A Spirited Valentine ...

[Figments Friend]

You remember how before they went with shoehorning Nemo into the Disneyland Subs, they were considering using Atlantis the Lost Empire as a new theme?

Yeah, it was going to be waaayy more involved then just an overlay.

http://insightsandsounds.blogspot.com/2017/03/rare-art-for-disneylands-unbuilt.html

Tony Baxter rules.
It is a real shame that this was not built.
It would have been spectacular compared to the preschool cruise that is currently in operation.
Thanks to budget cuts at the time, shortsighted management, and inter-company politics, this was sadly shelved.


Whenever the topic of the Disneyland Subs comes up I remember this concept from years ago and so wish it could have happened.
This concept packed a real punch and would have delivered a far more exciting experience for Guests.
A lot more exciting then watching monitor screens of Pixar's CGI cartoon fish, that's for sure.
It also would fit the area rather nicely thematically.

It is disappointing and downright infuriating sometimes to realize how truly fantastic concepts like this are allowed to be passed over in favor of something far less imaginative.
When you know how terrific something could have been, it's hard sometimes to settle for 'less'.

-

 

[Figments Friend]

... is there really a Star Trek vs Star Wars fight happening?
Both are old, popular franchises. Both have incredibly dedicated fan bases. Both are spread across multiple forms of media. Both have international success. To belittle one is to belittle the other, because both have had a major impact on science fiction.

Yep...!

Exhibit A -







-

 

[BrianLo]

Name ONE technological innovation spawned by Star Wars.

 

[DznyRktekt]

Tony Baxter rules.

^^

 

[WDW1974]

Agreed on all points. I've a lot of respect for the man and I understand he's in a difficult position.

For some reason -- either the earring or one of the two highest salaries in Glendale perhaps -- he just is a lightning rod for fanboi criticism and I don't get it. DAK shows he really is a creative genius. It is the only park in the swamps that was true to its mission statement at opening and almost two decades later still is and it is actually getting better. He isn't perfect and makes mistakes, but he is no Mark Woodbury (that was for my screen addicted UNI fanbois) or Tom Fitzgerald. Disney is better for having him.

 

[WDW1974]

What I didn't expect is the new local hot weather girl... a website claims her salary is 1.6mil! What kind of green do you think Lou gets for his tv spots?

HAH! I don't believe very much. It is the freaking FOX affiliate in O-Town. The ABC affiliate has been using Tom Amity Boi Corless for a while too. ... But some people forget that Loveable Lou was a lawyer (not sure to what degree of success, clearly it wasn't really big or he wouldn't be gushing over Frozen Ever After) and there was also talk of owning an Italian restaurant in the Naples area. But with all his speaking gigs on social media, I do think he isn't worrying about money for the rest of his life unless he does something really stupid (like NBA player with $145 million about to be homeless stupid!)

 

[WDW1974]

Well, to be fair, Disney is parading him out in front of a camera as the face of the dumbest decision in WDI history.

I assume you are talking DCA ToT and not Pandora. Not sure it is the dumbest thing ever, but you can certainly make an argument for it. ... But he is simply doing his job by doing press for the thing. He isn't going to rip things publicly. But privately is another matter. I recall him telling someone who was in a conversation with me at Dinorama's opening that "almost the entire thing can be removed in 48 hours" at the same time he was praising it to the media.

Sometimes, you take one for the team ... or to keep your job.

Marty Sklar is beloved by fanbois near and far and yet he sold his soul sometime in the mid-90s to stay with the company when he was already a multi-millionaire and didn't need the job.

Well, most of what I am hearing doesn't get me excited, it makes me angry.

I wouldn't get too angry about it. Too much in the world right now that deserves your anger and energy. ... Disney just ain't worth it.

 

[WDW1974]

Perhaps the reason is because there are a lot of people who are not you who like the BRAND...

Disney Ranked “Most Intimate Brand” Among Millennials

Disney Earns Top Marks on Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index

Disney Leads Industry on Fortune’s List of “World’s Most Admired Companies”​

Or are the folks at Fortune just a bunch of pixie dusters and lifestylers?

See, I think in your haste to take a shot at me you missed me saying that I still like the BRAND. When I'm gone from here, I'll be visiting four Disney resorts (three international) so not sure what your point is beyond plenty of people love Disney. When exactly was that ever in dispute?

 

[WDW1974]

If we ever move back North, no chance we are dropping $1,000s just to spend a week at WDW.
So we are going to enjoy being local while it lasts. Though, after 6 years, we are buying a house. The snow can wait a few more years.

Make CM friends. Seriously. You could then visit and stay in the glory that is the A-S-S (oh, yeah, I do want to make a juvenile joke!) for $49 a night right now, get walked into the parks for free and then go to dinner at Jiko for 40% off.

 

[WDW1974]

Any survey with "Among Millennials" attached to it holds about as much weight as rumors of Monorails footers being added. But seriously, I believe @WDW1974 's statement was not necessarily claiming that WDW offers a bad product. It is more in regards to what the product once was (and meant) to the company VS what it continues to become.

Like so many other companies in this day and age, they place higher value on the "image" they sell and the actual product is a secondary factor. Image over substance is the norm. Otherwise known as "Optics" in public relations. Once upon a time, TWDC placed product above all else. They competed against themselves to raise the very bar they had previously set. Nowadays, a DPB or Disney FB post getting 5,000 likes is taken as an accomplishment and Celebration Place gets a pizza party!

That's close enough really. Millennials also are not a great gauge of customers when a third of them aren't working at all and another third still need help from family to support themselves because they don't earn enough. No, you don't ignore them, but most Baby Boomers and Gen Xers have more disposable income according to multiple studies I have seen.

I do think your point above is interesting, though, because it fits with an anecdote. When I was staying at CB a few weeks ago, a UNI TM was giving a tour to a couple that appeared to be business types and she told them "We don't really need to advertise. Our product sells itself." If I weren't in a bathing suit and dripping with water, I might have tried to get into that conversation because it is telling.

UNI now believes, rightly or wrongly, that their product needs no help to get people in the gates and at the resorts. WDW once barely advertised at all because it absolutely lived on a much-earned rep. Now ... I guess those Mommy Bloggers are important ... and the local Lifestylers who need free cupcake parties to sell Disney.

 

[WDW1974]

In the DLP too little too late department

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...llion-Paramount-theme-park-set-open-2022.html

This should crush DLP once and for all yes it's a mishmash of IP's. But Star Trek and Dr Who. The combination dwarfs the SW / MARVEL fan base

Unfortunately for the U.K. This will bring lots of uncouth yanks your way

Don't count on that park ever existing. Just don't ...

 

[WDW1974]

Or it ends up like the two "amazing" IP parks that just opened in Dubai...

Have you been yet?

They look absolutely dreadful. I watched with pure amusement as Robert Niles was given a free trip over and was trying to talk them up. Truly embarrassing. And why Disney isn't overly concerned about losing UKers -- who would visit either WDW or DLP -- to the mirage in the desert.

 

[WDW1974]

Interesting article, and yes, it reads like PR fluff. I'm actually looking forward to this movie, which I can't really say for most of the previous live action remakes.

With a stodgy-sounding name like Brooks Barnes, working for the Times, I had always assumed there was some legitimacy there, but after finding his Twitter feed last year and seeing some of his work during the Shanghai opening, I realized he really seems like a fanboi/sycophant.

He has a lovely and, likely, mostly made up bio ... pretty much gay dude from the middle of nowhere ... like Montana ... joins the circus (seriously!) ... and later winds up writing PR for the NYT.

 

[MisterPenguin]

See, I think in your haste to take a shot at me you missed me saying that I still like the BRAND. When I'm gone from here, I'll be visiting four Disney resorts (three international) so not sure what your point is beyond plenty of people love Disney. When exactly was that ever in dispute?

Sorry, let me rephrase... Perhaps the reason is because there are a lot of people who are not you who have not lost the passion for the BRAND...

 

[Mike S]

Make CM friends. Seriously. You could then visit and stay in the glory that is the A-S-S (oh, yeah, I do want to make a juvenile joke!) for $49 a night right now, get walked into the parks for free and then go to dinner at Jiko for 40% off.

And once TSL opens you can ride A-S-S!!!!

 

[HMF]

I wouldn't get too angry about it. Too much in the world right now that deserves your anger and energy. ... Disney just ain't worth it.

Oh, it's not just Disney, but the mods don't like it when I bring up what I am really angry about these days and I have depleted most of my energy for it over the past few months.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Have you been yet?

They look absolutely dreadful. I watched with pure amusement as Robert Niles was given a free trip over and was trying to talk them up. Truly embarrassing. And why Disney isn't overly concerned about losing UKers -- who would visit either WDW or DLP -- to the mirage in the desert.

I have not been. I was never sold on the hype. The art that was released was a huge red flag. A big warehouse that sort of has a fire station entrance is not made amazing because you have been told it is Ghostbusters.

 

[ford91exploder]

Speaking as someone who's always been Trek-over-Wars, it's hard to even compare the two. Star Wars lost it's geek-cred decades ago, it's too broad and populist now (which is exactly what Disney wants of course, see: Marvel Cinematic Universe). Star Trek will, hopefully, never be that popular (despite Paramount's recent efforts to turn it into Star Wars Jr.).

Agree on the SW jr bit from Paramount yet the films while fun to watch except for the last one have not been ST films except in name

ST has always touched on social and moral issues while asking the question yes we can do this but SHOULD we do it.

Where SW is simply a bunch of rotating warlords opposed by mystics.

 

[Matt in the Hatt]

I have Never understood the trek vs wars divide. They are both great franchises. Trek is more classical science fiction, it has a more nuanced philosophical look at exploration. Wars is more a fairy tale with science fiction trappings which is why it fits so well in the disney brand. I love them both but differently. There is definitely more star wars represented in the decor of our home though. I enjoy dr who as well but it is certainly not as big on this side of the pond

 

[Matt in the Hatt]

But the 'Star Trek Experience' in the LVH was absolutely amazing as was the accompanying 'Quark's Bar'. Discussing battle tactics with the Klingons and how to cheat your customers with the Ferengi the definition of an 'Immersive Experience' along with being on the bridge of the Enterprise-D.

I am really happy i got to experience this once it was a great attraction