Al Lutz says TDA doesn't want MSE back

[TP2000]

If it makes you feel any better, it wouldn't surprise me if front line managers were as in the dark about the "real" plans as the rest of us. Maybe the guy really believed his assignment was to send the parade back after a couple months. :shrug:

(In which case, the only true prevaricators would be the big, bad suits...and it seems everybody already hates them, anyway.) :lol:

Yeah, let's hope that is the case here. But after multiple folks here insisted (after the offiical announcement, mind you) that there was never a plan to send the parade back to DCA by saying stuff like this;

"You aren't aware how PR and marketing work are you?" -Tigger1988

"Because it was a PR video that was designed to give people the impression that it was a limited summer run." -wdwmagic

"The parade was never intended to end its Florida run in August." -Peter11435

That makes it seem likely this was the plan all along that was widely known in the fan community. But this parade maintenance manager they pushed in front of the media cameras back in May was totally clueless and believed his bosses when they told him he would be packing the thing up by the end of August?

Let's hope that was what happened here, and Team Disney Orlando is not asking its front line managers to simply lie outright to the public media. There's schmoozy PR puff pieces, and then there's just outright lying. It appears TDO was engaged in outright lies and unethical behavior if the worst-case scenario is to be believed. The Disneyland team got involved in that muck too, by clearly posting on their official Disneyland.com calendars that the parade was coming back to DCA for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For now though, I'm glad we have a better-case scenario to fall back on.

 

[TP2000]

Eric Jacobson is the MK lead WDI.

Thank you!

That opens up more questions than it answers however, because after a few minutes on Google I could find very, very little info about Mr. Jacobson. His big claim to fame apparently was working on MGM in the 1980's.

Mr. Jacobson is the one Senior VP at WDI that does not have a Wikipedia page. Tony Baxter has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Baxter_(imagineer)

Joe Rohde has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rohde

But nothing for Eric Jacobson on Wikipedia. He has shied away from the media as well, as there is very little public statement from him, particularly in the last five years.

He's the ultimate mystery Imagineer! :lol:

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Just to play with this conspiracy theory a bit more (because it is entertaining). :lol:

TP2000, after watching the video, I think we might be remiss in describing the guy in question as a frontline manager or warehouse director. He's credited as "Principal Technical Director" and describes in detail the process of disassembling the parade in Anaheim, shepherding it across the country, and reassembling it in Florida. It's hard for me to believe that someone involved with the parade with that degree of intimacy could be kept in the dark about the duration of the project — especially if he's based in California and is required to oversee the parade's operation and transport at the expense of being home with his family, which is what it sounds like to me.

Further, I call your attention to this particularly damning piece of evidence. Immediately after claiming the parade would be shipped back after 10 weeks, the gentleman in question shifts his gaze away from the reporter and looks hazily into the distance...as if the gravity of the falsehood he just uttered has forced him to break eye contact!

I ask you...is this the face of a man who's telling the truth?!?

(BTW, I'm just having fun with this. Don't take it too seriously.) :lol:

 

[DisneyParksFan1]

Thank you!

That opens up more questions than it answers however, because after a few minutes on Google I could find very, very little info about Mr. Jacobson. His big claim to fame apparently was working on MGM in the 1980's.

Mr. Jacobson is the one Senior VP at WDI that does not have a Wikipedia page. Tony Baxter has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Baxter_(imagineer)

Joe Rohde has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rohde

But nothing for Eric Jacobson on Wikipedia. He has shied away from the media as well, as there is very little public statement from him, particularly in the last five years.

He's the ultimate mystery Imagineer! :lol:

The first time I heard of the guy was in that press conference at the D23 Expo where he and the other imagineers behind the FLE were interviewed. He is quite the mystery.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Just to play with this conspiracy theory a bit more (because it is entertaining). :lol:

TP2000, after watching the video, I think we might be remiss in describing the guy in question as a frontline manager or warehouse director. He's credited as "Principal Technical Director" and describes in detail the process of disassembling the parade in Anaheim, shepherding it across the country, and reassembling it in Florida. It's hard for me to believe that someone involved with the parade with that degree of intimacy could be kept in the dark about the duration of the project — especially if he's based in California and is required to oversee the parade's operation and transport at the expense of being home with his family, which is what it sounds like to me.

Further, I call your attention to this particularly damning piece of evidence. Immediately after claiming the parade would be shipped back after 10 weeks, the gentleman in question shifts his gaze away from the reporter and looks hazily into the distance...as if the gravity of the falsehood he just uttered has forced him to break eye contact!

I ask you...is this the face of a man who's telling the truth?!?



(BTW, I'm just having fun with this. Don't take it too seriously.) :lol:

Have you been watching Lie to Me? :lol:

 

[SeaCastle]

Just to play with this conspiracy theory a bit more (because it is entertaining). :lol:

TP2000, after watching the video, I think we might be remiss in describing the guy in question as a frontline manager or warehouse director. He's credited as "Principal Technical Director" and describes in detail the process of disassembling the parade in Anaheim, shepherding it across the country, and reassembling it in Florida. It's hard for me to believe that someone involved with the parade with that degree of intimacy could be kept in the dark about the duration of the project — especially if he's based in California and is required to oversee the parade's operation and transport at the expense of being home with his family, which is what it sounds like to me.

Further, I call your attention to this particularly damning piece of evidence. Immediately after claiming the parade would be shipped back after 10 weeks, the gentleman in question shifts his gaze away from the reporter and looks hazily into the distance...as if the gravity of the falsehood he just uttered has forced him to break eye contact!

I ask you...is this the face of a man who's telling the truth?!?

(BTW, I'm just having fun with this. Don't take it too seriously.) :lol:

Unfortunately, the immutable laws of physics contradict your whole account. Allow me to reconstruct this event if I may, for WDWMagic, as I've heard this story a number of times.

During this story, the gentleman is asked a question and is prompted for an answer. Then you say he broke his gaze to the interviewer and looks off in the distance. The spit then proceeds to ricochet off the temple, striking the camerman between the third and fourth rib. The spit then came off the rib turned and hit the gentleman in the right wrist, causing him to revert to his previous gaze. The spit then splashed off the wrist, pauses — in mid air, mind you — makes a left turn and lands on the cameraman's left thigh.

That is one magic loogie.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Unfortunately, the immutable laws of physics contradict your whole account. Allow me to reconstruct this event if I may, for WDWMagic, as I've heard this story a number of times.

During this story, the gentleman is asked a question and is prompted for an answer. Then you say he broke his gaze to the interviewer and looks off in the distance. The spit then proceeds to ricochet off the temple, striking the camerman between the third and fourth rib. The spit then came off the rib turned and hit the gentleman in the right wrist, causing him to revert to his previous gaze. The spit then splashed off the wrist, pauses — in mid air, mind you — makes a left turn and lands on the cameraman's left thigh.

That is one magic loogie.

Are you suggesting there was someone else on that grassy float?!

 

[SeaCastle]

Are you suggesting there was someone else on that grassy float?!

The sad thing is that we may never know the real truth...

 

[TP2000]

Further, I call your attention to this particularly damning piece of evidence. Immediately after claiming the parade would be shipped back after 10 weeks, the gentleman in question shifts his gaze away from the reporter and looks hazily into the distance...as if the gravity of the falsehood he just uttered has forced him to break eye contact!

I ask you...is this the face of a man who's telling the truth?!?

(BTW, I'm just having fun with this. Don't take it too seriously.) :lol:

Oooh! That's a good point! :lol:

But I think that distant gaze he has after claiming he would be supervising the parade's shipment back to California after 10 weeks wasn't so much a dishonest man breaking eye contact because he knows he is being unethical with the interviewer. I think what we may see there is this dishonest man looking at his corporate handler standing in the shadows to make sure he got his lines right! :zipit:

But then, what do I know about PR?!

 

[WesternRiverExplorer]

But by doing so, he alludes to the idea that WDW now has a night parade that is outdated and a piece of junk.

Which, IMHO is true. I like the parade, but seriously, it's past its prime. Go watch a video of Dreamlights in Tokyo and try to tell me MSEP isn't a relic. It's fine for now, but both coasts need to seriously consider creating state of the art night parades. So much more can be done, stuff even better than Tokyo possibly.

If the thing was so outdated, why did TDA bring it DCA in 2001 without any significant updates?

Because TDA at the time was desperate, not to mention as cheap if not cheaper than TDO is today. This is the Paul Pressler era we're talking about here.

If it was so outdated, why didn't TDA scrap it last year and create a new parade? If TDA didn't care about the parade, why did they add floats and new lighting to it last year?

Because TDA has been skimping on live Entertainment for a while now. This is starting to change, but parades have been dismal since Parade of Dreams left, and they have an entire theater that sat vacant for over a year, with it's only use in nearly 4 years being an overblown Princess pageant. Funding will go to Fireworks and Spectacles like WoC, and tech upgrades to Fantasmic, but anything involving performers? Good luck. Hopefully the new parade next year will change this. Mind you, it's not nearly as bad as WDW's situation.

Its fine to criticize TDO for its management (or lack thereof). However, don't go saying that now because WDW has the parade, DL no longer needs or wants it when the exact opposite was true as little as one year ago.

I don't think that's what he was trying to say. Rather, I think their new toy (WoC) has finally gotten Disneylanders to release their nostalgic death grip on the parade. IMO, it was unhealthy and blinded them to the possibilities new entertainment could bring. I think the Light Magic fiasco made them think nothing could ever compare to MSEP, no matter how it was being outpaced in tech.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Unfortunately, the immutable laws of physics contradict your whole account. Allow me to reconstruct this event if I may, for WDWMagic, as I've heard this story a number of times.

During this story, the gentleman is asked a question and is prompted for an answer. Then you say he broke his gaze to the interviewer and looks off in the distance. The spit then proceeds to ricochet off the temple, striking the camerman between the third and fourth rib. The spit then came off the rib turned and hit the gentleman in the right wrist, causing him to revert to his previous gaze. The spit then splashed off the wrist, pauses — in mid air, mind you — makes a left turn and lands on the cameraman's left thigh.

That is one magic loogie.

The premise of Oliver Stone's next movie.... In 3D.......

 

[TP2000]

I don't think that's what he was trying to say. Rather, I think their new toy (WoC) has finally gotten Disneylanders to release their nostalgic death grip on the parade. IMO, it was unhealthy and blinded them to the possibilities new entertainment could bring. I think the Light Magic fiasco made them think nothing could ever compare to MSEP, no matter how it was being outpaced in tech.

That's exactly how I read the Al Lutz info as well. And in my opinion as a card-carrying Southern Californian, that pretty much sums it up exactly. World of Color's debut in June completely remade the landscape for Disneyland and DCA. The crowds are different, they move around the property differently, they behave differently. You can see it every night, and feel it in the way the park operates.

It's suddenly a completely different ballgame out here. And the five new rides coming to DCA, the real attendance drivers, don't even open until 2011 and 2012. This big change happened just because of World of Color and Glow Fest.

And yes, Tokyo's Dreamlights Parade is everything a 21st century night parade should be. It puts the revamped MSEP and Spectro to shame.