A Spirited Perfect Ten

[TalkingHead]

Did y'all read the 25th anniversary story on UNI penned by Soup & Salad Sandra? I was wondering if she ran the thing by Disney's Celebration Place cubicle dwellers first because while UNI got praise she made sure to let us all know that Disney wasn't resting on its laurels (believe me, if anyone checked Disney's backside, there would be rot from the bedsores created for doing just that for well over a decade!)

But what bothered me (I feel like using the word 'rankled' for some reason) most is S & S Sandy was very much playing loosey goosey with the facts. First, Fantasyland isn't new anymore. It's not. Most of it opened by 2012. It's 2015. Sorta like the way EE was advertised as new in 2010 when it opened four years earlier. She was crowing about a new Frozen attraction coming to EPCOT, neglecting to mention that it was replacing something not in addition to (like say Kong or Volcano Bay). And, like Disney fanbois, she was including the makeover to a failing Lifestyle center (and, yes, when almost a third of your mall is closed and behind planters, you are not succeeding) in her narrative.

Oh, she also mentioned a makeover to The Corpse of the Disney-MGM Studios, even though Disney hasn't said a word about it. Only people labeled as 'insiders' by others -- yours truly considered one -- have suggested that anything is ever happening at the troubled fourth gate.

I can't read it online, because it's behind the OS paywall (paying for the Sentinel's content warrants a ).

But it's not surprising that the story was slanted that way. Mickey is untouchable in the Orlando economy. The Sentinel's reporters have always treated WDW with kid gloves, so I'm not surprised that Sandra was knighting up for the pixie dust.

I'm surprised she didn't mention Avatar is "coming soon" (in a mere two years!) -- even Potter in Hollywood is opening before then (next spring). I guess it takes time to achieve blue cat-people attraction greatness.

Speaking of Avatar, I stumbled across the official Avatar Twitter page today. Evidently, it's main purpose is to teach you "Avatar" language (what is that, Navi'ian or some garbage)? Side note: Oh my gosh, the weirdos who are going to show up for the grand opening should make for some incredible people watching.

Anyway, the lolz part is Avatar's official page has 29k followers. That's 29,000.

By way of comparison, the official Harry Potter page has 1.72 million followers. Only 1.69 million more than Avatar. That's a crude metric, but I was shocked. I thought Avatar would have had a bigger online presence. Even the news this week that HP would be involved with creating some digital world with Avatar seemed to land with a thud. The comments I read were pretty dismissive and more along the lines of, "Huh?"

Is Iger gonna still be around when this thing opens?

 

[ItlngrlBella]

The Castle float did die though, didn't it?

I remember that float from when I was in high school. Yikes it's old. Yes - it was just used last week when they had the IPW or whatever it was (international travel show). They had Anna and Elsa waving goodbye to guests as they left the provate party.
I think WDW dragged everything out old and new - that night.

 

[FigmentFreak]

Just stay away from the men's room...

Now that would be a cool themed bathroom.

 

[WDW1974]

Why isn't Universal Celebrating Universal25 Tomorrow? Why is only a local fan group celebrating it?

I would suggest that big celebrations for anniversaries has been a Disney thing. I could still have argued for a 25th celebration (even just for summer) at UNI, but I get why they didn't. They don't play on the past, that's a Disney strength.

But when you see the effort Disney is putting into Anaheim's 60th, it does make you wonder why WDW has been ignoring anniversaries since the never-ending 25th. Yes, they did 10O Years of Walt instead of a 30th. But have since ignored the 35th and 40th, as well as EPCOT's 25th (the one that should have been big) and 30th and DAK's 10th.

No, they won't ignore the 50th. I know that for a fact. But the 45th next year? Some pins, vinyls and cupcakes unless they add the Wishes replacement. Even if so, I don't see a 45th marketing celebration.

 

[asianway]

They are both inexcusable. A 1972 parade that debuted in the MK in 1977, went away in 1991, came back in 1999 (in the form of DL's parade, which glowed away forever until Cynthia and George in desperation brought it back to DCA in 2001) etc etc. It is embarrassing when you think about it. And the amazing parades in Asia and California.

And the Studios not having a parade? I won't remind people of a time when new parades debuted there almost annually with the release of a new Disney or Pixar animated film. Nope. Not in an age where they won't offer one ... and are offering a stage show that played in DL for about 18 months and has been at WDW for over two decades.

Rubes, it's the rubes I tell ya ... but, not really. It's a combination. A perfect storm really!

Dreamlights is getting a new Rapunzel float and refreshing 6 units in less than a month

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

The Castle float did die though, didn't it?

It was brought out the other day for a brief Frozen segment on the 24 hour event.

 

[TalkingHead]

But when you see the effort Disney is putting into Anaheim's 60th, it does make you wonder why WDW has been ignoring anniversaries since the never-ending 25th. Yes, they did 10O Years of Walt instead of a 30th. But have since ignored the 35th and 40th, as well as EPCOT's 25th (the one that should have been big) and 30th and DAK's 10th.

No, they won't ignore the 50th. I know that for a fact. But the 45th next year? Some pins, vinyls and cupcakes unless they add the Wishes replacement. Even if so, I don't see a 45th marketing celebration.

Don't you think it's due to a combination of "once in a lifetime" guests for whom anniversaries don't matter, and the diehard annual guests who don't need an anniversary excuse to visit? How much additional business would the resort do by celebrating the 40th or the 45th?

 

[WDW1974]

When will Disney Quest close?

When they are ready to close it. ... Seriously, I don't know.
I know Fulton's is closing as well, but nothing is imminent.

 

[Mike S]

I don't think you have to like Nintendo to appreciate this. Someone took models from various Zelda games to make an animated short and I have to say I absolutely love it

I wonder, would Universal go after movie rights as well? Just a thought.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

@WDW1974 Do you have any updated information about the fate of the Osborne Lights? I know you said last year was probably its last performance (at least at SoA), but with the start date for the DHS overhaul no doubt delayed (if it ever begins), what is the current intention with regards to showing the lights again?

 

[PhotoDave219]

Spirited Monday Musings:

I sat down here thinking I'd put out some interesting tidbits about Disney ... and I am struggling. WDW?!! I don't know what can be said. That the Harambe Marketplace was well done? Other than SQ issues with Disco Yeti, tree removal and needing more expansion, this IS the park for me when it comes to visiting WDW. Still cohesive, still true to its mission statement, still overflowing with detail. I've even heard that @WDWFigment has come around, although I fear he still enjoys the MK greatly (or maybe he says that because it helps his BRAND?)

That DQ is being bounced for the NBA. That landed like a brick here (BTW, I know I should be interested in the Finals, but Golden State and Cleveland just doesn't make my toes tingle). I suppose it is the same forgone conclusion that brought Pleasure Island down.

I have yet to hear one comment about Inside Out that hasn't been effusive. That's great to hear because the Pixar braintrust has created the best films Disney has put out under any banner over the last 20 years and their last three efforts, while quality (yep, even Cars 2), have been well under the bar they set for themselves. Angie wants me to wait for her to see it at the El Capitan. I don't think that's going to happen.

Did y'all read the 25th anniversary story on UNI penned by Soup & Salad Sandra? I was wondering if she ran the thing by Disney's Celebration Place cubicle dwellers first because while UNI got praise she made sure to let us all know that Disney wasn't resting on its laurels (believe me, if anyone checked Disney's backside, there would be rot from the bedsores created for doing just that for well over a decade!)

But what bothered me (I feel like using the word 'rankled' for some reason) most is S & S Sandy was very much playing loosey goosey with the facts. First, Fantasyland isn't new anymore. It's not. Most of it opened by 2012. It's 2015. Sorta like the way EE was advertised as new in 2010 when it opened four years earlier. She was crowing about a new Frozen attraction coming to EPCOT, neglecting to mention that it was replacing something not in addition to (like say Kong or Volcano Bay). And, like Disney fanbois, she was including the makeover to a failing Lifestyle center (and, yes, when almost a third of your mall is closed and behind planters, you are not succeeding) in her narrative.

Oh, she also mentioned a makeover to The Corpse of the Disney-MGM Studios, even though Disney hasn't said a word about it. Only people labeled as 'insiders' by others -- yours truly considered one -- have suggested that anything is ever happening at the troubled fourth gate.

In other words, she was doing PR for the Mouse mixed in with her bigger PR push for UNI. Like I keep saying, journalism today is a joke. That is why no one asks questions about Disney and China, who would do the asking?

Seems to be so much excitement in the SoCal theme park market, even beyond Anaheim, versus Central Florida right now. Part of that, no doubt, is that there is nothing like Diagon Alley debuting this summer. And part of it is Disney is still selling the BRAND and not an increasingly crappy (overall) product. Just another long hot summer here ... and the beat goes on.

Speaking of which, Disney's PR machine is still working OT to get 'surge pricing' out and into everyone's daily lexicon. Gee, I don't wonder why.

Just a hunch, but I see DCL's new ships coming aboard in 2021 and 2023.

Couple Thoughts. I'm enjoying the hell out of Golden State - Cleveland although I don't think @OSUgirl77 is convinced.

I'm excited for Inside Out. Hopefully this means Pixar is back to its old self.

Read Sandra's story for Uni's 25th. I really dont see Disney reacting to Universal at all, like that one quote alleges. Sounds like a daily story, rather than an in-depth analysis of what Disney is up to and their crowds. I like her and have noting against her, though I would like to see more in-depth pieces.

The Studios? Well despite them being my whipping boy and a really crappy first 5 months, SWW is pulling crowds and the data is showing that the Studios have been busier than the other parks on those days. They've had as many peak crowd days this month as they did in all of May. We'll see what trend continues here as the summer goes on, though they seem in lock-step with the resort as a whole right now, which has been slammed the past two weeks.

Here's a really fun question. Len makes his crowd data available to anyone for a subscription basis, like many other research companies. Why am I the only person looking at that as some sort of a metric as to how busy Disney is and where the people go? There has to be more than a cursory glance at the numbers, more than just lip-service to the TEA numbers. None of them mean much but they are indicators of whats going on.

As for surge-pricing? Thats just a surge into your wallet and going to be an guest service nightmare if they pull that baloney.

 

[WDW1974]

Don't you think it's due to a combination of "once in a lifetime" guests for whom anniversaries don't matter, and the diehard annual guests who don't need an anniversary excuse to visit? How much additional business would the resort do by celebrating the 40th or the 45th?

A combo of that mixed with a very heavy dose of COST.

You can't celebrate the MK's 40th or EPCOT's 30th by doing nothing (well, they can and did ... but you know where I am going). If you have a year-long (or with Disney an 18-24 month) marketing celebration, then you absolutely need something to tie it to. If New Fantasyland was finished in 2011 and they began the new parade then and added a new pyro show and decorations, then they could have done a '40 Years of Fantasy' campaign, even simply MK centric (it is the only park that old, after all).

But these things cost a lot. That's why Disney always extends them now 'due to Guest demand' ... that's why the wand stayed and the BAH stayed and The Year of a Million Dreams became The Two Years of Two Million Dreams etc. Look at how much Disney is spending on the 60th without adding ANY new attractions (even if the Luigi's replacement opens at DCA before the celebration is over).

You still have a pricey new pyro show with projections in multiple locations (not simply castle-centric). You have a new night parade (even if they just made two of HKDL's Paint the Night and added a few extra floats for DL). You have a new WoC show at DCA. You have major redos/plussing of major classic DL attractions. You have the decor package all over the resort.

Disney may be cheap as a company, but they didn't go cheap on DL's 60th.

Do I think that celebrating WDW's 45th next year with a big marketing event would draw additional visitors? Absolutely. But I doubt that matters. Unless there is a major change in mindset, anniversaries in FL will be largely ignored.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It was brought out the other day for a brief Frozen segment on the 24 hour event.

It seems to be the ultimate "Spare" float. Never know when youre going to need it.

 

[WDW1974]

@WDW1974 Do you have any updated information about the fate of the Osborne Lights? I know you said last year was probably its last performance (at least at SoA), but with the start date for the DHS overhaul no doubt delayed (if it ever begins), what is the current intention with regards to showing the lights again?

I don't even ask anymore because it keeps changing. I'm almost certain they will be shown this year. I'd be shocked if they weren't. That's as far as I'll go. I think it will be year to year at this point.

 

[PhotoDave219]

A combo of that mixed with a very heavy dose of COST.

You can't celebrate the MK's 40th or EPCOT's 30th by doing nothing (well, they can and did ... but you know where I am going). If you have a year-long (or with Disney an 18-24 month) marketing celebration, then you absolutely need something to tie it to. If New Fantasyland was finished in 2011 and they began the new parade then and added a new pyro show and decorations, then they could have done a '40 Years of Fantasy' campaign, even simply MK centric (it is the only park that old, after all).

But these things cost a lot. That's why Disney always extends them now 'due to Guest demand' ... that's why the wand stayed and the BAH stayed and The Year of a Million Dreams became The Two Years of Two Million Dreams etc. Look at how much Disney is spending on the 60th without adding ANY new attractions (even if the Luigi's replacement opens at DCA before the celebration is over).

You still have a pricey new pyro show with projections in multiple locations (not simply castle-centric). You have a new night parade (even if they just made two of HKDL's Paint the Night and added a few extra floats for DL). You have a new WoC show at DCA. You have major redos/plussing of major classic DL attractions. You have the decor package all over the resort.

Disney may be cheap as a company, but they didn't go cheap on DL's 60th.

Do I think that celebrating WDW's 45th next year with a big marketing event would draw additional visitors? Absolutely. But I doubt that matters. Unless there is a major change in mindset, anniversaries in FL will be largely ignored.

YOAMD was the last successful Disney Marketing campaign IMO. The rest? Seems like failed intern ideas. Limited Time Magic was a JOKE and this "Show Your Disney Side" is just meh.

 

[ChrisFL]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's another SWW in December when the new film opens

 

[AEfx]

There is a difference between growing a company naturally or organically and simply acquiring product. I don't get why this is such a hard concept to understand.

People start bringing up IP that wasn't Disney going back to Walt's days, from Snow White to Pooh to Poppins to Jungle Book. The difference is Walt 'Disneyfied' the IP, often changing it drastically. Read those Grimm fairy tales and then see a Disney fairy tale.

There is nothing at all wrong with adding great content producers. But when you basically do so by giving up your ability to make products that grow your BRAND, it isn't a long term recipe for success.

I think you don't understand it because you don't want you, honestly.

By "Disneyfing" everything, they inherently limited the audience of their output.

It also is something that in the creative community is seen as a pejorative, something that made Disney such a limited brand in the past. Once you are ten years old you grew out of it, until you had kids under 10 yourself, who then get past ten years old and move on, rinse, repeat. Sure, there were a few things that crossed-over to a larger audience, but they were the exception, not the rule. Even among the more general public, by and large the "Disney" brand was only seen as for children and more specifically the crass commercialization of childhood.

Companies can't stay stagnant and grow. Eventually, you hit that ceiling. It's like arguing that Apple should have just stopped at iPod. Hey, you own the iPod market (far more successful than their computers ever were which had single digit market share) - that's your BRAND (since we seemingly need to capitalize that word). Don't make an iPhone or an iPad and expand your audience, you'd be going against what you are known for.

I think you have a very skewed perspective of what the Disney BRAND means to people outside of the Super Lifestyler circles (you know, people that plan to fly literally to the other side of the world to attend a theme park opening, particularly a park that is rejected on principle and who's management is considered such an offensive affront - that's a rarified circle, hardly typical of even most Disney fans, let alone 99.999999% of the consumers of their product).

Disney built this massive, cohesive factory for managing IP. It was only natural to expand to use that factory for IP that appealed to different demographics. It's like they invented the perfect assembly line process to make kid's shoes. A smart business person realizes, "Hey, this process is so well done and solid on it's own - why do we only make kid shoes? Why are we ignoring the rest of the market?"

It doesn't need to take anything away from what Disney already does. They haven't stopped producing what they are known for, they simply are offering some differently aimed and branded product as well under this umbrella they created.

It's very difficult to think that if somehow Eisner had been able to complete the Pixar purchase, or if he had bought Lucasfilm or Marvel, that you wouldn't feel differently - because when you look at your arguments against them, they really come down to "Darth Iger bought them, everything he does is inherently evil and bad for the company".

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I don't even ask anymore because it keeps changing. I'm almost certain they will be shown this year. I'd be shocked if they weren't. That's as far as I'll go. I think it will be year to year at this point.

Thanks for answering. I had a feeling it would be shown as long as the area remained and construction hadn't begun. But I thought i'd ask anyways given that they've never needed a good reason to cancel cool attractions before. The Backlot Tour for instance was shuttered even with construction nowhere near imminent.

In the case of the Lights though, I would guess someone inside the company realizes that not having them will substantially harm their attendance levels at the park during the holiday season. They are correct.

I won't even ask if you've got any recent info about DHS's overhaul. Sounds like a mess I don't even WANT to know about, but it's pretty clear that Disney don't really know what they're doing regarding WDW...

 

[ItlngrlBella]

The Studios? Well despite them being my whipping boy and a really crappy first 5 months, SWW is pulling crowds and the data is showing that the Studios have been busier than the other parks on those days. They've had as many peak crowd days this month as they did in all of May. We'll see what trend continues here as the summer goes on, though they seem in lock-step with the resort as a whole right now, which has been slammed the past two weeks

All the more reason why DHS needs a well developed/themed wow-factor SW land.

 

[Nubs70]

All the more reason why DHS needs a well developed/themed wow-factor SW land.

Your avatars are killing me, please stop. In a John Wayne Gacey/Ed Gein kind of way