A Spirited Perfect Ten

bhg469

bhg469

Well-Known Member
Rodan75 said:
Wireless is at least 2 generations from providing reliable 1GB+ speeds, plus there is limited spectrum available. Landlines will still be required even for a mostly wireless existence. 'The Internet of Things' is very much reliant on a wireless and landline mix.
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Project loon coming soon to a theme park near you?
 
FigmentJedi

FigmentJedi

Well-Known Member
The Onion takes on ticket inflation.
http://www.theonion.com/article/rep...lMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default

Report: Rising Disney World Ticket Costs Prompting Many Parents To Leave Children At Home


BAY LAKE, FL—Citing the 75 percent increase in ticket prices over the past decade, a report published Thursday by consumer research firm McGann & Associates found that the rising cost of admission to Walt Disney World is prompting more parents to leave their children at home when visiting the popular resort.

According to the study, while real wages in the U.S. have remained stagnant over the past 30 years, the price of a one-day theme park pass has increased fivefold, a development that is forcing many mothers and fathers to drop off their kids with relatives or family friends before traveling by themselves to patronize the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, or any of Disney World’s other properties.

“For most U.S. households, the previously common practice of taking the whole family for a long weekend to Disney World is now simply out of reach, leaving parents with no choice but to go to the park on their own,” said the report’s author, Marie Dolan, who added that the average family simply does not have enough in savings to buy more than two tickets at their current cost of $105 apiece, a price that she was quick to point out did not even include a water park add-on option. “A family earning the national average could at one time afford not only tickets, but also three nights in an onsite Disney hotel. But now, principal wage-earners must make tough sacrifices, which usually means leaving the young ones behind while Mom and Dad go off to ride all the rides and visit with all the Disney characters.”

“Nowadays, if you look around Disney World, it’s mostly just mothers and fathers who are waiting in lines for the attractions or taking one another’s photos in front of the Haunted Mansion,” Dolan added.

Even for parents who try to cut costs by purchasing five-day value passes or restricting their visits to just Disney’s Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom, the resulting savings reportedly aren’t enough to allow them to bring the entire family along. In the best-case scenarios, Dolan conceded that a couple could theoretically be able to scrimp sufficiently to take just one of their children, provided his or her siblings were left with a caretaker who could look after them free of charge.

“I have so many great memories from when my own parents brought me and my brothers here, and we all rode Space Mountain and watched the Country Bear Jamboree together—but my wife, Danielle, and I just didn’t have enough money to bring our own daughters,” said resort guest and father of two Paul Gomez, 36, speaking to reporters while holding a Mickey Mouse–shaped ice cream bar and wearing the park’s iconic mouse ears hat. “I wanted more than anything to give our kids the same amazing experience I had, but with all our bills and mortgage payments, we could only cover a pair of airline tickets and park passes. I know my girls would have loved going on Splash Mountain, getting off the ride, and then rushing to get back in line with us today.”

“Maybe things will turn around in a few years and we’ll be able to bring [Gomez’s daughters] Zadie and Erika, but until then it’s going to be just me and my wife at the character breakfast with Belle and the Beast,” Gomez added.

Numerous other parents, including Jessica and Raymond Huebel of Provo, UT, said they had hoped to give their children at least a glimpse of the fun they were having at Disney World by bringing home a set of high-quality pictures, but expressed dismay that they weren’t able to cover even the most modest Memory Maker photo packages the park offers. According to the Huebels, their tight budget only allowed them to purchase a single 11-by-14-inch glossy photo of the two of them riding Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which they said they intended to hang in their own master bedroom.

“Just walking up Main Street, U.S.A. and seeing Cinderella’s Castle in the distance—I would have loved to turn to my son at that moment and see him smile,” said Jessica Huebel shortly after hugging both Chip and Dale in Frontierland. “But my husband says we’ll barely have enough gas money for the trip home as it is.”

“I just hope prices don’t keep going up too much,” she added. “Otherwise, during the next visit I’ll probably be riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad by myself.”
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Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Rodan75

Rodan75

Well-Known Member
bhg469 said:
Project loon coming soon to a theme park near you?
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LOL...Project Loon is pretty awesome, but I'm pretty sure they still required fiber access points across the "Loon Ring" to connect to landline providers and provide the bandwidth that the balloons need for connections.
 
Figments Friend

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
Tahu said:
Interesting Tumblr/Youtube find. Old screentest for the Figment puppet with a very not-Figment voice.

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Nice to see this clip...as i up until now i have only seen the still photos.

The 'animatronic' Figment is interesting as it is not one of the figures that was eventually used in the Original Attraction.
It looks to me like some type of experimental 'remote controlled' puppet.
The arms and leg designs are completely different to the AA sculpts, and the 'wings on springs' are also unique.
I was not aware of this being experimented with at that time...pretty cool, but the hand puppet does indeed trump the 'stiff Figment' as far as interactive capability goes.

Thanks for sharing here.
:)
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Figments Friend said:
Nice to see this clip...as i up until now i have only seen the still photos.

The 'animatronic' Figment is interesting as it is not one of the figures that was eventually used in the Original Attraction.
It looks to me like some type of experimental 'remote controlled' puppet.
The arms and leg designs are completely different to the AA sculpts, and the 'wings on springs' are also unique.
I was not aware of this being experimented with at that time...pretty cool, but the hand puppet does indeed trump the 'stiff Figment' as far as interactive capability goes.

Thanks for sharing here.
:)
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It's fun to speculate on the motivation behind the filming of this little clip.
Could it have been an elaborate field testing report sent back from Orlando to the people at Burbank calling the shots on the direction of the program that would eventually result in the Dreamfinder/Figment meet-and-greet character?

It certainly seems directed at either an internal corporate audience or one otherwise familiar with the business of creating guest-character interaction.
 
B

bakntime

Well-Known Member
Cesar R M said:
Well, they pretty much hit the mark on prices..
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It's sort of funny, though, because ticket prices aren't that much higher than they used to be.

A 5 day WDW pass currently costs $315 plus tax. In 1995, a 5 day pass was $180, which adjusted for inflation is $281 plus tax. Now consider that in 1995 there were less attractions than today (DHS's current situation not withstanding, the sum total is far more today), and one entire less theme park (AK). I'd say park ticket prices haven't really gone as crazy as it seems. I will also add that a 10 day ticket is only $50 more than a 5 day.

Depending on special offers, you can make it work. For example, when free dining is offered, you could book a 14 night stay at a value resort for a family of 4, including 10 day hopper tickets for everyone, for around $3400, including tax. In 1995 dollars, that's $2,100. I really don't think that you could have spent 14 days at WDW in 1995 without spending at least $2000 on a room, 10 days worth of park tickets, and all food for the entire stay. I'd even wager to say that a family of 4 might only get 7 to 10 days worth all inclusive with $2000 back in 1995.

I'm not really debating value here when comparing '95 and today, as that's a subjective debate and for my part, I'd rather not derail this thread by going down that road. So just speaking purely on the numbers, costs really haven't risen dramatically for a WDW vacation since the 90s.
 
StageFrenzy

StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
bakntime said:
It's sort of funny, though, because ticket prices aren't that much higher than they used to be.

A 5 day WDW pass currently costs $315 plus tax. In 1995, a 5 day pass was $180, which adjusted for inflation is $281 plus tax. Now consider that in 1995 there were less attractions than today (DHS's current situation not withstanding, the sum total is far more today), and one entire less theme park (AK). I'd say park ticket prices haven't really gone as crazy as it seems. I will also add that a 10 day ticket is only $50 more than a 5 day.

Depending on special offers, you can make it work. For example, when free dining is offered, you could book a 14 night stay at a value resort for a family of 4, including 10 day hopper tickets for everyone, for around $3400, including tax. In 1995 dollars, that's $2,100. I really don't think that you could have spent 14 days at WDW in 1995 without spending at least $2000 on a room, 10 days worth of park tickets, and all food for the entire stay. I'd even wager to say that a family of 4 might only get 7 to 10 days worth all inclusive with $2000 back in 1995.

I'm not really debating value here when comparing '95 and today, as that's a subjective debate and for my part, I'd rather not derail this thread by going down that road. So just speaking purely on the numbers, costs really haven't risen dramatically for a WDW vacation since the 90s.
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So much of that seems wrong and numbers aren't usually subjective.

Completely different subject watched a movie and Sean Bean didn't die.
 
B

bakntime

Well-Known Member
StageFrenzy said:
So much of that seems wrong and numbers aren't usually subjective.
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I didn't say the numbers were subjective, I said that a debate about "value" is subjective, as what one person sees as value is different from the next (which is what I didn't want to get into). And what do you mean that it "seems wrong"?
 
StageFrenzy

StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
bakntime said:
I didn't say the numbers were subjective, I said that a debate about "value" is subjective, as what one person sees as value is different from the next (which is what I didn't want to get into). And what do you mean that it "seems wrong"?
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I don't know if your historical numbers are correct, you are also looking at best case scenario vs standard rate. I've seen the discussion play out on value of yesteryear vs today a couple times now. If @ParentsOf4 drops by they might drop the graphs on you with some other numbers.
 

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