gems were part of the general conversation about Disney owning a few hotels in the area, some that sit right next door to DLR. Another of the insinuations made at the time was that there was a possibility of a neighborhood or two in the property portfolio. That conversation came up around the time DTD was being built, and whether or not the DTD parking lot might engulf some houses nearby....We were astonished at such a tall tale at the time. Now I'm not so sure.
 
L

Longhairbear

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
I am VERY worried about the trees that buffer the current Villas from Bay Lake. I don't want the Villas to suddenly have lake views. And I love that pool. If I were the type of Spirit who would simply drive over to a resort and illegally and immorally steal pool use without paying for it, then you can be sure that is where I would do so. Those trees need to stay and the cabins can go in between the current Villas Pool and the beach.

Talked to Angie a while ago and she is sorta regretting our purchase of points there. I am trying to talk her down. But we were planning on staying there for Christmas (well, early December) of 2016 and now she is worried about it being a massive construction zone a la the Poly of late. I suppose we could go to Aulani instead ...
Click to expand...
Wilderness is our home base also. We haven't been back in years, with no trips planned in the near future. (We use our points here in California, next trip late June)
By the time we do get back to Wilderness, the cabins will have been been there a while.
 
bhg469

bhg469

Well-Known Member
1023 said:
Guys.... Please no spoilers.... I haven't watched the second half of the season on purpose. I am going to binge it next weekend....

*1023*
Click to expand...
I promise that's not giving anything away. I respect that everyone here can't watch right away. But it's good!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom