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A Spirited Perfect Ten

Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Premium Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
Grand Floridian's trim lighting situation looks awful. Only Narcoosies had a substantial amount of trim lights functioning, the rest of the resort was almost entirely dark. Looked terrible a few years ago, looks far worse now.
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Last week I looked to check on the light situation at the Grand Floridian. Only Narcoosies had any lights on the roof line or ridges at all. In my opinion no lights on the resort is probably the way it should always have been. If you were trying to project even a Faux 4 to 5 Star resort you don't line the roof edges with a bunch of twinkly lights. That kind of stuff is reserved for P orn Theaters, Cheap Carnival Buildings and Motels that have hourly rates. The Resort looked a lot classier and even though not enough to warrant the larceny that are the room rates there, it is much better and projects a much nicer and posh picture. They should have shot those other lights out years ago. Maybe that's why they never replaced them hoping that they would all blow out at once and solve the problem of removing them.

Expo_Seeker40 said:
"Sorry Mickey, they're just not that into you. Minnie, you either.

For that matter, you can take the whole stable -- the "Fab Five" of Walt Disney's animated creations -- and, despite a media machine that churns a very different story, China has largely been a land where the fabled wishes, dreams and magic of the Walt Disney Company and its brand have virtually no connection with the consumer. As valued as that consumer is in the economic theater of globalism, the iconic brand synonymous with America has little appeal and less traction among the newly seated audience in the Chinese mainland.

Not in China. Not in a country where Mickey, Minne and the rest of the gang are barely known. In a country where Disney might as well be Smith or Jones or Johnson. Well, maybe not that last one as Johnson & Johnson is actually a reasonably well-known brand throughout China.
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CaptainAmerica said:
There are 25 million people in Shanghai compared to 2 million in Greater Orlando.
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Based on the post above yours, I have to say this... It wouldn't matter if there were 250 million people in Shanghai if there is no demand or even recognition of the product. It seems like possibly one of the biggest risks to Disney's reputation that they have, in the words of Walt, ever tackled. I really haven't been paying a lot of attention to the China project due to the fact that I have no intention of ever going there so I wouldn't care if they built a cesspool over there. That said though, whatever Disney has invested in money, but, especially reputation is highly at risk over there in the Peoples Republic. If it cannot be "Americanized" to any extent then you really don't have a Disney Park, even in design. What's the purpose! If it fails China will turn it into a private playground for the Chinese elite and if it does well, they will nationalize it and it will probably be renamed Mao-Zedongland. Based solely on what I have read here (I know, probably not a full picture) I would have to say it is utter foolishness. Maybe eventually it will be know as Iger's Folly!
 
Lee

Lee

Adventurer
Goofyernmost said:
Last week I looked to check on the light situation at the Grand Floridian. Only Narcoosies had any lights on the roof line or ridges at all. In my opinion no lights on the resort is probably the way it should always have been. If you were trying to project even a Faux 4 to 5 Star resort you don't line the roof edges with a bunch of twinkly lights. That kind of stuff is reserved for P orn Theaters, Cheap Carnival Buildings and Motels that have hourly rates.
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Nah...
The Flo is based on the Hotel Coronado, which is hardly the sort of establishment you describe.

Properly maintained, it looks fantastic.
Properly. Maintained.
HotelDelCoronadoatnight.jpg
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Lee said:
Yes.
The first Disney article certainly reached a wide audience, both in Hollywood and on Wall Street.

Clearly, the message was getting through, and was hitting close to home. Otherwise they (Bob with an assist from Willow) wouldn't have killed it and the author's others.

This is going to get good...
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I totally missed this article. Did anyone save it/repost it?

Edit: I see that the cached article was posted:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ney-ceo-fumbles-entry-to-china_b_6682090.html
 
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Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Premium Member
Lee said:
Nah...
The Flo is based on the Hotel Coronado, which is hardly the sort of establishment you describe.

Properly maintained, it looks fantastic.
Properly. Maintained.
HotelDelCoronadoatnight.jpg
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Whatever, it still looks cheap to me and you will find that most high end hotels do not resort to that type of atmosphere. It might look nice to some people, but, to me to justify the image and feeling of a high end hotel, gaudiness should not be a requirement. I'm glad that they are all out! That is theme park stuff
 
dhall

dhall

Well-Known Member
WDW1974 said:
What a frigid and utterly bizarre day in the Disney UNIverse. Truly.

...

I don't know why the column was pulled. My source doesn't either. Something really bothered Bob (which puts a huge smile on my face because any discomfort brought to that man sorta makes me happy!) I've read it over a few times and really am not sure what exactly it was because, frankly, there is so much more to Disney's dealings over there that could be said and wasn't.

...

But I think something big started today. Very big.
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I, for one, don't think that Iger had to reach out, through his wife, to get the hit piece pulled. There isn't a media outlet anywhere that would knowingly let a hit peice on a board member stand (unless placed there by a better connected board member). Bob didn't lift a finger to have this pulled, it was toast soon after Bay or Huffington saw it. If anything, knowing it would be pulled almost immediately was part of the plan: everyone's familiar with the Streisand effect now, and the discussion of its removal is almost as useful as the article itself. The players know who the players are and the people directly involved all know that this was a strike right at an exposed flank.

The interesting question isn't 'Why was it pulled', it is 'Why was it written?'

What does Redstone get out of it?

#1) As part of an acquisition scheme? An attempt to shake apart the loose collection of IP that TWDC currently controls? Possible, but while Redstone may be money while Iger is still little more than staff, Viacom doesn't dwarf TWDC to nearly the same degree. (edit -- or at all, as it may be)

#2) How does Viacom/Redstone gain from the implication of graft on the part of Iger/TWDC? If they've been in the country for so long, they certainly know about, hear rumors about, or be part of much bigger deals than this. They might be trying to imply to Chinese authorities that the $800M might not have been invested in the way that Iger said, but it seems to me that this is a dangerously glassy house for any western country to go throwing rocks at.

#3) This is the most interesting possibility -- TWDC doesn't want western investors to know how weak its efforts in China are. If this is part of the reason, then it represents a rhotorical hip check on Disney, potentially weakening their resolve to see their move into China out. But I don't think I buy this as the reason for writing it.

4 & 5 are about Bob, who's known to be a short timer burning through the longterm assets to drive up his personal wealth at the expense of the company. That's not Viacom's problem: if anything, its behavior they'd like to see continue.

Is it to cause TWDC to lose face? Does any part of this tell the Chinese anything they didn't already know?
 
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E

Excitable Boy

Member
Goofyernmost said:
Whatever, it still looks cheap to me and you will find that most high end hotels do not resort to that type of atmosphere. It might look nice to some people, but, to me to justify the image and feeling of a high end hotel, gaudiness should not be a requirement. I'm glad that they are all out! That is theme park stuff
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the ghost at the Hotel del Coronado that gives it the theme park feel!
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
I still honestly think SDL is going to be a success. Brand awareness or no brand awareness, the Chinese are eager for theme parks in general, unlike the Parisian's. HKDL stumbled out of the gate due its small size (it still may be smaller than SDL or at least very, very similar).

SDL is set to have more opening day offerings than Tokyo Disney Sea did...

If all else fails... they can always shove people through the gates as a matter of national pride...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/world/asia/03shanghai.html?pagewanted=all

I guess we will know one way or another soon enough.
 
dhall

dhall

Well-Known Member
Phil12 said:
True. After all he's a blogger therefore anything he says is suspect. I'm not at all sure what his motives may have been. I have to wonder why the HuffPost allowed a blogger to write a feature article in the first place. Therefore I have to question their motives as well. If this was the NYT or any other legitimate newspaper I'd want some answers. However, since it's the HuffPost, I don't consider it to be anything other than sloppy work. Let's wait and see if a respected journalist picks up on this story.
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The person who posted the story is unimportant. The way all of the large scale blogs work is almost entirely automated: it's likely that the person joined the site just to shoot this once bullet. Get a few pieces in the door to get whatever editorial controls there are (and there may not be very many at all) smoothed over, then when the few humans involved in the process are used to seeing your byline with few if any problems, take the real shot. I'm sure he or she was paid well enough for a few dozen hours worked.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
Whatever, it still looks cheap to me and you will find that most high end hotels do not resort to that type of atmosphere. It might look nice to some people, but, to me to justify the image and feeling of a high end hotel, gaudiness should not be a requirement. I'm glad that they are all out! That is theme park stuff
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A guy named Thomas Edison wired The Hotel Del and it was the first resort on the Pacific with electric lights. It was the definition of American Chic. Frank L. Baum wrote many of the Oz books under the glow of those lights and the hotel was inspiration for his discription of The Emerald City.

Yes, times have changed, the look has not. And I can assure you, The Hotel Del is very much a 4 star resort.

http://hoteldel.com
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Premium Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
A guy named Thomas Edison wired The Hotel Del and it was the first resort on the Pacific with electric lights. It was the definition of American Chic. Frank L. Baum wrote many of the Oz books under the glow of those lights and the hotel was inspiration for his discription of The Emerald City.

Yes, times have changed, the look has not. And I can assure you, The Hotel Del is very much a 4 star resort.

http://hoteldel.com
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Not denying that at all. I'm saying that the majority of the 4+ hotels do not resort to that because it is an image that is against the one that they are trying to convey. The fact that Edison wired it, is probably the reason why it remains.** That, however, doesn't change the idea that in my opinion it is gaudy and out of place in THIS day and age.

** Even then I'm sure that it has been rewired, possibly many times since Edison's day not to mention that Edison's wiring was for DC and that is pretty tough to find these days. AC seems to be all the rage.
 
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bhg469

bhg469

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
Not denying that at all. I'm saying that the majority of the 4+ hotels do not resort to that because it is an image that is against the one that they are trying to convey. The fact that Edison wired it, is probably the reason why it remains.** That, however, change the idea that in my opinion it is gaudy and out of place in THIS day and age.

** Even then I'm sure that it has been rewired, possibly many times since Edison's day not to mention that Edison's wiring was for DC and that is pretty tough to find these days. AC seems to be all the rage.
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AC is a fad... now where did I put that elephant?
 

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